Because he was practically drowning in her desire. With every move she made, it bloomed, heady and sweet, and it only made his own grow exponentially.
What do you want?she had asked, and he wished he was strong enough to ask her the same question. He wished that he wasn’t so eager to give hereverything she wanted.
But he was. He wanted her in a bone-deep, insidious way that seemed like a curse in and of itself. A curse he never wanted to break.
No. He wanted to enjoy it. He wanted to enjoy her.
He looked at her chest, spilling out of this ridiculous dress...and through the thin fabric, he saw the proof of her arousal. Of her sensitivity. She peered up at him and must have seen the direction of his gaze because she said, “Please.”
And hearing that word from her...hearing her beg for him to touch her...
His shadows sliced the straps of this dress, and the top fell to her waist, revealing her chest, and—
Fuck. She was just as perfect as that memory he had replayed a million times. But having her here in front of him, feeling her flushed and writhing against him, body taut with arousal...
It made him realize he had never truly known desire. Not before now. Not beforeher.
He couldn’t wait a moment longer. He ducked, took her into his mouth, and her gasp went straight to the center of him.
She liked it. He did it again. He sucked and lightly bit, and those sounds she was making...
He wanted them to echo through his bedroom. He wanted to portal her there right now, and do things he had never done before, just to hear her sigh his name. He moved to her other hardened peak, learning exactly what she liked, and then doing it. His shadows strummed down her skin, like extensions of himself, touching more of her, and she cursed.
That mouth. The things he had imagined it doing to him...
Her body jerked against him again, and he suddenly had no other purpose in life but to make this infuriatingly beautiful woman unravel.
Hands curled beneath her hips, he dragged her against him, steadily getting faster. He pressed his forehead to hers firmly so that she would look at him. He didn’t want to miss a single moment of this. It was the most attractive thing he had ever seen in his life, helping her use him to find her pleasure. It was bringing him an inordinate amount of satisfaction.
He had done far more than this countless times before. Their clothes were still mostly on. But for some reason, this simple tryst in this hall was making his heart race so quickly, he could hear it. It was making his body feel like every nerve had finally, after centuries, turned on.
By the sounds of her quickening breathing, the moans falling from her parted lips, and her flushed cheeks, he was expecting her to break.
What he didn’t expect was to break with her.
Just as she gasped, convulsing against him—he did too. His shadows flared, clawing against the wall. The stone splintered and cracked against his power.Fuck.
They were left panting, staring at each other. Her green eyes had never looked brighter.
And...this was bad. He had thought, perhaps, that having her once would rid him of this irritating obsession. But it hadn’t worked. Not at all. Because now, he wanted her more than ever. He could smell her desire, and his, and the mess they had both made, and he wanted to make more. He wanted to turn her around, against this wall, hike up this dress, and feel her convulse around him.
He slowly lowered her to the ground so that he could take a step away from her.
“Grim, I—”
No. Her voice. Her face. Hereverything.
He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t be near her. If he stayed for a moment longer, he would portal her somewhere they could do this again and again without consequence. He would run full speed into the fate that awaited him.
What was he thinking? She was leading him to his ruin. And he was letting her.
He forced himself to smirk, to say, “Did you think that would work? Did you think that would make me remember?” He sneered. “All it did was make me realize I must have been using you the entire time.”
Isla bristled like she had been slapped. She looked like she might slaphim. Before she could, she raised her chin, turned on her heel, and walked herself to her cell. He heard it close behind her.
Only then did he allow himself to slump against the wall and curse.
GRIM
