I stared out at the tree line beyond the city wall. Even in the night, I never feared what was out there. All of it was home. However, now, I didn’t even trust all the people within the city’s walls. My false sense of safety crumbled, showing the illusion I lived in. A mirage that evaporated the moment Clause entered my life.
“You are remarkable, you know that?” Erik said with such certainty that it stilled my thoughts. His using such a word to describe me sent warmth through me.
My lips parted, and a trembling breath slipped past them before I replied, “I am ordinary. I just find myself in complicated situations.” I kept my attention on the forest beyond.
He walked soundlessly through the room until standing behind me. I caught a glimpse of those intense blue eyes in the faint reflection of him in the window’s glass. Even with the space between us, my skin heated with his proximity.
“You are anything but ordinary.” His voice sent another shiver down my spine. Eyes remained fixed on me through the glass. He took another step, entering my space without actually touching me. “Do you wish for me to leave?” His voice was deceptively soft.
I stared at him in the reflection, captured by all of him, unable to look away. My heart hammered against my ribs. “I’d rather you stay.”
When those words left my lips, thick tension connected us, and the Lysian king standing behind me moved even closer.
My body burned when his hand reached for my hip just before he stepped into me. His breath tickled my neck when he craned his to look over at me.
I turned my head, finding that heavy stare. I could lose myself in those eyes for eternity and would never tire of exploring.The corners of his mouth curved as if he knew the effect he was having on me. My gaze dropped to his lips, which he took as an invitation.
He closed more of the space until his mouth met mine. Slowly, I lost myself in him, with the way his arms tightened around me, the way his tongue collided with mine. He tasted divine.
I wished him to never let go. To stay trapped in that moment, consumed by him.
Our lips parted only for him to leave tender kisses running down my jaw and over my neck. Fire addictively burned through my skin wherever he touched. Devouring me. The knot in my stomach began melting away until I felt lighter. As if his touch pulled the toxins from my mind.
A small moan escaped from me while he kissed my throat, igniting the skin there.
He began speaking in between kisses, and it did something to me. “Would you...prefer...I be... gentle... or rough?”
Never had anyone asked me what I wanted before. The question stunned me speechless.
The only thing I recognized was my need for him as it burned through me, desperation clawing within me.
Teeth scraped against the column of my throat, followed by a tongue, and then his mouth. I tilted my head, giving him unrestricted access. “Ariana. Tell me.” He pressed the words into my skin. “What you prefer.”
One of Erik’s hands moved up my side, lazily making its way over the swell of my breast before taking hold of my throat. His touch was firm yet gentle as his fingers forced me to turn my face towards him. His mouth found mine once more, and with every breath, he seemed to deepen the kiss as if there was no limit to the depth.
Gentle or rough? I enjoyed both. However, I needed one over the other. I needed my mind thoroughly silenced.
Even with his firm hold, he allowed me to pull away slightly, breaking the kiss.
Hungry eyes found mine, and his entire stance tightened as though it was a struggle to refrain from closing that tiny bit of space where our breaths mingled.
“I can’t think as clearly when you are rough,” I said, letting him know what I needed. For my mind to be wiped clean.
Erik’s lip curved at the side, and his eyes took on a dark gleam. His hold on me tightened, growing a commanding edge. The hand at my throat immobilized me as he craned his neck, kissing me once more, pressing a smile into my mouth as I softly moaned into his.
He released my throat, hand traveling to my shoulder. The space around us eclipsed as if the moon’s light could no longer cut through the tension connecting the two of us. Nothing existed but me and him. And that was enough.
I was forced to break the kiss when he pushed me forward. Not expecting it, my cheek nearly met with the cold glass in front of me, my hands gripping the windowsill for support.
Erik grunted in approval as his fingers dug into my hips, possessive and unyielding. His grip was bruising, a claim against my skin. He moved behind me, freeing the length of him before his hand slipped beneath my robe and between my legs. A sharp gasp left my lips as he thrust a finger into me without warning—one, then two, stretching me with ruthless intent. My body clenched around the intrusion, heat surging through my veins at the sheer dominance in his touch.
His other hand found my breast, kneading roughly as he pulled me back against his chest. My head lolled against him, breath hitching, lost in the firestorm of sensation. But he didnot take his time. He did not grant me the luxury of easing into his hunger.
Without warning, he bent me forward, hiking my robe and nightgown up in one swift motion.
A strangled cry tore from my throat as he drove into me, burying himself in a single, unforgiving thrust. The stretch was overwhelming, almost too much, yet I craved it, needed it. Erik set a brutal rhythm, his hips slamming into mine, filling me again and again.
His hand slid up my back, wrapping around my throat as he wrenched me upright, forcing my spine to arch against him. The pressure of his grip, the relentless way he took me, sent my mind spiraling. Pain and pleasure tangled like twin flames, consuming me from within, reducing me to nothing but raw sensation. Every nerve burned, every flicker of pain only sharpening the pleasure.
