“Everett—”
My pulse jumps when one of his hands suddenly circles my neck, the gentle pressure making my lips part. His ice eyes bore into mine.
“Ask me again. Ask me if I cheated on you.”
“Technically, it’s not cheating since I was kind of dead,” I point out.
Yikes. That was the wrong thing to say. He’s even more pissed off now.
“I got one good thing in life.You. And just like that, you were gone. Dead in my arms.Do you have any fucking idea what that did to me?”
The raw brokenness in his voice hurts me.
My poor snow angel. I reach up to cradle his perfect face, drawing it closer until I can kiss his scarred jaw.
“I’m beginning to,” I whisper.
And then I kiss him.
9
MAVEN
As soon asI'm kissing him, Everett melts against me, groaning hoarsely. His hand slips from my throat to the back of my neck before he's suddenly consuming me.
This isn’t my gentle elemental, trying to take things sweet and slow.
Instead, he’s rough. Angry. He’s kissing me like he wants to punish the time that kept us apart. For several long moments, I can’t focus on anything but the way he claims my lips—until I remember how much he likes a dose of pain.
I bite his lower lip.
Frost blooms all over the back of my neck, making me gasp.
Everett swears and pulls away from me, yanking his hands away like he thinks he hurt me. “Godsdamn it. Godsdamnit, Maven—I can’t do this. I’m barely in control all the time, but when you’re touching me? There’s absolutely no fucking chance I won’t freeze you to death if I—if we?—”
He’s dangerously close to getting stuck in his own head about this, so I take charge.
Pushing against his beautifully scarred torso, I flip so that Everett is now on his back as I straddle him. I trace the scarstretching across his torso, admiring how his skin healed over his sculpted chest.
“You don’t have to touch it,” he grimaces.
I give him a pointed look. “Nothing will change how I feel about you, so don’t pretend it’s any harder for me to love you with your scars.”
The breath whooshes out of him before he rasps, “I love you, too. I’m so fucking in love with you. It’s killed me that I didn’t get to say it back to you, when—when you were?—”
I’m suddenly dragged back down for another fierce kiss. Everett’s fingers are cold as ice as they trail over my body and press in firmly near my hips. The added chill is another burst of sensation on the backdrop of our exchange.
When I scoot back just enough to tease his erection with my ass, he makes a choking sound and ends the kiss. His cheeks are flushed as he struggles to get words out.
“I’m—fuck. It’s been six months.”
“Way too fucking long,” I agree, scooting back further and lifting slightly until his thick, warm erection is nestled between my legs. I grind against it, shivering at the delicious sensation as it drags against that perfect spot next to my clit.
Gods, I need him so fucking bad. I can feel my wetness dragging along his cock, preparing it for me.
Everett swears raggedly, his fingers tightening almost painfully on my hips as he squeezes his eyes shut briefly. “I mean, it’s beensix months.I’m—shit, you’re so fucking beautiful, I’m…”
Oh. He means he’s struggling not to finish quickly from sheer excitement.
