I whimper, each flick of his tongue only edging me closer to release.His name.It’s not a stretch to assume he needs me to say his name—hisrealname—because it had been so painful for us both when I had first learned it. Maybe this is his way of replacing that memory with a better one. Or maybe it is because he really does like hearing me say it. I honestly don’t care if it means he’ll keep touching me like this.
“Nox.” It’s hardly audible, but it pleases him all the same.
He hums, releasing his hold on my hips. “Good girl,” he says against me, andgods,it’s too much. His thumb begins circling right above where his tongue dives into me. The pleasure is relentless, and soon my legs begin to shake, my thighs squeezing around his head. “Come for me, Sunshine.”
A scream builds its way up my throat right as my orgasm flares—the intensity of it forcing my shoulders into the bed while my back bows, my body heeding his command. My magic feels like it’s bursting at the seams, rushing up and settling into the spaces between my ribs. Stars fracture behind my eyes—in my veryblood—as I ride out the orgasm he ushers in. Nox’s hands caress my stomach, his mouth slowing down while I float back into reality.
“That was…” My lips flutter together while I blow out a breath and throw both arms over my head. I feel him smile against me, placing a delicate kiss inside each thigh before he removes my legs from his shoulders. My entire body is completely languid, as if my bones have become soft, but I know we aren’t done. I sit up slowly as Nox braces his hands on either side of my hips, my thighs slick and sliding against each other. “Was that good for you?” I whisper.
He laughs, the sound laced with a shadowy seduction that makes heat burst to life again low in my stomach. “Goodis not the word I would use to describe what that was, Rhea.” His tongue darts out to lick his bottom lip before he traps it betweenhis teeth. “Your taste is one I will forever crave, a pleasure I am now addicted to. I could have my tongue between your gorgeous legs over and over again, every day for the rest of my life, and it would never be enough.” He leans in closer, the scent I know as him mixing with one I realize isme.“Are you curious to know what you taste like off of my lips?”
My eyes dip down to his glistening mouth. There is something about acknowledging that it’s me he’s talking about,mehe is tasting, that further tilts my world on its axis. “Yes.”
Nox groans before his hand slides into my hair and he brings my mouth to his. The mixture of us is overwhelming, the taste something indescribable asI devour him, shivering when he groans again. With our chests heaving and hair mussed, he returns to his full height and brings his hands to the buttons of his trousers.
“Tell me to stop,” he says after undoing the first one. “It has to be now.”
His entire body stills as he waits for me to answer, his self-control evident in the set of his jaw and white of his knuckles. And I know he would stop if I asked him to. Even if lust still flowed through his veins, I know he would do only what I want.
Moving to my knees on the bed, conviction flows through me as my hands go to either side of his face. “No.”
Being intimate with Nox in any capacity has always left me feeling powerful when I otherwise felt anything but. So, with his eyes on mine, I move my hands down and begin to undo the remaining buttons on his trousers. He tucks my hair behind my ears as I do so before kissing me again, his adoration for me evident in the delicate way his fingers slide over my shoulders and down my back. How they rest lightly on my hips while his mouth moves to the outside of my jaw.
“You are my everything,” he says, trailing his lips down to the crook of my neck. “You are theonlyexception. To every rule,every shield I force myself to carry. To every weakness I try to conquer. I lay it all down and surrender only to you.”
My eyes grow glassy, and when Nox lifts his head again as I undo the last button, I can see the truth of those words in his gaze. It feels like a vow, the way he kisses me next, as if just our intention and lips alone can carve the way we feel about each other into stone for eternity. My pulse flutters, the world pausing, as I watch Nox fully undress. His pants slide past his hips, revealing a divot that’s somehow sculpted in the muscle there on both sides. Then they fall away completely, and my mouth goes dry. He’s glorious and beautiful and—
“Stars above,” I whisper.
Tentatively, I start to reach for him but look to him first for permission. His swallow is rough, a muscle in his jaw ticking in time with his heartbeat as he nods his head. My palm envelops silky heat, andgods,he looks even more enormous in my hand. It’s the desire to touchallof him that guides my hand up and down as I explore every thick inch in my grasp. I don’t want tostareat him, but my innate curiosity makes it so that I canonlystare at him.
Damn it, I really should have read another romance novel before doing this.
Nox wraps his fingers around my own, providing a little more pressure as he slides our joined hands in sync. I feel his gaze heavy on me, but I can’t look away from how perfect he is. We make it a few more strokes before he lets out a restrained noise and pulls our hands away. “Nope. That is a bad idea.”
“I’m sorry, I—”
“If you had any idea what a single touch from you does to me, you wouldn’t be apologizing. This will be over before it starts if we keep doing that.”
I choke out a laugh which he kisses me through, like he can swallow up the sound and store it within himself. Then he’sguiding us farther up the bed until I’m once more on my back with him settled between my legs. A single arm braces his weight by my head while his other hand grazes over my chest and down the side of my body, stopping when he reaches my hip.
“Just so you know, there is no wrong way to do this. Havingyouis all I need.” He looks at me like he can see through me—past the skin and muscle and bone and down into the darkest parts of my soul, where my tattered heart beats just for him. “Are you ready?”
It is one last question, one last assurance that I want this. Wanthim. My heart thumps so loudly that I think the entire kingdom may hear it, but I cup his handsome face in my hands, my thumbs brushing his cheekbones in light swipes. “I want you, Nox.All of you.”
His hand is then gone from my hip, and I wrap my arms around his neck, hanging onto him and allowing my legs to fall even farther apart. Shifting his weight, I groan when I feel him drag himself—hard and silken and warm—over my core. He brings his forehead to mine, and my eyes fall closed as he guides the very tip of his cock into me. I suck in a breath, my body tensing automatically at the foreign sensation. Nox kisses me slowly—seductively—and I drink him in, focusing on the way his tongue dips into my mouth and how his thumb circles my nipple. His hips lift before they roll slowly towards me, and he goes in a little deeper. There is a sharp burst of pain as he stretches me, its suddenness making me gasp.
“Tell me what you’re feeling,” he murmurs against my lips.
“Pressure—like I’m unbearably full.”
“There’s… still quite a bit of me to go. Why don’t you use your magic to heal yourself?”
My eyes open to stare into his. “No.”
“Rhea, you can take away the pain—”
“No,” I repeat, my chest cracking wide open as I look at him. “I will never get to have this moment again. There will never be another first time. I want tofeelit all. I want to remember every detail, how sweet and perfect it is. How incredibleyouare. Keep going, Nox.Please.”
