Slipping her hands into both of his, she turned to him, angling her face to his. “We’re alive.” She released him, dragging her hands up his arms, over his shoulders, down his muscled chest until he shivered under her touch.
Lessia trailed her hands lower, sliding them under his tunic and pulling it up, displaying his beautiful skin, the words she’d tattooed on him stark in the light of the stars. His arms lifted for her to get him out of the shirt, and once his chest was entirely bare for her, she kissedevery single word she’d carved onto him—onto her mate.
“We’re alive,” she echoed again after her lips left the wordTime,the farewell she’d whispered to each wish echoing in her soul—but not in the choking, horrible way they had before she died. No, whatever happened now… she would be all right. “For now, for tonight, and hopefully tomorrow, too… we’re alive, Merrick. Let’s act like it.”
Merrick placed two fingers under her chin, lifting her face to his, and she could sense his confusion—the strange feelings that coursed within her reverberating in him.
“I was wrong,” Lessia whispered, and his frown deepened.
“I don’t need this.” She nodded to the words across his chest.
“I don’t,” she repeated when she could tell Merrick was about to argue with her. “I just need you.”
A smile broke free across her face at the distrust in Merrick’s eyes, at the harsh tension in his face that she knew meant he loved her more than anyone had ever loved another.
“I know you feel it. I know you feel what I feel,” she whispered, glad for the flicker of awareness in his dark eyes, which mirrored the sky above them. “As long as I have you, Merrick, I’ll be all right. I’ll be happy, even. So let’s not tonight. Let’s leave the worry for tomorrow. Let’s just be you and me. Please.”
She could tell the muscle in his jaw worked hard not to go taut, thatheworked hard not to fight with her, but finally he smiled back, albeit not the smilehe’d had before.
“You’ll have me in every lifetime, Elessia,” he said roughly. “In this one, and what comes next, and whatever comes after that, you’ll have me.”
“Good,” she responded. “That’s enough for me.”
When Merrick just stared at her, what appeared like a million thoughts crossing his face, she tilted her head. “I thought you promised to fuck me in the lake.”
Merrick blinked at her. Then she was in his arms, and she giggled when he—without a second of doubt—waded into the cool water, she fully clothed and he still in his trousers.
There was nothing short of utter devotion in Merrick’s eyes as he took his time to get her out of her clothing, and as they were finally free of any fabrics, he pulled her to him.
When they reached the side of the lake, Merrick leaned his back against the bank, and she wrapped her legs around him. The moon played in his eyes as he guided his cock to her entrance, and they remained open as he nudged her pussy, a warmth filling his darkness when she ground herself against him.
“I love you so fucking much,” he grunted as he grabbed her hips and thrust himself deep inside her, the spot he hit making her see stars.
Lessia’s head fell backward at the sensation, but Merrick threaded his fingers into her golden-brown strands, forcing her eyes back to his, and she nearly came apart at how his gaze consumed her as he began pumping his hips, driving up deep within her with every stroke.
Merrick’s movements were slow, calculated, and every time she whimpered, he slowed further, letting his cock slide so leisurely into her that she could feel everyinch of her pussy contracting around him, sucking him in.
There was a challenge in his eyes that drove her wild. When he lifted his lips in one of those lethal grins that made her heart skip a beat, she tried to roll her hips, but Merrick almost pulled out entirely then, only the tip of his cock remaining, leaving her with a sense of emptiness that had her cry out.
He captured the sound with his lips, kissing her as he thrust into her again, and she whimpered into his mouth. Pulling out once more, his cock shaking with the effort to hold back, he stilled, his eyes finding hers.
Lessia’s nerves lit on fire as the tip of his hard length teased her, only sliding in an inch, then out again, driving her nearly insane, and her entire body trembled as Merrick’s eyes flashed and he growled, “It’s not enough.”
She knew he didn’t mean this—he didn’t mean his cock—but she nodded anyway.
“Say it,” Merrick grunted, his teeth biting down on his lip as his hands squeezed her ass, his cock hovering by her entrance, teasing her pussy as the water sloshed around them, but not giving her what she needed. “Say that it’s not enough.”
Lessia closed her eyes for a second, her head tipping back, and she moaned as Merrick’s mouth found her neck, nipping and sucking at her skin until she squirmed. But still his cock didn’t enter her—not even when she arched her back, trying everything she could to get him to fill her.
“Say it,” Merrick whispered against her skin.
Fuck. It must have been the delirium from the love she sensed in him—from the need surging within her,from the liquid fire burning through her veins—that made her do it, but she finally whispered, “It’s not enough.”
She wasn’t disappointed.
Merrick thrust into her so deep they both moaned, his eyes holding hers hostage as he merged them together, filling her so perfectly she thought he’d always remain there. As he rasped “Good” and drove into her again, she came apart, squeezing his cock until he spilled inside her, his grunts piercing the air as he held her so close she decided they’d probably have to stay there forever.
Chapter 33
