“No, I mean—I just don’t know if it’s authentic.”
“I refuse to lie to you,” I say firmly, closing the distance between us in two determined strides. “I’m many things—most of them terrible—but I am not a liar. When I tell you I’ve never felt like this before, it’s the absolute truth.”
I capture her hands and press her palms flat against my chest. “This is real. You are real. I am real. What’s happening between us is the most real thing I’ve experienced in millennia.”
She steps even closer as her palms settle against me. “I can feel your heartbeat,” she whispers with something like awe.
I look down at her as she lifts her face to mine, and suddenly we’re separated by mere inches of charged air.
“Do you feel it too?” I ask urgently. “This magnetic pull between us that crackles like lightning before a storm?”
She’s close enough that I can sense the tremor that runs through her body. “Yes,” she whispers.
Fuck patience.
I bend down and capture her lips with mine.
She gasps into my mouth, so impossibly soft and sweet that I nearly forget how to breathe.
I feel something ignite inside my entire being—pure lust mixed with something deeper, more profound. This must be what it feels like when the gods themselves strike you with divine lightning.
I cup her jaw in my hands, my fingers tangling in her thick, silky hair as I deepen the kiss. Her mouth opens beneath mine, and though I’m incapable of death, I swear I die and am reborn in that moment, completely swept away by her intoxicating sweetness.
How can the simple mating of mouths feel this transcendent?
One of her hands remains pressed against my racing heart while the other fists in the leather of my pants. I grow achingly hard as I pull her closer, desperate to eliminate every inch of space between us.
She groans into my mouth, fingers clutching at my bare stomach and the worn leather, and the sound nearly destroys what little control I have left.
I want to claim her completely. I want to bear her down to the soft grass and worship her beautiful body until she screams my name. I want to tear open my pants and release my straining cock?—
My tail lashes restlessly behind me as raw need courses through my veins. By all the gods of the Great Hall, I want her so desperately.
I want it so badly... and yet.
My hand still tangled in her hair, I force myself to pull back from her seeking mouth.
She lets out a little protesting whimper that makes me want to devour her completely.
For a moment we simply stare at each other, breathing hard. Her lips are berry-pink and swollen from our kisses, and more than anything, I want her to trust me completely. To know that all I want is her pleasure and happiness.
“May I explore your body?” I ask, my voice rough with barely controlled desire.
Her mouth falls open in shock. “I—what?”
“I want to free you from these confining clothes and explore every magnificent inch of your body with my tongue and lips and hands.”
“Oh.” She pauses in stunned silence, breaths coming quickly and shallow.
Have I pushed too hard, too fast? Damn my impatience—I was supposed to go slowly. But before I can withdraw the request, she glances around to ensure we’re truly alone, then grabs the hem of her shirt and pulls it over her head.
I grin with pure, savage joy at every new inch of creamy flesh revealed to my hungry gaze. But she’s nowhere near bare enough for my liking. Another contraption covers her voluptuous breasts—soft, perfect mountains that I immediately want to worship with my hands and mouth.
She notices where my attention has focused. “Do you want me to take my bra off too?”
I swallow hard and meet her gaze, fighting for control.Patience.“I want whatever you want to give me,” I say roughly, stepping closer and dropping my lips to the silky skin of her shoulder.
Dear gods, how can skin be this impossibly soft? I inhale her intoxicating scent, and she shivers as I trace my lips along her collarbone.
