I rose up on one elbow, buried my fingers in his hair, and dragged him down for a wild, seething kiss. “Stop savoring, Sky-Sword. And fuck me.”
Braced against the step above me, his forearms grew rigid. Stomach flexing, he pushed himself inside me. Slowly, at first—so slowly. The tip of his cock slid into me, stretched me, edged me perilously toward pleasure. I gasped at the hot sensation of him filling me up, and the sound broke his control. I cried out as he thrust into me—he was too big; he burned too hot—but behind the sharp ache a deep well of want rose inside me. A desire that eclipsed everything. A need that had to be fulfilled.
Behind me, the stone stairs shuddered. Cracks burst jagged along the granite, and small plants sprouted in the seams. Stonecrop. Artemisia. Phlox.
Irian’s eyes jerked toward the flowers creeping over the steps. But he didn’t hesitate, didn’t frown, didn’t falter. His eyes skated to my face. He curled one hand around my neck, dragged a thumb against my jaw. And smiled.
When he pulled back and thrust again, I moved with him, sliding my hands over his unyielding arms and raking my fingernails down his shoulders. The slippery ache inside me intensified. I clasped my legs tighter around his waist, digging my heels into the small of his back and driving him forward. He groaned against my neck and buried himself even deeper inside me, tangling his hands in my flower-twined hair. He dragged his tongue over my throat, tasting the sweat beading along my skin.
“Colleen—” he growled.
“Don’t stop,” I gasped out. “Don’t you dare stop.”
He didn’t. He pushed deeper and harder, and the rhythm of our joined bodies obliterated any thoughts or doubts I had left. He pushed me toward the edge of the throbbing, thrumming need consuming me. I surrendered, wild as the dark green earth. I cried his name as I came apart, and the sound undid him. I clung to him as his movements became relentless. With one final, shuddering thrust, he spent himself. He slid against me, breathing hard, then rolled his weight off my frame.
But he didn’t let me go. He pulled me to lie with him on the floor below the steps, the cool flagstones littered with tiny blossoms of white and gold. He curled my back against his front, burying his face in my hair and breathing me in. I molded my numb, tingling body to his. His arms curled protectively over my chest as we both gasped for air, shaking with lingering tremors of pleasure.
“Was that all right?” he asked me after a few minutes. “It has… been a long time.”
I laughed, still breathless. The afterglow of pleasure and adrenaline made my eyelids heavy, and I fluttered them shut. “It wasn’t bad.”
He pulled me tighter against him, tucking my rear against his hips. Surprise smoldered through me when I felt him already beginning to harden. His hand curved over my waist and splayed on my stomach, his palm igniting my already sparking nerve endings. A wave of anticipation spangled through me.
“Itwasn’t bad?” His voice was crisp with dark humor. “You wound me.”
“So sensitive.” I tsked. His hand slid up my waist to cup my breast, his thumb drawing lines of fire around my nipple. “I should have guessed you’d be a perfectionist.”
“Not a perfectionist.” His growing erection pressed hard against my rear. “Just arrogant enough to think I can do better thannot bad.”
“I remember you mentioning this supposed arrogance.” Rosepetals bloomed warm against my skin. “But, if I recall, you paired it with violence and selfishness. Do those traits also extend to the bedroom?”
“Violence? Not without being asked.” His hand slid down my stomach, brushing over my navel before delving between my legs. “And selfishness? Well. Where would be the fun in that?”
His fingers were deft, determined, and my desire soon rose to meet his. My breath became ragged as he leisurely pushed me toward the edge of another climax. I caught his hand in the moment before I fell apart, guiding it to my hips. I opened my legs and angled my rear against him, inviting him back inside me. He inhaled and accepted, sheathing himself to the hilt in my slick warmth.
This time, there was no wild release, no loss of control. Irian was slow, careful,exactingin his pursuit of my pleasure. He slid deep inside me, building the heat tangling in my core to something almost unbearable. Then his arm tightened around my waist, finding my center once more. He increased his rhythm. My legs stiffened. He brushed the hair away from my face and sucked my earlobe into his mouth, sending sensation cascading down my spine.
I moaned, then shattered, stars falling against the backs of my eyelids as I arched against him. Blackness rushed in, and it was all I could do to hang on to consciousness as he dug his fingers into my hips and followed me over the edge.
Together we fell, like starlight and storms and sunlight on broad leaves. We crashed against each other like a gale against the shore, until the only thing either of us knew was each other.
Chapter Forty-Four
We drowsed. A minute, an hour—I wasn’t sure. I only knew that when Irian pressed a languid kiss below my jaw, slid his arm from beneath my head, and sat up beside me, I didn’t want to wake up.
“Colleen.Fia.” My name on his lips sounded like a prayer. “The sun will soon rise. You should return to the Gate.”
I cracked my eyes open. Light spilled dream-soft over the windowsills and painted the flagstones in shades of lily and rose.
“I want to stay.” My voice rasped with sleep. I reached for him, my fingers on his wrist soft, inviting. “I want to stay with you.”
“I want that, too, colleen.” The hollows of his face were bruised with dawn. “I want it like a flower wants the sun, like a river wants the sea. But you should go.”
My skin cooled. I, too, sat up. I curled the edge of Irian’s cloak over my nakedness. “Why?”
“Because—” His face contorted. “We are running out of time.”
“All the more reason for me to stay.”
