I brush my fingers across his lips. “And here too.”
He doesn’t shift but his breathing increases, washing across my fingertips when his lips part.
I say, “You gave me the time I needed with my family. Now I need time with you.” I allow my fingers to drop to the curve where his neck meets his shoulders, running my hand down his arm and pulling it around my waist.
He responds by drawing me closer, his gaze falling to the ribbon in my hair. Cautiously, he slides it loose, careful not to tug as he loosens my braid, allowing my hair to float around me in the breeze. He folds the ribbon into his fist but a smile breaks across my face as I decide it’s time to set that ribbon free. The last time we stood on this cliff, the wind stole my ribbon out of his hand. That was the moment I raced after him to tell him I loved him, only to be struck by lightning that turned me into the Storm Princess.
I capture his hand, easing the ribbon out of it. Then I let it go, watching it twist and turn in the wind, disappearing into the blue sky.
“There,” I say. “Not stolen this time. Given.”
He matches my smile with one of his own, his full lips taking on curves that make my heart miss a beat.
I reach up on my tiptoes, very slowly, and whisper, “Baelen Rath, may I have your permission?”
With a fierce growl, he tightens both arms around me, pulling me flush against him. His kiss is more intensely demanding than it’s ever been before. I respond with a ferocity of my own, arching up against him, sliding my hands into his wet hair, every part of my body responding to his. My skin tingles from the top of my head to my toes and my breathing becomes erratic. I can’t get enough of his mouth on mine.
He growls at me when I separate from our kiss. “Come back.”
But his breath hitches when I slide off my jacket and pull my top over my head, abandoning both on the ground. I’m wearing underwear but it’s an elven bra that reveals more than it conceals. I crash back into him, all of me burning.
I smile against his mouth as I kiss him again. “It’s been a week.”
His muscles flex around me as he hesitates, pausing, taking a deep breath, creating a small gap between us. “We don’t have to rush this. You’ve been through a lot.”
“So have you…” I kiss his jawline because unless he dips his head, that’s as far as I can reach. My heart rate is slowing, because Baelen and I still need to have a conversation about Grayson. “Baelen… I… About what you saw…”
He stops me with a kiss, a gentle one that demands nothing in return. Then he draws back to give me a serious smile. “You bound yourself to me.”
I bite my lip, a half-smile forming and fading, not sure what he’s thinking. “I did.”
An answering smile breaks across his face. A grin, actually. The first today. “Then nothing else matters.”
My heart expands. I rise up as far as I can, drawing his face down to me so I can kiss each corner of his smiling mouth, tasting his skin with my tongue, sensing his body respond to mine.
I inhale his sigh. “Baelen Rath, thank you for being so protective of me, but I don’t want to wait.”
His response is a slow ignition of lightning around his torso as his burning gaze zeros in on mine. Above us, storm clouds gather in the sky, forming out of nowhere, darkening the cliff face. My eyes widen as the clouds descend, stopping fifty feet above us where they curve and seal to the rock face, creating a cloak over the space at the top of the cliff. Within moments, Baelen drops us into darkness, our own safe cocoon, lit by a gentle spider web of lightning flickering inside the clouds.
His grin turns into a lazy smile at my amazement. “Come here, Marbella Mercy.”
My lips meet his and each of my heartstones bursts into life, making me feel like time is slowing down around us. Baelen lifts me up against him but he doesn’t carry me inside the cave—only to its entrance where the blanket rests. I should take a breath but I can’t stop kissing him. Or dragging my clothes off. Or tugging off his clothing. He slows us down, beats of time to kiss me everywhere: on my lips, my neck, my stomach, my thighs. Spreading the blanket across the ground, he draws me down to lie beside him.
By the time he’s done touching me, I’m glowing. Everywhere.
He leans over me, his lips caressing mine before he pulls me upward again so I’m straddling him. When our bodies join, time stretches. I have no idea whether it’s been moments or hours. I’m not afraid of the lightning that sparks between us or the glow from my heartstones that reaches out to meet it, the two powers winding into each other like a lattice that settles over our bodies as we move together.
Even though we’re as close as we can get, I want more of him. I inhale the scent of his skin, the storm, and the condensation in the air, and drown in the intensity in his eyes as he reads my reactions. I tip my head back as he winds his hands in my hair and strokes its waves all the way to my lower back. Raindrops fall from the clouds and glide across his broad shoulders, down his hard chest. Moisture drips down my cheeks and arms, making my skin glisten.
The lattice of power around us glows brighter as the intensity builds, my breathing goes wild, but still I want more. More of him. More of the storm. More of…mystorm.
I gasp as the lattice of storm and heartstone power contracts around us, sealing hard against our bodies, binding us together.
“Baelen!”
To my astonishment, he smiles. “Let go, baby. Don’t be scared.”
He kisses my mouth and I grip his shoulders as powerful sensation builds inside me, shivers racing up and down my spine. I hold on tight, knowing I have to let go of my control, that I have to trust him. I crash against him, meeting his movements, abandoning my fear as a bright spark builds between us, a ray of light expanding and growing.
