“You would have been my choice,” she whispered, so softly I had to lean toward her to hear. Her gaze snapped to mine and widened as if stunned she’d spoken aloud, but I hardly noticed.
Something within me was stirring at her words, at a reality I hadn’t dared to dream of. That someone might have wantedme, might have chosenme,if they’d had the chance. Thatshewould have chosen me if only I’d seen her when it mattered, if only I’d let her. The gods, whoever or whatever they may be, had bonded us together in that First Trial so long ago. I’d been so wrapped up in the loss of Cora, I hadn’t ever given her sister a chance, because I didn’t do well with unexpected changes. I didn’t function the way I was supposed to around anything based on religious context. I’d let the magnitude of the events and the confusion of the shift distract me from my actual partner. And now she was my wife.
I hadn’t pressed myself upon her because I wasn’t the sort of man who ever would and because, I realized now, I needed her to choose me too. I’d always needed that. Even though I’d grown up knowing my marriage would be arranged, that I would be bound to someone I may not even wish to tolerate, I’d only needed her to choose me. Effort was all I required but this was more than that, more than I’d ever dared to hope for.
She was gazing into my eyes now with something like admiration mixed with desire I’d never experienced aimed myway before, not in any true sense. I didn’t call it love. I didn’t know enough about that feeling to identify it. But I could tell this was something special and something primal within me urged me to show her that.
I reached out, tangling my fingers in her fiery copper hair as I pulled her toward me and pressed my lips to hers. She melted into me at once, fists balling into my chest, gripping the fabric of my shirt tight. This was Isla at her softest, most vulnerable. This was an Isla I’d never seen, that no one ever got to see. I could feel her letting go, giving into the moment, and I wanted to make sure she enjoyed it.
So I bent and lifted her up with my good arm cradled under her ass. My lips were still on hers as she wrapped her legs around me with a soft sigh. I squeezed the smooth skin of her thigh as I carried her backward toward the bed and let her fall onto it. Hair spilling out perfectly, red stark against the blue sheets, she bounced a bit, a smile curling her lips as she bit the lower one and looked up at me. I paused for a moment, enjoying the view, savoring the look of her like this; happy and waiting, mine.
Her legs fell open as she beckoned me forward, a mischievous glint in her eye I couldn’t ignore. I climbed over her, putting all of the weight on my unbroken arm and pressing another kiss to her lips before trailing down the soft crook of her neck to her collarbone and across the curve of her breast. She sighed again, louder this time, and I took it as permission. Shifting to lean on the opposite elbow, I slid the strap of her gown delicately from her shoulder, kissing every inch of skin it revealed as it went. The moment her breast sprang free, I took it into my mouth, sucking and kissing until she was writhing beneath me. I reached beneath the lace to the other one and rubbed small circles with my thumb until she was breathless and I was straining against my own zipper.
“Milo, please,” she gasped out, wide eyes shooting to mine. “Touch me.”
I grinned against her, still toying with the tip of her nipple with my tongue, grazing her with my teeth. She moaned as my hand found her hip and slid up, taking the thin silk with them. My fingers found her center as my teeth found her neck and she jumped against me, tangling her fingers in my hair, scratching my shoulders as she clung to me. She was more than ready for me as it was. She certainly didn’t need any more encouragement, but I wasn’t finished yet. So I slid back down the silk and buried my face between her legs.
She let out a shrill cry as her hips left the bed and I was forced to grab her thighs and pull her back to me. Half wrestling, half caressing, I licked one stroke up her center and she screamed my name. The sound was so intoxicating I needed to hear it again. So I burrowed in closer and licked again, and again, and again.
She was keening now, panting and writhing beneath my tongue. I looked at her through my lashes and saw her head tipped back in ecstasy, her bare breasts rising and falling, nipples peaked and skin flushed. Beautiful.
“Please,” she gasped a few moments later. “Please, Milo. Please.”
I pulled away from her long enough to ask, “Please, what, Isla?”
“I need. To feel. You.”
Her words came out in a breathless staccato, rushing over one another in her haste to gasp them out.
“Are you not doing that now?” I teased, going back for one more long, slow lick.
She screamed again.
“Inside of me, Milo,” she snapped, returning to a bit of herself. “I need you to fuck me. Now.”
Grinning, I rose from where I’d been kneeling on the floor in front of the bed.
“I’d be delighted,” I drawled.
I watched as she sat up, eyes hooded and glassy with the edge of her pleasure. She crawled forward on her knees, maintaining eye contact until she reached the end of the bed where her eyes darted down to my pants and, more accurately, the hard length pressed painfully against the zipper there. Apparently it was clearly visible now because her eyes widened and she sat back on her heels.
“Milo,” she breathed out. “You’re…”
She trailed off, eyes darting back down to my pants as she licked her lips. I couldn’t take it anymore. The sight of her in front of me, disheveled from what I’d done to her, the taste of her still on my tongue. I dropped my hand to the button of my pants but she was faster, batting me away and unhooking the fastener there. She went for the zipper next and I groaned when the back of her knuckles grazed me beneath the fabric of my pants. I hissed in a breath as her gaze slid to mine and she grinned.
She rushed to drop my pants and then my underwear, letting me spring free right in front of her. Her eyes widened once more but then she was biting her lip and wrapping a hand around me. I stilled, fingers hovering over the first button on my shirt I’d been struggling to undo with one hand, and grunted. She looked up at me through her lashes and the only thought that entered my mind wasto hell with this.
I ripped my shirt off with my good hand, the buttons flying across the room. Then my lips were on hers, my arm around her, caging her in, pushing her back. She let out a breathless giggle while reaching for my cock.
Forgetting about my injury, I moved to grab for her thighs while my good hand was tangled in her hair and hissed in pain. Isla pulled back immediately, brows furrowed in concern as hergaze raked over my face. I fought the wince in my expression as I lowered my arm back to my side, settling it into the sling once more. Her eyes shot to the sling and her lips parted in understanding.
Then she stood. I felt the absence of her warmth like an icy bolt to my heart but she didn’t go far. She pulled me forward, trading places so I was the one standing between her and the bed. Then she grinned fiendishly and placed her hands on my chest, something sparking in her eyes I couldn’t place.
“Allow me to take it from here, husband,” she crooned softly. “It is your first time, after all.”
She pushed me back onto the bed. I hissed again when my arm struck the mattress but the pain was forgotten the instant she straddled me, flipping her copper hair over her shoulder and smirking down at me. I felt the moisture at her core against my thighs in the instant before she lifted her hips and poised her entrance over me.
Then she seated herself and everything shattered.
