It was her first kiss. He was aware of that even as instinct demanded hetake.Vael forced himself to hold still, to be gentle.
At first Hele was stiff, her lips sealed shut against his, but after a gentle, sucking kiss to that full bottom lip he loved so much, she began to relax. Her mouth opened just enough for him to feel her warmth, her breath. It was a little bit cooler than his own — like he was breathing in the cold, wet air of a brewing storm.
Perfect.
When he slowly dipped his tongue past her teeth, just for a taste, he was shocked to discover that she tasted likerainwater.
A feeling he couldn’t describe took hold of his throat and crushed it. There was no way for her to know how wild that taste made him, the brutal memories it conjured.
One of the only reasons he survived in the rubble for as long as he did was because it rained. The water had flowed over the shattered stone of his clan’s dwelling, running in tiny rivers down through the cracks that allowed him the smallest amount of smoky air. Trapped there, body broken, it was all he could do to tilt back his head and let the drops fall on his smoke-scorched tongue.
His Hele tasted likelife.
Vael knew that he should be softer. It was her first real kiss. He should go slow, let her take the lead until she was comfortable.
But he couldn’t. Not now. He couldn’t taste rainwater,her,and not be driven out of his mind with the need to drink and drink and drink.
His grip tightened, pulling her closer as he slid his tongue against hers, exploring every new sensation and sweet sound she made. Her hands fluttered first around his shoulders before they settled on his jaw. She leaned in, deepening the kiss with a needy noise.
Like they had done this a thousand times, they fell into sync.
When he moved, so did she. When she breathed, he breathed. When he tugged her closer, closer, she leaned so far over the edge, her hair trailed into the pool.
And then they were both falling.
Vael’s wings stretched out to nearly skim the sides of the pool as they hit the water. Hele’s gauzy purple dress billowed around them, twining with the impossibly long stream of her hair.
He probably wouldn’t have even noticed they were in the water at all if a massive electrical current hadn’t made his body momentarily lock.
His back arched as the shock rolled through him, part pain and part pleasure. His cock jerked, sensitive skin and nerves overstimulated to the point where he thought he might come from justthat.He choked, fighting the pressure, the release that threatened to shred his control, and popped his eyes open. Bubbles streamed from his mouth as the air was punched from his lungs. It wasn’t the electricity, nor the searing pleasure that did it, but thesight.
Floating before him, hands still framing his face, was an unearthly vision.
Hele stared back at him with her eyes of spilled ink. Her long, white hair wove around them like a glowing banner, and her skin shimmered with all the colors of an aurora. The dress, which had been purple, darkened to nearly black — a storm cloud around her hips and thighs against a sky of aquamarine.
He was so arrested by her, by the desire that raked sharp claws across every nerve, that it took him several seconds to realize that Hele was beginning to flounder.
Fuck!
Vael clasped her waist, braced his feet against the smooth floor of the pool, and hauled her up.
Hele sputtered, sparked, and shook her head when they surfaced. Immediately, her arms snaked around his neck. She pressed her face against his throbbing pulse and whined, “That wasn’tfunny!”
Hecertainly wasn’t laughing. Not when he was about ten seconds and a shock or two away from a mind-shattering orgasm.
Vael wrapped his arms around her lithe form and took several deep breaths.Control. Calm. Make her feel safe.
Blinking water out of his eyes, he glanced around the pool. “Gods,” he muttered, amazed. “Would you look at that…”
“What?” Her voice was muffled against his wet skin.
He stroked her back as he slowly turned them in a circle. Voice hushed with reverence, he said, “Hele, you make the waterglow.”
Of course, it always looked a little ethereal, what with the pale blue-green lights he installed around the bottom of the pool and the shimmering, reflective ceiling, but when Hele was in the water, it was something else entirely. Electricity arced over the rippling water, buzzing and snapping, and pops of vivid color bloomed all over the surface.
No wonder I feel like she’s rearranging my nervous system,he thought, nearly going cross-eyed when she accidentally pressed her belly against his aching cock. It jerked, throbbing with the beat of his heart.Gods know what kind of current is running through the water right now. I knew I liked her lightning, but I had no idea it would feel like this.
He felt her shift, and then her arms tightened. “Is— is this bad?”
