Had her legs tightened around his hips? He genuinely couldn’t tell if it was his fevered imagination or fact. Either way, he could feel the heat of her cunt like a fucking brand on the skin of his stomach. It waskillinghim.
“Sex, Hele.” Not elegant and certainly not romantic, but there it was. Vael pressed his lips against her cheek and rasped, “Sex. I need to know what you want. What you don’t want. Tell me. You just had your first kiss. I don’t want to push you into something you’re not ready for.”
“Oh.”A beat passed, and then, speaking in that blunt way he loved so much, she continued, “You push. I will decide if I don’t like it.”
“Hele…”he warned.
The minx had the audacity to nip his ear! Vael yelped, more surprised than pained, and pulled back to give her an incredulous look.
“You will listen to me now!” she demanded, wet hair hissing with electricity. His mate looked terribly fierce, and he was dismayed to realize that turned him on even more. “You will listen, or I will not Choose you again.”
Surprise changed its color, shifting into raw, animalistic possessiveness. He lurched forward again, until they were nose to nose. The fuse of his instincts lit.
Lifting his lip in a snarl, he said, “Taunt me like that and I’ll retaliate,t?ht.”
“Taunt you?” Her black eyes gleamed with heated challenge. “Is it taunting to say I will find another mate who will listen when I say I want him to put his cock in me?”
Vael detonated.
ChapterSixteen
Hele watchedthe shredded remains of her dress float away and thought,Worth it.
She didn’t care that it was once her favorite. What was a dress compared to this moment? Nothing. It was nothing at all.
When Vael cupped her cheeks and kissed her, a low, rumbling growl vibrating in his chest, her thoughts scattered like those scraps of worthless cloth. While she hadn’t been entirely sold on kissing at first, she had warmed up to it quickly.
It was so…tactile.
She did not think that a being who had the privilege of a body for their entire life could truly comprehend the enormity of touch. At first, even glancing contact had been enough to overstimulate her nerves, and the idea of seeking out more than the most chaste intimacies had been entirely beyond her.
But over time, she had come to crave new sensations. She learned the difference between a good handshake and bad: eye contact, pressure but nottoomuch pressure, one pump, four seconds, release. Alex taught her how to give hugs: move arms with clear intention, steady squeeze, step back with a smile. Her parents guided her with soothing strokes and steady hands: touches that comforted, that reminded her she was not alone even when it felt like it.
Touch came in so many variations and meanings. What was the difference betweenchasteandcarnal?What wascomfortand what wasviolence?How was she supposed to interact with strangers, family, Vael?
There were thousands of nuances in even the simplest touch — and that was before she even consideredcopulation.
Her parents had also gone out of their way to teach her about sex. Dragons weren’t shy — not when they could walk around nude at any time — and they did not believe in the concept of blissful ignorance, nor celibacy. A contraceptive that would work with her changing form had been quickly found and her anatomy explained in detail. Her parents had run through the mechanics with her, as well as the concept of firm boundaries. If ever she found herself in a situation where someone touched her without her consent, according to herisa,she was supposed to “fry their godsdamned hands off”.
They taught her the rules and the facts, but Hele did not understand the true enormity of physical intimacy until Alex introduced her tonovels.
At night, when everyone else was asleep, she sometimes took breaks from her studying to read about sex and love and drama. It was in books that she discovered her sexuality, strange though it felt, and the budding yearning that drew her to Vael.
Hele knew all about the types of kisses to be had, the creative ways sex could be enjoyed. She knew what a cock did and what an orgasm was supposed to feel like.
Butknowingsomething andexperiencingit were worlds apart.
Reading books did not prepare her for the pleasure of his taste — slightly sweet, with an earthy edge she couldn’t put her finger on — nor the way her body felt like something alien when he touched it.
Heat flowed through her veins. Pressure built. Tingles rushed down her spine.
She’d felttwingesbefore, particularly when she watched Vael train, or whenever she caught a whiff of that spicy scent he carried, but it never felt like this — as if she might combust if he didn’t touch her. Touching him would work too, if only he didn’t have her pinned to the side of the pool, her head held still for his pleasure.
His tongue brushed against hers, wet and silky, while his claws slid into her hair to scratch her scalp. Hele could only make soft sounds ofneedas she stroked his chest, his stomach. Still, he did nothing to ease the ache that built and built between her thighs. Following instinct, she ground herself against his stomach.
Oh!
Hele jolted, amazed and a little wary of the instant, fizzy pleasure that one motion created. She’d experimented with touching herself, of course, but it never felt likethat.
