His tongue gently coaxes me through my orgasm, until I’m a whimpering mess in his hands. Daegel pulls away, licks his lips, and rises to his feet.
“My favorite meal of the day,” he murmurs against my neck.
I grip his shoulders, and buck my hips against his. I may have had a mind-blowing orgasm, but it doesn’t mean I’m satiated.
“I need you inside me,” I whisper into his ear. “Please.”
I don’t need to ask twice. He pushes his silk pants down his hips, and his hardness springs free. My throat goes dry at the sight. With ease, Daegel lifts me by the hips and I wrap my legs tight around his waist.
Our eyes meet. He aligns himself against my opening. Slowly, oh so slowly, he stretches me and sinks inside. I rest the back of my head against the trunk and close my eyes as I savor the sensation of our bodies finally connected.
“No, princess,” he says, voice rough. “You open those pretty eyes. And look at me.”
I do as he asks. We’re so close we share a breath. The eye contact…it’s such an intimate thing. With each slow, deliberate thrust my chest fills with warmth. Finally, my soul isn’t aching with freezing cold.
The longer we remain locked like this, our bodies intertwined, the closer and closer I feel to him, until finally the tension that’s been building inside me snaps. My toes curl, and I cry out from the intensity of the pleasure that spreads from deep within me to every inch of my body.
But I keep my eyes on his, and watch him come undone with me. It’s a beautiful sight, the way his jaw goes slack, his muscles taut as he moans and spills himself, buried deep inside me.
Never before have I had anyone look at me the way Daegel looks at me. All-consuming.
We remain in this position for a while. Absentmindedly, I run my fingers up and down his back. Daegel showers my cheeks with gentle kisses and makes his way to my neck.
With his teeth, he scrapes the sensitive skin there. Nips at it. With the tip of his tongue, he traces a path down to my breasts. The alarm bells blare in my mind, even through the remaining fog of pleasure.
I’m not fast enough to react.
A gasp escapes me when Daegel’s sharp teeth sink into the plush flesh of my breast. The pain forces pleasurable tingles to spread over my skin, and my core throbs despite me being satiated with two orgasms.
“Daegel,” I sigh, and pull on his hair.
With a pop, he lets go of my skin. There’s a red mark, a bruise already forming. I don’t have the energy to fight him about it, not after the moment we just shared. My limbs and my soul aren’t cold anymore. All thanks to Daegel.
But leaving the mark…
“You’re mine,” he murmurs. “I want you to remember that when I’m not there with you, princess.”
He kisses me, but I pull away. “We’re supposedly not together. If Vera sees this, she’ll know it was you. She’ll drop me as her champion.”
Daegel doesn’t look one bit guilty or worried about it. I unwrap my legs from his waist and he slides out of me.
“Would it be so bad? If you had to drop out?”
My stomach drops, all the butterflies and warmth gone in a blink of an eye.
“We’ve been through this already,” I mutter and push past him to go find my clothes.
The undershirt is ruined, so I don’t even bother putting it on.
“Phoenix.” Daegel turns to face me. “Please, I don’t mean it in the wrong way.”
“Really?” I whirl around, the corset in my hand. “In what other way do you mean it, then, huh?”
A muscle in his jaw ticks. “I want to keep you safe. That’s all.”
I scoff and shove my arms into the corset. My hands tremble from anger as I do the hooks all the way up. I shake my head. “Do you think I’m so weak I need your protection? I can manage myself well enough with a big, strong man looking over me protectively.”
Daegel doesn’t say anything.
