He caught her before she could fully lose her balance and guided her fall to the floor. Pinning her hands over her head, he lowered his body over hers, careful not to crush her with his full weight.
Heat burned deep in her core, tingling at the thrill of him being on top of her. Yet they were at an impasse. His training dagger was off to the side, but she still held hers. As soon as he released her arms, she could land a winning blow. Now all she needed to do was get him to release her.
With a wicked grin, she wiggled her hips slightly. “This brings back memories too.”
“I woke you up from a nightmare much like this.”
She spread her legs slightly, letting him settle more firmly against her. She hooked a leg around his hip, making his eyes widen. “I seem to recall you promising me pleasure.”
“Is that how you remember it?”
She arched her brow. “Am I wrong?”
“What I said back then was if I took pleasure in touching you, you would experience pleasure too.”
“And are you, Teryn? Are you taking pleasure in touching me?”
He rocked his hips slightly, and she could feel proof that he was, in fact, taking great pleasure from this. His grip slackened.
That was all she needed.
Clamping her legs around his hips, she shifted her weight and rolled him onto his back, she on top now. He lost hold of her wrists but flung his hand out toward his wooden dagger. Just as he touched it to her side, she brought her very real blade to his throat.
“I win,” she said through panting breaths.
“We both landed a blow,” he said.
“Yes, but you only have one more item to take off.”
“Don’t you too?”
Holding his eyes with a triumphant smile, she reached with her free hand for the sash around her waist. She tugged the tie, and it fell from around her robe.
His expression fell. “Damn that sash.”
“Now you know how I felt when I saw your undershorts. Which you will now remove. With both hands. I’ve won, so drop your dagger and take them off.”
Desire darkened his irises at the demand in her tone. He did as told, releasing the dagger and reaching for his waistband. She rose to her knees, still straddling him, and kept her blade to his throat. She accommodated his moves, easing her blade away to allow him to fully slide his shorts down. He held her eyes all the while, which only made the heat between her legs grow to an insatiable, pulsing throb.
Fully nude, he reclined back down, and she lowered herself onto him once more, spreading the folds of her skirt around her so nothing lay between their bare flesh. His hardness dug against her thigh, even as she continued to hold her knife’s edge to his throat. She wasn’t sure why she kept it there, only that it deepened the thrill, the desire that coursed through her. And from the way he watched her, jaw slack, eyes roving the sliver of naked skin her robe revealed, he felt the same.
“Do you want me like this?” she asked, voice barely above a whisper.
“You mean with murder in your eyes and a knife between us? Gods, Cora.” He uttered her name through his teeth. “I want you in every way you’ll have me.”
She shifted her hips, rocked them, and he moaned with want. His hands caged her hips, fingers clamped around the silk folds of her skirt with an intensity that spoke of either pleasure or frustration. Her dagger’s position left him with little range of motion.
He spoke again, echoing her question back to her. “Do you want me like this?”
In answer, she slid over him, holding his gaze as she guided him inside her. She seated herself fully over him and gasped at the feeling, the fullness. Teryn cursed, his eyes fluttering shut.
She tapped the underside of his chin with the flat of her blade. “Keep your eyes open and watch me.”
“Devils,” he groaned as his eyes locked on hers again, lips quirked in a devious smile. She moved then, sliding up and down his length, igniting pleasurable sensations that burned hotter with every thrust. Just when she thought she could quench that need, her desire only grew. Teryn’s expression, the clear yearning in his eyes, the sounds he made, the way he made no move to make her drop her blade, the way he watched her just like she’d demanded, only increased that feeling.
She never imagined she’d want something like this, that she’d take pleasure with a blade in her hand. But gods, it was a thrill. And yet, even as her passion burned, the thrill gave way to more want, and she couldn’t take another moment without his hands on her. She tossed her blade to the side.
Teryn moved at once, lifting his upper body to meet her in a crushing kiss, a violent dance of teeth and tongues. His hands roved everywhere he hadn’t been able to touch before, tangling in her hair, caressing the column of her neck, then down the length of skin visible through her open robe. He pulled back slightly and parted the robe further, baring her breasts, her stomach, and the meeting of their bodies.
