This feels too good…
Too good to be true, yet I don’t want it to end. I push my chest closer, and Thane seems to understand the language of my body as he swiftly picks me up off the ground and cradles me to his chest without breaking the kiss. It's as if all my resistance was futile in the end, clinging onto the hatred I had so tightly that it blinded me to realizing that his lips could feel like the safest place on earth.
Perhaps it's my raging hormones, and I might regret this in the morning, but it doesn't matter when his lips soothe me and calm my nervous system in a way that doesn't just take the pain away, but allows me to feel things I haven't felt before. When he lays me gently on the bed, our lips remain locked as he begins peeling off the many layers covering my body.
He breaks the kiss, allowing me to catch my breath while he has time to rake his eyes over the exposed parts of my body. He sucks in a breath through his teeth, an appreciative sound, as he cradles my cheek with adoration, stroking my moist bottom lip with the pad of his thumb before he slides his hand down.
The warmth his palm exudes is tantalizing as he slowly travels down the valley of my breasts, turning his hand and facing his fingertips toward the apex of my thighs. His lips meet mine again just as his hand disappears between my thighs, his fingertips lightly brushing my moist folds. I gasp and moan with exhilaration, my heart pounding, the sensation compelling me to part my thighs as far as they can as he toys with my folds.
When Thane breaks the kiss again, my breath is a series of hot pants as he slowly slips a long finger into my tight hole, a frown furrowing his brows as he stares deeply into my eyes.
“You haven't…” Thane's voice tapers off when I concede the unspoken question with a slow nod, my lips forming a pout.
“No…I haven't,” I whisper as he stills his finger inside me, his frown deepening as his eyes soften.
“Goddess, Willow…” he mutters, followed by a string of curses. “I had no idea.”
I shake my head fervently, reaching out to cradle his cheek, relishing in the way his beard prickles my fingertips and palm.
“It doesn't matter,” I whisper, but Thane shakes his head firmly as he proceeds to climb over me, settling between my thighs as he cradles my face with both hands.
“It does matter,” he insists in a raspy tone, and I can taste his breath in my mouth. “And I promise, I won't take what isn't mine, unless you gift it to me willingly.”
My heart skips a beat as Thane's lips meet mine again, his sultry promise lingering in every breath as he begins to move, peppering kisses down my torso until he ends up between my thighs. Witnessing his reaction to discovering that I'm a virgin touches my heart, while his promise not to take it until I’m ready makes it feel like there might be hope—I might be able to trust him again.
His face becomes veiled by my pelvis, his long, raven black hair covering his brows, only his dark, penetrating eyes visible as he latches his lips over my bundle of nerves. I throw my head back, my mind emptying of any thoughts that might pull me away from the present moment.
It doesn't matter if I can trust him or not. My heart doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is the way his skillful tongue laps at my folds with precise flicks that send my body to places I've never been before.
Thane’s touch is gentler now, deliberate in its restraint. Every brush of his fingers against my folds feels like an oath, one that says he’s not here to take, but to give, to soothe, to be of service during my desperate time of need. His lips curl over my clit as he suckles the bud, his finger smooth and soft as he gently sticks it inside my aching hole.
“Oh, my Goddess!” I cry out in ecstasy when the mixture of sensations sends my body into overdrive, and I'm writhing and rocking to the motion of his ministrations. My hands curl in the sheets, my eyes rolling to the back of my head as a tight knot coils in the pit of my belly, growing and growing until Thane's lips find mine again, softer this time, the kiss slower, lingering.
The ache that had been tearing through me shifts, replaced by a warmth that pools low in my belly, spreading like liquid fire while his fingers work magic between my thighs.
I let out a trembling breath when he breaks the kiss gently, clutching his shoulders as if I might anchor myself there, my nails digging into warm, tight flesh where his muscles flex. His scent, primal and earthy, wraps around me, grounding me in a world that had just moments ago been spinning out of control. For the first time in what feels like forever, I’m not afraid of the fire inside me.
I let it burn.
And Thane stokes that fire.
When he pulls back just enough to look at my face, his eyes are no longer dark with hunger, but dark with something deeper.
Reverence.
That's what it feels like when he whispers, “You’re safe,” and brushes a stray strand of hair from my face. “I’ve got you.”
Those words are my undoing. I melt beneath him, all my prior tension slipping away until all that’s left is the quiet rhythm of our breathing, the steady thud of his heart against mine, and the way he thrusts his finger between my thighs. I close my eyes, feeling him move until the heat of his breath is on my drenched core. His mouth returns to my folds, sucking, lapping my juices with squelching sounds filling the air as he devours me like I'm the tastiest meal he's ever feasted on.
My moans escalate into screams that reverberate off the walls in the tiny expanse of the hut, my body rolling in waves of pleasure as the tight knot uncoils from the pit of my belly, igniting every nerve fiber.
When the storm inside me finally fades, I feel weightless, spent, but at peace. No more pain. Just Thane gathering me close, his chest a solid wall of warmth as he presses a kiss to my forehead.
“Rest now, Willow…” he murmurs, his voice a low rumble that vibrates through me. “We’ll head back home at first light.”
My fingers curl weakly into his side, a silent response to what he'd just said. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, or what this means, if it means anything at all, but for now, I let my body rest against his. The pain is gone. The fear is gone. And my eyes drift closed as sleep washes over me.
All that’s left is his steady heartbeat drumming gently in my ears, and the quiet, unfamiliar comfort of being held.
