Her exhalation shuddered out. “I taunted you, too. As often as I could.”
“You were infuriating.” He nipped the curve of her neck. “In retrospect, I loved it.”
She laughed, pressing her thighs together and rocking her hips. Carver rocked with her. Heady sensations rose as fast as the Atlantian tide, demanding all her attention. Her thoughts turned distant, her focus on every touch of Carver’s fingers, every press of his long, strong body against hers, and every whisper of his quickened breaths across her fevered skin. The hard length of him prodded her, pulsing sometimes. Every soft thump made her core clench and her belly tighten. Magic whipped through her, adding to the pressure that demanded relief. She could never let her power out with Carver this close, but she could imagine climaxing in a wild burst of fire. It made her burn with need.
Tilting her head back, she sucked cool air into her heated body. How had the impossible suddenly become the inevitable? The unwanted the very thing she wanted most? Had she beenso convinced of Carver’s undying love for Konstantina that she’d failed to see how he’d looked atherall these months? Or had she been too terrified of her own misgivings and feelings, of her visceral attachment to this man, to let herself envision any possibility beyond what they’d already established—teammates and antagonistic friends?
“The thought of being like this with someone used to fill me with dread,” she whispered, marveling at her own words. “Now that I’m living it, I don’t know what I was so scared of. I want to wake up like this every morning.”
“That’s because you’re living it withme.”
Carver. Yes.Need coiled inside her. “Is it really that easy?”
“Easy?” His low laugh moved her hair and heated her neck. He slid his hand down her torso, spanning her middle. “I wouldn’t describe anything about us as easy.”
She bit down on a smile. Magic blazed along with happiness, but no sparks popped out, and no flames escaped her. The closer she got to Carver—ordifferentcloser—the more easily she controlled her powers. Was this part of what happened when separated souls fully recognized each other? Things got easier, clearer, better? “Maybe that’s changing. I’m already less likely to accidentally burn you, and you’re far less moody. After only a few kisses, we’re both benefitting.”
With a low grunt, Carver nuzzled her neck. He thrust his hips again, pressing his rock-solid erection against her. “Just think what we can accomplish once we’ve claimed each other.”
Heat tore through her. “Yes.” She could almostfeelthem joining just from his words, her imagination as on fire as the rest of her. Carver’s hand on her belly slid up, the tip of his thumb grazing the underside of her breast in a teasing back-and-forth that made her gasp and shiver. She shifted against him but couldn’t get close enough. Impatient, she turned in his arms.
As if he’d been waiting for her desperate kiss, their lips met and locked, effortlessly connecting. Moaning, she wiggled closer. The hard length of him pressed against her lower belly, and she angled in to him, sliding her leg between his. Carver swept his tongue into her mouth, deepening the kiss, and need surged through her on magic-hot blood.
“You’re volcanic.” His throaty whisper came out more pleased than worried against her lips.
She exhaled in a rush, trying to cool herself. “No hiding anything, I guess.”
“No hidingever.” Drawing away enough to look at her, he brushed her hair back, its soft glow illuminating the morning shadows and highlighting the contours of his face. She wasn’t in the habit of controlling small things like the inner smoldering of her hair and the radiance of her eyes around Carver, and she liked seeing him lit up in her glow. “I’m volcanic, too. It just doesn’t show as much.”
“The difference is that I could burn you.” She didn’t want to, would never on purpose…
His eyes flicked over her face. “You’re worth the risk.”
She rolled her lips in, emotion suddenly on the cusp of flooding out. When had anyone ever given her so much? Given her everything? “You make me want things. Wantyou.” A flush crept over her. Voicing her feelings aloud was still hard, no matter how far they’d come.
“Good.” His dark eyes heated. “Because I want you, too.” He gripped her waist, rolled onto his back, and pulled her on top of him. Straddling him, she gasped, abrupt agony shooting a violent protest through her legs.
“Goodgods.” She took heavy breaths, trying to bring the flaring pain back to a stable ache. “I’m really not used to riding anymore.”
Holding her hips, Carver quirked a brow. “That bad?”
“You try straddling something and see what happens,” she snapped.
He chuckled, half laugh, half groan. “It’s probably wisest to save our legs and strength for the day ahead.”
She rolled off him with a long, thick moan, her legs practically creaking as she brought them together again. “My body forgot what it’s like to be on a horse.” Sighing, she gingerly lay down beside him, both of them stretching out and testing their limbs. Disappointment settled over her, those tense, needy sensations still sparking inside her, but she was also aware of a subtle sense of relief as she laid her head on Carver’s shoulder and nestled into his side again. A woman didn’t reinvent herself in a day. Maybe it wasn’t a bad thing to kiss and touch some more before doing anything else—things that would change them and their lives forever.
Carver’s arm came around her, his hand settling into the curve of her waist. “I’d love to mock you right now, but I truly can’t. I’m as stiff as you are.”
“We’ll warm up and it’ll pass. Muscles are helpful that way.”
“Are you suddenly an optimist?”
She huffed. “I’m always the optimist here. You’re the one who’s all thunderclouds and grunts.”
He grunted in reply, and she smiled, contentment sinking deep into her bones. Getting used tothemwas definitely a good idea—or thethemthey were now.
They lay there for a few minutes as the dawn light brightened from dull to warm, listening to the horses shuffle and graze. Birds trilled back and forth to each other around the clearing, and in the silence between breaths, Bellanca could faintly hear surf crashing against the eastern coast of the island.
