He put a finger to her lips to silence her. “That could never happen. I was only afraid oflosingyou. I don’t resent you for anything that’s happened. Watching you get attacked and grabbed at the theater—it was the worst moment of my life. I was cursing myself for not begging you to go through the North Star ceremony, because I can’t live without you either, Scarlett. I’d marry you all over again today. And not for a visa.”
She started to laugh as her eyes filled with tears. “I wish we had more time. You’ll be shipping out to Evory—” Her voice cracked.
“Come back to Clair de Lune with me.” He threaded his fingers into her hair and brought his face so close to hers their noses were touching. “I’ll have to stop there before I deploy. Let’s go to the Forest Temple for our North Star ceremony. If we do that, we’ll be able to talk to each other whenever we want, and if you have the phoenix valor afterward, you can protect yourself and Beni while I’m gone.”
“You want that? Really? You think we’re ready?” Longing for him was all she could feel. She didn’t doubt she’d want him always.
“I feel the same way you do. The worst part about being locked up was not being able to communicate with you. While I was inthere, I wished we’d already done it, because then I could have talked to you all night when I was in jail not sleeping, or at least until you had to go to bed—”
“I wasn’t sleeping either,” said Scarlett with a shaky laugh. “I was too worried about you, and I hated being separated.”
“So does that mean you’re open to going through with the ceremony? I know it’s fast, but with the war breaking out… I already told you I regretted waiting as soon as we were attacked. It would give me a lot of peace while I’m gone.”
“I want to,” she said. “I want every part of me to belong to you.”
He loosened his hold on her, but all his attention was on her. “Scarlett, my soul will belong to you until I stop breathing, and probably even after that.”
Their lights circled each other rapidly.
“Say you’ll come with me. We could go to Clair tomorrow, do the ceremony at night. You’d be back the next day.”
A sudden lightness filled her. “I’ll come with you.”
His lips found hers, and they kissed until Cass coughed at the door of the cabin to let them know they’d arrived at the house.
Scarlett pulled back, glancing at Cass, who looked like she was holding back a smile. With a wave, she disappeared, and Scarlett turned back to Brayden. His flushed cheeks sent a shiver down her spine.
He stared back at her. “Your room. Now.”
CHAPTER
THIRTY-NINE
Scarlett and Brayden rushed through the quiet foyer and up the stairs. She thanked the Goddess no one got in their way to delay them with exclamations over Brayden’s return. She’d be happy to entertain that kind of chat later, but right now, no.
Inside her room, Brayden shut and locked the door behind them. When he turned around, Scarlett was already on the bed, pulling her boots off and flinging them to the floor. He was on her in seconds, and she clutched him to her, their lips crashing together in a bruising kiss as his body pressed into hers, pushing her down onto the bed.
An ache was already building in her.
She broke their kiss, her breaths jagged as she slid her hand down between them to grasp his stiff cock through his sweatpants. “I need you so badly right now.”
Her husband. Her North Star. Her everything. The man she’d chased through her dreams.
She’d been without him for so long. It had only been a few days, but it had seemed like forever.
The pain of their separation sat heavy in her gut, and she needed him to fuck that pain out to prove to her he was really here; really ready to be with her completely. Her need wasechoed in his gaze as he pressed himself into her hand.
“I need you too. Goddess, I do,” he groaned. Hiking up the skirt of her dress while she lay beneath him, he slid her panties to the side, exposing her.
Brayden inserted a finger, letting out a growl of pleasure. “So wet for me already,” he murmured.
She ground onto his finger, whimpering when one finger became two and protesting when they slid out of her, leaving her unsatisfied.
“Take these off,” he ordered, tugging at her underwear.
Scarlett slid her panties off and tossed them aside. Then she stood, intending to pull off her dress, but before she could, Brayden had spun her around so his hips were behind hers, her thighs pressed into the edge of the bed. He pushed her skirt up, his hand splaying across her stomach as his hard length rubbed against her backside. He lifted one of her knees onto the mattress.
Scarlett fell forward onto her forearms, her arse hovering in the air near the edge of the bed. She looked over her shoulder in anticipation, expecting to see him about to enter her, but instead he fell to his knees behind her.
