‘And the other?’
There is no smirk on his lips. None of the usual playful teasing. My breathing is growing shallower. I try to find the force to resist the inevitable, but do I want to? No, I don’t. That’s the truth. I don’t want to fight it anymore. This is what I’ve wanted since that night in the temple all those weeks ago.
‘I seem to have forgotten the other reason I came here.’ My voice is barely a whisper.
‘I don’t think that’s true,’ he replies. ‘I think you know exactly what you want. I told you. If you want it, you only have to ask.’
I remember. Of course I remember. But it’s a line that, once crossed, there’ll be no coming back from.
I wet my lips. ‘I want it,’ I breathe.
He smiles. ‘Good girl. You’re going to be mine,’ he promises. ‘Say it.’
‘Yours,’ I stutter out.
‘That’s right.’ He moves closer until there’s barely anything between us and I’m backed up against the wall. He slides his fingers into my hair and fists it in his hand, causing a moan to slip from my lips. His eyes darken, and his restraint snaps.
Chapter 51
He presses his lips to mine and his taste floods me as his mouth claims mine with an urgency that borders on desperation. No smart remarks. No more teasing. Just the raw need that fills us both. As heat floods through me, he tilts his head and bites down on my lower lip. A low, guttural groan escapes my throat, and before I can catch my breath, he seizes me, his hips locking me in place as his thumb grazes along my jaw.
‘Gods, Thorn,’ he groans. ‘You have no idea what you do to me.’
My hand reaches around the back of his neck, grasping a handful of his hair as I pull myself deeper into the kiss. As slick as I feel myself becoming, this isn’t enough. I need more. I need all of him.
As if reading my mind, his hand scoops around me and he hoists me upward, my legs going around his hips. The moan that fills the air comes from him this time, but it might as well be mine. I no longer have control over my body. No longer care what happens beyond this moment.
The trials. The gifting. Whatever the hell I did to Oke. None of it matters. All I can think about is this. The feel of his body pressed against mine and how much more I need.
His hands slip up my top with deliberate slowness, so that I’m nearly crying out by the time his rough fingertips finally skim over my nipples. I swear they’ve never been so sensitive. He strokes them lightly, and then he gives them a gentle squeeze, which becomes a more forceful pinch. Conscious of the staff just on the other side of the door, I use all mywillpower not to let out a loud moan. Instead, I bite down on my bottom lip, clenching my eyes closed as I fight to maintain a tiny scrap of self-control.
‘Don’t,’ he orders. His hand moves from my breast to my jaw, his thumb brushing against the corner of my mouth. ‘Don’t hold back. Don’t be quiet. How else am I going to learn what you like? To know whether you like a soft touch’—his fingers skim my nipple again—‘or a more forceful one?’ He pinches my nipple then and my hips arch into him. ‘Ah. Thorn, you like a little pain.’ It’s his turn to groan. ‘You were made for me.’
Gods, his voice. I didn’t know it was possible for a voice to make me so wet, and yet here I am, drenched.
My thighs squeeze, not to hold on, but because the distance is too great. I need him closer. I need the friction of him inside me. Fingers, tongue, cock … I don’t care. I just need something more. The hunger is all-consuming as his fingers continue their exploration while his mouth closes in around my neck, kissing, licking, nibbling, eliciting another whimper of delight.
‘That’s better.’ His voice is a breathless groan that causes my body to slicken further, if that’s even possible. ‘That sound. You have no idea how fucking hard it makes me.’
‘I have a fair idea,’ I manage to respond. I can feel him pressing into me through the thickness of our trousers, but it’s not enough. I need to actually feel him. I’m throbbing, pulsing with feral desire. Letting instinct take over, I roll my hips down, increasing the pressure on us both. Another moan ripples from his throat and my body responds by bucking deep into him. There’s too much fabric. I need to be free of it. I need him, all of him.
I release my arms from his neck, tightening my legs around him to hold myself in place as I pull my top over my head.
A feeling of satisfaction rises in me as a muffled gasp catches in his throat before he lowers his mouth to the top of my breast. I tilt my head away, allowing him to trace his tongue down, weaving a line towards my nipples. As my back arches, I push further into him. I’m so close to begging for release that my entire body is trembling, but at the same time, I don’t want this to end.
It’s taking every bit of control I have not to rip his trousers off and wrap my hand around his cock, yet somehow my fingers stay in his hair as I lean into him. His hands are everywhere, one still on the back of my neck, holding me in place, while the other explores before coming back to my breasts, rolling my nipples between his fingers.
‘More,’ I gasp, unable to hold back any longer. ‘I need more.’
He doesn’t question. Instead, he holds me tight as he turns me around, throws me down on the bed, and removes his top.
Fuck me, he is perfect. Every single inch of his torso is carved and glistening beneath those bands of circle tattoos, and I want to touch it all. Every part that is visible to me, and every part he’s still keeping hidden. I lift my hand and run my fingers along the pinkest scar on his body. The one that I sewed up. He pulled the stitches out himself, rather than asking me. Why does that not surprise me?
‘It’s my favourite one,’ he purrs as he notices where I’m staring. ‘Because it reminds me of the first time you put your hands on me. The first time I heard you moan, Thorn. The first time Imadeyou moan.’
Gods know, he’s going to hear me moan more.
I sit up, my breathing shallow and ragged as I drag my hand over his chest, tracing that thin line of hair that leads downwards to my reward. His head tilts back as he groans out my name, melting me into a puddle beneath him. I’m going to come the second he slides into me. I already know it. I just hope to hell I have the same effect on him. Because that’s what I want most. Even more than feeling the release in my body. I need to feel his release inside me.
