Give over? Surrender the darkness for the promise ofeverythingas if he had it to give? As if three bands of Caledonian gold had no consequence, and my submission would create balance?
I blinked through the fog but didn’t sneer. Merely met his pitch-dark gaze and let him see his intention satisfied. Let him see the dark flames rekindle behind my eyes without hinting at the cause, for I would play the part until the perfect moment was revealed. Until I could strikeonceand deal a devastating blow.
Restoring balance, whatever the cost.
And when the space between us grew ripe with tension five years in the making,Iwas the one who closed the gap. Who claimed his lips and inhaled his ragged groan.
Warmth—both soft and gritty—washed over delicate skin as he pressed closer. Meeting my timid advance with an intensity I was unprepared to match. Taking liberties, his hands explored the length of my back. Passing over scars and unblemished skin without discrimination, radiating a heady greed unique to the last rare and dangerous thing.
Intoxicating, even for the lie.
Gasping, his hands dropped to my hips, fingers kneading, spreading my ass on the lip of the stool. Bunching the fabric of my torn dress with unspent strain, he notched narrow hips between my thighs and ground himself against my uncovered mound. Throbbing with need. Separated by nothing more than what remained of his restraint and the buckle binding his trousers.
I broke away, clinging to his pendant even as I strained for breath. Chest heaving, keeping the edges of my borrowed, ruined silk together with branded fingers while slick heat soaked the bulge strainingjustbeyond my reach.
“Easy,” he murmured, and placed a kiss on the frenetic pulse beneath my jaw. Pinched it between his teeth, as if willing it to slow. As if this inferno could be trusted asnaturaland not the true abomination it was.“Fucksakes, girl—” he licked me from collarbone to jaw. “The taste of you.”
Squeezing him between my knees, I arched. “Gross. Wasn’t”—my left hand dropped, scrambling for purchase on the countertop behind me—“wasn’t there blood? And… and soot?”
“Don’t care.” He nipped my earlobe. Soothing it with his lips. Bathing the assault with his tongue, even as my hips bucked.
I grunted, eyes rolling back. Gooseflesh prickling in the wake of his touch. Too fast! This was happening—
Thrusting again, hissing as he strained against me, his right hand twisted in the hair at my nape, thickening my veins with the sheer weight of his desire.
“Can’t”—my nails bit the back of his neck—“can’t breathe.” Can’t think…
He abandoned my ear, drawing me to him with a hand on either side of my bottom. “Wrap your legs around me.”
The command pulled my lips back in a snarl before I could register that he’d spoken.
Grinning, he met my challenge. Jerked me off the stool with a single, practiced tug that saw my dress ride up. Saw it race past decency only to collide with obscenity without signs of slowing. Not stopping until my thighs were balanced about his hips and my melting core kissed his bellybutton. Splayed around his middle, there wasnothingbetween us. Nothing at all to disguise the slick mess he’d inspired between my legs. No denying just how well I could play this part.
With him.
The ring in my pocket swung out of sight and reach, and he adjusted my position, jostling the frayed edges of my dress. Revealing pebbled breasts to heated inspection.
I watched his pupils dilate, then. Watched that inky ring swallow what little color might have been in his eyes, and did nothing to stop his advance. I stared as he attacked my left nipple, shadowed beard scratching an itch I hadn’t allowed to exist untilthatmoment. Sucking and nibbling at my sanity.
Teeth bared, I shifted against his heat. Ground againsthimin an effort to ease the ache knotting my lower back and in doing so, wet that dark smattering of hair trailing down his belly… past his buckle and beyond.
“Fuck,”he gasped against my nipple, refusing to free the tormented bud.
A distantthumpand follow-up laughter reached our ears. Alicia and Marco, close enough to hear whatever disgraceful thing I was about to do. Interrupting us too late to stop whatever it took to maintain this lie, but enough to demand he, “Take me upstairs.Now.”
Smirking, he obeyed. Hands spreading the taut globes of my bottom, my dark captain left the kitchen in a swirl of wet kisses and breathy, desperate little sounds. Footsteps unfaltering, he took the stairs without breaking from my flushed skin. Each step bringing me closer tothemoment and whatever lay on the other side.
Thighs wrapped tight, I tangled my fingers in his hair and let him feast. Let him fill me with fervor and drown the malice that had long lived between us, drunk on the naughty thrill of doing just that. Delighted by the strength keeping me aloft and the hands that wandered at will. Kneading and trembling.
When we made the landing, he growled, pressing me to the doorframe guarding his bedroom. Exertion pounded beneath his skin and through the bond as his breath came hot and ragged—laced with broken restraint. He abandoned my left thigh, pinning me to the wall with one foot on the floor, the other draped around his hip. Leaving me spread. Vulnerable as he ground his erection exactly where I ached the most.
And, haste battling greed for the right to strip me bare, he attacked the tie keeping my ruined dress secure, then stooped to plant a kiss to my sternum. The act somehow seemed more intimate than allowing him to suckle at my breast or wash my hair—or indeed, touch me at all.
Head braced against the doorframe, I gasped, helpless as the knot came free and black silk pooled between our hips. Habit saw me flinch, grabbing for the edges of silken protection before I was well and truly exposed. But it was ingrown deceit that drove me to catch the garment before it fell, concealing secret Glaith beneath the guise of trembling innocence.
My bonded was undeterred. Forcing hesitation to die so completion might live, he kissed me. Tongue plunging past my lips to flick over the points of modified canines, heedless of the danger. And then, sweeping his hands up my ribs—hips to armpits—he broke away. Pausing to douse me with a look that seared my flesh and tightened my nipples.
Brushing the sides of my breasts, he framed my bust in rough hands, making me shiver as I stood. Waiting. Allowing him to look, unimpeded.
