Her hand finds my chest again, resting over my heart.
“Then why … why make me do it?”
I turn my head and meet her eyes, but I don’t answer her. I can’t. Instead, I move until she’s beneath me and push inside her again. Her arms come up around my neck, her lips finding my jaw and pressing kisses along it.
I move inside her slowly, not chasing release, just feeling her around me. The way her body grips me, the soft sounds she makes, and the way her fingers thread through my hair.
And this time, I don’t freeze. I lean into it.
“Luchairn.” It comes out of my mouth before I can stop it.
She blinks up at me. “What?”
“My true name.” I keep moving inside her, slow and deep. “Luchairn Vaedráfn.”
Her eyes search my face. “Why are you telling me this?”
I could give her a hundred reasons, but there’s only one that matters.
“Because I want you to have it.”
I capture her lips with mine in a slow kiss, my tongue sliding along hers, then lift my head.
“I’d very much like you to use it.”
“Luchairn.” She’s moving with me now, her hips rising to meet mine. “Luchairn.”
I kiss her, swallowing my name from her mouth and move faster. She wraps around me, her legs around my waist, arms around my neck.
“Say it when you come.”
I thrust deep. Her back arches.
“Luchairn.” She comes apart with my true name on her lips, and I follow her over.
I came into this thinking I would ruin her.
I didn’t expect her to ruin me back.
THIRTY-NINE
ALLERIA
I wake alone.
For a long moment, I don’t move, staring at the ceiling, aware of my body in a way I’ve never been before. Every muscle feels loose, almost liquid. There’s an ache between my thighs that pulses when I shift my weight, and a deeper soreness that spreads through my hips and lower back. My lips feel swollen, and when I run my tongue across them, they’re tender.
I’m going to ruin you.
My face heats at the memory of his voice, low and certain. The way he’d looked at me when he said it.
He kept his promise.
I bring a hand to my mouth, pressing my fingers against my lips. They’redefinitelyswollen. I can feel the slight puffiness, the tenderness where his teeth caught my lower lip. And when I move my hand down to my throat, there are tender spots there too. Places where his mouth lingered and his teeth nipped hard enough to leave marks.
Rolling onto my back, I push the sheet away, uncovering my body, and look down.
There are bruises on my thighs, purple and red, shaped like his fingers and mouth. There’s another mark on my hip where his fingers gripped me, and more scattered across my breasts. Faint, but visible. Evidence of everywhere his mouth traveled during the night.
