I could barely think straight. Could barely keep my eyes open and focused.
He withdrew to his tip, making slow circles, power rolling out in waves. My hands bunched the sheets. “I see your magic.” I panted. “It’s red and gold.”
“And what does that mean?” He made a quick stab, halfway in, and my breath caught, a gurgle escaping my throat.
“Tell me, Marietta, come on, lovely one,” he coaxed. “Accept that you are desired.”
I couldn’t answer.Couldn’t.
“Accept that I want you. Someone so loyal and fierce.” He thrust all the way in, pushing me up the sheets. My entire body bowed. My hand wound around his neck, into the silky dark hair at his nape. He stopped moving, another form of torture. I tried to move beneath him, but he had me pinned. Leaning fully on his hands, the muscles in his arms bunched and tight, in total control.
“Vexing and magnificent.” He made another tortuous circuit.
I squeezed him inside me—desperately trying anything—intuitively grabbing the only physical move I had left. He stilled. I squeezed him again, and a third time, the squeezes getting weaker but my desperation growing with the magic I pulsed instead—wanting him to lose control and move again.
He leaned down and chuckled in my ear, his rotating hips making me forget to squeeze. “Naughty and divine. Accept that I want you, while you make meburn.”
A thrust so deep I felt it in my heart. Darkness, my mouth opened in a silent scream. An ache throbbed so intensely that I nearly begged. To end it. To continue. To give me more.
A tongue swiped my nipple. His roughened cheek grazed my throat, my cheek, as his lips trailed across and settled on my open mouth. My hand tightened in his hair. I squeezed him inside me.
His mouth pulled away from mine and I found myself looking into brilliant green eyes, brighter than I’d ever seen them, almost too bright to look at, no more than a few inches above my own. “What do those lovely brown eyes see?”
“Desire.” I licked my lips, the taste of him all over me. “And secrets still beyond my understanding.”
“Yes.” Magic spread. “And?”
I didn’t want to say what I saw there. It would be too embarrassing if I were wrong. “Friendship?”
Now he just looked amused.
“Companionship?”
His lips quirked. He leaned down and his breath brushed my ear as he nibbled the lobe. “Interesting. But not quite. Can you handle more?”
My heart picked up its beat. “I want to. Yes.”
“Then accept it all.” He moved, a soft thrust that lit my nerves on fire. Again, slowly and deeply, hitting a place far beyond. Cheeks aflame, throat tight, dizzy with his words and magic, a feeling of completion, overwhelming and inevitable, swept toward me.
“A rolling wave, or the crescendo of a frenzied dance?”
I squeezed again in answer, sending last gasps of magic pulsing through. Something wild flashed through his eyes. Hepulled back and drove fast and deep. Again. And again. Pulling at the stars on my wrist. Circulating my magic with his. I moaned something or said something or shouted something as I went flying through the air, convulsing feverishly around him as he continued to fill and stroke me.
To complete me.
And maybe…maybe I’d gone and done the stupid thing and fallen in love.
Chapter 15
MARIETTA
Slam. The ceiling of Gabriel’s room shot into view. Footsteps pounded through the downstairs hallway. An empty pillow next to mine. Loud voices. A crash. I pulled on my robe and ran down the stairs.
“This is serious, Gabriel.” Lucian and Alcroft paced the kitchen. Even with their movement, Gabriel, seated, appeared the one on the prowl.
