“What if those secrets are deadly ones?”
I let out a small laugh and wiggle my hands. “I know all about those.” He doesn’t reply, but I can feel him thinking. “Don’t take away my choices because you want to protect me.”
“I would never do that. But I don’t want you to be hurt.”
“I won’t be,” I reply.
After a fraught beat, he leans up to close the distance between us—one big palm sliding down my spine and bringing me flush up against him, chest to chest—and gently kisses my lips. They part automatically, welcoming him in. When his tongue slips in to taste me, exploring my mouth and flicking sweetly at my teeth, I sigh in utter relief.
Something deep inside whimpers in protest, but I silence those insecurities with ruthless ease. Shutting my mind off, I just feel.
I register the spicy taste of cloves and cinnamon before my fingers glide down to clutch his shoulders to me and crash us together. I want more. It feels like I want to climb inside of him. To bask in his taste, his warmth, and the honeyed tenderness of this embrace. A groan rumbles through him as he cups my head and his mouth slants over mine. His lips are warm and firm and strong, leaving no part of my mouth unexplored.
Sands, I want to kiss him forever.
“What was that for?” I whisper to him when we break apart, both equally dazed.
“That’s how I should have kissed you earlier, but you took me by surprise, and I wanted to be a gentleman.” He shoots me that soft, crooked smile he saves only for me. “I’ve wanted to kiss you since our first dance at the palace, by the way. I just wasn’t sure it was what you wanted.”
“Iwanted,just so we’re clear,” I say, blushing hotly at my blunt admission and tugging him to me as my fingers wind into the silky strands of his hair. “I also wanted to throttle you, so there’s that, too.” I grin cheekily at him, then claim his lips with mine.
The last kiss had been gentle and sweet—us getting to know each other. This second one is less so—rife with something deeper and darker as we grind and writhe into each other. Fueled by ravenous need, and desperate to ease the hunger inside of me, I take the lead as my lips nibble across the seam of his, coaxing them open again for the lash of his silken tongue, his breath mingling with mine on a surprised exhale when I graze my teeth over his tongue. He bites my lip in retaliation with a sexy little growl.
Flames explode in my chest as his fingers flex on my nape, tilting my head to deepen the kiss, spangles of heat bursting everywhere. Not the deadly Starkeeper kind of heat, but a hot, tingling sensation that makes every hair on my skin feel like it’s lifting off my body. His fingers tangle into my loosened plait, and for a breathless moment, I wonder what it would feel like for him to hold me like this, firm in his grasp, my braid captive while he thrusts into my welcoming flesh. From behind.
Stars above...
I might not have much actual experience, but my imagination has had plenty of practice. Moaning into his mouth at the wicked fantasies taking over my brain, I match his commanding, wet strokes and licks until I’m breathless and weak-boned. When he finally breaks away, he’s panting, staring at me with those mesmerizing golden-brown eyes—pupils nearly blown out with desire.
He leans his forehead against mine. “I didn’t expect any of this,” he whispers. “Ashes, Suraya, I didn’t expect you.”
“Nor I you.”
He exhales. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
I shift to whisper in his ear before I bite his earlobe. Hard. “I swear to all the desert creatures in existence, if you ask me that again, I will throw you in that pool and drown you.”
“So feisty.”
“As though that’s any great shock.” I grin and stick out my tongue,which he captures with his mouth and follows with another brain-melting kiss. In one fluid motion he flips us, never breaking the kiss, one hand against my back to protect me from the stone. I gasp as he settles his weight deliciously between my thighs. I wrap my legs around the backs of his calves, feeling the thick length of him grind harder against my drenched center. A ragged whimper escapes me. “Sands, you feel too good to be real.”
With a wicked grin, he shifts downward, nose trailing against my throat. “I’m real, and I’ll prove it to you.”
“What, where are you going—”
But when his hot mouth closes over the peak of my nipple through the thin fabric of my chemise, all thought deserts me. I can onlyfeelas his teeth scrape against my sensitive budded flesh and arch upward when he bites down gently. He tugs at the hem of my shirt. “This needs to come off.”
No objection here!
I start to lift the fabric, but he takes over, relieving it of me in a flash. And then I am lying bare before him, my breasts on indecent display. They’re not huge, and I wonder if he’s disappointed at my lack of fullness. My curves are all in my ample ass and thighs.
My worry flies away when he groans softly, filling his palms with each breast. “By the maker, you’re fucking perfect.”
His thumbs flick over my nipples, the rasp of his bare skin on the tips a new sensation that has my body quivering. He pinches one gently, and I hiss. When he lowers his head once more and his tongue laps at the tight peak, I nearly pass out.
Something wild is winding up in my body, building like a sandstorm over the desert. I’m sure I could climax from him touching my breasts alone. But Roshan is a man with a purpose, and he moves down, trailing hot wet kisses along my trembling stomach, grazing his teeth over my hip bones, and licking the spot just above the waistband of my undergarments. A full-body shiver rolls through me at the swipe of his tongue below the drawstring.
Heated dark eyes meet mine when his fingers hook into the ties of the fabric. “May I, Suraya?”
