I did the same. His eyes. His lips. His hair. His warmth beneath me. The patterning of his light freckles. All of him.
He kissed me long and deep, then drew back a fraction, eyes searching, questioning:Are you sure?
Holding his gaze, I raised my arms in answer.
A familiar, promising grin washed away any uncertainty, and he freed me of my shirt, tossing it aside.
He held me in place as he kissed my chest, then licked his way up to the base of my throat. A shaky breath filled my lungs. I wanted him, now. But I let him play and taste and grab and bite to his heart’s content—my body was his canvas to immortalize as he saw fit.
Still on his lap, I slipped off my brassiere and leaned back, giving him greater access. His hands took full advantage, skittering up my sides and finding their quarry as my bare flesh filled his firm grasp. He leaned in and sucked a breast into his mouth, and I braced myself, letting the slick, tantalizing sensation roll through my body. A guttural moan escaped me as his teeth danced across my nipple.
In one swift movement, Eithan flipped our positions.
He towered over me, and the ravenous look in his eyes sent a fresh wave of heat through my core. His weight pressed against me as he stole a kiss, and I could feel his firm length at the ready. Stars, how I wished there was no fabric between us.
Eithan made his way down, down, down, and finally released me from my remaining garments. He knelt between my legs, pausing for a moment to take all of me in; then he lowered himself.
I throbbed in anticipation.
He licked straight up my core, firmly sucking in the bundle of nerves at my apex. My head tilted back with a gasp, hips rising as my hands clasped the blanket at my sides hard enough that I grabbed a handful of pebbles through the fabric.
“Oh gods.”I was sure I only thought the words, but Eithan’s rumbled laugh had me digging my heels into the beach.
Sweat dappled my brow as blissful tension waxed, and just as I was on the cusp, Eithan slid two fingers in and pumped with precision, shattering me completely.
Breathing heavily, I was satisfied—and rapacious for more.
Eithan flipped me over, and I lifted my hips toward him, bracing the heels of my palms against the ground hard enough that the rocks below cut into my flesh.
The tip of him grazed my entrance. Heart pounding, I held my breath. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. Gods, the wai—Eithan plunged himself in fully, pulling a gasp from me as I jolted forward, then rebalanced as the torrid pleasure flitted through every facet of my body.
All tenderness was gone as he fervently worked to pleasure both of us, and with a slight tilt of my hips, he did just that. Within moments, our sounds of release echoed across the lake until they were swallowed by the woods.
We stayed there for a time until Eithan withdrew himself and we collapsed next to one another, still reeling from the primal satisfaction coursing through our veins.
Once recovered, we indulged in anothergoodbyebefore washing off one last time, then made our way back down the mountain.
Our final farewell was a silent affair as we stood at the cabin’s timber line. Eithan cradled me in his safety for longer than he had to spare. My hands clutched his garments hard enough that the painful tingle in my fingers had long since been replaced by a cold numbness.
His grip slowly loosened, and my body went rigid in response.
Tiny fissures cracked in my heart with each fraction of space that grew between us, and I had to tamp down the urge to grab at him, to stop him from letting me go, to beg him to stay.
His lips pressed against my forehead, and I savored the last time I would receive him in that way. A rogue tear slid down my cheek, and he caressed it away as he gave me the familiar half-smile I’d witnessed a million times before. Then the softness of his lips brushed mine.
Wordlessly, Eithan turned away, and I watched as he was swallowed by the shadowed forest until all traces of him were gone.
I stared out in that direction long after he’d vanished, trying to settle into the strange new feelings that flooded me.
Stumbling, my back found supportagainst a tree, and I sank to the ground as the bark snagged on my jacket. One at a time, I pulled my knees into my chest, curled my arms around them, and let my head droop.
Tears accumulated on the ground below as I reminded myself to breathe. Just breathe.
Chapter 6
Family and Foe
Eithan’s touch lingered the next morning as I lay in bed, tracing a thumb across my lips, trying to preserve any vestige of him. The memory of yesterday fluttered down to my toes, and I allowed my mind to flash back to our echoing sounds of pleasure.
