For a moment we stood frozen in absolute silence.
I reached my arms overhead and stretched, my breasts lifting with the motion. If Garrick possessed the keen eyesight that the half-fae blood in his veins promised, he could not help but see. Then I rolled my shoulders one final time before lying down on the furs.
It was cold. Of course it was cold. It was Velora at night, in the middle of a cursed, perpetual winter. But I was a frost witch. The cold had already killed me once. My second death would be at a different hand.
For several beats of silence, I thought his better judgment might win out. I even slid my hand down the center of my body, prepared to see to my own needs. It would be Garrick’s name I called out when I climaxed.
“I am the only one who will be touching you there tonight.”
My fingers fluttered around my belly button.
“Is that so?” I breathed, my voice shaking. I had not lost my confidence, but the pure eroticism of him speaking to me likethat, his voice heavy with command, knocked loose something primal within me.
Every footstep he took across the campsite was a physical sensation within my body, thrumming with the anticipation of him coming closer. But he did not reach for me or take off his clothing or join me in the furs. He stood at the edge of my bedroll, fully clothed, staring down at my naked body.
Even in the dark, I could see the faint glow of his remarkable turquoise eyes.
“Get on your knees, Koryn.”
Gods help me, I did as he commanded.
My lower lip pouted out, but Garrick was there to catch it. He scraped his thumb over the sensitive skin, his callouses drawing out a tingle of pain. I slid my tongue forward, eager for everything he’d give me.
He caught my wrist, lifting it to his mouth. I expected him to press a kiss to the palm or the fresh pink scar on the inside of my arm. Instead, he dragged his tongue over the Lifebind inked on my skin. My back bowed, my entire existence centering in on the feeling of his hot tongue against my cool skin.
He cursed under his breath in that foreign tongue he only used when he was at the edge of his control.
“You can say no at any time,” he said, his voice rough as the words scraped out. He was as affected as I was. I nodded. Of course I did.
“I need to hear you say it, Koryn. You need to say aloud that you will tell me to stop if that is what you want.”
There was such power in his voice, barely restrained. Every line of his body was corded with muscle, his voice lined with strength, but I understood what he meant. He might tell me what to do, but I held the power in this exchange.
“I can tell you to stop at any time,” I said. I would have said anything if it got him to keep touching me.
“If you ask it, I will stop.” He dragged his tongue over my Lifebind again. “Even if it fucking kills me.”
I licked my lips, remembering how it had driven him to distraction in the tavern. “Are you going to stand there with all your clothes on? It seems impossibly unfair.”
“Everything about this is unfair,” Garrick said, but he was already shedding his leather vest. The layers of wool and linen followed until he was bare-chested before me.
I could see well in the dark, but it wasn’t enough. I needed to touch him.
“Oh no, witch.” Garrick caught my wrist again. This time, his hold was much firmer. “First, you have to watch.”
I rocked back on my heels, a frustrated huff escaping my lips as he released me and then hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his fitted leather breeches. I sucked in a breath as he tugged them down. There was not enough air in the clearing, probably not in the entire world.
His cock was bigger than I’d imagined even in my wildest fantasies. The hard length that I’d felt through his trousers in the tavern was nothing compared to the reality of him, erect and throbbing a few inches from my face. I’d never particularly enjoyed taking men in my mouth, but with Garrick it felt like aneed. All I had to do was bob my head forward, and I could drag my tongue down the glistening seam…
“You are a wicked thing, aren’t you?” Garrick growled.
I tipped my head up, meeting his eyes in the darkness. I could not help it—I licked my lips again. Garrick’s entire chest moved as he groaned. But instead of leaning forward and giving me what I was certain we both wanted, he reached between us and pumped his cock several times.
“Everything about you seems designed to torture me,” he said as he stroked.
My pussy clenched as I watched the motion, wishing it were my walls that clung to that rigid length instead of his fingers.
“It seems to me that you are torturing yourself,” I said, my throat sliding.
