She couldn’t take it any longer. She grabbed his face and slammed her mouth against his, letting her tongue graze his fang. Letting him taste just one moredrop of her lifeforce.
Saiden threw his head back and growled, “You’re killing me, Cora. I need you to come for me now. I need to feel you clenching around me.”
Then he reached down to flick her clit with his thumb, and she was lost to him. A second orgasm rolled through her in a crashing wave of pleasure she would gladly drown in.
Moments later, Saiden shouted his own release in a deep roar that felt like he was announcing his claim to the world, and the pure warmth that filled Cora was unlike anything she’d ever felt before. Unlike anything she would ever feel again.
Hope to survive? Talk about naïve.
She was already gone.
Chapter thirty-five
Saiden
The last vestiges of day surrendered to night’s tranquil embrace while Saiden lay next to Cora in the small grassy meadow. He’d been worried at first that things might be awkward after, but she’d let him curl her body into his side and leisurely stroke her arms as they shifted into idle post-coital chatter.
At one point he felt her shiver, and he dashed up to retrieve their clothes from above the waterfall before she even realized he was gone. Her underwear was beyond saving, so he only handed over her leggings and shirt, hoping she didn’t notice that he pocketed the wet scraps of fabric.
Once dressed, he lay back down, waiting with strained breath to see what she would do. A blissful sigh eased out of him when she molded her body to his once more, this time wrapping her arm up and over his chest to snuggle.
“Tell me something about yourself,” she said, resting her cheek on his shoulder. “You're like this big mystery that I don’t know anything about other than the one rather notable fact.”
“That I’m an incredible lover?”
She laughed and playfully smacked his arm. “That’s not what I meant.” She paused, then added, “Even if it is accurate.”
He was pretty sure he found his new favorite color when she blushed a little, and the crimson hue of her cheeks accented the strawberry scent enveloping him like a cloud. He didn’t even notice the medicinal tinge anymore. All he smelled was her. If he closed his eyes, he could practically imagine himself sitting in a berry field, feeding slices of pie to Cora. It was tempting to lick the side of her face and see if she tasted as good as she smelled since he had already experienced just how delectable other parts of her were.
“It’s just a little weird,” Cora continued. “I feel like I’ve known you for years, and yet I don’t actually know anything.”
Saiden knew exactly what she meant. He could barely remember his life before Cora, and he couldn’t imagine his life without her.
“I like to crochet,” he offered, needing to lighten the mood before he did something stupid like confess his eternal and undying love.
“No, you don’t,” she said with a giggle, and the sound was sweeter than any music.
“I’m serious,” he replied, nuzzling the top of her head. “I spend a lot of time on surveillance just sitting around. If I don’t keep my hands busy, I’ll go insane. Don’t tell my cousins, though. I’d never live it down.”
Cora propped herself up and gave him a dubious look. “You’re not messing with me?”
“Not even a little bit,” he said, removing a stray twig from her tangled hair. “My little sister used to knit all the time a few hundred years ago. I like crocheting better, but it still reminds me of her.”
She blinked at him a couple times as if the factoid short-circuited her brain cells.
“What do you make?” she asked once the gears seemed to resetthemselves.
“Little animals usually. Sometimes I come across human children when I’m hunting rogues, so I’ll leave one with them for comfort until Tressa arrives to wipe their memories.”
Cora’s eyes searched his face for so long that the scrutiny started to make him uncomfortable.
“What?”
She shook her head, then lay back down on his chest. “You just keep surprising me is all.”
“And that’s a good thing?”
She sighed. “Honestly? I’m not sure yet.”
