She took several deep breaths. “A moment, and I’ll be fine.”
So brave. She would accept him into her body, knowing what he was. Where he’d been.
Before the black memories took over and ruined this beautiful moment, he shoved back his thoughts and bolted his shields. This was about her.
Reaching between their bodies, he slid his fingers over her slick flesh, thumbing the tiny nub until her discomfort dissipated and arousal darkened her eyes once more. She moved beneath him, her legs wrapping around his hips.
“Now.”
Unable to resist her breathy whisper, braced on his elbows to keep most of his weight off her, he lowered his head and kissed her deeply. In a single hard thrust, he sheathed himself completely inside her. Her cry of pain echoed in his ears and squeezed his heart, her fingers digging into his forearms.
By the heavens, she was so small. He held still, waited for her to grow accustomed to him. Tears shimmered in her eyes, and something inside him shifted, softened. Tenderly, he wiped away the single drop that escaped.
She humbled him, giving him the purity of her body. Overwhelmed with all the feelings crowding him, he kissed her again, revering her with his lips. He let his healing powers—such as they were—flow into her, hoping it would ease her.
Her body tensed and she pulled her mouth free and gasped in surprise. The discomfort in her expression gave way to wonder. Reassured, he eased out of her in a long slow glide then surged right back in again. Pleasure flowed across her face.
Her legs tightened around him once more. He thrust in and out, harder, faster in a ruthless rhythm, driving her towards release. The pressure in his groin grew, pushing him to the edge. He struggled to hold on, not to spill himself inside her—his thumb rolled over her clit, her climax exploded, her body pulsing around him as she fell.
Fuck, he had to pull out before it was too late. He started to withdraw even though everything in him protested. But she grabbed his arms, as if sensing his decision. “No—” she breathed. “Don’t.”
“Eve, I can’t do this to you.”
“Don’t care,” she whispered, reaching up to caress his face. “I waited all my life for you.”
At her tender gesture, the heartfelt words, he closed his eyes as mistiness blurred his vision.
Her fingers entangled in his hair, she pulled him to her and kissed him deeply. Like a temptress, she wiggled her hips for him to move, and naturally, his fragile resistance crumpled.
Hell, he had none when it came to her, no matter what he said…because his heart belonged to her.
She grabbed his wrists to hold on as he pounded into her. Her pants of pleasure rang in his ears. Her feminine muscles fisted him, and his entire being unraveled. As he drove faster into her, a strange, powerful force took hold of him. He could do little to stop his life force from merging with hers.
Her eyes widened, the blue mating light shimmering in her green irises as he claimed her in the elemental way of his kind. “Your eyes,” she gasped. “Glowing. Pretty.”
He merely shook his head.
Her body bowed up as another orgasm ripped through her. Her core squeezed his cock so tight, a strangled grunt left his throat. He followed hard, releasing himself into her as a warm light flowed through him, brightening every dark corner of his soul.
Breathing harshly, he pressed his face in the scented hollow of her neck. That claiming white light inside him, a soft glow now. There was no darkness, no crushing rage that normally consumed him after his rare sexual encounters. Ones that usually left him empty afterwards.
Peace. Warmth. Eve.
Mine.
Her arms came around him, and his heart stuttered. She held him like he mattered. He could barely swallow at the emotions swarming him. She hauled him out of the nightmarish hell he’d lived in for so long and made intimacy beautiful for him again.
She’d completely undone him.
***
Eve held onto Reynner, still in the grips of her orgasmic euphoria. She floated outside her body, had no idea what had happened to them except that this was beyond her wildest imaginings. He was hot, thick, and still hard inside of her; she loved the tight feel of him.
He raised his head to look at her. “Are you all right?”
She nodded, unable to speak.
“I’m too heavy to stay atop you,” he rasped and withdrew.
