He caught me, strong arms crushing me to his chest as he pressed kisses to my head and my temple. I lifted my face to him, bathing in his regard as if he was the sun and I was starved of its light. His kisses rained down on my cheeks, finally finding my mouth. Lips warm. Firm. Real. His cranberry scent, sharp and clean, purely him, made my head spin in the most beautiful way. He was here. He’d found me just like he’d promised to.
“Leela, Leela, Leela.” He kissed me again and again, each contact deeper until my head buzzed with emotions and my body ached with desire.
I clutched at his tunic, tearing at it to get to his skin, to feel him beneath my palms, warm and silken, taut and mine. I wanted my lips on him. To taste him. To devour him.
He pulled away slightly, his large hands cupping my face. “I want you,” he said breathless, his gaze searing me. “I want you here and now.” He brought his lips to mine, the contact a soft caress. A question. My pulse leapt. “Can I have you, Leela?”
Those words were an echo from the past, from our first intimate night together. My eyes heated, and I nodded, lips trembling as I held back a tide of emotion.
“Yes. Yes, please.”
He scooped me off my feet and carried me toward the bed that had appeared behind us.
I laughed softly. “Benefits of a dreamscape, huh?”
His eyes smiled down at me, dark hunger burning in their depths, and my amusement was crushed beneath a wave of desire that twisted low in my belly.
“Oh…”
“I’m sorry.” He swallowed hard. “Is it too much? The connection. The need.”
His fingers flexed where they held me, squeezing and releasing and squeezing again. I closed my eyes for a beat, clinging to him as need washed over me, coalescing between my thighs and pulsing there eagerly.
“Leela…” His voice was gruff, and when I opened my eyes and looked up at him, I saw my longing echoed on his face, in the tension of his jaw and intensity of his gaze.
“I want you inside me.”
He exhaled on a growl and slowly lowered me onto the bed, covering me with his body. His dark pupils drank me in, his warm breath on my cheek evoking a twist and throb of desire between my thighs and setting my pulse pumping eagerly, hungrily.
He brushed my bottom lip with his thumb, and my mouth parted, tongue flicking out to taste his skin. A low vibration moved his chest, and then his mouth was on mine. Crushing. Ravenous. Claiming. I sank my fingers into his hair, fisting and pulling him closer, cradling him to me as I opened for him, tongues meeting in a primal dance of surrender.
He covered my body with his, hands skimming and sliding down my body to grip my waist, my hips, to pinch and squeeze. Then lower, cupping me through fabric, pressing down on my heat. I lifted my hips, wanting his touch, needing it. Fingers of flame licked at my skin, and the next moment, there was no fabric between us. We were flame to flame. His powerful body kissed mine, his hips insinuating themselves between mine, nestling, hot, and hard at my core. I rolled my hips, wanting to feel him there, and he sucked in a sharp breath.
“Fuck…” His golden eyes flared, skin gleaming as if fire danced beneath it.
“I told myself that I wanted to talk to you…” He met the roll of my hips with delicious pressure, and a pulse of hunger rocked through me. “I told myself that was all, but Leela. I need you.” His voice cracked, gruff and vulnerable. “I need this. Us.” He reached down, parting me with thick fingers.
A soft cry spilled from my lips as he thrust with his fingers. Opening me. Deeper. Wider.
“Araz…Gods…”
“Fuck the gods,” he growled. “They have no place here. Not between us.”
He crushed his mouth to mine in a kiss that swallowed my cries and my gasp, his thumb circling my swollen clit, his fingers thrusting deep. I met him with my hips, head swimming, heat swelling in my chest and traveling up my neck as release hurtled closer.
He growled low against my mouth, then broke the kiss, dropping his lips to my neck. He grazed my pulse with his teeth in a promise of pleasure and pain, and oh gods, I wanted his mark on me. I wanted him to claim me.
“Leela, gods, I’m starving for you.” His words vibrated against my skin. “I’m starving for the way your pulse jumps beneath my tongue.” He licked my neck, and I groaned, my body arching toward him, hips moving with him.
I was so close to release, but I wanted it with him. I wanted us to find it together.
“Araz, I need you inside me. You…Please…”
He withdrew his fingers and licked them clean. My heart jolted, my core clenching around air.
“Please.”
He positioned himself at my entrance, my eager pants rising between us as his fingers tightened on my thighs.
