Avalon
Hamor Hall - Before
Igasped in a deep breath. I swayed gently on the swing, Zier’s intense expression looking down at me. I grabbed my throat, sucking in breaths.
“Are you okay?” Zier asked softly.
“Fine, I’m sorry. What were you saying?” My lungs burned.
I’d reset time, but unlike the other resets, I rememberedeverything.Lierick’s face being eviscerated. The fervency in his eyes as he held the statue. Stanlus’s cruel smirk.
I remembered every little thing.
“What I’m trying to say is that I don’t think the relationship you’re building is one that I could be happy with. I’d want you all to myself, and that would create issues,” Zier continued.
I almost laughed, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t explain what had happened, because I knew without hesitation, that none of them could return with me to destroy the statue of Ebretha.
I forced a smile. “That’s okay. I’m not so conceited to think that I would be enough for everyone.”
A flash of Lierick’s face as he forced himself to drop the statue made me jerk.
Clearing my throat, I looked up into Zier’s dark eyes. “But do me a favor? Just once, can we pretend that we are just a man and a woman, who met by chance at a ball, and you take me to bed and make love to me, like tomorrow doesn’t matter?” I breathed.
As he swallowed hard, Zier’s gaze moved all over my face, searching for… something. A reason for my change of heart, probably. Whatever he saw made him nod, just once. He held out a hand, and I wrapped my fingers in his, anchoring myself to the feel of his warmth.
I was using him, but I didn’t even care. If the guys thought I was with Zier, they would leave me alone for the night, to let us have our moment. I was also selfish, because I knew in my soul that there wouldn’t be a tomorrow. I’d take tonight.
As he pulled me to my feet, I smoothed down my skirt and gave him a hot smile. I worked hard at locking down my feelings, because Hayle always knew. But he couldn’t come with me. Not this time.
As we walked back through the courtyard, most of the dinner patrons were laughing wildly, enjoying life. I saw Lierick, and my heart squeezed in my chest, but I kept it all locked down. I winked at Hayle, and he waggled his eyebrows back at me.
Love you,I mouthed at him and Vox, both of whom were watching me intently.
I thought about the way Zier’s shoulders moved beneath his shirt, the strong warmth of his hand in mine, and how they’d feel against my body. I didn’t think of anything but what was about to happen. I was going to be fully in the moment with Zier, and revel in this last hour of peace.
He was silent as he led me up to Hayle’s wing, and then to the door of his room. “Are you sure about this, Avalon? It feels… selfish of me.”
I laughed, because it was definitely selfish on one of our behalfs, but it wasn’t his. “I’m an adult who can make my own choices, and I choose you and this,” I said softly, then launched myself at him.
He kissed me back with a groan, his hands sliding down my sides, until they could scoop under my ass and pick me up. He spun, pressing me back against his door, and his mouth devoured my gasp.
His lips moved over mine like he owned them, and not like he was borrowing them for the night. “I’ve dreamed of these lips,” he groaned, shifting me higher so my core rubbed against his well-defined abs. He pushed open the door and carried me in easily, never putting me down or breaking our kiss.
I was tugging at his shirt, even as I kissed him back with an almost unhinged ferality. I needed this last moment of normalcy, especially when it felt this good. This right. I ignored the fact that he’d told me he didn’t really want me earlier tonight. I could feel the straining hardness of his cock—that told me he wanted me more than enough right now.
Instead of taking me to the bed, Zier pressed me against the wall on the other side of the door. In a feat of pure strength, he managed to undress me completely without ever putting me on my feet or stopping his sipping kisses. I was seriously impressed.
“Goddess, you make me feel like a bumbling teen. I want to do so much, everything, all at once. Right now, against the wall.”
I pulled back, so I could meet those dark eyes. “Then do it.” I kissed down the hard line of his jaw, his short beard scraping against my lips. “Please, Zier,” I pleaded, and he groaned.
“Fuck,” he breathed, and then his fingers spread me wide as he found my already wet center. His thick fingertips slipped down, finding my clit with unerring accuracy.
I guess that was the fabled Eighth Line magic after all.
I bucked against him as he slid one finger inside me, then another, pressing me tightly to the wall, grinding against me so that his fingers stroked the exact right place inside me, and his palm pressed against my clit with utter perfection.
Fuck.I could hardly breathe, just arching and grinding until I came all over his fingers in what felt like a never-ending orgasm.
