But what if he didn’t want her once he truly saw what he was getting? What if he turned away and left her? Images of her wedding night flickered through her mind with appalling clarity, and she froze.
Only for a second.
But it was long enough for the shutters to start falling, for Val to start pulling back. And she knew that if she turned him away, he would go. And he would never come back. Either she fought for him now, however vulnerable that made her, or he would leave her forever.
Her heart felt as delicate as the petals on the snowdrops they had never seen together. One cold word and it would tear into a million tiny pieces. But he was worth the risk.
She tightened her arms and pulled his head down until he was only a breath away and whispered, “I meant it.”
And then she kissed him.
She brushed her lips over his, deeply aware of the soft scrape of his beard on her face, how smooth and tender his lips were, but also how rigid his body was, unmoving under her hands.
She kissed him again, slanting her mouth, not sure what she should do or how to do it, but wanting to reach him. She wanted to make him feel some small part of what she was feeling. All while desperately hoping he would not push her away again.
And then he groaned and took control.
Nothing had prepared her for the scorching wave that thrilled over her as he licked against her lips, and she opened for him helplessly, lost in the slide of his tongue against hers, his firm grip on her body as he lowered his hands under her buttocks and hauled her up against him.
His wings came up and wrapped around her like a cocoon of heat and possession, and she had never felt so precious, nor so alive, as she did swathed in his embrace, gripped tightly in his arms.
She slid her fingers through his hair, vaguely aware that she was climbing up his body, desperate to get closer, to feel his skin on hers as their mouths fused in a sumptuous, heated dance.
Her breath came in hungry pants as he tilted her back and ran open kisses down the long sinew of her neck, his tongue flicking out to soothe her burning skin, while her entire body seemed to dissolve into molten lava, pooling in her belly and scorching through her soul.
She whimpered, wanting to hold him against her, wanting the moment to last forever. But the sound seemed to bring him back to himself. Enough that he pulled back slightly and lowered her gently to the ground within the circle of his wings.
Alanna tightened her fist in his hair, refusing to be put down, but he shook his head and murmured against her ear, “Not here.”
Oh. She hadn’t even been thinking about where they were. She let out a soft gasp as he reached down to her knees and swung her up, lifting her into his arms.
She rested her hot cheek against his chest as he strode away from the campfire and into his tent, letting the flap fall closed behind them. He put her down gently, holding her tight against his body as she found her feet, his breath hitching as she squirmed against him.
He shifted his weight, balancing her, holding her so close that her entire body was touching his. She could get lost in him, in the way his heat surrounded her. The way his scent enveloped her—the fragrance of open air and autumn winds.
Soft light filtered in through the canvas, making his eyes glitter, the tiny flecks of silver in each iris glowing like mercury as he watched her with longing and need and something powerful and true. For Val, her Val, to look at her with that expression on his face was beyond anything she had ever wished for.
The ties at the neck of his leather jerkin were open, baring a dark triangle of skin just below his throat, and she pressed her lips into the hollow below his Adam’s apple, smiling as his fingers slipped up along her waist, beneath her bodice, and tightened on her skin.
She pulled at his jerkin, her fingers fumbling until she huffed in frustration. “I want to take this off.” He chuckled, a low sound of pleasure, as he let go of her waist and pulled the soft leather over his head.
She ran her face across the heavy contours of his chest, reveling in the warmth of his skin, the sprinkling of dark hair, and the way his muscles rippled as he moved. And then she tilted her head up and kissed him again.
He bent, arms bracing her as he took her mouth in slow sweeps. Gentle at first, seducing her with molten pulls, but then deeper, dominating, owning her, until she felt her body sagging into his.
His mouth was still over hers as he tugged at the laces of her vest until the panels fell open at the front, allowing him to settle his big hands on the sensitive skin over her ribs, his thumbs caressing beneath her breasts in long strokes, leaving trails of scorching awareness with every slide of his calloused skin.
Goose bumps spread across her skin with every glide, her nipples hardening into aching points as she pressed herself against him, wishing he would lift his hands to cup her breasts, run his thumbs over her nipples—anything to relieve the pressure building mercilessly inside her.
She trailed her fingers up his waist to his chest, along the hard ropes of his muscles. And then ran her mouth down his jaw and kissed the hollow at his throat once more.
His thumbs were on her nipples now, abrading, circling, and then his fingers closed, tugging gently, and with each pull she felt an echoing tension building between her legs.
She swept her hands back down, following the heavy planes of his body to that delicious trail of rough hair, and then further down to the massive bulge in his breeches. Bard. She swallowed heavily, unnerved and not quite sure of herself, and Val, who knew her so well, paused, his hands resting on her skin like brands.
She didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know how to go forward and she didn’t want to go back.
She could feel the heavy thud of his heart as she closed her eyes and rested her forehead on his chest. Desperately uncertain and terrified that she might still lose him, wishing she could bury herself in his skin.
