“Hmm, I see.”
He pulled back, becoming tense and clearly self-conscious. “But you think it’s stupid of me?”
“Stupid? Never. And I do understand your reasoning. Although, I don’t believe it will be tainted, no matter where and when you confess such a beautiful thing to her. In fact, with all that’s happening and bearing down on us, it could prove to be a wondrous salve—a light through the descending darkness, if you will.”
“Huh. I like that.” He cocked his head to the side, regarding me curiously, “Do you… with Evira yet?”
I smiled. “Yes, indeed.” I laid my hand on his shoulder. “However, you tell her first. I know that you need to have that with her first.”
“Except for Win. He already said those words to her. And to you. Do you think… has he not said them to me because of the way I treated him in the past?”
He hung his head, the shame emanating from him so stark, it was brutally intense.
I tipped his chin up, guiding his eyes to mine. “No. Absolutely not. Winter has long ago moved past that.”
“You think?” he asked, fiddling with his worry stone bracelet.
“I am certain.” I stroked his chin. “I believe his reasons for not doing so could be a mixture of things. He’s already conveyed it before when the two of you were in your not-quite-a-relationship situation, so he may not be seeing the need to state it again in the form of a brand-new confession. And given that you didn’t reciprocate back then because the time wasn’t right on your end, he may now be waiting for you to utter those words first.”
“Oh,” he uttered, brightening. “Yeah, that… makes a lot of sense.”
“Good. All is well there, not to worry.”
He did a little spinning bounce then, and walked over to the bed.
He pressed down on the mattress, cringing. “Well, this isn’t gonna work.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not relishing taking it on this majorly uncomfortable slab of stone thing.”
He strode across the room to a large empty space, then swept a wave of his glowing fuchsia magic over it, and in the nextmoment, he’d conjured another bed that looked like a neon-pink fluffy cloud.
Before I could react to such a thing, he strode back to me and got up close, pressing his chest against mine. “And, to be clear, I do want totake it.” He leaned in and licked the shell of my ear, sending a wondrous rush of heat through me. “From you right here and now.” He trailed his tongue down my ear to the lobe. “My insanely…”Lick. “Intoxicating…”Nip.“Mouthwatering…”Teeth scrape.“Snake prince…”Suck.
My eyes rolled back in my head as sensation sparked everywhere.
The effect he had on me… truly wondrous.
The three of them had awakened me to so very much. That which I hadn’t thought possible, nor open to me at all.
I grasped his glorious ass encased in all that leather, as I rumbled, “Do you recall what I said earlier? About these tight little pants?”
His gaze burned into mine. “Every dirty detail.”
“Good boy. Then you know what you’re in for.”
I fisted my hand in his T-shirt, then used the hold to propel him over to the cloud bed with a burst of Basilisk speed and strength.
He landed softly on his back amongst all the fluffiness.
I was there in the next second, pouncing on him like an animal.
I grabbed at his pants and tore them open in my haste.
He writhed beneath me, so overcome and worked up already that he couldn’t keep still for a moment.
“Yeah, do it! Get all that rock-hard muscle all over me. Please, Vax. Need to feel you. Need to feel you everywhere. Please!”
