“We…” He dragged in a breath. “We really shouldn’t go further than this.”
“Oh, I think we should.” I rolled my hips on his lap, feeling his cock harden. “But we can stop if you want to. Not every man can handle me.”
He released a short laugh. “Won’t your lovers be angry?”
“No.” Pulling back, I studied his face: sharp features that were bathed in firelight. Eyes that glistened like rubies. “They already know about you.”
One brow hitched upward. “Is that so?”
“Mhm. Wanna know how I’m so sure the legend about the red spider lily is true? That fate brought us together? Because they’re my fated mates too.” I trailed my thumb from the edge of his eye and down to the soft curve of his mouth. “They each have their own unique scent. Just like you do.”
“My scent?”
“Like cedar and woodsmoke,” I said, then leaned in to press my face into his hair. “You can walk into a room, and I know you’re there without seeing you. My soul recognizes yours.”
“I’m not meant for love, Evan.” His voice dipped low against my ear, exciting the hairs on the back of my neck.
“Wrong again.” I brushed a kiss to his temple. “Everyone deserves to be loved.”
“Not me.” Onyx took hold of my nape and lowered his face to my throat, grazing his teeth over my jugular. “I will sear myself into your soul and then rip it apart.”
Why was he so sure our relationship would fail?
Then again, fear wasn’t always rational.
“A little love, hmm? You believe that’s enough to chase away the cobwebs and bring warmth back to these icy walls? What if this is all they’ve known? All they’ve ever been?”
His words from that morning in the greenhouse now made sense. Onyx had never known love, and venturing into unknown territory was a risk he didn’t seem keen on taking. Traveling known roads was safer.
“Then let’s not think about tomorrow,” I said, holding him tighter. Wishing the emotional distance between us was that easy to close. “Kiss me. Fuck me. No more mentions of fated mates or promises for what comes after tonight.”
I felt him smile against my neck. “That, I can do.”
Onyx slid one arm around me and wedged the other beneath my ass before standing from the couch. I hooked both legs around his waist and dropped kisses to his neck as he carried me toward the bed.
If one night was all he was willing to give me, I wouldn’t waste a single moment trying to convince him of anything more. The hope in my heart hadn’t died though. My relationship with Rowan had been the same way: sex before emotions. For him, anyway.
Lord Onyx’s defenses were sky-high with fortified walls a mile deep. Forcing my way through wouldn’t work. Best to let him call the shots and, hopefully, realize one day that he could trust me with his heart.
***
Silky black hair fell all around me, the long strands tickling my naked skin as Onyx pinned me to the bed. He kissed down my chest and explored every curve and dip of my stomach and hips with long, deft fingers. His tongue swirled around my belly button before trailing to my hip bone.
A whimper left my lips, and I arched my back.
Candles burned throughout the room, and a perfumed musk lingered in the air, complementing the warm woodsy notes thathad only grown stronger since he’d laid me down and stripped me down to my underwear.
“You are a temptation unlike any other,” he murmured against my lower belly before I felt the graze of his teeth. “A dangerous beauty who’s haunted my every thought since the day we first met.”
“I’m not dangerous.” My voice was thick with arousal. “Unless you’re talking about the cookies I burned the other morning. May they rest in peace.”
His red eyes flickered up to me, catching the candlelight. Amusement gleamed in them, but so did that raw hunger from before. “Must your mind always return to sweets?”
“It’s a gift and a curse.”
He breathed out a laugh. There was a roughness to it. “Just as I said. Dangerous.”
What did he mean? Not that he gave me time to ponder.
