His lazy smile immediately banishes my concerns. “It’s a good thing there’s a whole body of water nearby, then.” He slowly closes the distance between us to brush his lips across mine, a tingling caress. “What a shame we might need to immerse in it at some point.”
His hands glide from my thighs up to my neck, making me gasp when he brushes my nipples along the way, a quick touch that leaves me wanting more.
I’m just about to lean down to him and close the gap between his chest and mine when he wraps his arms around me and swiftly reverses our position, placing me on my back in the sand.
I’m completely naked while he’s fully clothed. But not for long. His power flares, his shirt and long pants disappearing with the wash of magic across his body, although his underpants remain—a boundary of cloth that further confirms for me that he takes my wishes seriously.
He lowers his lips to mine, but he doesn’t kiss me. Not a proper kiss. Only the slightest brush.
The one time we kissed deeply, he was half-asleep, and he wore a very different face and body to the one he’s wearing now. A body with a golden sheen across it and a face I haven’t seen since.
His mouth follows a path across my jaw, to my earlobe, down my neck, and across my collarbone, where he purses his lips and blows gently, dislodging the grains of sand that were stuck to me there.
The flowing air makes me shiver, my hands pressing to the sides of his bare chest. A harder press when his mouth closes over my left breast and his hand kneads my other.
Heat pools between my legs, a physical need that pulls me away from any shred of lingering anger and hurt.
I dig my fingers into the sand as he moves downward, his mouth taking a slow path to my core, making me shiver in anticipation.
Finally, his tongue flicks across the sensitive nub, a quick caress, followed by a longer one. Then he groans against my clit.
“Fuck me, you taste like beautiful darkness.”
With a swift movement, he lifts my hips off the sand, hooking my legs over his shoulders, tilting my body to gain better access to my core. His hands play across my lower back, grippingmy hips, then my backside as his tongue strokes become more demanding.
My body responds with a rush of need, moans leaving my lips as I give in to the instinct to press against his mouth.
But control is everything to me and within the haze of desire, I’m aware thatheseems to be losing none of it.
His gaze darkens as he watches me from between my legs and I reach for my own breasts, stroking them slowly, taking in his reaction.
“Touch yourself,” I command him. “I want you to come when I do.”
I sense him smile against me before he defies my wishes. “No.”
My voice is ragged with need, sounds amid moans. “Why would you deny what I want?”
“Because you deserve all of my attention.”
Well, damn. How can I argue with that?
I’m trying to think of a way when his dark light curls around his fingertips where they’re stroking my lower back and travels along my sides, up to my shoulders, and then down across the sand.
“You deserve all the pleasure,” he rumbles against me. “Will you take it or deny it?”
The sand swirls at my sides before sections of it transform into thick, glistening liquid.
I imagine this is what honey looks like—a food I definitely need to try.
The honeyed sand is soft and silken against my skin as it flows in strands up across my sides. It snakes across my stomach and to my breasts, where my fingertips rest. Two strands wrap around my wrists and solidify, still silken-feeling but now firm as they pull my hands away from my chest.
Within moments, my arms are pressed into the sand at my sides, ribbons of honey pinning them to the spot.
I don’t struggle against the ropes, simply meet the keeper’s dark eyes as his tongue continues to stroke me.
My body tells me to take the pleasure he’s offering, even if he’s now pushing my boundaries and we both know it.
“Take,” I whisper.
