I raise myself upward and break away from the kiss. “Off,” I say, reaching for his belt buckle.
He obliges, tossing the belt from the bed and crashing into something I don’t care about. I lean back on the bed and shimmy out of my pants, desperate to get them off.
When I look back up at him, his gaze is fixed on my center, his own attraction evident. He looks like he wants to eat me alive. I rise quickly. All I want right now is to be one with him. I climb back on top of him, resting my center just above every hardened inch of him. I lower myself, but he stops me before I can settle onto him.
“Mae,” he croaks. I cut my gaze upward. Unshed tears line his eyes as he stares at the cuffs still around my wrists. “I…I thought…” His voice cracks. “I’m so sorry. I was so…”
“I know. It’s okay,” I whisper. I lean in and press a soft kiss to his lips. “It’s okay.”
Because it is. It’s okay. We’re back together, and everything is okay. I don’t care if the entire kingdom crumbles around us. As long as we’re together, everything is okay.
I lower myself onto him. Pleasure shoots up my spine as every inch of him fills every inch of me. Perfectly made to fill every space and hollow.
“I thought you were gone,” he whispers against my neck as he begins to rock himself inside of me.
Pressure builds with the rhythmic motion. His nails scrape my back, and I let out a moan at the sharp sting, the sweet pain.
“But I could feel you, right here.” He takes my hand and places it against his muscled chest, the broken chain dangling against him as he slowly moves inside me. Against his heart. It beats wildly against my hand. I slow my hips to focus on his heartbeat, then I reach for my own chest, feeling the rhythm that thumps against my own ribcage.
They beat in the same rhythm.
I bring his hand to my chest and place his palm over my heart. “Do you feel that? Do you feel how they’re the same?”
One corner of his mouth twitches upward, and my heart threatens to melt. I missed his smile. And that damned dimple.
“I know,” he says.
I pause, even though my body protests the interruption. “What do you mean, youknow?”
“I’ve known since the night of your coronation dinner.”
“Knownwhat,Asmo?” I ask.
His eyes soften. He brings a hand up, tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. He drags his thumb along my jawline. “I could feel that something was wrong with you. I don’t know how. It was some instinctual, primal feeling in my gut. I just knew you were in danger. When Marik returned, when he told me what happened, I knew.” He pauses, then whispers, “I knew you were my mate. There was no other explanation.”
My heart threatens to implode. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
His smile is sad. “Oh, come on, princess. You wouldn’t have taken too well to that.” His thumb slides down my neck, his hand now resting against the base. Intimate and possessive and carnal. “Plus, wasn’t this way more fun?”
I open my mouth to protest, but he shuts me up with his lips, his tongue, his hips moving back and forth, and I lose any coherent thoughts I had.
We collide with a ferocity that could only be described as a wreck. Because that’s what it feels like. Two people so drawn to each other that when they meet, it can only be a crash. It can only be some combination of tongues and teeth and lips and hands grabbing and nails clawing and lungs expanding and backs arching and hips meeting and thrusting thrusting thrusting and mouths wide open as waves roll and roll and roll through each of them.
I don’t try to stifle my moans. My blood warms and my skin feels like it’s made from pure fire. Beneath me, Asmo lets out a long moan and stills, his fingers digging into my hips as he releases himself deep inside of me.
I collapse against him, head resting on his shoulder, one hand splayed against his chest.
“If we’re mates, why did you say no? When I asked you to marry me?” I whisper against his collarbone.
“Would you believe me if I said I’m stubborn?”
I snort. “Yes.”
He lifts a hand and strokes my hair, playing with the tips, sending gentle aftershocks of pleasure shooting down my spine. “Good, because it’s the truth.” He sighs, and it feels bone deep. “I was still clinging to the future I planned for myself, but it all changed when Marik threatened your life. Something snapped in me. And when Cora…” He shudders. “When she fired that lightning bolt at you…when you dropped, I felt my own heart stutter. That confirmed everything. I’ve just been waiting on you, princess.” He twirls a piece of my hair around his finger.
“Do you accept the bond now, then?” I stare up at him, heart quivering.
His chuckle reverberates through his chest, the vibrations tickling the palm of my hand. “What do you think?”
