The implications shuddered through me, burning my cheeks. He’d heard my thoughts about wanting him. I started to pull back, to put some space between us before he could do it himself. With the fear of tomorrow looming before me, I couldn’t bear the weight of his rejection, too.
But then his voice filled my mind again.I want all those things, too. Why do you think I’m fighting so hard for you to stay? It’s because I’ve fallen for you, Frida. In the few weeks you’ve been here, you’ve become the best part of my life. I’d do anything not to lose you.
“Oh, Rune,” I whispered. My tormented heart lifted in my chest. The idea that we’d found our way to each other like this—a would-be assassin and her prey—seemed laughable. But it also felt like the most inevitable thing in the world. The moment I’d laid eyes on Rune, my world had been forever changed.
Rune braced his palms on the arms of the chair, boxing me in place. Even though he was on his knees, our faces were level, and so when he leaned in, his mouth captured mine. My soul sighed, even as an unrelenting fire blazed through me. I gripped the front of his tunic, relishing the soft warmth of his lips and the cooling touch of his tusks that gently pressed against my skin.
After a moment, Rune pulled back. The need in his eyes burned hot. Excitement pounded in my ears, my heart racing so fast I could barely breathe. Desire tightened between my thighs.I slid my hand around his broad neck as he leaned back in, his lips trailing down my chin. Every touch sparked a new flame, intensifying the growing ache in my core.
A satisfied rumble sounded in his throat, and his hand swept down the front of me to cup my breast. A gasp popped from my parted lips, and my thighs trembled.
Fate, I wanted him. Inside me, on top of me, under me, against the wall. I wanted him everywhere and anywhere. For hours. For days.
Formonths.
He chuckled softly, his breath hot against my neck. “I’m more than happy to oblige, but I’m hoping we can take some breaks for sleep every now and again.”
“Don’t forget food,” I said with a smile.
“Maybe I can eat it off you,” he murmured against me.
A thrill went through my core. Rune gently squeezed my breast, as if sensing my response to his words, then brushed his thumb across my peaked nipple. Even over the top of my tunic, his touch made me gasp.
“Fucking fate, I love that noise, Frida,” Rune said, pulling back. “I’m on my knees before you, willing to do whatever you want. Tell me what you like.”
“I likeyou,” I whispered, my heart pounding.
“Hmmm. You can do better than that.” His eyes darkened as his free hand slid around to the top of my thigh. He slipped his thumb between my legs, pressing it firmly against my core. An aching need pulsed through me. “Do you want my finger here, or my tongue?”
I swallowed. The idea of his mouth against me brought a pool of wetness to my thighs. Rune’s eyes sparked, and that hungry look consumed his face once more. Everything I was feeling, he felt, too. It was as if the Hugur sand had bonded us in a way I’d never imagined.
“Tongue it is.” He grinned, pressing his thumb harder against me. I wriggled against him, desperate to erase the distance between us. I needed more. So much more.
“What about your tusks?” I gasped.
“Oh, don’t you worry about them, sunshine. I know how to use them to make you squirm.”
Oh my.
His hand moved to my trousers. He unlaced them and slid them down my legs, then pulled back to drink in the sight of me. My entire body trembled at the curl of his lips and the wicked satisfaction glinting in his eyes.
Still on his knees, Rune lowered his head. He brushed his lips against my knee, and a shudder went through me. Smiling against me, he slowly skated his left tusk up the side of my leg and stopped only an inch short of brushing my core. I cried out as an aching need blazed through me.
I slid my fingers into his thick, dark hair and tugged his mouth toward me.
“Please,” I gasped. “I want you to taste me.”
“I’ll do anything you want, sunshine,” he said. His cool tusk skated across my wetness, driving me mad.
When his mouth finally found me, I nearly came undone. Pleasure shuddered through me, sparking stars in my eyes. I arched against the chair, my hands still twisted in his hair. And as Rune’s tongue swept across me, my pleasure already began to mount.
It had been so long since anyone had touched me, and even then, it had never felt like this. Like he knew exactly where to caress me and what I liked. Like he could spend all day on his knees if that was what I needed.
His tongue dove inside me, then slid up to my clit. And then I broke. Crying out, I gripped the chair, quakes of pleasure rocking through me. Rune kept his tongue pressed tightlyagainst my core until my orgasm slowed. Soon I was nothing more than a trembling mess against him.
Rune pulled back and looked up at me. I smiled and curled my fingers across the side of his face, feeling more content than I’d felt in a very long time. But then he smirked, and that heat between my thighs returned.
Rune stood, tugged me off the chair, and gently lowered me onto the rug spread before the hearth-fire. The flames cast flickering light onto his face as he settled his powerful body on top of mine. He caught my mouth in his and kissed me with a hunger that stole all the breath from my lungs.
