“What?”
“Losing you. Again.”
Who knew this grumpy, seemingly unfeeling dragon would be able to crack my chest open with just a glance and a few silly words? I wouldn’t have guessed it.
“Do you remember the first time we met?”
He closes his eyes, shaking his head as his jaw ticks. “Yes. I’d say please don’t remind me, but I need to be reminded so I can spend every day I have making it up to you.”
This close, I can see the tiny flecks of green in his smoky blue eyes. I can see the stubble dotting his chin. I want to memorize every detail. “You hated me.”
“A little,” he admits. “I didn’t know you. I was an idiot. It didn’t take me long to start falling for you, though. It probably started that day at the ball,when you were drunk on pink wine, without a care in the world. I watched you dance like no one was watching, watched you with that… asshole. You were mesmerizing.”
I lean in and press my lips to his. This time it’s slow and delicate, like there’s something precious between us that we don’t want to break. We share breaths as he explores my mouth with his. “You hated me too,” he mutters against my mouth.
I pull back just a little, wrapping my arms around his neck and straddling him. “Nah. I never had much room in my heart to truly hate someone. That is until…”
“Your father?”
I nod. “Meela’s father even more so, actually. And… Adrian. I hate him.”
He nods in understanding.
“My list is growing.” I laugh, but he doesn’t. Instead, he looks at me with that quiet intensity that he’s so skilled at.
He grabs me at the waist and pulls me down more firmly against him, looking up at me with a completely different expression now. One that makes my body hum. He’s hard against me again, and I can feel the moisture gathering between my legs. “We have a little more time… I don’t feel nearly satisfied with you yet,” I say, rubbing myself against him with a slow move of my hips.
I run my hands slowly down his hard chest muscles, then down his chiseled stomach that has just a tiny trail of hair.
He groans as he lightly thrusts his hips against me, his hard length showing me how much he wants me too. I moan at the contact. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you, but we can try.”
I lean down to kiss him slowly, sensually, and he grips my ass with his rough palms. I lean back, smiling down at him.
“I want you to sit right there and put me inside of you. Take your time so I can enjoy watching every moment. I want to see every look on your face, every bounce of those perky tits as you take your pleasure from me.”
My face heats at his words, at the thought of being the one in control as he watches me closely. But between my thighs I’m dripping and throbbing at the idea.
I push the sheet away and do as he says, extending my thighs and pushing myself against his tip. I pause, looking down at him as he watches with rapt attention, taking in every bit of me as he cups one breast with his hand and the other hooks at my hip.
His eyes flick to mine, swimming with such intensity it steals my breath. “I wish I could stay in this moment forever,” he murmurs. “You’re so fucking beautiful.”
I hold his stare as I slowly sink down onto him, feeling him stretch me out an impossible amount. My mouth parts as a gasp escapes me, and he grins.
“Just like that,” he says.
And then I ride him, wild and uninhibited, like the fucking dragon that he is.
Chapter 66
Brilliant hues of blue, gray, and white swirl along the walls of ice like a breathtaking painting that I could look at a thousand times and never tire of.
We’re outside the castle walls, having just crossed over the narrow river surrounding it, and we have a plan to get in. So far, we’ve been incredibly lucky getting here undetected, but I’m not stupid enough to think this is going to be easy.
“They really are so lazy and arrogant, aren’t they? How do they not patrol the walls better?” Rhydra muses.
“Damn it, Rhydra!” Raef hisses at her. He pushes us faster through the opening I just cleared with my magic as a torch comes into sight just a little way away along the wall. A lone soldier is patrolling the thin slice of land between the wall and the river. When we arrived, we found that the old tunnel I used to sneak through was gone. Someone must have discovered it at some point. But that was a miniscule setback, because I simply carved out a new tunnel right next to it.
I crawl through as fast as I can, with all three of them behind me. I quickly check my surroundings on the other side, then hop up and let them through. Raef exits last and I seal it quickly behind him. The plan was to keep our escape route open, but that’s too risky now.
