Heath smiled and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Well, feel free to celebrate in here.”
Ash squealed, leaping on dainty feet and spinning around in a circle. She was carefree, throwing her arms out to her sides. In the center of a cheap hotel room, the king-size bed a poor substitute for the space in the dreamscape, he’d never seen her so alive.
Or let his heart thunder so hard.
He wanted to keep this moment, her expression and happiness on her face. See her give over to the knowledge that, even if danger was coming, she would be defending this. She was awake, part of the world, making her own decisions.
And she was so beautiful she made his teeth ache.
“Asherah.”
She slowed to a stop at his deep call. A flush spread over her cheeks. “Will you claim me now?”
There was nothing he wanted to do more. “Come here.”
She danced over to him, her new clothes fitting the sway of her hips and her smirk. She belonged Encantado, the real world, not that stuffy fucking tower she’d been trapped in.
“I want to drink from you.”
Gods dammit, that made his dick hard. “I promise you will.”
They would be bonded; he’d get to see his mark spread over her body. He was going to come so deep inside her, she’d never been able to remember how it felt not to have him.
Ash ran her hand over Heath’s chest in a possessive way—a woman who knew what she did to her man. There was no doubt in his mind she was perfect for him. Just knowing he was about to have what he never thought he’d get made him feel light, happy, and so full of fragile, scared love that he was bursting with it.
Heath could never forget the way he’d fought his way to her, and she didn’t let him do it alone. Despite the trials and tribulations they had incurred, they’d somehow survived. What mattered was this moment, the knowledge they were a Fated Pair who’d found each other.
Later, they could think about love and building something more. For now, they had this time.
“Kiss me,” Asherah whispered.
As you please.
Never breaking eye contact with her, Heath lifted his face slowly, her full lips a tempting morsel he wanted to taste with his tongue. He did just that, tracing her mouth as he cupped the back of her head with one hand. Her heat pushed inside him as he wrapped his other arm around her.
He kissed her gently, lips moving softly over hers, his hands as gentle as they were strong, and she melted under him.
Fucking melted.
All for him. Just him.
As if she could sense the need in him to be inside her, Asherah let him coax her lips into parting and slide his tongue into that wet cavern. Heath’s tongue dueled with hers almost lazily. There was no rush to their passion, no struggle. This was simply give and take. A melding of souls, hearts, and bodies into one.
She wrapped her arms around him, returning his kiss, sucking his tongue farther into her mouth, enjoying the full press of his lips against hers. Her body was his anchor as he leaned back on the bed, spilling them over in a tumble of limbs.
They pressed against each other until he flipped her on her back on the soft cover. He’d never wanted something as much as he wanted Ash. Painstakingly, he removed her clothing. A trail of pleasure burned through him as he kissed his way over her stomach. He used his shadow magic to part her pants and slide them down her legs, exposing more skin to the cool air. He used the same gift to remove his.
There were some benefits to being out of the oppression of the In Between and near the power of others. He shifted, and the heat of her calves caressed his bare thighs.
“So beautiful,” he whispered against her flesh.
And it was more than what was outside. She’d been willing to give up her chance of getting out just to save him. He’d prove to her she’d always be worth it to him.
Heath kissed his way back up her body, stopping for a second to nip at the undersides of her breasts. When he lay on her, she held him in the cradle of her thighs. Asherah lifted her hips against his, a silent plea for him to move against her, and he answered, circling his hips to catch her clit on the thick base of his cock. She moaned, a sound so soft it could have been a whimper as he pulled her tighter to him. Her breasts were crushed against his, her nipples pebbling.
Slowly, he left her mouth, kissing and sucking his way down her throat, pausing to nip at her pulse, leaving his mark. Ash moaned, arching her neck as he kissed farther, running his tongue over the soft part above her collarbone and then traveling on. Heath graze his teeth over the swell of her breast, but he licked away the sting and continued. He sucked her nipple into his mouth, and she gasped. He sucked on it lightly, drawing on her as her fingers dug into his shoulders in the silence.
“Heath,” she moaned, need and urgency pulsing off her body.
