Page 98 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

He sighed, then drew her close, content to hold her until dawn.

He couldn’t know what she would do in the bright light of day and the dark haze of his secrets.

All he knew for certain was that for tonight at least, she was well and truly his.

Chapter

Twenty-Five

Iknow I should sleep, but I can’t. I’m drunk on the way I feel—worshipped and cherished and used and a million other romance-novel words that don’t do justice to the way my entire body seems to hum with passion and joy and love. And, honestly, how can I sleep with the feel of this man against my skin making every cell inside me tingle?

I’ve made out with only one other guy—a groping session of hickeys and French kisses after a mixer at that hideous boarding school. The guy was my roommate’s brother, and we’d been flirty-friends for over a year. And then there was forbidden wine. It got a bit hot and heavy, but we didn’t seal the deal. The whole thing felt blandly transactional and left me wondering what all the fuss was about.

Now I know.

Tonight wasn’t even remotely transactional. Tonight was transcendent.

“You’re still awake,” he whispers.

“Guilty.” I roll over to face him. “I really did try to fall asleep,” I tell him. “The idea is so sexy, you know? Falling asleep in your lover’s arms.” I watch his face and am rewarded by his grin when I say that word—lover. Honestly, I like the sound of it.

“It is sexy,” he says, stroking my hair. “And you do need sleep.”

“Except I don’t. My first class isn’t until after lunch.” I slide my hand over his bare chest, then lean in, planning to simply brush my lips over his. Instead, he pulls me close, capturing me with a kiss that is wild and deep and steals every coherent thought from my head.

I grab his shoulders, pulling him closer, needing more of this—more of him. I haven’t had a bit of alcohol today, but I feel drunk on this man. On the way he touches me. On the heat building between us again, now raging like wildfire. On the fact that Chase—the golden-eyed warrior who saved me from a nightmare made flesh when I was just fifteen, and a whole lot of sand monsters later—wants me as desperately as I want him.

This man—who has literally seen everything, who exists on a cosmic scale I can barely comprehend, and who could have anyone or anything—chose me.

It’s pretty freaking mind-boggling.

“Cora,” he murmurs against my neck, and the reverence in his voice makes heat pool low in my belly. His hands slide down my sides, and everywhere he touches burns. “I just had you, and now it feels like I’ll die if I can’t have you again. Right now.”

“I know,” I say. “Me too.”

“You’re sure?” His eyes rake over me, assessing. “You’re not too sore?”

I feel my cheeks heat, then arch up to claim his mouth, mine hot and demanding. “On the contrary,” I murmur when I pull back. “I need to feel you.”

He makes a sound low in his throat, almost a growl, and then his mouth is on my neck, teeth grazing as I arch into him, my fingers tangling in his hair while he kisses his way down until his lips close over my breast, his tongue doing things that make me more than a little crazy.

“God, Chase⁠—”

“I love the way you say my name,” he murmurs against my skin, his hands everywhere, making me moan and beg. “Say it again.”

I try, but it comes out as a whimper when his hand slides between my thighs, fingers teasing until I’m writhing beneath him.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me?”

“Actually, yes,” I say, laughing since I can feel exactly what I’m doing to him hard against my thigh, and that sense of power sends another rush of heat through me.

Before I can catch my breath, he’s moving down my body, kissing and tasting until I’m writhing with need.

“I want to taste you,” he says, his breath hot against my inner thigh. “To know every part of you.”

Then his mouth is on me, and I cry out at the sensation. His tongue works magic, finding rhythms and pressures that have me fisting the sheets, my hips rising to meet him. He holds me steady with strong hands, pinning me in place as he devours me like I’m the only sustenance he needs.

When I come again, it’s harder, sharper, and I’m boneless with pleasure by the time he kisses his way back up my body.