Page 92 of Veil of Night & Flames

“Chase,” I say, without looking. “Tell me.”

“Cora.” His voice is rough.

“Please,” I say, the word almost a whisper.

For a moment, I fear he won’t answer, then he says, “Want. Need. Desire.” And his voice is laced with all of that.

I’m breathing hard as I turn to look at him. “Does it feel good?”

His eyes meet mine, and for a moment, the world seems to stop breathing. Then he whispers, “Yeah. It’s pretty fucking good.”

I look back at Adric, and at the satisfied smile that he’s not even bothering to try to hide.

“Maybe we should check again,” I say, then kiss him once more, harder this time. His arm tightens around my back. The other hand slides up into my hair. And for just a second, I forget that we’re not alone.

And then—a second later—I remember it only too well when Chase comes up behind me, his hands settling on my hips as he pulls me back to him, and I feel the hard length of his erection against my lower back even as Adric pulls me in for a long, slow kiss that sends a whirlwind of want and need swirling through me.

I break the kiss, leaning back and breathing hard as I look into Adric’s eyes and see my own desire reflected right back at me.

“Chase,” I whisper as his hands slide around my hips, then tease open the button on my jeans. I gasp as his fingers slide the zipper down, then slip inside my panties to find me wet and teetering on the edge of desperation.

“Are we really doing this?” I murmur.

Chase’s lips are at my ear, and he whispers, “Is this what you want?”

I close my eyes. “Yes.”

“Then that’s my answer, too. Yes.”

The word hits me like a bolt of lightning, and I realize I’d been expecting him to say no while his brother jumped in with eager support.

“Oh,” I say, then add, “Good,” as I cup my hand over his, silently urging his fingers deeper inside me as I meet Adric’s eyes, his face now lit with both heat and amusement. “And you? Are you joining us?”

“I confess my brother has shocked me. I’m tempted to sit back and watch—and feel—the show.” His lips curve into a teasing smile. “Shall I do that, Beloved?”

I grab his collar and pull him close. “Don’t you dare,” I whisper, then kiss him.

Chapter

Twenty-Six

Chase turned her in his arms, facing away from his brother and back to him, and the heat on her face nearly melted him.

To say he hadn’t expected this would be the understatement of the ages. Everything he’d wanted—everything he’d let himself want in the nights he was alone—was to have her for himself. To win her back from his brother. To forget the vial of Adric’s blood—hell, his own blood, too—sitting at her throat.

To forget she was betrothed to another man.

He’d feared the vial and the ceremony and the deal she’d struck would gut him even as it kept him alive. The blood in his veins. The betrothal taking the one thing he wanted, leaving him to wonder if each time she crossed to the castle would be the last time he had any right to her at all.

And now this. A truce with the brother he’d thought lost to him for good.

It almost felt like this was the dream, and the Real was the part that wasn’t.

“Chase,” she whispered, turning to him, with Adric’s hands still on her, and her voice so full of need it humbled him.

“Cora.” He cupped her head and bent to kiss her, and the way she rose to meet him—the way her hands fisted in his hair and dragged him down—cracked something open inside him.

She was his.