Page 134 of Our Radiant Embers

A hint of sweat gathered in the dip between Liam’s collarbones. My teeth caught on a nipple.

“I will end you,” he began and didn’t at all sound like he had the strength to do so, “if you don’t stop teasing me.”

“Babe.” I raised my head for a smirk, his body a play of light and shadows, my fingers lightly pressing into him. A mirror image of what I thought would be our last time, only a week ago. “You know I live for a good challenge.”

A tendril of his magic snuck out to brush my cheek. “End you,” he repeated, slow and so very soft. It made me blink up at him, my smirk melting into a smile that settled as a gentle glow behind my ribs.

“I believe you,” I said—and slid down to swallow his cock at the same time as I pushed two fingers into him. His hips rose off the bed and I choked a little, drew back and pushed him down onto the mattress.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“Rude,” I told him, grinning.

He chuckled, then exhaled in a rush when I crooked my fingers right as I flattened my tongue against the underside of his cock. This time, he stayed still for me, and I rewarded him with a warm caress of my magic that moved from his throat all the way down his chest, splitting in two to run along the sensitive insides of his thighs and curl around his ankles. His head tipped back into the pillow, body arching just enough to convey a hint of urgency.

“Seriously, though.” He sounded almost drunk, eyes on me. “What does a boy have to do to get fucked around here?”

I bit down on another grin. “Sweet nothings like that will go a long way.”

“Adam.” My name, said almost like a prayer. It made me abandon all thoughts of teasing him. I crawled up the length of his body to kiss him, pressing him into the sheets, covering him up. His arms wound around my back, tight as though he intended to hold on forever. I wanted him to.

This was it. For me, it was him.

Whatever it takes.

* * *

Fried tomatoes with cheese, add some toast—et voilà, dinner sorted. I’d skipped mine, and Liam looked like he could use an extra helping.

He also looked as though, now that the rush was fading, he was having second thoughts about letting me walk back into his life. In a deliciously tight pair of boxers and one of my T-shirts, he was leaning against a kitchen cabinet as he watched me root through the fridge and place whatever seemed appealing on the worktop. His features were tight, eyes clouded over.

No.

“Hey.” I closed the fridge door and crossed the small gap that separated us, stepped right into the space between his legs and pushed close. When one of his hands came up to clutch at my waist, the other tangling in my hair, relief bubbled through my veins.

“Hi there.” His voice was soft, a faint smile flickering across his lips. I kissed it away before I turned my head to press our cheeks together, simply breathing, our bodies aligned like a mosaic.

“I’ve got something for you,” I told him, and he made a low noise.

“But it isn’t even my birthday.”

“Like that’ll stop me.” I brushed a feathery kiss against the corner of his mouth, then peeled myself away even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. It took me a second to remember where I’d put my remaining spare key to this flat. Cassandra had one just in case, and the other…Right—kitchen drawer. I went to retrieve it, just a naked key without any ornamentation, not even a string looped through its hole.

“Would have gift-wrapped it, but…” I offered it to him along with a smile. “I didn’t exactly plan ahead.”

He glanced from the key in my palm up at my face, a cautious tilt to his expression. “You know you don’t have to, like…prove yourself, right? Not like this.”

“Actually,” I told him, “I do. But that’s not why.”

“No?” He didn’t sound like he believed me, and when I pressed the key into his hand, he was reluctant to grasp it.

“No.” I closed his fingers around the key, my own hand cupping his. “This feels like our flat more than mine now. So you should have a key.”

He studied me for a long moment, then his face softened, a new light in his eyes. “Okay. Thank you.”

I leaned in, nudged his mouth open with mine. We lost a few minutes like that—kissing in my kitchen, velvet night outside the windows and my heart beating slow and steady in my chest.

We didn’t talk much while I got dinner ready, Liam still quieter than I was used to. Well, if time was what he needed, I could be patient. We took the plates out to the balcony, the food certainly not gourmet but perfectly nice and simple, melted cheese dripping onto toast that was on the right side of crispy. A portable table lamp cast Liam’s features in a warm, gentle glow. He was so fucking beautiful it hurt.

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