Page 23 of Dark Embers

He frowned and let out a long sigh. “Well, I guess I can’t blame you there. I can’t believe they did that to you. I should talk to them—”

“No, don’t,” I pleaded immediately, my temper cooling slightly. “I don’t want them to know they got to me, and I especially don’t want anyone defending me and making it look like I can’t hold my own. I’ll handle them.”

I went to the edge of my bed and plopped down, running my hands over my face. “Why does it have to be Letti?”

Kendall slowly came to sit on the bed beside me. “My guess is because she’s one of the fastest shifters and the most talented with water manipulation.”

I began to shake my head repeatedly. “That’s great. Just fucking great.” I turned to him. “Why can’t you tutor me instead?Youhaven’t tried to kill me.”

“Yet,” he added, smirking when I rolled my eyes at him. “I actually suggested that when Celeste asked me to tell you. But she wants me to focus on my seer abilities. She wants me to be her apprentice after I graduate.”

My shoulders sagged, deflated and defeated. I threw my head back and groaned. “There’s really no point in going through with this. With Letti tutoring me, I’m not going to learn anything. She’ll do everything she can to sabotage me.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Kendall said with a shrug. “If she were given a task—by Celeste herself—she would do everything she could to succeed. Failure is not a word in her vocabulary.”

I shook my head, resigning myself to this horrible fate. “Well, if I go missing after one of these tutoring sessions, make sure Celeste knows who to point the finger at.”

He chuckled, then sobered as he registered the lack of humor on my face.

He put his hand on mine, looking at me with sincerity. “I won’t let that happen. I won’t let anyone hurt you like that again.”

While I had zero faith that he could actually keep such a promise, his vow touched me deep inside, caressing the wound Tobias’s recent rejection had carved.

Kendall was such a sweet guy. He was everything that Tobias wasn’t—noble, straightforward, kind. Floating in the gentle tide of his gaze, I knew he would never treat me the way Tobias had.

And at that moment, I craved the comfort he offered.

I leaned in and kissed him. His lips welcomed my advance, gently parting as I brushed mine over them. His mouth wasn’t hot and forceful like Tobias’s but cool and sweet, his rhythm mirroring my pace and letting me take the lead.

I relished the control he was offering, the security in knowing he wouldn’t push me away but wouldn’t take more than I wanted to give either. And that knowledge made me want to give him everything.

I paused our kissing only long enough to climb onto his lap, straddling his hips and lowering myself onto his muscular form. His arms wrapped around me, so strong and comforting, his hands sliding over the dip of my lower back with a gentleness that sent shivers racing up my spine.

A whimper escaped my lips, and I ground into the hardness that nudged at my bare pussy, remembering only now that my panties had long been removed. He groaned, gripping my hips to increase the pressure. It felt so damned good, and I was still aching from the need that had been so cruelly denied.

For the briefest moment, a voice in the back of my mind whispered that I should stop, that it wasn’t fair to Kendall. But my desire shoved that thought aside. He wanted this. I wanted this. It didn’t have to mean anything. We could just…be.

At that, I pulled my dress up over my head and tossed it to the floor. He kissed down my neck and between my breasts as his nimble fingers expertly unsnapped my bra. Then he hooked his fingers around the straps and slid them off my shoulders, trailing his fingertips down my arms with a tenderness that ignited every nerve ending in my body.

Every inch of my skin prickled with urgent anticipation, a desperate need to be touched, caressed, bitten—anything! Whenhis mouth covered my breast, I gasped sharply, arching my back and thrusting my bosom up to give him better access to my aching breasts. He cupped my neglected breast with his hand, kneading it as his tongue licked over my nipple in the best way.

I scraped my fingers down his sides and under the bottom of his shirt, tugging it upward. He let me pull it over him, and I stole every second I could to admire the chiseled muscles of his chest and abs before he resumed his worship of my breasts.

My desire had reached a fever pitch. Ineededhim. I needed his body and his lust every bit as much as I needed his comfort and affection tonight.

Reaching into the tight space between our bodies, I pulled at the button of his jeans, snapping it open before tugging down his zipper. He growled over my nipple, the vibration rippling through me down to my core, intensifying my need to the point of pain.

Scooping his arms around me once more, he picked me up and laid me on the bed, kicking off his shoes and stripping out of his pants. He stood over me, his perfect body fully exposed, the sight of his large, stiff cock making my mouth water. His eyes raked over me, stopping at the apex of my spread thighs and staring with ravenous hunger.

I spread my legs even wider in invitation, not caring that my boots were still on. And if he minded that fact, he made no indications.

“Kendall,” I whispered pleadingly, my chest heaving with my bated breaths.

My use of his name broke the enchantment of his stare, and he descended on me, lowering himself between my legs and claiming my mouth with much more abandon than before. Thetip of his cock brushed against my slick opening, and I bucked my hips up, sheathing myself over the top of it.

With a groan, he plunged inside me, his dick filling me and stretching me with surprising pleasure. He held himself against me, his dick as deep as it could go and grazing that most sensitive spot in my core. And when he pulled back and slid back in, my eyes rolled up in my head.

He thrust with slow, rhythmic motions like the sway of a tide, each retreat and siege of his length against my inner walls stoking my need and drawing out my pleasure to maddening heights. All the while, his kissing matched the pace of his hips, his tongue invading my mouth in sync with his cock in my pussy.

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