Page 25 of Familiar of the Witch

‘Wine?’ he asked as he sauntered into my kitchen.

‘Champagne,’ I countered.

‘What are we celebrating?’

I thought of Melva. ‘That we’re alive.’

He nodded gravely. ‘Yes.’

Bastion pulled a bottle out of the fridge, opened it expertly and poured two flutes of champagne. He brought them over, handed me one then slid onto the sofa and took a sip from his glass. I felt his enjoyment as the cool bubbly liquid slid down his throat. I gulped, hard.

‘I can feel that you enjoyed that,’ I whispered, eyes wide. Every time he’d feel pleasure, I’d feel it too. I’d know exactly what he liked and he would know the same about me. Oh boy.

His eyes smouldered. ‘I know.’

I swallowed hard and knew that he wasn’t feeling trepidation from me as he might once have done. Instead he could sense my excitement, my desire.

I took a sip of my champagne and sat next to him. I was breathing a little more heavily, my heart beating a little faster. I was suddenly aware that I was wearing entirely too many clothes compared toBastion.

He was making himself as non-threatening as he could. He’d removed his weapons and his clothes, and he was waiting patiently, letting me make the first move if I wanted to. He was taking ‘no pressure’ to a whole new level.

What I wanted, though, was for him to kiss me. I wanted him to kiss me more than I could recall wanting anything else ever. I looked at him and hoped that I was communicating that to him somehow. It had been twenty long years since I’d last been touched. I wanted it to happen but I lacked the confidence to seize the moment. I needed him to make the first move.

I met his eyes. ‘Please,’ I begged softly.

Bastion’s eyes darkened. He took the champagne flute from me and set it down on the table then studied me, as he was wont to do. My chest was rising and falling a little too fast. He missed nothing. His hands slipped under me and he effortlessly lifted me so that I was straddling his lap.

I could feel his desire, not just in the hard warmth nuzzling against me, but in a roar inside my own body. My own desire was shouting just as loudly; it was taking every bit of self-restraint within me not to chuck myself at him like a groupie at a concert. But I wanted this to be good, to be right. We only get one first kiss; we’d delayed it forso long that it had to be perfect – a standard I had no doubt Bastion could attain.

His eyes were dark brown, flecked with hints of his shifted golden eyes. Those eyes that missed nothing flicked down to my lips and I felt the steady thrum of his emotions through our bond. There was more than desire there; I sensed his affection, his loyalty, and an underlying current of something more, something I was too scared to label.

Achingly slowly, giving me plenty of time to pull away, Bastion lowered his lips, softly to mine. My eyes closed as I pressed my lips to his in answer. The kiss deepened as our tongues tangled and a delicious shudder ran through me. I moaned aloud. It felt like his tongue had a direct link to the heat between my legs.

As the kiss continued, something within us ignited. A mutual hunger burned between us, our connection amplifying every sensation, sending us into a maelstrom of heat and fire.

I felt his quandary moments before he forced himself to pull away. ‘We should go slow,’ he managed.

I could feel his desire, voracious and hot like mine but tempered with the need to be respectful, to take care of me, to do this right. ‘Fuck slow,’ I responded firmly, pulling him back down to my wanton lips. I had never been so sure of anythingin my life. I kissed him with all the passion and need that was coiled within me.

His chest vibrated as he laughed silently. ‘I can do that,’ he promised teasingly.

‘Thank the Goddess!’

‘Are you sure, Amber?’ he asked, studying me.

‘Yes.’

‘You can tell me to stop at any time and I will. Straight away.’

‘I know.’ I paused. ‘I won’t though. I’m done waiting. If we went any slower, we’d turn into a glacier. Kiss me,’ I demanded.

‘Yes ma’am.’ His lips found mine again. This time, I wasn’t letting him pull away.

Chapter 22

I was pulled from sleep by the irritatingly shrill beep of my phone alarm. Without opening my eyes, I picked up the phone and launched it through the open doorway and out of the room. Bastion and I had barely slept all night, and a delicious ache was pervading any number of muscles that I hadn’t used in a very, very long time.

Amusement flared in my chest, in the part of me that I thought of as Bastion’s. He found me chucking away my phone funny. He would have found it even funnier if he’d known I was aiming for the wall.

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