Page 120 of I Summon the Sea

“I wish you could speak.” His gaze drops to my mouth. “I wish you could tell me who you are, because it’s driving me crazy. From the moment I saw you, I thought I knew you, that I…” He pushes out a breath, and a crease forms between his dark brows. “Fuck, forget it. What in the hells am I doing?”

The same question I keep asking myself. What am I doing?

So, I start in the other direction, struggling to orient myself. If I get back to the grand stairs, then I need to find the long hallway traversing the palace, and from there, figure out the way back to my room.

“At least, let me go with you,” he says.

No.I slap at his arm when he falls into step with me again.Go away.

“You’re still limping.” He opens his arms, that crooked grin making a reappearance, complete with that faint dimple that sends a pulse of desire through me. “Don’t tell me it was that bad, being in my arms.”

Don’t even think about it.

“Godsdammit, why do stubborn women turn me on so much?” he grunts.

And why do my lips twitch? It’s unforgivable. Stupid. I turn my head away to hide the smile forming on my face.

But his hawk-like gaze catches it, apparently, because he makes a strangled sound. “Fuck, you’ll be the death of me.”

The feeling is mutual.

And before I register what’s happening, he draws me into his arms and presses my back to the wall, his warm breath washingover my face, scented with sage and woodsmoke. His long lashes half-shielding his dark eyes, he looks down at me as if he wants to climb inside me, kiss me, lick me, eat me alive.

It shouldn’t make my stomach tumble and my insides burn like it does.

“I want your mouth,” he pants, “I can’t stop thinking about it. Can’t stop thinking about you.”

Gods, I want him to kiss me, I want to feel his lips on mine, to test the sharpness of his canines with my tongue, to see if he tastes as delicious as he smells. I want that muscular, male body pressed to mine, that wall of his chest crushing my breasts, that bulge between his legs trapped between us.

“The way you look at me right now… Hot damn.” He folds one arm over my head, against the wall, and steps closer until I feel his hard body touching mine. “I’m about to lose my mind.”

I want that, I realize. I want him to lose control.

Athdara, the man everyone is scared of, the dragon speaker, the wielder of shadows. I wantJaito lose control, the man who saved my life and carried me out of the dragon’s mouth, who danced with me and told me I can speak to dragons.

Who told me that I’m graceful, strong, and beautiful.

Not because I want to see him fall—but because I want to see him fallfor me.

“Fuck, tell me to stop,” he growls, lips peeling back, eyes shining black, and he looks feral and dangerous. His arm over my head flexes. His other hand travels up my neck to my face, his thumb brushing over my mouth, the pad rough, eliciting shivers. “Tell me to stop right now. Fuck me, Rae, I haven’t felt like this in a hundred years.”

I don’t want him to stop; I want him to eat me alive, I want his lips to replace his fingers, I want him to take me as if I already belong to him, and…

Wait… A hundred years?

But his head dips lower, lips parting, and my hands are already sliding up his chest, tearing the buttons open as they go, higher, over the strong column of his neck… reaching for his face.

Finally, I splay my fingers over the hard line of his jaw and scrape my nails over his light stubble, a breath leaving me.

Gods, this man… I have never wanted anyone like this.

You loved a boy once, a faint voice in my head reminds me.You loved him.

Yes, but he was a boy, and I was a girl. Now I’m a woman, and this is a grown man, powerful and bewitching, sexy as all hells, and I’m burning for him.

His scent is intoxicating, the feel of his lips descending on mine empties my mind.

His mouth crushes my lips. His tongue demands entrance, and I let him in. He sweeps it over the roof of my mouth, against my teeth, tasting me. When my tongue tangles with his, he groans and pushes me harder against the wall, until I can feel every indentation and protrusion.

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