Page 247 of A Flame of the Phoenix

Her quick wink at him before she turned around made his length jerk in his pants. Nik gripped her hips, yanking her back against him as she squealed.

“My hands are itching to feel you in ways you can’t imagine.”

“We’ve explored quite a lot—my imagination knows no limits.”

He groaned, burying his forehead into the back of her neck, and the devious thing rubbed her ass against him. Nik turned his head just enough to be sure Tarly, Nerida and Edith were still out of earshot by the lake, watching the wolves catch fish for breakfast.

“Do you want a braid, or do you want me buried where you’re teasing me?” That made her stop her ministrations, and he could practicallytasteher uncertainty and curiosity with the suggestion. “I know you, Tauria. Your imagination has been there before, hasn’t it?”

Her desire ruined his senses, and before she could answer he’d clamped an arm around her middle, pulling her up with him as he stood. Nik spared another look across at Tarly and Nerida, still laughing and engrossed in the wolves’ attempts.

Nik ran two fingers down the base of her spine. Tauria gasped, pushing into him as he curved down the seam of her pants, right to the front.

“Breakfast is going to be a while anyway, it seems,” he said huskily. “So what do you say we backtrack to that small cave we passed on the way here for a while?”

Tauria nodded, and Nik dragged his teeth along her collar.

“Lost your words, love?”

“Yes—I mean, no—I want…I need you now.”

He bit down shy of breaking skin, and she choked on her moan.

“My favorite words.”

When they returned to the shore of Stenna’s fall, the scent of freshly cooked fish was a blissful welcome.

“You must be famished,” Nik said, pulling Tauria to him as they walked, with a teasing squeeze of her waist. “With the amount of noise you made?—”

He adored her shyness, playfully whacking his chest.

“Where have you two been?” Tarly inquired, finishing half his fish before throwing the rest to Katori.

“Scouting,” Nik said at the same time as Tauria answered, “Training.”

He slipped her a devious look, saying to her thoughts,“We’ll definitely be working on that particular training again.”

Tauria smiled innocently at Tarly, pretending she hadn’t heard him.

Nik didn’t fail to notice how Tauria quickly looked away from Nerida. She tried a smile, but it was as if nerves took over. The two estranged half-sisters hadn’t had any time to talk, and Nik thought about diverting away from them with Tarly for a while before they would attempt to reach Hilia’s Cave far below the lake.

“Your braid,” Nerida said timidly. “I could fix it if you’d like.”

“She’s very good at it,” Edith said, admiring her perfectly woven twin braids.

Nik had tried his best with the attempt he’d made after making more of a tangled mess of Tauria’s hair. In his defense, with no comb, he’d found it twice as difficult.

Tauria ran her hand over her head, slipping him an accusing glare. “Thank you,” she said warmly.

Nerida’s body loosened at the acceptance. She handed the rest of her skewered fish to Tarly and got up.

Nik plucked a whole one off the fire and stood. “We should scout the area for bandits who know about the cave before we try to enter. We don’t want any altercations.”

He said it to Tarly, who didn’t immediately catch his hint to leave the sisters alone for a while.

Tarly frowned. “I thought you said you scouted already?”

Nerida giggled, and Tauria fought a sheepish smile.

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