Page 84 of A Bargain with the Fae King

I plan to make up for that now. To erase any doubts he has about my interactions with Sigurd.

I say everything with my kiss that I have no words for.

I’m here. I care for you. I want you and no one else.

Something shifts in me, clicking into place.

You’re my missing piece.

It’s a lightbulb going off within me, a realization I tell myself as much as him. My head swims, and without his arms around me, I might collapse. He holds me steady. His answers to the questions of my kiss don’t have words either, but they say so much.

I’ll be your rock. I care for you. You’re mine.

The gown is stifling, constricting, too much. I need it gone.

I whimper against his lips, trying to pull at the laces behind me. It’s no use. This lost in him, in us, I can’t think, can only feel and react and follow where my heart leads.

I pull back, gasping for breath, for a moment of sanity. He lets me go…with his hands. His gaze, however, is still glued to me, watching me with that cat-like grin. I could melt. Slide right out of my gown and into a puddle on the floor, but the damn thing won’t budge.

I turn around, giving him a view of the back of the laces. “A little help?”

“Certainly.” A click sounds as his nails lengthen into pointed claws.

I suck in a breath. My back stiffens as I recall the last time I’d seen those wicked claws used.

Riven rakes the claws down the back of my gown so fast I don’t have time to flinch. The distinctive sound of ripping material reaches my ears as the ties split down the middle. Severed lace floats to the floor. The gown sags around me. My back is undamaged, not even grazed.

That isnotwhat I had in mind when I asked him to help with the ties. Effective, yes, the precision impressive, but my gown…

I frown at it.

Riven waves his hand in the air, and the claws disappear as if they’d never been. “If you liked it, I’ll have it repaired.”

I sigh. Impatient, fae male.

With my back to him, I shove the gown down my body, letting it slide along my curves. I wiggle in what I hope are sexy swishes until it finally pools on the ground at my feet. Night air caresses my bare skin, sending goosebumps along sensitive flesh. It’s a sharp contrast to the volcano threatening to burn me up inside. My underwear follows in a repeat show.

I glance back over my shoulder at Riven. He reclines, half sitting, on the back of the sofa, arms crossed. The telltale tenting of his loose pants is impossible to miss.

His arms come loose as I prowl the short distance to him. He grips my waist, drawing me close. Heat from his chest melts against my palm. I slide my fingers through his hair. A near growl rumbles when I accidentally graze one sensitive ear. He jerks my hips into his, melding us together.

“You’ll refrain from that unless you want me to take you right here and now.” His deep laugh reverberates through my body.

So tempting, even if just to call his bluff.

My nipples graze his chest in the most delicious way and send a surge of liquid fire building between my legs. Riven’s lips trail kisses down my neck then my chest. His hands pave the way as he feels then tastes.

“How I’ve waited to sample these,” he whispers against my skin. His teeth graze one sensitive peak. He teases the other with a calloused hand, just as wicked and delightful.

My eyes roll back in my head.

All too soon, he releases my breast with a last flick of his tongue and continues trailing kisses down my stomach.

Lower.

“You want this? Me?” His voice is a hoarse rasp. A plea melted with the question.

“Yes. Yes, please,” I whimper.

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