Page 104 of Curse the Fae

Disembarking, I barely have time to draw breath. Elixir grabs me, and we stumble across the isle, our heads pressed so tightly together, it’s going to leave an imprint. Without turning away from me, Elixir lashes out and blows the door open.

By the time we make it into my chamber, our mouths are locked. Elixir kicks the door shut behind us, never breaking the kiss.

But I do. Prying my lips from his, I pant, “Lotus.”

Elixir groans. With a laugh, I wiggle out of his embrace and find my companion gliding across the floor. Before I have a chance to cradle him off the ground, Elixir gets there first. He hunches and communicates something to the snake, and Lotus slides onto his crooked arm, after which Elixir brings him outside, where my friend will be free to roam among the damp grass and slink into the water if he likes.

I’d started allowing this once Elixir had assured me the water won’t pull Lotus down. Mortal of not, Lotus is a fauna of the river. Therefore, he’s immune to the lake’s pressure. Apparently, that’s how he’d managed to reach me here in the first place.

Elixir seizes my hips and claims my mouth. He walks me backward to the bed, and I drag him as well, both of us working in tandem. Our mouths unseal, open lips grazing, hot and hectic puffs blasting between us. I tug on the waistband of his pants, a loose material versus the customary leggings.

Our fingers drift absently, then intentionally. Fingers dive into hair and pull, eliciting pleasure and pain. His robe hits the ground, then my dress when he yanks it over my head.

The backs of my knees bump into the mattress, where we halt in the lantern light. The central tub bubbles with heat. Black, blue, and green shadows splay across the room, shafts of lightness and darkness running across the contours of our bodies. I’m naked, and the pants slump low over Elixir’s olive skin.

His eyes grow hooded. “I’m going to fuck you so deeply in this bed.”

My core throbs, but I shake my head while clinging to his shoulders. “No,” I whisper. “You’re going to make love to me.”

Elixir jolts in my arms, a confused expression slackening his features. “Is that your wish?” When I nod, he looks spooked, out of his element. “I do not…I do not know how.”

My palms glide to his cheeks. I’m careful to pace myself, the tender contact causing him to flinch. He can’t trust it, doesn’t understand it. With aching slowness, I frame his harsh face and wait for him to relax. “Neither do I. We’ll show each other. All right?”

At my touch, he wavers. His eyes clench shut. “I might fail you.”

My heart cracks into pieces. “You won’t.”

Nervous excitement eclipses lust. We’ve never done this, make love without a modicum of tension or frenzy. I want this to be different, as quiet as his nature, as gentle as mine. I want us deep and languid and patient.

Finally, Elixir twists his head to kiss my fingers. “Yes.”

Yes. That’s my harsh, complex, secretive, beautiful, vulnerable villain.

And then we’re sinking onto the bed, our hands wandering, sketching each other. He bites my nipple gently. I lick the peak of his ear. His tongue runs across the inside of my thigh. My teeth skate over his abdomen.

My heels push down his pants, and his waist nestles between my spread thighs, the width and weight of him a harbor, a safe place.

Words pour from us. Here and here and here. Like this. Yes. That. Does this please you? Does it feel good? Slower. Yes, slower. Much slower.

As his cock nocks against my entrance, I brush the hair from his face. The gesture nudges a soft growl of surrender from him. My body kindles, flames licking my skin. “Do this with me,” I coax, whispering the invitation against his mouth. “Make us come until we fall asleep.”

The plea wracks Elixir’s frame. “That, I shall.”

I grasp his waist, directing the tempo as his hips swing forward, the swollen head of his cock plying into me. Slow, then slower. Deep, then deeper. We drag it out until he seats himself fully, his firm length slipping inside.

And then we’re moving. His palms flank my cheeks as he rolls his hips, the pace leisurely and excruciatingly new. I grip his buttocks and rotate my waist, my core meeting his cock in long strokes that make me dizzy with want.

I whimper, he groans, and we gyrate in sync. Soon, we’re panting in astonishment and releasing heavy drafts of air. My ankles link across his ass. Elixir sprawls me beneath him, his waist undulating between my hitched thighs. He hisses in my ear and nips at the delicate flesh. I shiver and take the brunt of his cock, taking it dark and deep.

His eyes seek me out, yearning for a place to land. That’s when I see more than lust or desire, more than friendship and fondness. I see trust mingling with passion. I see affection, protectiveness, and a seed of something more, something scary and forbidden and defiant. What I see is unconditional, and I feed it back to him, using my moans and movements and lips to convey the emotion.

I show him what he can’t see.

A strangled sound wrestles from Elixir’s throat, encouraging him to burrow his body farther, the fluid slide of his cock stealing my breath. “I would keep us here,” he husks, then kisses me. “Always like this.”

“Elixir,” I plead, rocking with him.

“Cove,” he utters against my mouth. “I don’t want it to end.”

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