Page 211 of Emylia

Maalikai broke the overwhelming magnetic pull of his kiss, his gaze locking onto mine. The blue depths of his eyes were just as perilous as his lips—drowning, consuming—but beneath the passion, I saw something more.

An unyielding need to protect me. To worship me like a damn Goddess. “If you want me to stop at any time, just say so. All you need to do is utter a single word, and I will stop."

There was no way I was going to whisper those words.

“I’m ready.”

Maalikai’s lips danced over my hipbone, reigniting the fire that had only briefly dimmed. The side of his mouth pulled up into a wicked smile. “Not yet you aren’t.”

My mouth parted, breath catching. “What do you mean?”

He leaned back slightly, clucking his tongue, imprisoning me with that storm-swept gaze.

“This moment isn’t about you taking what you think you want. This is about me giving you what you didn’t even know you needed. But only if you can be patient.”

Words crumbled to ash on my tongue.

“Do you trust me?”

I did. With everything I was. “Inexplicably.”

“Then not until you’re begging my name,” he said, “will you be ready.”

That smile? It was pure sin, the kind that scorched and branded.

“Damn it.” A whispered prayer. A vow.

“And you said you want everything, right?”

“Yes,” I breathed. “Everything.”

He leaned back only long enough to strip off his shirt, tossing it to the bed in one fluid motion. My breath hitched as he gently guided me to kneel atop the fabric, placing me exactly where he wanted me.

His lips found mine again, deep and claiming, until I felt him everywhere—fingers, mouth, breath. Without warning, his hand found the ache between my thighs.

They moved in slow, maddening circles over the bundle of nerves that pulsed with need. I rocked forward, tension curling through every limb. My hand buried in his hair, my body bowed to him.

“Are you ready?” His eyes burned like stormlight, glowing, ravenous.

“Gods, yes.”

He licked his fingers—slow and deliberate—then slid them inside me with a pressure that stole the breath from my lungs. His fingers curled, knowing exactly where to find that secret place that had me unraveling in seconds.

Pleasure slammed into me like a wave. My stomach coiled, back arching as I choked on a moan. Instantly knowing what he was asking of me.

“Maalikai... I—can’t—” His lips curved against my skin.

“Oh, you will. Let go for me.”

I tried to fight it. Tried to hold onto something solid, my nails biting into his golden skin, but it wasn't enough. And then he whispered against my ear, a plea,

“Be a good girl. Squirt for me.” And I shattered.

I clung to him like my life depended on it as warm liquid sprayed down my thighs, my body convulsing.

The moment made sense—the reason he’d laid his shirt down beneath me. And still, he didn’t stop. He carried me through wave after wave until I slumped against him, ruined.

Only then did he lay me down gently, reverently. His eyes devouring me.

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