Page 45 of The Lightkeeper

Oh god.

What kind of experiment had I begged for if it killed me in the end?

“Impossibly soft and perfect…” He trailed off into a hungry growl as he moved to my other breast.

I searched for support in the thick strands of his hair, burying my fingers against his scalp—against the scar I knew I’d felt the other night, and held him to me. I felt his groans of appreciation rumble against my flesh just as surely as I felt the hot stroke of his tongue and the firm, steady pulls of his lips.

Pleasure pooled deep inside me, oozing through each of my limbs like a fountain of lust. But between my thighs… the ache was unbearable.

“Kit…” I breathed out, angling my hips until I found the spot where the hard ridge of his erection pressed to my core, and then began to rock. His eyes tipped up to mine, glittering with possessiveness and pride when they saw my face—saw how hazy with lust I was.

“I’d mark every flush and shiver,” he said low, pressing a kiss to each peak of my breasts. “And every whimper—every sound I could draw from your lips just from these.” And then he scraped his teeth over my nipple, soothing it instantly with his tongue, but not before the sensation caused havoc on my body. Heat flushed through me—drenched between my legs.

“More,” I begged.

With a deep groan, he let my nipple pop from his mouth. His hand secured my hips, and then suddenly he pushed me off his lap so I was standing.

Panic crashed over me like icy rain. Had I done something wrong? Was that it? Was he pushing me away again?

His head tipped slowly up, and as soon as his expression swaminto focus, my fears dissipated.Hunger.First, he reached for my shirt, taking it and my bra all the way up to the top of my head before I yanked it the rest of the way and threw it on the floor.

Next, wordlessly, he reached for the waist of my pants, the button and zipper giving way in an instant. There wasn’t even a moment to hesitate—not that I wanted to—before the rush of cool air wrapped around my lower body as I stood completely naked in front of him.

And he didn’t move—hardly even a rise in his chest to breathe. Time could’ve stilled on the steadiness of his brow as he regarded me. His eyes like twin pools of lust that surveyed me, staking an invisible claim to every inch of my curves.

“So fucking beautiful.”

The compliment felt like it was tattooed straight to my soul—pinned forever to my psyche by the man who made me feel like no one else had before.

His lips closed back over my nipple, tasting and teasing the peak until I was drenched in goose bumps. “Kit…” I slid my hands around the back of his head again.

And then his hands started to lower. A featherlight touch over my stomach, tracing the soft curves of skin.“I want to taste you,” he rumbled.“I want to know if all of you tastes as sweet as these.” His head dipped, and he flicked my nipple with his tongue.

My eyes fluttered shut. My hands slid from his head down to his shoulders, about to coast onto the muscles of his back when his body tensed. I hardly processed it before my world went topsy-turvy. I cried out as he flipped us around, laying me on my back on the bed, as though I weighed no more than a feather.

I panted, staring at the bearded man who crouched over me like an animal, his shoulders heaving and his eyes dark with hunger.He bent closer, pressed a kiss to my sternum, and then moved his head lower. Air hiccupped into my lungs with every inch of descent over my stomach.

Oh god… was he…

“What are you doing?” I asked tremulously, feeling my legs tense, though there was no way to close them with him wedged between them.

His hands coasted from my waist to my thighs and gripped them tight. He lifted his dark gaze and captured mine.

“Experimenting,” he growled and wrenched my legs wide, baring me to his open stare.

Protests crashed on the tip of my tongue like waves, uncertainty and embarrassment and want all colliding together. But none escaped. Not when he looked at me like that.Not when he groaned like the sight was tearing him apart at the seams.

He hooked his arms underneath my thighs and then slid to his knees at the base of the bed, hauling me to the edge. I couldn’t breathe. The anticipation—the ache—stretched inside me like a band about to snap. Desire leaked from my core, I knew it by the way his lip twitched ravenously.

“Has anyone ever tasted you?”

“No one.” My voice cracked.

His gaze reached mine, full of hunger and something else…pride.

“No one but me.”

A different kind of heat bloomed inside my chest. Something that went well deeper than the physical reaction he caused in my body. But before I could think about it more, the heat of his expert tongue slid along my slit, and all rational thought evaporated.

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