Page 50 of Hers to Keep

His face softened, and the depth of his emotion was so plain on his usually stoic features that she couldn’t deny him an instant longer.She spread her thighs and leaned back.

He lowered his head and bit his way up one thigh until she trembled with the wanting of him.She urged him closer with a wordless moan.He obliged by lapping at her with a long stroke of his tongue.

“You taste like whispers sweetly sinful enough to tempt a saint,” he rumbled and then dipped his head for another slow lick along her seam that curled her toes.

The last thing she had expected from this fierce man between her knees was poetry, but somehow, it was perfect.She ran her fingers through his hair, fondness blooming in her chest.“Make me come with that silver tongue of yours.”

Bending to his task without another word, his hands pressed her thighs wide so she was exposed to him.He slipped his tongue into her, making her back arch as the sensation overflowed and spread through her entire body.Her magic purred for him, the curls of it wrapping around and caressing him in time with his tongue’s decadent strokes inside her.

She lost herself in the boundless indulgence of his mouth, coming undone under him over and over until she trembled.

Once he was satisfied there was no more pleasure to wring out of her body, he moved so that his chin rested on her mound, and there was an easy smile on his lips as he gazed over her.“I’m yours, Mariana, until one of us dies.And this world better pray that I die before you, because I’m not sure I won’t bring it all crashing down in retribution if we’re parted.”He didn’t say it with malice, but she felt the promise of his words shiver through her.

She pulled him up so that he rested over her, needing to feel the heat of his body against hers in this vulnerable moment.With her fingers curled tight in his hair, she drew his face down to hers.He opened for her kiss without hesitation, baring himself to her and letting her taste herself on his tongue.

Chapter 16

MariwenttofindCisco the next morning.He was in his office staring daggers at his computer screen.

When he glanced up at her, his forehead wrinkled.“You look different.”

“I feel different.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“We’re not two people anymore.The goddess and me.Completing the circle healed something that was broken.”

“Is that good?You sound like you’re not sure.”

“I think so.I have her memories.All of them.”

Cisco turned in his chair to look at her straight on.

“Ashdei was kind to me the night of the ritual.Gentle even.He told me that it was because he didn’t want me to be scared when I remembered.”

He clenched his jaw, his turmoil obvious.“He still agreed to kindle your magic knowing that you were a child.I can’t forgive that.”

“He refused at first.The goddess sent my mother to convince him by telling him everything and explaining how they were going to foil my father’s plan.That’s the only reason he agreed.”

He stared at her for a long while, saying nothing.His voice was low and ashamed when he finally spoke.“So, I’ve been angry with him all this time on your behalf for nothing.”

“No, Cisco.”She moved closer and rested a hand on his horn.“Not for nothing.”She angled his face up to her.“I’m grateful for every moment of that anger.It means you love me, and you were furious that someone would hurt me.But that anger should be aimed at my father and not Ashdei.”

He looked up at her but didn’t say anything in response.

“I just don’t want you to hate him for that, okay?Because, while the situation was fucked up and we all know that, there were worse things that could have happened to me that night.He made sure I was cherished.”

“Fine.”He sighed.“I’ll stop plotting to kill him.”

She moved to sit on his thigh.“Were you really doing that?”

“You bet your fine ass I was.”He reached for a drawer to pull a thick book out and put it on his desk.

Mari leaned to read the spine.Enemies of the Hells.“What’s his entry say in that?”

“Largely considered to be impervious to most forms of damage,” Cisco offered in a lecturing tone.“Ephemeral magics thought to be his one weakness, although not confirmed as of this writing.”

She caressed the side of his face.“And what did Willow say?”

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