Page 30 of Taken By the Storm King

I turned. She’d risen from the bed, standing defiant and beautiful despite her injuries.

“I’m not fragile,” she said.

“I know.”

“Do you?” She stepped closer. “Because you’re looking at me like I might break.”

“You nearly did.” The memory of her blood in the water unleashed something primal in me. “If I’d been minutes later---“

“But you weren’t.” Her eyes searched mine. “Those creatures... they weren’t like your people. What were they?”

My jaw tightened. “The Mersai. Deep-dwelling predators who have contested our waters for generations.” My scales darkened with anger. “The same ones who murdered my mother during peace talks. Seeing them in our gardens, threatening you...”

Understanding dawned in her eyes. “That’s why you reacted so strongly. It was history repeating itself.”

“Yes,” I admitted, “but not only that.” I crossed to her in three strides, my hands hovering over her bandaged arm. “She was taken from me in those gardens. My mother. But this was different---this was you, Lucy.” My voice roughened. “The thought of losing you... it’s unbearable in a way I’ve never experienced before.”

“I’m here now.” She caught my hand, pressed it to her face. “I’m alive.”

“You’re alive,” I repeated, the words a prayer.

Her skin burned beneath my touch, vital and warm. I leaned down, pressed my forehead to hers. Her breath mingled with mine, sweet and clean. The scent of her---exotic spice and something uniquely Lucy---pulled at me, urged me closer.

“I need---“ I struggled for words.

“I know.” She tugged my head down, her lips meeting mine.

The kiss was desperate at first, fear and relief colliding. Her hands tangled in my hair, and mine spanned her waist, lifting her higher as I straightened. Her legs tightened around me without breaking the kiss, clinging as if she’d never let go.

I carried her to the bed, laying her down with more care than I knew I possessed. My hands shook as I pulled back to look at her, spread across my sheets like a gift I never dreamed of receiving.

“Your heart’s beating so fast,” she whispered, hand pressed to my chest.

“You should see what it does when you do this.” I guided her hand lower, over my abdomen, to the growing hardness beneath my clothing.

Her smile turned wicked. “Show me.”

I kissed her again, slower this time, savoring the softness of her lips, the small sounds she made when I nipped at her lower lip. My hand slid down her side, past her hip, to the hem of her dress.

“May I?” I asked against her mouth.

“Yes,” she breathed. “Anything.”

I drew the dress up slowly, revealing inch after inch of skin. When she sat up to let me pull it over her head, I stared in wonder. Moonlight filtered through the water of my pool, casting rippling patterns across her bare skin.

“Your undergarments are strange,” I murmured, tracing the edge of the fabric covering her breasts.

“Bras aren’t exactly standard issue for inter-planetary exploration.” She laughed. “I salvaged it from my uniform.”

“I like it.” I kissed the valley between her breasts. “But I’d like it better gone.”

She reached behind herself, and the fabric fell away, revealing her completely. I groaned, burying my face in her neck, breathing her in.

“Your scent drives me wild,” I confessed, trailing kisses down her throat to her collar bone. “Ever since I first pulled you from the water.”

“Is that why you saved me?” Her hands worked at my clothing, tugging at fastenings. “Because I smelled good?”

I laughed against her skin. “Among other reasons.”

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