Page 136 of Between Despair and Hope

“I do. Closer, Em. I want to drown in you.”

Hand clasped to my thigh on his shoulder, he leaned back on his discarded shirt, unfolding his long legs as his muscular abdomen bent me to his will, bringing me along in his slow descent. I barely kept my balance as he guided my body. I landed hard, a knee on either side of his face, and I leaned back, keeping my weight off him.

A ghost of a touch on my knees, he healed the ache in an instant.

“Love, I—“ I squealed as his hands cupped my ass and dragged me onto his face. Without a moment’s hesitation, his tongue moved in a forceful path up the center of me, and I shuddered. If he couldn’t breathe before, he certainly wouldn’t be able to now. His touch roamed up my hips and sides, and even as I tried to lift, his hands settled on my waist and pulled me down.

“I’m going to smother you,” I gasped as he turned his head, pressing a kiss to my inner thigh.

“You’re not. Now use me.”

His tongue parted my needy flesh, sliding wet and warm over touch-deprived skin. Rough hands moved to my hips, dragging me back and forth atop him. The friction from the scruff on his face was a delicious hurt, and I tilted my head back on a moan. Using one hand to guide my body, he slid the other up, tracing gentle fingertips past my ribs, cupping my heavy breast in his hand. Rubbing his thumb over my nipple as he focused his attention on my clit, he drew sounds and pleasure from my body, dragging me toward a climax I was sure would leave me shattered.

His desire for me to ride his face drove me wild with need. Of all the ways to bring me pleasure with his mouth, he chose the one which made him the most vulnerable. I was probably reading into it more than I ought to, but, especially after everything he had been through, the weakness he experienced when he couldn’t see my collarbone, this felt likemore. I’d relaxed, widening my stance and lowering onto him, and I lifted on my knees, suddenly uncertain. Within a second, he dropped my breast, and both hands grasped me tight, roughly yanking me back down. A punishing nip to my clit with the faint hint of teeth sent sparks of want up my spine. I felt shadows coil on my skin as pinpricks of sensation threatened to overwhelm me.

Looking down, I realized the shadows weren’t mine, and I froze. This was too much, and he wasn’t ready for it. Relief found me when green eyes met mine, a roguish sparkle in them. Coaxing his shadows to twine on my thighs, holding me exactly where he wanted me, he continued his attentions. With both hands free, he allowed one to slip back up to my breast, tweaking a nipple, while the other reached behind me and cupped my backside. He nibbled my clit, sucking and laving with his tongue.

“Oh, gods.”

A prayer and praise in one, I dragged out the words. And then I moved. One hand threaded through his short curls, and the other held my own hair off my neck as I rocked on him. He groaned into me as I ground my hips, accepting what he wanted from me. I let myself sink lower, as I had been before, and my hips worked over him. Erotic sounds filled the cavern; my moans, his soft grunts, and the wet mess he’d made of me warred for dominance. A wandering hand slid across my ass, fingers pressing, roaming. I didn’t stop him as I continued moving my body, undulating a beat onto his face. When a fingertip paused in its wandering, exploring one spot more thoroughly, the sound I made deafened the rest, a rough groan breaking past my lips. The wicked man chuckled into my skin as he pressed a kiss to my burning flesh and sucked roughly on my clit. Gods, I had missed him. He was the only one with such power to weaken me in this way, to make me feel as if I was on the edge of life and death, teetering between absolution and damnation.

My pulse scorched a path between my legs, the fire building, as he speared his tongue into me. I felt my orgasm build. A long exhale of breath against my clit made my internal muscles clench as he continued to devour me. My divinity stretched and roamed, almost like a cloud of shimmering birds in the air, twisting and turning as it expanded. As if it searched for a place—a home. I held onto him as I moved, using my other hand to grab my breast, increasing the pleasure. A long, decadent pull on the most sensitive part of me sent me over the edge, legs twitching and thighs trying to snap together as I came. My hips bucked as I pulled on my nipple, crying out as he licked and sucked me through my release.

Dropping his shadows, his hands clamped over my legs, and he slid me back toward his chest as he panted. Looking down at him, I grew embarrassed over the sheen of my desire I’d left behind, and when he gave an imperceptible shake of his head, I knew he felt it through the bond.

“Do not be ashamed of what your body does for me; I told you I wanted to drown.” A wicked grin.

I lifted one leg, about to climb off him, and he tugged me back, pressing a final kiss to my oversensitive clit. I lost my balance and toppled over in a shriek.

I started laughing, spent, and he rolled onto his side, joining in with a smile and running a hand up my thigh. He quieted as I continued chuckling and just watched me. I had collapsed on my back, my hair spread out beneath me, and I knew the angle he saw me from wasn’t all that flattering, and I began to fidget.

“Quit that,” he said.

“Quit what?”

“Giving me that look.”

“What look?”

“Like I should be anything less than awed by you.”

I snorted, sitting up and tugging my knees to my chest. “This is what I missed the most—while you’ve been gone. Laughing with you. I thought maybe we’d used up all the good moments. That this hell has been some type of penance for our joy.”

“If it is, that’s bullshit. We’ve both earned any joy we can take—tenfold. And I plan to keep it.”

“Speaking of planning, you didn’t tell me about the last council meeting. Have they gotten over the dragons?”

Rain rolled onto his back, laughing. “You’re going to talk to me about council meetings and dragons when I’m hard as a diamond?”

His tented pants proved his point.

“I’m sorry, I’ve just missed talking—“

“I’m teasing,” he said as he rose. After shimmying out of his clothing, he stood fully nude before me. It was the first time I’d seen him that way in weeks. Of course, my eyes were drawn to the thick erection he sported, but the lean lines of muscle leading there from his abdomen distracted me. He’d gained back some of his weight and muscle, but he was still more lean than he had been before Darkhold. It shook me to see that even a month of comfortable eating hadn’t wholly fixed him. “Come here.” He held a hand out to me and helped me stand. Leading us to the pool where the moonfish had been, he dipped a toe in.

“I figured the fire was heating it too much if the moonfish fled. It feels comfortable if you want to join me.”

“That’s not warm.” I nodded toward the trickle from the ceiling of the cave.

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