Page 38 of Secrets and Starlight

She slammed the door behind us and flung herself against me, colliding her lips with mine. Immediately, her hands slipped under my shirt.

Gasping, I kissed her back, one hand digging into her hair. I wrapped my other hand around her, lifting her as her ankles wrapped around my waist.

“Mine,” I growled into her lips. “Watching you tonight, trapped in the shadows… It was torture.”

She tensed in my arms as our tether stiffened. Light ebbed from her hands. After a painfully long heartbeat, she closed her eyes with a long, steady exhale. “I’m not used to being important. And the Starlit King… My magic…”

I placed my finger on her lips. “No more talk ofhim.”Not when I needed all her attention onme.“We’re together now.”

“I want that. I want you, Zayne.”

She didn’t have time to finish saying my name before I was upon her, lips joining hers as I settled her on the large bed that filled most of the cabin. She leaned back on her hands and looked up at me, arching her back as her nipples peeked through the red sweetheart bodice.

My fingers ached to remove the dress completely. “Ayla, I claim you. You are mine.”

“Yours,” she agreed, her hands on my chest.

I lifted my shirt over my head. “I vow to learn everything about you. Maybe you’re not used to being treasured, but you will thrive under my care.”

Whatever resistance remained faded away as her gaze drifted over my chest. Her lips parted, but she didn’t find any words.

“Mine,” I repeated, crawling onto the bed and trapping her under my arms. She widened her knees, allowing me to fall between them. I leaned down and teased her breast into my mouth, wetting her nipple through the dress. She mewed beneath me, grinding her hips against me, still clothed. I groaned in reply.

“Zayne, I…”

At the sound of her hesitation, I surfaced from my all-consuming need, and when I looked around, I caught sight of the brilliant light radiating from her hands. She stared at it, gaping.

I sat back on my knees. Her magic had flared up, just like her arousal. Her short skirt bunched around her waist, showing off her drenched lacy undies. She squirmed under my gaze, and I couldn’t tell if she wanted me to pleasure her or back off.

Both,the tether suggested.

“I’m not ready for sex,” she finally gasped. “At least not inthatway.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I’m not ready for you inside me.” Another breath. “Do you understand?”

My mind sputtered, and my cock twitched. I ignored them both. “I don’t need to be inside you to give you pleasure.” I leaned back, gripping her thigh and stroking the inside with my thumb.

She shimmied against my hands. “I still want you… We’re just…”

I cupped her chin, hoping she’d look at me. “I understand. You lead the pace, okay?”

“Okay.” She met my gaze, making my stomach summersault. Her lips lifted in a nervous smile. “What now?”

“We take it slow,” I answered, sliding my hand higher up her thigh. “Is this all right?”

“Yes.”

Moving higher still, I edged my pinky to the fringe of her panties. “How about this?”

She squeezed her eyes shut, adorably frustrated. “I want more than that. And I think you know it.”

“I do.” The tether clamored with her need.

My knuckles grazed her sex as I reached for her hip, tugging her panties down, sliding them off. I tossed the thin lace scrap to a corner of the room, her scent blooming on the air.Cherry and spice.

I looked down at her sex, her glistening folds begging for my touch. “You’re beautiful.”

She tilted her hips, moaning in reply.

How I longed to reach out and satisfy her, but first… I glared at the complicated ties that fastened her rumpled dress in place. “Will you undress for me?” I begged. “I want to see all of you.”

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