Page 49 of Blood Sweeter than Honey

Gideon’s cock is thick and firm beneath me. The fact that I manage to restrain myself from grinding on it is it feat of such tremendous self-restraint, I deserve a fucking award.

He’ll never forgive you if you fuck him without telling him the truth. Without showing him your true appearance.

Even in the world I come from, daemons are rarely accepted. I can’t fucking imagine how they feel about daemons in this magicless place.

That internal reminder is enough to have me crawling out of his lap to get up. I stand, offering my hand to help him up. “Ok, I’ve had my cry. Let’s go eat?—

“Who said I was done with you, hm?”

WINNOW

Gideon grips my hand and yanks me back into his lap. With a yelp, we go tumbling backward, and I end up straddling his waist. A laugh escapes me as Gideon watches me and he tucks a tendril of hair behind one ear.

“Well, for one, you must be starving.”

Gideon chuckles. “Oh, believe me, I am.”

My cheeks flush as heat blooms in my core, even as Gideon’s face turns serious, and he searches my gaze.

One kiss can’t hurt, can it?

Before I can think better of it, my head dips to capture his lips with mine.

First tentatively.

Gently.

The action is a silent prayer.Please love me as I am—as I am coming to love you without condition. Wholly and irrepressibly.

As if in confirmation, Gideon groans beneath me as one hand fists my hair at the back of my head, and his other grips my waist, dragging me further against him. In one swift move, he manages to roll us and puts my body beneath his as we bump into a set of shelves filled with his clothing. I scarcely notice thehats, shirts, and sweatpants that tumble onto us because Gideon turns my shy, tentative kiss into something passionate and unrestrained, while still being sensual and honed. His tongue sweeps and caresses over mine, alternating between nipping at my lips while his hands roam, gripping, caressing, and teasing their way up to my breasts.

Thesoulboundtether between us is a pulsating, desirous thing urging me to claim him now. My legs wrap around his waist as my hips buck to grind against him. His cock is a thick bar against his jeans that my clit seeks purchase on. Gideon’s hand grips my jaw as he pulls back, and we catch our breath.

“Fuck, angel, you have no idea how desperately I’ve been wanting to do that.”

I can’t help but chuckle, plucking the rogue items of clothing from his back.If you only knew.

“I think I have some idea.”

An intense moment passes as our gazes hold. There’s a question and a need in his eyes as a little voice in my head reminds me of the impending expiration date if I don’t get him to fall in love with me enough to accept me as I am. Very muchnothuman, in increasingly desperate need of his blood, and the fact that being with me means fulfilling the bond andchanginghim.

It also feels wrong to be intimate with him without telling him the truth. If anything, that scares me the most, but I breathe away the fear and anxiety bubbling up in favor of trusting thatAkashwould not bind my soul to someone who would reject me for being half-daemon.

My thoughts drift to the new King and Queen of Atratus—a small, neighboring southern continent–rumor has it they nearly killed each other. That they were the most heinous of enemies prior to their union. The thought makes me shudder, and I send a silent prayer toAkash.

Recognizing the hesitation in my eyes, Gidean wraps me in his arms once more, holding me to him as he stands.

“Come on, baby girl. Let’s go eat.”

WINNOW

Ahandful of days pass, and Gideon and I develop a routine, where he wakes up long before I do, in the wee hours of the morning to start his day of work, and I sleep in. So accustomed to rising early with all the demands of holding the duchy, lingering in bed is a rare event I relish. However, coupled with a lingering tiredness that I fear is already the first inkling of needing blood, it dampens the joy of it.

I always make sure that by the time noon rolls around—about eight hours after Gideon gets up for work, I have his favourite sandwich ready for him.

Each passing day has felt like a guillotine, making a stuttering approach to my throat, further exasperated by the fact that food has become less and less satiating.

We’ve taken to reading together in the evenings, sometimes taking turns as he strokes my hair and my skin until I’mdrenchedbetween my thighs. The fact that I know I can’t tell him yet about who or what I am, much less ask him to let me drink his blood, or accept me as hissoulbound,is the only thing stopping me from quite literallybegginghim to fuck me.

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