Page 44 of Ashes of Betrayal

A groan rumbled in his throat. She tasted of wine and woman, like she belonged to him. The faint scent of rose wrapped itself around him as he slid a hand to the back of her head and deepened the kiss. While she’d been a Marav woman, he’d associated the sharp scent of lavender with his wife, not rose. In the past, when he’d hunted the Shee, rose had been a warning. He’d found the perfume cloying. But not any longer.

Instead, it awoke a primal urge inside him. One he was tired of fighting.

Bree kissed him back hungrily now, her tongue sliding against his, her hands splaying across his chest, and her fingertips digging through the leather into his flesh.

Cailean hauled her off the stool and onto his lap so she sat astride him. She was taller as a Shee and so bent her head as she gently bit his lower lip and raised her hands to cup his face. The gesture was both tender and possessive.

And then their mouths savaged each other’s, need quickening like a flame on dry tinder.

Gods, he’d tried to forget what she tasted like, how good her body felt pressed against his. But he couldn’t. And when she ground herself against him, and a groan tore from her throat to find him rock-hard for her, heat swept over him, incinerating any coherent thought.

He was supposed to agree with her—to confirm they’d go their separate ways the following day. Instead, something had shattered inside him.

He wanted her naked. Now.

Reaching up, he started untying her leathers, stripping them off her, while she tore at his vest and breeches too.

Panting, they wriggled out of their clothing, and when—at last—firelight played on her long limbs and smooth skin, Cailean pulled her back astride him on his lap. He then slid his hands down the long arch of her spine before he ran his fingertips up the smooth skin of her arms, to the delicate sweep of her collarbone and swan-like neck.

“Am I still pleasing to you?” she asked huskily, her eyes glowing as she watched him. “Even like this.”

“Aye,” he murmured, as his fingertips traced the underside of her small, high breasts. He then dragged his thumb over a hard nipple, heat coiling in his belly when she gasped. He couldn’t believe she’d worry about such things, yet he’d happily reassure her. “You’re beautiful.”

Her golden eyes grew limpid at these words. He meant them too. Leaning in, he trailed his lips up her neck to the shell of her ear.

“Hold tight,” he whispered, his belly clenching as she shuddered against him. “Let’s move somewhere more comfortable.”

In response, Bree wrapped her arms and legs around him, clinging to Cailean as he rose to his feet and carried her to a sleeping nook. Then, laying her down upon the furs, he crawled over her, his mouth capturing Bree’s once more for a long, hot kiss.

She writhed against him, her hands sliding against his skin.

He drew their kisses out, until they were both panting, before moving down to her breasts. Pushing them together, he feasted upon their swollen tips. His groin throbbed with each hoarse moan she made, every whispered plea.

How many times over the past moons had he recalled her husky voice urging him on, begging him to take her? How many times had he taken himself in hand, giving himself the release he needed yet never feeling fully satisfied? Too many, and he’d cursed himself after eachincident.

But he wasn’t cursing himself tonight.

Instead, he let his bitterness and regret go. He let himself have what he craved.

20: STAY WITH ME

HIS MOUTH ON her breasts, the way he drew each nipple deep and sucked until she whimpered, turned Bree’s body molten.

Sprawled upon the furs underneath Cailean, her senses reeled.

How had this happened?

One moment, her gut had been twisted in misery as she faced the reality of her situation. And the next, he’d risen from his sleeping nook and taken a stool opposite, staring fiercely into her eyes.

It surprised her that Cailean didn’t want her to give up. He’d seemed vexed at her despair. She thought that he wanted her gone.

But, instead, he’d kissed her.

Bree hadn’t been trying to manipulate him. The misery that clutched at her breast wasn’t feigned. Her encounter with Flynn had left her shaken. After learning that she’d hunted and killed his brother like prey, he’d looked at her as if she were a monster. Unworthy of redemption.

The revulsion in his eyes had haunted her ever since.

But Cailean had challenged her; he wouldn’t let her give up.

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