Page 112 of Synodic

He had never kissed me this way before.

The night he was poisoned, our kiss had been carnal, uncontrolled, and filled with tormented urgency. In the crypts, it had been shrouded in fear and pleading desperation. But now, the way he took his time tasting me and exploring my mouth was deliberate, deep, and held the whisperings of something immeasurable.

“I need you closer,” I said against his mouth, pulling at him ardently, the lip of the stone bath still between us.

He didn’t need to be told twice.

Quickly shedding his shoes and weapon, Rowen hoisted himself up and over the bath’s edge, barely making a splash as he lowered himself into the water. He gathered me into his embrace and wrapped my legs around his narrow hips. He pulled me closer until my bare and needy skin was flush against his clothed body.

The water lapped around our entangled limbs, cushioning us in a midnight ocean, and our kiss deepened to a lower shelf of the sea I didn’t know existed.

Rowen’s hands roved over my slick wet skin, exploring me thoroughly for the very first time. His broad fingertips outlined the silhouette of my hips and waist, tracing over my ribs until one of his hands palmed my heavy breast. He ran the pad of his thumb over my taut nipple, and a rumble tore through his chest, feeding into my mouth. “Keira, you are perfect. My hands were made to touch you, to feel you.”

I couldn’t hold him close enough as his hands slid around my neck and back to hold me as he guided me against him, my bareness rubbing on the hard length of him through the material of his drenched pants.

“More,” I pleaded, trying to tear at the heavy fabric suctioned to the hard planes and divots of his body.

“Keira, whisper you want this and I’m yours. I’ve always been yours, but I need to hear you say it.” His voice was ragged, and I could barely think straight as his nose traced my jawline. As if I wasn’t already coming undone, his mouth dropped to the soft spot between my neck and ear, making it even harder for me to form words.

“I want this. I want you. Always,” I panted into the air and let my head fall back, granting him greater access to nibble and suck at my neck.

“You can’t imagine how happy it makes me to hear that, Keira. But I shouldn’t touch you, not until you know everything—if you would still want me this way after knowing what I’ve done.”

I knew what he was talking about, but I didn’t want to rot the moment with her name. I brought my gaze back to his, infusing my words with all the conviction my heart and soul could convey. “It’s always been you, Rowen. Can’t you see that? Despite the past, it doesn’t matter. Nothing you could ever say would change my mind.”

The flames in his eyes burned brighter at my words, and his green irises unfurled like the petals of a succulent. “Then I’m all yours, for as long as you’ll have me, but tonight you need rest.”

“I don’t think I’ll get any rest tonight. I…I’m still too on edge.”

“Then perhaps I could help you…unwind,” he said with a mischievous glint, and underneath the water, his fingers traced up my inner thighs. His touch found me, my very center, where all my nerves pulsed between my legs, and an aching moan was my only reply.

He touched me with long glorious strokes, slowly exploring me, and I bowed back, arching my peaked nipples into his clothed chest. I needed this, his hands on me in this way. It helped chase away the darkness.

But I needed more, so much more.

“I want to see you,” he rasped deep from the back of his throat, and his broad hands moved to latch onto my waist. “All of you.” With ease, he stood and lifted me onto the smooth edge of the swirling pool.

His eyes danced and dined on my naked body displayed just for him. My pale skin glowed in the night, and my dark wet hair wrapped around my body like tendrils of kelp on a selkie.

Rowen’s chest thundered with desire. “You are absolutely magnificent, Keira.”

My body bloomed under his gaze. “Now it’s my turn to look at you.”

He ripped his soaking shirt from his body and tossed it without care. I barely had a moment to admire the soaked chiseled planes of his body before he crashed back into me with an unbridled moan, kissing me breathless.

The stars and planets that refused to dim shimmered down on our bare skin, casting the droplets of water on our bodies into jewels of twilight. Comets and galaxies churned around our tangled bodies in whorls of liquid night and rippling diamonds—we were a very part of the starlit sky that reflected into the eddying water.

Between us, Rowen’s fingers found me again, swirling deliciously and more acutely on the spot that was sure to detonate me if he kept moving like that. His touch lowered, tracing me tortuously before entering me with a thrust, and I gasped, my body bucking into him.

He gave me a few deep, exquisite pumps before he withdrew his hand and tasted me on his finger. His eyes dilated as if he’d just consumed a drop of ecstasy, and I nearly spiraled out of control right then and there. “How am I to enjoy anything else when I’ve just had a taste of the heavens,” he hummed, slowly sinking back into me with two fingers, and I moaned loudly, throwing my head back.

His hand was controlling my whole universe, it would obey his every command.

It already was.

My head lolled into him until my lips were on his collarbone and my fingertips dug into his muscular shoulders. The slow glow of pressure built deep inside as he worked me thoroughly, but my mind and body seemed stoppered with worry—my release trapped within the fists of my trauma.

“Keira, let go. I have you,” Rowen encouraged, slowly stroking my clit with his thumb, and I had no choice but to submit to his command. Trusting him with every piece of me, I let go and began riding his hand with abandon. “That’s it. Good girl. Come for me.”

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