Page 27 of Love & Monsters
“Mina.”
“Ah!” I shrieked and nearly jumped out of my skin when Vadric popped back into view. My heart jumped into my throat, and I covered my face to hide from him. “You scared me.”
“I can tell,” Vadric chuckled, snatching the bag from the ground. “Come.”
After a few moments of walking, we curved through a bend in the woods. A rocky formation thrust up from the ground, reaching toward the sky over the heights of the trees. The sound of gurgling water over stone caught my attention, and I perked up.
“What is this?” My eyes went as round as dinner plates and nearly popped out of my head. Crystal clear water in a rounded stone pool stopped me in my tracks. There were smaller pools and little streams interconnected, but it looked like peaceful and lovely.
“A natural hot spring. It’s not the season for it, but it’ll be nice to have a relaxing soak.” Vadric dropped the bag on a patch of dark grass under a cluster of trees before turning to catch me staring at the water. “You can get in, Mina.”
“It’s safe?” My fingers were curling in the fabric of my dress, ready to tear it from my skin and get into the water.
“Perfectly safe for me and most of my kind. Don’t see why it wouldn’t be for you,” Vadric answered. I wasn’t even looking at him. Instead, I was rapidly pulling the dress over my head in a frenzy.
A small thought in the back of my mind told me to wait. That the monster would see me naked and that it was some scary and scandalous thing. And maybe it was, but at this point Vadric and I were past that. I wouldn’t hold back from getting into a hot spring and letting out my wild tension from this insane turn of events just because I’d be in the nude.
Let him look.
Not bothering to fold the dress, I left it in an unceremonious pile and tugged off the boots next. The instant they were off my feet, I dipped my toe into the warm, clear water. A satisfied groan left me as I sank further into the water. Sliding in deeper and deeper until I was up to my shoulders.
The water was shallow enough for me to stand on my feet comfortably with the water just above my breasts. Whatever was in that hot spring, it instantly seeped into my muscles and bones and turned me into pudding. This was more relaxing than the bath in the dungeon.
At the thought of the bath we shared, I heard the water splashing behind me. I tensed up again as if suddenly made of ice despite the luxurious warm water of the spring. Every erratic beat of my heart echoed through my ears like a drum.
The water undulated against my skin, and I knew without looking that he was behind me, towering over me like the gigantic beast he was. Then I felt his heated, wet palm land on my shoulder, and skim down my arm under the surface of the water.
“You’re so soft, Mina.” His voice was gentle, tentative as he spoke the thoughts on his mind. My eyes closed as his hand danced along my arm and I wanted to lean into his touch.
When I turned around, I came face to face with his sculpted abdomen. My lips parted and my jaw almost dropped into the water at the sight of his intense muscles and midnight skin. If my eyes went under the water, I knew the ridged appendage I would see.
“And you’re tall,” my tongue pushed out while my eyes traveled the distance along his body to his face.
Vadric smiled, and it wholly disarmed me. Everything about his features were sharp and made to terrify, yet that smile was genuine. And it was for me.
“You’re just so tiny, little one.” He went to his knees under the water, and in an instant, we were face to face. His yellow eyes seemed to have their own inner light sometimes. Maybe they helped monsters see in the dark. They locked onto my lips, and my body flushed when I got an idea of what he was thinking about.
Our bodies moved in slow motion, pulled toward each other by some unseen force in that moment. The tension surrounding us was heavy, and I had nowhere to go but into his embrace. His arms fell around me, pulling my naked skin against his. Instantly my body came alive with electricity running through my veins and landing between my legs.
“Kiss me again,” Vadric said.
“Okay.” My heart leapt into my throat, but I lifted my arms and slid them over his wide shoulders, and my fingers tangled into the black wavy locks of hair behind his head.
Vadric’s eyes were scanning the planes of my face and I was doing the same to him. I liked the feeling of his beating heart under his skin. It felt like it could have been mine from how powerful it was. His hands were on my hips, grip tightening until his claws were almost painfully digging into my skin as the distance closed.
My eyes closed as our lips collided. My heart stopped beating in that blissful moment as the warmth of Vadric’s lips were on my own. Soft at first, as we slowly moved to explore each other. Until the tip of his tongue slipped through my lips and wrapped around my tongue.
An unbidden moan escaped, and I shuddered against him. My body was slick from the water, and I slid over his chest. Vadric skimmed one hand up my back to hold my neck, and he deepened the kiss with a blinding intensity. Our lips moved in a frenzy, and he sucked all the air from my lungs with the furious passion in his kiss.
I had to break away for air, gasping in a lungful to breathe. That didn’t deter Vadric. His mouth continued on a trail peppering kisses over my cheek, to my jaw, then down to my neck.
“You’ve never kissed before?” I asked, trying to regain some of my lost breath.
“Never,” he growled in answer against my throat.
“You like it?” I don’t know why I asked. He undoubtedly enjoyed this. His throbbing erection pressed against my stomach. The feeling of it slipping over my skin under the water made me want to burst into flames.
“It’s very enjoyable. I like the way your mouth tastes.” I gasped, but his lips converged on mine again, stealing the sound as his tongue writhed against mine.
