Page 139 of Trial of Bronze and Blood
His lips leave hers for a moment, and she nearly protests—when he dips down and grips her thighs, lifting her. She throws her legs around his waist and closes her eyes as he buries his face in her neck.
Before she has a moment to think, she finds herself on her back, on top of Marcus’s bed sheets. He fits himself beside her without once taking his lips from hers. She’d be more impressed if she wasn’t so enthralled by him. Consumed by him. Aching for him.
He abandons her lips for the sensitive spot beneath her ear, trailing down her neck, her collarbone, and along the sensitive skin of her breast. His hand grazes along the outside of the opposite breast, down her rib cage, until it meets her hip and moves across to her inner thigh. She tries not to squirm, wishing he’d go where she wants him to, where she knows he’s headed.
He obliges, teasing her open with the deftness of his finger. She gasps, arching her back and thrusting her hips. Entering her slower, deeper, she moans high and long, wholly unhindered. She reaches for him—but he recognizes the movement, grasping her wrist and pinning it to the bed.
“I want you,” she offers in explanation as he glances up at her with a hooded gaze, unashamed of articulating her wants aloud, despite her voice being barely above a whisper.
He lets go of her wrist, trusting she’ll keep it there, and lifts himself up to give her a single, searing kiss.
He whispers against her lips, “You can’t have me yet.”
She restrains herself from asking again, her core clenching at his words. Marcus has rendered her powerless, and she doesn’t hate it. Not from him.
He captures her mouth with his, reclaiming his place inside her. She rolls her hips into him, wanting to be closer, alwayscloser.
When his thumb rubs her crest, a pleasure she’s never experienced before roars through her entire body. Every thought she’s everhad leaves her head, left only with this primal sensation. She rocks into him as the tension builds inside her, tightening like a knotted rope being pulled harder with each labored breath.
Finally, when she feels like she can’t stand it any longer, pleasure surges inside her, and she cries out. Curling her legs around his forearm, he doesn’t leave her until the throbbing inside her slows.
He looks down, eyes on her face but out of focus.
“Have you never?—”
She cups his cheek with her hand. “Not from anyone other than myself.”
He lets out a breath, grip tightening around her hip now. “And who did you think of during those moments?”
Sitting up, she throws a leg over him and straddles his lower hips.
“I think you know the answer.”
Shifting up the bed so his back rests against the wall, he places his hands on her thighs, chest rising and falling heavily. His vulnerable blue gaze watches her carefully.
“I’d like to hear you say it.”
“You,” she whispers another confession, edging up his body until she rests directly on top of him. He closes his eyes and shudders. “It’s always been you.”
Then she leans down and captures his lips with hers, gently sliding along him. They don’t stay there for long; he leaves the wall and sits up, sliding his hands up her thighs to her hips and then her back. She repositions herself, releasing a small moan as she slowly eases on top of him.Stellae, he feels perfect.As if they’re two pieces meant to fit together.
“Fuck, Dru,” he swears. He thrusts once, slowly, then again, filling her completely. The ache inside her returns, building again in an entirely different way than before.
She captures his lips with hers to quiet any more words, focusing only on the feeling of him.
They move in sync with each other, her arms looped around hisneck, his fingers digging into her back. Euphoria grows inside her again, like a wave curling on the ocean, waiting to crash onto the shore.
Marcus groans against her lips, moving quicker and deeper now, causing her to go numb while at the same time feeleverything. His hands move to her hips and grip them hard; her breasts graze his chest as she arches her back, allowing him to press against the place inside her that makes her ache the most. She opens her mouth to gasp and their tongues barely brush against each other, just enough to push her over the edge again. Pleasure shudders through her, their moans echoing in the night as she tightens around him.
Marcus follows quickly after. His lips leave hers and he breathes hard against the top of her breast, his forehead digging into her shoulder. Their chests heave in rhythm, sweat sticking where their bodies touch. She brushes her fingers through his damp hair, not ready to let go of him yet.
She’s not sure how long they stay like that before he gently extricates himself from her and lays them both on the bed, wrapping his arms around her. They stay like that for a long time—so long she nearly drifts off to sleep.
Finally, Marcus moves.
She opens her eyes sleepily to watch him stand, completely naked, and pick up the silk sheet that fell to the floor. Placing it over her, he blows out the candle at his bedside and crawls in beside her, gathering her up in his arms again.
She sighs, relaxing into him and mumbling some version of goodnight.
