Page 96 of Light and Shadow
“You already know the names of the staff?” Everything about Harper is lovely and kind. I don’t deserve this woman. I’ve taken her from all she knows and nearly gotten her killed a dozen times.
“She made my fire.” She clutches the cream-colored shawl tight. “Did you think the captain believed our story? He looked…I don’t know, skeptical.”
Mother was right about the dress, but the color be damned; it caresses Harper’s curves well enough to make my mouth water.
“Rían is a soldier through and through. He’s not one to show emotions. He believed us and will think over what he heard. Tomorrow, he will likely have questions.” I turn us down a path that leads to a gate.
She shivers.
Stopping, I pull her into my arms and rub her back. “I was going to show you something, but perhaps we can do that tomorrow when it’s warmer.”
“It has been a long day. Can we go back to my room for the night?”
I freeze, not certain I’m understanding her correctly. “You want me to stay the night with you?”
“Is that frowned on here?” She looks at me and toys with my unbound hair where it lies on my chest.
“No. I didn’t know if you’d be comfortable having everyone know that we’re intimate.” By the old gods, I’m an idiot. Suddenly, I feel like a child afraid of being caught stealing from the larder.
Her moss-green eyes are mesmerizing, even as she shakes her head at me. “Since Lila already asked me to confirm that we’re lovers, I’d say that cat is out of the bag.”
My cheeks heat despite its ridiculousness. “I’m not familiar with that phrase, but I take it that a cat would run rampant once freed from the bag?”
She nods. “If you don’t want to stay the night, just hold me until I fall asleep.”
Is it possible she doesn’t know how I feel? I’ve told her. I’ve said it more than once. Could she think anything has changed because we’ve come home? “I would spend every second, day and night, with you if that were possible, Harper.”
“I would like to remember lying on a mattress with blankets and not waking with dirt in my nostrils and hair.” She makes a face that is at once not pretty and also adorable, with her lips twisted and her nose wrinkled.
“I’m not sure you realize what it means to have my full strength back.” I lift her and sling her over my shoulder like a sack of flour.
Slapping my back, she laughs. “What are you doing?”
“I’m taking you to bed.” Using elf speed, I run through the garden, the lower level of the house, and up the stairs in a few seconds. I slow in the hallway.
“What the fuck was that?” She pushes until I let her slide to her feet. Her hair is flying in every direction. Looking wild and excited, she pokes her finger in my chest. “Since when can you move like that?”
“Since I was a boy of about twelve suns.” I open her bedroom door, and once we’re inside, I bolt it closed.
“Why didn’t I know that?” Standing with her back to me, she points at the buttons at the back of her dress.
Caressing down her shoulders to her hips, I love how this frock hugs her curves. One by one, I slip the little pearls free from the russet loops. “You look beautiful in this.”
“Answer the question.” There is my human woman who ran from me and my portal, then brandished a stick of metal to beat me with in her automobile.
“There was no need for it when we first met, and after I used so much magic the day we saw your mother, I never had enough to risk expending it on a whim. Besides, you’d be ill if we traveled like that for too long.” On the last button, I push the strap from her shoulder and kiss her warm, soft skin.
Turning toward me, she lets the material slide from her body to a heap on the floor. She steps free and kicks off the shoes as well. Only small bruises remain on her ribs and arm. Every inchof her is pure perfection. With sultry eyes, she wraps an arm around my neck and lifts on her toes to kiss me. “You’re probably right, but I don’t mind that you got us here quickly tonight.”
I press one hand to the small of her back and the other cups her bottom, pulling her against my painfully hard cock. “I didn’t want you to think any hesitation on my part was because I don’t want you. Believe me, Harper, I want all of you so much it hurts.” I press my hips forward, letting her feel what she does to me.
Her soft moan is like a drug as she wraps her legs around my hips. Pupils dilated, she grips my neck and shoulders and devours my mouth. Her silken tongue slides along mine in a desperate dance.
Sharing her need, I grip her ass and press her back against the wall. I lower my head to her throat and kiss my way to her pulse and suck her earlobe between my lips. “I wanted to take it slow. You should be worshiped.” Even as I say it, I grind against her open legs.
“We can do that next. Now I need you inside me. I need to feel you, Aaran.” Fisting my hair, she meets my trouser-covered thrusts.
Slipping my fingers into her wetness I tease her sensitive pearl until she calls my name and pulls my hair. “Do you know what other magic I have that you’ve not seen?”
