Page 39 of The Ocean's Heart
It was time to tell him the truth.
“Vaarin, I?—”
He cupped my face and spoke in a rush of words. “I want you to be mine.”
Heat rushed up my chest to hug my neck. “What?”
“Marry me, Thalia. Be my queen.”
Was I hearing him correctly? The penetrating look in his eyes told me that I was. “I…but…”
“I know what I said about not being able to love you, but I was wrong. I realized it on theYarissawhen I thought I’d never see you again. I finally understood what I’ve been feeling all this time. The heat and turmoil, the longing to touch you…” He stroked his thumb back and forth against my cheek. “To be close to you, to hear your voice…” He let out a tremulous exhale. “My bloodline is cursed, Thalia. We were doomed a long time ago to never find our heart’s desire. But I’ve always denied the curse’s validity, all this time. Hoping…praying…but I felt nothing. Nothing until you.” He dropped his forehead to mine. “I love you, Thalia.”
His words were like a key in a lock opening the door of acceptance with a click, and I knew him to be right. Had felt it from the first time he’d held me in his arms.
The sense of belonging.
The sense of coming home.
“Thalia, will you have me?” The vulnerability in his tone grasped at my heart, and the part of me that wanted to tell him the truth was overruled by my own desperate yearning.
I wanted him. I needed him. Even if it would only be for this one night. “Yes.” I tipped my chin up and captured his mouth, tasting the sea on his lips. He let out a ragged groan and sank into me, fingers threading into my hair and forming a fist to hold me firm. My pulse spiked, and I gasped into his mouth.
He drew back a fraction, lips ghosting mine as he spoke. “I won’t hurt you, Thalia. Surrender to me, and I can make you feel so good.”
I’d taken the helm all my life, been the person in control, and why? Because there’d been no one I could trust to relinquish that control to, but now, here with Vaarin, I knew I could finally let go. That I could be vulnerable. This male who could persuade a storm to give us safe passage, this king who could call a vortex from thin air and who had been willing to give his life to save mine would never hurt me.
I relaxed in his grip and surrendered.
VAARIN
I’ve knownmy fair share of females. A sea fae’s body is not much different from a human female in the places that arouse. But I’ve never wanted to please a woman as much as I want to please Thalia.
I peel away the fabric guarding her silken skin, noting the flush that stains it, and how her nipples peak beneath my gaze.
I’m painfully hard almost immediately. “Lie back.”
She obeys, and I touch her, feather light at first, accustoming myself to the sensation of her soft skin beneath my calloused fingertips, then firmer as I explore the dips and planes of her body. She heats for me, her breath coming faster when I skate close to her pubic bone, then stopping as I trail over her sex.
“Vaarin…”
“Hush now.” I lie beside her so that I can watch her face as I slide a finger along the seam of her cunny. She lifts her hips and I stop, arching a brow in warning.
She glares at me but obliges by going still.
I touch her again, and she bites her lip, holding still as I trace her wetness to its core. She is silk around my fingers, tight and hot, and tides, her moans leave me aching to replace my fingers with my cock.
“Open your legs wider, Thalia. Open for me.” I can hardly breathe. Barely think past the ache in my soul and the throb in my groin.
She obliges, and I go deeper, curling my fingers inside her. She sucks in a sharp breath. “Vaarin. Yes…Oh please, don’t stop.”
She grabs at my arm, fingernails digging in as she lifts her hips to meet the thrust of my fingers. She swells around me, gripping me tightly, so fucking tight. Tides, how will I fit? I push a third finger into her, and her body shudders. She cries out, body milking me as hot wetness washes over my hand.
Her scent fills the room, fills my lungs. I bring my fingers to my mouth and suck them clean, and the sweet taste of her scrambles my thoughts.
I need her.
I need her now.
