Page 104 of The King's Man
Something within me exploded—the gold heat of the bond, twisting, coiling,swelling.My heart expanded two sizes—meeting hers, skin to skin.
Diadre cried out, a desperate sound, half-frightened, and my body shuddered. Something… something between usgrew.Still gripping her thigh to keep her up with my bound hand, I threw the other around her head to cushion it before she hurt herself, throwing it back as she gasped my name.
‘I’ve got you, my dear. I’ve got you.’
Diadre sobbed and I trembled as every touch became sensation overload, and the whole world disappeared. That growing heat and pressure in my chest expanded again as if it fought to seep out of my heart, through my veins, and intoher.
Light glowed between us—fed and fueled by her cries and mine, emanating from within, feeding into that cord that tied our souls together.
I didn’t take her. She didn’t receive me. Wemoved together.We joined.
Then her beautiful voice bloomed in my head and when she forged that link between us, my heart almost exploded.
‘Jann… Jann…Jann!’
She cried for me, every sweet sound bathed in awe and fear. And I called back, her name a benediction on my tongue as it seemed we didn’t writhe, butentwined.
Closer, closer.
I yearned to pull herintome, to cover her, to becomeone.
There was no longer flesh or sound, only feeling. Only sensation. Only…love.
Time stood still, and I lost all my senses, aware only of the heat, the scent, the sound ofher,and my body’s ever-increasing demand to get closer.
When her orgasm hit I held her to me, groaning need, wringing every last wave from her—and when I stopped holding back and came, I lost my mind.
I would have sworn the stars cascaded in our hearts, shooting, crackling, shining between us. Our bodies were fire and ice, the rolling waves of bliss little more than an echo of the light that shone in the bond.
And then… then we slumped. Trembling. Sweaty. Spent. I pressed her into that tree, and she fell against my chest and we held on for dear life. Both of us.
When I could see again, I groaned. There were tears on her cheeks. I couldn’t yet move, so I turned my face to kiss them away, my body still twitching and jerking.
But soon I caught my breath and lifted our bound hands to kiss her knuckles. “I have never desired to be tied to anothersoul,” I said hoarsely. “But dear God, Diadre. I would take youinsideme if I could.”
She huffed, still on the edge of tears, but nodded, turning her face into my neck and kissing me so softly, so sweetly.
“I would do the same,” she breathed. “Jann… what’s happening? I know it’s the bond, but… what’s happening?”
I opened my mouth to tell her the truth and something within me screamed caution.
It was the first threat of cold. The first chill of fear. I trembled as I raised my head to look down at her. But the moment our eyes locked—hers filled with wonder and fear and that chill rocked through me again.
“It’s… it’s the bond,” I whispered, nodding, then lifted her hand to kiss her knuckles again. But my heart screamedlove.
She waited. I held her gaze, silently pleading with her to hear my heart even if I couldn’t speak the words. My heart dove for my toes when her eyes squeezed shut and her forehead pinched to lines, but then she dropped her forehead to my shoulder and curled herself into my chest.
“Jann, I…”
There was a crystalline moment then where every fiber of my being rushed forward, towards her,pleading,praying that she felt—
“I’m so glad it’s you,” she whispered. “I was always afraid a bond would feel like… a tether. But this is… this is… so much more.”
The irony wasn’t lost on me. I raised our bound hands to her line of sight and she snorted, closing her eyes and shaking her head. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know,” I rumbled, laughing.
“I suck at this,” she sighed. “I don’t know what I’m saying only… I’m glad, Jann. I’m glad it’s you. And I want more.”
