Page 204 of A Dagger of Ice and Intrigue
He shuddered above me, the sensation divine inside of me.
He didn’t clench and he definitely didn’t choke. He just pressed enough to feel him there. I knew I could stop this with one word and he knew it, too.
But, gods, it felt good to pretend.
An otherworldly groan melted from my lips.
“Fuck,” he whispered, his other hand digging into my hip, pinning me further under him. He caught on fast. Smart man. “You like that?”
“Love it.”
I’d nevereverdone anything like this before. I hadn’t even had the guts to say it.
But it was an unspoken testament about how much I trusted Ryker to not take advantage of the pretend control I was giving him.
One word and this would stop in an instant.
I knew that.
He definitely knew that.
And it made everything wonderful.
“You and I–” He stole another searing kiss from me. “–are going to have a lot of fun together.”
Of that I had no doubt.
All that mattered now was the way our bodies fit together so perfectly. I met him thrust for thrust, nails digging into his back, my lips hot against the shell of his ear.
His hand on my hip snaked up and caught my palm, intertwining our fingers once more as he drove into me hard enough to shake the entire bed. The sculpted canopy of twigs vibrated above us, as the forest itself was listening to our groans.
“Look at me,” he growled. I hadn’t even noticed my eyes closing, too caught up in this storm rising within me. But, for the first time, it didn’t want to defend or attack. It rose up to enjoy. “I want to see you come undone once more. I want to feel you clenching around me.”
And I did.
And I screamed.
And I fucking loved it.
I’d barely blinked myself out of the stupor when Ryker’s growl thrummed through me, blazing through my veins. For a moment, I felt another wave of pleasure crash over me, as if I’d felt his release from his own mind.
But that would have been impossible.
He touched his forehead against mine, such a sweet, simple gesture that made my heart soar more than it should have.
He whispered things in an ancient language I didn’t understand, his arms circling around me in a soft embrace.
Slowly, our breathing began to quiet.
I’d never…i’d never felt like this.
He was still inside of me, yet I felt safe and cherished.
Not the safety of having the Protectorate at my back, not the one my family name or my titles or my bow had given me.
The safety of someone who sawme.
The woman who could talk herself away from death’s grip himself, but who somehow stuttered in sweets shops.
