Page 65 of The Iron Fae
"I can't. Why don't you just get to the point so we can go back out there and you can be praised by your biggest fans?"
"That's not what this is." I wag my finger against his chest.
Lincoln snatches my hand up in his warm palm. "That's what it looks like to me."
"Are you jealous of the attention everyone is giving me? What is it Lincoln? Be honest, I'd rather you say it then I go trolling through your mind to find out."
"What? No. I don't know,they keep saying you’re a power of beauty but… you’re the same to me.”
Power of beauty? When did they even say that?I try to think back over the bombardment of greeting. I could hardly sort out who was who and what hand was touching me for a minute there.Oh… and ‘I’m the same’ so... Okay. Insult.
“No." He grips my hand tighter. "You’re—You’ve always been a power of beauty. From the moment you tried to kick my ass the second we met. Power and beauty.”
We're so close he only has to lean a hair forward for our lips to brush. His words repeat in my head, filling my chest with ballooning hope. I take a long slow inhale, soaking in his nearness. The hand that isn't tightly wrapped in his, brushes over his pecs. The light patch of hair is soft, curling around my fingers as I trail over his hard muscles. His heart races at the touch. The beating picked up by my new and improved senses.
"Do I make you nervous, Lincoln?" I whisper.
He laughs dryly. "No, of course not."
But the pounding of his soul slams harder against my fingertips.
"I can hear how your pulse jumps at my touch." In the dark, I feel my way up to touch at the scruffy stubble covering his jaw.
"You don't make me nervous." Lincoln hums, his mouth trailing to nip at my ear. I tilt my head allowing him access to my throat. His teeth scrape down my skin. "You make me insane."
His teeth bite down on my neck, not hard enough to break the skin, but hard enough to feel like a claim. He kisses gently over the spot as I gasp and feel my knees going weak.
"I haven't stopped thinking about what it felt like to be with you." He breathes, letting his nose rub against mine. "Every second. Every hour. Every day. I want to bury myself in you."
Holding the back of his head, I weave my hands into his shaggy hair and pull him against me. I press my lips against him, letting my frustration and anger out in a passionate push and pull that he returns. He bites against my lip, before breaking away.
"Is it just the sex you think of then?" I pant. Because if it is, I'll have to draw the line here and now.
Please be more than the sex. Please. My mind begs of him. I open my mind, even if one part of me doesn't care if he lies to me, I know it's for my own good and to feel the truth behind whatever he says next.
"It was never just the sex." His words are a dark rasp he presses against my lips. He says it slowly, letting me poke and prod in his mind as he does. My spirit curls against his as the pleasure of his honesty vibrates between us.
Lincoln moans and tilts his head back as our minds caress. He tilts his hips, grinding his length against me. "Briar, I will ruin you." Everything in his voice, everything inside of his mind, crumbles with the walls that he's built between us.
He cares about my reputation. He cares about getting the chance to rule the Shadow Court. But the selfish part of him that he tries to hide away, the part of him that wants to love me, to keep me all to himself, swells with every fingerless stroke against his mind.
"We'll make it work."
Lincoln's head snaps forward. Both arms snake around me, holding me close to him. He parts my lips with the swipe of his tongue, teasing and taunting me with a kiss. My lips are swollen with the rough bruise of his kisses that nip at me without a foreseeable end.
"It's selfish of me," he breathes.
"It's selfless of you."
I want you.My thoughts echo.
His cock throbs as I feel my thoughts register in his. A rough growl fills his chest, rising low somewhere deep inside of him. With both arms, he pulls the skirt of my dress up.
Yes. Please. Please. Please.
I cheer him on as the wetness between my legs soaks my thin lace underwear. His thumb hooks the band of my thong and tugs it down. Lincoln grabs a handful of my hair, tugging gently as he guides my mouth back to his.
"If I put my claim on you," He kisses me quickly before he cocks my head, kissing and biting along my jaw. "There will be push back from the court. There will be push back from my mother."
