Page 74 of The Ordeals
Stars and Darkness
It’s more than a kiss. In that moment, a wall shatters between us, a wall I hadn’t realised I’d built around my heart. I lean into him, drawing his body to mine, and give in to my want for him. Myneedfor him.
His hands cup my face, deepening our kiss, and a small moan escapes me. I tangle my fingers in his hair, his tongue lingering on my lower lip as I part my mouth, giving him access. His answering growl, the way he pulls me onto his lap sends sparks rippling through my veins. I straddle him as his hands move down my back, lower, lower … until they spread across my upper thighs and move me tight against him.
Heat, delicious heat courses through me, unfurling from my core in waves. I moan softly again, his mouth moving with mine as his hands linger on my upper thighs, bracing me against him. His kisses soften, fluttering over my mouth, and each delicate touch is like silk and stars. I realise now how much I wanted this. Wanted this kind of connection, more than just a fleeting night of teeth and tongues. This – this feels like more. I want to explore him now the layers have peeled away, now there’s no more armour to cast aside.
‘I’ve wanted you since I first met you in that bar,’ he murmurs, lips feathering in soft kisses along my jawline. ‘That day in the common room when I knew you’d been avoiding me, when youwere keeping secrets from me … I wanted you,’ he whispers, the warmth of his breath brushing the shell of my ear.
I gasp, arching my back as that brush of heat sings in my blood, my veins. ‘I wanted you too. I-Iwantyou.’
It’s all I can do not to lose it completely as I melt into him, only the fabric of our clothes between us, and feel his body respond. His tongue flicks down my throat, careful to avoid the puncture wounds still healing from the cold one’s attack, then lower, dipping to my clavicle, and I arch again, wanting more of him. This man, whose single touch brings me to life in a way no one ever has … and now I’m wrapped around him, his body tight against mine, it’s electric. His scent, all cedar and citrus, his touch … it’s intoxicating. I want more.
I say his name on a soft sigh of breath and he draws his hands slowly from my thighs, tracing the shape of me all the way up my back. He reaches for my face, pulling my mouth back to his, capturing mine. A drop of rain splashes on my cheek, then another, and I barely feel it, barely feel the sharp ice of that rain. All I want is to draw out this moment, to revel in it, to sink into him and lose myself. This is the feeling of falling, and as I close my eyes all I see are stars and darkness, every sense alive with his taste, his touch, his scent.
But then suddenly, the sky opens.
I pull back, laughing as rain pummels the ground around us, quickly soaking us both. It runs down my cheeks, plastering my hair to my skin as he grins, eyes deepening to an oaken hue, glimmering with flecks of caramel. So beautiful, so endlessly beautiful that my breath hitches and for a heartbeat, I can no longer feel the chill, the icy rain, no longer hear the cry of the wind and tide. He runs a hand down my cheek, laughing as rain sluices from his fingers. ‘I think we need to head back.’
I groan, tilting my head back as thunder booms in the distance. ‘All right, I give in. Let’s go.’
He takes my hand as we run back to Hope Hall, the rain drenching my clothes, leaving rivers running through my hair. We get back to Hope and collapse against opposite walls in the entrance hall, lightning flashing across the sky, thunder chasing it just seconds later. Sopping wet, we look out at the rain, panting slightly from our run back to shelter.
‘An actual deluge,’ he says shaking his head, his breath forming puffs of cloud in the cold.
I catch his eyes, the mahogany brown of them almost black in the gloom of Hope Hall, and yet still glittering. For a handful of heartbeats, I worry that the moment might be lost, that it’s been left out there in the rain and cold, discarded amongst the rocks and sea. But my heart … my heart wants to taste him again on my tongue. To brush my fingertips over his skin, and feel his arms come around me. I smile at him and he grins back … and my stomach flips over. Yes. I want this. I slink across the hallway to pull his face down to mine, kissing him hard. ‘Your room or mine?’
His eyes darken further as he takes my hand, tugging me to the staircase.
‘Mine,’ he says quietly. ‘There’s no one in the room below and I want to forget we’re here at all.’
My pulse kicks up as we reach our landing, him quickly unlocking the door and bolting it as soon as we’re inside. I grin at him, still sopping wet, hair and clothes plastered to my skin. ‘Help?’ I ask, biting my lip.
‘I thought you’d never ask for my help,’ he teases, stepping towards me and reaching for the buttons on my blouse.
‘For this, I’ll make an exception.’
He undoes them slowly, one by one, eyes fixed on mine. I shiver from the anticipation.
He draws the blouse down from my shoulders, allowing it topool on the floor as he removes my trousers, leaving me in only lace. His gaze rakes over my form, down my breasts, and lower still. My breath comes in quick ragged bursts as I toe off my shoes, fingers reaching for the buttons of his shirt.
‘Tell me two truths about you,’ he says in my ear as I work on the buttons down his chest. His hands splay over my backside and I groan, wanting more than just his hands against my body.
‘No lies between us right now?’ I murmur, my voice still husky and raw.
‘No lies. Only me and you.’
‘I’m a very good hunter,’ I say, undoing another button.
‘Good,’ he says, one hand moving between us, fingers dipping inside the lace between my thighs. Heat unspools within me as his fingers stroke, slowly, gently, exploring. ‘Now one more.’
I can barely think, barely breathe as his fingers move, pressure building inside me, low and delicious. My fingers fumble on the last button of his shirt and I gasp, ripping it apart and stare up at him. Panting, I lock eyes with his as one of his hands spreads across my backside, pulling me close, the fingers of his other hand dipping inside me, ‘All right. One more truth,’ I say, trying to form my thoughts into words, as all I see are stars burning. ‘I-I want you, Alden Locke.’ His palm presses on that cluster of nerves and I gasp again. ‘I’ve wanted you for weeks, and itinfuriatesme.’
He chuckles darkly as I undo his trousers, his fingers moving inside me, his thumb stroking in just the right spot.
A moan rips from my throat and I arch against him, his mouth claiming mine as I melt into him, tongue tasting me as all my senses crescendo.
‘Not yet,’ he says.‘Not just yet.’
