Page 53 of Crown of Darkness
“Thiago!” I gasp as he pushes me against the garden wall. I steal a swift glance toward the bonfires in the center of the gardens. “Someone might see us.”
Hot kisses score my throat, and then his hands are sliding through my hair. “I don’t care if they do. You’re mywife. I want all the world to know it.”
Gods, the way he says things like this….
There’s a part of me that still yearns to hide all the feelings that tremble within me. I love him. I will never stop loving him. But when you’ve spent years hiding your every emotion, it’s instinct to keep such thoughts close to your heart, where no one can ever, ever know.
It takes conscious effort to shed the mantle I use to guard my heart.
Each and every fucking time.
Maybe one day it will be easier.
So I kiss him instead, yielding to his touch. Let them see. Let them all see. I have no further need to hide.
My fingers tangle in his shirt, and I tilt my head to give him better access to my throat.
“You are mine,” he whispers, palms skimming beneath the silk and up my back. “And I am yours, and I want the whole cursed world to know it.”
The flush of his power tingles all over my skin, his oath sliding over his tongue like honeyed mead and sinking into my flesh like a barb. His kissburns, both with power and with promise. It whispers dirty little nothings in my ear, lets me imagine just how good this would feel if there was no material between us. Nothing but naked skin, nothing but the power of his muscled body pinning mine beneath him, burying me in silken sheets while he took and ravaged and....
He slips the gown from my shoulders, baring my breasts to the moonlight. Teeth graze my nipple, and then he’s suckling it into his mouth.
I want him inside me.
I want what he promises.
Capturing a fistful of his hair, I draw his mouth to mine and bite his lower lip. “Then do it,” I whisper. “Take me. Right here. Right now.”
Fingers skate beneath my skirts, and he finds the golden chains that are woven around my thigh.
His eyes darken as he realizes I’m not wearing a thing beneath the silk, and a rough laugh escapes him. “Were you planning to seduce me?”
“Maybe.” I throw my head back against the stones and bite my lip as his fingertips graze the slick skin between my thighs. Oh gods. Thirteen years of stealing my heart means he knows exactly what I like—while I’m still trying to work out his own little secrets.
My dark prince likes to be in control, though he’ll cede it to me if I demand it. But sometimes I like the way he captures my wrists and presses me against the bed—or a wall. And I love the feel of his teeth in my skin, as if he wants to mark me.
“Maybe I just like knowing I have a little secret from the world,” I whisper in his ear. “Maybe I like feeling that slickness between my thighs whenever you look at me, knowing I can have you whenever I want. Maybe I just want you to lift my skirts and fuck your way into me.” I curl his hand around a fistful of fabric. “Just. Like. This.”
“Mmm.” His gaze darkens. “Are you wet, Vi? Have you been dreaming of what I’d do to you once I finally got you alone?”
I bite his lip. “All night.”
Especially when I saw Lucere smiling at him.
It’s one thing to know he’ll never look her way, but the very idea she might try makes me want to stake my claim upon him. I’m feeling not at all myself tonight.
“Enough talking,” I tell him.
His smile holds all manner of sins. “I like it when you’re a little bit possessive.”
Thiago shoves my skirts up, this thumb stroking between us. A delicious shiver works its way through me, but it’s not what I want. If I give him a chance, he’ll spend hours torturing me.
I just want him inside me.
The timing’s better, and I’ve been drinking bitter nettle tea every day.
Capturing his face in both hands, I kiss him desperately, and I think he gets the idea, because his hand dips between us, but it’s not me he’s touching.
