Page 120 of Broken Veil
“It belongs to my friend Jeffrey, and he’s a stockbroker in the city.” Duncan threw his duffel bag on the ground. “You are a college professor from California who was so determined to find her missing boyfriend that you crossed afucking oceanand walked into a parallel fucking world.” He pointed randomly at a window. “You have taken on a dragon, stood up to fae kings and mad queens, survived a kelpie attack, learned archery, and you know how to scare off bears, for Christ’s sake. Are you absolutely fucking daft?”
When he listed her accomplishments like that, Carys didn’t sound as boring as she had in her mind. “But those are all…”
“All what?” Duncan spat out.
“None of that stuff would have happened if Seren hadn’t died,” Carys said. “All the interesting things in my life happened because my Shadowkin died and Lachlan came looking for me.”
“And Frodo was just a hobbit until his uncle gave him a ring!” Duncan put his hands on his hips and glared at her. “Superman wasn’t super on his home planet, was he? He was just an ordinary guy. Alien. Whatever.”
Carys froze, and all the anger drained out of her. “You think I’m Frodo?”
“In the sense that you’re a small man with hairy feet?” Duncan growled. “No. In the sense that you’re a hero who stepped up when the world was in danger, absolutely.”
There weremoments in life that Carys knew she would remember forever, and this was one of them.
Angry Duncan Murray, shirtless and superhot, standing in a bedroom straight out of a spy novel—she was not wrong on that one; the stockbroker story was a cover—had just told her she was one of the most heroic figures in modern fantasy.
“When I defeat the Morrígan,” she said softly, “and life can go back to normal, I really want you to move to California and maybe marry me. Or I could move to Scotland if you really can’t move to Baywood. I’m pretty sure your mother is not going to like me, maybe ever, because I’m American, but if you’re okay with that, we’ll work through it.”
Duncan walked over to her. “She’ll love you if you give her grandchildren.” He narrowed his eyes. “Do you want children?”
“Yes. In fact, I was an only child, so I want more than one.”
“Brilliant. We’ll work out the details later.” He dipped down, lifted her in his arms, and walked her to the bed. “Right now I think I have to remind you why I fucking love you and think you’re the sexiest thing on two legs. ‘Somewhat cute,’” he spat out. “Are you fucking daft?”
“Are you still mad at me?”
“Yes,” Duncan growled. “Boring fucking college professor, Dr. Morgan? Did you really say that?”
She clung to his neck and peppered kissed on his shoulder. “But then you called me Frodo.”
He tossed her on the bed. “You’re going to have to drop that when I get you naked.”
She wiggled out of her sweatpants. “I can be Sexy Frodo.”
“Please.” He nearly snorted. “Please no.”
She quickly took off all her clothes and pulled Duncan onto the bed with her. She fell back into a mountain of pillows and then was covered with a mountain of a man.
A still slightly grumpy man who had decided to take out his frustration with her by pinching her very bare ass.
“Ordinary?” He pinched her and spread her legs, slapping the inside of her thigh lightly before he bent down and gave her a biting kiss. “I’ll show you ordinary, Professor Morgan.”
If the ferocity and focus of Duncan Murray between her thighs could only be provoked by anger, she was going to have to figure out how to make him angry on a semiregular basis.
He scraped his teeth up the inside of her thigh, from the knee to the soft swell of flesh just beneath her sex, then laved his tongue over her skin and sucked the tender flesh into his mouth, finally releasing it with a pop that Carys suspected was going to leave a bruise.
Then Duncan went and did the exact same thing on her other thigh, marking her with his mouth.
She was squirming under him, but he’d planted his elbows on either side of her body and had both his hands on her breasts, teasing the nipples to the point where she was practically weeping from frustration.
He lifted his head. “Tell me you love me.”
The words burst from her mouth. “I love you so much.”
“Good.” He gave her one long, slow lick up the center of her sex. “Now tell me you’re the sexiest woman in all the worlds.”
“Oh my god, I can’t.” Tears leaked from the sides of her eyes. “Duncan, please.”
