Page 162 of The Spider Queen
“Awful. But I’ll wait. Until you want me.”
I already wanted him.
“I ache in my bones for wanting you,” he admitted, his voice low, raspy.
A vision of us flashed before my eyes. Naked, tangled limbs, temples damp with sweat, skin flushed from heat. Thane taking me in every position, deep and slow, drawing it out for us both.
The perfume of our lust tickled my nose, and before I knew what was happening, I was running to him. I was in his arms, and my fingers were in his hair.
Our mouths clashed, and the moment we touched, I felt a sense of tranquility envelop me. Though flames of desire continued to lick along my skin, the overwhelming feeling was one of peace.
“You feel that?” Thane demanded as he tore his lips from mine.
His hands cradled my face, and he looked down at me. His eyes were lighter. I still saw the shadows, but they’d been beaten back.
“Feel what?” I gasped.
“The rightness of it. The calm inside of you.”
“You feel it too?”
Thane nodded.
Maybe I hadn’t known that the mind fog had been encroaching on my clarity, but suddenly I felt like I could take a deep breath, when all this time I’d been panting, inhaling shallow lungfuls of air in hopes of getting enough.
“Poppy,” he whispered, his head descending toward mine.
I eagerly rose up to meet him. My arms locked around his neck, and I sank into him, into our mingled breaths, the synchronized cadence of our thundering hearts.
My brain tried to stop me; it wanted to stay outraged over the lack of choices in my life. But there was a very real chance Thane and I wouldn’t reach the mage in time, and the battle between Heaven and Hell would be inevitable. I didn’t want to take my last breath and have it full of regrets, of life not lived, of passion not explored.
“I’m yours,” I said, digging my nails into his shoulders. “I’m yours, Thane. From now until the end. Whenever that might be.”
He growled and sank his teeth into the side of my neck. “Be sure, Poppy, because I don’t think I could stop. Not now.”
“Don’t stop,” I begged.
“Then kiss me,” he demanded.
He lifted me into his arms, and I wrapped my legs around him. I didn’t care what happened or where he was taking me. All I could do was enjoy the feeling of his hot mouth on mine, the irresistible desire I couldn’t slake.
My back hit a smooth surface—a boulder perhaps—and then Thane looked down at me with black eyes. “One of these days, we’ll find a bed.”
I grinned. “A bed? How completely ordinary.”
“I want to take my time, but I don’t think—I need—”
I somehow got off my hiking boots and quickly shimmied out of my body suit. At some point in my life, I’d been modest. But Thane was making me bold, fearless. I had demands that needed to be met.
His eyes were dark but not with shadows. The glittering orbs raked over me, until finally, in a frenzy of his own, he shucked his clothing. He took himself in hand. His impressive, throbbing erection made my mouth dry and my body wet.
I needed him inside me.
I needed him to take me so that I could give.
Thane climbed on top, drugged me with another kiss, and then eased inside of me. My back arched off the boulder to meet him.
I sighed. Or maybe that was him. It was a noise of sweet relief, of knowing what brewed between us. His hands held my hips in an almost painful grip, but I didn’t care—not when he started to move, not when he made me fall apart. Just when I came back together, he shattered me again and again.
