Page 86 of The Bound Mage
“You almost died.” Araya trailed her fingers over his cheek, stroking his jaw. “Don’t do it again.”
Loren caught her hand, a small smile curving his lips as he pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “I’ll always choose you,ael’sura.”
Araya caught him by the chin, forcing him to meet her gaze. “I mean it, Loren.”
“So do I.” He nipped at her fingers, his smile widening to a grin when she yelped and yanked her hand away. Then, without warning, he rolled them both.
His mouth found hers, swallowing her startled gasp in a playful kiss. But when she arched into him, chasing more, itdeepened in an instant. Loren groaned, his tongue sweeping into her mouth as his hands skimmed her waist. His hands skimmed her waist, shaking with careful restraint even as his weight settled heavy between her thighs.
“Does this count aslight activity?” She gasped, squirming in his grip as he nipped along her jaw, pausing at the hollow of her throat to breathe her in.
“We don’t do anything you don’t want to do,” he murmured, his voice a gravelly rasp against her skin. “That will never change,ael’sura.”
Araya’s fingers tangled in his hair, tugging him back to look him in the eye. “I know,” she whispered, tilting her head to press a kiss to his temple. “I want to. I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
Loren pressed his lips to her wrist, his smile soft against her skin. “We stop if it’s too much. For either of us.”
He kissed her again, slower this time. His hand slipped beneath the hem of her nightgown, his fingertips dragging lightly across her thigh, over her hip and the curve of her waist. She gasped as his palm settled just beneath her breast, his thumb grazing the underside and a flash of heat straight to her core.
“Lorendrael,” she hissed, shoving him back. He went willingly, his eyes widening as she sat up just enough to grab the hem of her nightgown and dragged it over her head.
“Goddess,” he murmured, his gaze gliding over her body like a caress. “You’re—Araya?—”
A slow, satisfied smile curled Araya’s lips at his reaction.Good. Let him look. Let him see what was his. But not right now. She grabbed his shoulders, pulling him back to her. “Less staring,” she whispered, brushing her lips across his. “More kissing.”
He laughed, his lips crashing back into hers like he couldn’t bear another second apart either. Araya closed her eyes, lettingherself justfeelin this moment. The bond thrummed quietly between them, a reminder of everything they had survived and everything they had yet to face.
Loren broke the kiss first, resting his forehead against hers. His hands smoothed down her sides, making her shiver as they explored the soft skin stretched over her ribs. But his eyes staring down at her were serious.
“I need you to tell me,” he said, his voice hoarse. “If this is what you want.”
“Yes,” Araya whispered, holding his gaze. “I want this. I wantyou.”
“Thank the Goddess.” Loren swore, peppering her shoulder with sharp, stinging kisses when she laughed at him. Her breath hitched as he moved lower, teasing her breast with tongue and teeth until she was gasping, her hips bucking of their own accord.
“Loren,” she whimpered, her hands knotting in his hair.
He laughed against her skin, the low rumble turning molten in her center. He kissed his way down her ribs, tasting her stomach, the curve of her hip, the inside of her thigh. He paused there, his breath feathering over her sensitive skin as his hands curled around her knees. Araya’s breath stuttered, her whole body tensing in anticipation as he settled between her legs.
Loren stopped.
He leaned back, searching her face. “Are you?—”
“Yes,” she gasped. Her hands twisted in the sheets, desperate to hold onto something. “Yes. Don’t youdarestop?—”
He groaned, his grip tightening on her knees. The first touch of his tongue made her hips jolt, a choked gasp tearing from her lips before she could stop it. A breath shuddered out of him, half-laugh, half-groan. He stared up at her, his green eyes burning as he slowly, deliberately licked her again.
Araya bit her lip, one hand fisting in the sheets, the other tangling in his hair. He was maddeningly gentle—circling, teasing, learning the shape of her pleasure one breath at a time. Her thighs trembled around him, but he didn’t rush. Not even when she whimpered, or when her back arched off the bed. He kept the pace steady, unhurried. Every stroke of his tongue felt like a worship.
This wasn’t just desire. It was reverence.
Her first orgasm took her by surprise, wrenching a cry from her throat. Magic flared in its wake, like lightning racing across her skin in a crackling wave. Power licked over her ribs and down her arms, light gilding her fingers where they gripped the sheets.
Loren held her through it, his hands firm on her hips and his mouth still moving—as if he couldn’t bear to stop tasting her. Araya cried out, twisting under him as her pleasure built again, faster and hotter this time. She arched up with a broken cry, riding the edge helplessly until he tipped her over again, another climax crashing through her like a wave shattering against stone.
She half-sobbed, her voice catching on his name as the aftershocks tore through her. Loren grinned against her skin, pressing soft, reverent kisses to the inside of her thighs, her hipbone, the tender dip just below her navel—each one slower than the last, like he was trying to calm the storm he’d conjured in her.
Her hands found his shoulders, trembling as she dragged her nails down the hard lines of his back. She tugged, urging him up. But Loren refused to be rushed as he made his way back up her body—lingering at her ribs, tracing the flat plane between her breasts where the bond thrummed softly beneath her skin, and nibbling at the vein where her pulse thundered in the hollow of her throat.
