Page 69 of Queen of Whispers and Mist

So she jumped.

“Yes.”

CHAPTER22

RONAN

He wasn’t sure whether she’d actually said the word aloud, or if he’d just prayed to hear it so desperately that he hallucinated it leaving her lips.

A soft disbelieving laugh escaped, and she raised up on her toes until her eyes were almost level with his. “I said, yes, damn you.”

All the breath left his lungs as he stared into those glittering green irises. “Yes?”

“Yes! Now, what are you going to do about it?”

The air grew charged as they continued to stare at one another, and then, like a band that had pulled past its limit, they were the two overstretched ends snapping back to one another. They both exploded into action, Shadow jumping up and Ronan there to catch her, his palms finding the rounded globes of her arse and hauling her against him as her long legs wrapped around his hips. Their lips crashed together as her hands curled around the sides of his head and slid into the freed strands of his hair.

“It’s about fucking time, kitten.”

“Don’t ruin this by talking.”

“If you think talking ruins it—”

“Shut up,” she growled, giving his hair a tug as she nipped his bottom lip. “I’m much more interested in what you can do than whatever you can say.”

Nothing about this woman was expected, and he loved that even in her moment of surrender, she continued to challenge him.

Challenge accepted, sweetheart.

Flexing his hands, he deepened the kiss and rolled his hips into her, letting her feel what she did to him. Her guttural moan had him biting back a smile. Just because she didn’t want him to talk didn’t mean he wouldn’t make her sing.

It had been only a handful of days since he’d tasted her last, but it felt like the first time. Maybe because, in a lot of ways, it was. For him as much as her. Shadow didn’t remember the alcove, and besides an extended courtship—if one could consider a year spent flirting and fighting side by side followed by five more tearing the world apart searching for her a courtship—that stolen moment was the only one they’d shared. In all that time, Ronan hadn’t been with another. She was it for him. The ultimate prize. A love worth fighting for. Who else could possibly compete with that?

He’d been praying for this since she’d mended the shattered pieces of his heart. He thought he’d been in love once, but now realized what he’d experienced then didn’t hold a candle to everything this woman made him feel. She inspired him. Frustrated him. Fucking owned him.

And she loved him.

Not time. Not distance. Not even a total loss of self had kept them from finding their way back to one another. So even if the sky started to rain down around them, Ronan wasn’t about to let anything else keep him from making her his.

“Do you have any idea how much I fucking love you?” he growled against her mouth, needing to give her the words back. He knew how much it meant to hear them. He didn’t want her to ever doubt his intentions.

“Show me,” she breathed, her eyes fluttering closed as she reclaimed his lips.

A rumble of pleasure vibrated through his chest. Never had he been quite so eager to obey a command. Still kissing her, he slowly walked them out of the water, pulling back briefly to ensure the path was clear.

He hadn’t had a chance to take in their surroundings; the only thing he’d had eyes for when he woke was the woman whose husky voice had lured him out of the darkness. But seeing it now, he couldn’t have asked for a better place to make love to his woman. Between the cascade of water falling from the wall of moss-covered rocks, the glowing flowers with their luminescent pollen, and the privacy afforded them by a copse of trees, it looked like a glen Luna might craft for her own use.

He’d certainly made do with worse. And he supposed if they had to wait six years to have each other, at least it was going to be fucking memorable.

There wasn’t much of a beach, just a subtle transition from water to sand to grass. But the patch of grass looked thick and soft and more than spacious enough for two people to roll around on. Angling them in that direction, he continued his slow walk. Savoring the feel of her lips opening beneath his, the press of her slick body against his, the way her center brushed over his cock with every step.

Reaching the edge of the little knoll, he slowly dropped to his knees, gently untangling her from his body and laying her back so he could drink his fill. Her silvery hair spilled around her like a halo. Her eyes were hooded and glassy with desire, lips already swollen from his kisses.

She was the most breathtakingly beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

“Ronan,” she protested, reaching for him.

“Hush, love, let me look at you.”

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