Like her soul was singing to his.
Whatever it was, it set his very blood on fire, and Cedric had to actively will himself not to burst into flame.
He pulled back, shaking with restraint. He fisted his hands at his side, even as his cock, hard against her hip, throbbed impatiently.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, what could possibly have you so concerned now?” Elyria’s voice was light, teasing, though the words were weighed down by something more serious underneath.
“I just—I don’t want to rush this. I don’t want it to be over too fast.”
She laughed softly. “We have been dancing around this long enough, Sir Knight. Nobody in their right mind would call thisrushed.”
He chuckled. “That’s not exactly what I meant.”
“I want it,” she said simply. “Want you.”
“Four fucking hells, I want you too.” He thought it was quite possible that nobody had ever wanted anyone more in the history of the realms.
He kissed her again, and he could feel her smiling against his mouth. Then, an annoyingly persistent thought poked its way intoCedric’s consciousness, and he had to pull away again.
“What n?—”
“Isitsafe?” Cedric asked, the words slurring out in a jumble. He inhaled through his nose, her almond scent curling into him. “I mean, is it safe to—Are you?—”
She let out a low chuckle. “I appreciate the thought, actually. Very gentlemanly. But don’t think for one second I don’t already have that covered, Sir Worrywart.”
“I just wanted to be cer?—”
And this time, she kissed him.
It was tender. Gentle. A meeting of lips.
And then, it wasn’t.
It was urgent, fiery, dangerous. With a surge of that remarkable fae strength, Elyria pushed Cedric back, her arms wrapping around his shoulders, holding him just the slightest bit aloft as they crashed onto the bedroll. She straddled him, gasping as his length pressed against her inner thigh.
Solaris save them both, there was no stopping this now.
“Last chance to turn back, Sir Thorne,” she said with a dangerous smile, gripping his chin between her thumb and pointer finger. “It’s not too late. We can always keep it professional. Return to simply being friends.”
With a guttural growl and a burst of strength and speed that he hadn’t known himself capable of, Cedric flipped their positions, his arms caging her on either side. “I don’t want to be your fucking friend.”
“Well, thank the stars for that.”
She leaned back on her elbows, wings draped carefully beneath her, her jeweled eyes never leaving his. Not until Cedric broke their gaze to dip his head, trailing kisses down the side of her chin, the column of her neck, between the valley of her breasts. Lower and lower, he slid down her body, her legs falling to either side of him until he was kneeling between them.
A feral noise rumbled in his chest, his cock throbbing with painful restraint while his gaze feasted upon the sight of her spread before him.
Desire was a drug racing through his blood. His every nerve was alight as he nudged her soft lavender curls with the tip of his nosebefore following the path they paved to nirvana.
The breathy sound of her moan as he placed a gentle kiss right atop that bundle of nerves could have fueled him through a thousand battles.
Achingly, torturously, he slid his tongue up her center, and the whimper she released had him once again barreling toward the edge.
“Fuck,” he growled. She tasted like sugar and springtime and spice. She tasted like home.
The thread in his chest shimmered, bright and buoyant. Elyria’s back arched off the bedroll as he worked her, drinking in her soft cries. Her fingers carded through his hair, gripping a handful as she rode closer to the edge, bucking against his mouth. She tugged, and Cedric groaned against her core, which only made her moan again in return.
Again and again and again, he licked and kissed and sucked, occasionally turning his head to dot reverent kisses across her legs, over the scars there. He dragged his teeth against the sensitive flesh of her inner thigh, grazing her skin, resisting the sudden, visceral urge that came over him to clamp his teeth down—hard.
