Wisps of smoke trail over the smooth planes of Cedric’s chest, mixing with what I can only describe as a soft light emanating from him.
From us both.
We’re fuckingglowing.
The side of my neck pulses—a delicious reminder of the feel of his teeth, the sharpness, the ecstasy. My voice is a breathless cry as my fingers tangle in his hair, drawing his mouth to mine. We are a clash of lips and tongues and teeth, a frenzied mess of shadows and light.
He withdraws himself from me nearly entirely, and I know the whimper I release in response must be truly pathetic from the way he’s grinning—a sexy, feral smile—before he sheaths himself in me once more.
I gasp, pleasure building at the base of my spine as his expert fingers dance over my breasts, skate down my sides, slide between us.
It’s still not enough. It’ll never be enough.
“More,” I say. I beg. “Please.”
“Stars a-fucking-bove,” he murmurs, but he obeys. Thrusting into me with abandon, he sets a punishing pace. I grip the sides of his biceps, the muscles of his bare chest flexing with every drive into me.
And it’s fucking perfect.
“No,” he growls. “You.”Thrust.“Are.” Thrust. “Fucking.”Thrust.“Perfect.”
Heat blooms deep inside me, a spring coiling, my toes curling as our bodies meet again and again. I look up, staring into those gold-ringed eyes, and it’s like a part of myself is looking back.
It’s never felt like this.
Nothinghas ever felt like this.
The tether pulses in my chest, the thread behind my ribs lighting up like a burst of fucking starfyre. It solidifies, forming something new—strong, unbendable, unbreakable—tying us together, the last piece of a puzzle snapping intoplace.
Perfect.
Fated.
“Yes.Perfect.”Cedric’s voice is clear as a ringing bell, even though his lips don’t move.“Perfect and mine.”My eyes widen as the words weave their way through my mind, branding themselves on my soul.
“Perfect and mine,”I say back, sending the words down the bond, keeping my lips closed. Because that’s the truth of it. The fact I’ve been running from, ignoring all these months. Burying inside that rattling box deep under my shadows, the lid of which has been flung aside with abandon.
Every feeling I’ve tried to bury, the weeks of yearning, every ounce of worry and wanting and warmth for this man who ismineerupts.
Mi solimaeus.
“You’re everything,”I tell him, blinking back wetness from my eyes.
If he notices the fact that we are talking without talking, that our very souls are speaking, he doesn’t show it. Not as he gazes at me with unadulterated adoration cresting on his face, just before his eyes roll back with the all-consuming pleasure we both feel.
It, too, shimmers down the bond, and just knowing that he is right there, right on the edge, sends me over it. Spots slam across my vision as our pleasure crests, and we come together with a roar, and I’m screaming his name—in my mind, outside of it—as he spills inside of me.
Panting, Cedric lowers himself back down, his lips grazing my own with the gentlest, tenderest kiss. He tries to withdraw from me, but my legs are still wrapped around his waist, and I lock my ankles on top of each other, keeping him in place.
“Not yet,”I tell him, the words floating down the bond on a cloud of bliss.“Let me keep you a little longer.”
I feel him twitch inside me, and I grin. Then, I see the dawning realization cross his handsome face, and I grin wider.
“Wait,” he says, lips popping open in shock. “How are you?—”
I run a finger across the crescent-shaped mark above his collarbone, and though I’m not sure he realizes he’s doing it, he mirrors the motion on me, his fingers roaming across the mark he’s undoubtedly left.
I’m not sure he realizes either that he’s smiling as he does it.
