My heart swelled as I wrapped my arms around her.Thiswas where she belonged and would always belong; I would never let anything come between us again.
I drifted in and out of sleep until she stirred. Her lashes brushed my neck as she blinked before planting her palms on my chest and pulling away a little. I tightened my arms around her, refusing to let her go.
“I didn’t…. I don’t remember crawling into the bed,” she whispered.
When her vibrant blue-green eyes met mine, I saw uncertainty in them, and my throat clogged with emotion. I didn’t ever want to see that look in her gaze again.
Unable to speak, I kissed her. For a second, her body remained rigid, but then her fingers bit into my skin, and she eased against me. Her supple body melded against mine in an achingly familiar, perfect way.
Heaven.
She was a piece of heaven in a realm that had become our prison, and I didn’t care what I had to do to make her happy. I’d burn it all down to set her free.
CHAPTERNINETY-TWO
Ellery
I hadn’t forgottenhow wonderful it was to wake up in Ryker’s arms, but I’d done everything I could to block the memory. There was no reason to torture myself with it when I couldn’t have him anymore, but those memories were flooding back, as was the joy he always elicited.
The best thing I could do was stop this; it would only end with him pulling away and leaving, but while that future heartbreak weighed on me, I couldn’t stop. This felt too right for me to end it.
I belonged here, with him; I always had and always would, even if I could never have him in the way I wanted… which was forever and with an openness we’d never experienced.
The time we’d spent together before I ended things with him was amazing but plagued by my guilt and the certainty it would end if he ever learned the truth. None of my guilt and secrets existed anymore, but his father still did.
Yet, his father was an obstacle we could have overcome together… or might have overcome if I’d told Ryker the truth about the duke. But even his father wasn’t our biggest obstacle anymore… it was Ryker.
I hoped he could forgive me someday, but I didn’t know if he would.
I didn’t feel hate as his tongue stroked mine and his fingers caressed my skin. After those trees attacked us, he’d taken me with a frenzy that, while mind-blowing, was also somehow detached.
Now, he was touching me like he used to… like I was something precious to him. My heart wept while my body came alive beneath his hands.
When he undid my bindings and his hand found my breast, I arched into his touch. He ended our kiss and settled his mouth over my nipple.
My fingers curled into his hair, pulling him closer as he found the button at my waist and undid it. He pulled my pants lower while trailing hot kisses down my belly.
I watched in fascination as he removed my clothes. He was breathtaking, and I loved him so much that I wasn’t sure how my heart contained it.
The growing sunlight emphasized his chiseled body while playing over his corded muscles. It also highlighted his scars… especially the new ones. The puckered, red arrow holes stood out from the hundreds of scars covering him, but it would blend in soon.
However, it was new and…
“You’re injured,” I whispered as sanity returned. “We can’t.”
He tossed my pants aside and remained focused on my body while running his fingers between my breasts, down my belly, and between my thighs.
“Healed,” he murmured as he rubbed my clit. “So, we can.”
I gasped and bit my lip when his mercury-colored eyes met mine. He watched me as my breath came faster, and his fingers pushed me closer and closer to the edge of ecstasy.
When his hand slipped away, a groan of disappointment escaped as he left me teetering on the edge. My hips involuntarily lifted in demand for more, and his hands slid under my ass to lift it higher while he bent to me.
His tongue found my clit as he tasted me with a relentlessness that had me both begging for more and desperate for an end to the torment. My fingers dug into the mattress as he weaved a magic that could rival any warlock’s while the pressure built in my belly until it uncoiled.
I cried out as pleasure swamped me. I didn’t know how Ryker could bring me to such heights of ecstasy, but he knew exactly what to do to turn my body into something that worshipped his touch, craved it, and yearned to always experience it.
He had perfected the ability to do so with a simple touch, look, or kiss. I was his. I always would be, and I couldn’t change it.
