“Well, my Lia?” A nervous laugh left him.
A soft smirk crept up my lips as my neck twisted back to peer over my shoulder, where the falls awaited. My hair danced around my face as the night breeze blew around us.
“May the gods help me with you,” he said while shaking his head, watching me.
My innocent smirk morphed into a menacing grin as I lowered my hand to my side and took a single step backward towards the cliff’s edge—he matched the step forward, mimicking the dance from our first kiss.
“Do I receive an answer from the queen? Or will she keep me guessing as she always has?” he asked with a growl of anticipation.
The edge of the fall’s overhang scraped the skin beneath my foot, halting my movements. “You will find my answer at the bottom of the falls, my king.” I winked.
Without hesitation, I twisted my body and leapt off the edge of the waterfall, my body descending beside the cascades before diving into the pool that awaited at its floor.
Jace’s body landed in the pool only feet from my own, and I floated up to him as we were surrounded by the bubbles rising to the surface. In the depths of the water, I wrapped my legs around his waist, intertwining our bodies, and held his face tenderly in my hands as I pressed my lips against his, savoring their taste.
We sat beneath the cover of the water until our lungs burned for air before swimming to the surface.
“Shall I take your kiss as an answer?” He grinned as he watched me intently.
I swam the short distance between us and wrapped my arms around his neck, nuzzling his nose with my own.
“Always,” I breathed.
His hazel gaze roamed over me intently, making my breath catch, and then he claimed my mouth with his. Our bond became saturated with the pulsating rhythm of quickened heartbeats, a love that consumed our very souls, and an insatiable need for each other.
His hands moved to explore my body as we each struggled to tread the water as we succumbed to our constant craving for one another.
I followed his lead as he reluctantly waded towards the waterfall—its deafening roar drowned out the world, intensifying the intimacy, and the mist from the falls kissed my exposed skin.
The water pounded against our shoulders as we moved beneath it—the droplets gleaming on Jace’s back.
Upon reaching the other side of the rapid falls, we became wedged between the flowing water and what resembled a small cave carved from the stone. The torrential cascade overhead created a curtain of liquid jewels, glistening in the moonlight.
My mate rested his back against the rock wall beneath the falls, and I silently swam up to him. He instantly reached out beneath the water, cupping the backs of my thighs, and lifted me in his arms. With each shared breath and glance, our desperate, aching desire for one another interlaced down our tether.
Barely able to hold back any longer, I claimed his lips with my own, our tongues knotting in a dance as our hands explored each other slower and more assured than ever before. Beneath the water, I found the top of his pants and slowly began unbuttoning them.
He broke the kiss, leaving me desperate for him, so my lips flew to his neck, where my tongue traced the beads of water that glided down from his soaked hair.
“What is it that you want,wife?” he groaned.
I climbed back up his body and pressed our foreheads together. “You,” I breathed.
Jace took that as his cue. He flipped our bodies, my back now pressed up against the rock wall, as he forcefully kicked out of his pants that clung to his skin below the surface.
In his need for me, he ripped the bandeau that restrained my breasts, letting them fall freely before him. Jace cupped them with his hands, caressing them with his fingers. He moved that same hand down further, tearing my remaining clothing from my body, and circled my clit as his fingers explored.
“Gods,” I gasped, but the echo of it was lost in the raining falls.
His mouth moved up the center of my throat with a mix of teasing kisses and licks, making his way to the sensitive tip of my ear. I felt his hardened length press against my center as his mouth worked to ravish my entire body.
I moved my hand to guide his length down to my entrance, and a gasp escaped me as he thrusted in, filling me. Each thrust felt as if it would be my undoing. I couldn’tget enough of him as my thighs tightened around his waist, pulling him in. His mouth was on mine once more, our tongues desperately colliding.
Our hips rocked in tandem, separating and finding each other over and over until we were on the verge of combustion. Caging me against the rock wall, he kissed my neck, running his hands through my hair as I rolled my hips, his cock moving in and out.
Jace maneuvered one of his arms around the back of my neck, cradling it against the jagged edges that protruded from the cliff’s cave.
I opened my eyes to be met with an intense hazel gaze fixed on me, and a moan escaped me at the thought of him watching me unravel beneath him. A grunt of approval left him, and there were so many things I wanted to say and act on in the moment, but my entire body burned and ached for him.
