“Often. Tell me why, Renna.”
I strongly dislike him. "Because it won't feel how it felt with you."
"Where are you staying?"
"Split between my tent at the Shadow Camp and my room in Espan's palace."
"Let's go back to the palace," he says, injecting so much seduction into that sentence that we are all but sprinting back to our horses.
We tumble through my bedroom door, clothes flying all over the place. His breath is hot on my neck as he walks me forward. He’s as starved of me as I am of him, and that only makes this sweeter. "Gods, Renna, I want to make you forget what it is for me to not be inside you," he whispers, pushing me back onto the bed.
I wriggle my hips against his erection and he hisses through gritted teeth, the weight of him crushing me in the best way. I drive him wild, and I love that.
“You’re fucking feral,” he says, as I rip a button off his shirt in impatience.
My hurried fingers undo his belt, tossing it across the room so hard it cracks the mirror. I raise an eyebrow at him. “Doesn’t that mean we’ll have bad luck?”
“You’re my bad luck, Ren, not the fucking mirror,” he states, as I desperately undress his lower half. I pull him down to me, wrapping a leg around his solid waist.
“Already?”
“Yes,” I say, blushing. I just want him. Tears sting the edges of my eyes as he sinks into me. It’s a blissful sort of pain that I’d happily feel for the rest of my life.
“Okay?” He asks, as we’re almost nose to nose. His thumb brushes my cheek and I nod, lost for words, because I haven’t felt like this with someone before.
“I’m okay,” I promise, my lips brushing his. Wicked delight glitters in those eyes, and he grabs my ankle, hooking it over his shoulder. Rexxan is ever a man of his word, and he fucks me until I’m not even certain that the words leaving my moutharewords, and only the sounds of our ragged breathing fill the bedroom.
“One more time, for me,” he murmurs, kissing the inside of my foot.
I’m glistening in sweat. He is too. But every move of his hips makes up for a day we spent apart. Every sentence in my ear erases the memory of a night alone, wondering if he hated me and wondering why I even cared if he did. His leg hooks beneath mine and before I can blink, he’s rolled us over so I’m on top. A shudder wracks my aching body; at this angle he feels overwhelming. One rough hand grips my thigh as I ride him, winding higher and higher with him beneath me. I long to touch him but my hands are ensnared tightly in his free hand and I’m left feverish and desperate like an addict that can never get enough of him.
The lines of his jaw tense and I know he’s right on the edge with me. A word in another language leaves his lips and he drops my hands to clamp both of his around my waist, the muscles in his arms straining as he holds me still and pounds into me so hard that I swear I forget who I am or what I’m even doing here. Every muscle in my body tightens and then releases as he sits up and holds me to him, my moan lost in the tortured way he says my name as we both explode together.
Holy fuck.
He kisses my breasts and hums in satisfied approval. "You always make me proud, do you know that?" His lips brush mine and he stands to get a cloth to clean me up. I understand now that he keeps my hands constrained because he thinks I’ll hurt his scars, but I’d love for him to trust me more. I suppose I haven’t given him good reason to. He was right a few months ago. All I had done was lie to him, but I would like that to change.
I don’t have the energy to speak, my body floating in a serene calmness that I haven’t felt for a long time. Huge hands massage the aching muscles in my back, his lips finding their way there every now and again. I smile into the linen pillowcase as sweet words in his low grumbly voice tickle my skin.
I don’t know what we’re pretending to be here, but I’ll play along happily. Sleep hovers over me like the temptress that she is, and when I can resist her no longer, I take her hand and let her drag me under.
I wake up in darkness. My face is boiling, and I realise that’s because it’s squished against Rexxan’s bare chest. I grumble, rolling over so he is spooning me and realising he is reading a book over my shoulder, the pages illuminated by moonlight and the faint orange glow from his eyes. I pluck it out of his hands and turn it over to read the title.
“The Application of Carnivorous Ferns in Medicinal Herbology and Apothecaries.Sweet mother of fuck, Rexxan. You’re a real bag of laughs, you know that?”
He snorts in amusement, giant hands snapping the book shut. "Go back to sleep, huntress.”
"What time is it?"
"Three in the morning."
I rub the sleep out of my eyes. "Gods, I have to get up. I'm on an assignment for Espan today," I croak, trying to keep my eyelids open.
He hums, kissing my neck. “Up you get then, love.”
As I dress, there is a tentative knock at the door. "I've got it," I call to Rexxan, hopping as I pull on one of my black boots. I open it with a hair tie between my teeth. Glowing in the doorway, as beautiful as ever, is Lynna.
"We need to talk."
