Page 62 of Dance of Stars and Ashes

“Is that what you’re mad about?”

“No. Don’t be ridiculous. I already told you once that you didn’t need to thank me.”

“Then what is your problem with me?”

His jaw hardened, his dark eyes flashing. “I don’t have a problem with you.”

She laughed, the sound tearing out of her. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

He rubbed a hand down his face, and for a moment, he appeared uncharacteristically flustered. “I thought you were a spy for my father.”

“So you said. Do you still think that?”

He shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

She folded her arms and looked up at him. “So, who am I, then?”

He tipped his head as if considering. “Maybe a spy. Maybe sent here to torment me.”

She scoffed. “Torment you?”

“Yes,” he said, the word a growl practically ripped from his throat.

“I haven’t done anything other than exist.”

His eyes darkened, the gold flecks sparking like fireflies spinning through shadows. “I am aware.”

“What… is that supposed to mean?” she asked, narrowing her gaze. Gods, he was confusing and irritating, and he was moving closer.

Suddenly, there was no space left between them. Her breath hitched as she looked up, noting every minute detail of his face. The scar through his eyebrow. The way the corners of his eyes turned up the slightest bit at the ends. The dusting of freckles over the bridge of his nose and the pale scar slicing along his left cheekbone.

Her gaze drifted lower, voyaging over the lines of his throat and the arc of his shoulder, the powerful scaffolds of his stomach, and the fine trail of dark hair that disappeared into his waistband.

She exhaled a breath, her lips parting as he stared down at her like he was trying to peel her open.

“What do you want from me?” she whispered, the words scattering on the breeze.

He said nothing as he wrapped a strong arm around her waist and pulled her against him. Their bodies lined up, her soft curves meeting with the hard ridges of his torso and thighs.

She felt him then, the way he thickened against her. Her stomach flipped, and her insides stretched with molten heat, a needy ache building between her thighs.

“I…” he said before he cut himself off and then pushed her back so she pressed against the tree behind her. “I need to do this.”

The words came out strangled with longing as he dipped his head and ran his nose up the line of her throat, his arm cinching around her waist. Her head fell back as she arched into him before he gently nipped the skin just below her ear, his warm breath curling around the column of her throat.

She thought of sharp teeth and those elongated rakshasa canines sinking into her heated flesh while he fucked her against this tree with his big hands gripping her thighs.

But maybe she was getting ahead of herself.

His hand slid up her back, cupping her head as he journeyed down the length of her throat, his lips dragging over her skin. She whimpered a desperate plea when his other hand found her ass, his fingers digging into the flesh, and he pulled her harder against him. There. Oh, gods. She could feel the length of his hard cock against her stomach, and there was no mistaking the effect this was having on him. She didn’t have much to compare it with, but it felt… generous.

He then slid both hands to the backs of her thighs and lifted her up, her legs wrapping around his waist as her back hit the tree. Now, she could feel him between her legs, the steely length of him pressing deliciously against her clit. She ground against him, wishing for the release she’d been craving for months.

He thrust his hips against her, the friction making her groan. She could feel everything. Her entire body was on fire, every nerve ending exposed, and excruciatingly aware of his touch and his heat and his scent.

She gripped his shoulders, sliding her hands down his arms, her fingers exploring the grooves and ridges of his magnificent brawn before she slid them up his back.

Her breasts crushed against his chest, her sensitive nipples sending tingles over her skin as his hand slid up the fabric of her camisole, his large palm scalding hot against her ribs. He opened his mouth and sucked on her neck so hard that her entire body felt like it was going to turn itself inside out.