Page 45 of Awakened Light

His face drifted even closer to mine. My lips parted in desire as I remembered the feelings he’d awakened inside me with his kiss.

“Tell me you don’t want me. Say it, and I’ll get out of your life for good.”

His lips ghosted mine, and I closed my eyes while I struggled to dig deep inside for the resolve to do what I must.

Tell him no.

“For the first time in your life, do what you want to do.” His lips almost brushed mine.

“Tell me, Cat. Do you want me or not?”

The breeze barely fit between our lips as he moved them even closer to mine. I inhaled his breath as I searched for the strength to tell him no and turn away. But instead, I leaned forward and pressed my lips against his, moaning into his mouth as I threw my arms around his neck.

With one powerful pull, he yanked me against his body, leaning me back with the force of his passion. His strong hand slid across my face, sliding into my hair and pulling me deeper into his kiss.

A kiss I never wanted to end.

Desire obliterated my senses as I slid my hands underneath his shirt, letting my fingers free to trace the chiseled abs I’d been so desperate to touch. Thorne moaned when my fingers worked their way across all the rock-hard planes of his body and up to the bulging muscles of his chest.

The world around me spun for a moment, and I wasn’t sure if it was really happening or just the result of every last one of my senses exploding from the way my body felt beneath his touch. But when I felt the cool grass underneath me, I realized he’d lay me down with his remarkable speed. Our lips broke apart, and as he hovered over me, I panted for breath as I looked up into his eyes.

“Is this what you want?” he asked with an intensity in his eyes that rattled me down to my core. “Am I what you want?”

My head nodded even though I hadn’t made the choice to answer yet. My mind may have known that he could never be mine, but my heart and my body wanted to claim him as my own and never let him go.

“Yes. I want you. Please,” I heard myself begging.

Those blue eyes lit up with lust and desire, then he lowered himself back to my lips. His soft, sensual kiss brushed across them before he slid his tongue along my swollen lips. A strong hand moved to my hips and slid along my body, grazing up the heated skin of my torso. Inch by inch, he moved up my body to the breasts that rose and fell with my quickened breaths.

His full lips drifted from mine, and I whimpered as they moved to my neck. Gentle kisses peppered my skin as he worked toward the hand now sliding beneath my leather top. When his fingers brushed across my hard nipple, I bit my lip to muffle my cries. It tightened even more as he worked it between his fingers before moving his hand to the leather strings keeping it closed. With speed I couldn’t process, he unraveled the ties securing my top. It fell open, and the cool breeze brushed over my exposed skin.

Thorne sat back and stared down at my body. Everywhere his eyes roved seem to ignite from the heat of his gaze. Desperate to see what lay beneath his clothes, I lifted my hand and whispered beneath my breath. The soft breeze blew harder as inch by inch, his shirt crept up his body as I guided it with the power of my magic.

Thorne looked confused as he glanced down at his rising shirt, then smiled when he figured out what I was doing and lifted his arms. With the flick of my wrist, it moved the rest of the way up his body and dropped on the grass beside him.

“Awesome.” He chuckled as he glanced at the crumpled blue shirt, but I was too busy staring at his perfect physique to take notice of it.

Every inch of his body swelled with muscles, and deep lines formed the chiseled abs I’d felt with my touch. His chest muscles bulged in all the right places, and they flexed as he lowered himself back down to me.

“I need you, Cat,” he whispered into my ear before his lips brushed against it.

My skin ignited when his lips touched my neck, his descending kisses leaving burning trails as he made his way to my breasts. I moaned as he took one in his mouth while his fingers drifted up my thighs below the leather loincloth separating us. When he slid them along my wet, heated skin, I bit my lip and stifled my cry.

“No one can hear you out here,” he whispered.

I released my lip and cried out loud as he slid his fingers into me. They worked inside my body in time with his lips on my hardened nipple. My body started trembling, and I felt the magic swirling and intensifying inside me. Sparks flickered across my skin, and Thorne slowed down his movements while he watched them crackle across my body.

“Do I need to be worried you’re going to incinerate me?” he asked as he kept rubbing me where I needed him most.

“I don’t think so,” I panted, but in reality, I didn’t know. This was my first time with a man, and I’d never had such a powerful, uncontrollable reaction with my powers. “But I’m not controlling them right now.”

Thorne skimmed his finger across the bundle of nerves between my legs that screamed for release.

“Fuck it. I’ll take my chances.”

When his fingers drove back inside me, I pressed my head back into the grass and screamed his name. I quaked and quivered with the power of my release, and the magic inside me coursed through my body, exploding into a blue light that illuminated my skin and filled the surrounding darkness.

As I tried to catch my breath and find my senses, I looked to make sure Thorne was all right, and I hadn’t accidentally harmed him. When his mischievous smile met my worried gaze, I exhaled a breath. “Thank the Goddess. You’re okay. I don’t know what happened.”