Page 52 of Heart of the Desert

She leaned back into me as she spoke, and the curve of her hip pressed against the front of my pants. I plucked at the connection between us as she mentioned it, and she shivered against me.

“If the connection between us and the love we share is the key, then maybe we should show the desert just how deep our bond runs,” I whispered into her ear, laying my hand flat to her lower belly to push her against the hardness quickly growing between my legs.

“This is a sacred place,” Keera pointed out, although her voice was breathy, and I could feel the heat building beneath her skin. A blush already darkened her cheeks and spread to her chest.

“And you said yourself that the key to its story lies with the connection between a husband and a wife. Let’s show the desert just how deep our passion runs, and maybe she will grant us her favor once more.” I bit down on Keera’s earlobe as she gasped, the sound reedy and bursting with need.

We had barely touched since the day in the fog until our kiss this morning in the surf. The part of my rational mind that remained intact screamed at me to hold back, afraid I might hurt her like I had when I lashed out with my fire, thinking her an enemy. But my need to be nearer to her grew more acute as my frustration peaked. If I could just claim her hard enough, everything would be right with the world—I could force the pieces into place just as easily as I forced my cock into her willing body.

As I licked down the tendon in her neck, I slipped my fingers under the waistband of her loose pants. Before they could reach their destination, she spun in my arms. I mourned the lost opportunity to run my fingers through her folds, but was quickly distracted by her lips, hot and desperate on mine.

Whatever had overtaken my mind and consumed me with the need to take her in this holy place, it seemed to be spilling into her as well. She claimed my mouth greedily, and I moaned at the single-minded way she kissed me, as if she wanted to devour me—fuse us together in every possible way.

Maybe that was the key. If we just came together forcefully enough, all the broken parts of the world would become one again.

I hoisted her up in my arms and walked her over to the altar, setting her down upon it. “This is a sacred place,” I murmured into warm skin as my hands worked under her tunic, echoing her earlier words. “And the way I’m going to worship you is a sacred act.”

I slipped her vest and shirt off before lowering my mouth to her breasts. I took my time with them, biting and sucking until they glistened and bore a myriad of dark marks from my teeth. As I looked up at Keera’s face, I was struck by the way her golden eyes glowed even as they were half-lidded with pleasure. I craved her like this—pliant and half-drunk on my touch. Then her eyes flashed with mischief, and I realized I craved her like that too—defiant and stubborn and full of all the wildness of our home.

“You’re not the only one who can worship on your knees.” Keera slid off the altar to kneel in front of it and her hands landed on my thighs. I nearly swallowed my tongue at the sight. She didn’t give me any time to recover, quickly lifting my cock out of my pants and licking across the tip.

There she was, a goddess on her knees, and I was all but helpless beneath her hands. She took me into her mouth and lightning shot up my spine. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I forced myself to watch as she hollowed her cheeks around my length.

I struggled to breathe as she worked the rest of me with her callused hands, the rasp of her rough skin a heady contrast to the slick heat of her mouth and the gentle stroking of her tongue.

Sands, I wished to just let her have her way with me, but I couldn’t help how my hands drifted to her hair and my hips stuttered. My sanity hung by a quickly fraying thread, and my control with it. Keera looked up at me through her lashes and nodded slightly.

It was all the encouragement I needed before pulling her down on my length until her nose brushed my stomach. She gagged but didn’t fight me. The nails of her free hand scraped against my thigh, the slight sting only heightening the blinding pleasure of her throat tightening around me.

I plunged myself into her waiting mouth again and again, as a string of profanities and praises tumbled from my lips unbidden.

“You’re so perfect. I’d cross the desert a million more times and dive into another nest of tricriths to have your mouth on me.”

My voice was gravelly with pleasure as Keera moaned around me, the vibrations shooting straight up my spine.

“I need you more than I need air. I feel as though I’m dying every moment I go without touching you. If loving you could save the desert, then the way I feel about you could protect its existence for all time.”

Keera squirmed on the ground, trying to rub her legs together, and I couldn’t deny her pleasure any longer. With a pained groan, I pulled out of her mouth, watching the way her tongue chased after me as if mesmerized, before remembering I had something better in mind.

I scooped her up off the floor and deposited her on the altar again, this time on her back. I nearly ripped her pants with the force I used to pull them down her legs. I couldn’t get them all the way off over her boots in my haste, but she managed to kick one off, leaving them hanging around one ankle.

It didn’t matter. Her tan skin glowed in the moonlight, and my goddess lay splayed open on her altar, waiting to be worshipped. Keera’s beauty as her dark hair splayed across the pale stone and her chest heaved was otherworldly, and I was helplessly caught in her gravity.

Finally, I ran my fingers through her folds, finding them already soaked, before circling her entrance. Her wetness coated my hand and dripped over my wrist, making me growl in equal parts hunger and satisfaction.

I wanted to drink down all of her, and I knew it would still never be enough. I crooked my hand to slide my fingers inside her, but where I had intended to be gentle, Keera angled her hips to drive herself onto me.

“So greedy,” I tried to tease, betrayed by the way my own cock strained toward her. “And it won’t do to let a goddess beg in a temple.”

I pulled my hand from her, and she made a noise of protest, but I shushed her by shoving my dripping fingers into her mouth and lined up my cock at her entrance. Her whine cut off in a sharp gasp as I drove into her in one sharp thrust.

I paused, reveling at the way she fluttered around me and the rightness of the moment. We were meant to be one, just as the desert’s Heart was meant to be whole and unbroken. Our magic danced and twisted, just like it always had since the first time I had buried myself inside her, but now it was just as frenzied and desperate as I was.

I moved my hands to her thighs and held Keera’s legs wide as I began to move. Her breaths came in short pants, and she threw her head back in pleasure. It wasn’t enough. I wanted her—needed her—to come apart at the seams like I did.

I hooked one of her legs over my shoulder, freeing up a hand to rub where we were joined. She whimpered and tightened around me to the point it became nearly a chore to pull back out. But I did, so I could drive back into her again, hard enough to make her slide up the altar with each thrust.

My head was spinning and my vision blurred, but I wouldn’t relent until I felt her shatter around me. I rubbed her faster, my fingers slipping through the obscene wetness as I traced circles around her most sensitive point. Finally, she stiffened, mouth open in a silent cry as the rush of her pleasure washed down the tether between us.