He trailed off into a sigh.
Brushed his left thumb across her cheek.
Smeared cool dampness into her skin.
She blinked away her tears, ashamed of them and not wanting to hurt him. She had done enough of that for a lifetime.
“Tell me what’s wrong. Talk to me.” His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes darted between hers, the look that filled them drawing the words up from her heart because he honestly looked as if he wanted to know. “Whatever is on your mind… you can talk to me.”
She couldn’t remember anyone other than Eric bothering to take the time to just listen to her woes and her worries.
It felt so nice to have someone who would do that for her.
Someone who looked as if he would move heaven and earth to make her feel better.
“They’re my family… Were my family. This is going to take a little getting used to and I’m…” She glanced at his chest as her courage faltered, and then blew out her breath and lifted her gaze to lock with his again, because she needed it out there. If she held it inside, it would fester and rot, eating away at her. “I’m… afraid… I’ll find I made a mistake in turning my back on them.”
His face darkened slightly, a brief hardening of his features that lifted a moment later as his eyes softened again, like a storm cloud passing over the sun.
He sighed. “You think I’m going to leave you.”
Before she could say a word to defend herself, he shook his head and sighed again, drew his hands towards him and lured her closer with them.
He stared down into her eyes, his swirling with white flakes that looked like the blizzard he had caused at the coven, tempestuous and wild.
“I’m not going to leave you, Cass. What I’m feeling…” He swallowed hard. Hesitated. “What I’m feeling isn’t going to change. Never. This feeling… This is forever.”
Another’s words echoed in her mind as she stared up into Daimon’s eyes.
Eric.
Asking her if she had ever been in love. She had told him never.
Eric had said that never was a long time and one day she would fall in love and realise what he had—that true love was forever.
Cass had countered that forever was a long time too—a long time to be stuck with the same person.
But as she looked at Daimon, as she realised that she was already in love with him, she finally understood Eric.
“Forever with you doesn’t seem long enough,” she whispered, feeling on edge as those words slipped from her lips, anxious as she waited for him to say something, fearing he would ridicule her.
Daimon tilted her head back, brushed his thumbs over her cheeks and smiled down into her eyes, one filled with love. “Doesn’t seem long enough for me either. So we’ll make it forever and a day.”
He dipped his head and kissed her, a tender exploration of her lips that had warmth rushing through her, had her insides lightening as she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He bent at the knee, banded his arms around her backside and lifted her.
Her legs fell open, his hips nestling between them as he walked with her, carrying her inside his home.
She kept kissing him, her lips dancing over his, feelings bubbling to the surface, ones she no longer wanted to fight.
Ones she no longer feared.
Cass sighed as he laid her down on the bed and covered her, stroked her fingers through his hair and clung to him, a different sort of fear washing through her. She had been so afraid she would never see him again.
The way he held her to him, the desperate edge the kiss gained, said she wasn’t alone in that feeling either.
She kissed him deeper, her tongue tangling with his, losing herself in it and the feel of him holding her, in the emotions that rippled through her, ones she had thought she would never experience.
Gods, she loved this man.
He broke away from her lips and kissed down her neck, nipped at it and sent a shiver tripping along her nerves. She leaned her head back into the mattress and relaxed into it, sighed as he stripped her corset away and worshipped her breasts.
Cass lifted her arms above her head and closed her eyes, a smile working its way onto her lips as Daimon drifted lower, as he eased her leather trousers off. She shivered as he pressed kisses to her bare thighs, as his skin brushed hers and she realised he was naked. An electric thrill chased through her as he covered her again, skin-to-skin, and kissed her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and sighed into his mouth as he eased into her, as he withdrew and filled her again, his pace unhurried, stirring a deep sense of connection inside her. She had never felt anything like it.
Was sure she never would experience anything like it with anyone other than Daimon.
He kept saying that she had him, but gods, he had her too.
All of her.
Right down to her soul.
She stroked his shoulders as she kissed him, as his breaths mingled with hers and he thrust into her, feeling as if every part of them was connected.
Becoming one.
Release built achingly slowly and she savoured it, lost in the moment with him, feeling as if they were the only two people in the world.
When it swept over her, the depth of it rocked her, had her floating in his arms and never wanting to come down. She moaned into his mouth, each meeting of their bodies sending a fresh wave of pleasure through her, warmth that rolled over her again and again.
She swallowed his groan as he joined her, as he pulsed and throbbed in time with her.
His breath skated across her lips
