“Mmm.” The smoky sound curls all the way through me as he nuzzles at my throat. “Always. I like it when you beg. I like it when you gasp my name. I like it” —he sinks inside me further, his thumb pressing hard against my clit— “when you scream.”
His thumb should be immortalized. There should be a statue of it in some hall somewhere. I can’t escape the pressure of it, and it feels like it unlocks something inside me.
“Thiago.”
“Just. Like. That.” His voice is a whisper inside my head, conjuring memories and fantasies. “Maybe I’ll fuck you with my tongue instead. Would you like that, Vi? Right here.” His cock retreats, teasing at me, testing me. I can almost imagine his tongue doing this dance.
Another inch.
If he doesn’t fill me right now, I’m going to explode.
“Please,” I gasp.
“Please, what?”
“Please fuck me.”
Grasping my thighs, he drives into me with one smooth stroke. It’s enough to tip me over the edge and I do scream. I can barely handle it as he thrusts within me. Harder and faster. Pinning my wrists above my head, and then capturing my thigh and shoving it higher so he’s sinking so deep within me I can barely breathe.
“Thiago.” I moan again. Surely my body can’t handle this much pleasure.
“Vi.” He rests his forehead against mine, his thrusts slowing and the muscles in his throat cording. It’s beautiful to see his surrender. There’s no kindness in it. Indeed, it looks like pain as he throws his head back and gasps, flexing one more time.
But the peace that floods across his expression afterward….
I’ll remember that.
No matter what happens, I will always remember this moment.
Thiago slumps heavily against me, breathing hard as he withdraws. The slickness of his seed paints my thigh, and he traces his fingers through it as if the sensation of it gives him some sort of possessive pleasure.
I curl into his arms, resting my head on his shoulder. My dress is tangled around me. His trousers are still wrapped around one of his ankles. It makes me laugh and Thiago lifts his head to see what amuses me.
“What?”
“You keep breaking your promises,” I tease. “You said tonight would be slow, but we could barely wait until we were undressed.”
A smile touches his mouth. It’s the first one I’ve truly seen and its breathtaking. It feels like the sun rises within him, casting away the shadows of night. He’s dangerously handsome at all times, but right now, I think he could steal my heart.
“What is it?” he asks, as if sensing the sudden panic that spirals through me.
“Nothing.”
Thiago slumps back down, but his hand runs along my hip. “You say that a lot, you know?”
I go still, my heart beating fast. It’s an easy way to hide my heart, but maybe I need to stop doing that. “I like your smile.”
He rolls me onto my side, so he can see me.
“Do you?” he whispers as we stare into each other’s eyes. There’s a dangerous sense of longing within him. “You make me smile. Even when I know I shouldn’t.”
Further confirmation that this only lasts until dawn.
I close my eyes and kiss him again. “I like all the things I shouldn’t be doing with you.”
“Really?” His answer is a rough laugh as he takes my hand and curls my fingers through his.
“But I almost think I like this the best,” I whisper as we hold each other.
It’s a tremulous admission.
I trace his arms, his shoulders, those tattoos. As wonderful as the fucking is, it’s this moment that truly threatens me. I know he feels it too. He’s too still, too thoughtful. And his chest rises and falls in steady increments as if he barely dares break the truce between us.
But then he does.
“I wish that I could trust in you,” Thiago whispers. There’s a storm in his eyes, and he captures my surprise on my lips. One long heated kiss that steals my breath. Then he’s kissing my cheeks, my nose. “But I can’t help thinking that you were never meant to be a gift. You were meant to be my destruction.”
The moment is gone, a portentous shiver running through me. “Don’t say that.”
His eyes darken. I almost don’t recognize the look in them. “There’s almost a part of me that doesn’t care. Shatter me, Vi. Break me. Destroy me. I will love every moment of it, until we crash and burn.”
I shove him onto his back and then sling my legs over his hips. Pressing a finger to his lips, I shake my head. “Stop saying that. Stop tempting fate.”
“You don’t believe in fate.”
I shiver, and he smiles.
“Fate already fucked me once,” he whispers, his thumbs rasping up the outside of my thighs. “It can wait its turn. Maybe we can make our own fate.”
And then he flexes up and kisses me again, drawing me down to our ruin.
8
Iskvien
I wish that I could trust in you….
The words spin around my head as I circle my small tent the following day.
I slept with the Prince of Evernight. Again.
It’s almost like I have some sort of weakness for arrogant, handsome males who are nothing like they seem to be on the surface.
But I can’t help thinking that Thiago and Etan are worlds apart.
Thiago was angry yesterday. Furious with the reveal of my identity.
And yet, not once did I ever feel threatened.
It’s a heady realization.
The evil Prince of Evernight—the one who murdered his queen and her heirs, the one who seeks to steal my mother’s rightful lands away from her—wanted to know why I have bruises on my wrists.
I pace and I pace and I pace.
There are thoughts churning in my mind. Dangerous thoughts.
I can see him again, the backs of his knuckles brushing against my cheek as our eyes meet, and he
