Page 89 of The Bride of Lycaster
The soldiers erupted into a chorus of cheers and whistles. The entire army must have come out to watch, but I did not care, I looked only at Riyan. Soft breaths escaped my flushed lips as he looked back at me. He was stunned, the stars twinkling in his eyes as he heldhis breath.
Right as I took a breath to ask him what was wrong, he grabbed the back of my neck and pulled me in to kiss me back. My lips were much smaller than his, but he kissed me like he was satisfied with anything I gave him and everythingI was.
I weaved my fingers through the short strands of hair at the nape of his neck and grabbed tightly as he kissed me over and over. I softly bit his lower lip and he responded with a low chuckle that made my insides melt. He gave my thigh a firm squeeze, shifting me slightly up and forcing me to break the kiss with asmall gasp.
“Go all the way, Bloodstone,” cried one of the soldiers. “We wantto watch!”
Riyan glared at his trio of degenerates and then swiveled his head to the wall and the keep’s towers—he had not even noticed more soldiers had gathered. He turned back to me with a hungry look inhis eyes.
“I think one brute is enough for you,” he said in a low voice. “What do you say we go somewheremore private?”
My chest rose and fell with desire that escaped as a heavy breath. I could not speak, all I could manage wasa nod.
A wolfish smile crept up Riyan’s lips. He held me against him and ran to the keep faster than I had ever seen him run. I locked my hands around his neck and heldon tight.
Riyan ran straight up the wall of one of the square towers and grabbed a stone with his right hand near the base of a second-story window. He climbed up the tower faster than he had scaled the cliffside. His breath escaped his nose in hot puffs and his mouth contorted in something between a snarl anda smile.
He reached the top of a third-story window and gave me a tight squeeze as he shifted his weight over to the left side. He kicked through the window, sending glass and the mangled iron of the panes into the room. I screamed from the thrill as he jumped in through the window. His boots hit the floor with ahard thud.
We had crashed into his bedroom. Riyan walked across the room, shards of glass crunching underneath his boots, and gently sat me down on the edge of his mattress. He towered over me, panting, hungry, and eyeson fire.
His voice was low and breathy. “Tell me what you want, Serafina. Anything you want, you canhave it.”
My breast raged in an inferno of heat and light. My back arched up toward him. My knees parted underneath my skirt. My heart pounded in my ears and betweenmy legs.
I forgot about Ravenwood, or Hyton, or any promises or agreements I ever made with anyone. All I wanted or cared about was what my body yearned for. I would not lie back and accept my wifely duty. I would not cower while clutching a weapon underneath my pillow. I would get whatIwanted.
I looked back up at Riyan and my hungry, flushed lips partedto speak.
“I want you,Riyan Bloodstone.”
The chilly mountain air crept in through the shattered window in Riyan’s bedroom, but nothing could cool the flame burning inmy hips.
I looked up at Riyan and waited for him to answer my call. The golden light of our blood bond pulsed with every heartbeat as it cried out to completethe enchantment.
Yes.Now. Please.
Riyan’s chest heaved with his heavy breath. He reached to the back of his neck and his linen shirt dragged up the contours of his muscles. My eyes fixed on the sliver of skin that appeared at his waist and then traveled up the trail of reddish hair on his lower belly, to the muscles of his stomach, to the hair on his chest, and finally his collarbone as the shirtcame off.
His strong and muscular stomach was right at the level of my eyes. I wiggled forward to sit on the very edge of the mattress as my eyes feasted on his naked chest. My fingertips dragged across the knitted wool blanket on the bed and lifted up as if they moved on their own. His muscles tensed as I lightly touchedhis stomach.
Damn. I had no idea the human body had thatmuch muscle.
I let out a slow, admiring breath as my hand trailed down his skin. I caressed the hard line of his abdomen and then the soft line of hair underneath his navel as I moved further and further down. My fingers hooked onto the waist of his pants and I gave the fabric a little tug, but Riyan grabbed my wrist and held me fast in hisiron grip.
“Not yet,” Riyan said in a strained voice. “We have to warm youup first.”
My lips were full and heavy as they parted. “Warmme up?”
“Just…I’m barely holding onto control asit is.”
Riyan knelt down and I dropped my chin to meet his eyes—he was almost the height of a normal man. Riyan still held onto my wrist as hiseyes blazed.
“I won’t hold on for long,” he said in a low voice. “And when I do lose control, you need to be ready. I don’t want tohurt you.”
I swallowed. The possibility of getting hurt had not crossedmy mind.
Not thatI cared.
