Page 25 of Romancing the Throne
SPARROW
Thanafern seemed surprised to see us when we returned so early to The Three Cats. He asked us if we required lunch, and Elowin told him we’d already eaten. He told us that if we needed him, we’d find him in the kitchen. Elowin thanked him and we went upstairs. To my faint surprise, Elowin’s room appeared to be as fine as mine, though I didn’t have much time to take it in. We were kissing again within moments, and the air in the room shimmered as glittering butterflies burst into life around us.
Then Elowin stepped back from me, holding my hand. He smiled as the butterflies dissolved into sparkling dust and very slowly ran his fingers up the length of my arm, along the little windows of skin that the lace in my new tunic showed. My skin tingled in the wake of his slow, deliberate touch, goose bumps appearing. I shivered despite the warmth of the day.
Elowin released my hand, and for a moment I was profoundly disappointed, but then his fingers went to the laces at the neck of his tunic, and my breath caught with want. I had seen Elowin shirtless before. I had even seen himnaked before. But those instances hadn’t been full of anticipation like this one. Because this time I wasn’t just seeing Elowin. Very, very soon, I’d be able to touch his bare skin with the same deliberation he’d just touched my arm. My body felt hot, and my cock was already beginning to harden. I wanted desperately to kiss him again, but I also didn’t want to interrupt him as he undressed. So I made a small, sad sound instead, and Elowin looked surprised and then laughed under his breath.
“You could take your tunic off as well,” he suggested.
Oh, yes. I could do that! Except my fingers were suddenly numb and clumsy, and there were possibly too many of them because I couldn’t make any sense of the laces.
Elowin pulled his tunic off, revealing his sleek chest. The light from the windows illuminated the planes of his body and made him appear almost golden. He was beautiful. Then he stepped forward again, closing the space between us, and his hands covered mine and moved them gently but firmly away from my laces. He claimed my mouth in another kiss—more butterflies!—and deftly untied the laces without even looking at them.
I pulled back long enough to wrestle the tunic over my head, dropping it to the floor. I wasn’t muscled like Elowin, but he didn’t seem to mind if the way he was looking at my bare chest was any indicator. He reached out slowly and ran a thumb over one nipple. I sucked in a sharp, shocked breath, and my cock hardened further, which was most unexpected. I wondered if he wanted me to touch him in the same way. I certainly wanted to.
“You can touch me too, if you’d like,” he said, smiling softly.
“Is mind reading your magic?” I asked him.
He laughed. “I have no magic at all, Sparrow.”
“None?”
He shrugged. “Not so much as a whisper. But then, I’ve never looked for it very hard either.”
“So you’re not reading my thoughts then?”
“I’m reading yourface,” he said. “You can touch me.”
Now that he’d given me permission, I didn’t waste any time. I traced a hand down the long muscle of his neck and along the curve of his shoulder, my palm soaking up the warmth of his skin, before mapping the planes of his chest with a fingertip. Then, feeling bold, I teased my thumb over one hard brown nipple, gasping when it pebbled under my touch.
“What do nipple rings feel like?” I asked him.
Elowin laughed. “Do you want me to get one so you can find out? Or do you want to get one yourself?”
Did I?A week ago the answer would have been no. Anhourago the answer had been no. But now, like taking a balloon ride, the thought was tempting and terrifying all at once.
“I don’t know,” I said.
“That’s fine too,” Elowin said and took me in his arms and pulled me close so our bare chests were touching. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“I don’t know about the nipple ring,” I said, breathing in his scent and chasing it with my mouth to the place where his neck met his shoulder. “But I know I want to do this.”
Elowin tilted his head to the side, and his grip on me tightened when I pressed a line of kisses against his skin. He tasted of salt and magic, and butterflies alighted on his shoulder, their wings brushing my cheek as I kissed him.
“Sparrow,” he murmured against my mouth, one hand running down the curve of my spine as he kissed me again, with more passion than before. A flurry of butterflies exploded around us, and I could feel that he was hard where our bodies were pressed together. It was reassuring to knowthat he’d meant it when he said he wanted this—even if I wasn’t sure exactly whatthislooked like. All I knew was that there was heat building under my skin, and every thought in my head had flown away with the butterflies, consumed by a need for more.
“Can we lie down?” I asked, my face heating at my own boldness.
Elowin’s answer was to pick me up and carry me over to the bed like I weighed nothing and lay me out on the mattress. I very nearly swooned at the way he lifted me effortlessly, and the cocky smile he flashed me told me he’d done it to impress me. I was doubly impressed when he took the time to remove both our boots before he joined me on the bed.
Then he lay beside me, his weight propped up on one elbow, and laid his other hand on my stomach. He tugged at the laces on my leggings and raised his eyebrows in a silent question.
I nodded, my heart beating wildly. Elowin kissed me while he undid my laces and slid a hand inside my leggings, cupping my hard cock through my braies. I let out a noise similar to a startled shearwater. Elowin laughed softly and moved his hand in a slow motion, caressing me once more before removing his hand and tugging my leggings and my braies down all at once. I lifted my hips to aid the process, and he slid everything off in a single smooth move, leaving me bared to his view.
I fought the urge to curl in on myself—this was Elowin and he would never be anything but kind—but still, something loosened in my chest when he said, “Look at you, my pretty little Sparrow.”
His tone was reverent, like a prayer. Goose bumps prickled my skin again.
