Page 37 of Gold & Shadow

“Stop playing, Kjære,” he growled, his fingers tightening their grip in my hair almost painfully. “Either suck me properly, or let me fuck you now.”

“Gods, you have a foul mouth,” I breathed, continuing to tease him. Truthfully, I was certain I would gag on such length, but I enjoyed his dominant posturing too much to let him have his way.

“You like it,” Orson rumbled, moving so suddenly he caught me off guard as he rolled himself under me. “Take off your trousers.”

“And you’re bossy,” I teased as he began to tear at the laces. I placed my hands flat on his chest, admiring the contrast between our skin tones. “What if I just want to admire you for a while?”

With a growl, his fingers became claws, and the trousers were shredded off me unceremoniously. “Admire later,” he commanded, lifting me over him until I was positioned with him at my entrance. “Now ride me.”

Heat pooled at this command, and I ached to feel him fill me as I forced myself slowly down, savoring each inch as I took him.

I gasped at the tight angle, feeling him everywhere inside me, and he groaned as if he were in absolute, blissful agony.

“Now move,” he commanded, lifting me by the waist and pulling me back down when I didn’t immediately obey. Gods, even like this he was in control, and a feral part of me reveled in it. “Faster, Lis.”

I obeyed as Orson used his hands to wring pleasure from me as sure as his cock. One thumb stroked idle circles on the sensitive spot above where we were joined, the other teasing my breasts, my lips, tugging on my hair.

“Orson,” I breathed. “It’s too much.”

“It’s not, Kjære,” he said, rising to clasp me to his chest and moving with me. “You can take me.”

I whimpered at the fullness, the pressure, and the building warmth spiraling up my spine and begging for release as I rode hislap, his lips taking mine in a feral kiss that mirrored the thrust of his hips against mine.

I cried out, the pressure flooding from me in a wave of pleasure as we rolled until Orson was atop me, his body still joined with mine and rock hard.

“Again,” he commanded, pounding into me, the tension building again at his relentless pace. He didn’t seem even remotely close yet, and I briefly worried that something was wrong until I hooked my legs around his waist and he groaned. “Fuck.”

“What doyoulike?” I asked, barely able to form the words at the pounding, steady rhythm that was driving all of my focus to that spot between my legs.

“This,” Orson growled, his eyes holding mine. “You. Coming apart around me again and again until there’s no doubt that you’re mine.”

It was enough to send me spiraling again, and Orson shouted a curse as my nails dug into his back and he spilled into me, his body shuddering above mine for what seemed like forever.

He leaned down, still hard inside me, kissing me deeply, his tongue sweeping in an exploratory arc around my mouth as he settled more firmly into me.

“I love you,” he murmured, his forehead pressed against mine as he moved so his full weight wasn’t on me, his body still very much a part of mine. I loved the intimacy of it, the feeling that wewere connected in the deepest way two beings could be joined, and emotion welled in me at his words. “I want you like this forever.”

“I love you,” I echoed, the gentle brush of his nose against mine so tender compared to the sweet, pounding ache between my thighs. “And you have me.”

“So how exactly did you know that we were mates?” I asked, once our passions had cooled and I was tucked into his side, warm and cozy under blankets and furs with snow falling gently outside the window.

“It was your scent,” Orson murmured, his beard tickling my neck as he spoke into it. “Honey and elderflower.”

“What about my scent gave it away?” I asked, turning in his arms to face him.

I felt oddly possessive, not wishing to be away from him for any length of time, and he seemed to feel the same, dragging me down to the bathing chamber to wash off the sex and grime together, then taking me again against the cabin wall when he watched me soap up.

“It’s my favorite,” he replied, his tattooed arm draped over my waist in a comforting, heavy weight. “Mates give off a unique scent that attracts their partner. Very primal. Very uncivilized.” He kissed my nose, making me laugh.

“Cinnamon and pine,” I said, breathing in the scent of him that felt like it was a part of me now. “I didn’t realize it was my favorite.”

“Better get used to it,” Orson growled, rubbing his bristly cheek against my smooth one. “I intend to drown you in it.”

I laughed as he kissed me again, wrapping my hand around the golden amulet that had brought us together under such strange circumstances.

“What now?” I asked, tugging gently on the pendant and letting it fall back against his warm chest. “Do we go hunt down the other buyers? Start looking into this mysterious mystery buyer of Victor’s? What do we do next?”

“All of those things,” Orson said, his lips curving in a smirk. “Once we’ve had some time to settle into the bond. Say a month or two, naked in this bed. Then we can get started.”