Page 63 of Edge of Stars

The pressure.

Harder. Deeper.

“Push out, Kara. Open for me, sweetheart.”

The pressure…

Before the light. And the sparks. The fire of Maximus and me, returning with an intensity I never thought possible. The bright, bold flames we’ve been missing…for how long? I can’t bear to think about it. How have I not even realized they were gone? How did I not feel the impinging cold?

Never again.

Not after this.

Not after this exquisite explosion.

The release, wild and wicked, cruel and carnal, detonating me to cinders. Pulling me apart until there’s nothing left to protect. Nothing left in my comprehension but my screams, my truth, and my tears.

The sobs that take over before my shivers are through. The pain that takes over, invading deeper than Maximus’s body can penetrate, until it’s deluging out of me. Spilling from me, salty and bitter and embarrassing, but real.

The reality I wasn’t questioning when I first came out here.

The reality I was seeking.

It’s so clear. So catastrophic. And, as Maximus joins me with his bestial bellow into my ear, so consummate. A completion I never fathomed. Not in that method, at least.

I don’t take a lot of seconds to keep processing that. Not when there’s the fullness of this moment to savor, in ways obvious and obscure, bringing new understandings that are darting through my head brighter than the fireflies flitting in the tall grasses atop the cliffs.

The brilliance of it all is incredible, bringing me to a small laugh that pushes Maximus out a little. He doesn’t help my composure with his small grunt, which says nothing but everything at once. I already feel how thoroughly I rocked his world as well as the other way around, but beyond that mental connection, I don’t see what his revelation specifically was or what I gave him besides a climax that shook him like a skyscraper with a pulled cornerstone.

“Guess a penny for your thoughts wouldn’t help right now,” he mumbles, nuzzling along my neck.

I hold my reaction to a smirk. “You have pockets in places you’re not disclosing, Professor?”

His grumbly hum sends more delicious tingles along my skin before he kisses my earlobe again. “All right. How about some H2O for your…ehhh…notions?”

Once more it’s a struggle to hold off on the giggles, but I sigh so thoroughly that his cock slides a little more. He pulls out decisively but pauses to pivot for a few fast splashes to his groin with the water around us. It takes him no time to face me again, stretching out on the blue-and-white throw. He beckons with one arm, and I lay down in a mirror pose of his. Except we’re not quite matching figures—a fact for which I’ve never been more grateful.

I snuggle into him, taking refuge in his brawny size and calming strokes along my back. No. Right now, it’s not just post-coital shelter. It’s emotional necessity. A craving I thought I comprehended after our very first touch, now seeming almost like immature fancies compared to this.

The ways I see into him now…

But not with my abilities as witch or my powers as mage.

With my love as his woman.

And the ways he sees me…

No.

The ways I need him to see me. The openness I still have to give him in full. Starting right now.

“So…you’re not wrong,” I softly offer. “I do have…notions.”

The hand along my spine comes to a stop. But only for a second. “About?”

“Your point. The one you began earlier, when you were comparing us to the water.”

He scoots a little closer. Though I adore him for the added warmth, I’m sad about surrendering the view. His nudity really is better than any naughty gallery art.