Page 89 of The Dead Queen

“What if I hadn’t?” I whisper. What if I’m not strong enough to save you next time, I don’t say.

A small grin brightens his face. “I suppose you could’ve left me to live at the bottom of an enchanted pool with a sometimes-gorgeous water creature.” He kisses the tip of my nose. “But no woman, magical or otherwise, could ever compare to a life with you.” He smiles and touches my jaw, lifting my gaze to meet his.

My stomach flutters. I wonder if he can feel my rapid heartbeat. Or if he noticed how my breath has become quick and shallow. Suddenly, I realize just how much I want him to feel my beating heart. We escaped death, and now I want to feel really, truly alive.

I sit forward, then turn on my knees to face him. He drops the red cloak and it slides down my back like a gentle waterfall, pooling around our hips. I climb onto his lap, wrapping my legs around his waist.

Hunter’s eyes grow wide, but he doesn’t stop me. He hardly moves at all as I lift his tunic up. The soft fabric brushes against my breasts and the cool air prickles my skin. My hair, still damp, falls over my chest, barely covering my body from his eager eyes. I toss the tunic onto the moss-covered ground.

“No woman can compare?” I ask, feeling brave. “Not even if our life is spent on the run, gutting fish in port towns and forgoing court life?”

“Even then.” His words are deep and slow, like he’s had too much wine, but it’s me he’s drinking in with those big brown eyes. It’s me who feels entranced, skin-to-skin out here in a forest with no one around to see us.

Slowly, I trail my hands over his wide shoulders and across his firm chest. I stare meaningfully into his eyes as my fingers explore lower, down his rippled stomach, pausing just above his hip bones. My breath catches somewhere in my throat as I wait for him to accept the invitation.

Finally, he gasps and brings his lips to mine as if he can’t hold back any longer. He tastes just like I remember. Sweet, like golden honey, with a touch of earthiness. His fingertips linger on my jawline, then glide down to cradle my neck. He tilts my head, kissing me deeper, so slowly that it feels like a dream. But I need more.

I’m consumed with a sudden hunger to have him. Maybe it’s that I almost lost him. Maybe it’s because he seems too perfect in this forest filled with darkness. Or maybe it’s the way he’s looking at me. This is a terrible idea. But right now, I don’t care. All I want is him.

Hunter trails his mouth down my neck and over my breasts as I arch my back, looking up into the canopy of autumn trees above us. The warmth between my thighs turns hot, insistent. I want to touch every part of him, to trail my fingers over his skin until I’ve memorized every inch. I want us to get so lost in each other that I no longer care that we’re in a dangerous forest, hunted by beasts and men.

Hunter brings his face to mine again and nips at my lower lip. The slight sting makes me gasp. He pulls my body impossibly close. A jolt of desire runs through me at the sound of his shuddering breath along the shell of my ear. I moan, unable to stop the animalistic sound from escaping.

Hunter’s hands move down the sides of my breasts, then over my ribs, before he reaches around to grip my ass, hard. I feel the shift in his body as he thickens against my inner thigh. Without thinking, I reach between us and take him in my hand. He groans, his eyes slipping closed for a moment.

Something hungry unfurls within me. This is what I crave—here at the edge of the world, with darkness pressing in. I need to feel something real, before it all slips away.

“I want you,” I say, breathless. I brush my lips down the side of his neck, to kiss the spot where his pulse thrums beneath his skin.

He lets out a guttural noise from deep in his chest. “Sienna, I’ve wanted you every day since you left.”

I push him back onto the damp moss and leaves. Our chests rise and fall as we stare into each other’s eyes. My breasts just barely trail over his chest as I lean forward. He grows even harder, pressed against my sex.

“Then take me.” I say, slowly, urgently.

He does.

Hunter wraps his arms around my back, flipping me onto the soft ground. Scarlet and gold leaves tangle in my hair. He bites my skin as he trails his mouth down, down, down my body until he’s a breath away from the parts of me that ache with need. The parts that hunger for more.

He gives me a very un-Hunter-like grin, one that promises something illicit. Something seductive. He wraps my legs over his shoulders and dips his head, as if in prayer. He tastes me like I’m the sweetest flavor he’s ever had, taking his time, making me want to scream out in rising need. I grab his hair like I’m going to fly away and he’s the only thing keeping me grounded.

Hunter moves his tongue in gentle circles, exploring every corner of my hidden places. My legs clench involuntarily around his neck as heat travels up my body, toward my flushed face.

Is this what love feels like? The ecstasy of a man’s touch? The trust of another person, so complete, that you’ll allow them to feel your most vulnerable places? Even as the thought flickers across my mind, I know that I want this to be love … but I’m not convinced I’m capable of that emotion anymore.

What I do know, without the shadow of a doubt, is that I need to feel the weight of his body so desperately, I can hardly focus.

“You,” I gasp. “I need you.”

He comes up for air. “Are you sure?” He’s breathing heavy now, his chest rising and falling. I sit up and grab his chin, his stubble rough against my fingertips.

“I’m sure.” I kiss his mouth, slow and deep, the taste of me still on his lips.

He moans as he gives in. Tension coils deep in my body, begging to be released. Hunter cradles my head in one hand and lowers me back onto the moss. The late afternoon sun haloes around him as he pauses above me, his blond hair catching the golden light.

He holds my gaze as he settles between my thighs. Every nerve pulls tight with anticipation. Hunter leans in, kisses me softly, and sinks deep into me with a breathless reverence. Sparks flash behind my eyes as I finally feel the pressure, the fullness I craved.

“Harder,” I beg.