Page 66 of Stolen Threadwitch Bride
I can.
He didn’t only want me; hebelievedin me.
Chest full and warm, I splayed my fingers over the velvet blanket. If they’d been free, I would’ve cupped his cheek and kissed him.
Instead I lay there as he held me in his darkly burning gaze.
He stroked one thumb over my nipple and it furled under his touch, shooting pleasure to my very centre.
Biting back a whimper, I gripped the soft velvet, crushing its pile. Good gods, he’d only pulled my gown to my waist but I was already trembling with need. “Please,” I managed on a gasp. I just wanted—neededhim to take me. This was too much to bear.
“I will.” His voice came out husky, belying his cocky smirk. “But I promised to make sure you were ready, and ready you will be.”
Damn it, why had I told him it had been a while?
A moment later, there were no more thoughts, because he replaced the pad of his thumb with his lips and tugged my nipple into his hot mouth.
Body jolting, arching, I bit back a cry. Wetness pooled between my legs, and every breath tore through me. “I’m ready now.” Somehow I said it between gasps.
But he shook his head, still holding me in his lips, sparking more pleasure in my sensitive flesh. Sucking, he pulled away. “Not ready enough. And I can tell you’re holding back, keeping quiet.”
That and the dangerous flash of teeth should’ve warned me.
He blew across my glossy, wet nipple and the sudden cold, the not-quite-a-touch sent sparks flying behind my eyelids as I screwed them shut.
I fell against the cushions, biting my lip so hard the skin had to be close to breaking.
“Tsk tsk, Ari, that will never do. I want to hear all those glorious sounds you’re holding between your teeth.”
Panting, I stared at him, but he only smiled and took my other nipple in his mouth in sweet, sweet torture as he pulled my gown lower.
I couldn’t keep still, squirming under him as his kisses trailed to my belly, to the top edge of my dress, lingering just above the dark triangle of hair at the apex of my legs.
He huffed a laugh that tickled across my bare flesh, and held my hips still. Despite that commanding gesture, he looked up, now kneeling between my legs, and raised his eyebrows in question.
Yes. Oh, gods, yes. I didn’t want him to stop.
Ever.
I might’ve spent hours making this gown, but he could rip it off me right now for all I cared, as long as it had him inside me sooner.
I nodded harder than I’d ever nodded in my life.
He pressed a single, firm kiss right below my belly button and peeled my dress down, leaving me utterly exposed. It was such a light design, I hadn’t worn any underwear, and his eyebrows flashed upwards like he was surprised at the discovery.
Lying there, I tried to catch my breath, and part of me whispered that I should be ashamed to be lying here under the stars, naked and wanton, especially while he was still fully clothed. But I couldn’t find an ounce of shame or regret—there was no room in me for that, not when every fibre of my body thrummed with need.
Not when his name was a whisper in my heart.
Hair gleaming violet-blue in the dim light, he set my gown aside and resumed his spot kneeling between my thighs. He drank me up with his gaze, like he was some dark god of night and I was an offering upon his altar.
“Ari,” he breathed, hands sliding up my calves, “you are the most beautiful sight I ever beheld.”
That warmed me deep inside as his palms planed over my knees and up my thighs, every touch of his skin upon mine at once reverent and blazing.
I knew what came next. He would push my legs apart, free himself from his breeches, and push inside me. And I was ready for that—needyfor it.
But instead, he hooked his arms under my thighs and lifted my hips, pulling them over his knees, making me gasp as my necklace fell against my throat.
