Page 79 of Shadow Queen
He stepped nearer, quieting her. “Perhaps it’s a side you’ll let me see more often.” His eyes burned down into hers, the same as they had at breakfast.
And it hit her. It wasn’t the fire of challenge his eyes held.
He stepped closer but didn’t touch her, and his voice came in a raspy whisper. “And perhaps I like difficult.”
He had liked her control—more thanlikedit. A smile poked at her lips, but she didn’t let herself show it. She only stared back at him with the same solid calm she’d given him that morning.
Mikael swallowed, and his eyes darkened until the outer ring was as black as the inside. Hunger pulsed off him. He wanted that control from her now, as if he’d been waiting, as if he couldn’t wait any longer.
Her own pulse quickened. The thought of obliging him… It was all she could do to keep her breath from quivering.
Then the words came before she could stop them. “Get on your knees,” she told him. But then her mind raced. What was she going to do with him? He wanted from her what she wasn’t accustomed to doing—taking.
His nostrils flared as a tremor rolled over his skin, and he sank to his knees. But as he looked up at her—hungry, waiting—her own desire flared, and she knew exactly what she wanted from him.
She pulled the corner of her gown up, raising it slowly. “Kiss me.”
A smile peeled across his lips, and his mouth opened slightly, flashing his teeth like he might bite her as well. Heat pooled in her stomach. She might like that.
He slipped a hand under her gown and pushed it up to her right knee, then he bent and brushed his lips across the skin of her upper calf. It was all she could do to keep from trembling under his touch, but there was no hiding the prickles that sprang across her skin.
And he worked his way up, slowly, savoring each spot, teasing her. He reached her thigh, letting her feel his teeth now, and she shuddered. He chuckled darkly—now who was in control? She ran her hands into his hair, mussing it from its tie and weaving her fingers through, then she clenched tight and stopped him. He raised his eyes to hers, his mouth still open, his bottom lip on the inside of her thigh. He would listen to her. She would make him. She clutched him tighter, then she pulled him farther upward, and he followed.
Mikael nipped the sensitive skin inside her upper thigh, too eager, and she clenched him tighter to hold him. She moved a hand from his hair to the side of his face, curving her fingers down underneath the line of his jaw, and tightened her grip—a warning—and he followed with soft kisses. She shifted her leg out to give him more access.
His breath warmed the joining between her thighs, and Norah let her head fall back as anticipation rippled through her. She didn’t want to wait any longer—she couldn’t—and she hooked her fingers in the silk that covered the most sensitive part of her and pulled it to the side.
And he kissed her.
He kissed her like he did when he took her mouth—his tongue tormenting, his lips worshiping, consuming her. Her spine arched back, and it was all she could do to keep on her feet.
He unleashed the darkness within him that she’d summoned, and she reveled in it. She wanted to drown in it, and shewasdrowning. But still, she needed more, and she’d have it.
Norah pushed him down to the floor, on his back. He reached down and tore at his breeches, but she grabbed his arm, gripping him tightly and stopping him.
“Do not,” she hissed.
He would do whatshewanted.Whenshe wanted. The corners of his open mouth flicked upward slightly, and he panted as he yielded.
She didn’t know this woman—this woman who moved herself up over him, who was on her knees, straddling his chest. She didn’t know this woman who moved up farther, bringing her body back to his mouth. But she liked this woman. She liked the power inside her. The power he gave her—no—the power she took. And she liked the feeling of the Shadow King beneath her.
Still, she needed more. Norah moved quickly, impatiently, sliding back down and ripping his breeches open. She released his length and slid down onto him before he was completely free, still fighting to get their clothing out of the way. He was ready, more than ready. He hardened to near bursting inside her, but she gripped him under his jaw and held him. “You’ll wait for me.”
Everything within him surged under the force of restraint, the struggle of it, and it was enough to send her over. She broke.
As she shattered around him, he found his own release, growling as his body quaked. She clutched him with her thighs—holding him, taking him, absorbing him into the very essence of herself. And as the waves of complete abandon washed over her, she collapsed on top of his chest.
They lay in the silence, still as one, simply breathing. When her senses returned, when her body calmed, she raised her head and propped herself on her elbow, looking at him.
He brushed the tresses of her hair back over her shoulder, and a quiet chuckle rumbled through him. A sudden bashfulness came over her, and heat rose to her cheeks. “What?” she asked him, but she knew she’d gotten carried away.
His eyes moved back and forth between hers, and his lips held a satisfied smile. “If you ever look at me and I seem to get weak, know that I’m thinking of this moment, and how you made me get on my knees for you.”
The bashfulness fell away, and his words made her want to do it all over again. She pulled her bottom lip in between her teeth and bit into the soft flesh to stop herself.
They didn’t have time to play all day. Unfortunately.
Norah pushed herself off him and rose, re-situating her clothing. The silk of her underwear was slick against her skin—from them both—and it stirred a dip in her stomach again. He watched her as he tied his breeches. Could he see the lust still behind her eyes? Heat rushed to her face again, and she scolded herself. What was wrong with her? He’d done… quite enough. Yet she felt like she couldn’t get enough of him.
