RISING (#2, of Crows and Thorns)

Chapter 104

I blinked in surprise.

To think I could do that had a rush of feminine might surging through my blood.

Varen's heated gaze lowered to my slack mouth and his black eyebrows slanted upward as he hoarsely gritted out my name as if in pain.

The gentle pressure beneath my chin urged me to stand. I rose slowly, gliding my hands up his thighs. His entire body was taut like overworked metal. A gentle touch alone could shatter him. And my touch was gentle as I explored the smooth shape of muscle, my fingertips rounding behind to graze tight hamstrings, marveling at the beauty in the sharp cut of his hips as I straightened my pose.

His movement was so fast I didn't realize what he'd done until my breasts tumbled free of my bra when the cups fell forward and the straps slipped down my arms. A fluttering of material fell between us and my bra floated on the water lapping around our feet.

I stood before him in just my beige panties.

The eruption of shock had me instantly crossing my arms to hide myself as embarrassment stole up my chest.

I'd never bared myself before, to anyone.

No one had seen me topless.

No one.

Varen stopped my hurried flight. His fingers handcuffed my wrists and he gently untangled my arms. He made a soothing sound as if calming a wild animal. "You're beautiful, every single inch of you. Every single summer freckle."

My blush only intensified with scorching heat and my insides twisted at the word, beautiful. One word I thought no one would ever say to me. But it was there reflected in Varen's fervent gaze, his truth. He really did consider me beautiful. He'd said it before in the pool and now he illustrated it by peppering tiny kisses on the cluster of freckles on my cheek.

Freedom was gifted to my wrists.

The rope of my wet hair was nudged aside and my neck tingled as his fingers carefully glided around its nape. He massaged a spot behind my ear with his thumb. Slowly with the comfort of small, gentle circles, I relaxed. He stepped closer erasing the gap between us. "Let me show you what it would be like."

I gasped when my breasts, heavy with arousal, met his chest. His cock swelled even bigger and harder and dug into my stomach. A smear of stickiness against my skin. My soft curves melded against his hardness, and it felt like an incendiary device had exploded beneath my skin. Every single nerve ending smoldered with dark craving. "This is how it would be, Tabitha," he murmured quietly, angling my head to the side. "My skin against yours. Both of us sharing our bodies."

His warm mouth lowered to the flittering pulse point on my neck and he laved it with wet licks until I locked my hands around his biceps, panting and squirming under his relentless attention. "I'd have to get you ready to take me. Make you slick and wet so I could ease in." Satiny strands of wet hair tickled the side of my face as he moved upward to feather his lips lightly against the sensitive curl of my ear. "I'd kiss your pretty nipples and tease them with my tongue."

The decadent promise vibrating against my ear had me moaning loud and low. My nipples pinched as if he'd sucked the areola into his mouth and flicked the sharp tip with his tongue. The air felt thinner, harder to inhale, and my mind splintered apart and descended into an erotic daze.

"I'd kiss you everywhere," he husked, grazing the edge of his teeth along my jawline. "All over your gorgeous body and between your legs until you were swollen and mindless and begging." The words were brushed lightly against my lips and arrowed straight to my heart. "I'd be your first and you'd never forget this moment. Not ever." His tongue swiped slowly along the seam of my mouth to nudge my lips apart. Heat and longing burned in his gaze as he ran a hand down my side. "Gods, you'd look beautiful when I do take you." His tongue licked in and plunged against my own. My spine bowed in surrender, shifting my hips forward to move restlessly against him, seeking pressure and release. Pure desire sparked along my bones, from the ends of my toes to the tips of my fingers, as the low static hum of a climax began to hunt me down.