Total pages in book: 106
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104729 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“Where …?” I croak.
“We’re still in the cave. Remember the storm?” he asks.
Suddenly, everything clears in my hazy mind.
The storm. Running for cover. Needing to put out the fire.
Alaric.
Holding me.
Keeping me safe.
Yet again.
He’s mumbling something to me. Speaking into my hair as he gently strokes me, kisses me.
The gentleness he has shown me these past few days has my emotions amplifying.
Here I am, someone he thinks he should hate, and time and time again, he has put my needs first and taken care of me before everything else.
“You’re okay,” he says.
A sob breaks through my lips.
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks before kissing my locks again.
“No.”
I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about the dream of the last time I saw my parents. The last time I held my mom’s hand. That I could have saved them.
I want to pretend none of it happened and not think about how that one moment shaped the rest of my life.
I want to feel alive. I have been dead inside since they died, but now as I look my own mortality in the eyes, I can’t let this be it.
Without allowing me to second-guess myself, I turn my head.
Still in his arms, I stare up at him. My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, and although I can’t see him clearly, I can see his shadow.
Maybe this is for the best.
In the dark, I can be anyone I want to be.
Even the woman who finds comfort in Alaric’s arms.
I move closer, securing my hands around his neck, and lean in until my lips fan his.
“What are you doing?” He breathes out, and the oxygen he expels tickles my lips.
“Forgetting,” I say in truth, and he doesn’t seem to object.
“You sure you want this?” His voice is deep and husky.
I lean in. “I do.”
“Right answer, dove.” Without a second thought, he crushes his lips to mine.
I open to him, allowing him to kiss me with a vigor I have never felt before. We are all teeth and tongue, moaning into each other’s mouth. I have never kissed like this before.
It’s not like the kiss on the boat. This one is primal.
He drags me on top of him until I’m straddling his lap. His hands run up my body, tugging at the bottom of his shirt. He pulls it up, never breaking from me, and exposes my breasts to him.
Time has no relevance when we kiss. I get lost in his mouth on mine. Seconds and then minutes pass, but we don’t stop. We just get hungrier, more desperate. Until eventually, his hands move from where he’s cupping my breast to lift the material.
Once the top is off, he pulls away. It’s dark in the cave. I can’t see much, but I can feel his desire and lust through each touch of his hands on me. Leaning forward, he presses his lips to the hollow of my neck and then works his way down.
He trails a line across my collarbone, grazing his teeth against my skin until he reaches my nipple.
With a swipe of the tongue, he makes me groan. He licks and tastes, and then a growl emanates from his mouth as he moves toward the other breast.
We continue this wicked dance until I’m grinding myself against him. He’s hard and ready for me. The only thought now consuming my mind is what he will feel like.
He licks and sucks until my head falls back in ecstasy, and then I feel his arms bracketing around me, flipping me over until I’m on my back.
He hovers above me, his chest heaving.
“I need to be inside you.” He groans, and I want nothing more.
With Alaric’s shirt removed from my body, only his pants separate us.
In the dark, my hands search, and when I find the drawstring, I untie it.
It’s not elegant as I try to maneuver.
It’s hungry kisses. Desperate touches. Primal needs.
It’s perfection.
When I feel him lift, I know he’s rid himself of the pants.
I wait for him to crawl up my body. Instead, he fumbles more, and I’m not sure what he’s doing.
But when the small flashlight illuminates the cave, I look at him.
What I see in his eyes takes my breath away.
“I wanted to see you.” Then he’s spreading my legs. Leaning up on my elbows, I watch as he crawls up my body but then stops.
His nose touches the inside of my thighs, and he looks up at me from where he’s perched. “I wanted to see you when I did this.” And then he looks up, a wicked gleam in his eye.
I moan my approval and lift my hips. He lifts my legs over his shoulders, and then he’s going in, taking his tongue to my core in one long swipe. I gasp in pleasure.