A needy whine gathered in my throat. “What’re you doing?”
“Trying to remember,” he said, eyes still closed.
“Remember? Remember what?”
“Just give me a second, will you? Use it to beg some more, if you like.”
“Please,” I whispered. When he still didn’t move, I raised my head and lapped at his birthmark, trying to coax him into continuing. He shuddered at the contact, then opened his eyes, flooding me with the heat of his regard. The hand behind my knee tightened, his body nudging at mine.
“Harlowe Hollander,” he said.
My head thunked back down against the bed. “What?”
“Your name. Not ‘just Harlowe.’ Not anymore. You’re Harlowe Hollander.”
A sting stabbed my eyes, even while my body cried out for him. “That’s my last name?”
“Yes.”
“You were trying to remember your own last name?”
He chuckled. “No. I was trying to remember what I told you. Before. So I can tell you again. Because this time, the words are mine.”
I lost myself in his eyes. I had no idea what he was talking about, but I would let him say anything he wanted, as long as it convinced him to get inside me already. “So say it.”
“I will. But don’t worry. You needn’t say it back.” He tilted his hips, sinking into me, inch by torturous inch.
Oh, thank goddess. I ran my hands up his back as pleasure thrummed along every nerve.
A tormented sigh bled out of me as he seated himself. Gods among us, but the fit was exquisite. He found a slow rhythm, one that saturated me with sensation.
“In the sacred embrace of the swamp,” he said, “here under the watchful eyes of Zephyrine, I pledge my heart and soul.”
My eyes snapped open, and...wait, when had they closed?
His starry gaze locked on mine, as if he were mapping every reaction sparked by the joining of our bodies. Molten pleasure pooled along my spine.
“I vow to forsake all others and seek refuge in your arms.”
“What?” I whispered, although I’d heard him clearly. I just didn’t understand.
He kissed me, soft and deep, never altering his rhythm. “Like goddess-blessed oaks, we grow alongside each other, our roots entwined, reaching for the same sunlit heavens.”
Wait. Those words. I’d heard them before.Saidthem before.
The world’s heartbeat faltered, plunging the moment into stillness. Sweet Zephyrine. Our wedding vows. He was saying our wedding vows.
“We remain as individuals.” Every slide of his body ignited a constellation of pleasure, one star after another bursting into existence, lighting up a whole sky. “But together, we stand against the winds of adversity. United, we weather life’s storms.”
A soft cry rolled out of me. They were beautiful, these words. Dense and lush and graven with meaning. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t listened the first time.
“When you need shelter, I offer you my shade. When you need uplifting, I share my dappled light.”
“Kai.” My voice cracked. Wonder rushed in to seal up the break.
“Shh.” Stroke. Slide. Quiet ecstasy. “Let me finish.”
My hands drifted to the small of his back, which flexed and dipped. Every surge stoked the rising glow within me. “Yes. Please. Please finish.”
