I pull her forward, knowing if I stop now, I won’t go through with it.
“Come, Telya. Come with me. Let me make you feel good,” I murmur darkly, my eyes running over her shape like hands.
Then I’m kissing her, and I close the door, and I know that tonight I will not stop until I’ve touched and tasted every inch of her.
Chapter 11
Phoebe
The Lordof Water’s Bedchamber at Castletide
I have no idea how I got here.
One second, I was a woman feeding a sea lion at the Jersey Shore Aquarium.
The next, I was being dragged through a whirlpool by a horned stranger with storm-colored eyes who calls himself Lord of Water.
Since then? Whiplash.
One moment he’s a kidnapper.
The next, an ardent lover with kisses that melt my spine.
Then, he’s teasing me in the kitchens like some ridiculous lunch date.
Next, he’s demanding I swear some oath—essentially marrying him.
And now—now I’m standing in his bedchamber, dressed in the most elaborate gown I’ve ever worn, with the echo of vows still vibrating in my bones.
My heart should be breaking from confusion, from anger, from everything I don’t know yet.
Instead, my pulse is galloping, because the minute the ceremony ended, Kael’s eyes were on me like I was already in his arms—naked.
And the truth? I don’t feel strong enough to resist.
My brain is screaming slow down, you don’t know him, you don’t know this world, you don’t even know if he’s safe.
But my body? My heart?
They’re whispering something a lot simpler.
To hell with it. Take the chance. Go for it.
We don’t walk so much as glide—he with his impossible authority, me caught in the undertow of his presence—until we reach his chambers.
“Kael—” I begin, not knowing what to say—beg him to be gentle or plead with him to take me however he wants to.
“Come, Telya. Come with me. Let me make you feel good,” he says, and whoosh, it’s like my entire body just primes itself for him.
And I know he can sense it. Because across his face? Victory.
But no teasing. He’s serious as a heart attack, and I’m grateful because this might be the most serious thing I’ve ever done.
“I know you’ll make me feel good, but what about after?” I whisper, unable to help myself.
“After? Afterwards, I’ll keep making you feel good, Telya. Count on it.”
I nod—no longer able to deny myself. And I swear he sees the exact moment I decide to let him in because his eyes glow and his chest rumbles like the ocean crashing against the shore.
