“Telya, you look?—”
“Kael, I?—”
Her words falter, and I take a step toward her.
“What is it, viyella? You can tell me anything.”
She bites her lip, blue eyes shining.
“The last couple of days have been so amazing. I just, I wanted to say thank you.”
I bow my head slightly, though inside my chest feels too full.
“You don’t have to thank me,” I say, my voice rougher than intended. “But if you wish—tell me. May I kiss you?”
Her lips part, and for a heartbeat I think she might speak. Instead, she nods.
Slowly. Deliberately.
Her pulse flickers fast at the hollow of her throat.
Desire surges through me like a rising tide.
Insatiable. Irrefutable.
And I close the distance between us in a breath, knowing that once I taste her, I will never again be the same.
“Please, I want you to kiss me,” she whispers.
The restraint I’ve wrapped around myself these past nights snaps like a rope frayed by the storm.
I cross the space between us in three long strides and cradle her face in my hands, pressing my mouth to hers.
Her lips are soft, tentative at first, but when I deepen the kiss, she answers me—hungry, eager, like she’s been waiting just as long.
The silk shift is no barrier at all.
My fingers trace the curve of her shoulders, the delicate line of her collarbone, the dip of her waist.
She shivers under my touch, and I swallow the sound she makes, a small desperate whimper that burns through my control.
“Kael,” she breathes against my mouth, “you feel?—”
“Like the tide,” I rasp, moving my lips down her throat, tasting salt and silk. “Always rising for you. Always coming back to you.”
Her hands clutch at me, fingers digging into my shoulders as though she fears I’ll drift away if she lets go.
But I have no intention of ever letting go.
Not now. Not ever.
I lift her into my arms and carry her the few steps to the waiting bed.
The linens give beneath her weight, soft as seafoam, and I lower myself over her, braced on my forearms.
“Too many clothes, Kael,” she whimpers and I grin.
With a little magic, I remove what’s covering us and I can’t help it—I hiss aloud the moment my skin comes into contact with her warm, soft flesh,
