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His smile was wide, disarming, with that hint of vulnerability––one that reminded me he wasn’t used to making such a joyous expression.

I was going to fill his life with so much happiness and joy, until I got to see that smile every single day.

His smile faltered, but his eyes remained filled with life.

“What is it?”

When I first met Lorian, I’d never imagined he could look like this. So open and at ease, despite all the reasons he had to be bitter and furious.

Lifting my hand, I ran my thumb along his lower lip. “I like to see you smile, that’s all.”

Sarcastic smirks, wicked grins, and the cold, feral smiles he so often wore right before he hurt someone. Once, I’d thought that was all Lorian was.

“You make me smile,” he said, nuzzling my palm.

He caught my hand with his, brushing his lips against the sensitive skin of my wrist. I shivered, and he kissed his way up my arm, finding the spots that made me squirm. The places that made my thighs clench.

Even my arm felt sensual when Lorian was the one paying it this kind of attention.

Slowly, methodically, he stripped my remaining clothes from me, pausing to nibble at my hip, to caress my breast, to kiss a path from my collarbone to my belly button. I shivered and arched and urged him on, but there was no rushing Lorian when he was in this mood.

My head spun, and I realized he’d rolled us. I grinned, leaning down to kiss my way acrosshischest, moving down, down—

“What—”

“Here,” he said, having lifted me as if I weighed nothing. “I’ve fantasized about this.”

I blinked down at him. He’d positioned me above his shoulders, a knee on either side of his head.

“Ride my face, wildcat.”

My cheeks blazed so hot, it was as if they’d caught on fire.

Lorian laughed. For some reason, he still found it both amusing and enticing when he managed to embarrass me. I wasn’t a prude, but compared to his long-lived fae sensuality, I was still catching up.

I shifted, and he wrapped his hands around my thighs. “Let me make you feel good.”

“Like this?” I bit my lip as I looked down at him. I wasn’t ashamed of my body. If anything, I was feeling particularly proud of it recently after all the training I’d been doing. But…no one looked good at this angle.

Lorian lifted his head and nipped my thigh. “Be filthy with me.”

“I just—”

He sighed. “Perhaps I’m not being clear. I want you to sit on my face until all I can taste, all I can smell, all I canfeelis you. Now.”

“Who put you in charge?” I muttered, slowly lowering my hips. “Arrogant—ohh…”

He chuckled against me, using his hands to urge me closer as his tongue swept across my clit, dipping down to my entrance, where he lingered before dancing that clever tongue around the most sensitive part of me once more.

My head fell back, and I groaned.

Lorian’s hands tightened at the sound, a growl leaving his throat and sending the most delicious sensation through me.

I shuddered, head spinning, my breath coming in ragged pants. He just increased his pressure, seemingly insatiable for the taste of me. I looked down, and his eyes were dazed with feral pleasure as they met mine. I clutched at his forearms, desperate for something to hold on to.

Every muscle in my body tensed, my thighs tightening. He lashed his tongue along my slit, teasing me, and I broke out in a sweat, stomach clenching, rocking my hips for more, more, more.

I realized I was moaning the word, right as he circled my clit and thensucked.