Page 125

But for once, my humor’s abandoned me. All I want is Des, and I’m pretty sure all he wants is me.

His arms come around my waist, and then he’s wrapping my legs around his hips. If Des was wearing a swimsuit, it’s long gone now. I can feel every glorious inch of him bare against me.

I run my palms over his biceps, his tattoos catching my attention. There’s that somber angel and the rose. I touch them with my fingertips. That’s when I notice for the first time the ribbon of inked black beads coiling up his arm.

My fingers pause. “Is this new?”

His eyes seem to be smiling. “I wanted to wear a piece of you on me always.”

I trace the string of beads to his wrist, then back up his arm to his shoulder … where they morph into inked scales. Those, in turn, transition into black feathers. The tiny inked feathers drip down from his shoulder and onto his pec, a few of them breaking away to flutter right over his heart.

I pull my head back. “When—?”

“Last night, when I was supposed to be defending my kingdom.”

Sothat’swhat he was doing away from the castle. My heart hurts with all that I feel.

I study the tattoo again. The beads, the scales, the feathers, those things were once burdens to me.

I wanted to wear a piece of you on me always.

My throat closes up. These rooms were already too much. To hear that he inked these parts of me onto himself …

He must see my throat working, he must know I literally don’t have the words to convey this unimaginable tangle of emotions I feel.

I’m just so unbearably, unspeakably happy.

“I love you, cherub,” he says. “Till darkness dies I will.”

I rise up a little, my body skimming over his hard torso. Between us our bond throbs like a single united heartbeat. I cup his cheeks and press my mouth to his.

Like moonbeams and shadows. That’s how he tastes, how he feels. As though the dark universe itself came together and decided one day to form a man. He still doesn’t seem real. I hope he never does. He’s my magic.

Des lowers me, or maybe I’m the one to sink back down. My skin brightens as the tip of his cock presses against my opening for a moment, feeling thick, much too thick. And then it’s sliding into me, and that exquisite thickness is stretching me, filling me.

I stare into Des’s eyes, and I see an eternity stretched out into them. Years and years of nights like this, love like this.

He pulls his hips back, and I feel the loss everywhere. But in the next instant, he’s sliding back into me, his cock throbbing.

“Love you so much, Callie,” he breathes. “Would’ve waited an eternity if it meant finding you.”

I lean my head against him, feeling him wedged deeply in me.

“I would’ve walked through hell to find you,” I whisper back.

He shudders out a breath. “You did, cherub, you did.”

I don’t know which experience he’s referring to, and I don’t really care. None of that horror gets to be a part of this moment.

I run my fingers through his white hair, the strands seeming to glow thanks to the water wetting it.

The two of us move up and down, in and out, pulling away and rushing in like the tides. We’re balanced on the edge of Somnia, with the stars above, and the world below.

Sometimes sex is dirty and carnal, and sometimes, like now, it’s love at its most intimate.

My breasts slide over his chest as I rise and fall, the glowing water making our skin slick.

My breath hitches as Des’s pace picks up and his strokes deepen. The whole time the two of us stare at each other. I don’t know about Des, but I have the most breathtaking view. Planets have spun and stars have aligned to bring us together.