Page 119

“All your poise goes out the door when we’re alone, doesn’t it.” Bryce twisted, flinging Rihanna off his shoulder. He protected her, guided her body to the mattress tucked in the corner of the sitting room, wasting no time in climbing over her and crushing his mouth on hers in a possessive kiss. His fingers curled around the loosened neckline of the dress and yanked it down her arms, one, then the other, until she found her wrists bound by her own clothing. He secured the material behind her waist with another gravelly chuckle before he sat back on his heels and drank her exposed body in. “I can’t quench this hunger for you. I can’t. You drive me crazy. Mad with need. To hear you scream and to feel you come.”

His words branded her mind in the most pleasant of ways while blood seared her cheeks. His forthright admissions never ceased to make her blush, make her melt, make her lose all sense of self in the trusted hands of her beloved.

“I know.”

’Twas all she could conjure up in words, because her emotions ran wild and high and beyond anything she could possibly articulate. Her breath hitched at the sight of him, so utterly beautiful and alive.

Bryce splayed his hands over her breasts and drew hiswarm palms down until her dress forced him to pause. He glanced up at her, feral and starved.

And tore through the skirts until she lay entirely naked except for where the sleeves bound her wrists.

“Better,” he whispered, hooking his arms beneath her knees and drawing them up.

He flashed her a smile before he lowered his head between her thighs, his mouth instantly finding her core, her clit, and sending her into oblivion. His grip on her ruined dress, her bindings, tightened as he licked at her seam and sucked her bundle of nerves, mercilessly driving her into a fit of gasps and moans and writhing beneath his attentions.

She tried to rock against his hungry mouth, sit on his probing tongue, but he pressed his free hand to her lower belly and pinned her against the mattress, licking, laving, drinking until her back bowed and she felt like she was coming apart at the seams.

“Bryce,please.”

He lifted his head from her throbbing core, liquid heat a torrential storm between her legs. His lips coasted against her inner thighs, kissing, teasing with tiny pinches and nips as he slowly rose while lowering her legs to the mattress.

“You stopped?” She gaped at him, barely able to see straight through the hazy desire he’d evoked. His wicked grin taunted her almost as much as his tongue, licking dew from his lips.

“Oh, little bird, you’re not coming unless I’m inside you.”

Rihanna struggled against her restraints. She’d had enough. She cut through the sleeves with a sliver of magic. She grabbed Bryce by the collar, pulled him over her, and twisted until she had him on his back. With a sharp flick of her hand, his clothing melted away, leaving him naked to her feral gaze, his skin exposed to her eager fingers.

Straddling his waist, she sat down on his cock, one slow, smooth motion that filled her, stretched her, completed her in every way. Uniting her with her beloved.

Bryce pushed off his back, wrapping one strong arm around her waist. She sank her fingers into his hair, her nails scraping his scalp, making him growl. He guided her hips as she rocked, taking him inside her body, deeper, deeper, taunting the sensations he’d already awoken. Making her seethe and simmer and burn for that sweet release. She watched the way their bodies combined, how they fit, how they moved so fluidly and perfectly, so harmoniously. She fisted her hands in his hair as he kissed her neck, suckled along her shoulder, met each roll of her hips with an upward thrust at just the right time. The right position. Teasing her clit. Hitting that secret spot deep inside her body that weakened her muscles until she could barely breathe, barely see, barely hold on.

“There you go, little bird. Fly.”

His voice sounded distant as she shattered, caught in the whirlwind of pleasure and mindlessness.

Oblivion.

In the arms of her beloved Bryce.

Splintered.

Repaired beneath the tender care of heranam cara.

As her body pulsed and contracted, trembled and burned with her climax, she felt the heat of his release fill her. Heard the muffled rumble as he buried his face in the crook of her neck, panting.

Rihanna sank against Bryce, his arms wrapped desperately around her back. They both crumpled down to the mattress, winded and sated. For the moment. Bryce pulled out of her body, but fit her flush against him, the heat of his skin and the solid muscles surrounding her a silent promise.

In this life, naught would take him away.

Naught would come between them.

Naught.

47

Bryce squinted against the sunlight that managed to bypass the curtains and cut across the bed. The knocking continued, persistent, to say the least. He glanced down at his sleeping bird, unaffected by the noise. Her hair lay in a heaping mess of midnight black around her head, tangled and tousled from their hours of lovemaking. He had no idea what time they finally fell asleep, but by the strength of the trespassing sunlight, he judged they’d slept deep into the day.

The knocking stopped. Bryce rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms and cast the blanket aside, assuring he didn’t disturb Rihanna. He had to pull out a new set of clothes from the armoire, since she’d made his outfit from the day before disappear. Then again, he wasn’t an innocent when it came to destroying pretty Fae clothing. He snickered as he cast a glance at the ruined gown on the floor. All those dazzling crystals and gold thread and satin ribbons.