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Unbidden passion rushed through me as our mouths collided. I released my inhibitions, pressed up against him, and ran my fingers into the lush strands of his dark, wavy hair. He kissed me just as fiercely, his hands gripping my thighs. I wanted more, so much more that I could barely stand the clothing that existed between us.

And then something in his kiss softened. His hand relaxed against my thigh and then traced a line up my side, over my shoulder, until his palm found my jaw. He brushed his thumb against my cheek, and that deep, aching need inside me slickened my thighs.

Suddenly, he stood with my legs still wrapped around his hips. He crossed the room in two strides and lowered me onto the bed with a gentleness that bordered on reverence. The mattress dipped as his broad body hovered over mine, with his forearms braced on either side of my head.

He pulled back, his thumb still pressed against my cheek. “You have consumed me. Everything about you drives me mad, and yet I would not change a thing. I want to give you the greatest pleasure you will ever know, fill you with so much rapture that you forget your own name.”

“I don’t think I can argue against that,” I whispered up to him.

He chuckled. “Well, that’s certainly a first.”

Gently, he slid the gown’s hem up to my waist, and I sat up to help him lift the material over my head. My undergarment barely covered a thing, the cotton slip so thin that my swollen nipples were clearly visible. His eyes darkened as he gazed down at me.

“I want to see all of you,” he murmured.

With a boldness I did not know I had, I pulled the undergarment over my head, exposing every inch of my skin.

“Incredible,” he whispered as he began to lower himself over me once more.

I pressed my hands to his chest and shook my head. “Your turn.”

He smiled. With his eyes locked on my face, he tugged his tunic over his head and tossed it onto the floor. His muscular chest gleamed in the firelight, and the ridges of his abs tensed, leading to a V that begged for my touch. With a flick of his thumb, he unbuttoned his trousers and stepped out of them. When I saw the length of him, I clutched the sheets.

“Like what you see?” he asked with a lazy grin.

Heart fluttering, I nodded. “You could say that.”

I started to reach out for him, but he dropped to his knees. “I’m not religious, love, but I am going to worship your body, starting with the altar of your thighs.”

I shuddered as he pressed his mouth to my hip. He dropped a soft kiss on the top of my thigh before moving to the other. His lips trailed across my skin, lighting me up with a need I had not known even existed until now. With a gentle touch, he wound his hands around my knees and spread my legs wider. And then his lips moved to my inner thigh. Slowly, he moved closer and closer until…

“Kalen,” I gasped just before he reached my core.

He paused and stared up at me from where he knelt between my legs. “Is this too much? We can stop if you don’t feel ready for this.”

“I’m ready,” I said to him, desperately trying to fill my lungs with enough air. “Please. Don’t stop now.”

With a smile, he dropped another kiss on my inner thigh, and then he shifted to the left, just there and—pure rapture shook my body. His tongue slipped against me, and another shuddering wave of pleasure crashed over me, leaving me gasping for air. I didn’t know how I could take much more of this—thisbliss.

Kalen dragged his tongue across my aching core. My body bucked, my back arching on the bed. His fingers dug into my thighs as he tugged me against his mouth, almost as if he couldn’t get enough of the taste of me.

All inhibitions cast aside, I rocked against his mouth, moving in sync with the stroke of his tongue. Stars dotted my vision. Another crash of pleasure thundered through me, driving me so wild that I felt as if I teetered on the brink of a cliff. One small nudge, and I’d fall into the abyss, and I’d never wanted anything more than to plunge into that kind of darkness.

Kalen pulled back, and that heart-shattering crash came to a sudden stop. With a frustrated moan, I tried to tug him toward me with my legs, but he stayed right where he was with a wicked smirk on his lips.

“Not just yet,” he murmured as he covered my body with his. A moment later, he slid a finger into my slick core. I shuddered at the new sensation, gasping when he slid a second finger inside. I could feel my wetness coating his fingers, feel his satisfaction when I shuddered beneath his touch.

He lowered his mouth to my breast and sucked my nipple before driving his fingers into the core of me again. A scream of delirious pleasure ripped from my throat, causing his eyes to darken. He thrust his fingers inside me once more, and I moved against him with a feverish abandon. Desperate need clawed through me. That cliff rose up before me once more. I reached for it. I screamed out his name and then—

I shattered like glass.

My nails dug into his back as the world shook around me—or was I the one who was shaking? I couldn’t tell anymore. The rumbling consumed me, blinding me, drowning out all but the feel of his hand between my thighs and his mouth on my breast. Violent pulses shook my core. I clung to him so tightly that my fingers scraped into his back.

“I’ve got you,” he murmured, his mouth suddenly at my ear. “I won’t let you fall.”

The trembling and pulsing began to slow, and my senses came roaring back to life. I opened my eyes—I hadn’t realized I’d closed them—to find his face hovering above mine. The deep sapphire of his eyes flared with the heat of a thousand suns, and the entire room was full of mist. Strands of his power caressed my cheek, my stomach, my thighs.

“That was…” I whispered. “More than I thought it would be.”