Page 16 of Magic & Matchmaking (Moonflower Witches)

Chapter Fifteen

EMMA

R iven and I walked in silence as he led me back to the little clearing with the picnic he’d planned.

I felt giddy after that kiss, after realizing that Riven had done all this for me.

When I’d first seen the picnic, I’d been so sure it was for someone else, that that was why he’d been distant since the other night. But I’d gotten it all wrong.

Riven felt the same as I did.

I’d wanted to keep kissing him in my cottage. I’d wanted him to lay me down and press me against that table like he had in the tea shop, but we had to talk first. After so long of not talking about us, this conversation needed to happen.

We came into the clearing, filled with fairy bugs that floated in the air like twinkling lights. Riven gestured to the blanket, and I sat down, looking at the beautiful wicker basket, the hard cheese, the bottle of wine. It was so romantic.

“I can’t believe you set this all up for me,” I said.

Riven patted the blanket. “These were actually gifts I brought you from my travels. I was going to give them to you, then figured, why not enjoy them with you?”

I gasped. Riven always brought gifts for me. He opened up my world when I couldn’t do it myself. He knew how important understanding and seeing the realm was to me, and the fact that he’d done something so thoughtful just made my heart swell even bigger.

“There’s a story behind each of these, you know,” he said.

There always was, and Riven made sure he knew the history, the origin, the interesting facts about each item he brought. I soaked up all his stories, reveled in them, in the fact that now I had one more small piece of the big world.

“But,” he said, drawing up a knee and hooking an arm around it. “I’m not sure I feel like doing a lot of talking right now.”

I raised a brow. “Oh?”

“Emma,” he said, “in case it wasn’t abundantly clear in your cottage, I have feelings for you. I’ve had feelings for you for a long time, but I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, so I pushed them away.”

Those were the words I’d been wanting to hear. “I have feelings for you too,” I admitted. “But now what?”

A wicked smile crossed his face. “Well, we could keep kissing.”

I shoved him. “Riven! Don’t you think we should talk about this?”

“The thing is I’ve spent a decade wanting you.

” His face grew serious. “Then we kissed the other night, and it was like the floodgates opened. I don’t want to think about the future right now.

I don’t want to think about all the complications.

I just want you, Emma. Right here. Right now.

And if you don’t feel the same or you’re not ready for that, that’s okay.

But no, I don’t want to talk. I want to kiss you until you’re dizzy.

I want to touch you until you’re panting.

I want to bury myself between your legs until you’re so satisfied you can’t form a single thought.

That’s what I want. It’s what I’ve wanted for a long time. ”

Witch Superior.

Heat flooded between my legs. I wanted that too. I wanted him so badly that every question, concern, thought, disappeared. All I could focus on were his lips, his heated gaze, and his words rolling through me.

We both moved at the same time, our mouths crashing together. I pulled him over me, and we toppled to the blanket, laughing and kissing and fumbling with each other’s clothes.

“Why does this dress have so many buttons?” he murmured into my mouth, his deft fingers working quickly to undo the brass buttons trailing up the front of my dress .

“I don’t know,” I said, “but I’m strongly considering no longer buying dresses with buttons after this.”

He laughed into my mouth as my hands slid down underneath his tunic, splaying across his stomach and bare chest. I slid my hands up, reveling in the feel of every hard plane and edge. I pushed his shirt, and he sat up, raising his arms and yanking it off, then throwing it somewhere into the forest.

I took him in as he kneeled between my legs. His golden skin gleamed under the fairy bugs flickering above us. I reached out a finger and traced the muscles of his abs, then trailed my finger up to his chest, smooth and hard as the rest of him.

He closed his eyes and shuddered under my touch, then fell back down on top of me. “I’m about to rip this dress right off you.” He continued to work his way through the buttons.

“Go ahead. I really didn’t like it that much anyway.”

A growl escaped him as he grabbed the fabric and ripped it away, spreading the dress out over my shoulders and tugging it down until the upper half of my body was exposed. His pupils grew to the size of orbs as he took me in.

“Beautiful,” he murmured. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Emma. Witch Superior, I’ve thought about this so many times over the years.”

He ran a thumb over my peaked nipple, and I shuddered at the touch.

He leaned down and kissed me hard, my mouth opening for him as our tongues collided.

His thumb rubbed circles around my nipple.

I arched into him, that area between my legs throbbing with desire.

It was hard to believe this was happening.

That hours ago, I was anxious about telling Riven how I felt.

Now I was wondering why I hadn’t done this years ago.

He trailed kisses down my neck, and he sucked on one nipple, moaning. I rubbed against his thigh, needing that friction between my legs while he sucked me harder, then switched to the other breast.

“This one needs some attention too,” he said, his voice low and raspy.

“It does,” I agreed, breathless. “It definitely does.”

He shifted his hips, grounding in between my legs, and his tongue swirled in circles around my nipple.

I gasped, tilting my hips, rocking against him, needing him so badly .

“Riven,” I said. “Riven, please.”

He dipped his head further down, pressing kisses across my stomach as he tugged at my dress. I helped him push my dress and panties over my hips and kicked them both off.

He kneeled over me, hard length straining against his trousers while he stared at me, gaze devouring every inch of my body. I came up to my knees and faced him, hands drifting down to the laces on his trousers.

“My turn,” I said and undid the laces, keeping my gaze locked with his.

He didn’t move as I pushed his trousers over his hips and down his legs. Holy witch. He was glorious. His long length bobbed between us, thick and with a bead of moisture at the tip. A sharp V pointed to his hard length, and I reached out a tentative hand, then gripped him, giving him a few pumps.

“Oh, fuck,” he said, pressing his forehead to mine. I guided him to my slick entrance and moved the tip of his cock up and down my slit.

We both shuddered at the contact. He pushed me back onto the ground and hovered over me, the tip of his hard length teasing my entrance.

I lifted my hips in a silent plea, and he entered me, instantly filling my intense need.

He withdrew achingly slow, then plunged back inside of me.

He pulled out, again going slow so I could feel every part of him in delicious detail.

I rolled my hips and grabbed fistfuls of the blanket under me, urging him to quicken his pace.

He moaned, and I felt the sound straight to my core.

“I thought you’d want to take it slow.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my lips.

I gazed up at him. “You’re not the only one who’s been waiting for a decade.”

He stilled at that admission. I hadn’t told him how long I’d had feelings for him, how long I’d suppressed those feelings. But I didn’t want any more secrets between us.

Our mouths met again as he rammed into me, quick, hard, unrelenting. My hips rocked to meet his movements, a fire building in my belly, spreading across my hips, threatening to burn me up in this pleasure .

My body grew tighter and tighter as we devoured each other, gasping, moaning, calling each other’s names.

His hands stayed at my waist, and he dug his fingers into my skin. Our breaths mingled as he pushed me closer toward the edge.

“Riven,” I gasped. “Riven.” I said his name like a prayer, like all my hopes and dreams rested on him.

He ground deeper into me, and his tongue swirled with mine. My core pulled taut at his powerful strokes, an explosion of pleasure rocking me as I cried out.

He continued driving me over that edge as explosion after explosion burst in me, wrecking me in all the best ways.

I rode it out, then let out a final shuddering breath when I felt his warm seed spilling inside of me.

I’d need to visit the healer for a tonic tomorrow.

I hadn’t needed one in a long, long time.

Riven collapsed over me, and we lay together, him still inside of me as our breathing calmed. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and slipped out of me, sitting and pulling on his trousers.

We were silent while we both finished dressing. Then we met each other’s gazes and burst out laughing.

“Why didn’t we do that sooner?” he asked, handing me a piece of cheese from the basket he’d packed.

“I don’t know.” I took the cheese, suddenly ravenous. “It was amazing.”

“It was, wasn’t it?” He smirked. “I always knew it would be.”

I lifted the remnants of my ripped dress that hung around me. “What am I supposed to do with this?”

“I won’t complain if you wear it.”

I shoved him. “And be exposed to the entire town?”

He stretched his tunic over his head and held it out to me. “Will this work until we get back to your cottage?”

I leaned over and kissed him, our lips lingering before I pulled away and grabbed the tunic. “It’s huge,” I said as I put it on and it fell past my thighs.

“It looks good on you. Far better than it does on me.” His gaze grew heated again, and a tingle spread through my belly.

He dug into the basket we’d knocked aside at some point and pulled out a few berries, popping one in his mouth .

“It’s so weird,” I said while chewing, “that this doesn’t feel weird.”

“It feels like we should’ve been doing this all along.” His gaze turned tender, and he reached out and tucked a curl behind my ear.

He was right. I wondered how different things might have been if we’d kissed that night in my dormitory. And then I thought of all the reasons why we hadn’t. Reasons I didn’t want to think about right now.

I stuffed a bite of cheese in my mouth. “So what do we do now?”

His eyes glinted. “Well, you could come back to the inn with me, and we could do that again.” He kissed my neck. “And again.” He kissed my collarbone. “And again.”

The heat of his kisses shot straight between my legs. “That sounds tempting.”

I thought of my father. I’d barely seen him these last few nights, busy with the matchmaking events, and he seemed fine. I’d checked on him today, and he’d been remembering to take his medicine. He’d cooked for himself. He’d seemed happy and good.

One night at Riven’s couldn’t hurt. I’d check on my father first thing in the morning.

Riven was already dipping his hand under my tunic again, fingers brushing against my inner thighs.

Suddenly, I didn’t feel like eating anymore. He slipped a finger inside of me and spent the next hour convincing me of all the reasons why I should come back to the inn with him.