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Slowly, I moved my hands on the sides of his face, pushed his hair back so I could see every little detail on him. Fuck, I loved this man with my entire being, and I had no idea how to even say it. Words were too small to properly describe it.

My fingers tangled in his hair. I pulled him closer. “You do,” I promised him. He had all of me. Every little bit.

For a moment there, we looked at each other without blinking, without moving. We let our eyes and our hands and the breath we let out of our parted lips do the talking.

We were okay, and everything made sense right now when we were in each other’s arms, but…

“Someone could come in here,” I whispered because as much as I didn’t want to think about anything at all, I also didn’t want to get caught.

“They won’t see us if they do,” Rune whispered, leaning closer, eyes half closed and on my lips.

That was all the confirmation I needed.

I leaned in and kissed him with every ounce of desperation I felt every second we weren’t together, and Rune didn’t hesitate.

He must have felt the gnawing need for me as I did for him because he pushed himself higher on the chair where he sat me, and I had no choice but to unlock my legs from around his hips.

His hands were under my thighs, the silk of the nightgown so thin it could have disappeared under the heat of his skin.

I knew what we were about to do was fucking crazy, and we both knew better than this, but…

We didn’t, not really. Rune was hurting and I saw it written on his face, felt it in the way he kissed me so furiously, in the way he dug his fingers in my skin.

It was beyond just desperation—it was pain, and I felt it together with him.

That kiss Lyall had given me had irritated me, but it had driven Rune insane.

And I understood. Just the thought of someone kissing him on those lips that were mine— God, I would drag them across Verenthia on fucking fire and let everyone see it, hear them screaming. Not even exaggerating here. I pictured the scene in detail in my mind.

But luckily Rune was here to kiss every other thought away, ignite me from the inside with a fire only he could control. Before two minutes were over, I was panting, losing control of myself, begging him to bring that hand that had gripped my ass lower, between my legs.

Our every movement was frantic, uncontrolled, filled with so much need and so much desire I was afraid we were going to burst into fucking fireworks any second.

Then his fingers were right there in my center, over my panties. I begged him to take me with every breath, and for once he obeyed. When I reached for the button of his pants, undid his zipper, and grabbed his hardness in my fists, he didn’t stop me.

Instead, he grabbed me and pulled me up, his hands under my thighs.

He climbed on the seat of the chair on his knees, pressed me to the tall backrest, and put my feet on the thick armrests.

Like that I had a little control over my body, and my hands were in his hair.

I pulled him in for another kiss while he pushed up my nightgown and hooked a finger underneath my wet panties.

I froze with his bottom lip between my teeth, eyes squeezed shut and limbs locked as I waited.

Then Rune touched the center of me with the tip of his cock.

My back arched, my body moving on its own as if it just turned on by the press of a button. But Rune grabbed my hips with one hand and held me in place as he guided himself inside me slowly, filling me inch by little inch.

Sucking in a deep breath, I didn’t even scream as he pressed me against the backrest, thrust his hips harder, filled me until I felt him in my very core.

I had no idea how it was even possible that I forgot what it was like when he was inside me, when we connected like this on every level, when we breathed the same and our hearts chased the same rhythm and we were really, truly one.

I always forgot until I was here, and then I decided all over again that this was where I belonged. My home was his arms.

Slowly, Rune guided my legs around his hips, one arm around my waist to hold me in place, the other fisting my ass. We still had our clothes on, but we didn’t mind. Right now, it didn’t matter. We needed to belong to each other on a deeper level, not just to enjoy each other’s touch.

“Don’t keep it in, wildling,” Rune whispered, leaning back a bit so he could look at me, bring those lips to mine. “Let these walls hear your voice. Let this room know exactly who you belong to.”

I did.

He moved against me slowly at first, knees planted firmly on the seat, my back against the backrest. Unless the chair toppled over, we weren’t going anywhere.

Even when he picked up the rhythm, it wasn’t fast—it was deep.

Even when I cried out his name, and he whispered mine as we held onto each other with all our strength, we didn’t rush.

I felt him in every inch of me, raw, unfiltered, the pleasure almost painful as it took me over completely, then set my very soul on fire. I touched the stars in the sky with my bare hands while he continued to move in and out of me, chasing his own flames.

And when he came, too, whispering my name over and over again, we didn’t let go for a long time—we couldn’t. We stayed right there, holding each other until our breathing and our hearts slowed down all the way.