Page 25

NO OBJECTIONS

SERYN

I couldn’t breathe. He’d stolen the very breath from my lungs. He slammed his lush lips into mine, and an all-consuming inferno swept through my body.

Although the bark against my back was fairly smooth, it ground into my shoulder blades. I savored its bite because it meant this was real. And I very much needed this to be real.

Not another dream.

Gavrel’s arm tensed beside my temple before his fingers burrowed into my hair, his fingers tangling in my curls, tugging. A jolt of heat zipped down my spine at the nip of pain.

His other hand gripped my neck.

Claiming me.

A deep throbbing pulsed within my core as his tongue pushed into my mouth. His broken groan spilled down my throat as our lips crashed and tongues melded and sparred. We were ravenous. Starving for the other in the turns we’d been kept apart.

The haunting chords of my humming song bled into our kiss as if the words were binding us, telling our tragic story and sparking something deep within me. Something bright and burning and laced in promise.

I dug the nails of my left hand into his wrist. My other hand fumbled under his coat until I clamped onto the tight muscles of his waist. I wanted to tear his clothes off and claw into his flesh until we were as one. Until I didn’t know where I ended and he began.

Whimpering, I yanked at his jacket, and we scuffled with each other as he fitfully removed the snug material from his thick arms and tossed it onto the shaking stairs below.

He kissed me again, sinking his glowing hand into my hair and bracing against the trunk with his other. He pressed the weight of his body into me. His knee wedged between my thighs, and his straining arousal pushed into my hip.

My core rubbed against his thigh repeatedly, and a moan tore from me, vibrating between our lips as we devoured each other. His hand scraping down the trunk rasped beside me, and in the next moment, both of his hands gripped the thin straps of my dress.

He leaned back, dragging his eyes over my chest. Breathing heavily, he snarled, “You don’t like this dress, do you?”

“Quite a lot.”

His mouth tipped deviously to the side, and he tugged, snapping the fabric. I sucked in air, damp heat pooling between my thighs while I instinctively grabbed the top of my dress and held it in place.

As the dewy air soothed the sting along my shoulders, he bit his bottom lip and then dragged his teeth over it. I wet my lips in response. “That was very wicked of you.”

With heavy eyelids, his emerald eyes glinted, and a feral grin spread across his face. His dimple flashed, and it never looked more roguish as he made a show of letting the strings flutter from his fingers and pushed his thigh more firmly into my apex.

I shuddered at the friction. At the throbbing.

He set his hands on either side of my head, caging me in. His hips pulled slightly away before returning and grinding his rigid cock against me .

My heartbeat thumped against my wrists, my scar, and my ribs.

My skin was vibrating.

I needed him as I needed my next breath.

More so.

Breathing was overrated.

I pressed the back of my head into the tree, sliding my hands down my chest and belly.

The sheer fabric covering my breasts peeled away like wilting petals. His eyes followed their path, eyes lingering hungrily on my puckered nipples.

He dragged his gaze to mine. “You’re so damned beautiful.” The crease between his brows peeked out, competing with his dimple. The man didn’t know whether to be happy or concerned.

I grasped his wrists, my thumbs rubbing soothingly against his rapid pulse. His forehead relaxed, and he leaned down, kissing the side of my jaw.

Biceps tensing, he paused, his hot breath brushing against my neck. “Now’s the time to avoid any regrets, Little Star,” he whispered raggedly.

I swallowed, sliding my hands over his shoulders until my fingers clasped at the back of his neck. His head drooped, and his forehead nestled into the curve of my neck.

“Never,” I countered.

He shuddered, and his hands snapped to my waist and lifted me against the tree. Instantly, my legs wrapped around his middle, his cock bumping into my damp underwear.

He sucked and nibbled his way down my neck and chest. “Fucking void,” he groaned in between licking my taut nipple. A wild sound of need flew from me as he bit the aching bud; a scorching zap of energy raced over my spine.

“Gavrel,” I moaned, cradling his head. He sucked hard and lapped at my breasts while grinding his erection into me. Hot, liquid desire throbbed within me, threatening to explode.

“I need you,” I whimpered, meaning it to my very marrow. Every part of my being was reaching for him. My energy buzzed against my flesh, desperate for us to become one.

His head leveled with mine, flexing his jaw at the hinges, his pupils dilating. “Take what you need. Whatever I have has always been yours.”

With heaving chests, our mouths crushed together again, and I slipped my hand between us, loosening his breeches and gripping his thick cock.

His breath caught as I rubbed my thumb over the tip, a bead of pre-cum coating it. His nostrils flared, and he wrapped one arm more firmly around my waist, muscles bulging as he held me up.

His other hand went to the fabric between my thighs, his fingers easily slipping beneath and gliding two fingers into my wet channel.

“So fucking wet for me, aren’t you?”

I nodded, sliding my fingers down his length and gently squeezing on the way back up. His hips followed, seeking purchase. I smirked. “Good boys don’t say such things.”

“Yes, they bloody well do. Say it,” he bade me, pinching my throbbing clit, and then tore my delicate underwear down the center.

A garbled moan clogged my throat, and my head slanted to the side.

His thumb circled and brushed over my aching clit, and I trembled.

“Please.” He kissed me gently, dipping his fingers within me, his thumb moving faster.

He wasn’t one to beg. That one ragged word splintered me from the inside out, and my breath whooshed from me. “You make me so fucking wet, Gavrel.”

With palpable lust, he locked his eyes onto mine and growled, “Good girl.”

His words sent a flame rocketing down my spine, and a mangled sob spilled over my bottom lip. The cresting inferno burst as I guided his cock to my convulsing entrance.

He cupped his hands under my backside and watched as I nearly broke apart. If he didn’t fill me now, I’d fucking die .

“Inside me. Now,” I demanded, pushing my core onto the tip. With a relieved groan, he thrust into me, fully seating himself to the hilt.

My body trembled in his hands. His eyes widened and then rolled back for a moment as my pulsating center settled around his length. I swear my heart pumped in perfect rhythm with his. We were one giant heartbeat.

I took a quick sip of air, and then, as his gaze connected with mine once more, he moved. He felt too good, too right as he pumped into me, my back slapping against the tree, the stairs quaking and creaking beneath us.

Burying his mouth against my neck, he bit me, and then sucked hard as he slammed into me over and over. Stars burst behind my eyelids as they fluttered closed, the heat rolling over me in waves and immediately building again.

Gavrel’s eyes leveled with mine as he moved faster, his voice rough and low. “Come for me again, Asteria. I want your tight cunt weeping for me.”

In a frenzy, my aura flared around me as scorching flames of lust ignited through every inch of me. My center clenched around his length, and my thighs quivered, eyes rolling back into my head. Heat buzzed along my spine until it burst in a flare of white behind my vision. “Fuck, Gavrel!”

Muffling my scream, his mouth devoured mine, and with a final push, he groaned and spent himself inside me as I trembled and burst into a million tiny pieces.

We stayed connected for several ragged breaths, as if we’d become one with the mire’s wildness. A breathy chuckle spilled from me, the last of my nervous energy releasing. I was completely content for the first time in a long while.

He leaned back to look at me, a tender expression lining his face. Gently, he pulled out of me and set me down, helping me adjust the material of my dress in place.

Silently, he tied the torn straps at my shoulders and placed a kiss on one. My heart flipped. He cupped my face and placed the softest kiss on my lips before smoothing some wayward curls behind one ear. “Are you all right?”

I smiled, standing on my tiptoes, and pressed my mouth to his again. “More than all right.”

He leaned his forehead on mine. “That’s not entirely how I wanted our first time to go.”

“Regrets already?” I teased, and a sound of discontent thrummed in his chest. “If you want to show me how it should’ve been, I’ll allow it.”

His expression wobbled between amusement and chagrin. “I’ve wanted you for so long. You deserved more than me taking you against a tree.”

“I appreciate the chivalry, but I have no objections.”

The corners of his lips quirked, and he scooped up his overcoat and wrapped it around my shoulders. He gently untucked my hair so it wasn’t stuck under the jacket, and kissed the side of my neck before letting the curls fall over my shoulders.

He took my hand, guiding me down the stairs. Guiding me back from a dream. “Little Star?”

I looked at him, my eyes softening.

His dimple winked at me. “I’m glad you have no objections because we’ve a lot of time to make up for.”