Page 180

At midnight the celebration was still going strong. That was the sun fae for you; they’d still be partying until midnight tomorrow. Not that the fada looked ready to go home anytime soon, either.

But Adric had had enough.

He found Rosana near the dance floor with Jenny, their dark heads together, chuckling about something.

“Time to go.” He put a hand on the small of Rosana’s back.

“Already?” She glanced at him, surprised. Whatever she saw in his face had her sharing a grin with Jenny. “Guess we’re leaving.”

The two women hugged. “Don’t be a stranger,” Jenny said.

“I won’t, I promise,” said Rosana. “And you can come see me. Right?” She cast Adric an uncertain look.

He frowned. A Rock Run fada’s mate in his den? The very idea raised his fur.

But that was the old Adric, the one who’d had to be suspicious of everyone and everything to survive.

So he smiled at Jenny. “You’re welcome anytime.”

The human’s dark eyes lit. “Thank you, my lord.”

“Please. Call me Ric.”

“Ric,” she said, her smile increasing.

He turned to Rosana. “Ready? I have a surprise for you.”

Jenny smirked, and he winked at her as he took Rosana’s hand. “Not that kind of surprise,” he said.

Rosana’s mouth twitched as they walked around the tent to thank Cleia and Dion for the party. “No? Now I’m curious.”

He patted her round bottom. “Be good.”

She nipped his earlobe. “But you like me bad,” she murmured—and smiled at her brother and Cleia, leaving him to hide his erection. “This has been the best day of my life,” she told them.

He set his mouth to her ear. “You’ll pay for that,” he promised, and added his thanks to hers.

They rode back to Baltimore on Adric’s motorcycle. Rosana wrapped her arms around his lean waist, still in her dress and red boots.

She slipped her hands under his leather jacket, toying with his ridged abs beneath the bronze shirt. “Did I tell you how good you looked today?”

“Mm.” He took her hand, bringing it to his lips before setting it back on his waist again. “You were the hottest woman there.”

She leaned her cheek against his jacket and slipped her fingers lower to the ridge beneath his zipper. “Keep talking, and you might get lucky tonight.”

A wicked chuckle. “I’m counting on it, mate.”

Her dress came off as soon as they walked in the door. Her only underclothes were a wispy white bra and panties.

Adric shrugged out of his jacket. “The boots stay on,” he said and pulled her into his arms.

Her whole body thrilled at the low command.

He filled his hands with her ass and lowered his mouth to hers, tasting her with slow, knee-weakening sweeps of his tongue. She pressed against him.

He was still cold from the ride, the shirt soft and cool against her bare skin, his pants slightly abrasive. He pushed his thigh between her legs as he kissed her, rubbing against her sex through the flimsy panties.

She moaned and sucked his tongue deeper.

He eased up on the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. “It’s been too damn long.”

“A week.”

“It felt like a year. Ten years.” Suddenly, her feet were swept out from beneath her. She squeaked and looped an arm around his neck as he headed down the hall with her in his arms. “But first, your surprise. Close your eyes.”

She obediently shut them. “What is it?”

He nipped her throat. “If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise. No, don’t open them yet.” He set her on the floor and covered her eyes with his hands, nudging her through a doorway.

She gripped his wrists. Was that water she heard?

He took his fingers away. “Go ahead. Look.”

She clapped her hands to her mouth. Amber quartz sconces lit a stone grotto twice the size of his living room. A waterfall fed the pool in the center—a pool large enough for her dolphin with a few yards to spare—and a narrow stream exited from the opposite end, providing further room to swim.

“It’s beautiful,” she breathed.

He caressed her shoulders from behind. “There are crystals set in the walls of the pool to purify the water, but it comes from an underground spring, which is about as pure as Baltimore water gets.”

She turned in his arms. “I love it. I—” She shook her head, throat tight. “How—?”

A shrug. “We worked around the clock—me and three other stoneworkers. We didn’t carve it all by hand. I blasted out the main cavity, then we went from there.”

“It’s incredible. I can’t believe you did this—and so fast.”

“You’re my mate. I want you to be happy.”

She took his face between her hands and kissed him on the lips. “I love it, and I love you. Thank you.” She knelt to trail a hand in the water.

It was cool, clean-smelling. Perfect.

He smiled down at her. “Go ahead. Take a swim.”

“I will.” Rising to her feet, she set a hand on his chest and walked him backward until he was against the wall. She started undoing his shirt buttons. “Later. First, I have to thank my mate properly.”

A slow grin. “I think I’m going to like this.”

She helped him out of the shirt and dropped it on the stone floor. Removing her bra and panties, she sank to her knees before him.

His breath rasped in. “In the red boots? You know this is my fantasy, right?”

“Yeah?” She eased his zipper down over his erection and freed him from his boxers. “Tell me more.” She licked her way around the rim, delicate, teasing touches.

His cock jerked beneath her touch.

Adric fisted his hands. His hips strained toward her.

She gripped one hip with her hand and wrapped the other around his hard stalk. It was so thick, her fingers barely made it around. She swiped her tongue over the smooth head, and he groaned.

His hands threaded into her hair, holding her in place as he stroked into her mouth.

“In my fantasy,” he said, “you come to me, wet from the water, wearing those fuck-me boots and nothing else. I order you to get on your knees and take me, and you do. Because you like it as much as me.”

The hot, dark words sent a jolt of excitement to her already soaked sex.

“You say you like my taste. My scent.”

“Mm.” She moaned around him. “I do.”

“You say, I See a lot of sex in your future .”

She chuckled, causing him to jerk.

“Gods. When you laugh, I feel it vibrating clear to my balls.” He pressed deeper into her mouth. “Take me, Rosana. Take me all the way.”

She eagerly sucked, loving the salty-sea taste. He fell silent, letting her pleasure him. Even better, she could feel his enjoyment through the mate bond.

She slid a hand between his thighs, cupping and caressing his balls. He groaned and rasped, “And then, you say you love me. Tell me, Rosana. Tell me you love me.”

But when she opened her mouth to obey, he lifted her from her knees, turning with her still in his arms and pressing her up the wall.

His tongue slipped into her mouth. “I can taste myself,” he muttered. “And you. You and me, together. Now say it.”

She wrapped her arms and legs around him. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

He started to press in, then halted. “Condom.”

She dug her heels into his ass, keeping him where he was. “It’s okay. If it happens, it happens. I want a big family like my mom and dad had.”

“Yeah?” His eyes were a gleaming mix of bronze and blue. “That sounds pretty good to me.”

He stroked in the rest of the way, and for a long while, the only sounds in the cavern were the waterfall’s musical trickle—and an earth fada and a river fada making love.

Together.

* * *

Thanks so much for reading!