Page 98 of Reign of Stars and Fire

“Then . . .” I cried out when his thumb swirled at the peak of my core. “Then don’t wait.”

I hooked a leg around his waist, but Ari shook his head, grinning. “Not until I get what I want. My name. Off your tongue. Loud enough every kingdom can hear it.”

He kissed me again. It was more than a kiss—it was sheer, seductive dominance. His body caged mine to the stone. Water sliced between us, adding heat to our skin. Ari took my wrists in his free hand; he pinned them over my head and continued his torment between my legs.

I writhed, caged and delirious for more, beneath his strong body. His mouth slid over my throat, the curve of my neck, to the bones jutting at my collar. Lower and lower he arched his face until he was buried in the swell of one breast.

He gave me one breath, one vicious look, before covering the peak over the thin woolen bodice with his mouth. Not even directly on my flesh, and I nearly snapped in two. Ari revealed a new trick with his teeth and nipped the hardened nipple under my dress at the same time his fingers claimed my core.

“Too much,” I breathed through a moan. “Gods, oh gods, Ari.”

“Then let it take you,” he said dragging his tongue between the cleavage of my chest. “Fall apart, I swear I’ll be there to catch you. Your pleasure is my pleasure.”

Thoughts turned to sensation. I closed my eyes and gave in, allowing my body to move, to rock, to grind against my husband until the prickle of heat pooled in my lower belly.

Ari nipped the hinge of my jaw. “Perfect, sweet menace. Just like that. Fall into me.”

My toes curled. My breaths quickened.

I shattered.

Not with a build that mounted piece by piece; I broke in violent waves. My body split at the seams. A cry shocked the night. Breath stunted in my throat, and my body went rigid while Ari kept the same pace, the same motions until slowly, easing his hand away.

He pressed a gentle kiss to my throat and whispered, “Never have I seen anything so stunning.”

I blinked through the haze of my release. His lips were parted, and Ari breathed as heavily as me.

My throat tightened as he kicked his trousers off his feet entirely, then slid my wet dress over my head. His length was thick and hard, a small bead of arousal glistened on the tip. I took hold of it and stroked.

Ari let out a growl and flattened his palms on the rock wall behind us, legs spread. He rocked his hips, but before it went further, he pulled my hand away and spun me around.

I let out a moan when my chest flattened against the stone. Heated water from the falls slid down my front, while my husband’s strong, burning body pressed against my spine.

“All right with this?” Ari rasped.

“Ari,” I said, breathless. “You are my safety. Do anything with those hands, just do it now.”

He chuckled. The tips of his fingers danced down my spine until one hand gripped my hip. The other pressed between my shoulders. “Then bend for me, sweet menace.”

He pushed my upper body forward and guided my hips back. With his knee, Ari spread my legs. A groan broke from my chest. With anyone else I might hide my face, embarrassed to make such a sound.

I whimpered when the tip of his length slid to my center. I braced my palms against the rocky wall. His hands took hold of my hip bones, hinging me slightly at the waist so water dripped like rain off my breasts. My legs quivered with need.

Ari shifted behind me, held me in trembling anticipation for torturous moments, then slammed inside.

I dug my fingernails into the stone, sobbing at the shock of heat and thickness. The way he stretched me was the meaning behind a sense of wholeness. It was perfect. An insatiable need.

Ari let out a rough breath. He cursed and kissed the top of my spine. Without warning he pulled out, only to pound back in. He commanded me in rough, delicious thrusts. I couldn’t catch a breath before he broke a new depth. Like my body wanted to shatter, I met his movements, rocking back when he arched in.

“All hells,” he rasped. “So damn perfect.”

One of Ari’s hands slid up my ribs, snaking around to the underside of my breast. With me bent, he tugged on the hard nipple. The ache was intoxicating. I panted his name when he pinched and rolled the peak between his thumb and finger. His hips slapped against mine. I widened my legs, wanting him as deep as possible.

“Saga,” he whispered at the shift in angle. “Right there, don’t you bleeding move.”

I clamped my teeth into my lip when Ari’s thrusts grew more frantic, more intense. The same prickle of pleasure tightened my core around his length. I shuddered and panted. The overwhelming heated wave rolled from my belly to my head until I fell apart a second time.

My name roared from him in the next breath. He pumped slowly, drawing out our shared pleasure as he spilled his hot release into me. I gasped and moaned when the sensation mingled with the warm water from the falls and overflowed, dripping down my legs.