Page 38 of Shattered Stars

Rhianna Blackwaters kissesme for one whole minute, her lips moving against mine, her tongue in my mouth, her fingers twisting with mine, her body warm beneath me, her heart loud in my ears.

Our magic spirals so electric, so fierce, it’s dazzling, dizzying.

She tastes of mint and the flowers. Her skin is soft, her lips even softer and sweet moans bubble in her throat.

The sensation in my stomach – the one driving me to distraction – soars so fucking high it’s like a goddamn orgasm.

Kissing her is like a goddamn orgasm.

It makes me hungrier and I kiss her harder, pressing her into the ground, grinding against her, wanting every part of her, wanting her to be mine. All of her. All my restraint vanishes, everything holding me back from this girl gone. In this moment, I surrender to it all.

As she kisses me, as our magic shimmers all around us wild and untethered, I forget about all my reservations, all mydoubts. They’re meaningless. Pointless. Insignificant. I don’t care about any of it any more. All I want is her.

But just like that she’s pushing me away.

I blink awake as if I’ve been pulled from a dream, some enchanting spell, and stare down into her face; her lips all kiss-swollen, her cheeks flushed, her pupils blown wide. One fuck-off deep frown wedged between her brows.

“You want to go back to the common room?” I murmur. I don’t want to move. I want to take her right here on the ground with our magic dancing in the air, the grass rustling around us, the endless sky above us.

“Fuck you!” she says, giving my body one violent shove. Not that it does anything. I remain exactly where I am. “Get off me!” she shrieks, pushing even harder and attempting to wriggle free.

“I’m pretty happy where I am,” I confess.

She stops shoving me and looks at me, her mouth hanging open in confusion. “Are you actually serious?”

“I am. I want to kiss you again. So we can play the little game where you pretend you’re mad with me, and I apologize and look contrite, or we can skip that part and get back to the kissing.” Kissing and fucking. Because I’m going to fuck her.

I don’t care if she belongs to my cousin. Because she belongs to me, too. And I’m going to have her.

Screw everything else. Every concern, every worry, everything that’s been holding me back. I don’t give a fuck about any of it at all. None of it. I want her.

“Are you out of your mind?!” she says.

“Really? We’re doing this,” I say, all the glorious sensations I was feeling five seconds ago replaced with my usual frustration with this girl.

Why does she never – never – do what I expect her to?

“Get the fuck off me, Tristan. Get the fuck off me now!”

I don’t move. Like I said, I’m perfectly happy where I am, with her body trapped under mine, her hands pinned to the ground. It’s fucking turning me on.

She glares at me, then grips my hands so tightly in hers she must be cracking her own knuckles, and zaps me.

“Fuck,” I say, snatching my hands away from hers and rolling off her reluctantly. She’s not going to play. The moment has passed. And I may be an asshole, but not that kind of asshole. If she’s coming, I want her coming willingly, enthusiastically, screaming my name.

She scurries backwards, rolling up onto her backside and scowling at me.

“You can’t fight this,” I say, meeting her angry gaze.

“Fight what? Your beautiful face, your irresistible magnetism, your legendary charisma? Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“The fated bond.”

She jolts, color creeping up her neck and into her cheeks.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You have one fated mate already, Piggie, I think you do.”