Page 67 of Stars Above the Never Sea (The Last Faeyte #1)

Chapter forty-two

Callan

W e run like children.

Selene’s breathless laugh fills up every empty hollow inside me as I press her back against another doorway, our breaths sending small white puffs into the air before I cover her mouth with my own.

She smiles against my lips. “This is not your house.”

I shake my head, my mouth too busy seeking out the sensitive skin of her throat to answer in full. Her moan is my reward, and I steal it as my mouth lifts back to hers.

I am undone. I will never get enough of this.

But she deserves better than a doorway. I wrap her hand in mine, and this time it’s Selene pulling me forward. I stare at her, at this creature with her eyes of night sky, with wings of darkness and a slow, curling smile that tells me I am finished . “You are perfect.”

Her glance is almost shy. “You’re talking too much.”

My laugh fills the air. I have never laughed so much as I have in these last days. Not since I was a child, blissfully unaware of the horrors the world could hold.

This tastes like happiness.

I would not have believed it possible to find it amongst so much darkness. My eyes fix on her skin. On the soft glow of moonlight as she stops, waiting for me.

Thoughts threaten to crowd in. There is so much to do. There is Petyr and his schemes. The Never, and the inevitable journey waiting for me if we cannot fix it.

Soft hands clasp my face. “Look at me.”

Selene traces my heated skin. Her eyes blaze with stars. “We can have tonight, Callan. Don’t let them in.”

My words tear from somewhere integral. “I cannot lose you.”

Wherever she goes, I will follow. Her lips trace my neck, sucking against my skin, and I see stars. “ Selene .”

Her name is a prayer, and a plea. Her lips brush mine. “Tonight is for us. One night, without the world pushing in. The gods know we’ve both given enough to earn this much, at least.”

My hands cover hers, my voice hoarse. “One night will not be enough for me. Not with you. If that is all it is for you—”

She presses her lips to mine. Softly, this time. “I don’t have the words you do.”

“I don’t need them.” My chest tightens, threatens to unravel. “But I need you.”

Selene looks down. “Everything that I have to give, I would give to you. But I can’t promise something I cannot give, Callan.”

“That’s enough,” I breathe. “Gods, more than enough.”

I will believe in her, each time she doesn’t believe in herself.

We lurch through the door as it smashes open against the wall without me touching it, our mouths fused as Selene’s cool hands find the edges of my shirt. She pushes it up, her palms sliding over my skin. “Off. Take this off.”

I vaguely hear a tearing noise. My hands spread over her waist, pulling her closer. Urging, as my palms slide down to her thighs. “Up.”

She’s liquid, seamless in my hands as I stride to the table and push the pitcher out of the way, ignoring the clang as it tumbles to the ground. Her nails scratch down my chest as I set her on the edge, my lips at her throat and moving lower, nipping with my teeth.

I want to see her. All of her, but I despise the thought of leaving her, even for a moment. “Do we need a light?”

“I don’t need it—,”

I don’t either, I realize, pausing in sudden wonder. Hala’s moon shines brightly through the window, bathing Selene’s skin in moonlight even if she wasn’t incandescent with her own glow, her skin lit up like a beacon as my fingers move to the buttons of her shirt.

I undo them one by one as her body shifts unsteadily, but I leave the garment in place.

My lips tilt up. “I always want you to wear my shirts. All of them. Consider them yours.”

She laughs, her head tipping back. “I’ll ruin them.”

“You could only vastly improve them, I assure you.” I don’t care if I walk around with slits in the back. I would wear them proudly. My hands slide down her leg, watching her lips part as I find her boots and tug them free, tossing them aside.

The gleam of her bare stomach teases me, a small strip visible between the edges of the shirt. Soft and glowing with that same light as I step back and look at her.

Selene hooks her foot around my hip, pulling me back. My hands slide carefully beneath that shirt, my eyes closing at the softness of her skin, tracing the ridges of her wings. “You will tell me if you need to stop.”

I never want her to look at me with fear in her eyes. Never want to push her back into the box they tried to lock her in. “Promise me.”

“I promise,” she says softly. “I know exactly who I am with, and who you are. And I want your touch on me.”

I inhale as she shrugs off the shirt, baring more of her skin. Her nipples peak in the cool air, pebbled and pale and tight as she grabs my wrist and pulls my hands to her skin.

The peaks are rigid beneath my thumbs as I brush over them, again and again, watching her head tilt back. Selene’s breath changes to small, gasping pants followed by a cry as I lean forward and seal my mouth over her nipple.

Her hands grip my hair, tugging on it, and I drink in the small pain as my own personal indicator of her pleasure, testing which movements make her fingers tighten.

My left hand travels around to press carefully over the moonsilk of her wings, pressing her against my mouth, the other cupping her right breast and massaging it until I switch over.

I want to see Selene Amaris undone. To make her tremble and cry my name.

To see her undone in the same way that she undoes me.

My mouth moves lower, as my hands settle on her sides. Her hair shrouds us in a glorious wave as I trace her stomach, feeling it flex beneath my touch.

I reach the waistband of her pants and hook my finger into them. “These need to come off, I think.”

“Yes.” She almost hisses it. My fingers move to the tog, flicking it open. Both of us breathe in as Selene pushes down against the table with her hands, lifting herself so I can peel them down her thighs.

I reach for her again, curving my hands around petal-soft skin. When I drop to my knees, raising her legs and draping them over my shoulders, I feel her hesitation and pause. “Callan—”

My lips press to the inside of her thigh. I chase the soft touch with my teeth, adoring every small sound that comes from her throat. “Has anyone ever kissed you here?”

She shakes her head. “Nobody has ever kissed me anywhere.”

The small tremor in her voice has my face lifting. I stretch up and cup her cheeks, pressing my lips to hers. Once, twice, again. “I will kiss you always, then. All of my kisses are yours.”

She nods, silent and flushed as I nudge her onto her back. My palms smooth over her thighs, over the soft traces of dark hair between them, and she makes a choked sound as I spread her. “This is—”

Fucking perfect.

I test her, first. I brush my lips over her nub; following it with small licks that torture me as I taste her, as I listen to her husky cries and hold her steady as she bucks against me.

“Every day,” I breathe into her. Desire and delight underscores my words, my breathing haggard. “I need this every damned day, Selene.”

She’s my new favorite meal. I go in deeper, exchanging gentle touches for something firmer as I kiss her, devour her, lave my tongue over her until she’s writhing, her hips seeking something more, chasing the pleasure I fully intend to give her.

When I slide my tongue inside, my groan reverberates against her soaking flesh.

Fresh, and tart, and all her. Thrusting my tongue inside, I mimic the movement I fully intend to repeat elsewhere, my own hips shifting as I close my eyes and fight not to spill myself inside my own damned pants before I can finish what I’ve started.

One hand hooks over her thigh, gripping the soft skin. My other hand searches for hers, finding it and tangling our fingers together as I push her closer to that cliff edge.

I’m rewarded when her body stiffens against mine. Selene pushes herself into me and I soak in every part of her as her release fills my tongue. My name fills her mouth, spills from her lips on a shocked cry.

I could walk into Ellas a man at peace, as long as I could still taste her.

I coax her down from that edge with gentle, soft kisses, my hands tracing her thighs as she slumps down against the table. Her fingers squeeze mine. Breathlessly, she pants out, “I did not imagine that.”

I give her one final kiss before my body unfurls. Leaning over her, I take in the dazed look in her eyes, the color in her cheeks. A toe nudges my side. “Do not look so satisfied.”

“But I’m very satisfied.” I brush a kiss over her nipple. “You taste delicious, you know. Try it.”

Her eyes widen. But her lips part, and I offer her a small taste of herself, my tongue softly exploring her mouth even as my hands stroke over her body.

Selene presses her fingers to her mouth when I pull away, my lips curving. “I didn’t think it would taste like that.”

“I have never tasted anything better.” I kiss her shoulder, her throat, trying not to place my weight on her in case I send us both crashing to the ground. “Unfortunately, you cannot have any more, since I’m claiming it for myself.”

She half-smiles, her eyes softening. “You’re a fool.”

I pause, lifting my head. “Only with you. Only for you.”

There aren’t many I would show this side of myself to. Only my friends have ever seen true laughter in my face. But this—this giddiness—this fierce, overwhelming joy —this is hers. Only hers.

“Then I will keep it safe.” She shifts upright. “But I don’t believe we’re done.”

I suck in a breath as her hand brushes against my trousers. My cock is hard, already weeping, straining to pull free, but I close my eyes. “We can stop here.”

“I don’t think so,” she murmurs. Her hand slips inside, sealing around me, and my legs almost buckle at the feel of her soft fingers against turgid flesh. “I told you I intend to give you everything.”