Page 40 of Temptation Unleashed (Talaenian Fae #3)
T he moment Rori realized Thaddeus had taken Rich away, her nerves had been shot.
Memories of the previous night, the Fae fight, the repercussions Thaddeus had suffered, having witnessed that same magic brewing between his fingers, she had damn near panicked.
Over him, Thaddeus, and his safety. She’d paced her room before she simply couldn’t stand the unknown, finally finding a small piece of calm in a burning hot shower.
She had felt his presence, a strange sensation of heat and relief, before she heard him shout her name. She pulled her nightclothes on faster than the wetness still coating her skin would allow, tore the towel from her hair, and sprinted out of the bathroom.
Her attention had dropped immediately to his chest, where his black silk button-down shirt lay open to his pecs.
She glimpsed the outright worry in his expression, but her focus turned to those cursed scars, tugging his shirt aside and inspecting the two areas where his skin was a little lighter than the rest.
No shadows. No magic. No impending attack .
He’d not used magic, and the utter relief that had come over her snuffed every last drop of adrenaline from her system and every thread of willpower to reinforce her protective barriers against the forbidden pull she felt to the angelic devil of a Fae who now nibbled the delightfully sensitive area beneath her ear.
The hum his wicked mouth set free within her body coated her with goosebumps, and a spark of uncertainty.
His grip on her wrist loosened, his fingers trailing down her arm like feathers, delivering a deft pulse and pleasurable rush between her legs.
He supported her weight at the back of her neck, his hips keeping her perched precariously on the edge of the dresser, sitting against the taunting curve of his cock.
Every restraint she held before eluded her as she tangled her fingers in the silk of his hair, tightening her legs around his narrow waist, moaning as he tasted her throat with teasing flicks of his tongue and gentle nips from his teeth.
Heat filled her belly. Tension swelled between her legs.
A rhythm beat through her clit and had her rolling her hips hard against his cock.
The low, resonant growl that filled her ears and made her tremble with this illogical need unleashed butterflies throughout her body and stole the strength from her muscles.
She was at his mercy, trusting in the pulsing cord that tethered them together.
Trusting in a fate rooted in magic that had not existed for her a week ago.
Trusting in a man who she knew so little about, but inexplicably knew on a deeper level, a deeper plane, a place secreted away for her alone. A place where the trivial matters of daily life held little value compared to the intimate frequency of this soul connection.
His grip on her neck shifted, his fingers combing up into her damp hair, fisting gently against her scalp.
Slight pressure tipped her head back, exposing the length of her neck to his ravenous mouth and mindless seduction.
A lick. A nip. A kiss. So many sensations pummeling her all at once.
His fingertips playing against her scalp and tangling tighter in her hair without drawing pain.
His hand exploring the curve of her torso, tracing the lines of her collarbone, hooking on the thin strap of her camisole and tugging it off her shoulder.
When his teeth scraped over her shoulder, she whimpered, locking her legs around his waist and pressing flush to his body.
“Closer,” she whispered, her fingers trembling as she fumbled with a button on his shirt.
Beneath her fingertips, his heart raced.
His chest rose and fell in short, shallow breaths, but his kisses remained controlled, slow, soaking in every inch of her with his mouth before he broke away and came over her.
His cheeks held a rare rose, his pupils highlighted by a fiercely glowing blue ring, with the faintest hints of gold flecks having returned.
“You should push me away,” he murmured. His voice had dropped an octave, rumbled with the hunger that reflected in his expression.
He cut a glance toward his hips as her legs loosened.
A feral grin curled his lips. He caught her beneath one thigh, hiking her leg higher, leaning into her until she pressed back into the mirror.
“You’ve no idea how completely I’ll devour you. ”
She tried to swallow. His hand slipped higher along her thigh, fingers catching on the hem of her shorts, pushing them higher. Her breath hitched when the tips of his fingers traced her panties. She licked her lips, and the sound that rumbled in his chest made her melt from the inside out.
“Devour me.”
She’d barely finished speaking before Thaddeus kissed her, his mouth consuming her, his tongue possessing her, a man starved for what she could give. A kiss laced with the heat of desire, the tension of control, and the will to release a fierce hunger.
She wanted it. Wanted him.
She wanted everything he would give her.
He slung an arm around her waist, pinning them together at the hips as he swept her off the dresser.
A half-kiss later, he laid her down on her bed.
He tore away from her mouth and kissed over her chin, down her throat, his lips unforgiving in his famished race.
His fingers untangled from her hair and arched her body into his kisses as he licked the swell of one breast a moment before his lips brushed over her nipple through her thin camisole, then sucked her into his mouth.
Her nerves sang with a delight she’d never before known.
He licked and suckled, taking his mind-warping time as he drew moans from her throat and sent shivers through her muscles.
Damn, the man tortured her in the sweetest possible way, licking the valley between her breasts to latch on to the other and perform the same mind-spinning, body humming attention.
She wanted the camisole off. She wanted to feel his mouth, hot and hungry, against her skin, not the essence of his heat and the dampness lent by the fabric.
Those fingers drawing patterns and strokes along each rib, down her belly.
She wanted to know his skin, his touch, his caress directly on her flesh, etching those magical motions into her body’s memory.
Without warning, he pulled her upright, twisting them so she landed straddling his waist. Gone was any mask he may have donned.
His nostrils flared, the sharp angles of his beautiful face cast with shadows of carnal desire.
That look, the one of a man about to lose control, should put fear in her, and yet, she wanted nothing more than to stoke that desire, ignite the fire, unleash the pacing beast .
He pressed his hands upward, fingers splayed, catching the hem of her camisole and lifting without hesitation. He cast it off and cupped one of her breasts, the feel of his hand against her skin pure heaven. A gentle lash of his thumb over her pebbled nipple sent her spiraling.
“Goddess, how perfect.”
Perfect would not be a word she used to describe herself, but the gravelly whisper from the Faery man who dipped his head and feasted on her breast as shamelessly as she rolled her hips over his cock made her believe it.
His teeth caught her nipple with a growl, those dark eyes turning up to her, the glowing ring of blue flashing.
“Easy.” A slowly spoken rumble that sent a fierce shudder through her, squeezing a whimper from her lips as he tipped his chin up, tugging her nipple, unleashing an erotic burst of pleasure as he released her.
“I’ve every intention of playing your sweet body like a heavenly instrument, and I’ll enjoy every sound I create from your sinful mouth. ”
Rori hooked her fingers on his shirt and worked through each button, her patience drawing thin the longer it took. “You’ll make me realize feeling doesn’t have to hurt.”
The last button opened and she shoved the shirt off his shoulders, pulling her hands back to his chest. Heaven help her, she’d never seen a man molded from marble, cut like a razor.
Pecs hard as stone with smooth curves. The deep cut between each step of his abs, tapering to the narrow V of his waist, his hips.
He tore the shirt off as she dipped her head and licked him between his pecs.
A fierce shiver wracked her, the taste of his skin wild, clean, an essence of spice and a hint of sweetness.
She licked him again and followed it with open-mouthed kisses, drinking in a flavor she was beginning to understand was part of his makeup, not lingering cologne.
No, the scent she knew, the one that warmed her soul, was a scent created by him, and him alone, and the taste of that scent was utterly divine.
“Bloody wicked woman,” he hissed, cupping her bottom.
He pulled her close, hard, sitting her against him, right where she ached the most. A gasp fled her, tremors making her momentarily weak.
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth, her forehead pressed against his chest, hands dropping to the fancy gold buckle on his belt.
“You will ever only know pleasure by my hand, storín .”
As she worked open the buckle, she lifted her head, nuzzling her cheek upward until her lips brushed his earlobe. The muscles of his abs rippled and a sharp intake of breath met her ear.
“Nothing that happens tonight will be anything I’ll ever forget,” she breathed, then flicked out her tongue and traced his ear to the very tip.