Page 24 of The Shadow Path (Shadowlands #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

D uncan Murray’s green eyes went soft and his face relaxed. “Carys?—”

“But I can’t tell you that I don’t love Lachlan at all,” she whispered. “I do, and I think a part of me always will.”

Duncan pulled his hand away. “No.”

“Do you want me to lie?” She blinked back tears. “If I’d only ever met him, I probably could have loved him forever. That’s the truth. But then I met you, and…” She choked back a laugh that was almost a cry. “You’re like an eclipse. You block everything else out. There’s a war going on outside this castle, and somehow all I want is to be with you.”

He lifted his hand to her cheek, his fingers hovering inches away. “What are you saying?”

“I don’t want to be with Lachlan,” Carys whispered. “I have feelings for him, and I always will. But those feelings are nothing compared to what I feel for you.”

Duncan’s eyes burned in satisfaction. “You choose me. You love me most.”

“Yes.” She swiped at the tears that fell down her cheeks. “It kind of pisses me off right now, but yes.”

His hand softened, and his palm cupped her cheek. “I love you, lass. I love how brave you are. I love how loyal you are to your friends. Even to fucking Lachlan, I suppose.”

“And I love you. I love you in a way that I’ve never loved anyone. I love you in a way that scares me to death, because if you ever took it away” —she clutched a fist to her chest— “I don’t know what I’d do.”

“I’m not going to take it away,” he whispered. “I’m not going to leave you.”

“Good.” She sniffed and wiped angrily at the tears that kept falling down her cheeks. “Because I’ve crossed two worlds now, and I think you’re it . You’re the one. You’re my fate or my destiny or whatever that means, so if that’s not enough for you?—”

“Shut up.” His mouth fell on hers and he drank her in, enfolding her in his arms and lifting her up.

Carys wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his shoulders, falling into his kiss and away from the madness that beat outside their door.

If war was coming, she wanted him. She only wanted him.

Duncan walked her to the edge of the bed and set her down. “Fuck me, but I love these tall beds.” When he set her on the massive four-poster bed, her body was perfectly aligned for the rock-hard erection behind his woolen trousers.

He stared down at her desperately. “I don’t know if I can wait for a bath again.”

“Don’t want to wait.” She was ripping at his shirt, eager for his skin. “Bath later.”

The fire in the hearth crackled, and the water in the bath warmed the room. Carys reached down and pulled her shirt up and over her head.

As soon as her breasts were exposed, Duncan was on them, gripping her back and lifting her body to his mouth, feasting on one breast, then the other, his tongue and his teeth arousing the most ferocious hunger.

She was already wet and aching for him. She reached down, her fingers sliding under the waistband of his trousers, searching for the heat and the steel of his erection. Her hand closed around it, and he groaned against her skin.

She wanted to feel him in her. “Please tell me you have?—”

“Yes.” He lifted his head, his eyes fixed on her bare breasts as he reached for the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a slim packet that he tore open with his teeth.

Carys pushed his trousers down and slid her hands around his cock, stroking the heated skin there before he pushed her hands away and rolled on the condom.

“In me,” she panted.

Carys pulled him by the shoulders, covering her body with his as he hooked his fingers around her pants, tearing them down her legs before positioning his cock at the aching center of her heat and slowly pushing himself to the hilt.

His eyes locked with hers. “Say my name.”

“Duncan,” she choked out. “Oh my God, Duncan.” There were tears in her eyes; he felt so painfully good. And right. And everything.

He was everything.

Duncan fell forward, bracing his arms near her shoulders and leaning down, seducing her mouth as he drew back and then pushed forward with aching tenderness.

His mouth left hers, and he pressed his cheek against her own, whispering in her ear as he made love to her. “I love you, Carys Morgan.”

He rocked her back and forth, teasing her clitoris with every thrust of his erection. “ This is the real magic. You.” Thrust again. “And me.”

Carys threw her arms around his neck and clung to him as her body began to shake. She felt her climax over every inch of her skin. She felt her pleasure hit like a burst of sparks over her body, and when she cried out, he held her closer.

The flutter of her climax seemed to loose something feral in Duncan, and he lifted up with a roar, gripping her hips with his fingers and rocking into her harder and faster.

He reached down, lifting her ankle to his shoulder and changing the angle so that her pleasure seemed to go on and on. He felt even harder. Bigger. He consumed her.

Duncan turned his head to the side and bit the soft flesh of her calf as his fingers dug into her hip. His thrusts grew wild and uncontrolled until he shouted her name and came, his hands shaking and his muscled body shining with a burst of perspiration in the heated room.

Carys felt like she’d been dropped off the side of a cliff. Her lungs were heaving, and every nerve in her body was on fire.

Duncan fell into bed beside her, grabbing her in a wholly proprietary way and wrapping her in his massive arms before he pulled her against his chest. “After we take that bath, I’m sleeping here tonight. If we’re sleeping.”

He was as bossy as she somehow knew he was going to be.

Carys didn’t want to talk at all, but she forced herself to speak, breathing hard as her ear pressed to his chest, enjoying the drumbeat of his racing heart.

“My body says yes,” she panted, “but my brain says we probably need to sleep for whatever is coming tomorrow.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Practical girl.”

Carys didn’t want to be practical. She wanted to hide and bring Duncan with her. But she knew that wasn’t going to be an option. At least not for a while.

She closed her eyes and listened to his steady and strong heartbeat. She felt safe in his arms. And a little bit like she’d been run over by a truck. Emotionally anyway.

Duncan’s arms tightened around her. “Say it again,” he whispered.

Carys closed her eyes and smiled. “I love you, Duncan Murray.”

His heartbeat picked up again. “I love you too, Professor Morgan.”