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That was putting it mildly.
His eyes lifted, the smile on his face so boyish that it stole my breath. He had never looked this unguarded, this vulnerable. A hand cupped my cheek, his thumb stroking my skin and igniting a different fire inside me. “That night you showed up here and demanded to give your life for your brother’s, I think I wanted to help you. Help you in a way I sensed no one ever had, and I knew they hadn’t, because I had lived so long in the same position. But you weren’t afraid to cry, to show how much you fucking cared. You just let all of it show—your heart, your soul—and it was beautiful. I thought I was just listening to an Equinox request.” He chuckled as if the idea was ridiculous to him now. “You drove me so out of control, I nearly forgot that sometimes. And then, at the Midnight Feast, you were drunk on ambrosia, and I wanted you so badly.”
I frowned at the memory of being dropped onto the floor—albeit at my own demand. “Could have fooled me.”
“Believe me, not taking you to bed that night was pure torture. I’d rather be shot again.” I preened a little, and he rolled his eyes. “Does the thought of me preferring agonizing pain to saying no to you please you, princess?”
“A little,” I admitted. “I thought you hated me.”
“That was a mutual concern, I believe. But no, I could never hate you. You infuriate me and you challenge me and you make me…” He paused and looked me in the eyes. “It was never a fool’s bargain between us, but making it was selfish. I wish I could tell you that I did it entirely for you, but I didn’t.”
Somehow, I’d always known that. Always known that I would never be free of him. I just hadn’t expected that a day would come when I wouldn’t want to be freed.
“And now?”
“I like you more than I planned. But the bargain between us…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “It needs to be broken.”
I reached for him, tilting his face up to meet mine. “Don’t. I don’t want you to break it.”
His eyes closed, shuttering against my words. “And if I don’t, will you ever truly believe this is real between us?”
“What about what you get out of the bargain?” I asked, holding my breath, wondering if he would finally share all of his secrets. “What you wanted from me when you made it?”
“I want you more.” His lips skimmed along my jawline. “I won’t steal a night from you, not when I want you to give them all to me.”
My words jammed in my throat. This was what I’d wanted from the beginning—to be free of the bargain. But somewhere along the line, I’d begun to want him more. I swallowed and swung my leg over his body, rocking myself over his hardening cock. “You can have them,” I whispered, “and you can have me.”
I untied my robe, letting the sash flutter to my hips. He reared up, capturing my nipple between his teeth as I ground against him. His hands shucked the robe from my shoulders, a mischievous gleam in his eyes when he grabbed the sash.
“I’m never letting you go,” he warned me, wrapping the fabric around my wrists—a different, darker sort of handfasting, one meant only for us. “Bargain or not.” He looped the sash around his wrist and yanked me closer, his lips brushing over mine.
His eyes hooded as he reached between us with his free hand to aim his cock. An aching need spread—permeating my blood, burrowing into my bones, soaking into my skin, into every inch of me—and narrowed as his tip breached me. I bit my lip as I sank over him, moaning at the way he stretched me. It was nearly too much, and when he was sheathed so deeply that I wasn’t sure where I ended and he began, he lowered us back to the bed, still holding my tethered hands.
“I’m never letting you go,” he whispered again and thrust his hips up, over and over as if he could seal the words physically. I cried out, meeting his demanding rhythm, need swelling into a near frenzy inside me. A guttural snarl tore from his chest, primal and animalistic, and he flipped us over, drawing my bound hands over my head and slipping his beneath the binds of the sash to twine his fingers with mine. He angled his hips to drive deeper, his lips on mine, tongue spearing into my mouth as though he needed to claim more of me.
I wanted everything he had to give. Pressure mounted in my core, and I was gasping against his lips as it built and built, tiny shivers of what was to come splintering through my veins even as I continued to rise.
“Come with me,” he urged. His bright eyes riveted to mine, breathing hard and fast.
Pleasure burst through me, radiating through my body like sunlight breaking through the clouds. His hand tightened around mine as he shouted my name, tensing and spilling inside me.
My legs, boneless and trembling, slackened and dropped from his waist, but he didn’t roll off me. His forehead pressed to mine, and he brushed his lips over mine. The kiss, so sweet and soft after our frantic lovemaking, sent a new and unfamiliar pang through my chest. The hand holding mine relaxed, and he slipped it free of the sash before loosening my makeshift binding.
“What happened to never letting me go?” I asked breathlessly, half wanting to stay under his control forever.
His mouth crooked up. “I hadn’t meant it quite so literally.” That fucking smile… Devastating. “Although I could be convinced to tie you up again.”
“I’m yours,” I whispered, meaning it. “Tie me up as you see fit.”
His grin spread, lighting up his entire face. “In that case…”
Chapter Thirty-Four
A kiss woke me the next morning. My eyes opened to a muscled male chest, and for a moment, still half asleep, I burrowed into it, drinking in his warm, spicy scent. Lach’s arm curled around me, drawing me closer, and instantly my blood heated along with my cheeks. He’d stayed the night, and while I wasn’t sure how to process that exactly, the closest feeling I could name was…pleased. We’d figure out the rest one day at a time.
“You snore,” he told me softly, tracing the tip of my nose with a long finger.
And the moment was over.