“Kieran, I swear to the godsdamned Source, if you don’t fuck me soon I—”
I caught her by the throat, interrupting her train of thought with a fierce grip. Oh, how perfectly my hand fit here, where it belonged. How lovely it was to feel her pulse beneath my fingertips. It felt like coming home.
“Watch your tongue,” I hissed in her ear. “Before I put it to better use, Little Conduit.”
In one fluid motion, I released her neck and turned her around to face me. My eyes flickered to her arms, where gooseflesh had set those little sun-bleached hairs on end.
“I do believe you’re overdue for a bit of duress, Arken. Wouldn’t you agree?”
For once, I seemed to render her speechless as her own fingers drifted up to her throat, resting where mine had been. I might have worried about being too aggressive, had it not been for the haze of lust that slipped into her expression, and the way her breath seemed to quicken. I took a single pace backwards, allowing for some distance between us in this moment. I cockedmy head to the side, studying every element of her body language. Already, the tips of her fingers had started to flicker with tiny little starbursts of Light.
I knew it.
“I asked you a question, love.”
“I would agree,” she said slowly, eyes raising to meet my own. “Sir.”
Oh.
If I wasn’t already in love with the woman, I might have fallen right then and there.Holy fuck.
“Good girl,” I breathed, not even remotely ashamed that my breath had grown ragged. “Very good girl. You remembered.”
It had been months ago now since she’d teased me about it in a passing conversation. I had made some errant implication about being dominant in bed, and I could hardly remember now how that had even come up,but Ididrecall her response.
“So do you keep your uniform on when you take them to bed? Do you make them call youCaptain? Gods, you would—I bet you do,” she’d laughed.
“I prefer Sir, actually, if we’re going for honorifics,” I’d replied, slipping some honesty into my returning quip.
Who knew she’d been paying such close attention, even then?
“I pay attention, Sir,” Arken said now, as if she could read my godsdamned mind. Her tone was subdued, but her eyes were lit up like a Yule tree, sparkling and borderline feverish with anticipation.
Could it even be possible that she had wanted to give this to me for just as long as I had wanted to take it from her? I could hardly stomach the thought of having waited this long, if thatwere the case, but as her tongue ran over her lower lip again…Fuck me.
“Bedroom. Now.”
It took her all of two seconds to follow my command, darting straight out of the kitchen and towards her bedroom. I watched her from behind, taking notice of the way her fingers seemed to stretch and splay out at her sides, as if they were impatient. Eager to touch. It made my cock twitch.
Already, it felt as though all the godsdamned blood that I had in me had rushed to that part of my body. I was borderline lightheaded, in a euphoric sort of way, just from hearing her speak to me with such lascivious deference.
This woman was going to be the fucking death of me, and what a divine way to die.
Arken stood by the foot of her own bed now, facing me as I leaned against the doorway.
“Take off your clothes,” I commanded quietly, watching as she began to slip off her sweater without so much as a moment’s worth of hesitation.
Her camisole came next, and the lacy little underthing that had cupped her breasts so flawlessly. It was almost a shame to see it go, were it not for the fact that shedding the garment left her soft, rosy nipples exposed to the chill of the night air, and I got to watch as they pebbled over. Naked from the waist up, she began to peel off her socks, her tights, and, finally—her panties.
Fuck.
Every inch of Arken’s flesh was exposed now as she stood before me in shy silence. It wasn’t as though I hadn’t seen her naked, I’d probably seen Arken without her clothes more often than seeing her fully dressed as of late—but I understood the way it felt to be put on private display. The way that it could thrill and simultaneously terrify.
“You are the most gorgeous creature I have ever seen, Arken,” I purred, slinking away from the door frame but not quite close enough to touch. “The most stunning little thing I have ever had the pleasure to touch.”
Her mouth parted slightly.
“Thank you, Sir,” she whispered.