Her tongue darted out, leaving her lips pink and glistening. “Even after all I’ve done, you still love me?”
“Desperately.” And without reservation.
I sank onto the mattress, reaching out for my soulmate. When we touched, our hands buzzed. I’d missed this feeling. Missed her more than she could ever fathom. “I know you don’t love me,” I said, “but I think I love you enough for the both of us.”
A small wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows as she stared up at me, blinking slowly as if still processing my words. But words meant nothing without action. I would prove myself worthy of her, if only she’d let me.
“I love you,” she whispered.
The air around us thickened.
Hold on. Did she say she loved me?“How can you lie?” That should have been impossible.
The corners of her lips lifted into the most breathtaking smile as she stared down at the emerald ring still lying on the bed.
“Keelynn, look at me. How did you break the—”
She jerked forward, her lips finding mine. When I tried to pull away, she pressed closer, catching the back of my neck and refusing to let me save her from myself. Not another year. I wouldn’t survive it. I wouldn’t—
Her lips…
They didn’t sigh or fall away or turn cold and black. They remained warm and tender and moving against mine. The thousands of thoughts swirling through my mind fell silent when her tongue swept into my mouth, hot and needy, replacing confusion with burning desire.
I lost my fingers in her hair, holding onto the only woman I’d ever loved, the knowledge that she loved me—ME!—in return seeping into my pores like sunlight on a summer’s day. Despite all my faults and all my sins, this woman had found something in me worth loving.
The cursed chains binding my magic fell away; lightning flooded my veins. My body moved of its own volition, pressing Keelynn into the mattress, needing more of her. We kissed until our breaths came in ragged gasps, our chests rising and falling in time.
“Did it work?” she gasped through swollen lips. Pink, not black. And oh so perfect.
My fingertips skimmed her pulse, racing and strong. “You seem to be alive, but I could be dreaming.” And if I was, I hoped to never wake. This room, this bed, was where I wanted to stay for eternity.
Smiling up at me, Keelynn brushed my hair back from my face. “Lie to me.”
If she wanted a lie, I’d tell the biggest one of all. “I hate you,” I whispered, sampling the warm skin of her throat.
She adjusted her grip on my neck, shifting and parting her thighs so I could settle between them. “Again.”
My heart may have swelled with love, but the other parts of me swelled with need. I nudged my hips against hers, relishing the way her soft gasp tickled my throat. “I have been so happy without you. I never want to marry you again. I have absolutely no desire to lift up your skirts and sink between your thighs.”
I was about to ask if her faculties had returned when she tugged my shirt free and reached for my belt.
Her lips curled even as her eyelids lowered. “I hate you too.”
“Show me how much, Maiden Death.”
Her cool hand slid into my breeches, finding me hard and ready, stroking so slowly, I was sure to make an absolute mockery of myself if I didn’t get it together. I bunched her skirts around her waist and tugged her undergarments down her smooth thighs. The magic burning my fingertips was nothing compared to her dripping heat. I kissed her for every day she’d been gone, working another finger inside as she moaned against my mouth. My cock nearly leapt out of my breeches at the sound. I could wait a little longer. You know what couldn’t wait, though?
I tugged down the front of her shift, baring her breasts and teasing the pebbled tips with my tongue.
“Tadhg…”
My name on her lips had to be the most beautiful sound ever heard. I curled my fingers at the same time as my thumb pressed the bundle of nerves at the apex of her thighs. Her back arched, thrusting her breasts further into my mouth. No shame, no regret, nothing but love and warmth and magic. I urged more power into my hand, revelling in her whimpers as I worked my fingers and tongue, tying all her glorious threads into knots.
Her grip on my cock tightened and then fell away when she began coming apart around my hand. I dragged my breeches down my hips and eased into her pulsing sheath, the final waves of her release nearly bringing me to the edge of my own.
I had been waiting for this day for far too long to let this pass quickly.
She turned boneless beneath me, her pale cheeks glowing and eyes full of warmth. “I love you.”