I held out a hand, needing to clear up a few things before I fell back down this slippery slope. “Tell me this: Are you going to give me up because of the Queen?”
His grip on me tightened as he kneaded my skin. “Never again.”
“Are you going to try to control me and tell me what to do?”
He smirked, his eyes blazing with desire. “Only when we’re naked.”
My hand dropped, and his mouth crashed to mine, taking everything I had to give and more with each swipe of his carnal tongue. My arms and legs twined around him like vines, clinging and climbing. My fingers lost themselves in his thick strands of mahogany hair.
My back met the kitchen table, and I didn’t bother pointing out that there was a bed only a few steps down the hall. Not when going there would waste precious seconds.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to find my way back to you.” His fingertips extended toward the swell of my breast, his thumb sweeping across the scar he’d given me our first night together before finding my pebbled nipples straining beneath my wool dress. “Are you certain you don’t wish to be angry with me?”
I unfastened the buttons of his shirt with steady hands. “I’m still angry. But my anger will never outweigh my desire for you.”
Uncertainty flickered through his darkening eyes. “Do you promise?”
“I swear.”
His right hand came around my throat, smoothing up to cup my jaw. He lifted so we were eye to eye and spoke the words I’d longed to hear. “I love you, angry Aveen.”
His left hand fanned out across my hip, catching the material of my skirts. “Are you fond of this dress?”
“Not very.”
“Thank feck.” He shifted his dagger and sliced away the buttons. The wool slid down my hips and onto the floor. He drew the shoulders of my shift down until it, too, pooled around my boots while I worked to free him from his breeches.
His fingertip traced the scar below my breast from where I’d taken my own life. “I will never forgive myself for the pain I’ve caused you.”
A smile tugged at my lips as I brought his hand to my stomach. “I know one way you could make it up to me.”
His fingers delved between my thighs, sinking deep only to withdraw and tease my center, leaving me drenched in my need for him. My body became his to mold and tease, to wind around his skillful hands, rocking, seeking friction, and begging for more.
He anchored his hands around my waist, lifting me onto the table with ease. “Will I take you here?”
I couldn’t handle any more teasing and taunting. “Yes. Take me now.” My legs locked around his trim hips, dragging his length against where I burned. When he finally sank into me, our ragged exhales mixed together. He captured the aching peak of my breast between his lips, stroking and skimming with his tongue, matching each powerful rock of his hips. The table slid closer to the wall with each pounding thrust until it could go no farther. One hand closed around my throat, gripping tightly enough to leave me gasping for air, while the other slid between our bodies to flick and toy with the bundle of nerves at the apex of my thighs.
My frantic, frenzied hands kneaded his toned shoulders and arms, caught and held his firm backside. Our bodies collided, answering the other’s call, heating and setting our blood alight until starlight burst behind my eyes, more vibrant than the most colorful sunset. Pleasure ripped through me, pulsing with each rapid hammer of my heart until Rían collapsed forward, his chest melting against mine and our hearts beating perfectly in time.
I reveled in this moment, knowing that it couldn’t last forever but allowing myself to wish for forever anyway.
* * *
I toyed with the ends of Rían’s hair, wrapping them around my fingers before letting them fall only to find another strand, my body soft as butter left in the sun. “So she’s no longer with Tadhg in the castle?”
Rían shook his head where it rested against my chest. “She’s with the dog.”
Keelynn would be safe with Ruairi. Still, she must’ve been hurt fiercely to have left Tadhg so close to the wedding. “I must go and see her.”
Rían’s head lifted, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he stared down at me. I braced myself for the inevitable argument. But then he closed his eyes and let out a weary sigh. “Will you wear a glamour?”
A hopeful smile lifted my lips. “You’re letting me go?”
“What other options do I have? I certainly don’t want to see you stab yourself ever again.”
He was letting me go! I stamped a kiss to his lips to take away some of the sting when I shoved him off me. “I’ll have to go outside so I can use my magic.”
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” His gaze swept down my naked form.