After washing up and changing into fresh clothes, I sought out Kira’s bedroom. I knocked sharply and she called for me to enter. When I stepped inside, I caught a glimpse of her pulling a light green robe around her body. Memories of the last time I’d seen her naked came rushing back. Her skin glistening with sweat as she was pressed between Jasin and Auric. Her soft curves as they ran their hands over her. Her full lips as they opened for me…
“Are you ready?” she asked. Her hair was still damp, making it a darker red than normal, and her face was flushed with life. She looked too damn beautiful to be real.
I’d been resistant to this bonding thing from the beginning. I hadn’t wanted to be one of Kira’s mates, or the next Azure Dragon, or the Water’s God’s chosen one. Even once I’d accepted my fate and grown to care for Kira, the idea of having sex with her in some ritual felt so…forced. Everyone in the temple would be waiting for us to get on with it, knowing exactly what we were doing the entire time. We might as well be on display. But now that she was standing in front of me, her eyes full of hope and desire, her body naked under that robe?
I was ready.
I yanked her toward me and took her mouth, hard. She let out a little noise of surprise as my lips moved across hers and my tongue slipped inside. She melted against me immediately as we kissed, the perfect size and shape to fit against me, and my hands couldn’t help but seek out her bare skin. I tugged open her robe and gripped her hip, holding her in place as I angled her head to kiss her deeper. Gods, she tasted good. Before Kira, kissing had never been something I cared about. Now I could do it for hours and never grow tired of feeling her lips against mine.
She drew back slightly and met my eyes. “We’re supposed to do this in the bonding room.”
“I’ve never been good at following rules.”
I dragged her mouth back to mine, pulling her tight against me, so that her hard nipples brushed against the fabric of my shirt and the bulge of my cock pressed between her thighs. She let out a throaty hum of desire, and I ground myself against her, driving us both a little mad with need.
My hand slid down her hip and dipped between her thighs, finding her wet and pulsing for me. I stroked her once and she widened her legs in response, while her fingers curled into my shirt like she was trying to stop me from pulling away. I wanted to tell her there was no chance of that, but my mouth was devouring hers and my fingers were exploring the silky, swollen folds she’d offered to me.
When I glided into that tight wet heat, she let out a moan against my lips. Her thighs tightened, trapping my hand between them, while I slid in and out of her slowly. With my other hand I held her up, knowing her knees would be weak when I was through with her. I slipped another finger inside and rubbed her clit at the same time, feeling her tense around me. Knowing how close she was already encouraged me to move faster and deeper, forcing her to rock her hips in time with my movements, her arms tightening around my neck for support. She cried out my name into my mouth as the climax swept over her, her body turning to liquid against me.
I slowly removed my fingers and held her until she could stand on her own again. “Told you I was good with my hands.”
“You weren’t kidding.” Her eyes were dazed as she closed her robe and tied it.
I took her hand in mine. “Let’s find this bonding room.”
The hallway and the great room were both empty, much to my relief. The hour must be late, though it was hard to tell deep below the ocean, where sunlight couldn’t reach. I certainly wasn’t tired—no, my body was full of energy, the same rush I got when I was about to slit someone’s throat from the shadows or leap into a fight. The anticipation only made what was coming even sweeter.
The door to the bonding room opened easily at my touch. The first thing I saw was the floor-to-ceiling opening to the ocean on one side. The dome must end right there because fish swam just outside, and we could almost reach out and touch them. Coral and seaweed lined the ocean floor, and I caught a glimpse of an eel poking its head out of some rocks.
A raised path led from the door to a large bed, and around this platform was a shallow pool of water, only knee-high. The pool’s floor was covered in shining seashells that caught the flickering candlelight around the room.
“It’s beautiful,” Kira whispered.
One of the other guys would have told her she was even more beautiful or something, but I wasn’t good at this romance crap. I’d never had a real relationship. I hated talking about my feelings. And sex? Sex was always for a purpose. Making money. Getting information. Relieving stress. Never for love.
Until now.
I grabbed Kira around the waist, feeling her curves under that thin robe, and picked her up, wrapping her legs around me. She let out an excited laugh, then settled into my arms as I carried her to the bed. I set her down on her back and grabbed her wrists, pinning them to the bed. I loomed over her body, caging her in, giving her no way to escape.
“Now you’re mine,” I said.
She looked up at me with open desire and complete trust. “What are you going to do with me?”
Her robe had fallen open and I raked my eyes down her body. “Everything.”
My gaze lingered on her full breasts and narrow hips, before dipping down to that triangle between her legs, already wet from my touch. Damn, she was stunning. Why had I resisted her so long?
That was over now. She was impossible to resist, and I was done trying to fight it.
Still holding her wrists, I bent my head to those perfect round breasts and flicked my tongue across her hard nipple. She arched her back in response, begging for more, and I sucked one of those dark buds into my mouth. The soft moan from her lips turned me on even more, as did the taste of her. I’d never considered myself a lucky man, but I was starting to change my mind about that.
I worshipped each breast until she was begging and writhing under me, desperate for more. An overwhelming need to be inside her took over, and I released her wrists so I could tear off my clothes. Her eager fingers reached up to help me, her eyes hungry as I removed my shirt and tossed it aside. The rest of my clothes hit the floor, and then I moved over her again.
“I never thought this moment would come,” she said, as she gazed up at me.
The intensity of her eyes was too much. She wrecked me, and I was going to fall apart if she kept that up. The urge to claim her as my own grew too strong to ignore, and I couldn’t wait a second longer. I grabbed her waist and flipped her over onto her stomach, making her gasp. I yanked her hips up so they were level with mine, and then I rammed myself deep inside.
She let out the most beautiful scream I’d ever heard as I filled her from behind, the sound echoing throughout the room. I grit my teeth at the feel of her tight, damp heat. My hand wrapped around her thick red hair, tugging her head back, forcing me deeper inside. I arched over her to press my lips to her neck, and she trembled under my touch.
“I have a secret,” I said into her ear, as I held her there. Not moving yet, just enjoying the feel of her body squeezed tight around my cock.
“Only one?”
I nipped at her shoulder. “I think you know all the rest by now.”
“Tell me,” she said, her voice husky.
“I’ve never done this before with anyone I actually cared about.”
With that, I began to move. I rocked into her with hard, rough thrusts, and she pushed her hips back at me, taking me deeper. With one hand gripping her hair and the other on her hip, I completely controlled her body, forcing her to accept whatever I gave her.
I took her hard and rough, slamming into her again and again, and her moans of pleasure only grew louder. I reached between her thighs to find her clit, and each time I pushed forward, my fingers rubbed against her there. She tightened around me, her body close to the edge, and I was right there with her. I’d thought I was claiming her, but she was the one taking everything from me and still demanding more—and I wanted to give it to her. Not just tonight or in the bedroom, but for the rest of our lives.
I felt it when she came apart. Every wet inch of her clenched around me, and it felt so good I couldn’t stop the pleasure from cresting over me too. Water shot into the air around us, while ice spread across our skin, locking us together. I buried my face in her neck, inhaling her, while our bodies rocked together through it all.
The ice melted away and the water sank back into the pool around us. I kissed the back of her neck, as I pulsed inside her, before gathering her in my arms and lowering us to the bed. How had I ever lived without Kira? She made me feel so damn alive.
“I love you,” I said, the words slipping out of me. I couldn’t stop them anymore. I didn’t want to.
She touched my face and smiled. “I know.”
