Page 36 of Born of Blood and Thorns

We might have been enemies, we might have hated each other, but there was a passion between us that demanded to be sated. It screamed to feel the bare touch of the other's skin. Refusing to be ignored and not being given what it wanted so badly. He kissed me deeper, our tongues clashing, not in gentleness but in a war that left us breathless and panting. Yet, still, we wanted more. I didn't care if he was my enemy. I didn't care what the future held. Here, in this moment, I just wanted him.

I could want him, I told myself, and we could have today together, leaving tomorrow’s troubles for another day. Because tomorrow, we would be enemies once again.

“We don’t need to be more than just lovers. I want you, and you want me. Let’s just leave it at that.” That little vixen deep inside me seemed to speak without my permission.

“Are you…” Lore broke the kiss as he spoke into my mouth, pulling back slightly. “Are you innocent?” he asked, his eyes filled with concern.

I shook my head. My brief one-time had been nothing like this, though. The passion of this moment was so foreign to me that it felt like I was still a virgin.

“I have once,” I admitted, biting my lip.

It had been a far cry from the experience earlier, and Lore hadn't even entered me. The wolf, that wretched Gideon, had taken my virginity and had turned me around, slamming my face into the bed only to ride me from behind until he had found completion. It left me unsatisfied and no longer a virgin.

I had told myself it was fine. It was okay sex. No, that was a lie. It hurt, and it was horrible.

"Once?" he asked, his gaze flashing, first in anger, then smoothing out to a jealous possessiveness as if he were also going to spout declarations of ownership.

"It was brief and not really…" I paused, noting his features, that red flashing in and out. "It was not good. It was just okay."

"I have not been with a woman in a very long time, but just okay should not be how it is described. What happens between us will not be just okay." He paused, trailing his hands down my body to cup my breasts and pinch my nipple as I gasped. "Nothing we do will be even close to unsatisfactory," he said with a seductive grin.

He stepped back and tore the robe from my body, then ripped the chemise down the front until I stood naked, the rainbow glass reflecting on my body, the swell of my breasts moving with each ragged breath I took.

"Beautiful," he breathed as his eyes trailed down my body. I felt the cold chill of the morning as my breasts began to pebble, even as my body heated up to a furnace because, in his gaze, I knew he meant it. He liked what he saw. "You are a goddess."

He lifted me into his arms, taking me back to the bedroom we had just left, only this time, it was Lore ready to explore my body, to claim my pleasure as his.

I stood before the bed, trembling as he held me to his body. Giving me time to say no and ask to go. I didn't. I wanted to feel wanted. For just a few fleeting moments, I wanted to know what it felt like to be in another's tender embrace. I wanted to know what it would be like to understand passion—true passion. I wanted him.

Yes, he was supposed to be my enemy, but if I was honest with myself, my body knew every time I looked at him because my heart sped up, and all rational thoughts escaped me. There was a need there that I could no longer deny.

So I sucked in a sharp breath and fell into his embrace. I resolved to take what I wanted, to live in this world with some form of pleasure when I had known so little thus far in my life. The same resolve reflected back to me in his gaze. In this moment, this fragment of time, we could just be together.

I grabbed his neck, pulling his lips down to mine as I claimed him as he had claimed me. Only to break the kiss to pull his nightshirt above his head and help him take off my thin robe. He did this inch by inch with a tenderness that ached inside me, marveling at my body with his lips as he went.

My breath hitched, heat swirling low in my belly. "Lore..." His name escaped my lips in a breathy sigh.

In an instant, he was upon me, a starving man who was presented with a feast. His kiss seared, full of unspoken promise. My knees weakened, and I clung to him, dizzy with yearning.

With deft fingers, he pulled me close, baring my most private areas to his needy caresses. I reciprocated in kind, my hands exploring the taut musculature of his torso, tracing each ridge and valley. Lore groaned against my throat, nipping and sucking the tender flesh there. Expertly, he divested us of all barriers between our fevered skin.

This time, instead of my lover taking me like an animal, he laid me gently on the bed just as he had done earlier, and he kissed me until I was panting and arching into him. Each breath was a begging sound as I wanted more. His hands caressed my body before he settled in between my thighs.

He paused again to ask without words if this was okay, giving me one last option to say no.

I wasn't having it. I burned for Lore to fill, take, and claim me as he said he would. I wrapped my legs around him to keep him from pulling away or running out the door as he had earlier. As I felt him press into my entrance, I sucked in a sharp breath, ready for the pain as he slammed into me. There was only pleasure. He stopped halfway as if checking to make sure I was still okay. Oh, goddess, was I ever.

He stretched me to the limits of what I believed was possible, filling me in a way that surpassed all expectations. With each gradual movement, he expanded my senses, pushing me to the brink of overwhelming pleasure. Intense sensations caused me to writhe and vocalize, a soft whimper escaping my lips as he paused, prolonging the anticipation.

"Are…are you okay?" he asked with such concern on his face that my heart melted a little.

I could not allow that. I could not care about this man even if he was inside of me. As my body moved, I could feel my heart follow suit as he entered me. Goddess, did it feel so right.

"Yes," I moaned, and then, with my legs, I thrust up until he was fully sheathed inside me.

Lore groaned in my ear as he settled himself there, not moving as I adjusted to his size. So I began to move against him, wanting more, wanting him to take me to new heights, to new ecstasy like nothing I'd ever known. I wanted to feel him inside of my soul.

"Not so fast," he groaned against my ear. "It's been a very long time for me and if you keep doing that, I'll spill my seed inside of you before we've even begun."

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