Page 44 of A Heart of Ice and Shadow

He kissed her neck softly, then her shoulder. Her breaths grew more and more ragged until she couldn’t take it anymore. His name slipped from her lips in a voice she barely recognized. His teeth scraped her shoulder in response, and she groaned, her knees dropping so that his fingers just barely touched her sex. She hissed and almost dropped one of her hands, but his palm shot up to press it against the wall, letting her breasts lie free and bare to the cool, dark air.

She gasped at the suddenness of the movement as his hot breath spread against the tender skin at her shoulder. His body was tense at her back. Rigid and firm. She could feel his hard length pressed along the top of her ass. Gwen bit her lip. She wanted to tell him what she wanted. Wanted to give voice to the fantasies and the need that had been bubbling up inside her for weeks. She didn’t want gentle. Not now.

“Touch me.” The words were clear and sharp in the silence. A command. A plea.

Sirus replied with a growl, pressing her hand further to the wall. Then he touched her. His fingers slid over the silken fabric of her damp panties. The groan she emitted was lush and dark. There was a small rush of chilled air as he slipped the fabric aside, and then one long finger pressed against her hot, wet sex. Gwen panted in anticipation, her hands still pressed to the wall. Sirus stroked her again, his breath hot at the side of her head just above her ear. She bit her lip. Waiting. One finger pressed only a little into her, and Gwen nearly screamed but managed to stifle her cry. When he pulled his fingers away from her, she whimpered in confusion, her head dizzy and fogged. His one arm was still taut, holding her hand firm to the wall. When she heard him suck, her body went rigid and her eyes wide.

“Salty, sweet,” he growled in her ear.

A strained, stifled sound fell out of her. He’d sucked on his own fingers. The ones that had just stroked over her, been inside her. He’d wanted to know how she tasted. Her body flushed with raw heat. It was the sexiest thing she’d ever experienced, and the most nerve-racking all at once.

Gwen felt the shift of his body. “I want to taste more of you,” he rumbled.

She nodded. “Yes.” Yes. Yes. Yes.

His rough hand slid down the base of her belly, beneath her skirt, and the line of her panties. His fingers were on her in an instant. She gasped then moaned as he stroked over her sex. She was so slick and wet, she could hear it. His other hand fell from hers and began to move over her, fondling her breasts, her belly, her thighs. Every part of her he could reach. Her hands stayed pressed against the wall like he’d asked. Those fingers stroked over her until she was writhing against them. He kissed her neck and nipped and scraped.

Gwen became lost. She’d never felt so worshipped. So wanted. She threw her head back, and he took her mouth in a searing kiss, stifling her groan as he slid one finger, then another, inside of her. His tongue slid into her mouth at the same time. The dual sensations brought her so close to the edge, she knew if he merely pressed his palm against her, she’d break apart. He didn’t. He almost seemed to be avoiding that very thing.

He held her in a kiss until she had to breathe. Her head fell forward as he worked inside her. Stroking in and out of her. Sirus made no sound but ragged breathing at her back. When she could take no more, Gwen dropped one of her hands to cover his and press him harder against her. He growled and immediately let her go.

Her head spun, and Gwen only realized what was going on when she felt her leg arch up and her back press against the wall. Sirus had knelt before she realized it. Hot need shot through her. He placed a kiss on the inside of her thigh. Her leg was over his shoulder.

“I told you I wanted to taste more of you,” he said through the darkness. Her body felt so cold from the night air, and yet it was burning all at once.

Gwen couldn’t speak. She only nodded her head and dug her fingers into his dense, curly hair. She felt a small tug and heard a tear when he pulled the strips of fabric that were her panties away, baring her entirely to him in the darkness.

He stroked her with his fingers, and she moaned with abandon, arching herself against the wall. She was already so close, and he knew it. Sirus bit her thigh, and she gasped. The gasp was stifled by a deep, wicked groan when his mouth fell on her.

Gwen leaned her head back against the wall and felt lost in the moment. Frozen in time. Frozen in pleasure. She moaned and whimpered and felt that tension inside her coiling to a precipice. She’d never liked this with any other man. It had always made her feel self-conscious and awkward, but with Sirus it was different. He devoured her like he would feast on her sex for eternity if he could. It made her that much wetter, drove her that much closer to the edge, knowing how much he wanted her.

She wanted more of him. She wanted every part of him. But she was so close and couldn’t think straight. She felt drunk off of his tongue. His fingers began to work inside her again, and Gwen stifled a cry, digging her fingers into his scalp. She felt him growl against her sex.

With Sirus, she didn’t feel self-conscious. She felt bold and brave and sexy and beautiful. He wanted to make her come, and her whole body swelled with flutters of energy knowing it.

Gwen came close to the edge and knew she was going to come apart. In the spring, she’d felt this close to him as he held her. It had been intimate and startling. Here, now, it was hot and desperate, but she still felt it. That he cherished her. The way he touched her and drew her out. How he got pleasure from her pleasure. She wanted to give them both pleasure.

Stars crested her vision as she tumbled over the edge. Gwen didn’t try to hold in her cries; they came loud and raw as she clung to him in the periphery of her mind. Sirus languished over her, drawing out every last sound and whimper and convulsion.

When calm came back over her, when the darkness settled and her pulse stopped pounding in her ears, all she could focus on were her harsh breaths in the darkness as he held her hips firmly so she wouldn’t topple over. Her body felt like it was floating, her legs like jelly. Gwen lightly ran her hands through the pitch black until they landed on his chest.

She wished she could see his face in that moment. Her hands meant to work their way up, but instead they slid down the front of him. Down his muscled sternum and abs to that V, showing her which path to follow, as if she didn’t already know. His hands snatched her wrists and held them firm.

Gwen blinked in her haze. “I want to touch you,” she breathed. No more games. No more orders.

He held her wrists firm and leaned in. She felt the heat of his body, but it didn’t press into hers. A kiss brushed her forehead, and he let out a deep breath that fell hot on her skin.

“It is late. You should sleep.”

She closed her eyes and smiled, breathing him in deep. Sleep was the farthest thing from her mind right now. Her skin felt electric. He made her feel electric. Gwen recognized his hesitancy. She easily pulled her hands from his grip, placing them on his chest once more. Even in the utter darkness she could find his lips. She brushed them with a featherlight kiss.

Gwen didn’t want this night to end. She didn’t know if they’d even get another one, but she wouldn’t think about that now. “Stay with me,” she whispered. Right now, all she wanted was for him to wrap her in his darkness until she forgot there was anything else.

Sirus struggled to hold his grip of control. She had brought him to his knees, and he would happily stay there forever if he could. Drawing out her pleasure. He inhaled her soft scent of lilies like it were a drug. He could still taste the sweetness of her climax on his tongue.

Gwendolyn didn’t know what she tempted to unleash. He’d told himself he would enjoy what little time together they could before she was gone forever. That he would give her whatever she desired.

He’d been such a fool.

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