Page 77 of Whispers of the Water

His golden eyes slowly opened and locked on mine. “Hate you?” His voice broke on the words, pain gripping his features in a vice-like hold. “Bria, I could never, ever hate you. I won’t lie. When it first happened, when you first … controlled the water, I was so shocked, I didn’t know what I was feeling. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what I was really seeing. I thought I was dreaming. When reality caught up with me, though, and I understood what happened, that you were really Water Fae, I was angry and hurt. I felt lied to and stupid for not knowing.”

His jaw worked, then he continued, “But then I realized something as you were trying to explain why you hid it. All of the things I’d said about Water Fae came rushing back until I was left staring at myself. An ugly reflection that said so many horrible things. I realized the only person I had to blame for the secrecy was myself.”

I tilted my head back to stare at the ceiling in an effort to keep my tears from spilling over. “How can you be okay with this? How can you be okay with my being Water Fae when they’ve taken everything from you?”

“Bria, baby, look at me.”

I slowly forced my head back down. My eyes found Rune’s, and when I saw the emotion I’d been fighting against mirrored in his own eyes, a sob slipped past my quivering lips.

Rune cupped my cheeks and gently drew me closer. “I need you to hear me, okay?”

Not trusting my voice to make coherent words, I simply nodded.

“I love you. That doesn’t mean with stipulations. That doesn’t mean I love you only if you’re human. That doesn’t mean I love you only if you’re not Water Fae. It means I love you, wholly and fully. I love you. The girl who helps random animals in the woods. The girl who loves cinnamon rolls more than life itself. The girl who scrunches her nose when she’s engrossed in a painting.”

“I don’t scrunch—”

“You do,” he laughed through his mounting emotion. He beamed down at me and shook his head. “But I’m not finished. Human or not. Water Fae or not. It doesn’t matter. You are still Bria, the girl I am desperately in love with. So, you’re wrong when you say Water Fae took everything from me because you’re Water Fae. You’ve given me everything. You are my everything.”

There was no holding back the tears now. They fell freely, and Rune gently wiped them from my cheeks with his thumbs. So many emotions gripped my chest. Relief. Hope. Elation. Most of all, love. I loved this man with every fiber of my being, and to hear him express so openly and adamantly that he felt the same left me feeling dizzy with joy.

All my worries and insecurities about who and what I was instantly slipped down the drain in my mind. All that remained was my fox.

My love for him.

My desire for him.

My need for him.

Gripping the front of Rune’s shirt tightly, I whispered, “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

The corner of his mouth lifted as he crooked his finger beneath my chin and angled my face toward his. “I think I’m the one who should be asking that.”

His lips closed over mine in a soft, tender caress, and despite having kissed him numerous times, this one felt different. It felt raw with uncontainable longing. This kiss was slow and deliberate as he parted my lips and coaxed a gasp from me with the flick of his tongue. It was like he wanted me to really feel and taste how much he’d longed for me all this time.

And I was finally ready to show him the same thing.

Pulling away, I guided Rune to the bed and placed my hands on his chest, forcing him onto his back on the mattress. I followed, draping my legs on either side of his hips until the hard mass in his pants pressed right against my soft folds, which were still covered. He grunted as I straddled his need, and an aroused heat lit his eyes.

I traced every curve of his face, took in every flutter of his lashes, and studied each heavy rise and fall of his chest. I could spend hours soaking up his presence. He had become such a vital part of my life, and I was more than ready to share my world and myself with him.

I grabbed for the bottom of my shirt and took my time, pulling it up and over my head. A slight chill kissed my skin as my long hair fell against my bare back, and the shirt slipped from my fingers toward the floor.

Rune’s eyes drank me in with a slow, heated prowl, tracing my exposed skin, following the lines of my bra. I bit my lip as I watched him study me, and I couldn’t ignore the way it made me ache at my center. His obvious desire for me made me warm and breathless.

When his lust-filled eyes found mine again, he whispered, “Nothing could ever be more beautiful than you.”

Beaming at him, I leaned down to press my lips against his, and I instantly melted into him. My ache for him deepened, and my lips parted to welcome him in.

Rune quickly grabbed my hips as our kiss grew hungrier and more desperate. An eager shiver trailed my spine as his fingers roamed up my back and stopped at the clasp of my bra. With a quick tug, the material came loose. His mouth never left mine as his fingers followed the straps’ descent down my arms.

My need to pull back and breathe was fighting with my need to keep exploring his mouth. Before either one could win, though, Rune tilted his head to run kisses along my chin and down my throat. My eyes slipped shut, and I bit my lip against the feel of his hot breath tickling my skin in the best way possible. His teeth scraped against my sensitive neck, and his grip around my waist pulled me further into his lips.

I relished the feel of him nibbling at my skin as his lips and tongue sucked gently. One strong arm wrapped around my waist while the other made its way up to my hair. He grabbed a handful of my blonde locks and swept it aside to cascade over one shoulder, exposing more of my neck and collarbone, where he trailed lower and lower.

“I need to feel you,” he groaned into my neck as his hands cupped each of my breasts. He squeezed and swiped his thumbs over my puckered tips.

I let out a sharp gasp, and my core tightened with want. “Then touch me more. Take me. Don’t stop.”

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