Page 125 of Crowned By the Fae King

He did it again, moving to the next one. "Fucking you into pleasant oblivion," he purred. Cass licked the tip of my ring finger with an expression of bliss. "Kissing you," he said, tasting my pinky, "and doing it again."

"Yes," I breathed, my whole soul fixated on the movement of his mouth.

His lips curled up into a smile. He pressed his mouth to my palm.

"Try again," I said, desire sparkling in my throat and gut and groin. "Try again, and again, and again. Cassie," I whispered. Need sang to me, the river of emotion between us sweeping me away. "Never stop trying."

Cass looked down at me through his dark lashes, depths of affection lighting his eyes. He shifted to frame my body, then lowered his head to press kisses with murmured endearments, his voice dropping deeper each time. My lioness. My heart. My love. My Queen.

Each touch drew that bond tighter and tighter around us, like stitching together the two sides of a rip. It didn't hurt, and it didn't scare me. We were two halves of a whole. How could I be scared of feeling us come together?

Mine, I whispered to his heart.

He looked up along my naked body, eyes dark with desire. "Yours," Cass agreed, sliding down between my thighs, and kissed me again.

A Walk in the Park

Nothing compared to what it was like to make love to my soulmate—to be fucked by him. With every touch, every kiss, every orgasm, we found our way closer to each other, a process so natural and comfortable that I couldn't imagine doing anything else. It was like practicing with my swordmistress, each step and movement getting closer and closer to perfection. Breathless anticipation skimmed under my skin, a foretaste of the moment when we'd be laughing or kissing or wracked with ecstasy and nothing else would matter.

He could feel it, too. I saw it in the disbelief and wonder in his smile; felt it the way his mouth caressed my skin.

We were soulmates. We were going to get to love each other forever. The moment he truly believed that – the moment we believed that – it would come true, our joy singing eternity into being.

Cass didn't have to rest if he didn't want to, but the comfortable bliss caught us in warm arms at last. We drowsed together, me on my back with Cass sprawled against me, totally sated. I couldn't stop smiling, rousing with the sun while he gently snored. My soulmate, my King, my Court. Mercy Himself slept there, his love warming my skin.

I pushed a few strands of hair back from his face, tucking them behind his sharp-tipped ear. His dark lashes parted, sleepy eyes focusing on me in the morning light.

"Hi," he murmured, his voice rough with sleep and soft with affection.

"Hi," I said back. I ran my fingers along the edge of his ear with a smile. "Is this still okay?"

A smile like the sun spread across his face. Cass lifted his ear, pressing it into my caress. "Far more than okay, sunlight," he said. He cupped my cheek with one calloused hand and tilted his face towards mine to run his nose along mine, luxuriating in the motion. "It's wonderful. I feel like I'm floating on a thermal, the sun on my wings and the breath of the earth buoying me up."

I had no self-control to exercise with Cass' mouth that close to mine. I closed the millimeters of distance, melting into his warmth.

Cass made a low sound of pleasure, kissing me with sultry care, the endless depths of his yearning heart all mine to drown in. I love you, he murmured into my soul.

I love you, too, I replied, feeling him smile against my mouth.

"Want to go for our walk?" he asked. "It's early enough and cold enough that we might actually get to be alone, for once."

My eyes danced with good humor. "Not even a shower after all that sex, huh?"

His smile spread, showing the tips of his teeth. "Why bring wet hair out into winter cold? We can surely shower when we get back," Cass said, in a low purr that suggested there would be rather more going on in the shower than simply getting clean.

"Is showering a 'we' thing, now?" I asked with a smirk.

He ran his tongue along the sharp tip of his canine in a lascivious gesture. "It could be. I don't seem to ever want to stop touching you," he said. His fingers traced along my bare side. "I'm afraid I'm getting somewhat addicted to having my hands on you. I may become something of a glutton."

"Are you going to start sleeping next to me, too?" Even thinking about it sent a trembling sensation all down my front, my lungs feeling suddenly too shallow. "Keep me warm at night?"

"If you like." Cass kissed me again, soft and affectionate. "As long as you don't mind having some of my weight on you, if we sleep like this you should be safe from my wings. I doubt I'd forget where you were, even in my sleep, but I could trust that with you alongside me."

"You're spoiling me," I said, doing a little wiggle.

"Then be spoiled." Cass heaved himself up and half-spread his wings, about as far as they could go in the small room. He smiled down at me. "Let's get outside for a bit. Enjoy the morning while everyone else is sleeping the revel off."

Responsible adult Cass got us out of bed and dressed, though I suspected it was more so he could stretch his wings than any real desire to be outside instead of in bed. He did hold true to his threat of keeping his hands on me: his hand on my back every time he passed by, his deft fingers trailing through my hair, his forearm resting across my shoulder while we strolled through our palace towards the gate.

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