Page 100 of Crowned By the Fae King

Cass sprawled down along the side of the pool with a lopsided smile. He wrapped his big hands around my calves and tugged me towards him. "Why would you want me to? You're as hungry as our Court, lioness."

With a snort, I followed him, moving to sprawl alongside him. I held out my champagne glass and Cass let me pour some into his mouth, tilting his head back and giving me a heated look from under his dark lashes. "What conqueror wants to rule over a smoking ruin?" I asked, smiling when he kissed the edge of the flute. I pressed my own lips to his lip-print before taking another sip. "I need to trust you'll let me know before I start doing damage."

Cass gave me a rueful smile. "I'm not certain I'll even notice." He rubbed his knuckles against his cheek. "I'm not certain I'd tell you if I did."

"We'll work on it," I said, flashing him a brighter smile. I clinked my glass against his, making the crystal ring. "Another good reason to go slow."

"Gods." He dropped his head back against the ice-crusted stone, his black hair starkly beautiful against the white. "This is…" His voice trailed off and lashes drifted closed. The sunlight gilded his damp skin, drawing the eye down his throat, his chest, his strong core.

Cass reached up and tilted my chin back towards his face before my eyes hit his groin.

I raised a brow. "Shy, splendor?"

He made a face at me. "Yes, very. Let me bask, will you?"

Our laughter lit the air at the same time, his low rumble paired with my brighter joy. Cass snaked an arm around me and tugged me down against his side, a smile warming his face.

I ducked my chin and hid my own smile behind my glass. "You can bask in peace if you finish that sentence."

He laughed again, the white of his teeth bright against his warm brown skin and his eyes dancing with good humor. "This is incredible, sunlight," Cass said. He settled his arm around me, hand on my hips. "I never expected you to do something like this, and I am so deeply grateful for it." His expression went dreamy as he smiled, warm eyes on mine. "I feel like my universe has a center."

God, he was gorgeous, his smiles so easy and his emotions painted so vividly on that handsome face. It was sort of unreal that I got to be here, hearing him laugh. Making him laugh.

"I should have done it sooner, I think," I said, smiling back up at him; smiling so much the corners of my mouth ached.

His fingers stroked along my side. "Don't expect complaints from me. Your timing was lovely." Cass sprawled back with more decadence, then reached over and poured himself more champagne, lifting it up to shine in the sun. The steam condensed on the cold glass, sliding down in runnels to drip over his fingers.

His fingernails were getting darker, I realized, watching him turning the glass. It was the monster in him, showing more day by day. Where would it end? Would it ever? One day, not so long from now, would I find myself lying in bed with a beast?

Oddly, the thought didn't frighten me. None of the slight changes to my soulmate felt strange or out-of-place. The gold spreading in his eyes, the feathers marching down his spine, the sharpening of his teeth… He was still Cass. I was still his soulmate. If Faery was changing him, it was changing me, too. Faery bound us. It wouldn't forget who we were to each other. Time itself would remember.

"You're beautiful," I murmured, following his hand to his face as he took a sip of the champagne.

The light glinted off his earrings, highlighting his ears as he dropped them down, his shyness coming to the fore. It shivered through me, delicate and tender, like butterflies fluttering around their favorite flowers. "I'm glad you think so," Cass said softly, a hopeful smile turning up his mouth.

My gaze fell to his lips, his shyness frissoning across my desire. I rolled the stem of my glass between my fingers. "So, um. Is it okay for me to want to kiss you now, or is kissing only for the end of a date?" I asked, flicking my eyes back up to his.

Cass' expression softened towards yearning. He reached up and caressed my cheek, water dripping off his fingers. His voice rasped as he said, "It doesn't have to be."

I leaned closer, my breasts against his bare chest and my skin buzzing from how very much I wanted the rest of me pressed against him. My chin lifted, face tilting towards his. "Do you want to kiss me?"

"I've wanted to kiss you since I first laid eyes on you," he said, his voice getting rougher. "I dream about kissing you almost every gods-damned time I sleep, Quyen. There's a reason I'm afraid your desire is merely a reflection of mine."

His yearning pulsed in my blood and ached in my bones, a tidal force of desire that could have swept anyone away. But even a woman caught in a riptide can tell when she's being dragged somewhere she doesn't want to go. I wasn't lost in him. I was caught up in him, carried by his current, and it was exactly where I wanted to be.

"You should give me a little more credit, your splendor," I crooned to him. I set my champagne down in the snow and pushed myself up, water sheeting down my body. "And then you should kiss me."

He moved slowly, setting his glass to the side with his eyes on mine. "You're sure?" he asked. His fingertips brushed against my jaw, tilting my mouth towards his. "You don't need time to think about this, away from me?"

"I've been thinking about this for a long time." I dropped my eyes to his yearning mouth and bit my lip. "Five weeks longer than you have, actually."

Cass let out a panting breath. "Well, then," he said, his voice rough, and leaned his face up to mine.

Warm lips brushed against mine in a delicate caress. Somehow, that touch meant more than all the rest of it—more than his hand in my hair or on my bare hip, than my breasts pressed to his chest; more than even his bare thigh leaning against me had. Cass flooded into me, every door open. In a flash, I was him, my strong fingers buried in the silken strands of my hair, my whole body focused on the places where I touched my other half, my burning desire warring with the certainty that I was too much, too dangerous, too needy—love this love you need you want you—

One of us moaned – I didn't know who – and then we crashed together. Tongues met in a flash of heat, my fingers dragging at his hair and his hands crushing my body to him.

—love you love this take me love me need you don't stop—

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