Page 140 of Winterfall Destiny

I wait for the angry denial but that’s pointless because every single moment since he walked into my day, fear radiated from him more than any other emotion.

“How lost are you, Andrei?” I ask. “Are you the First or yourself?”

“Yesterday. The things I did. The First’s voice wasn’t there. I never felt her influence but… that wasn’t me. I attacked Jamie, for fuck’s sake. I don’t know what I’m capable of! I’m not in control once I’m triggered. What if I disappear altogether?”

The tears choke me again. “I can’t lose you, Andrei, but sometimes I feel I already have.”

He tenses. “Why?”

“Because you won’t touch me!” I never meant to shout but the frustration seeps out. “Because you’re withdrawing into the dark that sometimes surrounds you now.”

“Maeve…” His hands hold my cheeks. “You won’t lose me. I’ll cling onto who I am as long as I don’t lose you.”

I hold his face too, the shared breath hot and intense, and the charge beneath our fingers, between our lips where they hover so close together, sparks the familiarity between us.

“Please come back to me, Andrei.”

Andrei only hesitates a single moment before he kisses me, dragging the air from my lungs as his impossibly hot lips and tongue move against mine. He tastes of sweetness I’ve missed and of the darkness that whispers around him, but he’s mine.

Andrei’s kiss splinters our broken world further as the intensity of the fierce energy from within him tears apart the remaining parts of us that I've held together. Not energy that he’s fighting, but that which drives his desire to return to who we were. I sprawl across the cushions as Andrei tips me backwards and covers my body with his.

I need to be surrounded by Andrei, engulfed by everything he’s denied. I pull at his wet T-shirt, and when he helps tug it over his head fingers trembling, as the desire to reconnect consumes me. Andrei pushes my sweater upwards and kisses along my skin, holding my waist as he moves his lips. He stops, exhaling against my stomach; his hot cheek pressed against me and breath coming in bursts. Pausing. Anchoring himself before anything can drag him away again.

I tug at Andrei’s hair. "Kiss me."

He lifts his head, and everything in Andrei's expression blows apart any last doubt who he is. Andrei gazes at me with the same vulnerability and need as he did the first night spent in his room, but as magnified as the changed the blood made to him.

All my worries and desires reflect back as Andrei strokes damp hair from my forehead. "I love you, Maeve. Whatever else changes, that never will.”

A rough passion follows the tenderness, a longing to get skin on skin as we pull at our clothes. The world shifts further away with each item we remove from each other, and every new taste and touch of each other's skin. As I shiver against the cool day, Andrei slides a hand under my back, arching me towards him, his mouth and tongue teasing me.

He's holding his weight away, cautious but I’m starved by the days lost, eager to be pressed beneath him, obliterated from anything but this. Dizzied by his lips and tongue on each newly revealed place, I'm a trembling mess as he pulls at my soaked jeans, now a second skin.

I laugh at how it takes two of us to strip them away, then his own as he struggles with his too. The day cools my naked skin, but Andrei covers me again. He smiles, head pressed against mine, his hands on my hips. I murmur as he strokes gently from my ankle upwards, circling his thumb against my inner thigh teasingly close to the apex. As he slides a finger along my heat, my body fires with the memory of every time Andrei touched me.

More. I need more. To push away the guy who walked into my day minutes ago and find the one Andrei’s scared he’s lost. I make a soft sound as he eases his fingers into me, and Andrei sucks in a breath and tenses.

His bright eyes hold my own, asking the question without words, and I nod. “I want this. You. Everything you’ve held back from me.”

His fringe is damp on my forehead as he places his lips on mine. “I want you so much, Maeve, but don’t let me fuck this up.”

I half-smile at his words. “You won’t. You never do.”

Andrei’s mouth crashes onto mine again, our tongues dancing together, tasting each other, knowing each other. I moan into Andrei’s mouth, as holds me tightly, and guides himself into me until I’m completely surrounding him. Tipping my head back and closing my eyes, I groan as each thrust intensifies the pleasure I’ve craved .

“Look at me, Maeve,” he says.

My eyelids flutter open, and I meet Andrei’s. Not quicksilver ones brimming with confusion, but his. There is more intimacy in the look we share than any kiss and my heart fills until it aches to explode.

“I see you, Andrei,” I whisper. “You’re not lost; you’re here.”

The fierceness of us, the pleasure pushing me further towards the edge consumes me, and tears fight my eyes as I hold his gaze and watch as he lets go—release the fear, the desire, and the wall he rebuilt around himself. He rests his forehead against mine, murmuring over and over how much he loves me, as he places a hand between us, teasing me until a shockwave tears through every part of me. Andrei pulls his head back watches me unravel, soaking up my pleasure. Crying out, I dig my fingers into his back not wanting to let go of him as he continues to touch me, sending me over the edge again.

Eyes closing, Andrei’s mouth parts, and the pleasure at seeing the effect I have on this guy knocks away the little breath I have left. I move against Andrei, urging him on, whispering what he’s doing to me, until he pushes hard into me one last time, and buries his face into my hair, groaning.

He lifts his head and brushes tendrils of damp hair from my face staring down at me as if I might disappear if he blinks.

“You’re fucking incredible” he says and then a smile tugs at his lips. I know exactly what he’s about to say, and arch a brow, remembering these words. “And I will never get tired of the incredibleness of fu?—.”

---