Page 37 of Twisted Thorns

"Now you know," Kieran interrupts my thoughts, his voice low.

"Know what?"

"I would have carried you with me forever, no matter which way the tides turned. If you remembered, or not. If we were together, or not. It wouldn't have mattered. You left your mark on me a long time ago, Lina."

At a loss for words, I lower my lips to the lines my fingers were tracing and kiss them.

My stomach drops as I am suddenly in the air, being carried down the hall towards my bedroom. Sitting me on the bed, Kieran kneels before me.

"May I?" he asks. I nod and he moves like honey, trailing his hands up my legs in an unhurried pace, slowly slipping my boots off.

Hooded eyes meet mine as his hands began a deliciously slow torment up the inside of my thighs, meandering in their exploration. But instead of going to my dripping core like I'm envisioning in my head, Kieran smirks as he grabs the hem of my dress to lift it over my head.

I couldn't stop the frustrated growl that left my lips.

Kieran just continues to his sly fox grin as he reaches around to unclasp my bra and then his hands are traveling to my hips again, gripping my underwear and oh so slowly pulling them down my heated flesh.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that patience is a virtue?"

"Fuck you," I hiss.

"Oh, you will, don't worry." he grins.

He pulls back enough to strip off his pants and then he's on me, pushing me down against the bed and folding his body over mine. His lips crash into mine as his body weighs me down, the sudden contact too much and not enough.

I thread my fingers in his hair as I pant between kisses, shifting my hips in an attempt to ease the ache that's building between my thighs.

"I want to hear you say it, Lina."

I pout and nip at Kieran's neck in irritation, wanting to leave a mark on him, the same way I know he's marked my soul.

A dark chuckle tickles my ear before Kieran leans back to look me in the eye. "Use your words, Lina."

I blow a breath between my teeth before answering. "I want you to fuck me, Kieran."

Thankfully, Kieran doesn't tease me further, and instead trails kisses down my neck and shoulder, a constellation that only he knows.

"Please," I gasp. I lift my hips up, angling towards him. Kieran pushes inside in one slow glide, forcing a shudder out of my body and breath out of my lungs. We both still for just a moment, all too aware of how well we fit together, and then we're moving once again.

Here, my forgotten memories are abandoned, discarded like paper on the wind. All that matters is the blood rushing in my veins, singing to the man currently seated inside of me. It's sex, but it's more than sex. It's coming home, and I'm unsure which one of us is finding ourselves again, me or Kieran.

I wrap myself around Kieran, holding on as he grips my hips and fucks me slow, trailing kisses over my neck and breasts, teasing my nipples into firm points that have me arching against him. Slowly the pressure builds and Kieran's hand moves between us, brushing and circling my clit with languid strokes. He's in no rush to wring out every drop of pleasure he can from my body.

I'm caught in a web that I'm desperate to escape but never want to leave. The pleasure is intense, clouding over all of my senses until nothing is left but the sensation of Kieran's body on mine. My past that I can't remember, the accident, everything else melts away.

Another brush of his lips under my ear, a swipe of his fingers at my core, and I'm crying out, muscles tensing in pleasure so sweet it feels like I'll drown. Kieran grunts and then he's moving with me, chasing his own release.

We fall back to the bed with me curled on top of Kieran, my head resting on his chest, again tracing my fingers on the dark lines there.

"What does it mean?" I ask.

"It's a Celtic knot called Serch Bythol, which means everlasting love in Welsh."

"And when did you get the tattoo?" I gaze up at him to see his hooded eyes locked onto mine, their depths unreadable.

"The night I gave you the necklace."

I settled back onto his chest, pondering his words, one hand on my necklace and the other on Kieran's chest.