Page 74 of Threaded

Andrian’s mouth moved to her ear as he stroked her—light, teasing touches that evaded the bundle of nerves where she so desperately wanted him.

“Your body betrays you,nio. You say you despise me, that you shouldn’t have come here tonight—yet you made that choice, not me. And now I’mhere”—he slipped a finger beneath her underwear, pressing it ever so slightly into her as if in emphasis, drawing a whispered moan from her throat—“and I’m calling your bluff.”

Her breath came out in ragged pants, but at his words she managed to lift up one of her hands she’d been leaning on, winding it into the silky lengths of his dark hair. She pulled, lifting his face away from hers so she could meet his gaze.

“Fine. Call my bluff.” Her eyes took in his hooded lids, the lust in his eyes, the fullness of his lips. She pulled his head closer to hers until she was whispering against his mouth.

“But I’m calling yours, too.”

Andrian answered her with a growl, his lips meeting hers just as he sank his finger deep into her.

Mariah’s back arched, her breath gasping, but Andrian’s other hand was again in her hair, holding her firmly in place as he moved his finger in and out of her, curling it to strike that spot deep within her.

When he pushed in another finger and finally brushed his thumb against her clit, she could’ve sworn light pulsed at her skin, her essence fraying at the edges. She couldn’t stop herself from pressing herself into him further, begging him to touch every part of her, to rip the shreds of the night away from her soul until the raging in her mind was finally silenced.

His pace quickened, and she felt herself rising with it, chasing after the one thing she wanted, needed from him in this moment.

Suddenly, he withdrew from her, slipping his fingers out from inside her and leaving her feeling empty, pained, frustrated. Her eyes snapped open to meet his tanzanite stare, his expression heated, his chest rising and falling as fast as hers.

Without a word, he lifted his hand from between them and brought it to his lips, slipping the two fingers that had just been buried in her into his mouth. His eyes closed, a low groan rumbling from his throat before he slid them out and whispered a single word.

“Svass.”

Mariah was about to ask what that meant, her mind moving slowly from the near orgasm, when his eyes snapped open and his hands slipped from her head to under her thighs, pulling her off the counter and wrapping her legs around his waist. Her arms immediately went to his neck, gripping him tightly, before he stood tall and held her close.

“I’m not going to let the first time I make you come be on the kitchen counter,nio. I have more plans for you than just that.”

Mariah’s breath caught in her throat, her blood heating to a near boil, as he turned around and strode for the bed against the far wall of the room.

CHAPTER35

Mariah’s breath whooshed from her lungs as Andrian dropped her, not ungently, onto the black silk sheets.

Then he was there, his body covering hers, the heat radiating from him scorching her skin. His lips again met hers, his hands creeping lazily up her thighs. His fingers found the silky hem of her nightgown, and a low, possessive growl ripped from his throat. He pushed up abruptly to stand beside the bed, his hands pulling her with him until she sat on the edge of the plush mattress.

Wordlessly, he gripped the lace trim of her nightgown and pulled it slowly,teasingly,up the length of her body. Mariah held his stare steadily as she lifted her arms above her head, as he peeled the scrap of fabric off her. Goosebumps pricked her skin the moment the cool air kissed her bare flesh.

For a moment, he just … stared at her, frozen, chest heaving. In that same brief time, she swore she saw in his eyes everything he fought so desperately to keep repressed, hidden from her. It was the same look she’d seen flash in his eyes before—at the Selection, in the gallery, in the library. A look that demanded confessions be pulled from his throat, but begged her to look away and forget she’d ever seen them at all.

So, she just sat there, on his bed, hands braced behind her, as Andrian buried that look back down deep and knelt before her. His gaze drank her in, and her eyes widened in shock when he lifted a hand to her cheek, running the rough pads across her soft skin before gripping her chin. He held her firmly in place, his blue eyes blazing.

“I hated you from the very second you stepped out of that carriage on the day of the Choosing.”

Mariah held her breath, watching him. Images of him in that courtyard flashed through her mind, memories of the intensefeelingthat had lanced between them curling her fingers tighter into the sheets.

Andrian’s hand dropped from her chin and traced the same path it took in the kitchen, this time running down the outside of her chest, skimming under the swell of her breast.

“I hated the fire I saw in your eyes. I hated how that fire heated me, melted the wall of ice I’d worked foryearsto build. I hated how easily you were able to worm your way into my thoughts without even trying.”

The feeling is mutual.

That tortuous hand kept moving down her side, caressing her skin with too-gentle touches, until it gripped her hip, just as firmly as before. With a yank, he pulled her even closer to the edge of the bed, standing just slightly until his forehead was pressed against hers. He dipped his head to her ear, hot breath tickling her skin.

“You will be my undoing,nio. Whenever you think it was you who lost control, remember—it was me who lost control first.”

Those words. They were so simple, yet as close to a confession as she would ever get from him. The magnitude of what he said—that he felt this too, that he’dalwaysfelt this—had all logical thought evaporating from her mind, everything lost in a haze of heat and lust and light. His lips grazed the skin below her ear, and then he was moving again, kneeling once more before her, his mouth leaving a trail of fire down the planes of her stomach. By the time he reached her hips, gripping her thighs and settling himself between her legs, she was panting, her heart racing wildly in her chest.

Mariah managed to crack her eyes open, her eyelids heavy with desire and want and desperateneed. She met his burning blue stare, darkened and gleaming in the dim, flickeringallumeof his room. Holding her gaze, he placed an achingly gentle kiss to the soft skin of her inner thigh, then one higher, andhigher. A wicked grin touched his devilish features, the darkness in his face sparking a light in her chest just as he dipped down and licked her from bottom to top in a single, smooth sweep.

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