Page 94 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

“You surprised me, too, tonight.” I stepped closer.

His cravat was undone, its ends hanging loosely on each side of his muscular neck. The collar that the tie was supposed to hold together was now open too, showing a narrow triangle of his skin.

I slid my hand down one end of his cravat, stroking the silky material decorated with fine black lace.

“Sparrow, what are you doing?” he lowered his voice.

“You’re always so impeccably put together, High General. It’s surprising to find your clothes in disarray.” I flicked the end of the cravat. “What happened to your tie pin, Voron?”

He grabbed my wrist but remained silent. Only the sound of his heavy breathing came from him as I raised my other hand, the one with his pin clutched in it.

I pressed my closed fist to his chest. His heartbeat was as hard as his breathing, pounding against my hand.

“I believe this is yours.” I opened my fist and sank the pin back into his cravat. “You helped that woman die, didn’t you? Why?”

He drew in a long breath, pausing for a moment, as if wondering about it himself.

“Because you asked me to.”

His reply left me speechless. Instead of taking my hand away, I slid it between the buttons of his vest and under his shirt.

He sucked in a breath when my fingers connected with his bare skin.

“What game are you playing, little bird?”

For once, I wasn’t playing. I stopped pretending that he didn’t affect me, that being this close to him didn’t make me wish for more. I simply did what I wanted. And I wanted to touch him.

His skin felt warm; the short hair on his chest tickled between my fingers. I leaned closer.

“No games, Voron.” A silver button on his vest popped open, and I opened the one on his shirt too, exposing more of his chest. “Just you.” I placed a kiss on his skin. “And me.”

With a strangled growl, he gripped my arms and staggered behind the bushes growing on each side of the palace doors, taking me with him. With a snap of his fingers, the wall of the palace next to us grew dimmer. Darkness shrouded us.

Here, away from any spying eyes, he drew me to him.

“Do you want me, Sparrow?” He buried his face in my hair. Trailing his lips down the side of my face, he kissed me. Tasted me. Breathed me in. “Tell me how much you want me.”

I tilted my head to give him a better access to my neck, craving more of his kisses.

“I do. I want you so much,” I confessed with a needy whimper. “So much, it hurts.”

“Where does it hurt, sweetheart? Tell me.”

I couldn’t tell him. I couldn’t find the words. He slid a hand between us, and I guided it to the spot in the apex of my thighs where the need for him throbbed most urgently.

“Let me make it better,” he promised in a hot whisper. “Just this once.”

He hiked up my skirts, his movements hurried and fervent. My entire body vibrated in response. My breathing was so rugged and heavy, it made my throat sore.

With his warm hands splayed on my naked backside, he turned us around, bracing my back against the wall.

If I had ever been touched like that by a man before, the memories of that were long gone. The sensation of Voron’s hands on me felt entirely new. Holding me against the wall, he stroked up my thigh to the hot throbbing spot between my legs, the epicenter of my need.

“Is this where it hurts, my little bird? Is this where you want me?”

I released a tortured moan in reply, pushing my hips into his hand. “Yes…”

My mind might’ve forgotten what sex was like, but my body remembered. It seemed to light on fire under his touch, pleasure pulsing through me in waves. I dreamed about this, about Voron touching me, kissing me, loving me just like this. Being with him now still felt like a dream.

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