Page 31 of Rise of a Fallen Man

“I’ll send my mother’s witch to check on you,” she promised. “You’ll get the best care there is in Rorrim. And if anything is needed from overseas, I’ll figure out a way to get it too.” She drew in a heavy sigh, unshed tears glistening in her eyes, brighter than the diamonds around her neck. “This should not have happened. Did something go wrong with that bear? Please tell me this wasn’t planned. You don’t have to go through it again, do you?”

This was what proved the most irresistible about Ari—her compassion. She cared about me while I had long forgotten what it felt like to be cared about.

Turning down sex was easy. I’d gone for years without it, hardly missing it at all. The tenderness of an intimacy was harder to go without, but I’d managed that too. However, the feeling of worth that Ari woke in me was something I’d never experienced with any other woman before.

Ari saw a man in me before she saw a male. With her, I felt like not only my life, but everything else about me mattered. She cared about my health, about my well-being, about my happiness... She simply cared. And that was impossible to resist.

“I’m fine, sweetheart, I—” A warm glow in my chest grew, stopping my words.

She touched the side of my face, her fingers curling into my beard. Her eyes held mine, saying more than words ever could. She saw through to my very soul. She always saw me, all of me, from the first moment her gaze ever connected with mine.

I drew her to me, propping my knee on the window seat for balance. Her legs ended up on each side of my thigh. I slid my hands up her back. Her heart beat so hard, I felt it under my palm splayed on her back below her shoulder blade.

She ran her fingers along the leather belts across my chest, then buried her nose in my neck and inhaled deeply, hungry for my touch and my scent as much as I was for hers.

Princess Arini might not be mine, but in some cruel twist of fate, our hearts beat in unison and our bodies belonged together. All her pieces fit perfectly with mine. We resonated like two fine-tuned strings struck in accord—a song with no words needed.

I didn’t know who moved first, but our lips connected. It felt like coming home, even as I barely remembered what having a home felt like. I kissed her like a starving man. Because I had been starving for things that only she could make me feel.

Reaching inside her neckline, I cupped her breast. Her nipple pebbled under my fingers. I pinched it gently, eliciting a breathless moan from her lips. She pressed closer, trapping my thigh between her legs.

The need for her pulsed through my veins. Heat rushed me from head to toe. I hardly realized what I was doing, hiking her skirts up, hand over fist, in search of her hips. With a soft groan, she tore at the tangled strings of my loincloth, then gave up and lifted it instead. Her chilled fingers found my hard, aching cock, and I thrust into her hand with a groan.

It was like a dance that we’d learned to do so well together. When I pushed, she pulled. When I took, she gave. And when I gave, she took it all, then begged for more.

She helped me slide her silk undergarments down, then let me guide her left leg around my middle while leaving her other knee propped on the window seat.

“I need you, Salas. Goddess knows I do.” She pressed herself to me.

It was a heady feeling to be needed this desperately.

I reached between us and slipped a finger inside her slick heat. She moaned, arching into my touch. She was ready for me, but I savored this moment, stoking her need. I stroked herslowly, massaging and stretching her from the inside. With my other hand, I gripped the back of her head as my mouth ravaged her in a frantic kiss.

When I couldn’t stand our separation for another second, I finally brought my cock to her opening, and she moved forward as I thrust in. Warm pleasure coursed through me as our bodies connected. I could stay like this forever, devouring her with all my senses.

She wound her arms around my neck and buried her face in my shoulder, surrendering to me completely. For one precious moment, she was wholly mine. I held her body in my arms and her soul in my heart. I felt her with every part of my being.

I thrust harder, lost to the pleasure of owning her like this. I wanted her to feel it too. Gripping her hips, I angled them to deepen our connection. With tiny whimpers that I grew to adore, she rubbed against my ridge, chasing her pleasure.

Climax shuddered through her, and I let it go too. She clung to me, riding our joint orgasm together. With her forehead pressed to my chest, she gripped the belts on my shoulders so hard, like she would never let me go. And right then, I truly hoped she never would.

She inhaled deeply, pressing a kiss to my chest, then lifted her face to mine.

“Salas, I...”

The unfinished sentence levitated between us. I held my breath, hoping against all odds for it to bloom into something magical.

What was she about to say?

“I...” what?

“I missed you.”

“I want to see you again.”

“I need you in my life.”

The sound of a door opening shattered the charged silence between us to pieces. And with it, my hope popped like a soap bubble.

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