Page 43 of A Kiss of Flame

She was overcome with the intimacy of it—that he would show all of himself to her here while they were all alone with no one else to see. He hadn’t brought out his wings during their night together on Beltane.

Levian raised her hand from his chest and pulled the magick into her touch as she grazed the edge of his wing. He closed his eyes and groaned softly with pleasure, sliding his hand to hold her neck firm as he leaned down to press his forehead against hers. Barith took several deep, steadying breaths, and Levian’s heart began racing with anticipation. There was no dampening here like there had been in Kamár. Levian raised the other hand and stroked each of his wings with a delicate touch laced with magick that she sent, skittering through the membrane like an electric shock.

Barith sucked in a breath through his nostrils. His eyes shot open, glowing with fire, his fingers pressing roughly into her back, and he released a primal growl. The sound was dark and delicious and made her body thrum for more. Levian tangled herfingers into his auburn hair and arched into him, their lips only an inch apart.

They'd shared one last adventure, she thought to herself. What could it hurt to share one last night?

Chapter Twelve

Barith breathed Levian’s jasmine scent deep into his lungs, causing fire to rise within him. When he opened his eyes to peer down at her, a wave of emotions smashed into him, so many he struggled to focus. Underneath it all, he felt an ease with Levian in his arms, a comfort he’d nearly forgotten but had desperately missed.

She tangled her fingers in his hair and arched herself closer. Barith didn’t know why she’d pulled away from him in the pool at Kamár, except that maybe she’d gotten too lost in the moment and their bet. But this moment—thiswas different. There was no bet, no act, no end game. It was simply her and him standing in the library of Ember Hall before the fire.

Barith was already lost before they’d even begun.

He held the side of her slim neck firmly in his hand, his other pressing at the middle of her back. Their breaths grew shallower with each intake as they hovered just at the precipice. Her soft, delicate lips ever so lightly grazed his. Barith teased at hers—as if each was challenging the other until one gave in. Levian ran her nails along the back of his scalp, sending a little skitter of magick washing over him like water.

With a growl, he broke and took her lips in a searing kiss. His ears crackled with her magick, and his skin burned from his own. Levian moaned softly into his mouth, digging her fingers further into his hair. Minutes or hours could have passed as they stood in their embrace.

Levian pulled away from their kiss first, leaving both of them panting, and looked up into his eyes. She backed away from him slowly, and he let her go, though each of her soft steps filled him with agony. “Step back,” she told him, a touch breathless. He did as she asked.

The mage waved her hands, and a collection of blankets appeared—a blend of vibrant colors and silken fabric. She turned her attention from him to the floor. She laid them out in great layers before the crackling hearth, adding plush pillows to the edges. When she was satisfied with her creation, she stood in the middle and turned to look at him. “Iama creature of comfort,” she reminded him with a coy smirk.

“I cannot say I mind in this instance,” he grumbled with a soft smile of his own.

Levian’s gaze darkened as she examined him. Barith bent over to remove his boots before stepping onto her little love nest. The fabric was lush and soft against his feet. He reached out for her, but she held her hand up to still him. “Kneel,” she told him, pointing down at her feet.

Barith couldn’t help but cock his head at the request. The mage smiled as if she knew he would argue or at least be confused. She took his large hand in both hers, raising it to her lips. She kissed his fingers delicately before she nipped at the middle one with her teeth. He growled, and she pulled him forward. “I want to touch you,” she told him.

Gods above and below, he wanted her to touch him. He knelt before her without a word. One knee. Then the other. He glamoured his wings away long enough to pull his shirt overhis head, then looked up at her. Her eyes flared violet; her breath stuttered with anticipation when his wings reappeared. Levian let go of his hand and came closer. She ran fingers along his shoulder, neck, and beard until she wove them into his hair. Barith closed his eyes and growled softly. Her touch was heavenly. She stroked his scalp with her nails until he was lulled into a heady fog, little grunts of satisfaction seeping out.

In time, the mage slid her hands from his hair and ran a few fingers down his left shoulder as she shifted around him. Barith cracked open his eyes, a touch dizzy from the spell of her touch. His wings were slightly tucked but still took up a great deal of space. Barith felt her come up behind him, parts of her body lightly grazing his wings as she slid between them. When her fingers wove back into his hair from behind, he closed his eyes again and grunted, leaning his head back into her touch. Her fingers worked down the back of his neck to the ridge of his shoulders. Down and down until he was holding his breath and waiting for what would come next. He was already hard, but the moment her delicate fingers brushed where his wings and back met, his cock stiffened, and a primal moan vibrated through him. Barith leaned his head back to the heavens and kept his eyes shut, relishing the dark pleasure she sent crashing over him.

A soft kiss fell between his shoulders, then between his wings. His breath held. When her tongue ran along the top of his spine, he hissed, arching forward. Then her magick came. Soft skitters spread over his skin and along his wings. Barith shuddered and gasped, his muscles spasming as he tried to keep himself under control. “Levian,” he growled, his fists clenched at his sides.

She kissed him at the base of his neck. “Hmm?” she mumbled back softly.

It was so lush and tender. Her touch. Her soft kisses. When her teeth grazed over his skin, Barith lost it. In a flash, he arched his wing up, twisted himself around to the right, reached back, and got ahold of her hips. He yanked her around until she was splayed out on her back next to him on the pillows.

Levian grumbled at the forcefulness, but Barith had every intention of making up for it. He planted his hands into the pillows at either side of her face and hovered over her. The mage’s breath hitched, her eyes deep pools of desire as she looked up at him. He’d meant to draw out his touches until he left her drunk with desire as she’d just done to him, but as she gazed up into his eyes, her breaths grew shallow. Each one making his blood quicken.

Before he could even lower himself to her, she’d wrapped her hands around his neck and arched herself up to meet him. The kiss was explosive. There was no tenderness or teasing, just a consuming passion that slaked over them. Barith lowered his hips down over her, and the satisfying friction of her thigh against his hard cock made him growl into her mouth. Levian moaned, twisting her hips so that he better pressed against her core. Barith rocked against her the way she wanted, and their kiss ended in a shared groan of pleasure.

When he leaned back, his mouth watered as he admired her raw beauty. She still wore the slinky dress from Kamár, but he could see the hard tips of her nipples beneath the silken fabric. Levian had lamented from time to time over their long friendship about the size of her breasts but had never taken any action to alter them with magick. He was glad of it. They were perfect just as they were.

Barith ran his rough hands over her soft skin, over the silky fabric down her chest, and between her breasts. Levian arched into his touch, her breath faltering when he caressed the edge of one of her nipples. He leaned down over it, and her breath held.

He’d not forgotten what she liked even after all this time. Or how much he’d enjoyed worshipping her body that night they lay under the summer moon of Beltane. When he flicked his tongue out and slowly licked over the fabric that separated him and her hard nipple, she groaned lusciously low, arching herself into him, gripping hold of the blankets around her. Barith delicately took the strap of her dress and slid it down her slight shoulder, lower and lower, her breaths growing more raged with each inch. When her dark nipple appeared at the edge of the dress, he growled.

The mage reached up and pulled him closer; it was all the permission he needed. Barith let the fabric fall and took her breast into his mouth and sucked.

The sound Levian made nearly drove him to the edge, but Barith managed to keep himself together while trying to break her apart. He sucked, licked, kissed, and ravaged her until the mage was panting and writhing beneath him. When she groaned his name, Barith could hear the plea that it was.

He lifted his mouth from her breasts and pressed her back against the pillows with a hot kiss that made both of them shudder. He rocked his length against her again, and she wrapped her legs around him to hold him steady. Barith growled, and she moaned. Levian pushed his shoulders back just enough to slide her fingers down the front of his stomach to the top of his pants. She made quick work of the buttons there before she hooked her fingers into the edge and began yanking them down. He groaned at her impatience, kissing her until she was pressed back into the blankets, stilling her progress.

Barith dealt with his pants while Levian tore her dress over her head until they were both bare and naked, and he was hovering over her, propped up on his elbows.

He looked down into her face, their breaths short. He brushed a few stray pink curls from her face and brushed hisnose against hers. “Gods yer beautiful,” he told her, keen to savor her and this moment. Her face flushed, and he brushed her lips with a kiss.

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