Page 77 of Caged By Dance and Desire

And when he slid home, stretching me wide, the discomfort was. . .manageable. Maybe even a value of normal considering his width and the length of time since my last lover.

I exhaled, releasing him and wrapped my arms around his neck. He hadn’t moved yet, simply rested inside me, seemingly content to join our bodies and. . .be.

“Thank you,” I said.

The expression in his eyes gentled. “I should be thanking you. For trusting me.” Another kiss. “Tell me what you want.”

In response, I curled my legs around his waist. “It’s better if you don’t withdraw all the way then shove back in. Shallow is best.”

It was difficult to speak matter-of-factly, rather than letting past bitterness and defensiveness creep into my tone. I forced my shoulders to relax.

Andrei watched me, eyes never leaving my face. “Hmm. Like this?”

I closed my eyes, gasping as he followed my guide, adjusting when I flinched or relaxed.

“I’d do anything to earn this peace, to take those shadows from your eyes,” he murmured in my ear, his hips setting an easy, liquid rhythm. His skin hot, his words scorching. “To have you come apart in my arms. To stop you from fearing what my body can give.”

“Andrei.”

I arched, taking him deeper, noting with distant relief that no matter how. . .well. . .I responded, he didn’t take that as implicit permission to start pounding away like a jackhammer.

He put fingers on my clit, adding stimulation.

“Shatter for me, darling,” he crooned. “I can make you come whether I give you slow and sweet, or fast and rough. And if you can’t take my cock, I’ll give you my tongue.”

Pressure built, my body writhing underneath him, having shoved my bruised mind to the side.

“And if you can’t take my tongue, then I’ll sate myself with your sweet kisses, Anah. Whatever you choose to give. Whatever you choose to receive.”

The dominance he exerted was subtle, a craftily fluctuating dance of mind and body. The deft speed and skill he used to manipulate my emotions and physical response should worry me, but intent mattered. For now. I’d remember though, to not forget that the man invading and taking over my life, for all his outward appearance of boyish charm and warm concern. . .was still a High Fae Lord. Still five centuries old, and would only strengthen with time.

He swelled inside until he locked, merged deep, and all I cared about was him; feeling him, holding him, tasting him. Never losing him.

I shattered, pain a distant twinge I brushed aside, cocooned in the heat of his body, the balm of his comfort.

The bud of hope I’d nursed deep inside unfurling, forming a tiny shoot. Maybe, maybe I could let the Phases go.

His mind thrust into mine, his body releasing a flood of seed after my orgasm triggered the relaxing of his knot—something else they’d left out of orientation.

Maybe I didn’t have to figure out how to walk away.

“Anah, my Anah,” Andrei breathed in my ear as he surged inside me. “I will never let you go. The continent will break in two before my love will wane, before my need is sated.”

Teeth sank into my neck as heat slammed into me, and I screamed.

I woke cradled in Andrei’s arms, rocking. “Anah. Darling, say something.”

The relentlessly level tone brought me back to myself. I blinked away fog, and with it euphoria that had shielded me from the low-level ache of my body. My breasts, my skin, my neck. Between my legs.

Everything hurt.

But it was good sex hurt.

For once. My mind felt as if it was wrapped in a warm, weighted comforter, shielding me from the ugly reality of what I’d endured tonight. I'd pay for the avoidance later.

“Something,” I croaked.

The rocking paused.

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