Page 90 of Ulune's Daughter

“Name the time and place when you’re free and I’ll be there.”

Tears lit by the Mother’s red rays slip down her cheeks.

“You don’t—there’s no one waiting for you?”

“There’s only you.”

“If I said tomorrow and Bevington?—”

“I’d be there.”

“It’s too soon. I have to talk with him.”

“Talk with him. End it if you’re going to. Or don’t. I only care about having you. I don’t care who I have to share you with.”

“You-you don’t?”

“No.”

“I hadn’t thought?—”

“That you can have it all? You can, Kellan. You shouldn’t have to settle. Walk the path less traveled. Just let me walk it with you.”

“How can I reach you?”

I smirk. “I have a phone.”

“Right. And you’ll answer?—”

“I will,” I promise. “I’ll answer every call. Every text.”

“I haven’t even seen your face.” Her hands curl at the back of my neck. She doesn’t try to take the mask off.

“You know it in your soul. You’ve seen it in your dreams. When you’re ready to see my face, call me. I’ll come.”

She smiles tremulously. “Can I have a kiss before you go?”

“You can have a hundred.”

I carry her out of the river. We dress slowly, casually. Although she doesn’t remember it consciously, we already know each other’s bodies intimately, and it shows in the way we touch. She buttons my jacket. I wind my wool scarf around her neck. We walk hand-in-hand to her Jeep. I press her back against the driver’s door as I take her mouth.

She’s kissed me before. I’ve kissed her. But her lips were always slack, her tongue lacking direction. It’s a completely different experience with her awake and hungry. She grazes her teeth over my lip as I lick into her mouth and meets my tongue with the tip of hers. She flicks her tongue along the underside of my lip. We take slow tastes of each other. Her mouth is faintly sugary from the marshmallow. Underneath, there’s sea water and rich copper. My blood goddess.

I run my hand up her neck and cup her jaw, stroking the fine skin of her cheek with my thumb. She turns her head, chasing my touch. I hold her face still and drag my lips over hers, relishing the friction.

Her lips are gloriously glossy, red, and swollen when I finally lift my face from hers, having delivered the promised hundred kisses and a few more besides. She’s flushed as bright as the dawn. I hold her close, letting her feel the heft and firmness of my body, which is ready, always ready, to pleasure her. But I don’t push for more. I hold her, luxuriate in the feeling of my mate in my arms, and smile down at her.

“Thank you for honoring the Mother with me,” I say.

“Thank you. I wasn’t expecting anything. This has been so far beyond ... this is real, right?”

“Yes, it’s real.” I hold on to her with one arm while I pull out my phone and unlock it. “Put your number in.”

She taps it in, then calls her phone.

“Save it as ‘a hundred kisses,’” I tell her.

She shakes her head at me. “Lawson ... what? You didn’t tell me your last name.”

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