Page 23 of Red Dreams

His grip tightens, but his forehead still rests against me like I'm something precious.

“You deserve better than this,” he says as water pools at his collarbone. “Better than a desperate fuck in a gilded cage.”

“I deserve you,” I tell him, my voice unwavering despite the slight tremor in my fingers when I lay them on his shoulders. “I deserve this moment with you, no matter where we are.”

Slowly, deliberately, he turns his head and presses a searing kiss to the inside of my thigh.

In response, I guide his hand between my legs and push his fingers between my folds, wet for him well before we entered the shower’s rainfall.

With a groan, Kaden takes control, delving deeper. I whimper at the first electric touch against my aching clit, my head falling back.

He strokes me with devastating precision, winding me tighter and tighter at the base of my spine.

“Fuck,” he curses, his breath hot against my skin. “I'm not supposed to want this right now.”

My fingers tighten in his hair as his mouth replaces his fingers, his tongue flicking over my sensitive flesh with maddening skill. Pleasure coils tighter, my thighs trembling against his shoulders.

“You're allowed to want,” I manage to gasp out. “I want it too. I want you.”

He groans, and the vibration nearly undoes me. My knees threaten to buckle, but his strong hands grasp my hips, holding me upright as he devours me.

“Kaden, please...” I'm so close, my voice a desperate whine. I'm vaguely aware that we shouldn't linger, that danger still lurks beyond the false sanctuary of steam and tile. But I'm lost in paradise and don’t want to find my way home.

“That's it,” he coaxes as I writhe against his fingers, his lips, his tongue. “Let me feel you come.”

I shatter with a broken moan, my inner muscles clenching on emptiness when he removes his fingers.

I’m just about to mourn the loss when he surges to his feet. I melt against him, reveling in his taste, his scent, the sleek slide of his wet skin against mine. His hands map the contours of my body, igniting pleasure in their wake.

I gasp as he lifts me effortlessly, pinning me against the cool marble wall while the drowning sailors of sinking ships look on and the sirens scream in victory.

My legs wrap around his waist, drawing him closer until his hard length is notched at my entrance.

“Kaden,” I say through my pants, “your leg. You shouldn’t lift me?—”

Kaden nips and sucks down the column of my throat, lingering over my racing pulse. “You think I want to feel anything less than the agony you carry? Let me take the pain. Your body might protest, but mine begs for the burden.”

Water sluices down the small spaces between us as he presses his forehead against mine.

“I need you,” he rasps, echoing my earlier words. “I've never needed anything the way I need you.”

In answer, I roll my hips, taking him inside me inch by delicious inch. We groan in unison at the exquisite way he splits me open.

“Layla.” My name is a sibilant brand on his tongue. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” I tell him, my fingers digging into his shoulders.

Something flashes in Kaden's eyes then—something fierce and feral and utterly centered on me. He begins to move, driving into me with deep, powerful strokes that send sparks skittering down my nerve endings.

With our bodies slick from the shower and our shared need, Kaden claims my mouth in another scorching kiss that leaves me happily drowning like those sailors.

His tongue delves deep, demanding entrance that I grant eagerly. He tastes of desperation and desire, of things long denied finally being seized.

My wet heat slides along his rigid length, eliciting a throaty groan from deep in his chest. His hands tighten on my thighs, digging into my flesh hard enough to leave marks. More reminders that this is real, that we're together despite everything conspiring to keep us apart.

“Please,” I beg against his lips.

A fractured moan escapes my throat as he fills me to the hilt, our bodies joined as closely as two people can be. He stills, giving me a moment to adjust to his considerable size. His forehead finds mine again, our thready breaths mingling in the scant space between our lips.

---