Page 203 of Flame and Sparrow

His lips curved into a smile against my skin, and in between kisses and nips at my neck he murmured, “Do you have any idea how beautiful you look right now, fucking me like that?”

My answer was lost in a gasp as the first convulsion overtook me. He gripped my hips and held me in place, taking over the quicker pace I’d started, driving into me with a wild, relentless fervor until I came with a cry so loud they’d likely heard it in the heavens above.

He followed soon after, wrapping his arms tightly around my body, placing his hands on my shoulders and pulling me more fully down onto him. As he spilled into me, he buried his face against my back, muffling the roar of pleasure that tore from his mouth. The vibrations from the sound shivered down my spine, sending tingles shooting down my legs, curling the tips of my toes.

We stayed in this position for several moments afterward, his arms falling into a loose hold around my waist while he trailed kisses across my shoulders and continued to throb inside me.

I was still exhausted, but it was a different kind of spent—warm and heavy rather than cold and ragged. When he finally moved away from me, I simply slumped down into that heaviness, content to collapse and fall asleep in that exact position. He chuckled a bit at my sudden limpness, but only pulled the covers up over me.

Rest, I thought I heard him say, somewhere in the waves of ecstasy I was still swimming in. He kissed my shoulder again, went to grab a towel, and cleaned us both up before crawling back into bed beside me.

He wrapped me in a cocoon of hard muscle and soft covers, silent save for his deep, steady breathing and the occasional mumble I may or may not have imagined brushing against my ear.

Rest, miran-achth.

So I did, trying to hang on to the moments of perfect calm and clarity that I’d felt when I’d shattered against him minutes ago.

I don’t know how long we lay there. I only knew it wasn’t long enough before I felt him stir and sit up, and I could sense the change in his demeanor almost instantly.

His gaze was narrowed on the window.

I closed my eyes, wishing I could fall asleep and wake up to find everything somehow settled and safe. But when I opened them again, Dravyn was still frowning at the window.

“The first of our company has arrived?” I guessed.

“I’m afraid so.” He disappeared into the bathroom for a minute before returning, partially dressed. On his way back to me, he stopped by his dresser and took something from the top drawer—a neatly folded set of my clothes.

It was a small, silly thing, but it sent another pleasurable flood of warmth through my body as he handed them to me—this proof that he’d been expecting me to end up in his room again. Or just hoping for it, maybe.

I dressed in a daze, too many competing emotions swirling through my mind for me to possibly pick one to focus on.

As I braided my damp hair with quick, nervous hands, I tried to mirror Dravyn’s stoic expression as best I could. I thought I’d pulled it off until he caught sight of me and frowned, his brows pinching together in concern.

“After this business is dealt with,” he said, adjusting the sleeves of his shirt as he closed the space between us, “we’ll come back here. We’ll rest easier. Together.” His fingers brushed my cheek with the last word.

Together.

I tried to picture it.

But the last few days had put too many violent images in my head, and now I couldn’t shake them or the fear they brought with them.

He started to turn toward the door, and suddenly terror rose up over all the other emotions tangled inside me—a loud, restless fear that I might not have another chance to say what I needed to say to him.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

Our eyes met. The same spark that had struck me the day we’d first found one another shot through me again, and a feeling of fire coursed through my veins soon after—a fire that burned away the fear and made me brave enough to speak, if only for a moment.

“A truth for a truth?” I suggested.

He smiled at the familiar words. “Okay.”

I took a deep breath and whispered, “I love you.”

He went very still in my grip.

I let go of him, clutching a fist to my pounding, exposed and vulnerable heart. “And you…”

He caught my hand, brought it up to his lips, and answered before I even had an instant to doubt it.

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