Page 66 of Heart of the Summer Queen

“Like this?” he asks, eyes gleaming as he lowers his lips to my breast.

I try to speak, but my attempt fails as his tongue flicks over my nipple. His smirk only grows.

Though I relish what he’s currently doing to me, this wasn’t what I had in mind.

“More,” I force out between rasping breaths.

“More of what?” he asks, raising a brow.

“You, inside me.”

He pushes his fingers even deeper inside me, giving me a wicked grin. “I am inside you.”

“No,” I say. “Not like this.”

He pulls his fingers out, suddenly. And I’m left feeling woefully empty.

Elaric reaches for the stays of his breeches, untying them and slipping out of them. My core tightens at the realization of how hard he is, as desperate for me as I am for him.

Wanting him as bare as I am, I pull off his tunic, lifting it over his head. The moonlight glistens across his skin, highlighting every edge of his toned body.

I chart the solidness of his chest, the defined lines of his abdomen. Then I delve lower, until my fingers reach him. My hand closes around his hard length.

Growling, he grabs my hand and pins it to the grass. His other hand roams across my thighs, spreading them apart, and presses himself against my swollen entrance. Heat lances through my stomach at the feel of him.

I buck against him, needing him deeper than just the tip.

He obliges my wishes in a single, swift thrust that buries him to the hilt. I gasp, my body stretching to accommodate him. Then he shifts back, hand on my hip, withdrawing inch by inch.

It feels like an age passes as he pauses, until he slides all the way back in. A groan rumbles in the back of his throat, trembling across my skin. The decadent fullness turns my blood into molten pleasure.

He releases my wrist, fingers brushing over my breasts as he pushes into me. I reach up, hands sliding around his neck and tugging him closer. Our lips meet and his tongue tangles with mine, dancing to the same rhythm as our bodies.

Our kiss breaks, his arm encircling my waist. He pulls me up into his lap, remaining deep inside me as we shift positions. He lowers his head, lips finding my breast, and draws my nipple into his mouth. A jolt shudders through me as his teeth graze the sensitive spot.

Then we’re tumbling together onto the grass, his hips driving up to meet mine. I place both hands on his chest as I straddle him.

Yet the second my palms meet his chest, his whole body turns so rigid. As if he’s turned into stone.

I wonder if he’s already reached his peak, but then he’s pushing me off, sliding out. Emptiness weighs on me.

I wait for his arms to close around me, for him to drag me back into his warm embrace.

Except he grabs his clothes and stands, looking anywhere but at me.

“Elaric?” My voice breaks around his name.

He says nothing as he pulls back on his breeches and turns away, tunic bunched in his fist.

I bolt up, legs unsteady beneath me.

“Elaric?” I try again, panic flooding through my veins.

“I can’t,” he says, his voice so hollow and cold. “Adara, I can’t.”

And with that, he steps into the trees. Leaving me alone in the shadows.

twenty-four

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