Page 246 of Lady for Embers

He barked another laugh. “We will discover everything you like and more, Little Fox.”

She shifted slightly under him, and her hip grazed against his cock. She went utterly still when he hissed under his breath at the contact. Cupping her jaw, he held her gaze when he said, “I will understand if you have had enough ?rsts for one night, Tava.”

She shook her head, her hand coming up and ?ngers brushing along his cheekbone. “I want to do it all,” she whispered. Heopened his mouth to ask if she was sure, but her ?nger pressed to his lips. “I want this, Callan.”

He brought his mouth to hers, distracting her with a deep kiss while he lined himself up with her. “It will hurt for a moment,” he said softly.

“I know,” she breathed.

He felt her tense when he pushed slowly inside her. Gods, she was tight. He tried not to grip her hip too hard, as he worked in a little more while simultaneously trying to lessen the discomfort. Tava buried her face in his neck, muf?ing her sharp breath of pain. “I know,” he murmured, cupping the back of her head. He eased in the rest of the way. “Breathe, Tava. Take a breath.”

She was nodding against him, and he lifted off of her enough to see her face. He was trying to hold perfectly still, give her a moment to adjust and just breathe. Her eyes were squeezed shut tight, tears leaking from the corners. He brushed his lips along her brow, her nose, her cheeks, salty liquid coating his lips and mixing with the sweet taste of her.

He felt her inhale deeply before her eyes ?uttered open, unshed tears glimmering. “You still with me, Little Fox?” he whispered.

She nodded, her hips moving experimentally beneath him, and he groaned at the movement.

“Tell me when you are ready,” he said tightly, because gods, he could feel his muscles trembling with restraint at being buried deep inside her and not godsdamn moving. It was tight and hot and bliss. She was pure and utter bliss.

“Ready for what?” she asked, her brows pinching together.

“For me to move, Tava.”

“To move?”

He pulled out slightly before sinking back in, and she sucked in a sharp breath, her hands clinging to his shoulders. “Yes,” she rasped. “I am ready for that.”

He smoothed her hair back before pressing a tender kiss to her lips, and then he did move. Slow thrusts at a steady rhythm that had a shaky noise coming from her. Her ?ngers dug in harder to his shoulders, nails pressing crescents into his skin.

“Are you all right?”

She nodded. “Yes, Callan. I am good. So good.”

He increased his pace then, and a groan came from him at thesame time a soft moan came from her. He shifted slightly, watching her eyes widen when the small change in position hit a different spot for her, and the turquoise went hazy with lust and pleasure. Heran a hand down her chest, over a breast. The movement had her arching into him even more.

Eventually she unlatched her hands from his shoulders, ?ngers beginning to tentatively explore. They brushed down his back, up his sides, over his arms, and she had started moving with him. The hand he had on her hip slid down, hooking around her thigh.

“Wrap your leg around me,” he rasped.

She instantly did so, and the moan that came from her lips at the new angle had him thrusting faster. Her touch was becoming almost frantic, as if she couldn’t decide where exactly to touch him, and he knew the feeling. He couldn’t decide where to put his mouth, moving from her neck to her breasts to her collarbone.

He felt her beginning to tighten around him, and she didn’t seek out any reassurance this time. His thrusts were erratic and frenzied now, and he slid his hand down to rub her center and push her over the edge again. When she came this time, his lips were back on hers, swallowing down every sound of pleasure she made, drinking her in. All her light. All her warmth. All of her. He wanted all of her, his and his alone.

She was still trembling beneath him when he found his release, groaning deeply into her neck. He was breathing as hard as she was, and he propped himself back on his elbows. Her ?ngers drifted up, brushing back a lock of hair from his eyes before tracing his jaw and over his lips. He kissed the tips of her ?ngers, bringing his hand to hers and interlacing their ?ngers. Kissing her knuckles, he asked, “Are you all right?”

“I am perfect, Callan,” she said with a contented sigh. “Absolutely perfect.”

He slowly eased out of her, kissing her brow at the slight wince, before climbing from the bed to get a warm cloth from the bathing room. He helped her clean up before climbing back into the bed and settling in beside her.

She rolled into him as she whispered, “Thank you, Callan.” He stroked a hand down her hair. “For what?”

“You gave me a choice.” Her ?ngers traced down his torso, his belly caving in as they skated lower before moving back up. “Iwould have married Hale if Drake had asked me, but this? I got to choose this, Callan. I got to choose all of this.”

He kissed her brow, pulling her in closer to his side. Her smooth bare skin pressed against him, and she nestled into his chest.

“Sleep, Callan,” she murmured. “The world may look different when we wake, but for now, the dark cannot ?nd us.”

He didn’t know when he had ?nally drifted off to sleep, ?ngers dragging up and down Tava’s arm as her breathing deepened, but he did know it was the best sleep he had gotten in months. Did she realize what she had done? That now he would want her next to him every night?

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