Page 82 of Mated Exile

I'm scared of discovering the woman who's more than just an exile running from the boy who broke her heart.

So I lean in towards him and simply say, "Yes."

Thirty-Four

Delilah

Kieran kisses me deeply, his mouth hard yet yielding on mine. Drawing me into his lap, he splays his warm hand on my lower abdomen, fingers trailing beneath my shirt. His other hand cradles the back of my head, holding me close.

For a long time, we simply revel in exploring each other's mouths and enjoying our mutual attraction. He tilts his head to the side to deepen the kiss, and I follow. Then he pulls back to brush his lips against mine. I moan as he draws my lower lip between his and lightly sucks on it.

As his mouth moves across my cheek, to my neck, then my collarbone, he sucks and bites gently. I gasp, feeling my wolf surge to the surface of my skin, her desire lightning-hot and clear. My eyes flutter closed as Kieran kisses at the spot where my neck meets my shoulder, his lips and teeth pricking warmth and lust everywhere they go. Heat gathers at his touch and flares down my body, settling between my thighs.

For a moment he pulls away, and I make a sound of protest until I see him flip the mattress behind us down onto the floor. He scatters pillows in its wake, then draws me down onto its surface, his strong arms holding him up as he hovers above me. Two broad hands cage my waist, while his hips nestle between my thighs as I part my legs to make space for him on the small makeshift bed.

Taking my hand in his, he draws it to his chest and studies my face. "Do you feel it? The blackness."

I barely have to reach out with my awareness before it flutters to the surface and leaps at my touch. "Yes. It's always there."

"It doesn't hurt when you touch me," he confesses, voice low and quiet. With his free hand, he grabs the ponytail holder keeping my bun together and carefully tugs it away, letting my hair fall free. "There's something about you, Delilah, that heals the hurt in me. It's like I've been in stasis for the past seven years, just waiting for you to come back and save me from the mistake I made."

Inhaling sharply, I brush my palm against his cheek, and he turns to brush his lips across my skin. "I'll never understand why my father made you do that to me. It's incomprehensible."

"And in the past," he says, dropping my hand and placing his palms on the mattress on either side of me as he lowers his body down to mine, until the warmth of our skin brushes together. "Let's move on, Delilah. I want to forge a new future with you."

I want that too. And if the impossibly bright, white-hot threads surging between us and lazily winding around our legs are any sign, fate has been waiting for its chance for a while now. We aren't the people that we used to be, but that can't be changed. What wecando, instead, is meet each other where we are now, as we are now.

Kieran's mouth dips down to my skin again. His lips skim the the sensitive places just above my collarbone. Drawing his hands beneath my shirt, he pulls away and carefully peels it off me. I squirm as his eyes draw across my bared skin, heat coming off him as his hungry gaze meets my clothed breasts.

"Beautiful."

He kisses me again. My back arches as his hands draw behind me to part the back of my bra. As he draws away, throwing it carelessly aside, I put my hands on the hem of his shirt and tug it impatiently. "Now you."

Kieran strips slowly, sitting up and drawing his shirt up like he's cautious about revealing what's beneath. But while his body is thin and pale in places, he looks vital and alive in a way he hasn't since I first came back to town. I reach up to draw my fingers across his chest and waist, skimming the hollow edges of his rib cage, seeing already how quickly they've filled in now that he's eating well and taking care of himself.

I tug him back down to me, parting my thighs and bringing him up between them. His warm kisses start at the hollow of my throat this time. Hands circling my waist, he makes a slow path down my body. Though I tug at his hair and try to urge him on, Kieran takes his time—as if he's making up for all we've lost and then some.

By the time his tongue circles my bare nipples and sucks lightly on the pink flesh, I'm whimpering and gasping, desperate for more.

He spends his sweet time there as well. Sucking lightly and stroking the flesh with his thumb. Moving from one breast to the other. When I surge against him he gives me more, tugging and licking until I'm panting and out of breath.

Once that's done, his lips move further south. He places kisses on each of my hip bones, fingers playing with the edge of my waistband. Then he looks up at me from under his brows, his dark hair curled around his ears, a heated look in his eyes.

"I want to see all of you, Delilah." I gasp, abdomen flaring with heat, spine twisting as my body arches towards him with desire. "Every single inch."

"Take them off," I gasp, grabbing his hand and dragging it towards the zipper of my pants. "You're taking your sweet time, K."

He chuckles, low and deep, but does as I asked. I have to surge my hips up off the mattress so he can peel them off my legs, and spend the whole time inwardly cursing my choice in outfits. It would be so much easier if I was wearing a skirt—and so much faster too.

As he tosses my tight jeans to the side, my eyes are drawn to the white, glowing bright threads between us. They're the brightest I've ever seen, drawing surging lines between our skin, tangling around his neck and forearms, tugging at my legs. Kieran grabs my thighs and draws them apart, settling down between them, and the threads move eagerly towards his fingers. It feels as if they'd love nothing more than to wrap around us and tie us together forever.

Kieran's fingers hook beneath the elastic of my underwear, and all my attention is drawn to a single, too-warm spot on my body. He tugs them down and pulls them off, then digs his hands into my thighs. My eyes flutter closed and my lips part as he draws his mouth to the apex of me and begins to explore.

His tongue is on me, delving between my most sensitive bits, licking and gently sucking. I gasp and roll my hips against him, fingers twining in his hair. As he draws more and more heat and pleasure with his mouth, shudders and shivers go through me. I whimper and tremble with ecstasy.

Then he draws back, sits up between my legs, his hand falling to the place his mouth just occupied. Those deep eyes of his stare at my flushed body as I breathe in fast, quick pants. Reaching down with his free hand, he undoes his pants. For a brief moment he draws back from me to grab on their waistband and pull them down, then shucks off his boxers and tosses them to the side.

I stare up at his glorious, naked body, eyes roaming every inch of him. This is Kieran the man in all his glory, bare and fully aroused before my curious eyes. Strong thighs reach towards hips that dip with shadows, an upright erection between them. He grabs himself and lowers his body down to the mattress again, using his hand to part my legs and pull them around his waist.

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