Page 139 of Cursed Dreams
“No. But he threatened me, he’s been watching everything I do.” She exhaled shakily, pressing her forehead to his. “It’s been awful. I’ve missed you. I’ve needed you.”
He kissed her again, slower this time, his hands trembling slightly as they tangled in her hair.
“I’ve missed you too,” he murmured. “Every moment I’m not near you feels like I’m fading.”
She pressed her fingers to his chest, over the thrum of his heartbeat. “I feel you.” “I’m with you”
His hand covered hers, strong and steady. For a long moment, they stood there, unmoving, silent in the glowing quiet of the forest. Thalia stepped back, smiling up at him she said softly. “I found it,” “The forest. I found it, Caelum”
“Tell me later” was his only reply as he lowered his mouth to hers.
Their lips crashed together like a storm breaking over the sea, hungry, wild, relentless. Thalia moaned into the kiss, her fingers curling in the soft fabric of Caelum’s shirt before shoving it aside, her palms sliding over the warmth of his bare chest. He groaned low in his throat as she explored him, strong, muscled, every inch of him sculpted like the statues in the old temples, only he was no cold marble.
Caelum’s hands were just as eager, threading into her hair, trailing down her spine, gripping her hips as pulled her flush to him “You have no idea,” he murmured against her throat between kisses, his voice ragged, “how much I’ve needed this. Needed you.”
Thalia gasped as he swept her into his arms, spinning them effortlessly before lowering her onto the lush moss below. The earth felt cool beneath her, but his body radiated heat, caging her in with strength and purpose. His mouth claimed hers again, slower now, deeper, his tongue stroking hers in a sensual rhythm that made her breath hitch and her thighs clench. She moaned into him, her body arching to meet every solid line of his, starved for the friction, for the feel of him.
His hands roamed with practiced reverence, trailing fire across her ribs, her hips, before sliding beneath the fabric of her tunic. His kisses moved lower, a slow descent of worship, down her neck where her pulse fluttered, across her collarbone where his teeth grazed and lingered, then lower still. He paused at the swell of her breasts, breath warm and ragged, lips brushing against her with a prayer before his tongue traced the sensitive curve, eliciting a whimper from her throat.
He took his time. Thorough. Deliberate. Devastating. Every kiss, every stroke of his hands was meant to undo her, and gods, it was working. Her fingers tangled in his hair as his mouth moved lower in slow torment, her body arching beneath him, trembling, desperate for more. For him.
He undressed her with aching slowness, each inch he revealed like he needed to feel it against his hands, his mouth. Moonlight filtered through the canopy above, casting silver across her bare skin. She drank in the sight of him as he knelt between her legs, shirtless, flushed, aroused. His pale blue eyes had darkened, his jaw tight with restraint. Every inch of him was strength and heat, from the broad plane of his chest to the deep cut of muscle trailing down his abdomen to where he strained hard against his trousers.
“You’re everything,” Caelum whispered, trailing kisses along the inside of her palm, up her wrist, across her chest and shoulder. “Beautiful… powerful… mine.” he punctuated each word between them.
The word made her tremble. Her thighs shifted instinctively, but he was already between them, spreading her further apart with his hands as he kissed down her belly.
Then his fingers slid between her legs, stroking through her heat with the lightest pressure. Her breath hitched, hips rising off the moss beneath her. He groaned as he found how wet was.
“Gods, Thalia…” His voice was raw.
He dragged one finger slowly over her slick centre, circling the spot that made her moan and press against his hand. He didn’t rush. He teased, drawing soft strokes, just enough to drive her mad. Then he slipped a finger inside her, curling gently, drawing out a breathless gasp. A second finger joined the first, slow and deep, his palm pressing firmly against her clit as he worked her open with steady precision.
She was trembling, legs falling open completely, body melting into the rhythm he set. Her hands clutched at his arms, his shoulders, her voice breaking on each gasp and moan as he pushed her higher with nothing but his fingers and the hungry look in his eyes.
“Please,” she whispered, not sure what she was asking for—more, release, him.
He kissed her again, deep and possessive, still working her with his hand until her body was shaking beneath him, her thighs quivering around his wrist. Just before she could fall apart completely, he pulled back, his fingers slipping away slick and glistening, dragging a sharp cry from her lips.
She pushed at his chest with urgency, rolling him onto his back, needing to feel him now, to take control of the heat burning through her. Her thighs straddled his hips, her hair falling around her like a veil. His eyes were locked to hers, wide with awe and raw hunger.
“Ride me,” he rasped, breathless. “Take what you need. I’m yours.”
Thalia trembled at the words, at the weight of them. The depth of surrender.
She leaned down, kissed him once more, and gave herself over.
Thalia’s hands slid over his chest, fingers trembling as she traced the ridges of muscle beneath her palms. Caelum was still beneath her, waiting, his pale blue eyes burning into hers with such reverence it stole her breath.
“I’ve dreamed of this,” he whispered, voice low and ragged. “But nothing could have prepared me for how it feels… to have you like this. To feel you.”
His words coiled around her spine like silk and fire. Her body responded before her mind could catch up, aching, pulsing, needing. She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to his jaw, then his throat, her lips trailing lower as his hands gripped her hips in a silent plea.
When she rose slightly to align them, Caelum sucked in a sharp breath, his head tipping back into the moss. She teased the length of him with the heat of her body, their connection hovering on the edge, the barest inch between them.
“Thalia…” he groaned, his grip tightening. “Don’t torture me.”
But she wasn’t ready yet, not until she had burned this moment into her soul.
