Page 163 of A Storm in Every Heart
“Connell?” I demand, “What?—”
“I’ll explain everything in a minute, just listen. When I woke up I had all these memories I’d never had before…of you.”
I gape at him. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I remember you. I remember everything.”
My mouth falls open with shock, and I can only stare at him, a thousand questions racing through my head.
And then, all at once, I understand.
Until the day he dies he’ll never remember you and will never be able to speak of it.
“You died.”
“Maybe only for a moment.” He grins. “Apparently it’s not even the first time. Maybe all sirens really do kill the men who love them, but I already died twice for you. I think that’s enough.”
His words pound in my head.The men who love them.
A smile spreads across my face and I let out a startled laugh.
We’re both alive. We’re here. And he remembers me.
I launch myself at him, and he raises both hands instinctively to catch me, both of us tumbling backwards in the sand.
I press my lips to his and for an instant, the kiss is a gentle collision—relief turned physical—but then Kastian’s mouth slants over mine with a sudden, reckless hunger, and it shifts into something else. Something hot and greedy.
He pulls me closer and I slide my hands up his bare chest, fingers brushing against the tattoo of my face.
I pull back, abruptly, breaking our kiss long enough to look down at the tattoo. “You realize what this means, now, right?”
He nods, the tip of his nose nearly brushing my cheek. “Honestly, even before the memories came back, I think I was half certain what it meant already. I knew I loved you when I was eighteen years old. There was never a world where you weren’t going to be mine.”
I grin, at a loss for words, and he rolls me so I’m straddling his lap, knees digging into the sand. I clutch his shoulders, digging my nails into his skin, and I’m suddenly all too aware of my nakedness, and I realize, somewhat belatedly, that we’re out in the open, fully visible from the windows of the castle.
I could not possibly care less.
I feel reckless, invincible. Maybe it’s the knowledge that we both died a little to get here.
I lower my mouth to his for another kiss, harder this time, teeth clashing and lips bruising. His hands slide down my sides and over the backs of my thighs. Delicious anticipation blooms in my belly and I roll my hips.
My movement draws a raw, involuntary groan from deep in Kastian’s chest. He pins me with his dark gaze, before pressing his mouth to my breast, hot and wet against my skin,tongue circling my nipple, laving and biting in perfect, merciless rhythm.
I arch my back, and Kastian digs his fingers into my ass, yanking me closer.
I let out a little gasp as my sensitive core comes in contact with his belt buckle, and I reach between us with fumbling fingers and undo his trousers. He moves his mouth to my other breast as I reach beneath his waistband to wrap my fingers around his hard cock. He hisses, hips jerking, and his teeth graze my nipple, just enough to sting.
I stroke him, marveling at the heat and weight in my palm, the way his breath stutters when I squeeze just a little harder.
I tighten my grip around the base of him, feeling the heat pulse through my palm. I let my thumb slide over the ridges and veins of his cock, delighting in how his whole body arches up into my touch, desperate and ragged. The muscles in his stomach flex as he tries to keep from thrusting into my hand, and for a moment, I savor the way he lets me take the lead.
I drag the head of his cock slowly between my legs, just barely letting it graze where I want him most, savoring the slick, throbbing ache there. His dark eyes never leave mine, and he looks almost angry with need. His hands are braced hard against my waist, fingers trembling as he fights the urge to just flip me over and fuck me into the sand.
“Dessa,” he rasps, voice strained and shredded. “Stop fucking teasing.”
I give him a wicked, lopsided smile. “What? You’re not enjoying yourself?”
“I’m dying,” he growls, and the way he says it, half-joking and half-furious, makes me laugh.
