Page 80 of Where Darkness Bloomed
Pleasure tilted toward something vast, unknown. Her body went rigid, warring against the tide dragging at her. It was too sharp, too bright. She twisted beneath him, a breath catching harshly in her throat.
She was going to fall.
But he caught her.
His hands captured her wrists, pinning them gently to the bed above her head. “Shhh,” he soothed, voice soft and dark. “Do not fight me.”
She couldn’t breathe fast enough. Another deep thrust, and the slow roll of his hips dragged a cry from her lips.
“I can’t—” she gasped.
The words fractured with the next surge of his body.
“This is pleasure.” His lips brushed her cheek, soft and coaxing. “Let it come.”
Her thighs clamped tight around his hips, everymuscle drawn tight. She was burning, lit from within by something wild and breaking. There was no fleeing it. No resisting the wave as it rose to claim her.
He held the moment.Held her.
“Look at me,” he breathed.
Her eyes opened.
His gaze was lit with something deeper than desire as he watched her. She felt as though she was falling into the dark depths of his russet eyes, dragged down into him.
His hand slid between them, fingers gliding down to where their bodies met. Gentle and knowing, his touch found her.
One final thrust, deep and claiming. Then—a soft flick of his thumb. Lightning sparked wildly through her, rippling outward. She arced, a cry breaking free, raw and helpless, as she broke apart in his hands.
His grip tightened on her wrists, anchoring her as the storm crashed through. His body moved with hers, drawing out the pleasure as her head tipped back.
“That’s it,” he murmured, voice thick with praise. “Take what is yours.”
Her breath came in broken gasps, fingers curling uselessly above her head. He stayed with her, easing the rhythm, his hands gliding over her now—soothing, reverent, caressing her through the throes.
As her breath began to settle, the tremors fading, his grip shifted, hands sliding to her hips with quiet command. One stroke—hard, certain. A final thrust that sent another bright jolt racing through her.
Above her, his body locked, muscles turning to iron. His hand gripped her thigh, anchoring her to him as a guttural sound tore from him. His hips drove forward once more, fierce and final, as he spilled into her.
Breathless, he caught himself on one arm beside her head. His body blanketed hers, heavy and warm, his chest brushing hers with each rise and fall, breath to breath. She was wrapped in the heat of his body, held in the quiet that followed, interrupted only by their heartbeats.
And in that press of skin and silence, the world vanished, melting away into a warm, golden haze.
Chapter 34
Hades rested his forehead in the crook of her neck, his breath slow and ragged. Tension still coiled through his muscles, refusing to ease. For a moment, he held himself there—lost in her warmth, in the fragile silence cocooning them.
Her thighs cradled his hips. Her heels pressed into the small of his back, holding him close. Pleasure still thrummed between them, a current unbroken. As it ebbed, a deep, aching contentment took its place.
Reluctantly, slowly, he eased back.
A soft hiss escaped through his teeth as he withdrew, the slow slide from her a final, torturous echo of their joining. Cool air spilled between them and she shivered, her body suddenly bare without the covering of his.
Then she stiffened, tension drawing tight through her frame. Her breath caught sharply, her wide eyes dropping between them.
Hades’s gaze tipped, following hers.
Between her parted thighs, a smear of blood marked the soft skin, mingling with his seed. Stark. Intimate.
