Page 9 of Reveal Me
“Most who go in never come out. Those who do are rarely the same. The forest takes what it wants. And gives nothing in return.”
Sounded like fate to me. “What were you doing in there?”
Guard boy opened his mouth and closed it.
“Were you coming to rescue me?”
No response save for a twist of that lush mouth of his. I wanted to make those lips twist while he was pressed against a hidden part of my anatomy. A hidden part that was making itself known with how wet it was getting thinking about his mouth.
“As you can see, I’m no damsel. I don’t need a prince to come rescue me. Or a king.”
“I went in to clear my head. I had some troubling news.”
I almost asked him to tell me about it before I remembered that I didn’t care. “Want me to help take your mind off it?”
He turned to me then. His eyes were beautiful. There was intelligence there, but not at the surface. More like he was hiding it.
Didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be here long enough to find out. I launched myself at his mouth.
I had meant for it to be an ordinary kiss, something light, something flirty and fun. That’s not at all what happened. Instead, the moment his lips met mine, everything shifted.
His mouth was pliable, almost too soft. He was giving in to me without hesitation. As if he expected this kiss. Not only that, he kissed me like he knew exactly what to do with me. Exactly how much pressure I liked. Exactly how I liked to have my lower lip bitten. Exactly how I liked being teased by a man’s tongue.
And the taste—oh, the taste of him. It was the richest, most intoxicating thing I’d ever experienced. A pretty poison; smooth and sweet, with a bitter edge that burned at the back of my throat.
I’d meant to sip, to take just a little and let it linger, but the moment his tongue teased me, I found myself trying to gulp him down. I needed more. All at once. I didn’t even care that I was losing control. My hands gripped him, pulling him closer, as if I could drown in him and let all my worries wash away with each deepening kiss.
The warmth of his breath mixed with mine. The air between us was thick with electricity. It felt like I was being pulled through a third portal for the day.
I had no idea how long we kissed. Time went from a run to a crawl and then stopped to smell the belladonna as we kissed. I lost myself in the sensation. I could taste the subtle remnants of his words still lingering on my tongue, but they didn’t matter now. He was everything I’d ever craved, and I needed him in a way that made my entire body hunger.
I wasn’t thinking anymore. Not about the future. Not about the way he was supposed to be just a distraction. All I could think about was the way his lips fit perfectly against mine, how his hands moved from my waist to my back, holding me like I belonged to him.
Chapter 6
Dion
Niamh’s lips—soft, demanding—crashed against mine, and I almost lost my balance. For a split second, I wanted to curse fate, curse the timing of this because everything about her felt like a betrayal. She wasn’t just any woman; she wasthe woman, my fated mate, and as soon as her lips met mine, I knew. I was not letting her go.
Her taste was intoxicating—sweeter than any honey wine I’d ever drunk, richer than the finest dessert. It made my entire body burn with need. Her flavor lingered on my tongue, a heady mix of sweetness and something deeper, something primal that called to me in a way nothing and no one ever had.
She was a drug, the one thing that would destroy me. She was a cure, the only thing that would save me.
All the women I’d been with before—flings, distractions, nothing serious—they all disappeared the moment Niamh kissed me. The memory of them vanished in the heat of this kiss. Her lips erased them from my mind completely. My thoughts, onceclouded with their fleeting attention, cleared, leaving only the overwhelming pull of her; her touch, her taste, the way her body pressed against mine. I wanted more.
She pulled back, just enough to make me think she might end it. I wasn’t going to let her. But no, she dove back in, and this time, I couldn’t hold back a groan.
I cupped the back of her head, pulling her even closer, deepening the kiss. I knew, I knew with every fiber of my being, that she was it. There would be no more fleeting moments with other women, no more empty kisses. This woman, this fierce, intoxicating, beautiful creature, was the one who would own me, whether I liked it or not.
It wasn’t just the taste. It was the way she kissed me—like she knew me, like we were two halves of the same whole. I felt her urgency, the way she pressed against me, her fingers clutching at my shirt as if she was trying to hold on to something she couldn’t quite control. She didn’t need to. I’d let her have it all. The only problem was we both needed air to breathe.
I cursed my empty lungs when we broke apart. My chest was tight. My pulse still racing. I could taste her on my lips, feel her heat on my skin, and all I could think about was that I would never kiss another woman again. She was everything—everything I had always known I needed.
Niamh’s breath came in ragged gasps. Those sparkling eyes of hers were wide and wild. I realized something else then; she had no idea who I was. I couldn’t decide if I wanted to tell her or just keep her in this moment, where she was mine and I was hers, and fate didn’t matter. Because at this moment, she’d chosen me without knowing that it was me.
“Take off your pants, guard boy.”
Guard boy? She’d asked if I worked for the king. It made sense that she thought I was a guard. But she said she knew the king was her fated mate.
