Page 105 of Fate's Sweetest Curse
We were raw, unbidden.Free.
With another scorching kiss, Noble put some space between our chests, dragging a palm across my breasts, my belly. His thumb found my clit again, spinning perfect alchemy.
“Yes,” I mumbled, arching against the pillows.
“Yes,” he agreed, snapping his hips in a steady rhythm.
All at once, my pleasure built and spilled—a vessel overflowing. I cried out, shaking, clenching, grinding against him.
“You’re so fucking flushed.” His voice was gravely. “Do you always blush when you come?”
Without answer, I reached for him, kissing him with tongue and bumping teeth. He lowered himself to his elbow, chest scraping against mine as he moved. His rhythm changed, becoming frantic and uneven. He cupped my cheek, smoothed my hair, his keen eyes going uncharacteristically distant. Knowing he was close, I scratched my nails over his shoulders and back.
A groan tore out of him as he found his own release, pulsing heat inside me.
Our movements slowed, then stilled. His body became heavy on top of mine, a delicious weight.
He dropped his forehead to my shoulder, breathing quickly, chest quaking with—
—was he laughing?
Happy. He washappy, I realized. So was I. Still clinging to him, I let out a bemused chuckle of my own.
“That was…intense,” I said.
He kissed me on the lips in a series of slow, soft presses. “Unreal.”
When he pulled back to look at me again, I saw familiar green eyes framed with smile lines. Wavy hair ruffled from my touch. Dark stubble that I now knew felt so good scraping my inner thighs. A chest I’d seen in stolen glances on a distant riverbank, now slicked with sweat from the exertion of loving me. A jaw I’d always wanted to trace—one I traced now, unhesitating.
In the sum of all these details, I saw Noble: childhood best friend, object of all my yearning.Here, nestled between my legs. Still inside me.
He was looking at me with the same sense of history I felt, the same passionate devotion.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
His mouth twisted into a coy, boyishsmile. “Let’s clean you up.”
He planted a kiss on my temple, then pulled away, leaving the bed. After quickly cleaning himself, he returned to me with a fresh damp rag and wiped away the remnants of our sex with devout attention.
Then he rearranged me under the covers, piling the pillows against the headboard, and guiding me to recline against the cushioning.
Once I was cozy, he left again to retrieve…something. With my limbs this relaxed, I wasn’t really paying attention. I stared unfocused at the crossbeams of the ceiling. My body felt luxuriouslyspent. Like all the threads of my being had been unraveled and woven back together into something new.
I nestled deeper into the bed, pulling the quilt up over my chest.
Noble returned with a jar and two spoons and settled beside me against the headboard. I curled against his solid body, tucking myself under his arm and snuggling close. Everywhere we touched, I felt warm and tingly, my nerve endings still sparking with his contact. I drew tiny circles on his chest while he opened the jar, distracted by his nearness and the almost-painful come-down of so much pleasure.
I stilled when he handed me a spoon. “What’s this?”
Noble held out the jar so I could see.
Inside were the glistening half-moons of sliced, spiced, sugared peaches. Nostalgia spread through my chest like dye into fabric, coloring me with shades of happy yellow and wistful periwinkle.
A surprised laugh burst out of me. “Where did you find these?”
A soft, encouraging smile. “Try one.”
I sat up a little taller, using Noble’s chest as a pillow, and dipped a spoon into the syrupy orange treat, scooping out a peach. It tasted like sunshine, warm summer evenings, a balmy breeze ruffling my hair.
