Page 49 of King Elijah (The Zemiran Chronicles 2)

Aiden knew he should stop looking at her the way he was. His mission to protect his sister was all that mattered, not the woman before him. No good would come from giving in to his baser cravings. But it had been painfully long since someone had looked at him with desire, touched him so reverently, and he felt powerless under her hand.

His best friend faced death; his sister faced something worse; and Valkanon . . . He knew that was a gaping, festering wound inside of him that would never truly heal. All of that was barely contained inside his body, alongside the exhaustion and pain he had carried for days.

It was too much. Tegan was too much. That woman, the stranger, with her soft hands and easy smile. She made him feel warm and safe. Her very presence eased his burdens. It was as if she wanted to wrap him up in gauze, hold him tight, and protect him from the things that would hurt him. It was an undignified thing for a warrior to crave, but he desired it, nonetheless. No matter how reckless it was, he wanted to take this one thing for himself. He wanted her.

“Tegan, we’re drunk. We aren’t thinking clearly,” he said, a last-ditch effort to do the right thing as her fingers walked up his chest. “We can’t do this.”

He stood up and reached out, gripping her hand in his to stop her, but the smooth glide of Tegan’s skin ignited heat between his thighs, and his resolve melted away.

She looked up, using her other hand to push his black hair out of his eyes. When she spoke, her voice was thick with arousal. “Why not?”

His only response was the quickening of his breath as her hand trailed down his body. “Don’t you ever get lonely, Aiden?” she asked, her fingers coming to rest at the strap of his trousers. “Don’t you ever want to let go of that burden of guilt and purpose for a little while? To give yourself over to someone, even if it’s only a moment?” She huffed out a wry laugh. “You might be dead tomorrow and—”

She froze mid-sentence when Aiden cupped her cheek in his hand. He gripped her, just shy of too tight, watching the frantic look in her eyes. He could already feel himself coming apart, and they hadn’t done more than touch. It was dangerous, so dangerous. But he still wasn’t going to stop.

Tegan breathed harder, her shoulders pulling up and down faster as he watched her breasts steadily rise and fall. Her eyes were liquid dark as she looked at him. He wondered if she was as wet between her thighs as he was hard.

“You are stunningly beautiful, Tegan. I won’t deny that.” He ran his fingers from her cheek down to her breast. Tegan closed her eyes and shivered at the touch, tilting her chin up to give him better access.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Because I’m not.”

She answered by arching her back, pushing her chest into his hand, making the softest, most intoxicating moan Aiden had ever heard. He let his fingers roam and toyed with the bindings of her shirt, caressing the silky fabric as he released the strap. Her shirt fell, pooling around her waist, and her glorious skin was exposed to his sight, but more to his touch. His mouth went dry, and his need was hot, molten.

If he had struggled to control himself before, he had no chance now that he was looking at her, half-naked with her tongue sliding across her lips, leaving a glistening path he wanted to taste. Never was a man more wretched with the need to taste a woman. The tattered remnants of his restraint abandoned him, and he wasn’t turning back. He couldn’t. To stop now would kill him. Although he’d still leave in the morning. It was just one night, just sex, a well-deserved release.

We’ll never see each other again, he reminded himself as the heat of arousal drowned out the conflicting thoughts filling his head.

He straightened a little before stepping closer to her. The liquor buzzed in his mind as he looked at her with a stern gaze. “Let’s not make this harder than it has to be,” he said, because he had to say it aloud. He had to speak the words so he could hear them as much as she could. “We fuck, you sleep, and I’m gone by morning.”

Her lips parted instinctually, and then he crashed into her. He kissed her deeply, hands in her hair, chest to chest, as he pulled every remaining inch of her against his body. Her mouth was soft and pliant beneath his. She tasted like the sweet, savory flavor of rich wine. Aiden reached out, taking her slender shoulders and wrapping his arms around them until she was enveloped. She moaned against his lips, making him squeeze her even tighter.

Aiden felt it, the moment when the atmosphere seemed to shift. Holding each other close wasn’t enough; he wanted more. Still pressed together at the mouth, he lifted her, his hands under her thighs as he walked her backward. There was a slight thud as her back hit the wall, but neither of them noticed because her legs wound around his waist, exactly how they should be. He used his hips as leverage to hold them even closer together, deepening the kiss as his hips started to move in a slow, sensual grind.

She was weightless as he suddenly spun around and moved her to the sofa. As desperate as he was to get her undressed, he still took a moment to lose himself in her eyes. The heat there burned him, sending him right back to her mouth for a wet, open kiss.

Tegan tugged at his clothes, unfastening his buttons so she could pull off his shirt. Aiden stopped touching her long enough to fling it to the floor, but she stopped him before he could claim her mouth again. Her hands explored his chest, keeping him at arm’s length as she stared at him. Her gaze devoured every inch of his flesh until she snapped her head up, pulling him down and kissing him deeper than before.

Aiden couldn’t think, almost couldn’t breathe.

He was surprised by her strength as she took control of him, and he certainly didn’t dislike the feeling. She pulled him closer and grabbed him, scraping her fingernails down his back. The pain and pleasure mingled, and he moaned. Nothing had ever been so exquisite. He bit his lip, trying to maintain some semblance of control as the pressure mounted. The scratches felt like liquid fire, pooling in him until that pressure threatened to erupt.

Leaning back just enough to move his arms, Aiden took both her wrists in one large, calloused hand, pinning them above her head. He bent his neck forward and nipped her exposed collarbone. She moaned and writhed,bucking her hips, pushing herself closer while he held on to his control with the most tenuous of threads. She was more than he’d imagined. Stronger. More sensual. The kind of woman he had only ever dreamed of being with.

He captured her mouth in another deep kiss, swallowing the moan that poured out of her.

With his other hand, Aiden fumbled with the clasp, desperate to undo her belt, to slide her pants down until she kicked them the rest of the way off. He let his hand roam, exploring the curves and dips of her body, making her gasp when he rolled a pert nipple between his fingers. Her body quivered, so he quickly replaced his fingers with his mouth, and when his teeth scraped ever-so-lightly over her breast before he sucked it, she threw her head back and cried out. Her hips rolled into him, uncoordinated, desperate, leaving him completely breathless. He’d been hard for some time now, but the way she was grinding into him made his cock throb with need. There wouldn’t be time to do this well if he didn’t slow down, but he needed more. So much more of her.

Aiden wanted everything.

He released her nipple and left a trail of biting kisses across her chest while she writhed. Her hands slid up and down his chest, around his back, into his hair, twisting and pulling.

“More,” she sighed.

Aiden sucked a violent kiss into the soft skin of her breast, making Tegan cry out with pleasure. He felt himself drifting in a sea of ecstasy, losing himself in the feel and taste of her. His mind was pleasantly fuzzy, and the only thing he cared about at that moment was relieving the aching need to be inside her. Every breath and moan only spurred him on.

He leaned back to unbuckle his trousers, shoving them down, and clambered out of them as quickly as possible. Sighing with relief as they were finally naked, he pressed his skin to hers. Aiden took a moment to stare at her, taking in the vision of the woman on that sofa, and the only sound in the room was their gentle panting.

Aiden pushed her deeper into the couch, holding her in place. His memory etched every detail of her body into a picture his mind could call up later. After that moment passed into another, he nudged her thighs apart, leaning in to taste her or draw it out. Either way, he wanted it almost as badly as he wanted to sink inside her warmth.

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