Page 68 of Forgotten Queen

But as Cole shut the doors to our bedroom behind us, I realized how much I meant it. Not just that I didn’t want to have sex while covered in Cole’s blood. I wanted to have Cole in every way possible. I wanted to be screaming his name and digging my claws into his skin and to claim him in truth the way he’d claimed my heart.

Through unspoken agreement, we went into the shower together. Our tattered clothes fell to the ground until we were bare under the hot spray.

The water ran red with blood.

Cole produced a bar of soap and silently began to run it over my body. Once my face was clean, his tender caress continued down my arms. I faced away from him as he cleaned my back. The bar trailed lower. My thighs. My calves.

When he turned me to face him, the simple touches grew slower.

I wanted to savor the touch, but instead, I looked at the flawless male in front of me and shook.

Once I started, I couldn’t stop.

The bar paused on my collarbone.

“Talk to me, little wolf.”

I swallowed. “I thought I was going to lose you.” I looked at the shower floor, the white tile stained pink from the trickle of blood that fell off both of us. “And when I thought that… it was unbearable. It was the worst moment in my existence. But the absolute cruelest part was that you could have died without me ever being honest about how I felt. And that would’ve been the most vomit-inducing part of it all, that I never gave us a chance.”

He curved a finger and tilted me up to face him.

“Cole, I don’t know what quirk of destiny let me find my way to you, but I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want you. It’s more than that.I love you.And I don’t want to have a single regret.”

The soap clattered to the floor as Cole suddenly wrapped both arms around me and pulled my naked body against his own.

The shower water was hot, but Cole was warm. A tender warmth that I wrapped my hands around while I still shook. It must’ve been the shock of the battle finally wearing off. Tears pricked at my eyes, the spray of the shower hiding them as I tucked my head into his chest.

“I won’t let you have a single regret, Avery,” he vowed. “You are my heart and my soul, or whatever black pit sits in my chest.”

When the shaking abated, Cole moved, pressing my back against the tiled wall. And then he slid down in front of me, falling to his knees as he continued to look up at me with dominant eyes.

“I’m forever in awe of you, little wolf. You havenoideahow incredible you are. How irresistible you are. Howmineyou are.”

I shivered at his possessive words.

“But I’m going to show you.”

That was all the warning Cole gave before pressing his face between my legs.

And then he licked.

I gasped at the contact.

He licked again, running the length of my slit. He did it slowly, like he was savoring the taste.

My fingers threaded through his wet, black hair as I pulled him closer. Cole continued his languid feasting, my body arching at the contact as my arousal grew. I widened my stance, trying to guide him where I needed him.

“More,” I demanded.

Cole pulled away. “I don’t intend to rush a single moment of tonight, little wolf. Prepare yourself.”

It was the sweetest torture. When Cole finally dipped his tongue inside my entrance, I moaned. He was a master at his craft, and no matter how I tugged or ordered him, he refused to speed up his pace.

He held my hips firmly between his large hands, the callouses a rough caress. He ate me out like it felt as good for him as it did for me. His tongue lifted from my center to tease at my clit. He sucked, nipped, and tortured me until I was gasping for breath.

“Are you going to make me beg?” I complained when, for the third time, he brought me to the edge only to take it away.

“Only because you like to,” Cole said, barely pausing before he returned to his teasing.

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