Page 64 of Hearts of Stone

“Exactly as I like?”

There was a teasing note to his voice, one that had me about to protest that I was serious, right before his mouth slammed down on mine.

Was this his second kiss? I couldn’t tell, because either Seneca was a fast learner or he’d been taking notes during all those orgies. He plundered my mouth, forcing it to open up for him, his tongue sliding against mine in a way that had my thighs rubbing together, because it wasn’t hard to imagine it delving somewhere else. I wasn’t lightly touching him now, I was raking my fingers over impervious flesh, clinging to him like a limpet might a rock.

“How far can I go, Jade?”

OK, going forward I wanted any guy I was dating to sound that raspy, that needy. I pulled back and stared into his eyes, trying to remember that this was his first time.

“Isn’t that something you need to be clear about?” I asked him. “You’ve never done this before.” I knew his expression, the way his head dropped down and his eyes flicked away. I wasn’t trying to be a bitch, but I needed to be sure. There was a weird power dynamic to this relationship and the days of me blithely blundering along were long gone. “I’m not saying that to rub your face in that fact, but to make sure you’re making the right decision for you. I…”

I saw that painting in my mind, then forced myself to blink my eyes until I saw him instead.

“I don’t know where this is going or where we’ll end up. Today has been… overwhelming, to say the least, so… all I can offer you is right now.”

Seneca went quiet and still above me, so much so I thought he’d pull away. He’d been waiting all this time for his fated mate, surely he’d want to keep waiting until— The sharp pinions at the ends of his wings stabbed into the bedding around me as he leaned closer.

“I’ll take anything you have to offer any time you deign to let me close,” he said. “So, Jade Barlow, Mistress of The Eyrie, what doyouwant?”

That look of challenge, that small smile, it had me launching myself at him, because what this stone boy didn’t know was that I might not have been waiting for countless aeons, but it felt like I had been waiting since childhood for an experience just like this.

My hands sank into his hair as I kissed him hard, marvelling at the juxtaposition of his firm lips and soft, soft hair. I twisted my fingers in it, raking them across his scalp. But Seneca was no passive participant. It was as if he felt he’d been let off his leash as much as I had. He pushed my head to one side, his lips burning a path down my neck and he sucked in a long breath when he got to the curve of my shoulder, as if he’d store my scentaway forever. Then strong fingers pulled at the neckline of my t-shirt, kissing the skin he revealed.

“Say yes, Jade. I need to hear you say it,” he rasped.

“Yes.” I cradled the back of his head in my hand. “God, yes.”

“I’ll have you praying to all the gods before I’m done,” he promised in a dark voice, right before he moved down.

It was all hot and sweet, right up until his fingers reached the hem of my shirt and started to push it upwards. I knew I was fat. There were nicer words, kinder words to describe it, but basically that’s what I was. I worked with it as best I could, knowing which retailers would sell clothes I could fit into, first of all, and secondly, would suit me. But it was different when those clothes were being pushed aside. Everyone felt vulnerable naked, I rationalised, but it didn’t stop that feeling of being doused by ice cold water when his lips pressed against my stomach.

“Jade…?”

He noticed I’d gone from hot and steamy to a cold fish. Of course he had. Those dark eyes looked up the line of my body and I felt instantly ashamed. This was his first time touching a woman. It should be perfect, special and I was just… me. Like, he was literally made of rock and I was— “If I have done something wrong, please tell me.”

The tone of his voice jerked me out of my own head and brought me back to being present with Seneca.

“Oh god, no, you haven’t done anything wrong.” I stroked his face and he closed his eyes, leaning into the caress. “Quite the opposite. It’s just…” I sucked in a breath. It was so easy to conjure up all the many, many ways Trevor had tried to make me feel bad about my body, but shoving them away took a little more effort. “It’s just you’re so perfect.”

“Gods, woman…” he growled, eyes flicking open, and there was something brutal, almost animalistic about him. “And whatdo you think you are to me?” He crawled up my body with panther-like grace. “I have seen thousands, if not millions of women, in all sorts of states within these walls and I can say with all confidence that not one of them burned their image into my brain like you have. You are so…” I sucked in a breath, not sure how he would end that sentence. “Beautiful. It’s like touching a star. I’m sure it will burn me to dust, but I just can’t stop myself. Please, Jade.” He lowered himself back down. “Tell me I can.”

If you’ve ever got the opportunity to have a great beast of a man kiss you on all the parts of your body you feel insecure about, with a kind of reverence most humans would save for something sacred, I highly recommend it. I stroked his hair, then his neck and shoulders, feeling the muscles bunch as he went to work. Because I said yes.

To him pushing up my t-shirt and revealing my soft stomach. To letting him kiss it, map its swells and valleys, then higher up, kisses raining down over my ribs. Because when he pushed my t-shirt up and I wrestled it off over my head, there was only adoration in his eyes when he saw what lay beneath. He pushed my bra strap down carefully, thumbing the red spot it left on my flesh, then tried to peel the cup down before I moved and shoved it up and over a breast that felt fairly swollen already. From Carrick’s kisses the other night and Seneca’s now, his mouth curiously cool against my oversensitive skin, right up until he brushed his lips over my nipple, then sucked it in.

I gripped his head tight, not wanting him to pull off for a second, but I didn’t need to steer him where I needed him. He just knew. To suck my nipple in long, greedy swallows, his tongue flattening the hard point out, forcing every nerve ending to burn in ecstasy. I felt hot, so damn hot, just from this, as I shifted restlessly against the bedding, calling his name out in truncated bursts, wanting something, but not sure what. And then he moved. He pulled me onto his lap, then tugged at thebra, barely letting me undo the clasp before tearing it off, then going right back to feasting.

“Jade…” he murmured, peppering my skin with kisses. “Jade, you’re…”

“What?” I stopped him with a hand to his chin, watching him lick swollen lips before meeting my gaze. “What am I?”

I was being so fucking ballsy. I’d never dared ask Trevor what he thought about me, because deep down I knew. He didn’t love me, didn’t want me, had never venerated me, but Seneca… If that’s how he felt, I needed to know.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” he said in a voice that sounded like rocks being ground together. “I know you cannot accept my claim for eternity, not yet, but will you accept one for just this night?”

I shouldn’t, I knew that. This was a serious thing for him. He’d found the one woman he’d been searching for all this time, whereas I was still finding my damn feet in it all. But I’d been good, calm, rational, capable, for so damn long, and right now I wanted to be selfish with every breath in my body.

“Yes,” I said, stroking his face, mapping it with my fingers. “Yes, Seneca. Yes.”

---