Page 42 of In Her Own Rite

“Em.” I put a hand to her face and draw it up to look at me. “We said just one time. But I...” I swallow, pushing away my nerves and self-doubt. “It doesn’t have to be just once. I want... I don’t know. I want this. I want... I want you. If you—”

What happens next is so fast that it takes my brain a second to process. In a second she’s on me, crawling onto my body, straddling my lap, kissing my face. She takes me in her hands and kisses me hard, her teeth on my lower lip, her tongue brushing against it. I bring my arms around her and pull her against me, but she pushes me down onto my back, into the snow.

I feel myself grow hard, and I notice the second it registers in her body. The way her hips press against me just a little bit harder; the scent of her heat and arousal in the air. She grinds gently against me and I can’t suppress a groan.

“Kieran,” she says, pulling away, and I can see the bloom of hope and love and heat in her eyes.

“Yeah?”

“Take me home.”

15

EMERSON

He shifts for me and I climb on his back, feeling the warmth of his beast between my legs. The animal of his body is powerful, strong as anything. He moves his head down for me, an instruction:get low.

I wrap my arms around his neck and lie my body close to his, drawing myself as near to him as possible. And then he runs, barreling forward through the woods, ducking through paths that he must have learned from a hundred childhood days out here, wandering through the woods before I knew him.

We near the edge of the forest and I can see the house up ahead on the top of the hill. As we get inside the front door and he shifts again, back into his human form. I hand him the blanket and he wraps it around his lower body, looking down at me, his eyes hungry.

“You’re all dirty,” I say, running my hand over his shoulders, his arms. There’s some mud on him from the path through the woods.

“It’s not so bad.”

I shake my head, looking up at him. I feel my heat pulsing through me, making me bold. “No. We should shower.”

“Together?”

I nod.

I take off my coat and shoes and take his hand, leading him up the stairs to the master bedroom. Attached to that room is the biggest bathroom in the house, with a tub and large shower. I pull him inside and reach into the shower stall to turn the water on, then turn to face him.

He reaches for me, but I take a step back and bring my hands to the bottom hem of my pajama top, pulling the soft red knit over my head, exposing my bare breasts and stomach.

“Em,” he groans, looking at my body, then up at my eyes. I keep eye contact and slip off my pants, pulling them down over my hips and my ass, my underwear with them. I hear his breathing grow heavy, admiring me as I step out of them. Completely naked, I step towards him.

“Now you,” I whisper, running my fingers under the hem of his sweater.

He pulls it over his head, dropping the blanket I’d brought to the woods for him. In a second he’s naked, our bodies pressing together. I can feel his hardness against my stomach, making my knees weak. I pull his face down towards me, kissing his lips, his beard, his neck. He groans against me, pressing his hips into me, and I feel my body respond, warmth and wetness pooling between my legs.

The heat of the shower is starting to steam up the room, and I grab his hand and lead him into the water with me. He towers over me, and I watch as the water slides over his head, soaking into his red-brown hair, beads running over his body.

“Em,” he murmurs, pulling me close. “God. You feel so good.Ijekayyatik.”I love you.

“I love you,” I whisper back, bringing his face towards me again, kissing him. I run my hands up his body, up to his neck, his shoulders, down his back. I take in everything, savoring every curve and line of his body, every muscle.

“You’re so beautiful,” he says, and in his eyes, I feel it. I’ve always felt like there’s not enough of me. Too short, too thin, too quiet; the shape of my breasts too small, the curve of my waist and hips too minor to be interesting. But in Kieran’s eyes I feel like I’m everything. The warmth of the sun, the glow of the stars. The peace of the lakes and the power of the ocean. I feel confident, bold. Sensual in a way I don’t know how to be even with myself.

“I love you,” I say again, reaching up to kiss his collarbone, the muscular curve of his chest, his shoulder. “I love you.” I run my hands over his stomach, feeling his muscles, taking in the cuts and bruises where the rite hurt him.

I want him—under me, around me, inside of me—but this is more than that. It’s reverent. Devoted. He runs his hands over my body, taking me in, memorizing me. We take our time, accounting for every detail, every freckle and scar.

He brings his mouth down to mine, tasting me.

“You know how many showers I’ve stood under, trying not to think of you?” he murmurs, making his way to my throat.

“Tell me.”

---