When I moved my hips back into him again, he let out a low moan. Sucking in a deep breath, he gripped my shorts in his fist, and I had the distinct impression he was about to lose control of himself. To rip them straight off and plunge into me—
He’d never had to restrain himself this much when we’d been fighting. Then, it had always seemed so easy for him to maintain complete control, every one of his moves carefully calculated. But now I could feel the strain of his arm muscles and the steel of his chest.
His mouth moved from my throat, hand still clenching my shorts in a death grip. I felt his breath warming my back, exactly in the place where Morgant has ripped my shoulder open. Gently, Torin’s fingertips trailed over the scar. “It doesn’t hurt anymore, does it?”
His lips replaced his fingertips, and his kiss sent warmth radiating from the point of contact where his mouth met my skin. In between kisses, he murmured, “I will eviscerate that man someday. Do you know that?”
“No thinking about the future.” Flushed, I lay on my back so I could look at the heartbreak of his beautiful face more easily.
With me, Torin wasn’t able to let himself go completely. Not when he knew it would be ending.
A ghost of sorrow crossed his perfect features. “Ava. I thought of you all the time in my cell. How much I wanted you next to me, your limbs entwined with mine.”
His words stunned me, this version of Torin with his guard dropped. Under the intensity of his gaze, my chest flushed.
When I tried to remember what I’d been thinking about in that prison cell, it was all muddied in my thoughts. Just sharp flashes of desperation and a glimpse of what I must have looked like licking rainwater off the floor. I’d felt so wildly helpless there, but with Torin? It didn’t matter if we were technically from enemy factions. I was safe with him.
I touched the side of his face, tracing his high cheekbones.
Torin must have seen my expression change because he asked, “What are you remembering? ”
I let out a long breath, trying to smile. This wasn’t taking the direction I’d been hoping for. “Nothing that I want to. Maybe your job is to take my mind off that dungeon.”
“Ava, you know we can never be…” A jagged edge ran through his words.
He needed something from me, but I wasn’t sure what it was. All I knew was that a moment ago, he’d been so close to touching me exactly where I wanted him, and now I was remembering things I’d rather leave buried. I felt the moment teetering on a knife edge, like I was about to lose what I so desperately wanted.
“I think you should just kiss me,” I said. “Why worry about two weeks from now? We could be dead tomorrow.”
A pained expression flickered across his divine features, but it was gone in an instant, replaced by a seductive curl of his lips, a heated expression in his eyes.
I’d sworn off men, and him specifically. But now? I was desperate to feel something crack through the icy numbness in my chest. Being close to Torin was like lava melting through black rock.
Responding to my command, he leaned down and claimed my mouth with his. His lips brushed mine lightly, like a question, and my response was to open mine to his kiss, to sweep my tongue against his. His muscles went taut, and I drank him in—his smell, the feel of him against me. The way he kissed me, as though he’d been imagining it for months.
Sparks danced over my exposed skin.
As he kissed me, he slid his hand under the hem of my shirt, caressing my hips, moving slowly over my ribs. Under the crisp white shirt, my nipples went tight with anticipation. He slid his hand down again, traveling to my hips. The way he touched me made my muscles coil tightly with the certainty that he knew exactly how to make me shudder with pleasure.
“I want to take my time to savor every moment, Ava.”
Slowly, teasing me, he swirled his fingertips under the band of my shorts. A wild ache built at the apex of my thighs. I yearned for him.
But he was taking his time, and he traced circles over my hipbone with a languorous stroke. My breath hitched, and he shifted his body, his hips between my thighs now. He kissed me slowly, savoring me, one hand sliding to cup my ass, and I moved my hips into him.
His fingers slid into my hair, gripping it, tugging it just a little as he kissed me. And with every languid stroke of his tongue, my body begged for more. With a nip to my lower lip, he pulled away from the kiss.
“I love the taste of you.” His voice came out husky, almost desperate.
I needed more contact from him, my bare skin against his. I started unbuttoning my shirt, and he glanced down to watch me, his eyes glowing with heat. As I pulled the shirt off, his gaze slid down me like a sultry caress, lingering on my bare breasts. My breath went shallow as his eyes rose again, pausing on my lips. A wildness shone in that pale blue, a primal desire that looked barely restrained. The Seelie king was about to come undone .