Leaning down again, he kissed me with the desperate fervor of a man who thought he could die tomorrow and only a kiss could save him. He moved his hips against me, hard and slow, and liquid warmth pooled in my core. With my breath hitching, I raked my fingernails down his back, my teeth grazing his shoulder, a hint of my threat from earlier.
His hand slid into the band of my shorts, and he tugged them down. “Take these off.” His voice shifted, the low, commanding demand of a king used to getting what he wanted.
He leaned back, watching me pull them off. He could have tugged them down himself, but he wanted to watch me do it, and the feel of his eyes on me made me pulse with need for him.
A primal expression shone in his eyes, and heat radiated through the air around us. “If I could have you always around me naked, Ava, I would be a happy man.” He stared at me, drinking me in. “In fact, it’s a king’s privilege to be surrounded by beauty. And it’s a king’s privilege to indulge his wickedest desires.”
He slid down, his abs between my thighs. He closed his lips over my nipple. His tongue swirled and licked, making me want to cry out. I moved my hips against him, letting him know exactly how much I needed him.
“Demon,” he murmured against my skin. But this time, I loved the sound of that word on his tongue, the reverent, husky timbre.
My back arched, and I stifled a cry as he stroked and licked my breast with a pace that was frustratingly indolent. Desperately, I wanted him inside me .
One of his hands moved down my body, gentleness twining with a dark possessiveness as he cupped my sex, slick with arousal. “For tonight,” he whispered, “this is mine.”
At his words, my thighs opened wider for him, and I moved against him, growing desperate for release as his fingers glided in and out.
“Torin,” I breathed, raking my fingernails down his back once more. “I want you. Now.”
He released my nipple from his lips, peering up at me. And to my immense frustration, his fingers stilled as well. “A Seelie king hurries for no one. Especially when he has his absolutely bewitching enemy in bed, naked and wet for him.”
Gods, he was an unrelenting tease, and I couldn’t stop myself from moving against his hand. I was so close now, but I needed more of him. “Take off your clothes.”
Ignoring my demand, he sucked at my nipple again, and my toes curled.
He was touching me exactly where I needed him, his fingers moving expertly as a crescendo of pleasure coiled in my core. Heat spread across my chest, and he raised his mouth to mine again. He kissed me deeply, stroking his tongue against mine. I moaned against his mouth, my muscles going taut, then softening as shudders racked my body. As my orgasm rocked through me, my thoughts fragmented. A carnal, dark pleasure pulsed through my body, rolling waves that made blood rush to my core .
As I rocked against him, my mind bloomed with a color, the divine, pale blue of Torin’s eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, I found him staring at me like he was entranced. With his hand still between my legs, he kissed me once more.
Flushed, I caught my breath. Torin wrapped his arms around me, and I breathed against the glowing skin of his throat.
Torin, without a doubt, made it his mission to look after those he cared for.
Blinking, I woke in the night, feeling too cold, missing Torin’s heat.
When I turned to look at him, I found him sitting on the edge of the bed. He rested his hands over his knees, and his head hung down.
“Torin?”
He turned to look at me, the mournful blue of his eyes piercing the dark, his hair rustled with sleep. In the moonlight, he was all contrasts—shadowy tattoos against pale skin, pale eyes, and hair dark as jet.
“Just a bad dream,” he said quietly. “You know, Ava, I only told Morgant that I didn’t care for you because I didn’t want them to use you against me. If they knew you were important to me…I don’t really want to imagine what they might have done.”
The first golden blush of heat started to thaw the ice in my heart. “I’m not sure he believed you. He seems infuriatingly good at detecting lies. ”
My breath caught as he held my gaze for another minute, and then he turned away again. He ran a hand through his hair. “When we trained in Faerie, I feel like I got to know your every move, changeling. How you thought. How you breathed. And you’re not really an Unseelie. You’re not from this cursed place.”
“What was your bad dream about?”
“I was dreaming about my mother. I have vague memories of her when I’m awake. But when I sleep, I dream of her vividly. And I don’t know if the dreams are based on memories or something my mind conjured. I think this was a memory.” His voice sounded ravaged. “This time, I was standing by her bedside, watching her die. The curse had made purple veins crawl over her skin. I loved her, but I thought she looked like a monster as she was dying. I remember being so angry that she wouldn’t get up to look after me because I think I knew she was all done looking after me. And I didn’t really know who else to be angry with. So…those were her last moments with me. Me, being an absolute brat.”