“Xaden,” I beg, my nails biting into the tops of his shoulders, but I’m careful not to brush his new scar. Every stroke of his fingers and flick of his tongue feels like a jolt of lightning through my system, electrifying every nerve until I’m a hypersensitive bowstring drawn too tight but not tight enough.
“I know exactly what you want”—he skims my clit—“and what you need.” Two fingers slide inside me.
Deeper. Closer. More. That’s what I need.
“Then give it to me,” I demand, my hips rolling.
“I’ve waited forever to touch you.”
My breaths come in ragged pants and moans, and my skin flushes, heat prickling as he builds the aching pressure with tighter, faster strokes.
“Gods, look at you. You are all I’m ever going to want. Just you. Just this. Just us.” His voice curls around my mind until he’s all I see, all I hear, all I feel and think. He’s everything, watching me like he thinks the same about me.
“I need you.” Maybe need isn’t the right word, but there’s no other term that captures how essential he is to my existence. I shove my thumbs into the waistband of my pants and push. I need them off, now.
“Same.” We’re a frenzy of questing hands and mouths as we struggle out of the rest of our wet clothes. I have a whole new reason to curse these boots, but Xaden makes quick work of them, stripping me bare.
I ghost my lips over the new scar on his arm, more than aware of how close I came to losing him, and then he’s over me again, bracing his weight on his forearms, his eyes studying mine with an intensity that makes me shiver with anticipation as he settles between my thighs.
Reaching between our bodies, I wrap my fingers around him, bringing the head of his cock to my entrance. I’ll die if he makes me wait any longer. I won’t survive another breath without him inside me.
“I need you more, Violet.” He cradles the side of my face and rolls his hips, pushing inside, stretching me as he consumes those first sensitive inches. “However much you think you need this, need me—I need you more.” He thrusts, filling me with one long drive, until he’s so deep that my eyes flutter closed, and I moan with the sublime pleasure.
There’s nothing like this in the world. I’m sure of it.
“So. Fucking. Good.” He echoes my thoughts with a groan, and then he’s moving, withdrawing only to slam home again and again, stealing my stuttered breaths with kiss after kiss. The stone at my back gives me the leverage to arch into his thrusts, taking him deeper. It’s too much, too good, and not enough all at the same time.
Each powerful stroke has me greedy for more. This is where I want to exist, with him above me, moving inside me, his focus totally, completely mine. “Harder. Deeper.” I’m breathing too hard to speak. “Don’t treat me like I’m breakable.”
“I know exactly how much you can take.” He slides his hands under me, then holds me to his chest as he rises, pivoting to sit on the edge of the bench.
My cry echoes in the chamber as I sink onto him, my knees anchoring on either side of his hips, and he hits that sweeter, deeper angle that steals my breath. “Yes. There. Gods, I feel you everywhere.”
“Right where we left off.” His hands shift to my ass. “With you riding me.”
I wind my arms around his neck and smile against his mouth. No one is coming through those doors to interrupt us this time. There’s only the sound of water hitting the bench beside us and our bodies coming together again and again, our hearts pounding, breaths strained between long, drugging kisses.
Reality narrows to sensation, the exquisite feel of his chest against my breasts, his mouth worshipping mine, his cock filling every inch I have, stretching me for more. The pressure coiling in my core is so tight, the pleasure so sweet I can taste it. It vibrates through me as my power rises, transforming me into pure, rapturous energy, until I’m the very lightning I wield, crackling in anticipation of the strike.
“More,” he growls. “I want everything, Violet.”
“You have it.” His stubble scrapes my palms as I cup his face and kiss him. Lightning courses through me, building to a dangerous peak, and I don’t need to ask. I know he has me.
It releases with a snap, flaring bright outside the windows for a heartbeat before it’s swallowed by shadows that stream out to smother it. Nothing shatters. Nothing catches fire. He knows how my body reacts, knows exactly how to push me to the breaking point, and he has me covered when I explode.
I love him. I love him. I love him. I’m not ready to give him the words, the power that comes with them, but I can keep them for myself, chant them like my own personal Codex, the only truth I’m certain of.
His body tightens beneath mine, his thrusts coming harder as he curls an arm around me, hooking my shoulder and pulling me into every thrust.
That spiraling pressure arcs to a breaking point, and I fight, holding it at bay. Not yet. I want more. Fuck, I want to feel like this every minute of every day for the rest of my life.
“Let go.” He shifts his angle, rubbing against my clit with the next thrust.
“I don’t want it to end.” I can hear the note of panic in my voice, the sharp note of fear that this will be the only time I feel like this, the only time he’s mine. But the waves are coming closer with every roll of our hips, and my muscles tighten to the point of locking.
“Violet.” His hand slides from my shoulder to the back of my neck, fisting in the long strands of my hair as he looks into my eyes like he can see straight to my soul. “I can’t give this up. I won’t give you up. Now let go.”
My thighs tremble, and at the next thrust, I fracture with a cry. Lightning flashes, power tearing through me with instant thunder as the waves crest over me again and again. All I can do is hold on to Xaden and ride them out, bliss flooding my body until I’m too limp to rock back against him.
“Perfect.” His restraint vanishes in an instant. Gone are the measured, precise thrusts. He growls into my neck and drives wildly with his hips, consuming me with abandon, and I realize that this is what I craved beyond anything else, even beyond his secrets—his loss of control.
I want to be the only person he unravels for.
Holding on to his shoulders, I push back into every thrust, swiveling my hips and savoring the shout he lets loose when he finally shudders beneath me, his shadows blasting through the room. Rock cracks and water bursts from the aqueducts.
My heart races as I grin.
“Fuck.” His forehead rests against mine, our chests heaving as we fight to catch our breath. “Just when I think I can handle you, I completely fucking lose it.”
“That’s my favorite part.”
“Why does that not surprise me?” He brushes his lips over mine, and he locks his arms around me, keeping me from melting off his lap. “Death of me, I swear.”
“What do we do now?” The question slips out before I can stop it. After all, I’m the one who’s been fighting this—whatever this is.
“We have options.” He caresses the side of my face and studies my eyes. “First, we can stay right here and go again. Second, we can clean up, get dressed, and sneak up to my room, where we can go again. Or third…” He pauses. “We can clean up, find a water wielder to dry our clothes, get you into one of my flight jackets, and fly to the rendezvous to drop the daggers—”