He moved his hand to my tunic and popped one of the buttons. A tremor went through me as his fingers moved to the next. I palmed the smooth steel of the anvil and hung on as if I were seconds away from plunging over the side of a cliff. If I fell, I’d never recover.
He reached the bottom button and stared so intently into my eyes that several seconds ticked by before I could breathe. There was a silent question in that look, a search for confirmation. Swallowing, I nodded.
With an almost feral glint in his eye, he snapped free the final button. The tunic fell open, and the warm air from the fire caressed my bare nipples. A muscle in Rivelin’s jaw tightened as he gazed down at me, his lips curling in wicked satisfaction.
“I see a spot that needs healing,” he murmured.
He dipped his fingers into the salve once more, then ran them along the curve of my cleavage. I tightened my grip on the anvil and struggled to stay still as he slowly stroked my breast, his touch more tantalizing than before. With darkening eyes, he continued to rub the spot where the rain had seemingly burned me, and then he swept his thumb across my peak.
A storm of pleasure engulfed me, and I bit my lip to keep from moaning.
“Oh, is that the right spot?” he asked in a deliciously sultry voice I’d never heard from him before.
“Mmm hmm. That’s one of them, yes,” I managed to say.
He dragged his thumb across my swollen nipple, and despite my every attempt to remain still, I arched against him. Sudden need clenched my thighs, tightening around his hips. He edged a little closer, and something hard pressed against my core.
“I think I need a closer inspection,” he said roughly.
He cupped my breast, leaned in, and stroked his tongue across my peak. I couldn’t contain my moan. It spilled from my throat as I reached out and dug my fingernails into his arm. The steam was a hazy fog now, so thick I could see nothing but Rivelin’s face and those bright, brilliant eyes that lit up the dark.
He continued to caress my breast with his tongue, teasing me, tasting me, causing a need unlike any I’d ever felt to pound through me.
When he pulled back, I thought he might stop there, or he’d return to his pretend wound tending. We’d crossed a line, but we could still pretend there was nothing to it. He was merely soothing my aching skin. He had accidentally spent a few moments too long on the wrong spot, that was all.
But then he cupped my face, leaned in, and kissed me. His mouth melted against mine, and an intoxicating heat burned the last of my inhibitions away. This was it, everything I’d secretly wanted for days—Rivelin’s mouth against mine, the heat of our touch steaming between us, and his arms on either side of me, protective and strong. I reached up and clutched his tunic, tugging him closer to me. The hard length of him pressed against my core, and something primal awoke within me.
I arched against him, grinding my hips against his. The low growl that rumbled from the back of his throat lit every inch of me on fire. He pulled back, and I gasped for air as he tugged my tunic over my head. The warm air of the forge caressed my bare skin, but it was nothing compared to the heat in Rivelin’s gold-flecked eyes. No one had ever looked at me like that. My heartbeat roared in my ears.
Rising from the anvil, I gathered the soft material of Rivelin’s tunic in my hands and slowly, methodically, lifted his shirt to reveal the generous planes of his well-muscled chest, only marked by a key dangling from a chain that hung around his neck. I leaned in and kissed one of the many ridges, relishing in the steam that clouded around us and in the feel of his smooth skin against my lips. He slid his fingers into my hair and gripped tight, holding me there.
A delicious thrill went through me.
I kissed him again and again, moving from one sculpted pinnacle to the next, the mountainous peaks of muscle just as breathtaking as I’d expected. But I wanted more. So much more. I lifted my hands to his belt and undid the clasp, then raised my eyes to meet his.
The intensity of his gaze made the world drop away. The only thing that mattered was this.
“Ladies first,” he murmured as his hands palmed my hips and tugged down my trousers. I stepped out of the material, now exposed before him, and then his trousers joined mine on the floor. His hooded eyes raked across me. “You are the most spectacular creature I’ve ever seen.”
I let my eyes drift south. His swollen cock was larger than I’d expected, and by the way it strained toward me, he felt the same delirious heat I did. Swallowing, I sat back on the anvil and spread my legs for him, tossing my hair back from my shoulders.
“Fuck,” he murmured, coming closer to me, so close his tip brushed against my aching core. “You’re already soaking wet for me, Daella. But I need to know how you taste.”
He knelt between my thighs and gripped my hips. I sucked in a breath, my entire body coiled so tightly I felt like I might shatter into a million pieces if he so much as breathed on my skin. But Rivelin wasted no time. He leaned in and caressed the inside of my thighs with his lips. I shuddered against him, clutching the side of the anvil behind me. Sparks of pleasure filled my eyes.
“That’s right,” he murmured against my skin. “Spread your legs for me like a good girl.”
I eagerly obeyed his command and spread them wider, enjoying the bite of the metal against my backside. Rivelin’s fingers dug into me, then he flicked my clit with his tongue. A moan escaped my throat, and I nearly broke just from that small touch. Shaking, I couldn’t breathe as his tongue swept across me once more.
Fates be damned. Was this what I’d been missing all my life?
“Your taste is intoxicating,” he said in practically a growl. As if he’d been unleashed, Rivelin drove his tongue across me, licking my opening as if he wanted to lap up every last drop of the wetness I’d conjured just for him.
The pressure in my core built. Everything within me narrowed to that point, where Rivelin was devouring me. I gasped as my very soul itself seemed to crackle like flames. And then suddenly, the roar of it consumed me, burning through me, tearing me up like fire. I shuddered, coming hard against Rivelin’s mouth as the moans spilled out of me.
My tremors slowed, and as I tried to catch my breath, I finally noticed the dense fog swirling through the shop. It was as thick as a cloud on a stormy day now, and I could barely see Rivelin’s face as he rose to stand before me.
“Rivelin,” I murmured, light-headed from my climax.
He took my hand and wrapped it around his cock. I shuddered as he dragged my fingers along the hard length, stopping only when my thumb brushed the tip that was coated in his need for me.
“Turn around,” he said roughly. “And hold on to the anvil.”
I swallowed and turned, presenting my backside to him as I palmed the cool steel of the anvil. A moment later, his swollen tip pressed against me. The quakes nearly started anew.
He gripped my hips and slowly inched inside me, not stopping until he filled me to the hilt. My walls spread for him, taking him in eagerly. With a soft groan, he pulled back, then thrust inside me once more. I lifted my hips and ground against him, desperate for more of him.
Having him inside me, this man who had somehow stolen past the walls around my heart, made me come undone. I was his to take however he wished, at least for this one night. My moans mingled with the thickening fog as he thrust harder into me. My thighs knocked against the steel.