Sin & Salvation (Demigod of San Francisco #3)(66)

A tear broke loose and tracked down my face. I didn’t want to let relief take hold of me before I could knock on something wooden.

He reached up and wiped my tear away. “I love you, Alexis. Each new thing I learn about you makes me want you more. This love may be new, but the roots have thoroughly taken hold. I have every reason to believe it’ll keep growing until it drives words from the poets and makes even Ed Sheeran’s love ballads pale in comparison.”

I gave him a watery laugh. “And what if I do leave?”

Anger rolled across his face before he regained control. A heaviness filled the moment. He blew out a slow breath. “I’ll take up yoga.” A crooked smile tweaked his lips. “Honestly, it’ll kill me. It’ll drive me to rage. I do have my father in me, and I am possessive to a fault.” His thumb trailed across my cheek. “But I do not own you. You are free to do as you please. I will not hurt you. I will never hurt you. I’ll put checks and balances in place in case I should lose my mind. I will never make a woman suffer as my father made my mother suffer.” His fist clenched. “Never.”

I hadn’t needed to hear any of that. I already believed it, or I wouldn’t have let things go this far in the first place.

He looked at me for a long beat. Finally, he whispered, “I still don’t know where we go from here.”

I fought back laughter. As he sat there, looking to me for guidance, he seemed almost like a normal man, sitting with the woman he loved, wondering if he was in the dog house.

“I thought Demigods were supposed to have all the answers,” I hedged. I snuck my fist up and tapped the window sill. Just in case.

His mouth-watering smile made my stomach flip. “Sometimes we need a little help deciphering which way the wind is blowing.”

I shrugged, finally letting relief take hold of me. He’d told me the truth of his situation, and now it was probably fair for me to be equally open with him.

“You had me going there. I thought you regretted the mark. I freaked out a little more than is probably normal.”

He leaned closer and trailed his thumb across my jaw. “I will never regret that mark. Unlike my father, I don’t see my connection to you as a weakness. I’ve just attached myself to one of the wildest, most unpredictable women I’ve ever met. It’ll be a crazy ride, I have no doubt.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You marked Bria, too? Because I’m not down with sharing.”

He chuckled and brushed his lips against mine. “Tell me plainly, Alexis. Are you okay with my…accidentally marking you?”

I shook my head and the tip of my nose brushed back and forth against his. “Accidentally? No. If you’re going to do something right, you need to do it on purpose.”

He pulled back a little, his eyes searching mine. Fire lit within them and eagerness crossed his expression.

“Claim me for reals this time,” I said in a breathy voice.





28





Alexis





Kieran crashed his lips onto mine, needy and sensual. His sexy magic blistered across my skin before soaking down into me, driving out a moan. He ran his palm up my stomach and across my breast, but his fingers continued their upward path—wrapping around the back of my neck and then sliding down to my shoulder. He was backing off.

“Wrong direction,” I said, nearly panting.

I tried to lean back and drag him on top of me, but he got to his feet.

“You said to do this right.” He took my hand and helped me to stand.

My legs gave out and I tipped into him.

“You need to stand,” he said softly, putting me to rights and steadying me.

His stormy eyes teased me as he clutched the base of my shirt and pulled it over my head. He tossed the fabric away.

“I’m not a true Demigod, did you know that?” he asked, stepping a little closer. His heat blanketed me. His sexy magic vibrated across my skin, boosting my pleasure higher without him even touching me. “Demi is half, and I am but a quarter. Like you.”

He lightly trailed his fingertips down my chest and over my budded nipples. A shock of pleasure zipped straight to my core.

“Oh Kieran, please, fuck me,” I groaned.

“I will, love. Good and hard, believe me. But first…” He ran his soft touch down my stomach and then, with inhuman speed, flicked my pants open and pulled down the zipper. Moving slowly again, he slid my pants down over my thighs, following his fingertips with his lips, until my pants pooled on the floor.

“It is rare for someone like me to inherit a Demigod’s magic,” he continued, making his way back up my body in the same slow, sensual, worshipful manner. His palm grazed the inside of my right thigh. His tongue grazed the other. I couldn’t breathe as he neared my apex. “I am the only Demigod who has access to my other parent’s magic.” His lips skimmed my left hip and his fingers caressed the other. “Even a true Demigod from two godly lineages will only manifest one god’s magic. Yet I wield the magic of a Demigod, and that of a selkie.”

Another wave of his sexy magic nearly drove me to my knees. He caught me and held me up, staring at me intently as his magic traveled across my body like two vibrating hands. It dipped between my legs and pushed up through me.

“Oh!” I clung to his wide shoulders, my eyes closed, gyrating my hips in time to the sexy magic massaging my core. “Oh holy fuck.”