Savage Hearts (Queens & Monsters #3)(74)

This is why some men don’t like missionary.

It’s too intense. Too vulnerable. Too intimate, all the emotion and energy getting exchanged right up close.

Watching her face go through a dozen different expressions at once is overwhelming.

It’s overwhelming for her, too. She stares right back at me, gazing deeply into my eyes as our bodies move together. As we share all those things that can’t be put into words.

Those sacred things that can only be spoken by two hearts beating in tune.

The silent, holy language that souls speak.

Eyelids fluttering, she whispers my name. Then she arches and moans.

Hard, rhythmic contractions milk the length of my cock.

She comes with her eyes closed and her head thrown back as I watch her, thrusting deep, feeling her pussy throb and her taut nipples slide back and forth across my chest.

With a sudden, violent jerk, I’m over the edge, too.

I drop my head to her shoulder, close my eyes, and shudder as my climax slams hard into me.

It’s so intense, I lose my breath. I can’t make a sound. I just ride it out, pulsing deep inside her as she rocks her hips, her thighs quivering around my waist.

The loud, rumbling bass of thunder masks the moan of despair that slips past my lips.

Even as we come together in the windswept dark and hold each other, trembling, I hear a clock ticking in the background.

Maybe she was right when she said I’m not really bad.

If I were, I wouldn’t care that I’m being selfish by keeping her here, chained up in the dragon’s lair.

If it weren’t for that damn white knight, I’d keep her chained to me forever.





36





Riley





When the rain tapers off and the sun comes out, I’m lying spent in Mal’s arms, drunk with afterglow.

Beneath my ear, his heart thuds a strong, steady beat. My arm is flung over his chest. One of my legs is twined between his. I’m tucked snugly into his side, shimmering with happiness.

My head rises as he inhales deeply. Stirring, he presses a kiss to my hair.

“How’s your pain today?”

I laugh softly. “You would’ve made a good grandmother.”

“I’ll pretend you never said that. How’s your pain?”

“Right now, I can honestly say I’m pain free.”

He grumbles in discontent. “And the rest of the time?”

I turn my nose to his chest and inhale. My exhalation is a soft, satisfied sigh. “Only the occasional twinge.”

He insists, “Like when for instance?”

So bossy. “I sat up in bed too fast last night, and that hurt a little.”

“When I came in?”

“No. Before that. I had a nightmare.”

He kisses my head again, stroking his open palm up my back. “Was it bad?”

It was horrible, but I’m not about to admit it and ruin the mood. “I used your trick to wake myself up. I told myself it was only a dream, and it worked. I couldn’t believe it.”

“It’s called lucid dreaming. If you want, now you can make a sword appear that you can use to chop off the head of your enemy.”

“Or, murder boy, I could snap my fingers and turn my enemy into a bunny rabbit so I don’t have to do any chopping.”

“Hmpf. What if the bunny was ten feet tall and rabid?”

“Then I’d snap my fingers again and make him fall in love with me.”

“Yes, you have a gift for that.” After a moment, he murmurs, “You just started shivering.”

“Shut up.”

“Are you cold?”

“Will you shut up, please? You know I’m not cold.”

He rolls me to my back, props himself up onto an elbow, and smiles down into my face.

The morning light worships him, highlighting the angle of his cheekbones, burnishing his dark hair richest bronze, glinting copper off the curving tips of his lashes.

And those eyes! For fuck’s sake, they might as well be priceless emeralds!

I whisper, “God, you’re beautiful. It’s sick.”

He throws back his head and laughs.

“I’m glad you find me so hilarious.”

Still chuckling, he kisses the tip of my nose. “I’m supposed to be the one paying the compliments.”

“You know what? You’re right. Go ahead. I’m waiting.”

Framing my face in his hands, he looks into my eyes and says softly, “There’s not a compliment in the world that could do you justice.”

I make the sound of a buzzer. “Wrong answer. Try again.”

Pressing his lips together to stifle his laughter, he drops his head and hides his face in my neck.

“Oh, my god. You suck at this!”

“I’m not used to giving compliments on demand.”

“Well, get used to it! I need a compliment, Mal. Like, now!”

He rolls to his back, drags me on top of his body, holds my hair back from my face, and looks into my eyes.

“All right,” he says, voice gruff. “Here it is. You make me wish I’d lived a different life. You make me wish I could go back in time and start over again. You make me think the world isn’t a shitty place after all, that goodness exists and happiness isn’t make-believe and true love is possible. You make me believe in miracles, Riley Rose. When I’m with you, I feel like my life hasn’t been such a waste.”