Page 42 of Buckle Up, Buttercup

The better part of ten minutes passes before her crying slows. She’s shaking in my arms and covered in goosebumps, although her racing heart eventually slows. Her pain is tangible, its taste sour in my mouth as I continue kissing my way up and down her neck and shoulder.

I just mean to reassure her, but as the crying stops, she begins angling her head to the side to give me more space. Staring at her exposed, creamy neck, I wonder if it’s entirely purposeful. When her arms tighten around me, I decide this is exactly the opening we both need, and maybe what she’s telling me is that she wants the connection.

Dropping my jaws slightly open, I close my mouth around the spot where her neck and shoulder meet, pricking her slightly with my teeth. Bluebell jolts in my arms, letting out a soft moan that unleashes me. Biting again, I press harder as one of her hands snakes up into my hair, fingers trailing the base of my left horn. The tantalizing tickle does something to me, something primal and filthy.

Threading a hand around her long blue locks, I guide her head backward and move up her neck, alternating between hungry bites and ravenous licks. Bluebell writhes in my arms, thrusting her hips against my stomach as she grabs on to both of my horns and lets her head fall back into my hand.

Snarling, I bite harder and harder until I reach that tender spot just below her chin. If I bit her there, her life would be in my hands. I want it. I need it. Surging forward, I clamp my teeth around her throat and shake slowly from side to side. It’s possession and lust and desire all wrapped in a tidy, tight package. Bluebell yips but sinks harder against me, the tiniest amount of blood welling to the surface of the wounds.

Releasing the bite, I nip up the underside of her jaw, up over her chin until I reach those delicious blue lips. I hover for a moment, dragging my fingertips over the soft, plump things. My entire world recenters, then, on that mouth and that soft-looking pink tongue peeking out.

Closing my eyes, I close the final inches between us and slant my mouth over hers. For a moment, time stands still. Then she moves first, dragging her nails down my horns as she bites my upper lip.

That’s it. I’m finished. There’ll never be someone else who tastes this good, this right. Growling, I swoop my right wing around her, crushing her to me as I devour her, cocking my head to one side and the other as we lose control together. My hands rove entirely of their own accord up beneath her shirt, my fingers arching to touch her pert nipples.

I tug softly at them as she pushes off the surface of my wing, trying to wrest control of the kiss.

“No,” I command. “I don’t think so, Blue.”

Shifting forward, I lay her on her back atop my wing, splaying her gorgeous hair over my skin. It tickles, and even that makes me hard. Dipping low, I take her mouth again, thrusting my hips against hers as I muse over how much fucking bigger I am. Our kiss gets wild, hot, out of control until I’m biting and kissing and sucking on every inch of her I can reach. I’ve got my lips and mouth on her chin, her neck, that delicate shoulder and down the inside of her arm.

Bluebell’s scent envelops me, mixing with mine until I can’t tell us apart. There’s just our lust, our need, and the knowing that she is mine, mine, mine.

I couldn’t tell you how long I kiss her before she parts from me, chest heaving.

“That was a hell of a kiss, Alk,” she whispers, slipping a hand up my shirt to rest it over my silent heart.

A heart that’ll beat when I claim her. I’m sure of that now. Because there’s no other woman in this entire world who could fit me like Bluebell Tucker. I’ll never want anyone else. Kissing her cemented what I was already relatively certain of, something I’ve been feeling for a very long time.

“I’m yours,” I whisper into the scant space between us. “You know that, don’t you?”

A smile overtakes her, blue freckles along her cheeks highlighting her beautiful burnished skin. “All mine? Sounds nice. Nothing’s ever been all mine before.”

“Until this place,” I correct, waving at the Bodice around us. “And because I’m yours, that means I’m hers too. And as a unit, we’re going to figure out how we can live and work together in partnership. Right?” I glance around.

A soft clattering comes from somewhere behind Bluebell.

“We can do this, honey,” I say to the building before looking back at my woman. “I’m not going anywhere, Bluebell. I’m in your corner, alright?”

She strokes her fingers down my jawline. “Are we really doing this, Alk?”

I nip at her fingertips, sucking them into my mouth, then grabbing her wrist and biting the inside of it. “I think you mean, ‘Are we really doing this, baby?’ Or mate. Or whatever term of endearment you want to give me. But I don’t want the nickname you’ve used our whole lives. I want something new, something special, something you call me at three a.m. while I’m fucking you in front of our fireplace. Pick a new name, Bluebell.”

Her mouth drops open, and the blush returns as she shifts in my arms. “I…I can’t think of one right now, but I’ll figure something out.”

I shift back onto both hands. “See that you do.”

Silence stretches long before her comm watch rings. Jasper’s name flashes over it. When she answers, he shouts in relief. “Girl, we thought you might’ve died. Where are you, and do you have Hadrian? He disappeared!”

“Got him,” she says evenly. “I’ve got a meeting with Lemon and Oz about the Mead Cute Festival, but do you want to come retrieve your wayward bestie?”

I grin and pinch her nipple again. She jerks away with a barely withheld laugh. Oh yes, I think I love this new dynamic where I just put my hands on her when I want to—assuming she’s down, of course.

Jasper asks something else, but I don’t pay attention because my eyes fall to the to-do list she dropped when she yelled at the Bodice. I grab the list, and my mouth drops open at how fucking much is on it, just like before. When she hangs up with her brother, I wave the sheet of paper at her.

“We’re gonna talk about this, Bluebell. This is more than one human is literally capable of achieving in a day.”

She shakes her head and grabs for it, but I lift it high over my head. “No,” I say again. “I’m helping you. Tell me what on there I can do, and I’ll take care of it with you.”