Page 136 of Realm of Dreams & Shadows

“Say it again,” he demands.

“I need you inside me,” I whisper. “Please.”

Something breaks apart in him, and I can tell the effort it takes for him to go slow—so slow that I feel every inch as he fills me. As we both go still. The sensation is overwhelming, the feel of him inside me making my breath catch.

“Move,” I beg, wrapping my legs around his hips.

He complies, withdrawing then thrusting back so hard I cry out, and he does it again and again, setting a rhythm that’s going to shatter me. My nails rake down his back, and he moans, but it only makes him move faster.

“Is this what you wanted?” he asks, his voice ragged. “Is this what you’ve been thinking about?”

“Yes,” I gasp out. “Yes, god, yes.”

He shifts slightly, and I nearly come apart right there. He must feel it because he does it again, driving into that spot over and over while his hand finds my clit and circles it with firm, perfect pressure.

“Come for me,” he commands. “I want to feel you come around me.”

“Yes,” I murmur, feeling that delicious pressure. Feeling it ebb and flow like a wave growing bigger and bigger each time until the wave finally breaks, and I shatter, my whole body arching off the cushions as pleasure crashes all around me. But he doesn’t stop. Instead, he rides me harder and deeper until I shatter completely.

When I can breathe again, he’s still hard inside me, still moving with that relentless rhythm. “Again,” he says.

“I can’t.”

“You can.” He pulls out and flips me over before I can process what’s happening. “Hands and knees.”

I scramble into position, my arms shaking, and then he’s behind me, one hand gripping my hip, the other sliding up my spine to grip my shoulder. He enters me from this angle, and somehow he’s even deeper.

“Oh god,” I moan as he sets a punishing pace that has me bracing against the cushions.

“That’s it,” he says, his control starting to fray. “Take it. Take all of me.”

His hand slides around to find my clit again, and the dual sensation—him pounding into me from behind, his fingers teasing—is so far beyond pleasure it’s almost punishment. I’m climbing again, the waves coming so fast I can barely breathe.

“So close. Come with me, Cora. Come with me now.”

He drives in deep, and I come gloriously once again, screaming his name. He follows me over with a groan as he explodes inside me.

We collapse together in a tangle of limbs, both of us breathing like we’ve run a marathon. My whole body is singing, oversensitive and sated, but somehow still humming with residual pleasure.

He pulls me against him, my back to his chest, one arm wrapped around my waist. For a long moment, we just breathe together, his face buried in my hair.

“That was…” I trail off, not sure how to finish that sentence.

“Yes,” he agrees simply, making me laugh.

We lie there as our breathing slowly returns to normal. His hand traces idle patterns on my hip, my stomach, and I’m half-tempted to fall asleep just like this.

But I can’t. There are still things to say. “I love Chase. I won’t give him up. Not unless he gives me up.” I shift position to meet his eyes. “He might.”

He tilts his head, and I see understanding dawn. “You intend to tell him. All of it.”

I nod.

“You think you can keep us both.”

“I don’t know what I think,” I admit. “But I know what I want. And I also know that I won’t be responsible for the end of everything. So it’s like I said. If you want me as your bride, knowing that our actual marriage will never be consummated…”

I let my words trail off, then take a breath. “Once we’re truly married, this ends.”