AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Carleah, this is how we win.”
“Do you have any idea what you ask of me, Bowman? Or are you so narrow-minded that you cannot be bothered to care?”
“I told you this is what we needed. You agreed.”
“That was when I thought—”
“Thought what?”
“That I had time to find another way!”
Bowman genuinely looks upset, but that sorrow for me doesn’t force the resolution from his expression. “This is what must happen. You will be happy, Carleah. Once you are queen.”
“Happy?” I choke out. “Happy to what, Bowman? Spread my legs and let a man I don’t love between them? Happy to stand silently beside another as he determines just what type of future I am allowed to have?”
“It won’t be that bad.”
“Screw you. Get out of my tent.”
“Carleah—”
“Leave now, Bowman, or so help me, I will do something we will both regret.”
“I’m sorry, Carleah.”
I shake my head, knowing that, if I speak, nothing but fear and pain will spill from my lips. What’s worse, is the one person I want to talk to—the one person I need to talk to cannot be seen with me.
Bowman leaves, and I suck in one pained breath after another.
Out of time.
Fort and I are out of time. Because once Soreno arrives, there will be no changing Patrick’s mind.
A fresh breeze hits my arms as thunder booms outside. I open my eyes to see Fort standing just inside my tent, his gaze wide, his jaw set.
“He’s coming,” is all I manage before Fort crosses the distance and grips the back of my neck. He crashes his lips down to mine as another thunderclap shakes the ground we stand on. Fort’s mouth is hard on mine, his tongue demanding as it dances with my own.
I cling to him, wrapping my arms around his neck so I can get even closer. And still, it’s not enough. Bringing my hands between us, I grip the bottom of his tunic and tug it up. Fort steps back long enough to rip it over his head and toss it to the ground. He takes my mouth again and undoes the belt at my waist. He tosses it to the side and pulls my tunic up and over my head.
Cool air grazes over my breasts as the storm picks up its pace outside. Water slams the ground outside, covering up the sound of our heavy breathing in the dim firelight.
I reach for his pants, undoing his belt and shoving them down to free his erection. I close my hand around it, and he moans against my mouth as I glide my hand over the silky steel. He cups my breast, his thumb grazing over the taut peak of my nipple.
The scent of fresh rain fills my lungs as Fort pulls back and steps out of his boots and pants. Then, he stands before me completely nude. A warrior who carries my very heart in his chest. My mouth dries as it always does when I’m given these moments to drink in the sheer savage beauty of Fort.
Every inch of his body is battle ready. From his powerful shoulders down to his muscled legs. Legs that are covered in scars left behind by a father who would mutilate his own son just as soon as he would send him off to kidnap the daughter of a king he’d never met.
My heart aches for the boy who suffered such pain, but I don’t show it on my face. Fort does not want pity. So I give him none.
He kneels before me, and I thread my fingers through his hair, watching him as he helps me step out of my boots then undoes the laces of my pants so he can draw them down my body. I step free of them, and Fort wraps one arm around my body, holding my back, before drawing one of my legs over his shoulder and running his tongue over my center.
I stifle a cry by covering my mouth with one hand, careful not to move too much so I don’t fall over. Fort’s talented tongue slides inside of me then draws out and runs over my throbbing center. Every stroke against my clit drives me closer and closer to a release that I’ve been craving.
I come undone beneath his mouth, and before I can fully grasp what’s coming next, Fort lifts and lays me back on my cot. He drives into me, filling me so completely that I cannot fathom where he ends and I begin.
My sanity is lost in this moment, all need I’ve ever had to keep distance between us vanishing because Fort’s mere presence eases the storm that has been raging inside of me since the loss of everything I’d ever known.
“You are perfection, Carleah. Utterly and completely flawless.”
