Ashes of Chaos (Legacy of the Nine Realms #2) - Amelia Hutchins Page 0,92

were tangled together, the need to get closer, driving us past reason.

Knox growled against my kiss, rattling his approval of the need exploding from me for this carnal beast that promised to consume me whole. His mouth ignited a fire within me, doing more than his hands had ever sought to do as he kissed me like I was everything he wanted or needed. Knox breathed fire into my soul, fanning embers of longing, and showing me what true passion was, all while somehow holding us both above the waters’ surface.

I lifted my hand when he started to pull away, yanking him back as his touch created a heat that throbbed within me. My sole focus became the feel of him against my lips, drinking him in as everything around us faded away. Chuckling darkly against my lips, he kept us afloat as my legs wrapped around his waist, securing him to me.

All coherent thought slid to the back of my mind, replaced with the desire he’d promised to deliver. Knox rubbed against my core, showing me exactly how that promise would feel. His mouth brushed against mine, nipping my bottom lip while a deep, husky growl escaped his throat.

“There are only three things in this world I wish to do right now, Aria. They all include you. I want to touch you, to trace every curve of your body with my fingertips explicitly. I want to taste every part of you until you’re nothing more than a quivering, trembling mess that begs me to stop, and yet I won’t. I want to bury myself so fucking deep inside your tight body that you ache, yet never ask me to withdraw because I’m burrowed within the very being of your center, and you can’t think without me there.” His eyes studied the heat burning within mine. I leaned closer, intending to beg him to do just that, but a horrifying sound grew louder around us, pulling me from my thoughts, forcing us to break apart.

Knox reached out and grasped my arm, holding me even tighter against his body, if at all possible. Our eyes slid to the white-water rapids we were about to enter.

Huge, sharp rocks cropped out from the water, exposing our perilous situation. Knox turned us, staring toward the shore, realizing the water had changed while we were lost in the heat of our kiss. The river had grown wider, placing the shore on either side of us out of reach.

“Bloody hell,” he groaned while spitting out water. “Hold onto me, Aria,” he urged, his hands and arms tightening around me protectively.

The water slammed us against the rocks, and Knox grunted. It was the only indication he’d felt the stone against his back. He prevented me from smashing against several larger rocks, holding onto me as we fought to stay above the rapids threatening to suck us to the bottom of the river. I coughed violently as water filled my mouth.

Knox did the same as the rapids sucked us below. His powerful legs touched the bottom, pushing us back up to the surface as we slammed into more rocks, both of us being tossed upon them while the water swirled in eddies with white kissing the tops of the waves. Knox spun us, and we slammed against another set of rocks, and then another. His body took each blow as the rushing rapids tossed us around.

The water’s sound grew deafeningly loud, and I sucked air in. I saw the clear water swirling like a cyclone into the deep. My heart stopped, and the color drained from my face while I wrapped my legs around Knox, who was still protecting me from the deadly rocks with his body. His eyes turned and widened in horror to where the water was rushing us toward.

“Knox!” I shrieked in panic, burying my face against his shoulder, pretending we weren’t about to die as the whirlpool grew louder the closer we got.

“Breathe in now, Aria!” he shouted above the thundering water, drawing in air before the water sucked us into the vortex.

We were pulled into the whirlpool, thrown around in a wide circle as we clung to one another tightly. My lungs burned, even as Knox pulled me against him, pushing air into my lungs from his without care that his lungs were starving for it as well. For being such a prick, he certainly was fighting to keep me alive and unharmed from my own stupidity.

I was jerked hard by debris, and