her fingers into his hair. It was the only way to hold on to him as he filled her, flooding her with sensation. Her other hand closed over his as he caressed her breast.
‘Yes,’ he said again, this time harsher as he urged her on.
Her throat was completely dry and she gasped with each thrust of his hips. Though she barely moved, her heart raced. She could feel Fei Long surrounding her, securing her against his strong body as desire became desperation. Their skin was slick with sweat and heated beyond endurance. She breathed shallowly. His own breathing was laboured and rough.
She sobbed with every sharp tug of pleasure when he touched her just so, lightning quick above the apex of her sex, slow and grinding immediately below where his thick organ filled her.
‘Yes,’ he shuddered as he beseeched her. There were no words for what he wanted, but she wanted it too. ‘Yan,’ he pleaded.
Yan Ling pushed back against him as hard as she could as every muscle within her tightened. His muscled body formed a brace for her in her passion. She cried out, the sound strained within her throat. A vindicating and final rush of pleasure arched through her. An exquisite pain beyond thought.
He increased his penetration at the last edges of her climax, before the last wave had subsided. His hand tightened on her hip to pull her harder against him and he hooked his leg over her to increase his possession. He couldn’t move as deeply in this position, but he didn’t need to. She gasped at the force of his thrusts and the hunger behind it. Her body was swollen with sated pleasure, squeezing tight around him, urging him on to his completion. Only then could they both be free.
He groaned, deep, guttural sounds akin to pain. Her soft cries joined his. It was pain. The most desperate sort of yearning that could only be cleansed in one way. Soon his body shuddered and thrust deep. He held her rigid against him as he lost himself inside her.
These last throes were so beautiful to her in their animal baseness. All thought and civility fled and there was no denying that they belonged to each other. Him to her. Her to him.
Finally she could breathe again. She tucked her arm beneath her, resting her head against it. Fei Long curved his arm around her with languid possession. With his other hand, he
pulled her hair back from her neck and pressed a kiss to the exposed skin. The nearly unbearable heat between their
bodies cooled rapidly to a perfect cocoon of warmth.
She chuckled softly, unable to contain her happiness.
‘What?’ Fei Long asked, his voice thick.
‘Nothing.’ She closed her eyes and snuggled against him.
‘Tell me.’ He gave her hip an impatient shake, perturbed even at this small denial.
‘A storm of passion,’ she murmured, burying her smile against the crook of her arm. ‘You swore there would never be such a thing between us.’
‘This isn’t a storm of passion.’
‘No?’ She wriggled her bottom against him smugly.
‘No.’
Fei Long just couldn’t bear being wrong, could he?
‘This is love,’ he argued.
She stilled, minute tension travelling along her entire body. Fei Long grew quiet as well behind her. All she could hear was his steady breathing. The soft brush of it tickled the hairs at the back of her neck.
Fearfully, she turned in his arms. The morning dimness left him in shadow and she had to strain to see his face.
‘This is love,’ he repeated.
How could he say it so calmly when her insides danced in circles? Her heart roared. She started trembling. In contrast, Fei Long reached out a steady hand to brush her hair away from her eyes.
‘We have to hide away,’ she said. ‘Together.’
He’d come with her, wouldn’t he? He loved her.
He loved her.
‘We’re not going anywhere.’
‘What about Khitan and the betrothal? The Foreign Ministry will come to take me.’
‘They’ll come to take my sister, but I’ll tell them Pearl is gone and I couldn’t stop her.’
She knew it wasn’t as simple as he tried to make it sound. He was being Fei Long again, taking the entire burden on his own shoulders in silence.
‘But Khitan is expecting a princess,’ she argued. ‘And after the assurances you’ve given Minster Cao and Inspector Tong—’
Fei Long remained stoic. ‘I’m prepared for the consequences. Our family name—’ At that, a pained look crossed his face, but he continued. ‘Our family name will suffer. We may never regain honour before the eyes of the