angle of the vision changed to show me a body floating on the surface of the water.
Ian had returned.
“Thank you.” A heartfelt emotion.
“Don’t thank me. My most extraordinary husband is the one who came to the rescue. It would seem Sasha Farseer is wilier than I gave her credit for. She struck a bargain with Luc. Handy things, those contracts. I need to start having a few of my own. Perhaps I’ll start with the Farseer girl. Seek her out for a new prophecy.” Gaia smiled at me and twiddled her fingers. “Buh-bye.”
Gaia disappeared in a shower of pollen that clung to me and snowed on the floor of the hallway when I stepped out. To make matters worse, it glittered, leaving a shower of sparkles in my wake. I ran to Shax’s door and pounded.
He opened it, wild-haired and crazy-eyed. “He’s all right!”
“I know!” I took a quick peek around for candles lest I accidentally burn down another room. And then I kissed him.
A kiss that resulted in me being dragged into his room. The door kicked shut.
He walked me to the bed.
“What.” Lip suck. “About.” Hot slant. “Ian?”
He murmured the reply, never losing contact with my mouth. “He is celebrating with his wife.”
“Are we celebrating, too?”
Shax paused for a moment, looking down at me, so intent I forgot to breathe.
“I’ve wanted to finish our first kiss for centuries. I really don’t care if the ship sinks. The world ends. Or if I die for doing this. I need to be with you.”
“You had me at finish our first kiss.” I stroked his cheek. “I’m happy I found you again.”
His mouth crushed mine, a torrid embrace that saw us tumbling to the bed, him on the bottom, me in control on top.
I wasn’t a virgin. I knew my way around a man’s body, and yet being with Shax proved different. I found myself experiencing a strange breathlessness. Every tug on my lower lip, a jolt to my sex. Every stroke of his hand on my body ignited my every last nerve.
His tongue slid along mine, the most intimate thing we could do with our mouths. Except for one other…
I let my lips slide along his jaw, rubbing against it. When he growled and made as if he’d roll us, I pushed him down, a little magic to hold him.
He went still. “So that’s how it’s going to be?”
I grinned down at him and winked. “You’ve been fantasizing all this time. Let’s see if I can live up to it.”
There was nothing more gratifying than having a man swallow hard, his cock straining, waiting for me to release it.
It took only a little bit of magic to unmake all the stitching on his clothes. The garments slid from Shax easily after that as I stroked my hands over him. Revealing skin. Places to kiss. I touched, and he trembled. Groaned a few times, too.
I liked it when he did that. So, I kissed his body some more, fascinated by the lean lines of his physique. Intrigued by the scars of a man who’d done battle.
He gasped as I kissed my way past his navel, my hands tugging the loose fabric that used to be his pants and underwear.
“Dottie!”
He ended my name on a high note as I grabbed him. Firmly. He throbbed a bit in my grasp.
I kept him in my hand while I watched his face. Such an expressive mien.
He looked as if he were in pain.
The kind of agony that had to do with need.
He needed me. I blew on him.
The lovely shudder he gifted me… I blew again and licked. Ran my tongue over his swollen head. Tasted him. Watched him as I pleasured him. It ignited my desire to see him writhe at my mercy.
I sucked him, and his hips bucked. He groaned, breath heavy, even hummed as I teased him, sucking hard a few times before stopping when I felt him get tense.
“Come here,” he growled. His eyes glowed. His body gleamed.
“Why?” I teased, blowing the words around his cock.
“Because it’s my turn.”
I could have fought him, remained in control, but I chose to let him flip me to my back. My clothes didn’t need magic for him to remove. His sharp tugs ripped me bare. He straddled me, the tip of him jutting as he stared at my body.
Not that of the young girl he once knew.
He devoured me hungrily with his eyes. Then his lips.
He didn’t start at the top, he went for