Winter's Bride - Candace Wondrak Page 0,45

I did not care. Not one bit.

Abner’s coldness seeped into me, but the bitter feeling of his eternal chill did not cause me any hesitation whatsoever. I wrapped both my arms around his neck, deepening our lip lock as I gently ran my tongue over his bottom lip, causing him to groan into the kiss. I tasted him in all his glory, and with my walls down, not daring to let myself overthink this, it felt more than good.

It felt right.

There was no possible way this could ever be a mistake, not when it felt like this.

I was not the only one letting the passion between us take over, for in a few minutes, when our mouths were chafed from the hungry kisses, he pulled back, took my hand, and led me out of the throne room and down the hall. Abner took me to the one place I dared not step foot in, not during my wandering days and nights.

His room.

His room was lit with the icy candelabras, the draperies near the tall window drawn open, moonlight shining through. A bigger space than my room, full of regal furniture and portraits and everything that made a castle a castle. If I would’ve stumbled upon this place alone, I would’ve felt strange, like I shouldn’t be here. Not in his room, not at all.

But, holding his hand, feeling his smooth palm cool against my skin, it filled me with a sense of belonging, a sense of peace. I wanted this, wanted him.

We stood beside his bed, an extravagant thing of light blue sheets and dark, carved wood. He turned toward me, shadows dancing across his face as he looked at me with confusion, budding hope, and desire. “Morana…” Again, he said my name, but this time, it came out sounding far different than it had before. This time, when he said it, a shiver completely unrelated to his coldness traveled down my spine.

I gave him a nod, a wordless way of telling him it was okay, that I wanted this. I wanted this and so much more.

He made no moves to reach for me, so I took it upon myself to pull my hand out of his and start to undo the buttons on his shirt, loosening the fabric enough that I was able to help pull it down his shoulders and expose his bare chest. As the shirt fell to the floor, I gazed upon the flat abdomen, the lean chest that belonged to Winter. Not as thick or as sculpted as Ishan, but his pale body was impressive in his own right.

I drew a hand down his chest, and this time, when I felt his skin tense, I leaned into him, breathing him in. He was cold, yes, but beyond that, he was so much more. Ethereal, almost. Otherworldly to the extreme. I felt almost as if I did not belong in his mere presence.

He was a god, and I was… I was just a mortal girl from some nameless village who’d taken the place of her sister as his bride-to-be. I was nameless, but Abner was eternity made flesh.

While I was busy taking in his upper half, Abner slipped off his boots, then his pants. Bit by bit, inch by inch, everything came off his body, and he only stopped once he stood before me, utterly bare.

Utterly bare and absolutely attractive in every way. His manhood stood hard, at attention, ready for what we were about to do, and I did my best to not stare at it, but it was difficult.

Whatever anxieties sat in my gut slowly faded away as Abner reached for me, his hands running softly along my shoulders as he tried to find a way to help me out of what I wore. Such a silly man; it was merely a night slip, nothing more. Since he seemed to be clueless about it, I reached for the sash tied around my waist, undoing it and letting its fabric fall open.

I heard Abner inhale sharply when he raked his eyes upon me as I let the slip drop from my shoulders and fall to the floor. I wore nothing under it, and truthfully, even though I stood near him, I was still quite hot from that dream. I guess I was about to see if Winter could cool me down.

Hopefully he would not turn me to ice.

We slipped under the covers, Abner’s lean body on top of mine, and when we came together that