I leaned in and touched my lips to his.
His mouth opened to me, inviting me in, and I sank further into him. My hands moved up, over his shoulders to his neck, then delved into his hair to pull him in closer. Closer, so much closer.
He blocked out everything else, so it was just me and him and the way he made my body sing. I arched into his palms when they ran up my spine and deepened the kiss.
He tasted like honey, like sweetness with a tinge of smoke. I adored it and wanted more. My tongue tempted his mouth, teasing then drawing away, playing a game beyond my experience.
He consumed me, the feel of him, the taste of him. I wanted it all, I needed him. When his hands came to the edge of my shirt, I raised my arms into the air so he could tug my shirt off.
His skin on mine was like Heaven. His lips moved, leaving my mouth to trace kisses over my jaw, my throat, my shoulder. I moaned and threw my head back, giving him access to my vulnerability. His tongue lapped at me and I cried out for more.
My head swam but it wasn't like before. This was heat and pleasure, beauty and love. I pulled Bash’s shirt over his head and tossed it away.
His naked chest made my body quiver. He was perfect, every single part of him. The expanse of his shoulders, the contour of his muscles, and the scent of his arousal drove me into a frenzy. I sank my teeth into his shoulder.
He cried out and the sound of his arousal and pain was a heady mixture that made my body ache for more. I ran my tongue up his neck and recaptured his mouth, then whispered in a voice I barely recognized, “I need you.”
His hands came around my waist and lifted me effortlessly as he stood and walked the few steps to the bed. A moment later I was flying through the air, tossed onto my mattress while Bash’s wolfish grin tickled a laugh out of me.
“Oh no,” I said, arching my eyebrow with a grin. “The big bad wolf is going to eat me up.”
His eyes went impossibly dark and the desire in them wiped the playfulness from me. My gaze darted lower, travelling down his body to his hips as he unbuttoned his jeans and lowered them.
I swallowed hard, suddenly too aware of the space between us. “Come here,” I whispered, then shivered with excitement.
He moved like a predator, his gaze locked on mine, and stood at the foot of my bed just watching me for a long moment before reaching for my shoes. One by one, he pulled them off and tossed them to the floor, then began working slowly, gently, at the rest of my clothes.
My skin vibrated, becoming more sensitive with each item he pulled free. The rasp of my jeans as they skimmed over my hips made the room spin.
I lay on the bed with nothing but scraps of lace covering me and opened my arms to him.
Bash slid onto the bed and moved to hover over me. Needing to touch, I ran my hands up his biceps and over his shoulders, drawing him down for another kiss.
His breath mingled with mine, heating the space between us, scorching my lips. When he moved to my neck and started the slow descent down my throat, I nearly erupted. My hands moved to his hair, grasping, pulling, and needing so much I could barely stand it.
I moaned when his lips found my breasts through the lace. He teased me, dipping his tongue under the edges, moving his hands up the sides of my body until I was nearly blind with desire. I almost sobbed with relief as he unhooked my bra and sucked a nipple into his mouth. And when he pulled my hands from his hair and pinned them above my head, colors exploded behind my eyelids.
The sounds ripped from my throat were primal and they only forced me higher, pushed me closer to the edge. Bash’s breaths came in gasps now, but he took his time, feasting on me, driving me insane. When he moved lower and skimmed his tongue around my belly button, I bucked my hips and wrenched my hands free from his hold to delve into his hair again.
His mouth did wicked things to me. He drove me up and held me on the edge of insanity with tongue and teeth and fingers that played me like a violin. I sang for him, and then I screamed.
And as I rode the wave of pleasure down, he shifted his body and filled every part of me.
My heart froze for a moment that seemed to stretch into eternity, and my mind exploded into a million fragmented thoughts of him and me. Then he moved and all thoughts faded away.
He braced himself on his forearms and wove his fingers through my hair as he moved with me, meeting each thrust of my hips with his own. His eyes, so beautiful, looked into me so deeply it felt as if he could touch my soul. My heart swelled with love.
I wanted to say the words, they danced on the tip of my tongue, but I knew it was too soon. We’d been through Hell together and emotions were complicated.
So, I fit my mouth to his and swallowed his moans as we made love. And when he threw back his head and shouted with release, I leapt with him then held him in my arms.
We lay in a heap of glistening sweat and naked flesh for a long time, letting our breathing level out and our racing pulses calm. Bash tickled my arm with his fingers in long lazy strokes that made me sigh as my eyelids fluttered shut.
A loud ding from my pants on the floor alerted me to a new text but I was too satiated to care much. But, when another came, followed by a third, I groaned and nudged Bash off me. He rolled with a murmur of sleepy complaint, never opening his eyes.
I padded naked across the room to retrieve my phone, then turned before I could unlock it. Bash lay sprawled across my bed, sound asleep and so darkly gorgeous it made my heart swell again.
I was crazy in love with him.
With a smile playing on my lips, I unlocked my phone and read the three messages from Headmistress Donahue.
Elena. Are you alright?
Viktor escaped. You’re in danger.
Stay in your room. Guards are on their way.
My skin turned cold and the dread Bash had chased away reared its ugly head again. I pressed a hand against my throat and felt the gallop of my pulse as three loud bangs sounded on my door.
Chapter 26
Viktor escaped. Victor’s free. Viktor wants me dead.
The words echoed in my head like a morbid mantra as I was escorted to the Headmistress’s office by five of Katherine LaFlamme’s personal bodyguards.
I walked on automatic, ignoring the looks of curiosity being sent my way by the students we passed. I would be hot gossip on campus again, I thought absently. Didn’t they have anything better to talk about than me? It’s not like I was important...
I felt the color drain from my face and a wave of dizziness made me stumble. Bash caught my elbow and linked my arm through his so it looked like we were casually strolling when he was actually holding me up. I turned to look at him and wished I’d had the nerve to tell him how I felt.
“Are you okay?” he murmured softly in my ear.
I nodded but I wasn’t okay, and I wasn’t sure when I would be again. I didn’t have a life to go back to, my world was gone. How was I supposed to keep standing and breathing and talking as if nothing were wrong when it felt like nothing would ever be right again?
Bash’s lips pressed against my hair and I felt the warmth of his kiss spread through me. For a brief second I closed my eyes and pretended there was no one else and, for that second, the world rebalanced.
I opened my eyes to see him watching me with worry and tenderness written in his green depths. This, I realized, this right here would keep me from crumbling.
We arrived at Donahue’s office and found her waiting at the door with anxious lines around her mouth.