A touch—a large hand spread across my back that pushed me forward. The rotten tree trunk pressed into my stomach as I bent over. Beneath my curled fingers were patches of broken bark and smooth, slippery wood while mildew and a damp earthy smell tickled my nostrils.

Graysen gently urged me to bend further until I was balanced on my tippy toes.

My skirt was flipped up and the cool air of the night kissed my bare skin. I was exposed like this and made vulnerable to him.

"Beautiful," he murmured. His body heat warmed mine as that awareness bounced between us. One of his hands gripped the tree trunk next to mine and his thumb grazed my pinky. He leaned over me...and then...then...I felt a light feathering stroke against my spine—not fingertips or his palm, it was the back of clenched fingers. Up and down and back up again and it burst into my mind what he was doing, pleasuring himself in long languid strokes.

Sudden panic flared. He was going to take me, my first time, here, pressed around this tree from behind. I would be facing away, unable to touch him, made powerless by the position he had put me in. My voice was shrill, my body pushing back, trying to shove my way free. "Not here, not like this."

Snatching a handful of my hair, he fisted and arched my neck. I gasped as a small shock of pain flashed across my scalp before my gaze slid sideways to where he loomed over me, his eyes narrowed but burning bright with desire.

A low growl clawed from his throat, and all the fine hair on the back of my hair prickled. "You want rose petals scattered across a bed, candles, and champagne? An inexperienced boy from the Upper Ranks crawling on top of you?" He bent and scraped his teeth down my neck—a lick of his hot, wet tongue along my collarbone. "You'll take me, however, I want you."

And just like those other moments, where his touch soothed me, my panic eased as the crisp smell of cedar whispered over me. It wasn't the woods, it was Graysen, the scent of him strangely calming. My breathing slowed, acquiescence flowing through me. "That's it..." he murmured, trailing the tips of his fingers between my shoulder blades, following the rippled path of my spine to the middle of my back. His hand spread and he gently pushed me back down, my stomach conforming to the tree trunk, my hair falling in tangled locks.

His fingers clenched the fabric of my panties. They were torn from me, a scrap of white floating in the air and the dress was next.

The slap of chilly air on my bare flesh made me suck in a sharp breath.

A hard length pressed against my ass, hot silk and steel, just before his chest enveloped my back, his hands brushing down my arms to lace his fingers through my own. I was swallowed up by him. Drowning in him. Skin to skin, that dusting of magic, whatever it was that bound us to one another, strummed and sparked against our bare flesh. Zephyrs, streams of warm air, spun and caressed our bodies, lifting leaves from the woodland floor. His groan was desperate, helpless even, as his fingers clenched around mine tighter. The silk of his hair, the nudge of his nose, hot open-mouthed kisses along my neck. I moaned, throbbing and aching everywhere, arching back into the touch of his lips, not realizing until too late that he'd unlaced his fingers from my own, only to slide them over the back of my hands to silently encourage me to hold on. "I've had a long time to think about all the ways I want to play your sweet body with my hands and my mouth and my tongue."

Oh gods...

A full-body shiver of anticipation ran through me and I heard his huff of delight and approval. With a tender touch, he brushed my hair over one shoulder. "You have no idea how much I've hungered for this." He slid one hand across my slick sex and pinched my clit. I bucked, gasping, the sharp pain too much—too much—and then the sensation blended to exquisite heat. Shockwaves of pleasure rippled through me and set my blood on fire. "I've had one taste and already I'm addicted. You're a fever in my blood and I need a fucking hit of you."

Pressing a kiss to my cheek, his weight was suddenly gone—kneeling behind me, I realized as I panted, worrying my teeth on my bottom lip, biting back my moans and failing as his fingers gently circled my clit. His words and touch turned everything inside me into such brilliant, sharp relief it hurt.

Nipping my ass cheek, he soothed it with a lick of his tongue. When he next spoke, his voice was low and gravelly. "I'm a man stumbling in from an ice storm, little bird. I'm hungry and desperate and in need of your sweetness and sunshine. I want it coating my tongue, dripping down your thighs. And beautiful, I am going to eat my fill of you, licking up every honeyed bead, until you're crying my name and screaming no more, because I. Am. Fucking. Starving."

Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods—

"Ohmygods..." I gasped because every single rational thought had been obliterated.

The moment his tongue glided along my wet folds, I bucked again and a shriek tore from my throat. He huffed a satisfied laugh. The breath and his next words vibrated right through my core. "Say it, beautiful. Say, 'I want to come until I can't breathe, can't think, can't take anymore.'"

I hissed through my teeth as his tongue dipped inside...in and out...in and out...drawing moans I tried to bite back and couldn't.

"Little bird," he growled in warning.

"I-I want to..." I gasped out brokenly. I couldn't finish.

Too much, everything's too much.

His fingertips twisted my clit. Heat burned the sensitive bud, blazing through my body with a flaming sting. "Oh gods..."

He gentled his licks, his strokes, soothing the pain, but it had the reverse effect. It made everything hotter inside There was a merciless promise in the force of his will on mine. "I want to come until I c-can't..."

My body was rocking back, pushing against his lapping tongue, and I was moaning endlessly, the sound spilling through the gloomy woodland. He pulled back a little to run the flat of his tongue in a slow, savoring swipe. His teeth grazed, right on my clit, and I shrieked, hips bucking, spine bowing. The huff of laughter and the glance of his mouth wound me higher and higher. My voice was low and husky and I'd never heard that voice before. "Until I can't breathe, I can't think, I can't...I can't..."

I can't finish. I can't think. I can't breathe.

An undertow dragged me deeper and deeper into the murky depths of agony and bliss. My mind was floating somewhere else, on currents of pleasure teased by his tongue, sliding and sucking and spearing me, his fingers circling my clit. Drowning in the burn of his bristled jaw, the nudge of his nose, the need blooming through my entire body, pinching my nipples stiffer, my legs quivering.

A slap on my ass. A reminder to finish.

I yelped, pain flaring, the heat of the sting melding with pleasure. A low whimper whispered from my throat, my fingernails digging into rot-softened bark. "Can't take it anymore."

And it was the truth. I couldn't. He was holding me on the brink, teasing me relentlessly with his lips and tongue and skillful fingers. It hurt how much I wanted it, needed it. I was poised there, balanced on the tips of my toes on the sharp edge. Just one more nudge, one more twist of his fingers, one more push of his tongue into my wet heat...

Graysen backed away and my slickness prickled as cold air rushed in. My hands were fisted, muscles tensed, legs shaking—nothing to be heard but my panting breaths. Denial slowly washed over me as I waited—one breath, two, a third—when it suddenly sank in. He wasn't going to finish.

"I need it," I whined, cursing myself for the desperation echoing in my voice.

His rough laugh was edged with darkness and the cruelty of it reverberated against my flesh. "Changed my mind, little bird. There's only one way you're coming, and that's on my cock."

Maybe that's what stoked my fire.

I pushed myself off the fallen tree, slipping to my feet, my toes encountering damp earth and mildewed leaves, and soft moss. I whirled on him, my whole body sexually frustrated and humming for release.

That arrogant smirk was back.

I glared at him, furious, and shoved my hands at his chest, shunting him back. "Give me what I want."

He stumbled a step, and a fleeting surprise flashed across his face before he righted himself to lift his chin and stare at me boldly with defiance. The gold flecks around his pupils glittered and his eyes lit up like beacons. As much as he wanted to dominate me, he got off on my fire. I could see the excitement sweeping through him, the challenge I gave him.

Thick fingers wrapped around his erection and he stroked himself. "On your knees, little bird."

And here it was, a test between us. I ached a brow, shifting my weight to one hip. "I don't think so." And I raised a finger upward, making my point. "I bow to no one."

"Not even my cock?"

"Especially your cock," I smugly smiled.

"Gods, you don't give an inch," he said, moving toward the fallen alder tree, and I think he intended to sit his ass there, but I had other ideas. I threw out a tangle of power—silvery threads of magic twined around his calves and, with a squall of blustering wind, I shoved him backward to fall heavily on top of sprawling foliage with an oomph.

Swiveling around, he snapped his hand out, faster than I could react, and wrapped it around my ankle, twisting and tugging me off balance. I fell with a shriek, expecting to encounter the muddy earth, but I fell onto his hard chest.

He rolled us over until he was on top, the weight of his body pushing mine into the soft embrace of the leaves. His heavy cock was pressed into my belly—hot, hard, and throbbing. He smirked, glancing down between us. "Is this the first cock you've seen, little bird?"

My mouth went bone dry and I resisted the urge to clear my throat. His eyes sparked with challenge, obviously wanting to hear what he already knew.

I let my gaze dip down to the swollen, glistening crown. The slick of dampness against my skin. I made a non-committal noise at the back of my throat and shrugged an unimpressed shoulder. "I've seen a few."

Not in real life.

Only in the glossy pages of the dirty magazine Lise snagged from one of the Qillisan girls.

And nothing like yours.

He blinked, smirk faltering."Come again?"

"I'd better."

It took three long seconds of those inky brows slashed over confused dark eyes for him to catch on. Then he grinned, teeth digging into his bottom lip like he was chewing back sunbeams.

My grin mirrored his perfectly.

I hooked a leg around his back, power coiling around my bones, and I rolled us both—satisfied with the startled noise he made—so I was on top, my hands spread over his chest pinning him down.

I leaned forward, purposefully pressing my breasts against his pecs, feeling the muscles twitch, and breathed into his ear. "Tonight...I want to kiss you right...here." I skimmed the back of my fingers along his entire iron-rigid length. The first touch made him grunt and his whole body shuddered.

I pushed back up, sliding in between his legs and he levered upwards with his elbows.

His eyes were wild and his pupils dilated, excitement vibrating from him.

My fingers wrapped around his girth and I gently swiped my thumb across the damp slit of his cock.

He bucked his hips. A curse hanging in the air. Teeth biting into his lower lip.

The memory of what he'd told me in the well of water replayed in my mind—You could literally burn the world down over a slight.

And, though it wasn't quite true, enough of it was. Inside me resided power, but this, the sway I held over him with just my touch making him vulnerable...I'd never felt more powerful. I was a Wychthorn Princess, but right now I felt like a queen. His Queen.

I began to stroke his cock, staring at him, studying his reaction to the slightest change in my grip and motion and angle, mapping him with my fingers.

"You like?"

Tipping his head back, he moaned, leaning back on the heels of his hands and digging his fingertips into the earth, otherwise, I suspected, he was going to grab me and force my mouth on him. "I don't like." And his low, gruff voice told me exactly how I made him feel. "I fucking crave it."

I bent my head, angling his cock toward my mouth, to give it a fluttering kiss on the tip. I heard his breath catch and just that sound, his weakness for a chaste kiss, my kiss, the girl he warred with endlessly, had my inner sex clenching. Heat and want flared through my core. My tongue darted out and I gave one long, slow lick over the head to lap up the glistening beads.

He cursed, just as long and slow.

My nose crinkled, as I gave some consideration to the earthiness and the briny hint that melted on my tongue. "The ocean. That's what you taste like."

"Ah, fuck," he gritted out. Gripping the back of my head, he canted his hips forward to push himself between my lips. The intrusion, the fullness invading my mouth, that's what it would feel like inside. I felt incredibly full, too full as he pushed further and further. A rough groan crawled from his throat as his fingers tightened around my hair. "Gods, Nelle, fuck." He pulled out only to thrust back in. Slowly, as his hips found a slow, steady rhythm, I let myself relax. "That's it, beautiful, f-fuck, yes..." he breathed, following up with what he was going to do to me once he finally got his hands on me. My clit throbbed and arousal slicked my inner thighs. I was so lost in the desirous need to experience everything he'd shared, that I was only vaguely aware I was humming around his cock.

Suddenly my mouth was empty. He'd pulled out, his slick shaft slapping against his chiseled abs. And we both stared at one another.

"What the hells were you doing?" he rasped.

There was an expression of awe in his gaze, and something else I couldn't read, that made me self-conscious. I wiped the wetness from my lips with the back of my fingers, confused. Anxiety clenched my throat. "Didn't I do it right?"

"I was about to fucking explode."

He pushed up, impossibly fast, and pounced on me. I was knocked backward, captured by his arms, his body, his mouth. He kissed me, a feverish desperate kiss, his tongue tangling with mine, stoking the flames of my desire into a raging fire. He groaned into my mouth, "There's only one way I'm coming tonight, little bird, and that is inside you."

Gods, yes, please.