It was gentle—soft. The kiss he might have given me if we’d been
granted time and peace to meet across our two separate worlds. To court
each other. I slid my arms around his shoulders, opening my mouth to
him, and his tongue slipped in, caressing my own. Mate—my mate.
He hardened against me, and I groaned into his mouth.
The sound snapped whatever leash he’d had on himself, and Rhysand
scooped me up in a smooth movement before laying me flat on the table
—amongst and on top of all the paints.
He deepened the kiss, and I wrapped my legs around his back,
hooking him closer. He tore his lips from my mouth to my neck, where
he dragged his teeth and tongue down my skin as his hands slid under
my sweater and went up, up, to cup my breasts. I arched into the touch,
and lifted my arms as he peeled away my sweater in one easy motion.
Rhys pulled back to survey me, my body naked from the waist up.
Paint soaked into my hair, my arms. But all I could think of was his
mouth as it lowered to my breast and sucked, his tongue flicking against
my nipple.
I plunged my fingers into his hair, and he braced a hand beside my
head—smack atop a palette of paint. He let out a low laugh, and I
watched, breathless, as he took that hand and traced a circle around my
breast, then lower, until he painted a downward arrow beneath my belly
button.
“Lest you forget where this is going to end,” he said.
I snarled at him, a silent order, and he laughed again, his mouth
finding my other breast. He ground his hips against me, teasing—teasing
me so horribly that I had to touch him, had to just feel more of him.
There was paint all over my hands, my arms, but I didn’t care as I
grabbed at his clothes. He shifted enough to let me remove them,
weapons and leather thudding to the ground, revealing that beautiful
tattooed body, the powerful muscles and wings now peeking above them.
My mate—my mate.
His mouth crashed into mine, his bare skin so warm against my own,
and I gripped his face, smearing paint there, too. Smearing it in his hair,
until great streaks of blue and red and green ran through it. His hands
found my waist, and I bucked my hips off the table to help him remove
my socks, my leggings.
Rhys pulled back again, and I let out a bark of protest—that choked
off into a gasp as he gripped my thighs and yanked me to the edge of the