Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127026 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 635(@200wpm)___ 508(@250wpm)___ 423(@300wpm)
He had no words. His lips dropped onto hers, and the world vanished entirely. There was nothing that could pull them apart in that moment. There was only the here and the now. Her brain was foggy with need for him. Their lips bruisingly fierce against the other, tongues volleying for dominance, bodies pressed tight together.
“Kerrigan,” he groaned, sliding his hands down the back of her dress. “I need you.”
Her heart galloped in her chest. It was all she had wanted for so long. Just to hear those words. When he had left, she had been bereft. Nothing could fix the pain in her chest. The curse didn’t matter. Only them together.
“Please,” she gasped.
He pressed kisses to her ear and neck and across her collarbone. She was too warm. She wanted to rip their clothes off. No one else was in the gardens. No one would see what was happening here. And if they did, she was beyond caring. They had waited too long. Far too long.
Fordham hoisted her into his arms and spread her out upon the fountain wall. His hands were under his skirts, hiking them up and out of the way. She gasped as his lips landed on her knee and then slowly—agonizingly slow—up her inner thigh. Each kiss was a brand so fiery hot that she gasped with every press against her skin.
“More,” she pleaded, incoherent with need.
He kissed higher and higher until he was nearly where she wanted him to be. Her face flushed in the moonlight. Her chest heaving.
A tongue licked up her center, and her body shuddered, unleashing in that one move. She’d never come undone that fast in her entire life. Her body trembled as she came down.
She reached for the stays of his pants, wanting more, wanting him. He was poised at her entrance, ready to complete what they had started, when their gazes locked.
Her knees held him in place. His body stilled. Everything went deathly silent. Only their ragged breathing existed in the moment.
“Ford,” she said as tears came to her eyes. “I think … I think we …”
“We said we were going to wait,” he finished for her. “Right?”
“I … I …” She touched her head, still so empty. “You wanted something else. Something more than this. Something to complete this.” He dropped his head, but she put her hands up and brought their eyes back together. “What was it? What were we talking about before this?”
His storm cloud eyes were blank. “I want nothing more than you.”
She groaned as he tried to move forward. She bit her lip to keep from allowing him to finish what they’d started. She could barely keep it together to remind him that something was off.
“You stopped this in the snow,” she breathed.
“The snow.” He looked around at the perfect summer night, cool and breezy. The stars winking their approval at their clandestine activities. Then, his gaze dropped back down to her, and the wall shattered. “The curse.”
He pulled back, righting his clothes. His pale cheeks tinged with red. Kerrigan sat up on the fountain wall, straightening her skirts. She was just as flushed with need and embarrassment. They’d gotten so carried away, so fast. As if everything else about their mission had disappeared.
When she’d imagined walking through a faerie tale, she’d always made fun of the poor fools for getting caught up in the tricks of the mischievous, ancient Fae. Now that she was in the middle of her own tale, she understood. The spells were too strong. They preyed on exactly what she wanted. And what she wanted was Fordham. More than anything. She’d braved a blizzard for him. Climbed a mountain for him. Walked into a literal nightmare for him.
“Are you okay?” Fordham asked, his throat raw.
“Feeling a little foolish.”
“As am I,” he admitted. He held a hand out and then hauled her to her feet. “That was a dirty trick. I can never resist you.”
She pressed one more kiss to his lips. “I thought we were getting quite adept at it.”
“Then, perhaps it’s a blessing that our bodies remembered we were supposed to stop.”
“Perhaps.”
He laced their fingers together. “Ready?”
“Let’s get that witch.”
31
THE WITCH
Despite her bravado, the closer they got to the cottage, the deeper Kerrigan’s fear. How powerful must this witch be to create all of this? She’d heard of love spells. Sometimes, faerie punch was laced with it, but nothing compared to what had just happened. Not to mention, the palace, all the Fae, the grounds. It was too much for any one Fae to conjure on their own. Even the spell that hid it all from the rest of Alandria was beyond what any living Fae was capable.
They’d trekked out of the gardens, through a forest footpath just large enough for the pair of them to walk shoulder to shoulder, and came upon a waist-high stone wall. The wooden gate that barred their entrance was old and rickety, creaking as Fordham pulled it open. The cottage beyond was much the same.