The Burning Shadow (Origin 2)

Luc sucked in a sharp breath. “God. Evie, you don’t…” He dropped his head onto my shoulder. His lips kissed my neck. “You don’t need to do this.”

“I want to.” I curled my fingers around his hair as I curled my fingers around him.

This wasn’t something I’d done often in my life. Once, maybe? I had no idea what I was doing, but based on the catch in Luc’s next breath, I figured I was doing something right.

And when his hips jerked, lifting his body and me clear off the bed, I had a feeling he wasn’t disappointed at all.

I braced a hand on his chest as he leaned back once more, those glowing eyes flashing over my face and lower, to where my sweater parted and to where my hand moved.

His lips parted as his chest rose and fell rapidly. “Evie.” He groaned my name, and something … something began to happen.

The pupils turned all white, and thin, faint vessels appeared under his skin, all over his face and throat, and lower even. White light glowed from within him. The air around us became charged. Static crackled around—

Luc reared up, one hand grasping the back of my head, fingers tangled tightly in my hair. He pulled and stretched, and our mouths clashed together. Lips. Teeth. Tongues. Energy crackled, snapping through me. He swelled, and then his entire body seemed to stiffen, every muscle locking up as he panted into our kisses. The air around us seemed electrified, and then I felt the tension slowly ease out of him.

Luc held me tightly but kept a little space between us as he continued to shudder under me, his large, powerful body trembling. When he finally stilled, I pulled back and opened my eyes.

He was staring at me like he’d never seen me before, and that was an odd look for him, because he always looked at me like he knew exactly who I was. There was a softness to his face, and for several moments, we just stared at each other.

“Give me a sec, okay? Don’t move.”

When I nodded, he lifted me up and over, depositing me on the bed as he rose, disappearing into the bathroom. Using the time somewhat wisely, I fixed my bra as I heard the water turn on.

Luc reappeared. He sat beside me, quiet for a long moment. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know.” I glanced at him. “I wanted to.”

“I appreciate that. A lot. Like, a lot, a lot.” A small grin appeared. “I’ve never…”

My brows lifted. “You never … what?”

His gaze met mine. “I’ve never experienced that with someone.”

“I thought you said you did things.”

“Things, yes. But never that with someone.” He lifted a shoulder, completely unashamed to be talking about this. “With myself? Yes. More times than you probably want to know.”

A slow grin started to tug at my lips. “Probably.”

“But you’re the first. I knew it could feel like that, but I … I also had no idea.” He opened his mouth, closed it, and then appeared to try again. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No.” I leaned forward, kissing his cheek. “Why would you think that?”

“I lost a little bit of control there, if you didn’t notice. The Source?” He jerked his chin to the lamp. My eyes widened. Holy crap, it was smoking!

I smiled, rather smug that I’d caused him to do that.

He shifted toward me, kissing me back, slowly and languidly. I felt his fingers brush over my stomach. “You know what this means, right?”

“What?” My brows knitted.

“If you get to play, so do I.” He guided me onto my back, muscles rolling and flexing along the bare skin of his shoulders and upper arms.

Oh.

Oh my.

Luc kissed me as if he were sipping from my lips, and then his mouth was skating down my throat, around the silver chain as he pulled the obsidian pendant straight. His lips and fingers were everywhere at once, tugging and caressing, licking and nipping.

Every pulse point thrummed as his hands drifted lower, over my navel and then to the band of my sleep shorts.

He paused, gaze lifting to mine. “May I?”

Heart racing, I nodded.

Luc dragged the band down an inch. “Have to hear you say it, Peaches.”

“Really?”

One side of his lip kicked up. “Really.”

“Yes,” I said. “You may.”

“Then I will.” He kissed the skin under my navel, and then he did.

A thrill filled my veins as I lifted my hips, helping him remove the shorts, rocking back as he did so. They landed somewhere on the floor. Even though he still had his jeans on, there was nothing else for him to remove from me.

“I have a very important question,” he said, staring down at me, lips parted. “Do you have any idea how much you undo me?”

My chest squeezed and then swelled. “How … how do I … undo you?”