“Sweetheart,” he rumbled. “It’s been a long time, and you have to stop.”
“Why?”
He looked down at her and his black eyes had darkened to midnight. “I want to be inside you, Ayla. Now.”
Who was she to argue?
She let him slide from her lips without complaint and pulled herself back up the bed. On her elbows, Ayla watched his eyes as he looked her up and down. He feasted on the sight of her prone form, so much so she wondered if he planned on taking a bite. A part of her whispered she wouldn’t mind being devoured by this man.
He crawled up her body, dragging his hand along with him. Her top came up and over her head.
“You’re so beautiful,” he murmured, ducking his head to suck her nipple between his lips with force. He released it with a wet pop. “The only thing that rivals your beauty is your mind.”
Poetry while being pleasured? She’d take it.
Ayla thought back to the few times she’d had sex in her life. The men hadn’t been worth any of her time, and yet, she’d wanted to know what sex was like. She’d wanted to experience what everyone else had, and it had always been disappointing.
No one had ever brought her that close to an orgasm with just the heel of his palm. No man made her drenched just by looking at her with passion in his gaze. He was something else. An enigma of a man she couldn’t have wished into her life if she’d tried.
Storm leaned down and captured her mouth with his. He kissed her even as he reached between them and pulled her pajama bottoms off. Every touch of his mouth to hers fed the electricity within her body. She wasn’t just herself anymore. It was like every touch poured magic into her. Raw power fed through her body and it felt so right and so wrong at the same time.
He leaned back and yanked his shirt off. The pants came next and then his skin was on hers and she couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe. He was just where she wanted him to be and yet, she couldn’t focus on any individual point. Only that the warm heat of him was against her. Finally, when she’d waited an eternity for it.
The hard, blunt tip of him notched between her legs. He paused for a second, cupping her jaw and forcing her to meet his sinful gaze. “The first time I saw you, I knew you were a queen. Not a princess. Not a royal. You are so much more.”
She grinned. “I can be your queen if you want me.”
With a flex of his hips, he pushed inside her. Slowly. Easing into the heat of her body.
He stretched her too full. She arched her back to assist him, hoping he’d go faster, but Storm controlled every minute of this encounter. He pulled back when she pushed forward. He palmed her hips and held her still when she wiggled. He forced their speed to be infinitely slow until he was finally seated at the very base of her core.
She arched her back, pressing her belly and chest against his. “Please, Storm.”
“What do you want Ayla?”
“I want you to move!” The words burst from her chest like a storm.
And move he did. Although still too slow, too gentle. He brushed her skin with only the tips of his fingers. He moved only an inch before gliding back to her core. She was going insane. Mad. She needed him to move faster, harder, anything more than just this.
Just like they did in the romance novels. That’s what she wanted. Rough and instantaneous and without thought.
“You are the most magical woman I’ve ever met,” he grunted. “I’m sorry if...”
He didn’t finish the sentence.
“Sorry if what?”
Storm closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the darkness had completely overtaken the whites. The air elemental stared down at her with a feral grin on his face.
Fear made her heart thunder in her chest. She held her breath, but also realized there was nothing she could do to get away. He surrounded her, inside and out.
The elemental apparently had no nefarious plans. Instead, he leaned down and whispered, “Let’s prove to dearest Storm just how powerful you are.”
She stared into his eyes as the elemental released magic into her body. An electrical storm burst through her veins, through every point of contact. She was more than just herself now. She was power incarnate. Every inch of flesh knew what it meant to be air. Ayla fisted the sheets in her hands as it overtook in her a swell of pleasure so profound she couldn’t think. Couldn’t be.
His eyes returned to normal. “Ayla.”
“Shut up, Storm,” she snapped. “Move.”
Power coursed between them. He picked up his pace and pounded into her. Every thrust was a crack of lightning and every groan the answering thunder. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Riding the pleasure as it swelled in her body. More and more. Overwhelming and yet perfect in every way.
Then there it was. The one thing she’d only been able to get from herself. The blistering starlight pulsed through her body and tore her soul open. Magic blasted from her body in a single thunderclap that shook the room.
She snapped her eyes open. They were floating above the bed. Not just on it, but actually floating as though they were feathers on a breeze.
Shocked, she met Storm’s gaze just as he arched deeper into her and stilled. He finished with wide eyes and a clenched jaw, the warmth of his release heating her to the very core.
He leaned down and pressed his lips against her neck. Every sawing breath fanned across her collarbones. His hands stroked her sides.
Storm chuckled. “Would you let us down, please?”
“I don’t know how,” she whispered.
Suddenly, she felt awkward. It wasn’t just that they’d had sex. But she was using her power without realizing it. Power fed to her from the elemental inside him.
“Breathe.” He pressed the words against her skin with a kiss. “Picture us lowering back down onto the bed. With every inhalation move us lower. Every exhale, just hold us where we are. You are in control of everything, Ayla. Just remember that. You are in control.”
She was in control? She didn’t feel like it. Everything was changing. She’d just had sex with the Mad King and it was... sublime. He’d marked her very soul when she had thought it would just be normal sex.
It wasn’t. They hadn’t just had sex. They had melded their magic and become more than just attached. Now, she wanted him more than ever.
“Ayla,” he whispered. “Listen to my voice and let us lower. Inhale.”
She did.
“Exhale and lower us more.”
He repeated his words until she felt the cool silk sheets against her back. His weight settled on her, far more comfortable than she’d imagined. It didn’t matter how heavy he was. She wanted him right against her heart where she could tangle her legs with his and hold him against her.
What had she done? She wasn’t supposed to get more attached, and that’s exactly what she felt.
Storm pressed another kiss against her neck. “Stay,” he murmured.
She shouldn’t. She should go back to her room and think about all this. He was a king! He’d taken her throne! He was a veritable stranger.
“I will.” The words came out unbidden. “Sleep well, Storm.”
23
She tried to stay the night. A part of her wanted to see what would happen if she woke up next to him. Would he have those half lidded sleepy eyes when he woke? Would he smile at her and be happy with what they’d done?
Unfortunately, fear got the better of her.
Ayla couldn’t handle the embarrassment of the next morning. She didn’t want to know what his face looked like when he realized he’d made a mistake. She couldn’t be his mistake when the reality was that she should have taken his throne and figured out what they were after.
No, she didn’t want his throne. She didn’t even want to be a faerie.
Her thoughts were so skewed. She’d been in the palace for too long. All she could think about was her faerie parents and the magical realm with a floating glass castle. She wasn’t thinking of her real fa
mily or all the humans who had been kind to her.
Even the darker memories of faeries weren’t there anymore. She couldn’t remember why she didn’t like them. Only that her parents had given her up, and Miku made it sound like a blessing that she’d had her time with the humans.
No, this wasn’t right. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be with Henry and the boys. They needed her while the faeries already had a king.
She sat up on her elbow and slid her leg out from between Storm’s. He was a good enough king, or at least, he could be if he tried a little harder. She’d instilled that in him, hadn’t she?
Ayla was fully aware she was running. Running from commitment, from the faerie world, from the man who had wiggled his way into her heart without permission.
Storm rolled in his sleep, turning toward her and resting his hand just beside her pillow. Not touching her, he wasn’t that comfortable even in his sleep, but just close enough so he might feel her heat.
Her stomach clenched and her heart squeezed in her chest. This man needed someone to love him. Or maybe, just maybe, he wanted someone to love.
Nope. She couldn’t do this. Not after everything she’d lived through.
Ayla bolted from the bed as quietly as she could. She snagged her pajama bottoms from the floor and her top from the dresser, tugging them on with inhuman speed. Then, she closed the door behind herself and ran through the halls back to her personal quarters.
Just a few things. She wouldn’t take everything so he’d know she planned on coming back. And she did. Really, she would return to the glass palace once she got her head on straight and remembered why she’d came here.
Until then, she needed to see her family. She needed to talk with Henry because he was always so good at clearing her mind. Ayla couldn’t make this decision on her own, and she’d already stayed too long in the glass palace.
Reaching her room, she burst through the door and pawed through her things. The portrait of her and her brother she’d leave. That way, Storm would know she’d come back to get it. Everything else, however, she’d bring back. Even the clothes. They could use a good wash, and not just what she’d done in the sinks here. She wanted to clean her things with a good old fashioned washer and dryer.
Ayla stuffed everything into her backpack and raced out of the room. All the way to the glass stairwell in the open air where she stood still. Wind combed through her hair, coaxing her back toward the palace.
“Come back,” it seemed to whisper. “You can’t leave just yet.”
She absolutely could, would, and should. She just didn’t understand why it seemed to hurt so much.
Ayla swallowed hard, let her foot float in the air for a moment, and then stepped off the palace. She plummeted toward the earth, spinning and whirling in the air until she didn’t know which way was up and which way was down. Only for a moment, though, because her magic was stronger now. Perhaps because Storm had shared some of his own energy with her.
She caught herself in the air and slowed her descent. Down she went, further away from the palace with its confusing king and the hope he’d planted in her chest. All the way back to the little cottage in her brother’s backyard.
The sun had just lifted its head from slumber. No one in her family got up this early.
No one except her.
Ayla landed in the backyard and let her bag drop to the soft grass. The house looked the same as when she left it. The boys had left a few of their trucks outside. The little plastic things were dangerous as hell if someone walked too close to them. Inevitably, they would end up under her foot.
Maybe the windows were a little dirtier. Henry never cleaned them, even though she asked him to a thousand times over. He never saw the point of clean windows when the rain would wash the outside.
Eventually.
She smiled and all the tension in her chest eased. She was finally home, and no matter where she ended up, she always knew this was a safe place to return.
Ayla stepped to the front sliding door and opened it. The fenced-in backyard gave Henry a false sense of security, when anyone could have climbed over the white fences and then gotten into the house. It was a safe neighborhood, but still. She’d have to talk to him about it again.
Walking into their bedroom was a surefire way to terrify her brother and his wife. So instead, she did what she always did when she wanted Henry to wake up earlier than normal.
Ayla set about making a pot of coffee from the grounds above the sink and the coffee maker in the left corner of the kitchen. Exactly where she’d left it.
Every movement was quiet, so she didn’t wake up the entire house. The sense of familiarity eased her last lingering anxiety. She was fine because she was here. Nothing could hurt her here.
The coffee rumbled and hissed as it poured the potent smelling brew into the pot. She only had to wait a few moments before she heard rustling in the back room.
Henry came out of the bedroom yawning and blinking. Half asleep, he didn’t notice her standing in the kitchen until he nearly ran into her. Only then did he stop, take a few steps back, rub his eyes, and then ask, “Ayla?”
“Hi big brother,” she replied with a grin. “I’m home.”
He lunged toward her and gathered her up in a bear hug, squeezing the air from her lungs. She wrapped her own arms around him and sighed into the embrace. This. This was what she wanted above all else. Just to be held by her brother, who wanted nothing but the best for her.
“I missed you,” he said into her hair.
“I missed you too.” She pulled back to look at him. “You grew a beard!”
Well, sort of a beard. It was more like scruff than anything else. He’d never been able to grow a beard even though he wanted one, especially when they were in high school.
Henry released her to scrub a hand over the scraggly hairs. “Trying to, at least. I’m not sure if I’ll keep it or not.”
“You should.” Awkwardly, she stepped back to the coffee and poured them both a cup. “How have things been?”
She hadn’t realized it would feel like this. Like she didn’t live here anymore, even though she did. The cottage in the back was where she’d left it. Her life hadn’t changed at all, other than a few weeks spent in the faerie realms.
So why did it feel like everything had changed? And like she couldn’t go back to the home she’d had before leaving?
Ayla handed the cup of coffee to Henry with a smile. He didn’t smile back.
He took the offered cup, sipped it once, and then set it back down on the counter. “Ayla, you aren’t here to ask how things have been. They’re fine, you know that. What happened?”
She almost didn’t want to tell him what happened in the glass palace. Just being here made it appear she might wave it all away as a frightful dream and no one would be the wiser. She didn’t have to go back and get that photo. She didn’t have to feel like she deserved the throne.
Sighing, she hopped up onto the counter and cupped her warm mug in her hands. “I don’t know, Henry. I really don’t know.”
He sat on the island, legs swinging near hers just as they always had when the two of them were little. He sipped at the coffee once more, then nodded. “Why don’t you just tell me everything from the start then? You know I’d love to hear what it’s like.”
Who was she to refuse him? Ayla opened her mouth and all the words fell out. She told him everything from the first chase through the maze, to the last moment when she bolted out of his bed and ran back home.
“So, it’s just that I feel as though everything went a little fast,” she finished the story. “I rushed it, and that was my fault. But I don’t think it’s smart to stay there and let the awkwardness seep in. Again.”
Henry had stopped swinging his legs a while ago. His back curved as he hunched over his coffee, staring down into the black liquid. “Do you think it would be awkward?”
“Yes and no?” Ayla knew she would be uncomfortable. Waking up ne
xt to him for the first time was weird enough when she was the only one awake. What if he had opened his eyes? She would have turned bright red and ran from the room.
“Listen. I know what you’re going through and that feeling isn’t easy to get used to.” He set the coffee down on the island next to him. “You’ve been abandoned by people your entire life, other than me. Don’t try to argue, Ayla. Your first parents, then our parents, even though that wasn’t by choice. Now, you’re afraid it might happen again."
She scoffed. That wasn’t the problem. She opened her mouth to retort he didn’t know what he was talking about, but Henry interrupted her.
“As far as this guy, it might never be easy between the two of you because you just love him so much it makes everything worse. You might even put his happiness before your own, and that gets hard when you have to trust he’ll also put you first.”
“Love?” She laughed. “I don’t love him.”
“Don’t you?”
“No.” She shook her head, then hesitated. “Well, maybe.” It wasn’t possible for her to love him, she’d only been there a few weeks. “I guess I might.”
What a terrifying thought. Love. The emotion had never crossed her mind other than for her family. In a way, she guessed she’d just taken Storm into her family.
Ayla dropped her head into her hands. “Ugh, I don’t know what to do.”
“Can I ask you a question you won’t like?”
No, she didn’t want to hear anything else she wouldn’t like. All that would do was make her cry, and Ayla didn’t want to lose it right now. Still, she sighed and looked up. “Maybe? I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.”
Henry slid off the island and stood in front of her. He took her hands in his and squeezed them tight. “Why did you come back here?”
“To see you.” She bit her lip and willed the tears back into her body so they didn’t fall down her cheeks. “You always help me think through things, Henry. I thought maybe if I came back, you’d help me understand.”
“I can’t help you with this one, little sis. This is all on you.” He thumbed underneath her eye and caught the sole tear sliding down her cheek. “Listen to me, Ayla. If that glass palace is as wonderful as you make it sound, I think you’re running because you’re afraid to get hurt. And that’s understandable, but it doesn’t make it right.”
King of the Frost Page 16
