Every Last Breath (The Dark Elements #3)(30)
Author: Jennifer L. Armentrout

When Roth lifted his head once more, he didn’t speak or move for a long moment, and my chest squeezed as I dragged my fingers through his hair. He dipped his head, kissing my cheek. “Remember your promise.”

I remembered, but I wasn’t going to stop him and I wasn’t going to deny what both of us wanted. He seemed to realize that because as he settled over me again, not quite touching me, he closed his eyes, expression strained. Electricity snapped between us, tugging at us as a raw feeling pulsed. I turned my head, seeking his mouth, and when I found it, I poured everything I felt for him into the kiss. My hands slipped over the thick cords of his neck, traveled the muscles where they bunched in his shoulders, down his lean sides, and then around to his abs, going lower—over each taut ridge, and lower still. He drew in a sharp breath as I reached the button on his jeans.

He caught my hand, tugging it away and pressing it down into the mattress. My heart jumped as heat rolled off his body. His skin seemed too thin and there were shadows lingering just behind the layer of flesh as he drew his hand down to the hem of my camisole.

I really wasn’t thinking as I lifted my shoulders and the cami ended up somewhere with his shirt, or when I lifted my hips and the last bit of clothing was gone. I wasn’t thinking when his body bowed and he kissed the space just below my new tattoo. And there were no thoughts when, with trembling hands, he began to explore me. My heart was tripping over itself and the fire in my stomach had turned into a wave of molten lava coursing through my veins.

Then his clothes came off, and he was possibly the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, and when his lips met mine, I was nearly overcome by the strength of the emotions flowing between us. And everything—everything he began to do was downright delicious. We were pressing against one another, straining until I was floating in heavy sensations. My skin came alive wherever we touched, and our hands were everywhere—I was lost in him as his lips blazed a fiery path down my throat and lower, much lower, like he’d done before, and like before, I flew apart with each precise, measured touch, and he pieced me back together with deep, slow kisses.

When he rose above me once more, his fingers were at my hips and he shook as he rested his forehead against mine. Our skin was damp, our bodies flushed. “I need… I need a minute,” he said in a rough, low voice.

I looked at him, really looked at him, and saw that he was close to losing control of his human form. His skin had darkened and smoothed to granite. When I saw his eyes, they were golden, but the pupils had stretched vertically.

Emboldened by the effect I had on him, I touched him, remembering the comment he’d made so long ago about being pierced in other areas, and he so had not been joking about that. He made this sound that curled my toes. His eyes closed as his chest rose deeply and when they reopened, his pupils were back to normal.

His hands were back on me and he slowed everything down, until both of us were clamoring at one another, unable to wait, and then it happened.

I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect since it wasn’t something I’d gotten details on before, not even from Stacey. There was a spark of pain that stole my breath, but Roth…he smoothed over that pain and turned it into something utterly amazing, exquisitely beautiful. It felt like being on a roller coaster, about to plummet hundreds of feet down, and when I did, Roth was there.

And I’d never experienced anything like this before. It was perfect and powerful, and as Roth whispered those three words over and over, our bodies moved against each other. In this moment, Roth wasn’t the Crown Prince and I wasn’t, well, whatever I was. We were just two people in love, and that was everything.

Minutes might have passed, maybe even hours; I couldn’t be sure, but eventually our hearts slowed and we were lying tangled together in the middle of the bed, his arms around me, holding me close.

“You okay?” he asked, sounding like he hadn’t spoken in ages.

It took me a moment to get my tongue to work. “I feel…perfect.”

His lips brushed mine. “I didn’t hurt you?”

I shook my head as my eyes drifted shut. “No. You were…”

“Amazing? Divine? Mind-blowing—”

Laughing softly, I snuggled in against him. “Yes. To all of those things.”

His embrace tightened and neither of us spoke for a long moment as he smoothed his hand up and down the center of my back, lulling me into a pleasant, blissed-out haze. “Thank you,” he said.

“What are you thanking me for?” I whispered.

Roth kissed my brow. “For everything you have given me.”

fourteen

I DOZED OFF in Roth’s arms, but when I stretched out my arms some unknown time later, I found the bed was empty. Blinking open my eyes, I was met with darkness. It was still night, and as I wiggled my toes, I refused to allow thoughts of the morning to creep into my languid happiness.

Rolling over, I waited until my eyes adjusted to the dark. I thought he might be in the bathroom, but as my gaze flitted across the room, I saw him by the piano. My heart sped up, my mind immediately veering to what we’d done, what we’d shared.

The sheets were pooled around my hips and I was too lazy to fix them. Instead, I loosely folded my arms across my chest.

He was sitting on the bench, facing me, with his arms draped over his bent knees. I couldn’t make out most of him as I snuggled onto my side. “What are you doing?”

Roth stood and glided out of the shadows. His expression was relaxed and open, but he didn’t look normal. Roth could never look just normal, but as he stood there, he looked as close as he’d ever be. “I’m probably going to sound like a creep, but I was watching you.”

“That is a hallmark of a creeper.”

One side of his lips curled up and a dimple appeared in his right cheek. “I can’t help myself. You’re just too beautiful to look away from. It’s true. I’m a demon. I don’t lie.”

I stared at him.

His grin spread. “I got up to get something to drink,” he admitted. “And I glanced back at you. I don’t even know why. I just did and then I stopped.” His smile faded a bit. “Maybe I can’t believe that you’re really here. That we’re here.” He raised a shoulder and smooth skin stretched over taut muscles. “And then I sat down and I started thinking about…about everything with the Lilin, and now I’ve been entertaining the idea of gathering you up while you slept and basically kidnapping you. Hawaii still seems like a good place. Screw whatever happens with the Lilin and all of that. We could survive. I’d make sure of that.”

Reaching down, my fingers curled around the edge of the comforter. “Roth…”

He sighed as he raised a hand, scrubbing his fingers through his messy dark hair. “I know. You can’t walk away from any of this. None of us can.” He dropped his arm. “So that was what I was thinking about while I was staring at you.” Those amber eyes flashed with mischief, and I relaxed. I wasn’t ready for the world outside to intrude. “Did I tell you that you’re beautiful?”

“Yes.” Lifting my hand to the poof that was currently my hair, I laughed as I pressed my cheek against the pillow. “But I don’t know how you could think so. I’m a mess.”

He tipped his head to the side and pivoted around, heading toward the bathroom. After a few seconds, he returned with a hairbrush in hand. With his jeans unbuttoned, they hung indecently low. I could definitely see where Thumper’s tail was heading.

Not that I hadn’t really seen that earlier.

Cheeks flaming, I pressed my entire face into the pillow, hiding what had to be the goofiest smile known to man. Despite all the craziness we were facing and the uncertainty of what the next hour or tomorrow could drop on us, my little piece of the world felt bright and warm.

What Roth and I had shared, what we had done, was beyond beautiful and wasn’t something I could simplify with words. For it to have been that way between us, we had to be in love with each other—madly, deeply in love.

I was the corniest cornball in a cornfield full of popcorn.

Roth touched my shoulder. “Sit up.”

“Meh,” I murmured into the pillow.

He chuckled. “Sit up. Please.”

Demons rarely said please. I was beginning to think it was a word not in their core vocabulary, so I sat up, tugging the comforter to my chest. Roth slipped in behind me. One leg was bent against my side, the other dangled off the edge of the bed.

I looked back at him, but before I could speak, he lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me. The touch of cool metal against my tongue was all too brief. He pulled away and gently turned my chin so I was facing away from him.

“Let me see what I can do with this,” he said, gathering up my hair. “You’re right. This is a mess. You look like you could’ve been in an ’80s music video. What did you do to it?”

“I didn’t do anything. That—” I pointed at my head “—is all your doing.”

He started to ease the brush through my hair. “Blame the demon. I see how you are.”

As Roth worked his way through the tangles, it really hit me that the Crown Prince of Hell was actually brushing my hair. That was beyond bizarre but also incredibly sweet. My warm and fuzzy glow from earlier was turning into emotional weepiness. Tears pricked at my eyes.