Page 199 of Elemental Becoming

I glare at him. “You’re an ass.”

“And yet,” he says smoothly, “you’re still sitting on me.”

I groan, squeezing my eyes shut as I try to block out every single way my body is currently betraying me.

“Do you want to learn or not, Amara, darling?”

Gods. When he says my name like that, decadent and unhurried, warmth ripples through me instantly.

I snap my eyes open, glaring at him. “Not like this.”

Thane tilts his head, watching me with a lazy, teasing smirk.“Why?” he asks smoothly. “Is this distracting you?”

I want to kill him.

I also want to devour him.

It’s a deeply unfortunate combination.

“Close your eyes,” Thane instructs.

I hesitate.

Because I already know what will happen when I do. When I can’t see him. When I can’t focus on the infuriating smugness written all over his face. When all I can feel is him beneath me.

Thane’s grip tightens slightly against my thighs, his voice dropping lower.

“This is the point, Amara.”

My eyes fly open again.

“What?”

“I could have taught you this in a dozen different ways,” he murmurs, his thumbs stroking teasing circles against my bare thighs. “But this?”

His gaze drops briefly, lingering where we’re still joined before traveling upward again. Over the gentle curve of my stomach. The hard peaks of my nipples. Over the column of my throat. The frantic pulse fluttering at my throat.

Finally, his eyes lift to mine. Glazed. Heated. Completely focused on me.

“This forces you to focus.”

I arch a brow. “You’re getting a lot out of this ‘lesson.’”

“Shouldn’t I be paid for my work? I think it’s only fair,” he replies, all false innocence.

A shiver rolls down my spine. He’s doing this on purpose. Setting me up to fail so I’m forced to fight through the distraction. Because if I can learn to block him out like this—

“Then you can do it anywhere,” Thane murmurs smoothly. His mouth curves with smug satisfaction. “And yes, I heard that too. Focus.”

Gods.

He looks completely composed. Like this is effortless for him. Like he isn’t affected at all.

But I know better.

I see it in the flicker of heat beneath his restraint. The slight tightening of his fingers against my skin before he forces them to relax again.

A tiny fracture in his control, then gone almost immediately. Meanwhile, I am barely holding myself together.