Page 202 of Elemental Becoming
“Because I want to hear exactly what you’re thinking when I touch you.”
“Nope. I’m blocking it,” I whimper.
Thane laughs against my throat, pressing a lingering kiss there before rolling us again so that I am on top.
“Coward,” he murmurs against my neck, rolling his hips, before turning us so that I’m on top again. With himstillinside me.
I gasp.
Gods, he is absolutely toying with me.
“How are you composed right now?” I ask, my voice still uneven.
Something shifts in his expression. Small. Brief. But enough for me to know he’s deciding how honest he wants to be.
“Because I have to be.”
I frown. “What does that mean?”
Thane doesn’t answer right away, his gaze drifting away from mine. His fingers continue tracing slow circles against my thighs, his grip still maddeningly sure, as though the motion itself is helping him hold on.
“It means I don’t have the luxury of losing control.”
The words are quiet, and yet the silence is deafening.
I search his face. “Not even once?”
“Not even once.”
Something inside me tightens, because I know he means it.
I don’t know why that realization unsettles me. Maybe because I’ve never known restraint like his. Maybe because he’s the only person I’ve ever met who carries himself this way, who holds himself back as though it’s the only way he knows how to survive.
He was trained for war from childhood, raised with a sword in one hand and responsibility in the other. Of course he can do this without breaking, because breaking was never an option.
But me? I was never built for control.
I purse my lips, studying him, letting the silence stretch between us.
“That doesn’t seem fair,” I murmur.
Thane raises a brow. “What doesn’t?”
“That you never get to let go.”
He scoffs softly, shaking his head. “You’re overthinking again.”
“No. I’m testing a theory.”
“What theory?”
I lean down just slightly, close enough to feel the subtle hitch in his breathing.
“If you’re actually unshakable.”
His grip tightens. Barely, but I feel it. A thrill shoots through me.
“Amara—”
