Page 331 of Elemental Becoming

The pressure builds, winding tighter and tighter until I can barely hold a coherent thought. My body already trembles beneath him.

I reach for him, my fingers curling around the back of his neck as I pull him down. Our mouths meet in a rush of heat and need. He groans against my lips, and it vibrates through me.

And then he changes the pace.

The kiss softens. Coaxes. His mouth moves with maddening restraint, drawing the tension higher instead of granting relief. Making me wait. Making me feel every second of it.

And then he pulls back. Just enough to make me follow—but he catches my mouth with a breath, his lips grazing mine as he speaks.

“Tell me what you want, Amara, darling,” he murmurs, voice strained with restraint. “What do you need me to do for you?”

His finger remains where it is, unmoving, and the lack of motion is maddening. My body aches, the need wound tight, demanding release.

Still, he waits, wanting me to say the words.

“More,” I breathe, barely louder than a whisper. “I need to feelmore.”

A fierce heat flashes through those smoke-gray eyes.

“Anything you desire,” he answers. “I will give it to you.”

He thrusts two fingers into me.

I cry out, my back arching as the sudden stretch sends rapture coursing through me. My hands find his hair, thick and tousled, and I grip tightly, desperate for an anchor.

Thane groans as his hips grind forward. I feel the thick heat of his cock press hard against my thigh.

“No one else touches you like this,” he growls against my skin as his hand continues its measured pace. “Say the word, and I’ll give you everything.”

I ride the rhythm he sets, meeting every stroke with a rising desperation. The pressure builds, winding tighter and tighter until it feels like I can barely contain it. Gods, it’s not just pleasure.

It’s surrender.

His mouth finds my breast. The sensation draws a sharp breath from me as he lavishes attention on it before moving to the other with equal focus. His lips trail across my skin as though he can’t get close enough.

“Gods,” I gasp, my hands tightening in his hair as I pull him closer and press into his touch.

He growls against my chest, the sound rumbling through me as he answers my urgency in kind. He follows my lead, giving me exactly what I’m asking for without a single word.

Everything inside me feels stretched taut. Every nerve sings. Every sensation lands harder than the last. The pressure builds until I can barely think around it.

But even now, it isn’t enough. Not when it’s him. Because this has never been only about desire alone.

I want the look in his eyes when we’re old. I want everyversion of him. Every ordinary day between the ones that make history. I want the life we’ll build in the quiet moments no one else sees.

I want all of it.

Emotion swells so quickly it nearly steals the words from me.

“Thane,” I gasp, my voice shaking. “I—”

“Anything,” he breathes against the curve of my breast. “Just say the word, my love. Whatever you want, I’ll give it to you.”

His attention never wavers. Yet beneath it, I can feel the tension in him, wound tight and waiting. One word. That’s all it would take.

But not yet. First, this.

“Curl your fingers,” I whisper, breathless.