Rose in Chains (The Evermore Trilogy, #1)

by Julie Soto

“No.”

His gaze softened as it slid down to her mouth.

“Toven Hearst simply forgot his manners again.”

She sent a withering look behind her and found him watching her darkly as she walked away.

“What manners?” he called after her, echoing her own words. “I’m no gentl...

“It’s a draw, sweetheart,” Canning said

“Such a shame. I would have liked to have tasted you just once.” He made a show of licking his lips at her

She didn’t spare a glance at Toven as she sat in Canning’s lap and pulled his neck down to kiss him squarely on the mouth.

She felt Canning smile against her lips before returning her kiss with a vengeance, his mouth cold and rubbery against hers. She was just pulling back when his hand slipped into her hair, and his other dropped to her thigh, rubbing the skin. His lips moved under hers, his hand gripping her curls to hold her still, and then his tongue was against her mouth, pressing forward to get inside.

The earth ceased to spin in the heartbeat it took for his arm to curl tighter around her waist, his hand splayed on her ribs. She parted her lips and kissed him again. His skin was clean and minty, and she felt his throat bob under her mouth as he swallowed.

“You can’t just sit in a man’s lap and kiss his neck, Rosewood!”

She blinked at him, breathing quickly as he dragged a hand through his hair.

She noticed that he held her eye longer than usual, and she tried her best to ignore the fluttering in her chest each time it happened.

Hoping that someone was thinking of her safety half as much as Toven Hearst was at the moment.

“Didion, you don’t have to… to wait for me.” She bit her lip. “I don’t expect you to, I mean—”

“I would wait millennia for you, Briony Rosewood.”

Her face was hot with tears and her muscles were sore with shaking. And two arms were still around her.

As her grief and panic and sorrow ebbed away with each shaky breath, she grounded herself with the feeling of his chest pressed to her back. His heartbeat thumped against her spine, slow and steady. She breathed in deeply, finding comfort in the press of her ribs into his.

As her tears dried up and her breathing returned to normal, she waited for him to pull away—for him to excuse himself—for his duty to be complete. It didn’t come.

A pang of jealousy flared hot in her. She wished she could have been that person for him.

Her eyes flicked back up to his, and then he was kissing her.

He moved his lips luxuriously, slowly, so gently that Briony thought he might pull away at any second, but he just kept kissing her.

Her heart pounded so fast, pulsing life and want into every inch of her body. She wanted his hands on her skin. She wanted his tongue. She wanted her hips against his.

She’d never seen him like this. She’d never felt anything like this.

When his lips finally parted, and she felt the smooth glide of his tongue, a moan poured from the back of her throat. She clenched her thighs, and she brought her hips closer to him.

That was when Toven finally rolled her onto her back, slotting his body between her open legs. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, ...

But as his tongue brushed against hers, and as she learned to open her mouth the way he wanted her to, she didn’t want to be touched like glass. She wanted the weight of him. She wanted his sweat. She wanted him groaning for her.

He shifted and pushed his hips against hers. She could feel everything.

“Toven, please,”

His lips were firm on hers as the kiss started again. She arched against him, trying to feel more of him. As he kissed her more deeply, his tongue hotter, his lips more direct, Briony slid her fingers around his neck to the place where his fine hair ended at the base of his skull. Her fingers drifted in soft movements, finding a raised scar where she’d sewn his skin back together all those years ago.

His chest rumbled—finally—a moan pouring into her mouth. His hips snapped forward, pinning her into the mattress, and his hand grabbed for her other leg, tucking her kn...

She gasped at the feeling of him pressing against her. Her eyes flew open as his hips rolled over and over. She could feel him right where she needed him. He was unspeakably hard against her softness, and his mouth attached to her jaw, her neck, her pulse, as he groaned into her skin. She ke...

She memorized every gasp, every moan, every sigh. She prayed he was leaving marks on...

And then he shifted his hips just a bit lower, and through all their fabric, Briony felt his erection press against her center— Her breath caught, and her mind went white. She whimpered, feeling closer to something than she’d ever felt before.

He lifted his lips to the shell of her ear, and as he rocked against her again, he moaned her name. “Briony.”

Her eyes rolled back in bliss.

If she could hear one sound for the rest of her life, she wanted it to be Toven Hearst moaning her name.

She felt it in her heart, when he failed to say what she wanted to hear—that she wasn’t special, but that she was special to him.

Maybe, the dragon thought. Maybe I just don’t like you that much.

She took off into the sky, determined to forget about the rose prince and the itch she had to belong to him.