The Crown of Gilded Bones (Blood and..

Maybe it was everything that had happened and what I
could soon face. Maybe it was the heat of his mouth against
me. It could’ve simply been the fact that I needed him—
needed to remind both of us that no matter how tonight
ended, we were alive, we were here, together. And nothing
could ever change that.
All of those reasons could have fueled my actions. Given
me the strength to take control of my desires, the situation,
and of Casteel—and prove that I could handle him at his
calmest and at his wildest, his most loving and his most
indecent.
I pushed off the wall, clasping the back of his neck. I
wasn’t sure if I just surprised him or if I had overpowered
him. It didn’t matter. Curling my hand around the back of his
neck, I urged him to stand, bringing his mouth to mine. I
tasted him on my lips. I tasted me and us. Slipping my
hands into his breeches, I undid them as I walked him
backward, helping him get rid of them. When his legs hit the
bed, I pushed him.
Casteel sat, his brows lifting as he stared up at me.
“Poppy,” he breathed.
Placing my hands on his shoulders, I planted my knees
on either side of his thighs. “I want you, Casteel.”
He shuddered. “You have me. You will always have me.”
And I did have him as he shifted under me. I lowered
myself onto him, the air seizing in my throat as we became
one.
Pulse fluttering, I curled my arm around his neck,
sinking my fingers into his hair as I dropped my forehead to
his, clutching his arm with my other hand. I began to move,
rocking against him slowly. I gasped as heat filled my chest
and settled between my thighs in a tight, hot ache. My
breath touched his lips. “Prove it,” I ordered. “Prove that
you’re mine.”
There wasn’t even a moment of hesitation. His mouth
crashed onto mine, and the kiss was stunning in its