Rise of the Dark Alpha

~ SASHA ~

A shiver rocked Sasha's entire body the moment his lips brushed hers—soft, warm, and featherlight. The kiss was a question. A request. An entreaty.

She knew she shouldn't give in, should make him answer for… well, everything.

But having him there, so close, so warm, so sweet… whispering that he still loved her, wanted her, intended to claim her. It was everything she'd yearned for since she was a teenager. And being so close that she could smell him, feel him, see the water droplets trailing down his chest…

It all conspired to silence the protests in her wounded heart and fill her instead with a sparkling, glittering heat that raised goosebumps on her skin and made her breath suck in.

Then his lips dragged across hers again, slightly harder this time, and she made a small cry and pulled him in, her hands lacing at the nape of his neck.

One of his hands dragged down to the small of her back, pulling her against him until she felt his arousal, hard on her belly. But that wasn't what made her skin tingle and her breath come faster.

His kiss… his kiss was intoxicating. A dance of gentle lips and probing tongue, Of fingers dragged slowly, softly down the skin of her arm, then back up to bury in her hair and tug her head back.

Sasha arched against him as he pressed a thigh between her knees and deepened the kiss, still pressing his hand flat at her lower back and pulling her in tight, until the nerves lit up from the apex of her thighs, all the way up her spine, and she shivered again.

His breath thundered against her cheek, fluttering in her hair as he dropped his head to kiss along her jaw, the point of her chin, and down her throat.

She was arched so far back, her hair dangled into the water and still he leaned over her, covering her with his body and pressing her against him.

She'd never felt so exposed, and so safe in the same moment. Here with him in the dark, naked felt natural and she wanted to cry again. Because no man had ever made her feel that way except Zev.

Goosebumps chased themselves up and down her skin wherever his hand stroked. She opened her mouth and tilted her head, taking more from the kiss so that a growl of approval puttered in his throat.

Then, without breaking the kiss, he dropped his hand to cup the back of her leg, his fingers teasing the inside of her thigh, and pulled up to wrap her knee around his hip, his mouth opening over hers as he ground against her and a groan broke in his throat.

Whimpering again, Sasha clung to his shoulders, silently pleading with him not to stop, telling herself she was crazy, but deciding that, at least in that moment, crazy was exactly where she wanted to be.

Then, with a tortured moan, he let himself sink deeper into the water and pulled her up into his lap, still kissing her, until they bobbed in the water together, hands exploring, bodies yearning.

"Fuck, Sash," he groaned, his head dropping back when she rocked against him, the water rippling around them.

"I've missed you so much, Zev!"

His breath whooshed out of him and he groaned as he took her mouth again, forcefully this time, devouring her. Sasha locked her ankles behind his back and pulled him closer, grinding against him, shuddering at the delicious wave of jangling pleasure crackled through her body.

Then she felt him, there—right there. And she remembered the one other time they'd been here…

They were curled up on that tiny twin bed together, naked, the only sound in the room their panting breaths and the occasional smack of lips, or suck of mouth on skin. He'd rubbed himself against her until her body twitched every time he passed over her and she'd clapped a hand to the back of his neck and practically demanded he stop waiting.

Braced over her, one hand on either side of her shoulders, he'd pulled back, forced her to stop—even as he nudged at her core.

When she opened her eyes, she wanted to snarl at him, but there was a look of such awe, such love on his face, it stopped the words on her tongue.

"Are you sure, Sash?" he'd whispered, his eyes searching hers. "Are you certain I'm the one?"

The question had shaken her out of her arousal and tumbled her down into her insecurities.

"Why? Aren't you?" she'd asked quickly, breathlessly, trying to swallow the panting. "I mean, if you don't want to—"

"Are you fucking crazy, Sash," he groaned, his eyes going wide. "You're it for me. I'm gone. Done. Whether we do this or not. You own me. But… this is a big deal and I don't want you to be sad…"

She'd almost cried—in relief, and because his concern touched her so deeply. While he stared, she smiled, tried to let him see how happy he made her. How much love she felt for him. How absolutely certain she was.

"Yes," she whispered, then put a hand to his gorgeous jaw. "I want this, Zev. With you. Right now. Please?"

His eyes softened and his smile crept up on one side, pressing those little lines to bracket his mouth. "No need to beg," he said in a guttural drawl.

"Zev!"

But even as she slapped his shoulder, his face got serious. "I love you, Sash, you know that right?"

"I know," she said. She could feel her cheeks heating, but she didn't care. "I love you, too."

He shook his head like he didn't quiet believe it. But before she could say it again, he sank down to take her mouth, tilted his hips, and took her. And every thought Sasha had ever had flew out of her head at the onslaught of emotion and sensation that was, all at once, entirely new, and the most ancient and perfect thing she'd ever done…

Sasha blinked back to the present to find Zev staring at her again, water dripping from a strand of hair that had fallen loose to curl over his forehead, eyes wide and watching her.

Sasha smiled, her heart still buried in the memory, but her body very much alive and in the present.

"I still love you, Zev," she breathed, shocked that it had come out, but knowing it was only true, her heart dancing when his eyes leapt.

"I love you too, Sash," he groaned and kissed her again. Then he pressed his forehead against hers and sighed.. "Which is exactly why we can't do this now."