Chapter 429: The Storm Breaks
Zhenlan didn’t stop when my body began shaking beneath him.
He slowed down, and that made it so much worse in the best way possible.
His tongue moved over me with the same steady pressure while his fingers stayed threaded through mine against the blanket. Every time I tried to lift my hips, the arm across my stomach held me where he wanted me.
The heat building inside me tightened until I couldn’t think around it.
My hand pulled harder at his hair. "Zhenlan."
He pressed his mouth closer.
The release hit hard enough to pull my back from the blanket. Wind rushed through the clearing at the same time, tearing through the upper branches and sending flowers bending away from us.
Zhenlan held my hips through every wave.
He didn’t lift his head until my legs stopped shaking around his shoulders. When he finally looked up, his mouth was wet and the calm expression he normally wore had become something much darker.
I was still trying to breathe when he kissed the inside of my thigh.
"That was rude," I managed.
His mouth moved against my skin. "You liked it."
Unfortunately, I had no good answer to that.
Zhenlan released my hand and rose onto his knees. I watched him open his pants, which was considerably more interesting than it should have been.
He had spent the entire afternoon touching me, kissing me, and acting as though he had all the time left in the world. The hard length he freed from his clothes made it clear how much of that had been an act.
I sat up and reached for him.
Zhenlan caught my wrist before my fingers closed around him. For half a second, I thought he planned to stop me.
Instead, he guided my hand exactly where he wanted it.
His breath left him when my fingers wrapped around the thick base of his cock. The muscles across his stomach pulled tight, and another gust shook the flowers surrounding the clearing.
I moved my hand slowly.
Zhenlan’s fingers stayed around my wrist, not controlling the movement so much as holding on while I learned what made his breathing break. His hips shifted into my palm when my thumb passed over the head.
I smiled.
His eyes narrowed. "You’re enjoying this."
"Yes."
At least one of us could admit it.
I leaned forward and kissed the scar beneath his collarbone again while my hand kept moving. Zhenlan’s head tipped back, giving me more room to follow the old mark across his chest.
The wind grew stronger.
It circled the clearing without reaching the blanket, sending leaves spinning through the air while the ropes of the swing pulled tight against the branch.
"You’re going to break my new swing," I murmured against his skin.
"It can be replaced."
"That’s wasteful."
Zhenlan’s hand slid into my hair and pulled my face up to his. "Rouxi."
The way he said my name removed most of my interest in discussing furniture.
His mouth covered mine before I could say anything else. He pushed me back onto the blanket and followed, one hand beneath my head while the other guided my thigh around his hip.
His body settled between my legs.
I felt the hard pressure of his hard cock against my wet pussy and moved closer without waiting for him to ask.
Zhenlan stopped.
His forehead rested against mine, and his breathing moved hot across my mouth. The hand on my thigh tightened until his fingers pressed deep into the skin.
He had stopped himself again.
I ran my nails down his back. "If you make me answer another question, I’m feeding you to the vine."
His eyes stayed on mine. "Do you want me?"
That question was specific enough to deserve an answer.
"Yes."
The word had barely left my mouth before he pushed inside me.
The first stretch made my breath catch. Zhenlan froze above me, giving my body time to adjust while his jaw tightened hard enough that I could see the muscle move.
I wrapped both legs around him and pulled.
His control lasted another second.
Then he drove the rest of the way in.
My fingers dug into his shoulders as the pressure filled me. Zhenlan buried his face against my neck and stayed there, his body shaking once beneath my hands.
For someone who had looked completely calm all afternoon, he was falling apart remarkably fast.
I liked it.
I shifted my hips beneath him.
Zhenlan groaned against my skin and pulled almost all the way out before pushing back into me.
The next movement was slower, but it didn’t remain that way.
He watched my face as he found a rhythm, adjusting the angle each time my body tightened around him. One hand stayed beneath my head while the other gripped my hip, holding me steady against every deep thrust.
The wind moved with him.
It rushed through the garden whenever his control slipped, lifting my hair from the blanket and making the plants shudder around us. The air against my skin remained warm, but everything beyond the clearing bent beneath the storm building overhead.
Zhenlan kissed me again.
His mouth swallowed the sounds he pulled from me as his hips moved faster. The careful control from earlier was still there, but it had become thinner. I could feel the strength he kept locked beneath it every time his fingers tightened or his body drove mine deeper into the blanket.
I wanted more of it.
I caught his lower lip between my teeth and pulled.
The next thrust struck hard enough to tear a cry from me.
There it was.
Zhenlan lifted his head, and whatever he saw in my face made the last of his restraint disappear.
He pushed my thigh higher against his side and drove into me with enough force that the blanket shifted beneath us. The tree branches thrashed overhead. Lightning flashed somewhere beyond the leaves, followed by thunder close enough to shake the ground.
I laughed because apparently I had finally found a way to make the Warlord lose his mind.
Zhenlan looked down at me, breathing hard. "What?"
"The weather."
His mouth closed over mine before I could explain.
His hand moved between our bodies. The first press of his fingers against me made my legs tighten around him. He kept the same pace with his hips while his thumb rubbed exactly where his mouth had left me too sensitive earlier.
The pleasure climbed much faster this time.
I held onto him, nails dragging across his shoulders while each thrust pushed me closer. Zhenlan’s mouth moved down my throat, his teeth catching lightly against my skin before his tongue soothed the mark.
My body tightened around him and his rhythm broke without warning.
The storm above us cracked open with another flash of lightning as I came beneath him. Zhenlan pushed deep and held himself there, his body locking over mine while his release followed.
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then his arms gave slightly, and he caught himself before his full weight dropped onto me.
I was still breathing like I had run somewhere, which was offensive because I had been lying down the entire time.
Zhenlan lowered himself carefully onto one elbow and brushed damp hair away from my face. His expression had begun returning to normal, but his chest still rose too quickly to make the act convincing.
I touched the side of his mouth. "Your weather needs work."
He turned his head and kissed my fingers. "You caused it."
"That sounds like blaming the victim."
His forehead rested against mine as a tired laugh moved through him.
The wind slowly settled around us. Leaves dropped back into place, and the swing stopped pulling against its ropes.
Zhenlan withdrew carefully before reaching for the abandoned clothes and blanket. He cleaned me with the soft inside of his shirt, ignoring my complaint that he had other shirts and this one had been clean.
Then he wrapped me in the blanket and pulled me against his chest.
Dinner sat forgotten near the tree.
One of the baby vine’s heads slowly appeared beside the pastry box.
I pointed through the blanket. "Don’t you dare."
The leaf froze.
Zhenlan’s arm tightened around me while he watched it retreat into the grass.
We stayed beneath the tree until my legs stopped feeling useless.
When Zhenlan finally stood, he lifted me with the blanket still wrapped around my body and started toward the house.
I rested my head against his shoulder and looked back at the ruined food, twisted grass, and swing still moving slightly beneath the branches.
The date had gone well.
I was keeping the swing.
And the man.