Chapter Eighteen #3
“Only you would thank the universe after sex.”
“Well, it did bring us together.”
“Fair point.”
I finally pulled out and felt her wince slightly.
“Sore?”
“A little. But in a good way.”
I kissed her forehead and then got up to get a warm washcloth from the bathroom. When I returned, she was sprawled across my bed, completely unselfconscious of her nudity, smiling at me as if I had just given her the moon.
“Come back,” she said, reaching for me.
I cleaned her gently, carefully, then tossed the washcloth aside and climbed back into bed.
She immediately curled into me, her head on my chest, her leg thrown over mine.
“Julien?”
“Mmmm?”
“Can we do that again?”
I looked down at her.
She was grinning.
“Now?”
“Well, maybe in a few minutes. But yes. Definitely yes. Because that was amazing and I want to do it approximately a thousand more times tonight.”
A thousand times. She wants to have sex a thousand times.
The universe really did have a sense of humor.
“I think a thousand might be physically impossible.” I grinned.
“Challenge accepted.”
“Athena.”
She kissed me, and I tasted myself on her lips, tasted our combined pleasure.
And just like that, I was hard again.
Impossible.
This is impossible.
I just came. I should need at least twenty minutes to—
She wrapped her hand around my cock, stroking me with unpracticed but enthusiastic movements.
“See?” she said against my mouth. “Your body agrees with me.”
“My body,” I said, “has apparently lost all connection to logic.”
“Good.” She pushed me onto my back, climbed on top of me, and straddled my hips. “Logic is overrated.” She sank down onto me in one smooth movement, and I groaned at the sensation of being inside her again.
Fuck.
Oh fuck.
She was in control now, setting the pace, riding me with increasing confidence.
I gripped her hips, watched her move above me, watched her breasts bounce with each movement, watched her face transform with pleasure.
Beautiful.
She’s so fucking beautiful.
“Touch yourself,” I said, my voice rough.
She blinked down at me.
“What?”
“Touch yourself. Your clit. I want to watch you make yourself come while you ride me.”
Her eyes darkened. She slid one hand down her stomach, between her legs, found her clit and began to circle it.
Yes.
Fuck yes.
I thrust up into her, matched her rhythm, felt my orgasm building again impossibly fast.
“Julien—I’m...”
“I know. I can feel it. Come for me, Athena. Come on my cock again.”
She came with a cry, her body clenching around me, triggering my own release.
I came inside her again, filling her with my release, marking her as mine in the most primal way possible.
She collapsed onto my chest, breathing hard.
“That was—”
“Better than the first time?”
“Different. Both were perfect.”
I stroked her hair and felt her heart racing against mine.
“How many more times do you think we can manage tonight?” she asked.
I laughed.
“I don’t know. But apparently, we’re going to find out.”
“The universe approves.”
“I’m sure it does.”
She lifted her head, looking at me with those dark eyes full of love and trust and absolute certainty. “I love you, Julien Darcy.”
“I love you too.”
“Even though I’m chaos?”
“Because you’re chaos.”
She smiled and kissed me softly.
And then we started again.
We had sex four more times that night.
Once with her bent over the side of the bed, my hands gripping her hips, taking her from behind while she gasped my name into the mattress.
Once in the shower, her back against the tile, her legs wrapped around my waist, water streaming over us while I thrust into her with desperate, uncoordinated movements.
Once on the couch in the living room, because we had gotten hungry, gone to find food, and ended up with her straddling me while I sat there, still half-dressed, too desperate to make it back to the bedroom.
And once more in bed, slow and gentle and tender, face to face, her eyes locked on mine while we moved together, while I told her I loved her over and over until the words lost meaning and became just sound, just feeling, just us.
By the time the sun rose, we were both exhausted, sore, and completely satisfied.
Athena was asleep in my arms, her hair a wild tangle across my chest, her breathing deep and even.
I should have slept too. I should have let my body recover from the most physically demanding night of my life, but I couldn’t stop looking at her.
I couldn’t stop marveling at the fact that this woman, this beautiful, chaotic, impossible woman was mine.
My wife.
My love.
My destiny.
The universe knows what it’s doing.
The thought should have terrified me. It should have sent me spiraling into panic about the loss of control, about the unpredictability of life, about all the ways this could go wrong.
Instead, I just felt peace.
For the first time in my carefully controlled, precisely ordered life, I felt completely at peace.
I kissed the top of Athena’s head, pulled the blanket over us both, and finally let myself sleep.
The universe could wait.
Right now, I had everything I needed.