Chapter 42 #2
With a quiet laugh, she turns toward me and takes her sweet time unzipping the side of her skirt and slipping it down her legs, taking everything underneath with it in one swoop.
Sitting on the edge of the tub next to the shower stall, I lean forward on my knees.
“You are fucking perfection, love.” My eyes move slowly over her body—taking in every freckle, scar and curve. She doesn’t fidget or rush me.
Renata stands there with her hands on the counter behind her, standing taller than she has all day.
“So, you’re leaving,” she muses and plays with the end of her hair.
“I am. Tomorrow morning.”
Her mouth drops open. “Tomorrow? How long have you been planning this?”
“Since last night when we were lying in your bed. However,” I continue, “The library got a visitor today.”
She perks up and watches me. “Who was it?”
“A salt merchant who stops in Briarhollow a few times a year.” I hold my hands out. “Apparently, he chose today of all days… He’s sailing East tomorrow morning.”
She mulls over my words before saying, “Let me guess. He just happens to be willing to drop you off at Calista’s island.”
“Kind of,” I say with a grimace. “He agreed to take me a mile off shore and give me a small boat to paddle to her island. He has a friend who will pick me up a mile off shore a week later.”
“The fates are productive, if nothing else,” she murmurs and crosses her arms. “Have you ever even been on a boat?”
With a rueful look, I admit, “No.”
She lets out a sharp laugh that dies just as quickly. “Archer…” She says, but it comes out like a plea. One to stay right here, at the inn with her.
She takes a few steps toward me and when she’s within reach, I grab her waist and pull her into my lap. My hand skims up her side and breast until I reach her neck. I pull her closer until our lips are brushing against each other. “You knew I would want to follow this.”
She steels her shoulders and says, “I want to go with you.”
“No.” I tug her back until our chests are flush. “The coven needs you, and I need to know you’re safe.”
She raises her brows. “There’s a decent chance I’d be safer with you than alone.”
With a fierce look, I shake my head roughly. “Don’t say that. You won’t be alone here. You have five other women to keep their eyes on you.”
My lips fall on hers, kissing her with as much reverence and affection as I can infuse into it. The way she opens for me and tangles her hands in my hair tells me she has a million silent messages in this kiss too.
We stay there for a long moment, tongues tangling and sliding against each other, teeth catching bottom lips and soft moans. She turns further into my arms and wraps her body around me. My hands slide along her waist, down to her ass, and squeeze.
Every moment is sensual and slow, different from our typical need and rough desire.
My calloused hands gently glide up her back and tighten on her, pulling her as close as possible.
The movement has her arching back and moaning.
When her head tips back, I nibble along her shoulder until I reach her neck.
“Archer,” she breaths when my tongue licks up the thin column of her neck. “I need you, baby.”
“I’m taking you slow tonight, love,” I promise and stand.
With one hand, I grab under her thighs and lift her further up.
Using my other one, I push my jeans down and quickly step out of them.
Then we’re in the shower, her smooth, wet body pressed between mine and the wall.
With one rock of my hips between her spread legs, she’s writhing against me, trying to position me where she needs me.
“You’re going to be begging to come by the time I’m done with you,” I growl and bite her jaw as she calls out my name. Grabbing the base of my cock, I press the tip to her pussy and slowly press into her.
“I’m going to fuck you all night, love—fill you up until you’re dripping with my cum. You’ll feel me inside you every day I’m away from you,” I say and push another inch into her.
Looking at her face, I watch her in awe at the way her elegant neck contracts with each soft mewl and feral whimper.
A wave of anticipatory grief hits me again—wondering how the hell fate could tease me with her beauty, only to rip it away so soon, or how this soul aching connection between us could be the by-product of the curse.
Then she opens her pretty lips and says the words I was not expecting—ones that light my blood on fire.
“Yes, fuck,” she moans. I push to the hilt and hold her there, breathing hard against her lips. Her tight grip holds my cock in a vice. “I don’t want your cum on my chest tonight. I want it inside me.”
My breath shudders. The idea of filling her with my arousal has me ready to forget my earlier words and come now.
With a low growl, I pull out slowly and push back in, holding her slick, wet body against mine. “You’ll have to work for it.”
Sliding her down my body, I grab her hips and turn her around. With her chest pressed against the wall and her back to me, I grab the back of one of her knees, lifting it to allow me better access and press my body against her.
My hard cock rubs between her ass cheeks, and we both groan.
“When I get back, I want you here,” I say and slide one of my hands over her ass cheek until I find the tight hole. My thumb rubs, not hard enough to push inside, but adding enough pressure to have her moaning and clawing at the wall.
Moving my hand to the base of my length, I tease her entrance before pushing back into her. “When I return, Renata, I’m going to spend days filling every hole, creating any fantasy your pretty little mind has conjured up.”
She lets out a desperate whimper when my fingers find her clit and rub in slow, tight circles. Her hips buck back, looking for friction, but she’s trapped between the wall and my chest. I hold her in place and don’t move my cock from where it’s buried inside of her.
“Whether it be for one day or one century, you’ll remember what it feels like to be owned by me. You’re mine in every lifetime, Little Wisp,” I murmur against her lips, teasingly biting on the bottom one.
With her head resting back on my shoulder, she nods, and I watch the way her throat constricts with each panting breath.
“Let me hear you say it, baby,” I demand in a gravelly voice.
“You own me,” she whispers. It’s a low, vulnerable admittance—one that makes me feel like I’m a fucking god amongst mortals. “I’m yours, Archer. In every lifetime.”
“Mm,” I hum and kiss along her neck. My hips begin to pump lightly, matching the languid speed of my fingers on her sensitive bundle of nerves. “And I’m yours. I’ll wait for you in the afterlife—doesn’t matter how long it is. You’re worth every agonizing second.”
A sob breaks out of her and she turns her head further back, seeking my lips. I drop my mouth to hers, claiming it like I promised.
She begs for more but I don’t rush, choosing to enjoy this moment with her wrapped around me, for as long as I can. When the morning comes I’ll be on my way across the ocean for who knows how long. For now, I can pretend that this moment will last an eternity.
With every second, I fall deeper into her. Each slow stroke, each of our erotic sounds mixed together, each time she clenches around me or digs her nails into my neck has me giving another small part of my soul to her.
I was Renata’s long before she ever agreed to be mine.
Renata is pushed to her edge after the soft touches and languid pace of my hips. Her body is tight in anticipation and her walls flutter around me, looking for the climax that has been out of her reach for too long now.
“Archer, please,” she begs. “Please fill me up, baby. I want to come with you dripping out of me.”
“Fuck,” I groan and pump my hips faster, harder. Those words are all I need to take us both over the edge.
Within seconds, my balls are tightening and I’m pumping every last drop of my arousal into her.
“You were so greedy, begging for my cum, so you’re going to take it like a good fucking girl,” I praise and nibble against her jaw. “Exactly like that, Renata.”
Her inner walls flutter around me and her muscles tense up even more as her head falls back on a scream.
I fuck my arousal back into her, pushing her to be louder, to ride this out as long as I can.
My magic is creating another sound barrier for us, and I revel in the knowledge that all of these sexy little noises are mine alone—just like the rest of her.
“Oh my Gods,” she mewls as her body begins to relax.
She slumps against the wall, letting her arms fall to her sides.
I’m still inside of her, enjoying the feeling of her soft aftershocks after her orgasm.
My lips find the back of her neck and I trail kisses along there for a few minutes, getting lost in the warm spray of the water and her familiar, intoxicating scent.
When she lets out a little chuckle, I reluctantly pull out and turn her around by the hips. She looks at me with a smile and teases, “Your dick is reason enough to follow you into the afterlife.”
Shaking my head and trying to hold my chuckle back, I admit, “I never thought I was a selfish man until you.” The amusement fades from her eyes and she tilts her head, waiting.
“I want you to have a full, happy life—one where you are loved and accepted and never have to hide. More than that, I want to beg you to follow me into the spirit realm so we can have an eternity there.”
One of her hands brushes along my jaw, gently scraping through the stubble there. “I’ve already made up my mind. I told you that.”
With a regretful, but relieved breath, I nod. “You can change your mind.”
“I won’t,” she says with so much certainty.
She pulls me down for a kiss, letting her lips speak the words neither of us have been able to say yet. I’m positive because my tongue tries to communicate the same message.
I love you. I’m yours.
We quickly shower and crawl into bed, holding each other all night.
Neither of us sleeps, choosing to lay in the quiet intimacy of what we just shared.
Choosing the movements of drinking in each other’s features through the faint light of the moon and the crackling fireplace rather than missing a second before I leave.
When the sun begins to rise, Renata’s silent tears threaten to hold me hostage, so I kiss her again.
It turns into something deeper when she straddles my lap and makes love to me one more time. She rides me in a desperate, feral rhythm that doesn’t last long enough, but brings us another ounce of comfort as I untangle from her and get ready to leave.