Chapter Sixteen
Eden
While he left the bed to pull off his jeans and boxers, I realized I was wrong to think we couldn’t recreate magical moments.
That was definitely not a problem with Milo.
The magic was inside him, I decided. As I watched the auburn hair on his chest and between his legs shimmer like flames in the lamplight, though, I conceded that maybe it was outside of him, as well.
Between the sensation of his beard against my inner thighs, his talented tongue, and those questing fingers, he spun every moment between us into a dream.
I rolled onto my side when he approached the bed, staring down at me like the triumphant Viking I had called him. His expression was intense, his gray eyes like storm clouds as emotion rolled through them.
My entire body thrummed with need in response to that look.
“Milo,” I said hoarsely, holding out my hand to him. “Please.”
“Sweet Eden,” he murmured as he climbed into bed beside me and hooked my leg over his hip. “Do you trust me?”
I blinked at him. “Yes. Of course.”
He dipped his head and kissed me while he slid his hand along the back of my thigh, over my ass, then back down. I wiggled against him, pressing myself into the rough hair of his thigh until he pulled away to laugh.
“So impatient. Roll onto your belly.”
Without a word, I obeyed, though I wondered what it was about his commands that made them so hot, what exactly made me want to follow his directions when I’d spent my life defying orders from everyone else.
Maybe it was that he was so sweet and solicitous outside the bedroom, radiating those good guy vibes that drew me to him in the first place.
The shift from that into this, slightly dominating and extraordinarily sexy, made me tingle in anticipation.
When he coasted one palm along my spine, running from the back of my neck to the top of my ass, I realized another part of it was probably that he had proven himself time and again during our night together. Every suggestion, every command, had resulted in pleasure unlike anything I’d experienced.
“This ass,” he growled, squeezing gently. “Do you have any idea what it does to me?”
Peeking over my shoulder, I batted my lashes at him. “No?”
“Every time you bend down to pet Jiji, I can’t take my eyes off you. It makes me want to do dirty, dirty things, and I think you enjoy teasing me with it, don’t you?”
I wiggled again when he started trailing his fingertips from one cheek to the other. He laughed against the back of my shoulder, then grabbed my hip and rolled me onto my back.
“Later, I’ll take you from behind. I’m not missing the chance to watch you this first time. I’ve been dreaming about that look on your face again ever since Comic Con, right when I’m buried to the hilt.”
“I guess that’ll be okay,” I said as he reached toward the nightstand to grab a condom from the drawer, but my breath hitched with anticipation.
He grinned. “Oh, it’ll be better than okay. I seem to remember you quite enjoyed both positions last time.”
Since it was one hundred percent true, I didn’t argue, just watched as he tore open the package and rolled the condom on.
He kissed me, plucking at one nipple with his fingers as he settled between my thighs.
I reached for him, tangling my fingers in the hair curling at his nape, and wrapped my legs around his waist.
Before he pressed forward into me, he paused, lifting his head so he could watch my eyelids flutter to half-mast under the teasing of his fingers.
Then his hips drove forward, his gaze burning into me when he plunged so deep pleasure radiated through my entire body, but I threw my head back at the perfect fullness of it and lost sight of him.
“That’s it. So good, Eden,” he murmured, and when he started moving, I had to agree. “Like fucking paradise every time I get inside you.”
Each thrust sent tingles skittering along my skin, especially when he hitched one of my knees higher up his side.
The new angle tore a groan from my throat and I dropped my fingers to his strong shoulders, tightening my grip until I was sure my nails must be marking his skin.
He didn’t seem to mind, though, growling against my jaw as he increased his pace.
“Milo,” I gasped.
“Right here, beautiful.”
He lifted up slightly on his knees and braced one arm next to my head.
A strangled sound caught in my throat when he reached between us, stroking lightly, playfully, despite the deep, powerful thrusts.
His fingertip circled, a barely-there touch that shouldn’t have been enough, but the contrast had my muscles quivering as the tension ratcheted higher.
Just before I could demand he stop playing around and get down to business, the most intense orgasm of my life shuddered over me. I sobbed out his name as the waves rolled through my body, seeming endless, overwhelming, overpowering.
“That’s it, let go,” he whispered, then he moved his hand away and drove faster, harder, riding the final waves with me until his head arched back with his own release.
Each breath came so rapidly, I was almost hyperventilating, but Milo drew me back down, gliding gently in and out until we recovered. My body felt like it was drifting through space, anchored only by the spots where he was pressed against me.
“Eden,” he murmured. “You okay?”
“Okay? I think you’ve ruined me. That…that wasn’t sex.”
“What was it?” he asked, finally stopping that slow glide to settle his hips flush against mine.
I stared up at him. Tremors still buzzed through me, but I finally managed to say, “Metamorphosis.”
Milo dropped his forehead to my collarbone, nuzzling his beard against the sensitive skin there. He was silent for so long that I thought the conversation was over. My eyelids drifted shut, my pulse finally slowed, and I felt like my body had melted into the bed beneath me.
“Sweet Eden,” he whispered. “Do you have any idea how fucking grateful I am that you walked back into my life?”
I threaded my fingers through his hair, overwhelmed by the rush of emotion in my chest. It was another moment before I could respond.
“Yes, because I feel the same.”
The magic didn’t fade.
It wasn’t like fumbling to recreate a memory—no, it was like worldbuilding, expanding our experiences until the result was all-encompassing. Milo was both anchor and rocketship, keeping me safely grounded while letting me soar.
At some point, I fell asleep tangled up in him, but he must have slipped out of bed to let Jiji in and turn off the lights, because I woke up with the cat curled into the small of my back.
My head was tucked into Milo’s neck, the soft pine scent of his beard wafting over me with every breath.
I stayed awake only long enough to think that he was right about this being paradise, then dozed off again.
The next time I woke up, Milo’s thigh was wedged between my legs. Without intending to, I rocked sleepily against it. His heavy lids lifted in the dark, his hand found my breast, and the next round began.
Throughout the night, the cycle repeated a few times, dreamlike in its perfection, each interlude more magical than the last.
A plaintive meow from outside the bedroom door filtered through my hazy thoughts as I blinked the world into focus. I was on my side with Milo’s warmth curved along my back and his arm draped over my middle.
Every muscle in my body was deliciously sore.
The meow came again and I tried to ease myself out from under Milo’s arm, which tightened around me. A low, sleepy rumble accompanied the soft abrasion of his beard against my neck.
“Where are you going?”
“Your cat is yelling for breakfast.”
Milo’s lips feathered over my shoulder. “I’ll feed him. I want you here, all soft and sleepy and warm, when I get back.”
“If you insist,” I mumbled, but my exhausted muscles were glad for the reprieve.
Though I lost his heat at my back, he tucked the blanket around me as he slipped out of bed. I cracked an eyelid to watch him pull on a pair of black sweatpants.
“You should go shirtless more often,” I called out before he rounded the bed.
When he grinned, I opened both eyes to soak in the glory of it. He strolled back toward me, dropped a kiss to my lips, and went to take care of Jiji.
I breathed deep, drawing the scent of him into my lungs, then snuggled into the cocoon of blankets and closed my eyes again.
Magic, or paradise? Maybe this feeling was simply…both.