Chapter 41
Blair
“The door’s jammed,” I say as Sterling comes back from the bathroom.
“Not jammed, locked—from the outside.” He shakes his head and sinks onto the one small chair in the room.
“Locked?” I glance at the door and back at Sterling. “Delmar told me there were snacks in the cupboard.”
“Did he now? Didn’t that come off as strange to you?”
“Not really. He’s always being so nice to me.”
Sterling opens the cupboard that was previously empty. Now it’s a gold mine of anything I’ve said I like. Anything that doesn’t need to be cooked, that is.
“They locked you in here so they could drive.” The second I say it, I know it’s not the reason.
Sterling smirks. “I don’t think it’s them driving they’re worried about.”
“No, I suppose it’s not. They’re thinking a little forced proximity will get you to change your mind about me.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.” Sterling’s slicked-back hair glistens darker than its normal brown.
“No, I suppose you’re not.” I sit on the edge of the bed and tuck my legs up under me. “But then, why would I want to be with someone like you?”
He nods, his lips pursed.
And I can’t push him. As much as I want to have a tough exterior, my gooey insides always leak out. “Someone who doesn’t want me.”
He nods again and closes his eyes and pinches his brow in one swift motion. “Want and not want are two distinct sides of a gold coin.”
“And you don’t view the world in that way?” Because if there’s one thing I’ve noticed, there are a lot of people in the Veiled City who view the glass as full or empty.
“I don’t. I can think you’re a very charming, beautiful, smart woman and still not want to mate you.”
I nod. Because what he’s said is kind and honest. And isn’t that everything I always wanted from a man?
Honest and kind, two things my ex wasn’t.
But it still hurts because I’m way past starting to develop feelings for a lot of the Mason pod.
But it’s an all-or-none kind of deal. There’s no democracy in a pod. It’s all yea or all nay.
“Thank you for the compliment.” I smile and glance up at the observation deck above my head.
“You’re making this hard.”
“Sorry?”
“Nothing to be sorry about,” he says.
“No, I meant that as in sorry, I don’t understand.”
He almost smiles. “A mermaid would be upset at me saying I didn’t want her. But you took the compliment and ignored the other. That’s really unusual.”
“Or is it just maturity? The last time you were dating, you weren’t this age.”
“Perhaps, or perhaps it’s you.” He crosses his arms over his chest.
I smile and shrug, then stand on the bed. It’s the only option to get to the door without touching Sterling’s legs. His knees are brushing against the edge of the bed. I take three bouncy steps across the bed toward the door before Sterling grabs me around my waist and lifts me to the floor.
“I don’t . . . bite,” he says. “You need to be careful. If we encounter a crosscurrent, you could go tumbling for no reason.” He hasn’t let me go.
My fingers snake up around his neck, and my body slides down his until my feet hit the floor. Our eyes are locked. My heart’s thudding in my chest. “How long do you think they are going to leave us locked in here?”
“My pod mates are very persistent. I would imagine until they’ve gotten what they think they want.”
“And what is that?”
“Me fucking you loud enough for them to hear.”
“Oh. What would that change for you?” I should let go of him, though he hasn’t let go of me.
“Nothing. Do you want me to fuck you?”
My lips tremble, and I’m searching for the words. I’ve had more sex in the last week than I’ve had in the last ten years. “Yes.”
His lips hit mine. And I expected them to be firm. Hard, like him. But they’re not. Instead, he hesitates as his tongue swipes across the seam of my lips. I open for him, and the tenderness turns frantic. I lose my grip around his shoulders, and my fingers fist his shirt.
He lifts his head from mine. “Take off your shirt. I want to see those beautiful breasts of yours. Hold them in my hands.”
“You do it.” I hold my arms in the air and wait for him to pull my shift over my head.
I’m wearing tight trouser-like leggings beneath the oversized shirt dress.
In my head, the second before he pulls my shirt up feels like hours.
He’s contemplating whether he should give in, and I’m rooting for his wire to snap.
I need it to snap. I’ve long been ready for it.
When the cool air rushes over my exposed skin, it’s such a relief. My fingers fumble with the tie on his trousers. Do I want to trace every one of his abs with my tongue? Yes, absolutely. But I want to hold his cock in my hand even more. I’m frustrated as I fight with the laces on his pants.
There’s a warm chuckle from his chest. “I like needy Blair.” He moves my fingertips, and his pants pool around his legs immediately.
I bite my lip. I suppose there’s something to be said for not wearing underwear.
It does give you easy access to everything.
His cock is big like he is, but not scarily so.
And I’m not the only one who is needy. He’s erect and bobbing toward me.
I slide my fingertips over his velvety skin, and he hisses in a breath.
“Needy Blair.” His hands cup my breasts, thumbs circling my nipples. It makes me gasp. He leans down, his tongue replacing his thumb, and I arch into him, my body craving more. His cock twitches in my hand, eager for attention, but I’m lost in the sensation of his mouth on me.
He pulls away, his breath ragged. “You’re making this very hard,” he repeats in a low growl.
“I would never do that on purpose. I know what it’s like to be forced to do something you think you want but don’t really. I’m not asking you to mate me. Just . . . fuck me hard, like you said.”
He full-on laughs. “It took a lot for you to ask that, didn’t it?”
I nod. It’s not the swearing I have the problem with but the asking for what I want. That’s even harder. I trail my fingers down his shirt. “Take your shirt off too.” He takes it off in one swift motion, tossing it into a corner of the room.
“Done,” he says in a taunting tone. “Any other commands?”
“The whole fucking thing hasn’t happened yet.” I bite my lip.
“You better take off your leggings. They’re too delicate for my fat fingers.
” He wiggles his hands in front of me before running his index finger around under the waistband.
Now I’m fumbling with my own pants. He growls.
I’m laughing because in my hurry I’ve made a knot.
With a quick flick, he breaks the tie, and he drops to his knees and strips them off me.
On his knees, his head is even with my shoulders.
He bows his head and licks my breast. I have one hand on his shoulder, the other on the top of his head.
I’m trying to keep my balance. But when his very thick fingers circle my clit, I’m as dizzy as if I’ve had two glasses of red wine.
His head pops off my breast, and in the next beat he’s on his feet, his hands around my waist. He takes me flying across the room until my back is against the door.
“Wrap your gorgeous thighs around my waist,” he says as he pins me to the door.
“Oh, you can’t—”
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do, Blair. I want to fuck you. They want to know the fucking is happening.” He puts one hand under my ass. My ankles lock around his back, and I hold on to his shoulders. “Are you ready, Blair?” he asks, his nose pressed into the skin below my ears.
“Yes.” I turn my neck, elongating in what has to look like I’m presenting myself to him. Begging him to sink his mark into my neck.
He kisses up behind my ear, and in a swift motion, pushes into me. He pauses when he’s sunk all the way into me. I’m pinned in so many ways, and my lack of freedom has me trying to thrust into him.
“Patience, Blair.” He sucks in his breath. And then he’s off. My spine presses against the locked door, shaking it with his long strokes. It’s so different. I’m spiraling at his power. My fingernails dig into his shoulders, and the harder I hold, the deeper he thrusts.
“It’s so good.” My head flops onto his chest. I’m panting. With each thrust, I shake the door. Each push of his pelvis has my hips moving closer to the door handle. I drop one hand and grab it, and it makes the door vibrate louder with each of his strokes.
It shouldn’t turn me on so much to know the guys can hear me on the other side, but it does.
“Hang on.” Sterling lifts his head, his chest drenched with sweat. “I think our captors have changed our sentence.”
It takes me a second to understand what he’s talking about. “You’re not stopping, are you?”
“There’s not enough gold in the world to make me capable of stopping fucking you, Blair.”
I grab hold of his neck, and he carries me to the bed.
He lowers me slowly to the mattress, his thick cock still inside me.
His gray eyes flash at me with our chests separated.
Watching him thrust into me where we’re connected is another new turn on.
I trail my fingers down his abs. Down to where he’s lightly thrusting.
I skim the sides of his cock before circling around my clit.
In a beat, my hand is snatched away. He’s ensnared both of my wrists, holding them with one hand above my head. The other hand he drops to my clit. “Mine,” he growls.
The two things together have my hips rocketing off. My back arches, and my orgasm ratchets through my body. I’m screaming words, I think. But I’m not sure.
On my way down, Sterling shakes, chasing his own release, and it starts me all over again.
By the time we’re finished, I’m covered in sweat and come. My tongue is sticking to the roof of my mouth, and I’m pretty sure I can’t lift my own head, let alone untangle my legs from around Sterling’s waist.
Sterling holds himself off me with one arm. The other hand is gently petting my hair away from my face. I smile, and the bright light from his face evaporates. He pulls out of me and stomps for the bathroom. And one of the best orgasms of my life goes hollow as I watch him leave the room.
“Blair?” Delmar says from the wall next to the door I can’t look at.
“I’m okay,” I say, though I don’t mean it.