Chapter 17 #2
My mouth swallowed her answering moan as her rhythm stuttered.
She was close. There was a damp spot on my leg, and she trembled hard enough to lose her footing.
Her frustrated whimper called to me. It demanded that I fix it.
That I satisfy her. That I made her scream my name until her voice went hoarse and she couldn’t stand without my arms around her.
I dragged my lips away to kiss along her jaw and down the soft slope of her neck.
Pushing against the small of her back, I restarted that pressure on the little bundle of nerves and made sure it didn’t let up this time.
Her back arched at the new intensity. These weren’t gentle glides.
No. She was going to feel it all. No easing off or escaping.
Her soft whimpers pulled me in, like the tide, and I let myself drown in her current. I savored every gasp and silent plea from her body for more.
“Give me one, Rani,” I demanded. “I’ve been dying to hear how you sound when you come.”
Biting down on the sensitive tendon along her neck was the last trigger.
A high keen escaped her lips as her head slammed back and the orgasm raced through her.
I made sure my hand was there to keep her from hitting the brick, and my fingers tightened in her hair, tugging just a little.
It dragged a low moan from her throat, eliciting a shiver that ran along my spine and ended with my dick jumping in my pants.
Her soft curves writhed against me, chasing every last drop of her pleasure. She was rubbing, grinding on my dick, and fucking wearing away at the last shred of my control. My balls tightened and grew heavy.
There’s no fucking way.
I clenched my teeth against my body’s desire to embarrass me.
I haven’t come in my pants since junior high, I absolutely refuse—
One more of her little wiggles was all it took.
I exploded . My hips thrust in no apparent rhythm as I unloaded again and again in my briefs.
What. The. Fuck . My entire body flushed with adrenaline as I came down, chest heaving like I’d run a marathon.
I couldn’t remember the last time I came that hard.
Kai was right, the bond really did make things more intense.
“Fuck!” I growled and jerked away, causing Rani to stumble into the wall behind her. “Oh, fuck. That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Her shock quickly morphed into disbelief, and when I didn’t take my words back, it grew into anger.
I thought I felt a flash of hurt down our newly strengthened connection, but it was swiftly buried under my own raging emotions.
She didn’t understand. I wasn’t upset about what we did, but that it happened before I could talk to her about it.
About why our bond was currently doing some version of a happy dance that included intruding on our emotions and sharing them at the worst possible times. Like now. Oh gods, she was pissed.
“Just let me explain,” I beseeched, hands raised in peace.
Trying to wade through her out-of-control emotions was tougher than I expected. Each time I landed on the anger I swore I only riled it up even more.
“I think you said all you needed to,” Rani scowled. “I’ve never had a guy react to me quite so offensively, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.”
“If you would just calm down—”
“It wasn’t that good for me either, what with me having to fake an orgasm on the spot, but you don’t see me acting like I need to cut my vagina off in disgust.”
Now that was just a blatant lie. And it wasn’t because she still physically quivered with lingering arousal. I felt the way she shuddered against me. She could be pissed at my reaction all she wanted, it was fair. But her dishonesty wasn’t going to fly.
“Such a bad liar,” I chastised. “You know that pussy is still clenching and gasping, just waiting for me to come fill it and finish what I started.”
Her eyes flashed with outrage. “I’m as dry as the peeling wallpaper in the living room.”
I closed the small distance between us, compelling her to back away until my body caged her in once more.
I tucked my chin, just enough to watch, and tsked when I noticed her gaze focusing hard somewhere near my cheek.
There would be no hiding today. I jerked her chin up, forcing her to look me in the eyes.
“If I slip my hand into your panties right now, how wet will you be for me?” Her pupils dilated, and that attractive blush burned across her cheeks. “Tell me the truth or I’ll find out for myself,” I warned.
Tongue quickly wetting her bottom lip, a flash of ire punctured the bond, but she answered, “I’m. Fucking. Soaked.”
Oh, I knew it. But it sounded so good coming from her lips. I allowed my grin to grow slowly, forcing her to stand right there and watch it spread before leaning down to nip her ear. She gasped at the sting.
“Good girl.”
Her glare was once again firmly in place when I took a step back, but she’d learned her lesson and was silent. At least, her mouth was. Those emotions, though? Couldn’t get them to shut the fuck up. I was bombarded from her side of the bond until it was all I could do to block her out.
“Now,” I continued, silently building a mental wall down the middle of that tether between us, brick by brick, “if you want to chill out and let me ex—”
“Bite me,” she growled.
Well, that was annoying. “Fine, you want to be stubborn?” I swooped down, catching her behind the knees, then stood and tossed her over my shoulder. “Then I think it’s time to cool down.”
I stomped over to the pool, slow enough that she had time to figure out where we were going and deal with it. It also gave me the chance to get my thoughts back in order. My body still shook. I was too out of control back there, a slave to the bond and the constant lure it dangled.
It was a nonstop, seductive voice in the back of my mind, urging me to take her; to tie her to me for the rest of our lives.
But that wasn’t my decision to make. It was all hers.
I’d gladly stand in the background, protecting her and taking nothing but the scraps she threw my way, if that’s what she wanted.
It was getting harder to do that on my own, though.
She needed to be aware of the dangers of giving in like we just did.
I hoped the cool water of the pool would temper both our libidos enough to explain what was happening.
The first step was a shock to the system, but it got better as I went further in.
Loosening my hold, I let Rani slide down the front of me and caught her when her legs wrapped around my waist. Her ass was supported in my hands as we went down the last couple steps.
She clutched at my neck when the water finally reached her, but didn’t panic.
“Don’t let go,” she pleaded.
“Never.”
For a while, the only sound was the lapping of the water against the side of the pool and our even breathing. I watched the sun pass behind cloud after cloud while walking around the shallow end to keep us both moving.
“Why am I glowing?” Rani asked, the question muffled in my neck.
“Cova filled the pool with ocean water before he left,” I explained. “It might be the higher concentration of salt. You’re not used to it.”
She nodded, accepting my answer even though I wasn’t completely sure.
It didn’t really matter. I loved when she glowed.
I had to all but threaten the siren heir to fill this damn pool, but he finally caved, and thank the gods.
It made things easier on a besotted witch who had to carry buckets of it upstairs to the bathtub.
It also meant I got to watch her again. Rani no longer needed me for her time in the tub; she could handle it on her own now. Did she know I lingered outside the bathroom, listening in case she called out for me? No. But I sat on that hardwood every night anyway.
I traveled deeper, heading to the middle of the pool, and began talking as a distraction.
“I didn’t mean to react the way I did,” I apologized. “I freaked out because I let things go too far without explaining the consequences to you.”
She snorted. “We dry humped against a wall, Ezra. It’s not like you got me pregnant.”
Every muscle from my stomach down clenched. A baby with Rani? A mini red-headed spitfire with tiny gray eyes and ice magick?
Don’t go there, don’t go there. Stop thinking about it! Too late. I was once again rock hard.
I cleared my throat and adjusted my hold so she wouldn’t feel me poking her. “Is that bond in your chest quiet, or a steady hum right now?”
I felt her tilt her head. “It’s kind of… happy?”
That was one way to put it. Mine was downright ecstatic.
“Every time we’re near one another, the bond will make us want to complete it.
The urge to touch and get closer will be almost a subconscious need.
With me so far?” By the way she stilled in my arms, I knew she was familiar with the effects, even if she didn’t know that’s what they were at the time.
“The more we give in, the more we… do what we just did, the stronger the bond gets. There’s some perks and pitfalls to that, but mostly it means things will get hot and heavy between us more often than not. If we let it.”
She wiggled and leaned back. The water came up to her shoulders now, revealing the iridescent scales on her arms. “Eryn said… She said only sex makes it official.”
That one word falling from her lips was enough to undo me all over again. As lust rose on my side of the bond, Rani squirmed. I shut it down before I started something we couldn’t finish.
“That’s correct,” I told her, trying and failing to keep my need for her hidden behind a calm expression. “But the stronger the bond grows, the harder it will be to resist taking that last step. That’s why I was so angry, I knew better, but you didn’t.”
I waited for all the parts to click together, for her to really understand what I was saying.
The guilt nearly ate me alive. So did her silence.
Walking us back to the steps, I let her go on the bottom one and kept my hands lightly on her hips so she had something tangible to anchor to.
Her hands rested on my shoulders while she bit at her bottom lip.
“So, you didn’t regret it?”
Did she really just ask me that? I shook my head and reached out to cup her cheek. I wanted her to look at me when I told her this; to see how completely honest I was when I said,
“That was the best fucking moment of my life.”