Chapter 33
Thirty-Three
Aesira
The small cabin underneath the ship welcomed Aesira with open arms. She climbed into the soft bed, burying her face into the pillow before a knock at her door had her sitting up.
Stone popped his head in. “Can I come in?” She nodded, a flurry of butterflies taking flight in her stomach. There was something deeply intimate about being alone, just the two of them, for the first time in weeks.
“It’s your room.”
Stone sat at the end of the bed and ran a hand down his face. “I like that you’re in it.” She scooted closer, sitting with her legs crossed.
“Are you okay?”
“Tired,” he admitted. “You?” He slid his hand out and found hers without looking, like they were magnetic, drawn to each other by an unseen force.
“I don’t know.” Aesira stroked her thumb across the back of Stone’s hand. “Tired. Worried.” Stone’s fingers tightened around hers.
He sighed, a deep sound like it fought its way up through his body.
“With the astra, we’ll be in Vargah in just a couple of days.
” He glanced at her, the dark blue in his eyes catching her breath.
“I don’t know what awaits us,” he said, finding a curl and wrapping it around his finger.
He liked to do that, she realized, and she liked when he did it.
“I don’t know either,” she said, “but we have right now.” His gaze darted from her lips to her eyes, the fierceness of his stare melting her.
It was just the two of them. No monsters.
No Birdie and Bee. Nothing stopping them from being together, if they wanted to.
And more than anything, she wanted to. Only a distraction, she lied to herself. “Who should we be tonight?”
He leaned closer. “What if I said I just want to be Aesira and Stone.” His eyes lingered on her lips.
“What if I said fuck all the rest. No thinking about who we are. No worrying about what comes next.” His lips brushed hers and she wanted to lean into the touch, get lost in it.
"Just be here." A kiss to her lips. "With me.
" Another to her jaw. "Right now." He pulled back enough so she could see his face.
“It’s not that easy," she whispered, their lips still close enough to kiss.
“We know they’re lying.” His breath was warm against her lips.
“We’ve seen astra. Dragons. An abundance of life and water that they’ve hid from us.
Scared us into submission.” He leaned away and the space between them grew cold.
“Change is possible, Aesira, it’s just a matter of how badly you want it. ”
She knew about wanting things badly.
“You're right,” she said. “And when we get to Vargah, I will speak with my sister. I will tell her what she needs to know of Ravki. I will urge for change without risking what we’ve found. Besides, you’ll be a free man, Stone.
There is no reason you can’t leave Vargah.
” No reason you can’t go where I go. “You know, if you want it so badly?”
A grin split across his lips then he was there again, invading her space. “I made you a promise,” he said against her ear. The night in Ravki came crashing back into her. Stone’s words and hands. His mouth on her and the promises he made.
His eyes dipped to her lips again, then with such gentleness, he used his thumb to open her mouth.
He hooked his thumb behind her bottom teeth and guided her forward.
“I may be an Odega,” he whispered, his breath mingling with hers, “but I do keep my promises.” His thumb slipped out, drawing a line across her bottom lip.
Her body was scorching. Everywhere they touched, everywhere they didn’t. “Tell me your dream.”
“Which one?”
“All of them.”
He took a breath and closed his eyes just for a moment.
“First, I want you over there.” He nodded toward the head of the bed.
“On your back with your legs open. In my dream, I tasted you here”—he kissed her on the lips—“and there.” He dipped his gaze below her waist. “I want to hear the noises you make when you come. I want your hands on me. Your eyes on me. I want to make you feel good. Better than you ever have before.” He leaned in, his lips brushing hers.
“That’s what I dreamt, Aesira, and that’s what I want now. ”
Her mouth had dropped open and all words escaped her so she stayed quiet and peeled her boots off.
Then her shirt, one button at a time. Stone didn't take his eyes off her. Not as she pushed her shirt off completely. Not as she slid out of her pants. Not as she unhooked her underclothes and dropped them to the floor. Color rushed to Stone’s cheeks, his pulse racing in his neck.
She turned away from him, crawled to the head of the bed. From behind her she could hear the strain in his breath, a ragged moan. Then the bed dipped with his weight and his fingers ran over the back of her calves.
“You’re going to kill me.” His voice was deep, rough.
When she turned, his eyes were dark, starved, as they drank her in.
Her head hit the pillow, her legs making space for him to move between them.
She laced her fingers behind his neck, pulling him down so their mouths were even and on their next breath, his lips crashed into hers.
He knotted his fingers around her hair and pulled, forcing her head back so he could kiss her deeper. She moaned into his mouth, her hands grabbing and tugging at his clothes. When she nipped his bottom lip with her teeth he made a deep rumbling noise that Aesira felt from her core to her toes.
“Just so you know,” she said between heavy breaths.
“What you said back on the ship? That I was ashamed of wanting someone like you. I’m not.
I wasn’t then, either. I want you, all of you, just as you are.
” It was as if he was still waiting for her to give him permission to let go of any restraint because when she said those words–I want you–all timidness fled from his body.
He kissed her mouth, her chest. His tongue was hot on her neck, over her breasts.
Then, he slid down until he was on the end of the bed, peeling off his clothes.
Her eyes traced every scarred line of his body, every curve of his muscles.
They way they flexed when he tossed his shirt to the ground, the broad expanse of his shoulders as he settled between her legs.
He gripped her ankles, his thumb running circles over her skin. “You can still tell me to stop, Aesira.”
“Don’t you dare.”
He smiled wide before he lowered himself and kissed her slowly, starting at her ankles then up to her inner thighs.
He looked up at her, pushing his glasses up so they sat more firmly on his nose.
“Fuck.” His voiced sound pained, like waiting a moment longer might actually kill him.
It might kill her too, she thought. He pressed his forehead against her thigh and sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I’m just praying.”
She propped herself on her elbows so she could see him. “You’re what?”
He glanced up at her from between her legs, a smile itching at the corner of his mouth. “Praying,” he said again. “Praying I can make this last longer than five minutes.”
Aesira snorted and threw her head back down. “Been that long, then?”
“It’s not that,” Stone whispered before planting another kiss against her inner thigh. “It’s just you.” She didn’t have time to reply before the heat of his mouth enveloped her.
The first swipe of his tongue against her had her throwing her head back. The second swipe, her vision blurred. Over and over again he worked his tongue, long, languid strokes that lit a fire in her core.
“Stone,” she moaned. "I can't—"
"Not yet. Don't come yet," he said before another swirl of his tongue.
Her back arched off the bed, nails clawing and finding their way to his shoulders.
He withdrew his mouth then drew a finger down her center, eyes heavy, lips parted.
"I dreamt of this, too," he said before lowering his mouth again.
"Dreamt of how you'd taste. How you'd sound.
" His mouth and fingers pressed into her and she gasped.
"Even better than in my dream." His teeth dragged across her inner thigh before he positioned himself over her.
She mapped each scar across his chest with her fingers.
Kissed the ones she could reach on his face and neck and shoulders.
“You’re beautiful,” she said. "Darling." He smiled then responded with another ardent kiss that had her body aching.
Desperate. She could taste herself on his tongue and it awoke something feral inside of her.
Something made of want and need and all the untamed parts of her she'd stamped out.
"I like when you say that," he said. He urged her legs open and she wrapped them around his hips. His arm snaked beneath her, tilting her hips upwards. Then he stopped moving. Stopped kissing her. Her breathing slowed and only thoughts of doubt rushed her.
“What is it?"
“I just—” He shut his eyes, only for a moment, before they met hers again, his glasses slipping a fraction.
“I just want to savor this but I don’t know if I’ll be able to.
” He laughed but it was broken, nervous.
“You are fucking perfect.” Heat coursed through her again, the doubt from before swept away.
She pulled him closer then pushed her hips up so he slid against her. "You can take those off," she said, nodding to his glasses.
"No," he said. "I need to see you." They sucked in a shared breath as he slid against her again and when he pushed inside of her, her eyes rolled back.
So good.
He felt so good.