Chapter 35 #2
Iyana lifted her hands and watched Emmeric as he sat there with an intense expression on his face, hunger shining brightly in his eyes.
Gone was the man who was on the verge of crying for causing her any pain.
Here was a man who thrived on situations where he could take charge. Iyana found she loved it.
Emmeric leaned over the edge of the bed and retrieved his shirt, which had been discarded on the floor the night before. Straddling her he brought the fabric to her hands, then stopped.
“What’s your safe word, Mouse?” he murmured.
“Plantains,” she whispered.
“Right. And what happens when you say that?”
“You stop.”
“Immediately.” Emmeric kissed her mouth softly. “Ready?”
Iyana swallowed again, took a deep breath, and nodded.
He gently wrapped the shirt around her hands, so that they were tied together, but she could still freely move her arms. It was much less restrictive than she had thought it would be.
Relief speared through her when she didn’t immediately panic.
“Keep your hands above your head unless I say otherwise. Understood?”
Iyana nodded.
Emmeric smirked with a crooked grin. “Good.”
Instead of kissing her like Iyana thought he would, Emmeric kept his gaze glued to hers as he trailed down her body, then kissed the insides of both thighs.
She jerked and almost brought her arms down to twine her fingers through his hair, but then saw Em looking at her with an eyebrow raised.
He was testing her. Iyana vowed to hold out, if only out of spite, since he obviously thought she couldn’t.
But her resolve was seriously tested when he licked up her center and sucked her clit into his mouth.
Iyana cried out, her hips bucking off the bed.
The intense sensation after waiting was intensified by her hands being bound.
She longed to touch him, but kept her arms above her head, even as he devoured her.
Every lick, suck, and kiss threatened to unravel her willpower completely until her climax hit her out of nowhere. She shouted again. Iyana’s body caught on fire and her vision blurred. No man had ever made her come so fast and so hard before. Not even Altair.
Iyana pushed thoughts of the star out of her mind. He was not at all what she wanted to be thinking of.
“Emmeric,” she gasped. “I need you.”
He kissed his way back up her torso, stopping to worship each breast before reaching her mouth.
“Such nice words,” he said, his voice full of gravel. “But I need you to ask nicely, Mouse.”
“Please, Emmeric. I want you inside me.”
Emmeric moaned. “You know I can’t deny those pretty lips.”
He kissed her hard, shoving his tongue into her mouth. Iyana gasped, and he invaded her even more, their tongues dancing together. Without warning, he slammed himself into her aching pussy, making her moan. Emmeric stilled, allowing her to adjust, and he rested his brow against hers.
“Remember plantains, Mouse.”
Iyana shook her head. “I don’t need it.”
A tremor ran through his body. “Gods, you’re going to be the death of me.”
Then he was moving, thrusting his hard cock deep inside her, hitting every possible nerve ending. Iyana didn’t realize she could feel this much pleasure all at once. Another orgasm was already building, and her toes curled.
“Put your arms around my neck.”
Iyana rushed to obey, clinging to this man atop her like he could be her everything.
“Good girl, Iyana. Such a good girl.” Emmeric’s pace increased. “Gods, you take me so well.”
His words jolted through her, and Iyana’s entire body went taut as she came again. Emmeric pushed himself inside her once more and found his own release. He called out her name and rested his face in her neck as they both slowly drifted back into their bodies. Emmeric was the first to recover.
“Are you okay?” he asked as he detangled her hands from the shirt.
Iyana could only nod.
“You were incredible, Mouse.” He placed a soft kiss on her lips, then her chin, cheeks, eyelids, and back to her lips. Emmeric sighed and rolled onto his side, swiftly pulling her into his embrace.
After several minutes, when Iyana thought she was finally capable of speech, she opened her mouth. Then closed it. It felt too vulnerable to say out loud.
Emmeric, about what I—
But she couldn’t finish the thought, because Em was kissing her again. Slowly, as if they had all the time in the world.
“I’m not done with you yet.”
Iyana squeaked as he rolled back on top of her and set about making her skin and her heart sing again.
Some hours later, spent and satisfied, they lay together in bed.
Iyana’s head rested on Emmeric’s chest, his steady heartbeat lulling her to sleep.
They still hadn’t actually discussed what she had told him when he’d first woken up.
Or anything that had happened afterwards.
For the time being, they were happy enough to carve this time out for themselves.
Em’s fingers trailed lazy designs over her skin.
I wish it could always be this way, she thought.
Me too.
Do you ever wonder… Her thought trailed off.
“Wonder what, Mouse?”
Iyana glanced up at his face. Emmeric’s eyes were closed, a sleepy smile curving his lips.
A serene feeling of contentment flowed from him.
If she asked him to stay in this room with her forever, Iyana had no doubt that he would immediately agree.
But they had a duty to perform. As the only ones capable of defeating the stars, Iyana could never live with herself if she abandoned humanity only for the sake of her own personal happiness.
“If none of this had ever happened—if Altair never fell—do you think we still would have found each other?”
Emmeric’s hand stilled for less than a second, then continued drawing circles on her back. “I’d like to think so. I know I was never interested in having a relationship with any of the women I’d met before. What do you think?”
“I probably would have married Idris.”
His eyes snapped open as he frowned at her. “Who the fuck is Idris?”
Iyana waved her hand. “Just this guy who was obsessed with getting me to marry him after I slept with him once.”
“You fucked him?”
She leveled a glare at Emmeric. “Oh, please. Like you were a pure virgin before this morning?”
Emmeric pursed his lips. “Fair point.”
“Maybe I would have eventually made it to the healer’s university in Athusia, and we would have run into each other in the market, or in a tavern, like normal people do.”
“That would have been nice.” Emmeric sighed. “We seem to be anything but normal, though.”
Iyana hummed, lost in thought. “Emmeric, about what I said this morning—”
Before she could say more, the bedroom door opened suddenly and slammed against the opposite wall.
They both bolted upright in bed, and while Iyana’s instinct was to clutch the blanket to her naked chest, she was grateful to see Emmeric with a dagger in his hand.
She didn’t even know where he’d gotten that from.
Emmeric lowered the blade, though, when they saw it was Kaz who stood in their doorway. Her eyes were wide, and her mouth hung slightly agape.
“Oh. My. Gods!” The shifter clapped her hands over her mouth and bounced on the balls of her feet.
Then words rushed out of her in a torrent.
“I always hoped this would happen! It seemed like for a little bit that it never would, but then I put Iyana in that dress. You remember, right, Em? The one in Nyr that made you go all googly eyed over her? But then you were fighting for a few days—”
“Kaz,” Emmeric said.
“—and it seemed like it would never happen. But I was always rooting for you two! Even when Em and I were sleeping together. Remember, Em? Remember how I said I was rooting for you two crazy kids?”
“Phaedros take me now,” he murmured.
“And now look at you both! In bed naked together, and I just know you spent all morning doing fun things. I was so bored, I came looking for everyone and I couldn’t find anybody—”
“Kaz!” Iyana tried, giggling.
“Oh, shit! I need to find Tal and Zane. They’re going to want to know about this!”
In an overzealous spin, Kaz shifted into her leopard form and bounded out of the room, an excited roar bursting free. A few seconds later, there was a loud clang of metal falling, and somebody screamed. Iyana could no longer contain her amusement and doubled over in a laughing fit.
“If the two of you could stop bursting in on me during intimate moments,” Emmeric said dryly, “that would be fantastic.”
Iyana was surprised to find she wasn’t jealous at the mention of Emmeric and Kaz’s previous trysts. The entire situation was too hilarious, and she was so over the moon about the morning she’d just had. She tried to stifle the giggles.
“You know,” she said. “It is kind of annoying on this side of things.” Emmeric only squinted at her, and the laughter spilled free once more. As she fell back onto the bed, tears streaming down her face, Iyana saw the corner of Em’s mouth twitch into a smile.