Chapter Seven #2
He was braced back against the headboard, watching the last of the heat ebb from her after Dorian had drawn away.
The moment between them had been tender and reverent, and Riley could see how hard Rafe was fighting himself.
His hand was wrapped around the base of his cock, knuckles tight, jaw set.
Watching her with Dorian had almost undone him—she could feel it in the room, in the way his focus never left her body, in the way the air itself seemed to hum.
If she had been done—if she had reached the end of what she could give tonight—she knew he would have swallowed it and let her rest. But she wasn’t done. Not with him.
Riley lifted onto her knees and turned. “No, baby, I am not falling asleep.”
She didn’t look at him softly. She let herself look at him the way she felt—hungry, deliberate. Her gaze dropped to his cock, still hard and heavy in his grip, and she licked her bottom lip. The heat in his eyes sharpened.
“See something you like, baby?” Rafe’s voice had gone rough, the steadiness she loved threaded through something darker. Possessive. Wanted.
Riley crawled to him, slow enough to make the anticipation rise between them. She could feel Dorian watching them, close and quiet, a presence at her back that steadied her even as she focused on the man in front of her.
When she reached Rafe, she wrapped her hand around him. She didn’t rush. She stroked and squeezed, finding the rhythm that made his breath hitch, the pressure that made his head fall back against the wood of the headboard.
Then she leaned in.
His sharp inhale turned into a groan when she took him into her mouth.
Riley heard the wordless sound he made before she felt his hand come to her hair—not forcing, just anchoring her there, letting her set the pace while he fought the edge.
She knew exactly what she was doing to him.
The knowledge sent a thrill straight through her.
“Riley,” Dorian murmured from behind her, not a warning—an awareness. A reminder that she was choosing this. “This will be over way too soon for Rafe if you keep doing that, and I am going to want to know what that mouth feels around my dick tonight, too.”
She pulled back just long enough to look up at Rafe. His eyes were dark, wrecked, fixed on her mouth. She smiled around him and went back down.
“Jesus,” he breathed. “You’re going to kill me.”
Riley enjoyed that entirely too much.
When she finally drew back, his hand was still in her hair, gentle now, reverent. She shifted closer, guiding him toward her. The heat between her thighs was unmistakable, she could feel how ready she was for him, how badly she wanted him inside her.
Riley lifted herself over him, settling there so the head of his cock rested against her. The sensation was dizzying—hot, slick, inevitable. She took him in her hand and guided him where she needed him, biting her lip as she lowered.
Rafe groaned as she took him, inch by inch, until she was full. His hands slid to her hips, steadying her, holding her like something precious even as his need pulsed hard within her.
For a moment the world narrowed to the two of them—her forehead resting against his, their breaths mingling, the city reduced to a blur beyond the windows. She knew Dorian was there, close, but in that moment, it was Rafe and her, locked together, choosing each other.
“I am falling for you, beautiful mate,” Rafe said quietly, the words rough with something that went deeper than hunger. “That’s not just the bond talking. I am falling for your strength, and your courage as well as your beauty.”
Emotion cut through the heat, sharp and sudden. Riley swallowed, her hands tightening on his shoulders.
“We hunted for you,” he continued, eyes never leaving hers. “We would have stopped at nothing to find you.”
Dorian’s voice came soft from behind her. “We are so fucking glad we found you.”
Something in Riley’s chest cracked open. She searched their faces, finding exactly what she needed there—certainty, devotion, choice. She nodded, a small, shaky smile breaking through.
Then she moved.
Riley rode Rafe slowly at first, letting herself feel every inch of him, every breath he dragged in when she lifted and lowered. When she began to move a little faster, when she twisted at the end of each glide and felt his hands tighten on her hips, the sound he made went straight through her.
“Yeah, baby,” he growled. “Take what you need. God knows I need it, too.”
Her breathing picked up with the rhythm. She held his gaze as she moved on him, the pressure building, her body responding in waves. He leaned up to meet her, just enough to deepen what they were doing, not taking control—matching her, letting her lead.
The edge crept closer, unmistakable.
When it hit, Riley cried out, nails digging into his shoulders as she threw her head back and let it take her. She ground down on him, riding the peak until the world fractured into heat and sound. Rafe tensed beneath her, holding himself back even as she came apart in his arms.
She felt him finally let go beneath her, the moment of it a shudder that echoed through her own body. He stayed with her through it, hands firm and steady, until the intensity softened and her breath found its way back to her.
When Riley collapsed forward, he caught her, pressing his forehead to hers.
“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he said quietly, awe threaded through every word. “But what gets me isn’t just that. It’s you. All of you.”
The words landed somewhere deep in Riley’s chest, softer and more dangerous than anything they’d said to her all night. Falling, she realized—not into the bond, not into the moment, but into them. Into the way they chose her, the way they waited, the way they saw her.
She lifted her head, looking between them, heart unsteady but sure. “I’m falling for you, too,” she said, the truth simple and terrifying all at once. “Both of you. And I don’t want to pretend this is just heat ... because it isn’t.”