Chapter 25
25
Celeste’s fully nude body was too much for him to comprehend. Magnus experienced sensory overload as he took in the gentle slope of her full hips. They swayed as she approached him and stilled at his hand. The pooch of her lower belly was rounded and beautiful. And her breasts... Her breasts were as lovely as they were a few years ago. Her small deep brown nipples were slightly lower but the curve of both mounds was just as plump as he remembered. With her standing right between his thighs, he longed for a taste.
This is where he belonged; this is what felt safest. He could play the seducer if it meant she could play her role. No tears, no vulnerable confessions, just seduction. This naked Celeste was vastly different from the weeping Celeste from a couple nights ago. Tonight they could put everything aside for a moment of pleasure.
He slid his hand along her ribs and clutched a breast. He held her gaze as he squeezed gently. Only her nostrils flared as she lifted her chin to stare him down. It was hard to tell if he was truly in control when she held her chin like that. He wanted to take another nip at it to warn her. Magnus rolled her nipple between his finger and thumb just to watch her body quake under his touch. Her undoing was subtle, just a small dip of her imperious chin, but he spotted it nevertheless.
“You look like you’re trying to hold on to something,” he said softly.
Celeste raised a brow as she bit her bottom lip. He squeezed her nipple just a little tighter to feel her lean into him. Her hands rested on the tops of his thighs, her nails digging into his skin. “What am I holding on to?” she breathed.
“Control. You like it just as much as I do. Your knees are trembling at the thought of letting it go.”
Her lips quirked. “It’s been years since we were in this position,” she said carefully. “I’m curious if you can actually take lead.”
A challenge?
Magnus grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her forward until her mouth came crashing down upon his. She let out a surprised muffled sound when his tongue penetrated the barrier of her lips. His grip on her neck tightened as her tongue slid against his and a soft moan vibrated against his mouth. Her fingers squeezing into his thighs sent a jolt of pleasure straight to his dick.
While she shook in pleasure, he was tempted to lift her onto his lap and fuck her right there. But he needed to control himself and focus on one thing at a time. First, this kiss. He let the sensations of their mouths working together in harmony throttle the dizzying current racing through his body. Her hot, wet tongue swirled and danced in a hot rhythm that made his body heavy with lust. Celeste must have felt the same heaviness because she relaxed, sinking into his hard embrace. Her arms wound around his shoulders and clutched him tight in a desperate attempt to get closer.
Only when he finally released her did Magnus take a gulp of air. Her lips were wet and swollen, her eyelids hooded and heavy with desire. “I’m sorry I doubted you,” she whispered.
His heart hammered foolishly as his hand fell from the back of her neck. He was very conscious of each hitched breath she took as his hand made a slow path down her back. He trained his face to remain stern when he finally reached the curve of her ass, but her smooth, buttery skin made it difficult to not get giddy with anticipation. It was her teasing words that kept him in the moment.
When he brought a firm hand down on her backside, the crack filled the room and sent Celeste jumping. Her eyes widened as she gripped his shoulders. “Are you done doubting?” he asked.
Her lips parted just a scant and the tip of her tongue flicked to the corner of her mouth. “Yes.”
“Now, to answer your previous question. What am I going to do with you?”
Celeste bit back a smile. “Yes?”
He unwrapped his legs from her waist and leaned back until his forearms rested against the bed. “I’m going to ask you to ride my face. And then I’m going to fuck you long and hard until your limbs lose strength.” He struggled to keep the cool authority in his voice when he saw her eyes survey his body hungrily. “How’s that sound?”
She nodded.
“I didn’t hear you.”
“Yes, please.”
Magnus lay back against his bed and waited. “Go on, then.”
Celeste waited for a beat and began her slow climb onto him, making her way up his torso and then around his shoulders. “Are you sure?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“Are you?” he asked, challenging her.
She inched forward until her pussy rested just above his face. “Yes.”
Magnus took her by the ass and pulled her down on his mouth. He sought her clit first, flicking his tongue over it as fast as he could. She flexed above him, rocking her hips for better access, as her elbows buckled. Her taste, her scent...was enough to intoxicate, make him fall into an enticing abyss. He licked along her inner lips to the tiny bundle of nerves, faster and faster. He drank her in. Savoring every swipe and each taste of her wetness.
The weight on his face didn’t bother him as he held her up. If it was his time to suffocate, Magnus would call it an honor to eat her pussy until her elbows collapsed from under her. Magnus continued to drink long beyond his fill, waiting patiently for her thighs to tremble, her body to shudder, her pants to fill the room. And when they did, he continued lapping and soothing her drenched folds, lingering just a while longer for her pleas for reprieve. She uttered a choked cry as she crouched lower. “Magnus,” she whispered.
Instead of answering her entreaty, he caught her clit between his lips and hummed against her wet flesh, sending her into a state of desperate whimpering. But she didn’t close her thighs around his head as he thought she might. She keened low and rocked her hips for another orgasm. Just like his Celeste, she was reaching for the next prize.
Arousal shot down to his dick, readying him for the plunge.
As he licked long and complex circles around her opening, her thighs trembled again, quaking on either side of his face. “Mags—” she panted. “Magnus, please.” Her thighs finally closed around his face, threatening to cut off his oxygen.
He let her go, smacking her ass roughly.
Celeste yelped in surprise as she lifted away from him and crawled to the head of the bed. With her body supine against a mound of pillows, she looked like an absolute work of art. He was torn between staring at her and pouncing on her like a wildcat. “Are you satiated, my dear?”
“Almost,” she panted. Her curls were plastered against her forehead in the same thin sheen of sweat that covered her body. “I’d like some more...please.”
So polite.
Magnus grabbed her by the ankle and dragged her toward him. Before she could be flipped over onto her stomach, Celeste planted her free foot in the center of his chest and stopped him. He lifted a brow.
She smirked. “Sorry, habit.”
He pushed her foot down and flipped her over before pushing her shoulders down and pulling her ass upward. “This dance doesn’t work until you let me lead, baby.”
She moaned into the comforter. “Right,” she said, pushing back against his hot erection.
“Slow down,” he said, reaching around her thigh to run his finger against her clit. At her hiss and jerk, he chuckled. “Does this feel good?”
She pushed and arched against his hand. The nub was full beneath his fingers, an easy button for him to press and pleasure. Soon enough, she was malleable and free to come again. “You know it does,” she growled in frustration.
“You sound impatient, CeCe,” he replied, pushing her thighs apart.
“I feel like you’ve proven your point, Mags.”
He had to stop himself from laughing. “As you said, it’s been a while. I need to know your body again,” he said, running his fingers along the dimples of her lower back. “I want to remember how you shake under my touch. I need to know if you still moan when I stroke you here...” He left her clit and ran his fingertips in the crease between her thigh and lips. She tried to suppress a groan but failed miserably. “I see you still do.”
Celeste pushed herself up onto her elbows and tried to look at him over her shoulders. He was elated to have her in this position. “Oh, my God, we’re already talking too much,” she said in a dry voice.
Another crack against her bottom. “What was that?” he asked.
She buried her face against her arm. “Nothing.”
“Also, are you on any birth control?” he asked. “I obviously didn’t bring any condoms on this trip.” He meant to ask earlier, but he was a bit distracted.
“I am.”
“Lovely. I was tested at the beginning of the month,” he replied.
“Wonderful,” she sighed impatiently.
“Is someone getting huffy?” He quite liked making her squirm like this. Even after making her come, she was greedy for more. In this position, he was in no danger of going soft on her, so he let her wait.
“Someone is getting—” She was cut short when his rough hand smacked her ass once again. “Please...” she whined.
Magnus released her long enough to scold her. “Please, what, CeCe?”
“Magnus,” she whined.
“You can ask better than that,” he said, pulling away once more. He hovered over her as she panted against the mattress.
Celeste’s body shuddered as she let out a low moan of arousal. “Oh, God,” she whispered.
His palm rubbed her smarting cheek. “He’s not here, darling. What can I do for you?”
Her back arched with his words and member. “Please fuck me, Magnus.”
“Since you asked so nicely,” he breathed, spreading her open between his thumbs. When the thick head of his cock slid in, even he was at a loss for words. It was just as lovely as he remembered. He fit like a hand in a glove, and that simple memory made him sigh with relief. Magnus stretched and filled her as he pushed himself to the hilt.
“You feel just as good as I remember,” he moaned.
She didn’t answer. He pressed a hand on the small of her back and reveled in the sensation of his dick dragging slowly against her tight walls, before slamming back in.
His hand was still wrapped around her hip, rubbing her clit as he moved in and out at a delicious pace. She covered his hand with her own, guiding him in the right direction and with the right pressure. He rocked against her, controlling the speed, and brushing gently against her G-spot. Celeste squeezed her thighs together around him to intensify the sensation and groaned. He was so God. Damn. Close. “Faster,” she panted.
His fingers tightened in response as his pace quickened. The friction, the desperate need and his craving were clawing through his body like she’d set fire to him.
Please, please, please...
Oh, God, please...
And then he broke.
Experiencing an orgasm with the woman he hadn’t fucked in five years had made him come much harder than expected. He cried out in frustration, pleasure and relief as she pushed herself against his hips. He rode the wave until he was lost at sea, finally sinking below the surface. He swore that he might black out from the pleasure alone and return to her a mumbling fool.
Filling her to the brim as he hissed his release, Magnus gripped her hips hard with his fingertips as he doubled over against her back. “Jesus, Celeste.” He left her entirely too quickly and collapsed on his side of the bed, panting with exertion. “Goddamn, woman,” he sighed.
She slid her knees down, rolled over onto her back and closed her eyes. “Magnus...”
“Was that too much?” he asked as he fought to catch his breath.
“You know I hate complimenting you, but...it was perfect,” she sighed. “I don’t know why I didn’t just let you do that a week ago.”
He lifted his head and stared at her. “You’re kidding, right?”
Celeste brushed her sweaty curls out of her eyes. “What?”
“You said I had a stick up my Nordic ass, called me an arrogant prick and made a pretty big show of saying we’d never have sex. I didn’t lose all my memory when I woke up from an Ambien hangover.”
She rolled her eyes. “We’ve said a lot of things to each other.”
“And a lot of it you don’t seem to remember.”
This was probably a terrible time to get into a disagreement, while they were both naked and coming off a sex high...but Magnus finally wanted to have it out with her. Their simmering sexual tension and disdain for one another came from an unfortunate night in Stockholm and it never got addressed.
Celeste slowly drew herself up to face him in bed. “If you’re insinuating that I don’t remember Stockholm, you’re mistaken, Mags. I can recall everything from that night.”
“What about the black water? How about the minutes of CPR I gave you before you woke up sputtering? I asked you to quit the risky jobs with Doris and you said you would.”
“I lied to you,” Celeste admitted.
Anger swelled within his chest as they sat facing each other. “Why?” The single word came out cracked and strained.
She drew her knees to her chest, probably protecting herself from his judgment, which he could feel coming hard and swift. “That night, before the job, you threw out the idea of just us ... Part of me wanted to imagine a life outside of Doris, a life of stealing with just you. I don’t know what it was about that night, but I wanted you so much—” She cut herself off. “I couldn’t trust you because you weren’t Doris. I never thought I could do this without her.”
Magnus’s jaw clenched as he fought to control his tongue. Hearing her say that she had wanted him, that she imagined a life outside of Doris, made him sick with regret. What if he had taken the next step and told her that he’d loved her? What if he had been earnest for once in his dead, gray life?
“But I never thought you’d leave first,” she continued. “I always wondered why you couldn’t just stick it out. I stayed as long as I did because I wanted to make it up to her. I really wanted to make up for the Stockholm job.”
“I admired her, Celeste, I really did,” he sighed. “But after a while, I didn’t want to work under the wild whims of Doris like you did. I didn’t have the fawning devotion you had for her.”
Her mouth fell open and Magnus almost regretted how he phrased that last part. “Oh.”
“It wasn’t just the Stockholm job. I was at the end of my rope in Tangier. The amount of work we were doing under Doris was relentless. The last year I spent with you guys, we had close to twenty jobs, each more sloppily planned than the last. That’s the part I don’t think you remember. Celeste, we were destined to fuck up Stockholm.”
God, it felt good for him to tell the truth. He’d held his tongue for the sake of the dead, but Celeste’s naive idea of her mentor needed critical examination. He expected a bit more pushback from her, but Magnus was surprised to see her head drop against her knees as she blew out a big sigh.
“I didn’t know the woman, did I?”
Did any of them?
“I learned a lot from her,” he said. “But once I thought I might lose you, that changed everything for me. I didn’t want to see you hurt yourself, taking these risks with Doris.”
He fell quiet long enough to let an uncomfortable silence fall over the room. When she finally spoke, he was thankful that she filled the space with humor. “I did not expect to have this conversation with you after being ate out and dicked down.”
Magnus laughed despite the mood. “It’s a conversation five years in the making, Celeste.”
“I forgive you for dropping the package and I apologize for dropping myself into the river...and lying to you about joining you. Maybe I should have joined you?”
Magnus reached over and pulled her ankle until her body was revealed to him again. “Come here, love. Let me hold you before you run off again.”
She scooted closer to him so that he could spoon her. “I’m not the runner you and Sebastian think I am.”
“I forgive you for not trusting me, and I’m sorry I couldn’t catch you when you were falling.”
“Forgiven,” Celeste said, snuggling against him. “I don’t know what’s coming for us next, but will you catch me now?”
“I’m here, Celeste.”
He meant it. So long as Magnus was with this crew, on their own terms, he’d catch his partner the next time she fell.