Chapter 6
Aiden
I woke up in Skye’s bed alone, but I wasn’t anxious. Laying in her bed was like laying in a huge fluffy nest of Skye.
I rolled over with a groan. My hands were still a little sore from being healed, and my body felt like I’d been hit by a bus.
I couldn’t remember a time when I’d used my affinity so much.
I’d played around with it a lot as a kid, but once I got older I mainly used it as a built-in lighter so I could smoke.
That was sad.
More than sad. It was wrong. I should’ve had more education, more support. Especially since I came from a long line of fire affinates.
I’d spent way too much of my time over the past two days lamenting about things that should have been.
The door clicked, and I turned back over to find Skye slipping into the room. The curtains were still closed, only a small beam of light spilling through a gap in the center. Skye crossed the room silently before climbing onto the bed and flopping down beside me.
“Hey, baby.” My voice was raspy from sleep. Skye snuggled up next to me –which still made my heart pound– and she mumbled good morning to me before brushing her lips against mine.
I groaned, wrapping my arms around her and holding her close. She squirmed against me, trying to move away, but I didn’t let her. I hooked one of my legs around hers, then flipped us so that I could climb on top of her. Skye yelped, then laughed.
“It’s gonna be a really good morning,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows.
“But I had plans for us,” Skye pouted.
I blinked.
She’d never pouted at me before.
It was so fucking cute.
“What are your plans, baby?” I asked. Skye licked her lips, and I dove forward, trying to catch her tongue with my own.
Skye squealed, pushing me away and then pulling me down for a real kiss.
We were breathless in seconds. I only wore some sweatpants that belonged to Zephyr since he’d been disgusted at the idea of letting me borrow some of his underwear. Skye was in some tiny shorts and a t-shirt. It would be so easy to push those shorts aside, free my dick and slam into her.
“I want to go to the beach,” Skye breathed. Her pupils were dilated, her silver eyes flicking from my face down my chest, no doubt having the same idea about fucking.
“The beach?” I questioned. I almost pouted.
There would be people at the beach. No privacy for fucking or sucking or anything else exciting like I had in mind.
“It’s a private beach,” Skye explained, practically reading my mind. “No one will be there but us.”
I could have purred. I leaned down, nuzzling against her cheek and smiling as she giggled. “Good. I have plans of my own.”
“Oh really?” Skye asked.
“If I fuck you in the sand, would you be able to…” I waved my hand around, “Use your affinity to get the sand off of us?”
Skye choked out a laugh. “Probably.”
I grinned. “Perfect. Now can we have breakfast?”
“Sure, if you’re hungry– oh, my God!”
I slid down Skye’s body as fast as possible, gripping her little shorts and all but ripping them off. “This is all I want,” I said, impossibly close to coming just at the sight of Skye’s pretty pussy. My mouth watered. “I’ll get you something later.”
“I don’t want your dick for breakfast,” Skye said flatly, then arched her back with a sharp moan as I took my first, slow lick.
It’d been too long. I’d missed her taste.
I hissed as Skye’s hands found their way into my hair, then tightened and pulled just the way I liked.
“I didn’t say stop,” Skye panted.
I grinned, then dove back in.
I loved when Skye was in charge. I also loved when she was a little mean to me, mostly because I knew it wasn’t real. It was like a game we played. It made me want to try harder, to do better, just to get her approval.
Skye tugged on my hair again, and I refocused on my task: pleasing her.
She cried out as I latched onto her clit. I groaned before taking my tongue lower, spearing into her opening as far as I could. She liked that a lot. I noted every change of her breathing, what made her squirm, what made her whine.
“Fuck, don’t stop,” she gasped. “Keep going.”
I hummed so I didn’t have to pull back to reply, and Skye whimpered. Her hips thrust against me, and I didn’t even try to hold her still. It was like she was testing me, wanting me to really work for it.
“Aiden,” Skye gasped. “I–”
She cut off with a loud cry, holding me tight against her while she bowed off the bed. I laughed, keeping up my pace and eagerly lapping at her. I didn’t stop even as she whined, tossing her hips harder in an attempt to shake me off.
I laughed harder as I suddenly lurched back, almost tumbling off the bed before an invisible force caught me and pushed me face-first onto the covers.
“You brat,” Skye said breathlessly. I laughed again as the same invisible force swatted at my ass. I lifted my head to find Skye completely wrecked, her hairline damp with sweat and her cheeks flushed pink.
Her affinity felt like a knee on my back, and I only grinned at her like a total masochist. Skye huffed a laugh before letting me go. I climbed on top of her, careful to keep my weight off while her breathing was still heavy.
“Not a brat,” I mumbled before I kissed her.
“My brat,” she said between kisses, tugging the back of my hair just a bit to be playful. “Should I touch you now, angel?”
I shook my head, and Skye looked surprised. “Touch me on the beach. I have a fantasy to fulfill.”
Skye was not touching me on the beach.
We’d had a lot of fun with typical beach activities – trying to catch crabs, building pitiful sandcastles, digging until we reached water. We’d just spent an hour walking up and down the sand, collecting colorful shells in a little bucket, and now we were stretched out under some palm trees.
Skye had sunned herself for a while, then rolled under the shade with me while she stared at a blank page in her sketchbook.
She’d given up trying to sketch anything pretty quickly, then sunned herself again.
I stayed under the shade, since I burned way too easily with my pale skin.
Too much sun always made my freckles stand out more, too.
Although…I didn’t actually care about that. That was something my mother had cared about.
I frowned at the memory.
“You okay, angel?”
I nodded on reflex, then paused.
Was I okay?
My mother tried to kill me. My school was attacked. People I knew from childhood could be dead. The attackers recognized my Key, enough so that she felt the need to flee.
I shook my head. No, I wasn’t okay.
“I’m sorry,” Skye whispered. She took my larger hand in both of hers, turning it over and running her fingers down my knuckles.
“You okay?” I asked, hating how the mood had turned.
“Just sad,” she replied softly. “This isn’t what I imagined for us.”
“Really?” I asked teasingly, trying to save the moment. “You didn’t imagine one of your mothers-in-law trying to kill one of your Links? You didn’t imagine having to hide him away in a beach paradise? A beach paradise he doesn’t mind, by the way.”
Skye snorted, then ran a hand down her face.
“What did you imagine for us?” I asked, softening my tone slightly.
Skye didn’t open up very often. There were a lot of things I didn’t know about her still, and I was the who’d gotten the closest to her out of the three of her Links.
I needed to start asking more questions, especially since I knew she wouldn’t lie to me.
Even if she was still keeping something from me.
Filing. Away. For later.
“Being happy. Being on the beach. I don’t know.” She shook her head.
“Skye,” I said, not able to hide my smile. “We are happy, and on a beach.”
Skye tried and failed to hide a laugh, then flicked her wrist, sending a pile of sand at me.
“Hey!” I jumped to my feet as she rolled away from me, then stood and ran for the water.
I chased after her, finally catching her in the waves at waist-level before hoisting her over my shoulder. Skye shrieked, then slapped my ass.
“Let me go!” She laughed again.
“Okay,” I said, dropping her into an oncoming wave.
She shrieked again, the sound cut off by the water.
I laughed, then gasped as something gripped my calf.
Skye’s affinity yanked me so hard that I lost my balance, and I went into the water right beside her.
I surfaced with a mouth full of seawater, coughing and sputtering to find Skye doing the same.
Her hair was wet and stringy, most of it in her face, making her look like a character from a horror film.
Skye flipped her hair out of her face, then laughed before reaching toward me and pulling a strip of seaweed out of my hair. I laughed along with her, not minding the saltiness at all as we kissed.
Skye looked concerned again when I pulled back.
“What now, baby?” I asked with a chuckle. I rubbed at the crease between her eyebrows and she batted my hand away. “You’re always so deep in thought.”
“I was just…I don’t know. I want things to work. But how? How is it supposed to work? There’s four of us. You’re enough for me on your own. How am I supposed to just let another man into our bed?”
I almost laughed. Skye was so na?ve in some ways, it really was endearing. But I could see her frustration was genuine. She really was worried about this.
“It wouldn’t be just another man, Skye. It’d be one of your Links. Wait, right? We’re talking about your other Links?”
Skye tossed her head back all the way in exasperation. “Why do you want me to hookup with someone else so bad?”
“Skye, baby,” I took her hand, then pulled her in close. “Your mom had two Links, right?”
Skye’s gaze darted to the side before she answered. “Right.”
“And they were happy?” I asked.
Her eyes shifted again, as if she were trying to think back to the past. “Mostly.”
There it is.
“They weren’t happy?” I asked slowly.
Skye blew out a breath. “There were a lot of arguments. Levi was kind of a hardass, but he seemed soft enough for my mom. Ben was just…kind of there.” She furrowed her brow.
I nodded. “Well, my family Chain is a mess, so I can’t comment there. But what we had growing up? Not the norm. Fully connected Chains are happy.”
Skye nodded, but still didn’t look convinced as we made our way back to our spot in the sand. She flopped down onto our towel with a huff.
“So, what…we’re supposed to have…foursomes?”
I laughed a little too loudly, muffling it only when I noticed Skye’s slight flinch.
“If you want,” I replied, trying to remain serious. “Remember what you told me? The Chain dynamic is whatever we want it to be. Some Chains have orgies. I’m sure some are platonic, somewhere. And sometimes it’s like the Princess, where the Key plays favorites.”
“I wouldn’t have favorites,” Skye said, looking out across the water. “You’d all have to be equal, otherwise…that’s just weird.”
“I mean, I won’t tell anyone I’m actually your favorite.” I leaned back in the sand and stretched. “You won’t make it too obvious, I’m sure.”
Smug, male satisfaction winded through me at how Skye’s gaze moved down to admire my muscled chest. I breathed a sigh and closed my eyes before tilting my head back.
Then, there was a sudden tug on the back of my hair, pulling me into the sand. I gasped as sand flew into the air around us and Skye giggled.
“Oops,” she said playfully.
“Oops?!” I feigned outrage. “You just like getting me dirty.”
Skye gave me a slow, sultry smile before she looked away quickly. “Stop flirting with me, we’re on a beach out in the open.”
“The sun is literally going down,” I said, throwing my hand out toward the sunset over the water. “No one’s going to see us.”
“Going to see us do what?” Skye asked, arching one of her perfect eyebrows.
I grinned, then shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Angel,” Skye practically purred at me as she leaned over to lay across my chest. My smile dropped. I gulped as her body pushed against mine, fitting against me perfectly. “Are you suggesting we do something naughty out here in the open?”
“Of course not,” I breathed. “I mean, unless you’re down. Then yeah. Hell yeah.”
“You mean this morning wasn’t enough for you?”
I choked on a laugh, shaking my head. “Of course it was,” I pulled Skye to me and she giggled. “You’re always enough for me.”
Skye leaned forward to kiss me, and I was done being patient. I kissed her back desperately, pulling her onto my chest before twisting so we could flip. She fumbled with the tie on my swim trunks while I reached behind her, clumsily trying to open her bikini top.
We finished at the same time, and as Skye sat up slightly, I caught one of her nipples with my tongue. Skye shuddered, then her hand closed around my cock, and I shuddered.
“Fuck me in the sand,” she panted. “Please.”
“You never have to say please,” I said shakily. It’d sounded much cooler in my mind, but Skye’s hand on my dick was scrambling my thoughts.
Skye was ready for me, and I entered her in one smooth thrust. She threw her head back onto the beach towel, crying out, though no one was around to hear.
I watched her face as I fucked her. How her eyes rolled back when I hit that perfect spot inside her.
How she’d gasp slightly when I thrust just a little too hard.
I was so completely enraptured by this woman, I couldn’t believe it.
The me from a year ago never would have been able to fathom that this was where I’d be someday – fucking the most perfect woman I’d ever met into the sand.
We came together, faster than expected, and I tucked my face into her neck, breathing her in as we came down from the high together.
Everything was perfect. The sun was setting, the temperature was warm, and I was still inside my Key, holding onto the connection just a little longer.
But she was still keeping something from me.
And I still didn’t know what to do about it.