Chapter 18
eighteen
MERRILY
Grayson leaned against me a little as we checked into the hotel and went up to our room. His hand was on my bare hip, and he pulled my cardigan over my breasts every time it slipped off my shoulder.
After checking into our room, I led him to the bathroom and turned the shower on.
He tugged his baseball cap off and pulled his t-shirt over his head. His workout shorts followed the t-shirt to the floor.
I watched him strip, trying not to respond to the way my body warmed when I saw him bare, his cock already hard and thick.
"Shower with me?" he asked.
"Your skin would have to be touching mine the whole time."
“Somehow, I’ll manage.”
Grayson stripped me slowly. He'd done it so many times in my dreams, but never like this. Without any magic in the air, without any promise of sex or any immediate need to feed.
This felt different.
More significant.
It wasn't about sex. It was about him. Or maybe us.
Grayson pulled me beneath the water with him, holding me in his arms with my chest against his. His bare, warm skin felt incredible against mine, and not just because it cancelled out the price of my magic.
The falling water didn't bother me in the slightest with him touching me, and I pressed my cheek to his skin.
I'd missed him. Badly.
A quiet groan slipped through Grayson's side of the bond. I didn't think he meant for me to hear it. He murmured into my mind, "Fuck, I needed this."
"Me too. I didn't realize you could need physical contact," I admitted. "I've been obsessing since we've been apart. I was obsessed before, too, but it's different. Like... an itch. A craving. I never really understood what romance books meant, but I get it now."
"I've been craving you for a fucking century." He dragged his hand slowly over my back, and I leaned against him a little more. Between the water falling around us and the shadows dancing on our skin, I should've been overwhelmed.
Instead, I was at peace.
"What did Jazz and Dante say about your craving?"
Grayson chuckled, burying his hand in my hair. "They told me I didn't have a chance with you. When I started itching for physical contact, Dante would drag me into his bed and force me to cuddle with him. Jazz would eventually join in too. She called it platonic snuggling."
My lips curved. “Your family's dynamics sound so different than mine. Even when Dare needs to be close to one of us, we don't really touch. Not just because of my magic, either."
"Our magic never cost us what yours did, and it's a lot more physical."
"I'm excited to meet them as more than Death, when we get them out."
His emotions grew wistful. "It's been more than eleven years. If we do get them out, they won't be the same."
"When we get them out, you'll help them figure out who they are now. You're not the same you were ten years ago, either."
"Not even close."
I pressed my face back to his chest.
He pulled me against him a little tighter. "When do you want to track the fallen angel down?"
"As soon as you've figured out the vampire stuff enough to take half a day off."
"Have you talked to her yet?"
"No. Ophelia doesn't do texts, or letters, and it's best to stay away from her unless you have no other option."
"You have so fucking many more connections than I do."
"Millions of immortals rely on us to keep the city's wards alive, so the powerful ones want to know who we are. Now that you're a part of my family, they’ll want to know you too.”
He rested his chin on my head, considering that, and we stood there for a good, long while.
I eventually made him wash up and dry off so he could get to bed. Personally, I could've stood there holding him like that all night, but it wasn't what he needed.
"You should sleep naked," he murmured, stepping up behind me and pressing his bare front to my bare back as I picked up the tank I'd been wearing when we got there.
I considered it, before agreeing. "I can try. Do you usually?"
"Always." He kissed my throat, and I tipped it to the side. "We can make the feeding quick tonight."
"You need sleep more than you need my lust right now, Gray."
"I need you more than I need to sleep," he countered.
"No."
"Yes."
I sighed dramatically. "Alright, fine. If you can stay awake for five minutes after we get in bed, you can feed from me."
He gave me a dirty look in the mirror. "That's low."
"It's reasonable. And if you fall asleep early, you can wake me up at any point in the night to fuck me if you're too hungry to sleep."
Grayson kissed my throat again, taking his time to suck lightly on the sensitive skin. "You drive a hard bargain."
"Somehow, not as hard as your cock." I pressed my ass lightly against his erection.
"You don't really want me to go to sleep without feeding from you." He nipped at my throat, where he had kissed it a few moments earlier.
"Correct." I wanted him. Always. "But your well-being is more important than what I want."
"I'll sleep better if you let me feed from you."
"Get in bed while I dry my hair a little, so the chill of it doesn't keep me awake. If you're still up when I'm done, we'll fuck."
He studied me like he was deciding if I was just trying to get out of it.
I wasn't.
I just genuinely didn't think he could stay awake.
And I wanted him, but I wanted him healthy even more.
"Fine." He squeezed my hip lightly. "Dry your hair. I'll get comfortable."
"It's okay if you fall asleep."
"I'm not going to fall asleep."
"Mmhm."
He tilted my head back and kissed me before he padded over to the bed.
It only took a few minutes to dry my hair, and I put zero effort into making it look nice. By the time I was done, I could already hear my demon snoring.
My lips curved gently as I walked to the bed and slipped beneath the blankets. Grayson's bare body pressed against mine as he unconsciously pulled me closer, and a soft, contented breath escaped me.
I'd never thought I would have this.
Now that I did, I never wanted to let it go.
I was up before Grayson, so I grabbed my phone off the nightstand and worked from the bed for another two hours or so before he finally started to wake up.
He dragged me closer, pulling my ass harder against his erection with a low, gravelly sound that made my lips curve.
His lips brushed my throat, and his hand slid over my stomach. I slid his fingers between my thighs, and he groaned into my hair as he dragged them over my slick center.
"You're already fucking soaked for me, Love."
"I'm going to pretend it's your magic's fault," I murmured.
He chuckled, and stroked my clit lightly.
My hips arched, pressing harder against his erection.
He circled it again before pulling his hand away.
I fought my disappointment, though I knew he probably needed to get dressed and go to another meeting.
He rolled me onto my stomach, and my breath hitched as the tip of his cock met my entrance while he pinned me to the bed.
Oh, god, yes.
"Feeling you want me through the bond will give me a damn big head." He kissed the back of my neck before he thrust lightly, and my mouth parted at the sudden stretch of him inside me.
Fuck, I'd needed him.
I moved my hips, taking the rest of him.
He growled as he bottomed out inside me. "I've been thinking about Dare's idea. Edging."
"Oh. Okay."
Yes, please.
"Are you up for it?" I asked. "You were pretty cautious the last time you shifted, so—"
I moaned as he thrust into me slowly.
"I stayed in more control than I expected. I trust myself now. It was better to be cautious, the first time."
"So you'll get close to coming, and stop?" I asked.
"Repeatedly. My knot will still swell without inflating fully, so you'll need to be sure you're ready."
"I've been ready. Get on with it, Darke."
He laughed—but he did.
Grayson's hips moved smoothly, taking me again and again. Driving me to the edge of pleasure at a dizzying pace. I came with a cry, and he growled as his knot swelled thickly, but he didn't come.
He slipped his hand between my thighs and worked my clit until I shattered again, and his knot swelled a little larger.
We repeated it again.
And again.
And again.
After he finally pulled out and came all over my ass, he rolled me to my back. We fucked until his knot had deflated and we were both exhausted once again.
"I think you could actually take me," Grayson said, dazed. "I haven't felt any pain through the bond."
"It hasn't hurt. And technically, there's a seventy-percent chance I'll be fine, so..."
"Seventy isn't great."
"It's better than sixty."
He shook his head and glanced at the clock. "Damn. I don't have much time."
"We can grab food, and I can drop you off at the office again on the way out if that works?"
"Sounds nice." He rolled to his side and kissed my shoulder, and we got out of bed together.