Chapter 16
A nia woke up, wondering at the heat that surrounded her. It was like being tucked up against a furnace. She rolled over to see Sanders sleeping at her side, his breath steady, slow, and deep. She smiled as she gently slid a fingertip across his stubbly beard.
“I need to shave,” he muttered.
She placed her finger against his lips and whispered, “It’s not an issue. We haven’t had two minutes to even breathe, let alone take care of basics like shaving.”
He opened his eyes, and she was hit with that smoky gray look that fascinated her. “Those eyes, they’re definitely deadly.”
Surprise lit a light deep inside him.
She nodded. “Absolutely,” she murmured, hugging him gently. “How’s the shoulder?” She watched him do a quick self-assessment, then nod.
“It doesn’t feel too terribly bad.”
“Good,” she declared. “I was good. I waited until you woke up at least.” Then she pushed herself up on one elbow, leaned over, and laid a kiss on him that knocked him flat. When she finally lifted her head, he stared up at her, dazed.
“Wow.” With his good arm, he pulled her down on top of him. “You can do that to me any old time.”
She chuckled. “I was hoping that maybe you were healthy enough that we could, you know, play a little bit.”
“I am definitely healthy enough,” he stated.
She gave him a knowing grin. “You’ll be damn sore afterward.”
“It’ll be 100 percent worth it,” he said.
She burst out laughing again. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself,” she noted innocently, “so we should probably hold off.” But, as she went to pull away, his good arm was like a vise around her waist.
He tugged her gently forward. “Oh, no, you don’t. You don’t get to open up a scenario like that and then walk away,” he murmured. “Absolutely no way. I’ve been waiting way too long.” He kissed her gently, then not so gently. By the time he finally raised his head, she was panting with need, feeling out of her element.
“Good God,” she moaned. “I don’t know whether it’s you or a combination of us, but holy shit.”
He pulled her down and whispered against her lips, “How about more action, less talk? We’ll do an analysis later.”
“Screw the analysis.”
His lips twitched at her remark. “How about you screw me instead?”
And, with that, she laughed out loud, then sat up, straddled him, tossing off the sheet and the blanket they had slept under, both falling to the ground. “Now that I can do.” Touching him gently with her hand, she stroked the erection with wonder, as he responded and pulsed under her soft touch.
“You won’t do that for long,” he gasped, sliding farther up the bed to get away from her touch.
“Yeah, well, you started this, so now we’ll finish it.”
“I hope so,” he said fervently, with a flashing smile. “But, holy crap, I won’t control it very well the first time.”
“That’s okay. No pressure either way, especially if you won’t be too long on the recovery.”
“I have no idea how long I’ll be on the recovery side,” he admitted, moaning again, as her hands gently encircled him and squeezed. He quickly pulled her higher up on his body.
She sat back, only to find that he was in the right position. “Oh, that was tricky. I don’t know how you did that, but that was tricky. Trippy too.” She slowly sank all the way down on his shaft, throwing her head back and crying out as he filled her completely. Then she looked down at him, grabbed his good shoulder, and started to ride. He cried out beneath her, twisting, and she was afraid that she was hurting him, but the joy on his face, that mix of pain and pleasure, reverberated through her own body, making her incapable of stopping, and the tension coiled tighter and tighter.
She moved faster and faster, crying out, when he suddenly grabbed her hips with his one arm and slammed her down hard, as he lurched up beneath her. With a shout, she exploded in place, shuddering and feeling his own climax rippling through both of them. She sank down on top of him, careful of his shoulder, then smiled as she slowly recuperated.
“Now that was definitely repeatable.”
“We might need a little more practice,” she teased. “That sore shoulder of yours is definitely cramping our style.”
“You know that practice is a good thing,” he added, with a big nod. “I can see us practicing quite a bit. A hell of a lot more.”
But then she asked him, “Do you think there’s more food?” When he smiled at her, she shrugged. “I missed a lot of meals.”
He burst out laughing. “Absolutely, we can definitely get more food.” He was still in a fit of laughter, when he asked her, “Now or later?”
She gave him a slow wink. “What do you have in mind?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows. “Because I would be okay to try this all over again. Remember the thing about practice?”
“Oh. I think we can definitely try that all over again.” He pulled her to him and twisted her around, so she was beneath him, her thighs spread wide, and he was already sitting at the heart of her.
Her eyes widened. “Smooth move, slick,” she muttered, now laughing too.
When he was suddenly deep in the heart of her, she shuddered and arched beneath him. This time the coupling was hard and fast, and, when she screamed in his arms, he ripped to his climax right behind her.
She opened her eyes the second time and muttered, “Good God, we’ll need to order a lot of food if we keep this up. We’ll kill ourselves this way.”
“Yeah, but what a way to die.” He leaned over and gave her a smacking kiss. “This time together right now is a gift, so I suggest we enjoy it as much as we can because, after this, we’ll be part of a very large group of people where there won’t be any secrets.”
She winced at that. “It’ll take a bit to get used to,” she muttered. “It may take some time to find our own balance there.”
“It will. But just think how they’re there for us, and we’ll be there for them. That makes a hell of a lot of difference.”
She smiled, wrapped her arms around his neck, and added, “As long as you’re there for me, I don’t care about the rest. I’m happy to be part of a team, but I’m going there for you. Okay, maybe for me too, but it’s you I want to spend my time with.”
“That’s a given.” He leaned over and kissed her gently. “Now, how about we go order that food?”
*
And that was the start of several days of relaxing and recuperating for both of them.
Four days later, Sanders woke up to a text from Terk. He rolled over, looked at Ania, and asked, “You awake?”
“ Uh-huh ,” she murmured, still tucked up against him. “Why?”
“Terk just texted me, wanting to know when we’re coming.”
“We were planning on today, weren’t we?”
“Yes, he’s just confirming.”
“Tell him it’s a go for today,” she said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
“I think he has a job.”
“Not for us though, right?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“No, not for us, but we’ll have to make our way to the castle on our own. Apparently Riff’s heading out somewhere else.”
“That’s okay. We can manage that,” she noted, looping her arm around his neck. “But we don’t have to go just yet, do we?”
“Checkout’s at eleven a.m.” He looked over at his cell phone. “It’s only seven.”
She gave him a sleepy smile and nodded. “Perfect, we’ve got four hours.” And, with that, she pulled him down and kissed him thoroughly.