12. Bryn
Bryn
My breaths stuttered.
Yes.
Please.
He brushed his hand across my cheek, and I leaned into the motion, too enamored by the touch and feel of him so close.
“Are you going to be good for me?” he asked, his voice rasping over every syllable.
“Never.”
He growled.
The noise had my heart racing even harder and my hands sliding up his chiseled torso. “If you wanted someone good you’d have never invited me into your bed last year.”
He bit his bottom lip like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth.
And while they were slightly surprising to me too, they were still true.
We were two sides of the same stolen coin.
One who stole for the good of society, the other stealing for themselves.
Both slightly tarnished. Both dangerous in our own way.
Sweat pooled between my breasts. It was far too hot in—
The blue glow started up anew from my necklace.
Henrik trailed two fingers across my clavicle and hooked them underneath the chain. Tugging, he pulled the glowing, mythical gem from my chest. It hung between us casting an ethereal glow across the chiseled panes of his face.
“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about this.”
I pinched my lips together.
“But now isn’t the time,” he added, and with deft movements, he unclasped the necklace and shoved it into his trouser pocket.
Part of me wanted to claw it free from his grasp, shove it into my pouch where it would be safer, but the other part of me was ensnared in the lusty haze in the room and the sultry gaze that had never left my body.
Was that the way I looked at him? It had to be considering that thoughts that constantly lingered at the edge of my mind.
“Tell me to stop,” he said. “Tell me no and I will leave this room right now.”
Not a chance. “Fuck me, Henrik.”
He trembled, hooked his fingers underneath my shirt and slowly started lifting it upward.
The cotton material skimmed across my abdomen and his thumbs followed in its wake.
His mere touch set me ablaze, tiny droplets of sweat beading at the nape of my neck.
I clawed at his own shirt and untucked it.
Both shirts were hastily removed and thrown across the room, landing in a heap somewhere that didn’t matter, didn’t hold my focus as much as the god-like man in front of me.
I released the band around my breasts, my nipples peaking at the freedom. Henrik’s eyes roved across them, then dropped to my abdomen and he stilled.
The air in the room shifted from lust-filled to something more strained. What just happened? What could stall this man who was so clearly on a mission to tease me until I melted and then throw me into his bed?
His finger traced the edge of one of my ribs. “These weren’t there last time.”
I sucked in a breath. My scars. Six raised etches that unfortunately marred my torso. But… He remembered? Remembered what my skin had looked like a whole year ago? Even in the darkness of that inn? Shrugging, I said, “Trade hazard.”
Those eyes flicked back up to mine, a storm swirling within their depths. “Don’t lie to me.”
“Every thief has their scars.”
“And those are usually on their hands and feet, not swipes of battle like these.” He trailed his hand across the expanse of my stomach, and I failed to suppress a shudder. “These weren’t here last year. Who did this, Bryn? Who hurt you?”
“No one.”
“What did I say about lying?”
I swallowed hard.
“Come on, little thief.” He stepped closer, bringing us chest to chest. His hand tangled in my hair at the nape of my neck and tilted my face up to meet his. “Tell me so I can flay them apart.”
My heart beat like a captured creature. All I could see was him and his menacingly possessive countenance. A man who looked ready to destroy anything and anyone who had ever done me harm.
“Why do you even care?” I asked.
He huffed and shook his head. “Because I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that night. Because I have spent the better part of a year searching these jagged shores for you. Because the night you stole that compass, you took a whole lot more with you.”
Air failed to reach my lungs, my body stilling at his admission and the fact that he knew I’d taken his compass.
Was this where I admitted that he’d been on my mind too. Annoyingly, every time I smelled salt with pine, saw a ship with blue sails, heard the screeches of a falcon along the ocean cliffs. Every time I glanced down at that compass and wondered what port he was currently berthed in.
“Fuck,” he muttered.
“Agreed.”
The tension snapped.
Our trousers were gone in a heartbeat, and he hoisted me onto the table in the middle of the room. The wood was rough against my rear. Henrik nudged me back, laying me down, then pressed his hands against my thighs, pushing me open for him.
He raised a fist to his mouth and bit down on his ringed finger with a groan.
Heat pooled at my center from the sight. Having such an effect on him was almost better than any heist I’d ever pulled off.
As slow as a wolf stalking its prey, he leaned over and planted his palms against my knees.
Keeping his eyes locked on me, he lowered his mouth to my clit and swiped his tongue across the bundle of nerves.
My stomach clenched in response, my toes curling as I rested my head against the table. Ancestors, that mouth of his—
Another lick had a shaky moan escaping me.
He hummed against my core before plunging his tongue into my wet center.
I gasped at the invasion and grabbed his head, holding it in place.
A noise of satisfaction emanated from him as he continued his ministrations. Curling that tongue around and around and around before diving back in again. I was going to lose control so damn fast. He removed his mouth and latched it around my clit, and I whimpered.
“Those noises will be my undoing, little thief.”
“Good,” I panted.
A beat later his fingers pressed at my opening and something cool rubbed against my heat. I sucked in a ragged breath. His rings. Those tattooed fingers were adorned in the coldest of metals and gems—
He pushed two thick digits inside, the ridges of those rings nudging against my sensitive skin. I let out another noise and my back arched off the table. His left hand kept me from moving too far, still holding my knee in place to give him space to work.
“You’re a fucking feast, Bryn.” He laved at my center and peered up at me through those obnoxiously long lashes. “And I’m starving.”
My body shuddered at his words, and I let out a moan at his next swipe across my core.
My vision blurred, a tingling sensation building and building, as his tongue and fingers continued working in a beautiful routine.
Thrust after thrust. Lick after ravishing lick.
Stars built behind my eyes and that ball of tension exploded. I let out a throaty groan of pleasure.
He continued his work until my body stopped shaking and my breaths settled. Rubbing his lips up the inside of my thigh, he nipped at the sensitive inner side.
“Bastard,” I whimpered.
He snickered. “I’m not done with you yet.”
“Neither am I.” I rose to a seated position and swiftly grabbed his cock. The velvety thickness throbbed in my palm, and he let out a short breath.
“Bryn…”
“Captain…”
One corner of his mouth kicked up. “Naughty woman.”
“Says the man who just feasted on me.”
“And I’d do it again any day.”
A tremor ran through me, and I couldn’t deny that I liked the sound of that. Very, very much. “I’ll let you know when.”
“Good.”
I tugged lightly on his member, and he moved closer between my thighs.
Reaching back down to my core, I slickened my hand and brought it back to his cock.
He groaned at the sight. Resting his forehead on my shoulder, he huffed and panted as I started gliding my hand up and down his length.
He was fully at my mercy. This man built of muscles, the power of the ocean, and unshakable confidence.
My magic swirled in my sternum like a vortex in the ocean—happy with what was happening.
Henrik growled and nipped at the tender spot between my shoulder and neck.
I let out a tiny yelp.
That only seemed to spur him on. He swatted away my grip, grabbed onto my rear, and hoisted me off the table. I wrapped my arms and legs around him as he stalked across the room, then dropped me on the bed. The blankets and mattress cushioned my landing.
“Are you trying to break your bed?” I teased.
“I’m more than happy to give it a try.”
My toes curled at his admission, and I gave him a sly grin.
He wiped his hand over his mouth, tugging lightly on his bottom lip. “Fucking seas, Bryn.”
“Come on then, Captain. What are you waiting for?”
He growled and pounced on me.
We tussled gently until he wrapped himself around me, settling my rear against his lower abdomen, and hoisted my leg over his own. The position left me open to his ministrations, my body his to wield.
Notching himself at my entrance, he palmed my breast and groaned. “You’re still on the tonic?”
I let out a breathy whimper and nodded. He was so close. His breath all around me. His firm body pressed against mine. Those hands roving and grabbing and kneading all the places where I wanted them.
He nuzzled against my neck. “Good.” Then he thrust inside me.
“Oh my fuck,” I exclaimed.
Henrik let out a noise of satisfaction as he pulled back out and pushed in again.
Still palming and squeezing my breast with one hand, he circled his free fingers around my clit. Tingles ran up and down my spine, my vision blurred, and the feeling of fullness was all I could focus on. He was all I could focus on. Where we joined and ended.
His thrusts grew harder, more desperate, and I pushed back against him. That telltale pleasure built up once more, threatening an explosion the likes of which I’d never felt before.
“Bryn,” he panted in my ear. “Come for me.”
Pleasure peaked and unfurled like a wave crashing across a beach. Henrik quivered with me, meeting his own release, and more unmoored noises came from me as I rode out the high.
I’d never admit to it, not even at knife point, but Henrik was, by far, the best lover I’d had in my bed. Or his bed as this case was.
He slipped out of me, tugged a blanket over us, and wrapped his arms around me. I’d never felt so at ease and protected. So ready to let sleep take me and rest until dawn arrived.
“Noisy little thing,” he whispered against my hair.
“You love it.”
“I do,” he snickered.
That was the last thing I heard before the blissful haze had me falling under its spell into much-needed sleep.