He stopped to lift my shirt that somehow remained on, exposing my bare breasts to him, and feasted. Sucking on one, flicking the peaked bud with his tongue, he took the other in his palm, massaging, squeezing. All while maintaining a mouthwatering momentum.
He ravished me in a way I’d never known. Consumed me with his eyes, his mouth, his cock. Like I was the only nourishment he’d ever needed. His name was a prayer on my lips, one that was answered by his ravaging tongue.
He devoured me, heart, body, and soul. When he dropped to my neck, I could only expose it to him, to this man who could shift so easily into a dangerous predator. I bore my life to him without a fear in the world that he would take it.
Trust. Safety. Admiration. Devotion. He was my undoing.
It was coming, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, nothing I wanted to do to stop it.
Whimpers and moans choked out of me. Through the haze of building desire, I heard the whisper of my name, of praise and encouragement to release my pleasure.
I fell, no, plummeted through a rip in space where all I could see was an explosion of stars. His name tasted sweet on my tongue as I called out. I was weightless, senseless except for the utter ecstasy of my breaking. Had my mind been intact, I might have feared how my body would weather this storm. Instead, I let myself be swept away in the current.
Vaguely aware that he’d watched me come undone, he cried with his own release, the sound more than any man had evergiven me, matching my intensity. His head rested against my shoulder as if I was his anchor, both of us panting and languid. My muscles no longer held strength. I was a puddle beneath him that’d been desperate for relief and release from the stress and tension that multiplied daily. Somehow, my arms managed to find form enough for my fingers to lazily scratch the back of his head. “That was…” I whispered, still adjusting to being back in my body and not floating somewhere in the cosmos.
“Everything,” he finished, drawing back to kiss me, and somehow that was the most intimate part of it all.
It was slow, appreciative. Anytime I’d taken a lover in the past, it never paired with a connection. A mutual agreement, stress relief, a drunken mistake, but never with someone who’d showed me dedication like Dae had. I’d been taking care of myself for a long time, it felt foreign to be in the arms of someone else who wanted to.
He finally unpinned my body and pulled himself out of me. A warm drip ran down my ass cheek, a mix of his release and mine no doubt. “Oh shit,” I hissed, looking down in a panic.
“What?” His eyes roved over my body like he would destroy anything that threatened to hurt me. Which was kind of hot.
“I need a tonic,” I said.
His gaze dropped between my thighs. A satisfied smirk painted his swollen lips. “Ah.” When he stared a little too long, I cleared my throat. That snapped him out of his lust-filled stupor and he chuckled. Biting my lower lip did nothing to contain my overwhelming smile.
He dressed, stepping into pants first. “I’ll pay Garris a visit. Then I’ll get us some food.”
I was sad to watch him slip a shirt over his head, but chewed on my finger thinking about how next time I wanted to take it off myself. I pressed my knees together, twisting them to the side.
He caught me mid-thought of stripping him and flashed that alluring smile. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
51
Dae
The camp was the same as it had always been when I stepped outside and deeply inhaled the evening air. Tents remained in their usual places. Smoke from several nearby fire pits cascaded into the sky. That clinging uncertainty of threat and death still lurked around every corner. Nothing had changed.
Yet, it had all shifted.
My senses heightened, observing each blade of flattened grass, every pair of tense shoulders, every set of assessing eyes. I continued through this shit hole, steps never faltering as I passed people I would never mourn. My only role had been to conform, to become so much a part of this operation that my presence became invisible. In that, I’d lost myself. Now, as if I’d slipped back into my humanity, the weight of the circumstances shone with blinding clarity.
Threats were all around. The stakes were higher. Another responsibility was added to my shoulders—keep Ro alive and get her out of here.
I walked into Garris’s tent, ignoring the member with a black eye and busted lip. Not an unusual sight in this camp.
Garris glimpsed me from over his shoulder. “You shouldn’t be out of salve just yet.” He returned to mixing a concoction for the waiting patient.
I didn’t want anyone to overhear, so I made my way to the backroom where he kept his supplies. He was startled when he turned to find me crowding his space.
“I need a birth control tonic,” I whispered.
He paused, staring. If he put two and two together, which he’d be rather dim if he didn’t, it didn’t show on his face. He finished grinding whatever herbs were in his mortar and set it on a shelf, bending low to scan his cataloged inventory. Skipping a few jars, he reached for a bottle of amber liquid with floating specks in it.
He fiddled with a few empty jars, grabbing a smaller one and uncorking the bottle, transferring the murky liquid. “It’s ideal if used before the act, but the one dose should counter for an entire week.” He handed it to me. “If she’s in need of an exam, send her after dark to my personal quarters.”
“An exam?” I questioned.
