Hel rolled on his side and propped his head up on one hand, smiling softly at me before leaning forward and placing a soft kiss on my lips. The feel of his body pressed to mine made a shudder run through me.
“I understand all about regret, believe me. I’ve had more than my share. I have to say, though, I’m kind of glad you didn’t go with him,” Hel said.
I looked at him questioningly.
“Don’t get me wrong. I hate everything that happened to you in the Legion, but I have to admit, it brought us together. I can’t be sad about that.”
His words made me grumble slightly, but I muttered, “I’m not sad about that, either.”
The words made his face light up into a smile so bright it almost broke my heart. I made a mental note to work harder at showing my Soma how much he was coming to mean to me.
I eyed the room speculatively before raising an eyebrow at my Soma.
“So, tell me, how soundproof are these rooms?”
He moved his body over top of mine and our bodies slotted together as though we’d been doing this for years instead of just a few weeks.
“Very thin walls here,” he said, dipping his lips to my collarbone, where he began nibbling across my skin. “We’ll have to make sure you stay very quiet.”
I slid my legs along his and without warning flipped him over so our positions were reversed. He landed on his back with an “Oomph!” but just grinned up at me.
“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be the one who has to work at being quiet,” I said, moving down his body. “I think my mouth is going to be busy with other things.”
“Goddess…” he hissed as I tugged at the pants that were keeping me from worshipping his golden skin.
With my intent clear Hel helped me shuck his pants and underwear, tugging the shirt over his head. I leaned back on my knees staring down at the gorgeous man in front of me. His skin was sun kissed gold, his chest mostly hairless, but a light treasure trail of gold meandered down to neatly trimmed hair on his balls and around his cock.
There was something strange and new being the one standing clothed over someone who was nude. I’d had far too many experiences where I’d been the one at someone else’s non-existent mercy. That I’d been the one—
“Come back to me, Kitty Kat,” I heard my Bonded whisper.
I opened eyes I hadn’t realized I had squeezed shut. Hel was still there, but somehow without me realizing it he was no longer sprawled on the bed, but kneeling across from me, his ridiculously giant frame leaning forward, his hair brushing across his cheeks as his hands framed my face. I felt his thumbs brush across my cheeks and I realized they were wet with years. It surprised me how often Ished tears, real tears, since I met Hel. They were something my torturers had never wrung from me willingly, yet they seemed to flow easily around this giant of a man, who had never done anything to hurt me.
His face was somber, the worry I could sense in him written across his gorgeous face. I realized my hands were clenched into fists at my sides, and I slowly forced them to relax. Here, at least, I had nothing to fight.
“I’m okay,” I whispered as he brought one hand down to rest on my hip. “Sorry. It’s just sometimes…sometimes the past just won’t stay dead.”
“Then we’ll just have to keep slaying those nightmares together,” he responded.
I smiled at my sweet, scarred giant. His silver gaze locked with mine as he leaned forward and brushed his lips across mine.
He tugged me gently down onto the bed next to him. He wrapped me in his arms and we just lay like that for a long while before finally falling asleep.
I had opened my eyes the next morning only to have my entire field of vision covered by Soma. I tried going over, under, and around, but had been unable to extricate myself from the grip of the sleepy man.
I actually stopped at one point and counted how many arms and legs he had because it seemed as though he had far more than the standard number blocking my path to freedom.
He lay there, face a perfect mask of innocent sleep. But mask it was. Time to pull out the big guns.
It only took a moment of concentration and suddenly my Bonded screeched loudly.
“Ice! No fair! That’s cheating!” he said, laughing and jumping from the suddenly-cold bed.
“All’s fair…” I began, but stopped myself. Neither of us had used the L word yet.
“…In love and war.” he continued, ignoring my hesitation. He reached over and wrapped his arms around me, tugging me back down to the bed.
“You know, I think you are part octopus,” I announced as I lay entangled in his embrace. “I’m not getting out of here any time soon, am I?”
