“Good.” I gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “Emery and I will check the common areas, ask around. Someone might’ve seen something.”
River’s gaze flickered between us, gratitude mingling with the lingering fear. “Thank you,” he murmured, the vulnerability in his voice tugging at my heart.
“Hey, no thanks needed,” Emery replied, his smile gentle. “You’d do the same for us.”
“First, we need backup. Let’s grab Noah,” I suggested, knowing that, if anything, Noah would help calm River down and inject a slice of humor.
“Good idea,” River replied, the panic in his eyes beginning to subside.
PART 2
NOAH
I took a quick glance at the clock on the bedside table.
Plenty of time.
I was spread out on the bed like an offering, limbs tethered to the posts with silken restraints I’d found in the back of a kitschy adult store in Lahaina. The ties were a soft contrast to the firmness of Lior’s touch, sending shivers down my spine.
“More,” I whispered, never above begging, as Lior’s tongue traced the sensitive expanse of skin behind my knees, working its way up my thighs with purposeful patience.
“You taste delicious, baby,” he said, his voice a low growl that vibrated through me. “Like saltwater and sex.”
I closed my eyes. “That’s because you fucked me three ways into this morning before I died last night.”
“I must not have done a very good job if you begged me for more the moment you opened your eyes this morning.”
“Quite the opposite. You’re so good, I can’t get enough. Maybe you should try not being so good at sex.” I yipped when I felt a bite on my ass cheek. “I take it back. Please don’t ever be bad at sex because I really love it. With you. And I really love you.”
He chuckled. “I love it when you beg like this, Noah.” And then, with no more preamble than the tightening grip of his hands on my hips, he opened my ass cheeks and dove in, his tongue finding that spot that unraveled me completely.
My breath hitched, my body arching into the sensation as pleasure coiled tight within me. The world outside the four walls of our hotel room faded to nothing. There was only here, now, the unyielding press of his mouth, the sweet tension urging me toward that precipice.
“God, Lior…” The name fell from my lips like a prayer. This man knew exactly how to break me into little pieces, like the shards of glass from his stained-glass workshop.
The second release hit me harder than the first, a rush of white-hot intensity that left me gasping, shattered in the most exquisite way.
As the waves of ecstasy ebbed, leaving me spent and vulnerable, I let out a laugh. “Hotel sex,” I managed between ragged breaths, “is still the best sex in the world.”
Lior chuckled, his amusement warm against the damp skin of my thigh. “Only the best for you, baby,” he said, untangling me from my binds with gentle efficiency, his eyes holding mine with the kind of love I was still getting used to receiving.
He scooped me into his arms and pulled the bed covers over us.
Our morning might have been steeped in hedonism, but it was the quiet moments I spent in his embrace that meant everything to me.
“We should get ready so we’re not late,” he said.
“Hmm…” That was all he was getting from me after destroying my ability for cognitive activity.
He pressed his fingers against my sides, tickling me.
“Damn you. Can a guy not enjoy a moment of peace in his husband’s arms?”
Lior hooked his thumb under my chin to make me look up at him. “It was your third moment of peace that brought us here.”
I shrugged. “What can I say? You make me horny.”
Before Lior could say anything, there was an insistent knock on the door. We looked at each other.
