Seraphina heard him get dressed, walk into the room and feed wood into the fire. He waited, hesitated, hovered... until he was too tired to resist the temptation of the bed. The mattress dipped under his weight as he lay down with his back to hers. He was rigid, his breaths coming in fast and sharp, and her own breathing picked up the pace at his closeness. Was he upset with her? She was upset with him
No, she was upset with herself for having put herself out there when their relationship was clearly not of that nature.
They lay like that for what felt like an hour, neither of them able to shut off their mind. She stubbornly pressed herself to the wall because his significant weight positioned on the edge of the mattress created a valley between them that invited her to roll toward him. Exhaustion won, and she started to drift off. She was hanging between sleep and wakefulness when he shifted, turned onto his back, then toward her.
“I didn’t mean to be harsh,” he said.
Seraphina felt the pressure of his wide hand on her shoulder, and when he squeezed, that woke her up more than his apology.
“Maybe you’re right, and I am afraid of you. Afraid of what you might want from me.”
“I will never ask for anything you don’t wish to give,” she said.
“That’s the thing...”
He inhaled deeply, and when he released the air, Seraphina felt it on her nape. He was so close to her, a few more inches, and she’d feel his chest press against her back. His hand moved from her shoulder to her head, and he started playing with her hair, twirling a lock around his fingers. She bit her lower lip trying to suppress a groan.
“I’m afraid that you will ask, and I will... I will do it, because I’ve been dreaming, imagining...”
“What?”
“I can’t tell you. I won’t.”
“Tell me the most innocent thing you’ve imagined.”
He hesitated, as he always did. She waited, feigning patience. He was skittish, still, but his hand didn’t stop moving, caressing her hair, and she chose to take it as a good sign.
Rune inched closer.
His shin touched the back of her leg, and she couldn’t help it. She pressed back into him. He tensed, she held her breath, but he didn’t pull away. The top of his chest met her shoulder blades, she melted into him further, and his hand dropped on the bed, inches from her breasts. His arm was draped over her, his chin resting atop her head.
“I imagined holding you like this,” he whispered.
“Then do. Hold me like this.”
“All right. But don’t ask me for more.”
“And if I do?”
He let out a groan that sounded equally hungry and dangerous. It vibrated through Seraphina’s body in a sinfully delicious way, making her squeeze her legs together. There was a very specific spot she would’ve loved to rub right now.
“I will do whatever you want. But I shouldn’t, because it wouldn’t be fair to you. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you, I think. You can’t see me, so you don’t know. If you knew, you wouldn’t want anything to do with me. You wouldn’t want to be touched by these hands...”
“I would. I do,” she keened.
“No, Seraphina.” He wrapped his arm tightly around her, tucking his hand between her shoulder and the pillow. “You wouldn’t.”
Arguing with him was pointless. Tonight, they weren’t going to get anywhere if she insisted, so she chose to revel in the feel of his massive body enveloping her, keeping her warm andpulsating with want that was frustrating, yet also pleasurable. She listened to his breathing even out until he was asleep. She followed.
Hours later, what woke her was the hardness pressed against her lower back. The room was still dark, the dawn outside heavy and gloomy. Rune was sleeping soundlessly, but there was a particular part of his body that was wide awake. More than awake, alert when she rolled her hips gently and felt him twitch.
Something pulled tight in her solar plexus. The sensation intensified until all her organs seemed to tighten and flutter, and below her waist, everything turned to liquid. She ached, gushed, and felt wetness slick out of her to dampen the fabric of her chemise that was bunched up between her legs. She rubbed her thighs together, which made her hips shift back and nest into the curve of his pelvis. The length of his cock was trapped between them, engorged and straight along her spine.
Rune’s hand moved from where he’d held her all night, pulling free like she’d burned him. It drew over her body and stopped atop her hip, where he gripped her and stilled her.
“Seraphina...”
She froze, waiting to see what he’d do. Was he going to flee again? Turn away from her and not look at her until he worked up the courage to apologize?
