When she comes, her hand knots tight in my hair, and I feel the tremor that runs through her entire body. The soft gasp that escapes her lips, my name falling from her mouth like a prayer.
I stay there for a moment, pressing gentle kisses to her inner thigh, savoring the way she shivers at the contact. When I finally look up, she’s watching me with a satisfied smile that makes my chest tight with something that might be love or might be worship. Maybe both.
“I love it when you’re bossy,” I say, grinning up at her.
She laughs softly, the sound rich and satisfied. “Then you’ll love me even more by the time the Council arrives.”
Something about the way she says it makes my stomach flutter—not with excitement, but with something like unease. Like there’s meaning layered beneath the words that I’m missing.
But then she’s pulling me up to kiss her, and whatever I felt dissolves under the press of her mouth against mine.
I eventually slip out of bed, pulling my shirt back on and trying to shake off the post-sex haze. My body feels loose and satisfied, but my mind is spinning from what just happened. Not just the sex—though that was incredible—but the whole thing. The way she handled Thane’s interruption like it was nothing. The casual way she dismissed him. The authority in her voice when she talked about the Council.
When did she become so… commanding?
The kitchen seems like a good idea—water, maybe something to eat, something to ground myself back in reality. The sanctuary is quiet at this hour, most people asleep, but there’s always someone awake. Night shift rotations, insomniacs, people with nightmares.
I’m halfway down the hall when I nearly collide with Wes coming around the corner.
“Shit, sorry—” I start, then stop when I get a good look at him.
His hair is disheveled, shirt wrinkled like he threw it on in a hurry. There’s something different about his face too—a looseness around his eyes, like tension that’s finally been released. And he smells like…
Oh.
The realization hits me like a freight train, and suddenly I’m very aware of how I must look. Hair messed up from her fingers, lips probably still swollen, the faint scent of her perfume clinging to my clothes.
We stare at each other for a beat too long.
“Late night?” Wes asks, and there’s something almost amused in his voice.
“Yeah, you could say that.” I clear my throat, feeling heat creep up my neck. “You too, apparently.”
His mouth quirks up at one corner. “Something like that.”
We’re both trying so hard to be casual about this, but there’s no hiding what we’ve both been doing. The evidence is written all over us—the satisfied exhaustion, the lingering flush, the way we’re both avoiding direct eye contact.
“So…” I trail off, not sure what the protocol is here. Do we compare notes? Pretend this isn’t awkward as hell? Make jokes about sharing?
“She’s different lately,” Wes says quietly, and there’s something careful in his tone. “More… confident.”
“Yeah.” I nod maybe too eagerly. “She knows what she wants now. It’s incredible.”
“Incredible,” Wes echoes, but there’s a flicker of something in his expression I can’t read.
“I mean, she used to be so hesitant about everything,” I continue, because talking feels better than standing here in loaded silence. “Now she just takes what she wants. It’s like she finally stepped into who she’s supposed to be.”
Wes nods slowly. “Right. Who she’s supposed to be.”
There’s something in the way he says it that makes me pause. Like he’s testing the words, seeing how they taste.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Fine.” He runs a hand through his already-messed hair. “Just… tired.”
“Right. Well.” I gesture vaguely toward the kitchen. “I was just going to grab some water. You want anything?”
“I’m good. Thanks though.”
