“My turn,” Vie growled. Grabbing me, he rolled us over, so he was on top. He made me gasp, then moan as he started thrusting.
My orgasm made my body tighten around him. His magic thrummed through both of us, building and building.
My eyes shut, and I wrapped my legs around him, holding on. My second orgasm washed over me, a wave pulling me under. My chest tightened, and for a moment, I couldn’t pull in any air.
Vie’s strong arms were wrapped around me, squeezing tight as he pounded into me. It didn’t matter, I couldn’t get any air into my lungs. He was putting pressure on me from the outside, and the magic-laced climax was pressing from the inside.
Pleasure held back the panic, and I relaxed into possible death. What did it matter when I was getting exactly what I asked for? I didn’t feel numb any more.
Blackness ate my vision, making it impossible to focus on anything. Everything around me got hazy, and it almost felt like I was floating above the bed.
Vie cried out and jerked a few more times inside me. A last powerful shock of magic plowed through me. It pushed the last of my breath out in a gasp.
Everything froze for a moment. My vision completely disappeared, and my brain was turning over slowly. I couldn’t make my voice work, not even to moan.
“Breathe.”
I couldn’t tell if Vie said that, or I heard him in my head, but that single word helped me open my mouth and suck in a lungful of air. Everything happened at once. My oxygen-starved brain urged me to keep breathing, my body went limp with relief, and we both seemed to crash back to the bed.
Had we been floating in the air?
Vie was quick to roll us onto our sides so his weight wasn’t on top of me. Then he tucked me against him, both of us breathing hard.
“I want to do that again,” I wheezed out once I could form words. “But not tonight.”
“Anything you want,” he agreed, his words sounding more like a vow than a simple promise.
With his comforting words in my ears, sleep was able to pull me under with no trouble, and if I did dream, I didn’t remember it.
Chapter 15
Willow
Vie was being very secretive about where we were going and why. We’d picked Jina up from her hotel, and now I was following Vie’s directions without knowing our destination.
“Come on, Vie-man, give me a hint,” Jina said, throwing herself into the game of trying to get information out of Vie. She was doing much better today, but I knew she was probably pretending, like I was.
I hadn’t told her about the shop yet. I wasn’t ready. I’d probably never be ready. How long could I say I was taking the day off before she noticed?
“I know! You’re a mad scientist, and you're taking us to your hidden laboratory,” Jina said.
“I’m not a scientist,” Vie said. His tone was neutral, but I could feel his amusement at Jina’s crazy guesses.
“I noticed you didn’t dispute themadpart,” Jina said with a laugh. She was buckled in but still bounced around in her seatlike a toddler. This was manic Jina. It happened sometimes when she was trying hard not to get sucked into sadness. “Maybe you’re taking us to an abandoned amusement park.”
“Why would I do that?” he asked, sounding genuinely puzzled.
“So we could scream and break things without getting in trouble?” Jina guessed. “Or maybe you’ve got a bag of spray cans in the trunk so we can tag some shit. I’ve always wanted to do that.”
“If you want to break things or spray paint walls, I’ll arrange something for you,” he said. “But no, we aren’t going to any abandoned places.”
Jina rhythmically tapped her fingers on the window. “Then we’re going to your yacht, right? We’re going to sail to Catalina Island for the day.”
“We can do that tomorrow,” Vie said. “But that’s not the plan for today.”
Jina kept throwing guesses at Vie, but he didn’t reveal anything. Their banter was making me feel like things were almost normal.
I was looking forward to spending the day with my best friend and my soulmate. It felt important that I keep eyes on both of them, as if they could be taken away from me like my apartment and shop.
