The thought has me moving, working myself up and down. He watches, keeping that intense gaze on me as he holds back. I can tell because his fingers flex where they’ve gripped me, as if it’s an effort to keep his touch light. I grin, slowing, tightening on him as I trail two fingers around my breast, down my navel, and to my clit.
His groan is nearly a growl as he traces the movement with his eyes. My breath hitches at the first light touch, and his hands tighten, but I don’t go faster. I want him in a frenzy, and I’m close, judging by the way his attention flicks to my fingers, to my face, to my bouncing breasts.
“Odi.” There’s a touch of warning in his voice, and it sends a thrill of sensation up my spine. I toss my head back at the feeling, arching as I move, basking in the feel of him, in the slow swirl of my own fingers. But instead oftaking control like I dare him to, he loosens one hand to tease and pinch my nipple, and I nearly collapse right then. Intent leaves my mind, and all that’s left is this feeling that finally drags us under.
“Yes,” he says, his voice like gravel. “That’s it. Just like that, little doe.” I speed up at his encouragement, chasing the way his voice vibrates through my body. “I want to watch you break for me.”
The tension levels to a higher, needy baseline and I cry out, my breath coming in groaning pants now. Finally, his hands wrap my hips with all the strength in them, and suddenly he’s moving with me in perfect rhythm, grinding us together with all the fluid power he has.
“Rune, I—” My breath hitches as he cants his hips at the perfect angle, pushing me higher with every stroke.
“I can feel that,” he says. He doesn’t waver. Doesn’t push for more. He works the angle till I’m soaking him. Until there’s no thought left in me. My cries are wordless, formless, and my legs are shaking before he has mercy and speeds the pace to near punishing. All I can do is hold on while a wave of building heat spirals from my core and wraps up my body like a vise. Every part of me burns. I’m lost to it. The bed begins to creak, the bolts that hold it to the ship loosening enough that the bedhead begins to rock against the wall. If Rune is worried the crew will hear, he says nothing, only thrusting harder while he holds me still, my knees buried into the blankets on either side of his hips
“Look at me,” he says. I do, and the fierce need on his face sends me over the edge. I cry out as it takes me, sweeping the world away for white-hot bliss. Rune doesn’t stop. He ridesit out until I’ve returned, and then his talons thread into the hair at the base of my neck and pull tight, sending my face up and the rest of me arching for him. “Again.” The growl settles somewhere in my bones. Air isn’t enough as the command pulses through my core and the pressure starts to build, as if he alone can sway it. His chest is sweat-slicked beneath my fingers, but he doesn’t vary, just presses his thumb to my clit and rubs in tight circles. “Again, Odi,” he groans as I begin to tighten for him.
“Yes—” I say to the ceiling, breathless, trying to let him know I’m rising fast. Trying to let him know that between his cock, thumb, and the grip in my hair I didn’t stand a chance. “Don’t stop, Rune. Please—”
I may fracture apart this time. I may break into a million little pieces and never form together again. The sensation builds fast, and goes higher, then higher still. I grit my teeth, crying out as he hits a stride that tells me he’s past the point of no return.
“Rune.”
“Come, Odi.”
“Rune—” My voice cuts off as the orgasm barrels through me, taking my breath. Rune cries out as I clench around him, and delicious heat fills me as he comes. We ride the sensation together, then slow to a stop.
His grip in my hair falls away, and I let my head drop forwards. His broad chest heaves beneath me. For a moment, our gazes lock, something vulnerable and impossible threading between us. Then he smirks, eyes glinting, and I can’t pin down the edges of my smile. My entirebody thrums, alive with something I didn’t know existed. His attention skirts down over the sweat on my skin, and he starts to harden inside me again.
“Still thinking you’ll get rid of me after we get the treasure?” I croon.
He pulls me closer, burying his face in my hair. “I think I plan to spend the next few days convincing you to stay.”
YOU’RENOT HIM. YOU’LL NEVER BE HIM
37
RUNE
Warm sunlight pours through the round window beside the bed like molten gold. It runs over the rivets in the fabric, pooling around our bodies. Odi’s soft breath caresses my chest in her peaceful sleep. She’s been in my arms since sundown. Spending a night of bliss exploring each other’s bodies hadn't been at the forefront of my mind when we first came back to the ship, but the moment my feet hit the deck, I needed sleep and to have Odi wrapped in my arms, and I have no intention of moving from my bed any time soon. I don’t even remember when I fell asleep, only waking when the sound of that wretched bird became too loud to possibly ignore.
Soft, cotton sheets mould to the shape of us entwined together. I can feel the beat of her heart against my chest. It’s slow and steady. Like the ocean gently lapping at the side ofThe Gilded Hart. I can’t recall a time that I have ever felt this relaxed. I feel as if I could lay in bed forever . . . and that never happens.
I lightly trace a finger up and down her arm, watching goose bumps appear on the surface of her skin in my wake.
How did we get so tangled together? And what do I do now, tell her I love her, only to let her go?
Dark brown waves of hair sprawl over her sun-kissed skin. Glistening like melted chocolate. With a soft sigh, she nuzzles into the crook of my arm further and I catch a waft of her scent. Fresh spring blossoms in a fruit orchard, mixed with the scent of my soap. She reminds me of a meadow I saw once on the mainland. The rolling green hills were covered in low growing wild flowers bathed in dappled sunlight.
She feels so lovely in my arms that I can’t help but slowly shift my weight so I’m on my side looking down at her. Then I begin to trace faint kisses across her collar bone until the skin melts into the mound of her supple breasts that lay bare in the sun, beckoning me to nuzzle my nose into them. Odi stirs gently by the time I reach her navel.
Her hand finds the top of my head, then I shiver as her fingers dig into my hair, nails dragging across my scalp. “Why are you awake?” she softly moans. “It’s too early.”
I smile, pressing another kiss to her stomach before moving my attention to her face. She giggles softly as I pepper more kisses over her eyelids, and down the tip of her nose. “Hard to sleep when there’s a viper in my bed.”
She pulls back, attention caught on the words. Her lips part, but before she has time to respond I claim them with mine, pulling her closer into my chest. Once I’ve kissed her soundly, I pull back. “Only because you’re cool to the touch, and being with you feels dangerous . . .and exciting.”
Her umber eyes squint, but a smile dances on her lips. “Ass,” she murmurs before pushing me flat so she can lay across my chest, resting her chin on her hand.
The sun gleams behind her, dusting the edges of her silhouette in gold. With one hand behind my head, I reach the other out to tuck loose strands of her glossy hair behind an ear. I’ve memorised the shape of her now, but there are still so many parts of her I’ve yet to discover. “Tell me about your mother.”
