It’s fine, I told myself.Orgasm achieved. Crisis averted. You can rest now.
I did feel exhausted. With the all-consuming need for an orgasm satiated, I was left limp and drained. . . but better. I was hopeful the drug’s effects had dissipated.
I finished quickly and stepped out to find Rowan waiting with a towel, ensuring I could walk without falling. I almost wanted to tell him to stop coddling me, but when I saw him still flushed and visibly hard in his sweats, desire flared again.
I shoved it down ruthlessly.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Tired but better.”
“Let me help.” He scooped me up and carried me back to the bed, where he set me down and dried my hair.
The normalcy of it felt surreal after our moment of shared intimacy. His fingers shifted through my tresses, a reminder of how his touch grounded me.
He kissed my shoulder once more—a slip, it seemed, because he stilled immediately. He mumbled, “Sorry,” then gestured for me to lie down.
That was the second time he’d apologized to me in less than an hour. It unnerved me. It felt unlike Rowan to be so apologetic.He’s worried that he took advantage of me, I suddenly suspected. I hoped I was wrong, because the truth was that Rowan had been nothing short of amazing.
Fresh sheets covered the bed. I realized he’d changed them while I’d been in the shower. I slid under the covers and looked at him expectantly. Rowan turned off the light and moved towards the door.
“Wait,” I said.
His shadow stilled in the doorway. “Yes?”
“Can you,” I paused, uncertain how to ask. “Can we sleep together?”
“I think that would be unwise.” His voice was careful, measured.
“I meant rest. Close our eyes.Literallysleep.”
“Oh.”
“It’s okay, Rowan. I don’t think you’re particularly lucid right now with the absence of blood in your brain.”
His laughter rumbled softly through the darkness between us. “This is true. Are you alright with that?”
“Being cuddled after the best orgasm of my life?” I patted the mattress, the sound carrying across the room. “Yes. Come on. I won’t bite.”
Rowan slid in beside me, and I heard him mutter under his breath. “I would honestly welcome being bitten right now.”
But he didn’t push me for anything.
I turned to my side, and Rowan followed, wrapping his arms around me until I was encased in his warmth. His nose nuzzled against the crook of my neck as he inhaled my scent.
“Is this okay?” I asked.
“No, this is not okay.” His lips pressed against my neck. “This is perfect.” His length was nestled against my ass, but he made no demands.
For once, I felt relaxed and unbearably sleepy. “Rowan.” I yawned, my eyes already drifting closed. “You promise you’re okay with. . . this?”
He was quiet behind me, but I felt his breath hot against my shoulder. “I will never be okay withhowthis came to be. Someone harmed you. There will be retribution for that.”
Retribution. The way he said the word, with such an icy certainty, filled me with a contradictory feeling of comfort and dread.
Rowan continued. “But am I okay withthis?” he asked as he squeezed me against him. “Gods, yes, Violet. You are. . . everything.”
His words slid warm down my chest into my belly, and I smiled. I wrapped my arms around his, where they rested across my ribcage.
