I reach for his belt without speaking, fingers working the leather through the metal buckle. The button of his jeans follows, then the zipper, metal teeth parting beneath my fingertips. His scent intensifies as I hook my thumbs in the waistband of his boxers and pull both layers down in one fluid motion.
His cock springs free, already half-hard and thickening by the second. It sits heavy in my palm as I wrap my fingers around the base, angling him toward my mouth.
“You don’t have to—” Rowan starts, but his words cut off on a hiss of breath as I take him between my lips.
His salty-musk taste blooms on my tongue, familiar now after all of our hurried encounters in his car. The velvet-smooth skin stretches over rigid heat as I work his length, the prominent vein on the underside pulsing on my lips.
I catalog his reactions with the same careful attention I use to crack a difficult lock. A twist of my wrist at the base draws a groan from his throat.Flattening my tongue along the underside makes his thighs tense. His thick shaft fills my mouth, the blunt head nudging the back of my throat with each forward motion.
His hand settles on the back of my head, fingers threading through my hair without applying pressure, but I read the message and take him deeper, relaxing my throat to accommodate his size, fighting past the stretch and fullness as he slides past my gag reflex.
Breathing through my nose, I establish a rhythm designed to build him up, give him pleasure, and repay a fraction of what we owe for his protection.
“Fuck,” Rowan breathes above me, his fingers tightening in my hair. “Your mouth…”
I hum around him, sending vibrations through his cock that pull another curse from his lips. His length pulses on my tongue, rock hard now, the tip leaking salt and bitter across my taste buds. I pull back to run the flat of my tongue over the head, collecting the evidence of his arousal before taking him deep again.
My jaw aches from the stretch, but I ignore the discomfort. It’s nothing compared to what he’s given us. Nothing compared to the safety he’s wrapped around Lena, the worries he’s lifted from myshoulders. I can handle a sore jaw and a few minutes on my knees.
I keep my technique consistent, watching for the signs that he’s close, the tightening of his abdomen, the slight tremble in his thighs, the way his breathing turns fast and shallow.
When his hips begin to rock into my mouth, I adjust to match his movements, allowing him to set the pace while maintaining control of pressure and depth.
Rowan cups my chin, tilting my face upward until our stares lock. I don’t break rhythm, maintaining eye contact while continuing to work him with lips, tongue, and hand.
But his brows draw together into a frown as he studies me. “Stop.”
I ignore him, redoubling my efforts. This is what I’m good at. This is what I can give. This is the only currency I have.
His fingers slide to my jaw, applying gentle pressure to the hinge to force me to release him. “I said stop.”
I sit back on my heels, confusion washing through me as he tucks himself back into his boxers, still erect. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No.” Rowan crouches to put us at eye level. “Butthis isn’t what I want from you.”
“I’m good at it,” I counter, confusion mixing with the first stirrings of embarrassment. “I can finish you off quick.”
His hand moves from my jaw to the side of my neck, thumb brushing along my pulse point. “And that’s the problem, precious. You’re approaching this as a transaction. Like you’re paying off a debt.”
Heat spreads up my neck and into my cheeks. “Isn’t that what this is?”
Rowan’s thumb traces my bottom lip, still wet from his cock. “No. That’s not what this is.”
“Then what do you want?” The question scrapes raw in my throat.
He stands, pulling me to my feet in one smooth motion. “I want you in my bed because you want to be there. Not because you think you owe me.”
His hands frame my face, thumbs brushing over my cheekbones. The amber of his irises has shrunk to a thin ring around black pools of his pupils, and his breath comes shallow, jaw tightening as he swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bombing.
“Not like this,” Rowan says, the challenge of the words hanging between us. “Never like this.”
My back hits the mattress as Rowan guides me down, following to cover me in a blanket of heatedmuscle. His body settles between my thighs, not crushing but impossible to ignore. A knot forms in my throat when he stares down at me with hunger that hasn’t diminished despite rejecting what I offered moments before.
“You’re thinking too much,” he murmurs, lips brushing my ear and sending shivers down my neck. “I can see the gears turning.”
I push at his shoulders, not with the real intent to dislodge him but testing his resolve. “I don’t understand what we’re doing.”
“Whatever we want.” His teeth catch my earlobe, the slight pain shooting straight to my groin. “No one can hear us in here, so you don’t have to be quiet.”
