“You want a new memory? I’ll give you one you’ve never had,” I say, my voice low.
Then I lay her back and lower myself between her legs.
“Teo,oh gods,wait,” she says.
I pause, looking back up at her.
“We’ve been traveling.”
“Yes.”
“I’ve only had time to clean with a washcloth and herbs,” she says.
“Perfect. Can I continue?”
Another second passes while I look at her large eyes. “You don’t have to do this. What if… what if you don’t like it.”
I stroke her thigh. “Estela, this is instinct.I will like it.”
“But I—all right.”
“Thank you.” I growl and then tear the remains of her ridiculous costume apart with my teeth. She yelps and then gasps when my tongue makes contact with her skin.
She’s sweet, and wet, and I languish both her cries and the way she squirms and grips my hair. I work slowly, memorizing the way her belly muscles tighten and twitch. Her need is directly tied to my own, and when her release comes, my senses are overwhelmed completely.
“My star,” I growl, coming up for air while she pants. “You are the most perfect creature who ever has and ever will walk the face of the earth.”
Her eyes are glassy and contented, and the worry lines that have marred her skin are now smoothed over. The pain forgotten, if just for a moment.
But I’m not done. I want to seal this fire between us, to plunge into her softness and feel her next release shoot me into the heavens. It isn’t until she nods that I realize I accidentally sent that thought directly to her mind.
Her expression softens impossibly further, and it’s as if a part of her is mended at seeing what I saw when we came together for the first time.
My clothes are discarded in a matter of moments, and she wraps her legs around me as I lift her up to take her to the water and wash away any trace of Zlosa.
After two steps, she freezes and breaks our kiss. She looks down at the water and holds her breath.
I feel the panic rising up inside of her, and it almost shocks me. It’s equal parts exhilarating and heartbreaking to be so close to her emotions once more.
“What’s wrong?” I ask as she stands there, frozen in terror.
Then she starts to shake.
“They… they used water to hurt me. It felt like I was drowning every day.” Her breath grows increasingly shallow, and the moment retreats as the passion is doused.
“Sh, sh,” I coax, cradling my naked mate to my chest. “All is well. We don’t need to go near the water. Not now.”
Her silent trembling continues for a few more moments as I try to relax her with the rhythmic rise and fall of my chest.
“Would you like to go back to camp?” I ask.
She pulls back.
“But you—” she reaches down to grasp my cock, but I bat her hand away.
“Later,amor?2.”
“Later,” she whispers the word as if it were the sweetest promise I’d ever made.
