Her hips rolled, trying to get him deeper. Trying to appease that ache that hovered above the pain. A low chuckle echoed from his throat. “Fuck my hand like you mean it.”
Heat flooded Thalia, pushing the pain back even more. Her hips moved in earnest, just as his teeth tugged at her nipple—
Pleasure exploded through her, and Thalia nearly wept.
Her skin tingled, the pain no more than a buzz now spreading through her body, but it still hummed on the edges of her mind.
“Cassius,” she moaned, her throat sore.
The pressure left her shoulders, leaving her trembling arms free.
He removed his fingers, and Thalia nearly cried out again until her body was tugged to the edge of the bed.
Her eyes flew open, and she only caught sight of Cassius’s dark stare before he lowered his mouth to her aching core.
Thalia groaned, fingers twisting in the sheets as Cassius’s tongue slid between the folds of her sex.
He moved her legs, placing them over his shoulders, and Thalia panted, his tongue plunging into her with just as much fervor as his fingers.
She could barely think over the feeling of him between her legs. His tongue worshiped her sex until it throbbed and pulsed. One hand tangled in his hair, pressing his face into her.
“Cass,” Thalia ground out, her pleasure building.
Then his fingers slipped inside just as he took her clit between his teeth.
Thalia screamed as she came, his tongue chasing away the last of the pain that racked her body.
It felt as though a lifetime passed before the waves slowed, and his fingers slipped out.
Thalia slumped against the mattress, the pain ebbing away like water along the shore.
Cassius pressed his lips to the soft inside of her thigh.
“Cass?” she mumbled. Already her lids were growing heavy, tiredness wringing her out as thoroughly as his tongue had.
“Yes?”
But whatever she was going to say didn’t come. Not as exhaustion swept her away in its current, his name still posed on her lips.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Thalia took a deep breath, her eyelids fluttering open.
She blinked, taking in the grayish dawn bleeding into the room. Birds chirped outside her window. Had it all been a dream?
Thalia shifted and sucked in a sharp breath. The dull twinge coming from her neck said otherwise, as did the pleasant ache between her thighs. She rolled over and her heart squeezed.
Cassius sat in one of the armchairs in the room, his head propped in his fist. His chest rose and fell deeply, although his brow was still furrowed, even in sleep.
The sight made the back of her throat tighten.
As if she’d swallowed too loudly, his eyes flew open, and he sat up, suddenly alert. Then his gaze settled on hers.
They stared at each for a moment. Some thread stretched between them, pulling taut. Thalia swallowed once more, blinking her eyes rapidly. She pushed herself to a sitting position and groaned.
Cassius was immediately there, propping up a pillow behind her back. “Easy,” he said, his voice soft. “Your body will need to rest.”
Thalia stared up at him as he finished adjusting the pillows, then stepped back. She didn’t know what to say, how to act.
