He walks over to the other side of the bed and slips in, joining me. Hugging me. “I promise.”
A kiss to my forehead.
“Go to sleep, little moon.”
To my nose. My cheek.
To my eyelids that have fluttered shut again.
“You don’t have to worry about anything.” His vow follows me into my dreams, a rugged, protective echo. “You’re safe. You’re perfect. You’re mine.”
21
DUNCAN
Nothing has ever felt as right as this.
Waking with Elowyn, my arm draped over her waist as I spoon her to my chest. Her small frame is tucked into me, warm, while her breathing is slow and steady.
For a moment, I let myself stay there. Still. Quiet.
Until doubts slip in.
A low hum beneath the calm, insisting this can’t be real. That a life this peaceful, this intimate, doesn’t belong to me.
I’ve spent too long hurting, hating, and mourning to believe happiness is something I’m allowed to hold on to.
But then my hand skims along her bare stomach. My lips press to her shoulder.
The heat of her, the weight of her against me is undeniable.
She’s here. And it’s not because she has to be.
She chose me.
These thoughts repeat in my head, loud and steady, until they’re drilled into me.
Finally, a smile curves my lips up. For once, my heart lowers its guard, no longer bracing for the next blow.
Except peace isn’t all I feel.
With both of us naked, my erection pulses against her ass. My whole body hums, begging for a deeper connection.
Needing more of Elowyn, my palm slides higher. I mold the perfect weight of her breast in my palm, my fingers playing with her, rousing a pink nipple while Elowyn doesn’t stir.
My teeth grind, itching to bite, bruise, mark what’s mine.
Not yet.
A sick part of me likes her like this. Asleep, pliant, unable to stop me.
Blood rushes south, thickening my already straining dick. When she doesn’t wake up, even when I whisper her name, this need to be buried inside her becomes the fucking loudest.
A beating drum. A demand that I slip my hand lower, lower, lower between her thighs where she’s naked.
Goddammit, she’s soft. She’s wet too, maybe even dreaming about us. My hips buck on their own, my cock begging to stuff that hot, soaking hole.
Driven by my most base, primal instincts, I nudge her top leg farther apart, easing her open. I fist my length, lining myself up with her, before sliding the pulsing, leaking head of my cock inside her.
