“Wake… up,” I wheezed, fighting for breath.
The sin-eater’s legs twined around mine, and suddenly the room was spinning as he flipped me to my back, pinning me beneath him. He shouldn’t have been this strong, shouldn’t have bested me without even trying—in his sleep!—but “should’ve” didn’t matter. Only that itwashappening.
Giving up on prying his hand away, I tried bucking him off me, shoving at his chest, but it was no use. It was like he felt no pain. Like he wasn’t inside his body at all…
Black spots began to form in the corners of my vision as my brain screamed for oxygen. “Uly!” I hissed sharply with the last air from my lungs, and it was his nickname, the one I’d been avoiding using, that seemed to break the spell.
Ulysses’ eyes cleared, the black retreating until they were his usual whiskey gold. He immediately let go of me, and I took deep, shuddery breaths, coughing, my throat burning. It was all too much.
When I fell back against the pillow, a gentle touch brushed my cheek, and when I opened my eyes, I found him blinking down at me. “Ruadan? What happened? Are you okay?” He was actually worried about me. I couldn’t remember the last time someone asked me if I was okay.
“I… You…” My voice was raspy, and I didn’t know what to say, how to explain the position we currently found ourselves in. How he’d nearly choked the life from me, but now we were in his bed, and he was straddling me, my hands gripping his hips like I was holding on for dear life—maybe I was.
Emotions were running high, hearts already racing, both of us half naked… It seemed as natural as breathing when he tipped forward, and I surged up to meet him halfway, and suddenly, his lips were on mine, my hands in his hair. I was pretty sure he’d kissed me first, but the question remained. Why was I kissing him back?
Chapter 8
Ulysses
WherewasI?Whowas I? The answers to those questions no longer seemed important.
Was I dreaming? I had to be, because this wasn’t something I did. Invite strangers into my bed? Certainly not, not even when I had an itch to scratch. Grumpy, broody, rugged gods who didn’t trust me? Not a chance! It didn’t matter how sexy they were, that kind of risk was not in my repertoire. But since it was a dream… maybe I could indulge in the fantasy for a little while longer.
He was skilled with that tongue of his, as it slipped past my lips, stroking through my mouth with bold swipes. I whimpered, clinging to him, and even though I was the one on top, he was the one in control. His callused hands roved down my bare back, nails lightly scraping my sensitive flesh, until he reached the waistband of my boxers. They paused, as though considering… Over? Or under?
Under, I thought with all my might.Go under!This was my dream, dammit, and I refused to wake up until after we got to the good stuff.
As though obeying my direction, his fingertips dipped under the elastic, squeezing one whole ass cheek in each palm and using them to direct me, back and forth over that hard bulge beneath me. Oh fuck, this dream was going to be over far too quickly if he kept that up.
Digging my fingers into those lush red curls of his, I devoured him far more thoroughly than any purging I’d ever performed. Instead of drawing out his sin, it felt like I was trying to crawlinsidehim to live under his skin.
Growling, Ruadan clamped one arm around my waist and flipped us like I weighed nothing, so that I was under him, his solid weight pressing me into the mattress as he settled between my thighs. I tried to hook my legs around his waist, but the blanket was tangled around them, as though I’d been thrashing in my sleep. I kicked, trying to detangle myself, but Ruadan chuckled as he pinned my wrists up over my head, thoroughly enjoying having me at his mercy.
“What’s the matter, sin-eater? Not up for a dose of your own medicine?” His beard rasped against my skin as he worked his way down my jaw, sucking at my throat.
His words seemed to penetrate the lust-fueled haze, and I frowned, blinking hard in the darkness, trying to clear my head. “Wait, what medicine?”
“You pinned me down, and now it’s my turn to return the favor. Though I promise you’ll like it when I choke you.” With my wrists still pinned above my head in one of his hands, he drags the other hand down my arm and settled it over my throat, his thumb pressing in just enough to make my head swim, so that when he rolled his hips, the pleasure was all I could feel as it dragged me down. The sound I made was fifty shades of feral.
“I don’t ever want to wake up,” I mumbled, going liquid under his touch.
“This is no dream, Uly. Not anymore,” he said, his lips tickling my collarbone, before he dragged the flat of his tongue all the way up to my earlobe, nipping it sharply.
My eyes flew open, suddenly far too awake. To his credit, as soon as I went statue still beneath him, he drew back, and whatever he saw on my face had him releasing my throat and my wrists. I scrambled out from under him, shoving him away until he was kneeling at the foot of the bed. We were both panting, and awake or not, the urge remained, the darkness inside urging me to bite and claw and claim.
“Not a dream?” I repeated.
“I’m sorry. I thought—” He shook his head, then scraped a hand down his face, sighing, and I swore I did everything in my power not to ogle the massive hard-on his boxer briefs did absolutely nothing to hide. I evenalmostmanaged not to peek at the crown, flushed red and damp with precum, that had managed to evade its constraints above the waistline. “Mind telling me what that was?” he asked, his accent stronger than it was last night.
“You tell me. You started it,” I snapped, forcing my eyes back up to his, blushing fiercely as I cupped my hands over my junk, which was in much the same state as his.
His jaw snapped open, apparently offended. “I didn’t do anything! You were having a nightmare. I just came in here to wake you, and you tried to kill me—or fuck me, I’m a little unclear on which.”
“If that was me trying to kill you, maybe I should try harder,” I muttered.
He arched an eyebrow at me. “I can’t decide if that’s a threat or a pick-up line. Either way, I say bring it on.”
We glared at each other for a moment, before the unexpected humor of the situation seemed to catch up. His lips twitched as he heldback a grin, and a tiny snort slipped out from my lips. Just like that, we ended up both laughing, the tension between us loosening.
