Snorting, she follows me, taking it all in. “I’m about eighty percent sure it’s bioluminescent algae. Should be safe enough to swim in, but even if our systems are stronger than a human’s, I’d think we’d still get sick from drinking it.”
Satisfied that there’s nothing hiding in here, I raise an eyebrow. “Crash here for the night or keep going?”
––––––––
“Definitely crash, I’mexhausted,” she declares, eyeing the water skeptically before she quickly touches her finger to the tip of her nose. “Nose goes for who has to dip a toe in to see if it melts off.”
Chuckling, I kick off my shoes. “I see how it is.” Unbuttoning my jeans, I shake my head at her. “Throw me to the wolves, why don’t you, you cheater.”
Smirking, she crouches down beside me as I slowly ease into the water, gripping the rocky ledge tightly until I see how deep it is and if I’ll need to jump back out. “I thought we were playing the honesty game? Where we admitted we were terrible people and embraced it.”
My toes finally touch the bottom when the water is up to my collar. Testing the waters, literally, I slowly spin in place before lifting an arm out of the water to see if my skin’s going to start burning. “And what would you have done if my skin melted off, hmm?”
Rising up with renewed enthusiasm at the thought of being able to get half-assedly clean, she starts stripping. “Hey, I said toe, not jump in. And I’m not a monster; I’d have dragged you back to the cave entrance and flung you into the ocean to rinse off.”
Folding my arms on the ledge, I shamelessly stare as she gets naked. “You’re too good to me, whatever would I do without you?”
Sliding into the water, her eyes close with a blissful sigh before mirroring my position beside me. “Be soaking in a real bath and watching porn on your phone?”
Chuckling, I rest my cheek on my arms, amazed at how something as simple as a potentially hazardous bath has made her so content. These past six days have been hell, her life has completely exploded yet again, and here she is, happily relaxing beside me instead of breaking down when she has a list of reasons a mile long why she should.
A few minutes pass in amicable silence before she says out of the blue, “You don’t really believe that, by the way.”
“Hmm?”
She doesn’t even open her eyes, a small smirk playing at the corner of her lips. “That we’d never have met. Say I’d embraced things with Malcolm from the get go. He’d still have wanted a guard with us when we eventually attempted leaving the building. He picked Kasen because he trusted him the most, and there was likely a subconscious reason for that, come to think of it. Then say Kasen and I hit things off without issue; he’d have wanted to introduce us to each other eventually because you’re his best friend.”
I steal a lock of her wet hair, twisting it around my finger. “But it all worked out, even if there were a few bumps along the way.”
She puts a little too much effort in trying to sound nonchalant. “Still, it would be interesting to see how things could have played out if no one had to worry about me being one wrong step away from breaking.”
"This week hasn’t been rough enough for you, is that what you're hinting at?" Biting back a grin, I curl my finger to gently tug her hair, urging her closer. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were trying to seduce me with all this talk of not being breakable.” Leaning in, I whisper, “Was I right when I told Kase you would’ve fucked him on the beach even without the mate-inspired bloodlust?”
Her cheeks heat, but she doesn’t pull away. “Maybe I’m just trying to push your buttons because I’m bored. You’re easy to rile up.”
Losing the fight, I smile into her neck before kissing her pulse, caging her back against the rock. “Same thing.” Slowly, I slide one hand down her side before caressing her thigh, encouraging her closer. “And that wasn’t a no. So tell me-” abruptly, I tighten my grip and jerk her leg up to my hip “- if you hadn’t been holding back, what would you have done the day we met?”
Her nails dig into my shoulder and ribs as her attention flits quickly down to my mouth and back. She doesn’t immediately answer, so I wrap her leg around my waist to free up my hand. Flexing my hips, I pin her against the rock as I wait to see if she’s going to play along, tracing her jaw with a single finger.
Squirming against me, she swallows her nerves. “I wouldn’t have stopped you when you kissed me.”
My grin spreads even wider. “You know me too well. Because you’re damn right; the second I saw you, all I could think about was crossing the room and kissing the shit out of you until you were as hooked on me as I was on you from that first breath.”
Growing bolder, she slides her hand down from my ribs to my stomach, working it between us until she’s gripping my rapidly hardening cock. “I expect Kasen or Malcolm would have torn you off of me and taken a swing at you on principle.” Pumping me once, she rolls her thumb over the head teasingly. “But when you said that you were mine, I’d have had to make sure.”
Gently, I press my lips against hers, murmuring, “I distinctly remember saying you were mine, not the other way around.”
“Oh, not in this reality. In this one, you definitely threw your heart at my feet on day one; no reservations or hold outs for either of us.”
I can’t stop my groan as she rubs the tip of my cock slowly over her slit again and again, proving she’s right; I’m a fucking goner for this woman. “And how would you be sure?”
Her lips skim my neck with the faintest pressure. “I’d have to taste you.”
My breathing starts to become embarrassingly erratic. “Do it.”
Hesitating, she breaks the spell we’ve fallen under. “You haven’t eaten much today and there’s nothing to hunt here. I’m good for another day.”
Reaching between us, I cover her hand with my own, forcing her to guide me inside of her. “You want me to stop holding back? Then you have to, too. Let out the anger you’re suppressing at the world under all of that fear. Hurt me. Punish me instead. Let me prove to you that not only can I take it, but Ilike it.Want everything you have to give.”
