My lips are swollen and tingling when Rune pulls back, and I am left breathless and stunned. His hands rest on either sides of me, and he remains suspended above me, peering down at me with barely leashed desire. “You are unbelievable,” he tells me, laughter evident in his voice.
“You’re welcome,” I reply, trying to shake off the lingering heat. "Are we going to address the issue or pretend it didn't happen?"
His brows rise. “I never asked Gin to spend the night with me. These grounds are not suitable for women. I sent her home.”
A weight I hadn't realized was there lifts from my chest, but I maintain a narrowed gaze. “She sure seemed to have a different idea.” I pout. “You have a thing for lingerie?”
A mischievous smile plays on his lips. “Only if you’re wearing it.”
I shrug, fighting the upward tugging of my lips. “I’ll consider it. Not for you, of course. Might take a stroll around your gardens in it, just because I can.”
He leans forward. “You wouldn’t.”
My gaze is stoic, but my heart races at the rising challenge. “I can, and I will.”
The gleam in his eyes turns into something predatory. A thrill runs through me as he lifts an arm, tucking a loose curl behind my ear and purrs, “Is that a challenge, Red?”
I hold that predatory gaze, unflinching. “You tell me, is it?”
His eyes flare, and all of the ache and sadness is gone, replaced with lethal heat, focused on my moving lips. Struggling to maintain steady breathing, I watch as he lowers his lips to my ear, his voice a seductive whisper, “You want to run a strip show for my men to get even with me, go right ahead. But, I get to see you first.”
How he pieced it together, I don’t know. I’m not a woman that forgives and forgets easily. Not the escapades in the weapon’s cellar. Not the sounds the maids made when he. . .fucked them, knowing I was right at the door, listening, knowing I would find him there. And definitely not the countless times I found him sticking his tongue down Gin’s throat while watching me the entire time.
The thoughts had run through my mind and I’d blurted them, just to get a rise out of him.
But now, I'm flushed all over, my core pulsing with heat. It shouldn’t be this easy for him to get under my skin. I despise how his touch turns me into a vulnerable mess. "I..." I begin, my voice shaky, and I clear my throat before continuing. "I don't understand what you mean."
He catches my earlobe between his teeth, eliciting a muffled sound from me. I feel him press hard against my midsection and my mouth runs dry. “I don’t see how it’s fair that you take a walk with my property on full display, when you won’t let me touch you. So, Astrid, I want a strip tease first. Let’s see if you’re all talk and bluffs.”
How did we even get here?
He rolls off of me, settling at the edge of the bed with his ankles crossed over his knees, propping his head on his fist. His gaze is fixed on me, waiting expectantly. I push myself up on my elbows, befuddled. “You’re being serious?”
“Why? Don’t think you can deliver?”
Sloan purrs, excitement growing, and I growl inwardly. Why did I even start this in the first place? There are only two possible ways this could end, and the both of them have my toes curling and my core clenching.
Standing up, anxiety grips me, sending tremors through my nerves. A strip tease? It wouldn't be my first, but somehow, this feels more significant, like it holds a deeper meaning I can't quite grasp.
As I maintain eye contact and toy with the hem of my top, it dawns on me, startling the shit out of me. If I go through with this, I’m going to have sex with Rune. Not Hekate. Rune. The weight of the realization has my fingers faltering and sweat breaks on my forehead as other parts of me warms up.
I’m not scared. It just feels different. Having sex with Hekate was different—a good kind of different, but with Rune, it means so much more. It’d be our first real ‘consummation’. It’d mean he is finally letting himself go with me, and accepting me. Us. It’d mean I’m letting him in for good, and letting him have my heart, my soul, and my body.
He must see the hesitation in my eyes, because his sly smile is suddenly replaced with concern, and he stands. “If you do not want to—“
I raise a hand, interrupting him. “I want to. Just. . .give me a moment. Sit.”
He observes me keenly, worry etched on his face, but he obeys and settles on the bed once more.
He studies me intently, worry etched on his face, but he complies and settles back on the bed.
Biting down on my lower lip, I slowly undo the fastening of my pants, sliding them off with deliberate slowness, leaving him with a view of my black thong, resting high on my waist and emphasizing every new curve that being with child has endowed me with.
I can't tell if he is breathing. His eyes are fixed on me, unmoving. I run my fingers through my hair, brushing it back to one side, revealing my silhouette. His gaze lingers on my chest, and his eyes darken as he notices my hardened nipples beneath the thick fabric.
My breasts feel heavy under his scrutiny, as if his gaze alone could caress them. My heart pounds, harder and faster, and the heady scent of arousal fills the air. A rush goes through my veins when I notice it isn’t coming from me. I can hear the tightening in his pants as the bulge in it becomes more prominent.
It makes me feel good. Knowing that I have just as much power over him as he does me. Knowing that I can make his hard and needy. Knowing that I am the reason his eyes darken with desire and his lips part with thirst. Thirst for me.
My confidence soars, and I saunter over to where he sits, parting my thighs as I raise my leg, dropping it softly on his lap. “What will it be? Shall I take it off or will you rip it?”
My voice is sultry as hell, and hearing myself speak, each word a seductive purr, increases the tension and heat between my legs. Rune’s fingers rise, trailing a line up my calves, all the while holding my gaze, waiting for a reaction.
I don’t give him that.
His hand glides higher along my thigh, brushing lightly against my core in a tantalizing stroke. My body simultaneously relaxes and tenses, and my breath catches in my throat. "Take it off."
I shy away from him, gradually lifting my top to caress my skin as it ascends. A low groan escapes his lips when my breasts pop out of it, jiggling in the process, and I hurl the shirt across the room once it is off my head.
And then we stare at each other. Rune’s eyes rakes over my body, as if rediscovering me for the first time, and I am surprised it takes him all of three seconds before he pounces on me.
His lips are devouring mine and my back is slamming into the wall as he hoists me up. My fingers rip at his shirt without much thought, and I know I will regret it later because he looked so good in it. When I am done destroying his shirt, my fingers attack his hair, pulling at the silky strands as he rocks his hips against my thighs. I move in tandem, tongue dancing against his in an unnamed dance.
I yearn to remove his trousers. I ache to shed my panties. I crave his tongue on my skin, between my folds, in all the places he's already explored. I surrender, I resist, I fight against him all at once.
His lips leave mine, trailing ravenous kisses along my jawline, my cheeks, my nose, my forehead, my neck. He pants, muttering, “Goddess, you are beautiful.”
My body trembles as his focus shifts to my neck. His tongue and lips do things to me. Sinful things that have me grinding against his erection and moaning so loud, the entire inn could probably hear.
But I can hardly think of that, because Rune moves again and my back hits the mattress. The weight of his body on top of mine is bliss. I feel all of him press against me and I want more. Merely touching him will never be enough. I want to breathe him, wear his skin, lick him, eat him, drink him. . .whatever it takes to truly merge with him and become his.
He moves, I move. He rocks, I grind. We are every bit in synch and when his hands drift to my thong, carefully sliding between my legs, I growl impatiently, “Play later.”
He chuckles against my neck, his warm breath sending shivers down my spine. “Hungry, are we?”
My only reply is reaching for his belt, tearing it off his trousers. He groans in response, his movements seamless as he removes his pants. Before I can fully comprehend the change in our position, I feel his wet tip pressing against my thigh.
I moan, reaching for him, but Rune shifts us once more, and. . .
Now I’m on top. I blink in surprise, gazing down at him His cheeks are flushed and his eyes are feverishly bright. His lips are swollen and there is a small cut stained red. His white hair is spread across the bed, framing his breathtakingly handsome face. “Why?” I ask, feeling stupid as soon as the words fall from my lips.
My hair cascades around us like a curtain, and he delicately tucks it behind my ears, his hands cupping my cheeks. “I am yours, Astrid. This is the only way I can make you truly believe it. By relinquishing control. You are the first and only woman I do this with.”
His words are like honey, sliding down my skin with an intimacy that is unrivalled, and my folds clench, before widening for him. He pushes up, pressing his lips against mine softly as he murmurs those words again. “I love you.”
Before I can respond, his hand slips between us, and a gasp escapes my lips as he enters me. My eyes roll back in sheer ecstasy, my core clenching tightly around him, causing fireworks to explode behind my closed eyelids. Rune growls primally, pushing deeper, filling me to the hilt, venturing into depths I've never known. My mouth waters, my tongue darts out to moisten my lips, as I bite down on them and moan.
I grip his shoulders, nails digging into them as I move on him, rising slowly on his cock and dropping back down while squeezing my inner muscles. He grips my waist, hard, urging me to do it again. And he leans forward, taking my sensitive nipple into his mouth.
His tongue swirls over the puckered crest in the same moment that he thrusts home. I mewl, and my moans after become so consistent, they become a song. I move with him. Up, down, circle. Repeat. He fills me up, matching my force and speed.
Relinquishing control, he had said. This is far from that. This is a claiming. Every inch of me quivers with each thrust, committing to memory just who owns me. I am his. Always have been.
Our bodies slide together in perfect harmony, and the sounds we make, our bodies make with each movement intensifies the pressure building within me.
His grip on my ass tightenly, holding me firmly in place as he pounds into me, pushing me closer to the edge. and I might have been screaming as I crashed, several spasms claiming me. Shivers, shudders, quivers, my body is wrecked by them.
Rune’s head drops back on the bed and he arches as he spills into me, shuddering and thrusting, holding me tightly to his chest.
I go limp against his chest, panting, and we remain that way for several minutes, merely breathing in each other and listening to our racing hearts.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” I tell him after sometime. “I spoke out of turn.”
His fingers massage my scalp, and his other hand caresses my back. “I know. It was my fault. That you thought I wouldn’t want a child with you reflects terribly on me, and how I have treated you. I’m sorry. I never would have annulled the marriage. I had grandmother find you and get you ready specifically for that reason. I had the ball made a compulsory affair, just so you could attend, because I knew you wouldn’t have.”
That piques my interest and I rise from his chest. The slight movement makes him harden inside me again and he turns a bright shade of red when my eyes widen in surprise. “You. . .you planned all of that?”
He nods, but his interest seems to have deviated elsewhere, because he thrusts into me, somewhat playfully, and I know I have no hopes of getting sleep tonight.