For a long moment, he simply stared at me until he finally let out a shaky laugh. It did nothing to mask the raw pain and uncertainty coating his words. “And here I was asking for you to tell me about how much you adored my cock.”
My answering smile was soft. Banter between us had always been easy. But this moment was so much bigger than that.
“I need you, Rorik. Just you. Nobody else. I am irrevocably yours.” Pressing my lips to his, I focused on our heartbond and let my emotions flood toward his consciousness. I wanted him to feel the truth of my words. I needed him to realize that this wasn’t some fleeting decision. I’d been drawn to him from the moment I’d laid eyes on him. Sure, there were times when I wanted to smack him into oblivion—and there was no doubt in my mind that would still be part of our future—but there was no one else who made me feel as safe as he did. As cared for. As loved.
A tear slipped down his cheek, and I brushed it away with my knuckles. “Edira...” He spoke softly, as if every syllable were a weighted thing he could barely convince himself to say. He groaned as he pushed into me, all the way to the base. Every glorious, thick inch of him. With him fully seated inside, I wrapped my legs around his waist and caged him there. For a minute, he didn’t move, but the moment I rocked my hips into him was the moment he let go.
A deep, guttural sound rumbled from his chest, and he wrenched his fingers in my hair at the base of my neck and tugged. Hard. A gasp shot through me, and he kissed my exposed neck as he began to pump into me. Stars bloomed across my vision. He’d spent so long bringing me to the edge of pleasure that I could already feel it building to a head within me. Each stroke was kindling to the fire surging through my veins. His other hand shifted to my thigh, and he gripped me tighter. Pulled me in close. Angled my hips in such a way that somehow let him delve even deeper.
“Rorik,” I moaned, chest heaving. He caught my nipple with his teeth and sucked on it. The ache within me coiled tighter. I needed him to be the reason I came undone. Now. Always.
“I can feel you tightening around me,” Rorik whispered into my ear. “You’re so damn wet for me. I can hardly stand it.”
I dragged my nails down the length of his back. Sank my teeth into the curve of his neck and shoulder. Claimed him in every fucking way possible. I was his, but I so badly wanted him to be mine.
“You’re allowed to come now, Edira.” His thrusts grew harder, faster, and he abandoned my thigh to press his thumb against my clit. “It’s time for you to scream my name so loud that you never forget it. Because no one will ever worship you as much as I do. No one will ever please you as well as I can. No one.”
I shattered into a million blissful pieces. He was so deep inside, his words heated in my ear, that I had no chance of holding out any longer. All the buildup from earlier exploded in a rush, and I lost control of my lungs. I screamed as my orgasm hit with such force that a tingling numbness invaded my limbs. His name was all I could say. All I wanted to say. I’d anchored myself to his back with my nails and shuddered so deeply that I knew I’d broken skin. But he didn’t care. He only slammed into me harder and caught the tail end of his name escaping my lips with his mouth.
“Fuck, Edira,” he groaned. The tremors of my orgasm were still coursing through my body. My ache had finally been sated, and yet I couldn’t get enough. The way he said my name, the feel of him still driving into me... I was intoxicated by the very feel of his body. By his presence. By the quirk of his lips and the banter we shared. By the way he wanted to protect me, even when it would’ve cost him his life, his chance at love.
Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes, and I unwrapped my legs from his waist. “Rorik.”
His name was everything. He was everything. Our heartbond was wide open, neither one of us hiding from each other. We’d finally found our way to the middle of our golden river, and we were ready. We were ready for each other. For this.
For bliss. Desire. Love. I thrust it all down the bond for Rorik to examine. To feel. And then I said it.
“I love you, Rorik.” I threaded my fingers through his hair and angled his head to mine.
His gaze warmed my soul. “Say it again.”
“I love you.” And then I slanted my lips over his and kissed him deeply. He slid a hand beneath the small of my back and drove into me with such wanton desire that my own insatiable need began to swell again.
“Again,” he begged as his breath hit harder. As his movements became more frenzied. His love crested down our bond like a wave threatening to swallow us both. It was immense, like he’d been holding back the truth for far, far too long. And now that he had the freedom to experience it, there wasn’t a dam that could keep him at bay.
Tilting his head down, I brought my lips to his ear. “I love you.”
He let out an intoxicating groan as his orgasm barreled through him. Through us. He let it flow down our heartbond at the same time he spilled himself inside me. I was swept away in the maelstrom of feelings, in the ardent heat of his climax that somehow also became mine. It ripped through my senses and doubled back in the form of my own release, which I channeled right back down the bond to him. We unraveled together, each one of us riding out the high of our shared orgasms until our bodies finally went limp.
Slowly, he pulled out of me and then rolled to his side, tucking me close so we were chest to chest. Breaths intermingled. Gazes held. And then he smiled in a way I’d never seen him smile before. An easy, loving, lopsided grin that stole my breath and sent adrenaline racing through to my fingertips. This was why heartbonds were cherished. Because I knew what he was about to say before he said it.
“I love you, Edira.” He placed the gentlest of kisses on my forehead. Butterflies took flight in my stomach, and I nestled in closer. “Now you understand why I can’t lose you. Why I wanted you to find a way to live a fulfilling life. Even if that meant I wasn’t going to be in it.”
Trailing my fingers across his cheek, I sighed. “I believe you.”
“You said you’re irrevocably mine.” He turned his head to nuzzle the tips of my fingers with his nose. “I’m irrevocably yours, too.”
My heart swelled with an overwhelming sense of peace. “Good.”
Twenty-Nine
Dust motes floated in the shafts of filtered sunlight early the following morning. There weren’t any curtains manning the paneled window overlooking the ocean, but I didn’t mind. Because the sight of Rorik’s slumbering body was something I never wanted to forget. We’d hardly gotten much rest the night before; after our first round, we’d lain with our legs intertwined and allowed our hands to merely explore each other’s bodies while we shared stories of our past. That’d quickly shifted into a more intimate round of slow, emotional sex full of love confessions and heated make-outs. We came together again, breathless and teary-eyed, neither one of us willing to break eye contact for several minutes. Later, I’d summoned vines of my own and tied him up so I could taste the entirety of his hardened length and tease him without interruption.
Lydia had been right. The magic between us flourished and came the moment I called. Controlling it was as easy as breathing. Rorik likely could’ve regained control in a breath, but he played along. At least until I took him in fully and he hit the back of my throat. He tore through the vines without a second thought and then fucked me from behind until he came. Loudly.
Gooseflesh rippled over my skin at the thought of us doing that again. Propping myself up on my elbow, I cupped my chin and watched the methodical rise and fall of his chest. He was so peaceful. So calm. I wanted to wake up to him exactly like this for the rest of my days. Gently, I trailed my fingers over his bare chest, stopping only when I hit the hem of the sheets draped across his waist.
He peeled his eyes open, a crooked grin already on display. “Good morning.”
