“Stay with me tonight?” It’s practically a plea when it comes out, but I don’t care. I’m desperate for her presence.
She answers with a sweet smile and nod that makes me want to melt to the center of the earth.
Once we’ve bid goodnight to the others, I sweep her up in my arms as the smoke rises around us.
“Did you have a good night?” I ask, setting her down on her side of the bed.
“The best night.”
“I’m glad,” I say as I sit down on the edge of the bed to take my shoes off.
“And you? Did you have a good night?” she asks, shifting to sit next to me.
“It wasn’t what I thought it would be like, but it was better.”
“You fit in with everyone, you know it?”
I laugh. “You sound surprised.”
“I am a little. I mean, I knew you had relationships with them, but I didn’t realize just how close you were to all of them. Emeric maybe, but not the rest. I guess I expected your relationships with the others to be more surface level. Mostly just business.” She stands up and starts unbuttoning her jacket. “But you have jokes with them, and they’re at ease with you. Comfortable in a way that only friends are.”
I open my mouth to reply but lose my train of thought when she pulls her hair into a messy bun on the top of her head.
“Do you want to shower?” She gives me a look and I quickly clarify. “Alone, obviously. Just to get the smell of bonfire off of you.”
“That would be great, actually.”
She begins unlacing her boots while I prep the shower for her. I’m not sure how hot to make the water for a phoenix, so I take a guess.
“Here’s a towel and shirt for you. Everything else you might need is in the shower already.”
“Thank you,” she says bashfully, waiting by the door for me to leave.
Before I slip out of the bathroom, I grab the bottle of lotion from underneath the sink and leave it out for her.
The minutes tick by slowly and each one makes it harder for me to keep my thoughts under control. Every inch of my body tenses, hyper aware that she’s standing naked and completely wet only feet away from me. It makes my power rattle beneath my skin, fighting the urge to demolish the door that separates us. I exhale deeply once I hear the water shut off. Not sure her wearing my shirt will do much to halt the wave of dirty thoughts creeping into my mind, but it’s better than imagining the water running down her body where my hands should be.
The dagger I twist against my finger distracts me all of five seconds before my eyes catch a glimpse of her through the small crack she must’ve accidentally left when she failed to shut the door all the way. It feels like a reward and a punishment all at the same time. I have just enough self-control to keep myself positioned on the bed but not enough to pull my gaze.
Instead, I intently watch as she begins rubbing the lotion over her legs, working her way up to the very inner part of her thighs. Just the sliver of her that I can see makes my cock harden to the point I’m in pain. It only gets worse when she begins rubbing lotion over her perfectly round breasts that have my mouth watering. It’s over in only a few seconds but it was enough to get me worked up to the point I need release.
The moment she emerges from the bathroom, I vaporateinto the shower, using my shadows to close the door behind me. The water is cold, but not cold enough to undo the damage her bare body has already caused.
It feels wrong stroking myself with the image of her in my head, but I can’t stop. I need release and she’s the only one who can free me from the pressure building up inside me. I replay her massaging the lotion on her thighs, imagining it were my hands working their way up to the part of her that I want so badly to explore. As the vision of her running her hands over her breast plays in my mind, I envision my mouth wrapping around her nipples that are hard from feeling my touch. I stroke my cock faster as the fantasy of her runs wild in my head.
I picture my hands squeezing her ass as she wraps her legs around me. Instead of my hand gripping my cock, I imagine it’s her wet opening, clutching me like I’m the best thing to ever happen to her. I can hear her moan into my ear as she begins to lose control. Her body shakes from pure pleasure, and it makes me come undone. I can almost hear her say my name as I come with a quiet whimper that only she can cause. I try to catch my breath as the water washes away the sins of my vivid imagination.
“Ryder?”
With my mind beginning to clear, I realize she actually had said my name.
“Yeah?” I ask as I quickly work to clean myself off.
“Is everything okay?”
It is now.
“Yes, I’ll be right out.”
