Page 99 of The Temptation of Roan Island

He draws back as quickly as I did, making me think he wants our heads clear to experience this.

“I’m going to ruin you now, wife.” He pushes up, resting one hand on my belly while keeping most of his weight pressed into the other hand on the ground beside my head. “I’m going to fill you with my cum, and my venom, and my blood until I’m as much a part of you as you are of me.”

“You already are.” I tilt my pelvis, pressing him deeper into me, grinding my clit against his lower abs. “You make me want for nothing. I’m yours.”

“Fuck, Pippa.” Shemaiah’s euphoric sounds slide through me. “I love you so damn much.” He thrusts, slow and steady, in and out. The slide of his body into mine is kismet, fated perfection. His movement intensifies, driving us toward breaking. Together.

“I… love… you, Shemaiah,” I pant, mewling at the sensations careening through me, expanding like the sky above.

And there, under the stars, I acknowledge who he is to me. My friend. My lover. My husband. My everything.

I once thought hope was dangerous, but Shemaiah has proven that hope is worth the fight. Hope is a light, shedding warmth into the dark places inside of us and guiding us home. Shemaiah is everything I could have ever hoped for.

I’m home.

EPILOGUE

JAFETH

“Does everyone in this house have to have sex in front of me all the time?” I mutter after stumbling upon Shemaiah and Pippa in the library. Her skirts cover what they’re doing, but their scent makes it perfectly clear. “Can’t you do this in your rooms? It’s like you’ve all made it your mission to torture me.”

Pippa laughs. “You’re one to talk.”

Her words bring to mind the time she caught me in the tapestry gallery with the honorable and infuriating Inspector Lucy Thaddox. I still can’t believe she walked away from me mid-sex, leaving me with the worst case of blue balls of my entire life and a mark on my record. I’ve always ensured the women I’m with reach completion. Until her. Then to act like nothing happened between us when we captured the cult. The woman acted like I was a stranger when I’d been deep inside her, for fuck’s sake!

“Get out, Jafeth!” Shemaiah barks, face tense as he holds himself back.

“Fine!” I throw my hands up, spin away from the door, pulling it shut behind me before stalking down the hall.

The house is too full. I should be celebrating the fact that there are women everywhere. Ruby relocated eighteen women into the house after Shemaiah and Pippa shut down the fucking cult that was trying to make new Mavarri and failing just as tragically as my father. And of course she made me swear not to lead any of their hearts astray.

Which is ridiculous, because I don’t lead women astray. I lead them to pleasure, to realizing their wanton desires and embracing them. I’m always honest about who I am and what I do. Let other men settle down with them. I’m the kind who fucks them and forgets, leaving them absolutely satisfied in the process. They know the score beforehand. It’s not my fault if their hearts get caught up in the rapture of my exceptional cock.

That tends to happen.

But not to Lucy. I still can’t understand how she walked away after having me balls deep in her sweet cunt—one of the best cunts I’d ever felt, honestly. I was actually worried I was going to finish before her, and that doesn’t happen to me. Fuck, I need to stop thinking about it, or I’m going to end up walking around with a raging hard-on for a woman who wants nothing to do with me. Not happening.

The whole fiasco threw off my game.

Which I need to fix immediately.

Roan Island is a veritable buffet I’m not allowed to explore or sample, and there are definitely some tasty snacks. I could use a good fuck to forget the tight pussy that upended me. But Ruby keeps cock-blocking me by telling the women to be wary of my charms. Impertinent wench! All while my siblings keep throwing their happy relationships in my face. I don’t want what they have, but I need a good fuck. Now.

An idea strikes me that makes my blood pump a little faster.

I find Noah in the smoking parlor, which he’s converted to a makeshift medical room. Ruby and two of the former Vastatio patients are with him.

I lean against the doorway, painting on my most seductive smile. “Ladies.”

One of them giggles behind her hand, and Ruby cuts me a sharp look.

Ignoring her, I give the women both a once-over. “How are you ladies feeling this morning? Up for a little stroll later.”

“Jafeth,” Ruby warns.

I huff. “I actually came to tell you I’m going to New Essik.”

Ruby quirks an eyebrow at me. I hate that she seems to read me like one of her damn research books.