Page 63 of Drown Me Gently

When a bead of liquid welled at Ulric’s tip, Auren’s heart raced—and before he could think better of it, he brought his fingers to his lips and licked it clean.

The result was instant.

Ulric let out a feral sound, stripping Auren of what remained of his clothes, eyes wild and black with need.

“You have no idea what you’ve just done,” he growled.

He yanked down Auren’s trousers, baring him to the air. Auren gasped, but Ulric was already on him, stroking, teasing, worshiping with hands and mouth, and whispered praise.

“Oh gods—oh gods—” Auren gasped.

“No gods tonight,” Ulric said darkly. “Only me.”

It was too much. Too good. Auren whimpered under Ulric’s relentless ministrations, his body straining toward climax.

He wanted to give Ulric the same. Wanted to taste him, to touch him, to make him lose himself the same way.

But Ulric wouldn’t let him.

Every time Auren reached, Ulric guided his hand away with a kiss and renewed his efforts until Auren was seeing stars.

“Tonight is for you, my prince,” Ulric breathed against his skin. “Only you.”

It frustrated Auren—this stubborn devotion.

“I-I want to feel you too,” Auren pleaded. “I want you to feel it too. With me.”

Those seemed to be the magic words because Ulric responded by moving his hips forward and wrapping both their shafts together in one powerful hand. Auren let out a moan that filled the room. His back arched, and his toes curled. He was unraveling, heat flooding his skin, pleasure coiling hot and fast in his belly.

With blurred vision, Auren looked up at Ulric.

And in the middle of it all, it hit him.

The way Ulric saw him. Touched him. The way he whispered his name with ruddy desperation.

I’m in love with him. I’ve always loved him.

He’d loved Ulric for years. He just hadn’t had the words for it. Not then. But now, feeling Ulric’s hands, Ulric’s breath, Ulric’s body trembling with need against his—he knew. He was completely, helplessly, beautifully in love with him.

And it was terrifying.

He gasped, body jerking as pleasure surged up through him like a riptide.

“Ulric—careful—I’m⁠—”

“I’ve got you,” Ulric gasped, working them both.

Auren let go, moaning the Kraken’s name as he came hard between them. A heartbeat later, Ulric followed, hips stuttering, a growl of pleasure breaking from his throat as his hand tightened around them, drawing out their orgasm.

They collapsed together in a tangle of sweat-slicked limbs and panting mouths. It was a few minutes before either was ready to move. Ulric was the first to regain his senses, finding a cloth and cleaning them both. When he slid back in bed, his body was still hot. Still naked. Still fit against Auren’s own, like the two pieces of a shell.

“You’re perfect,” Ulric murmured, pressing kiss after kiss to Auren’s brow, his cheeks, his lips.

Auren didn’t speak at first, but when he did, a rush of emotion struck him so hard that tears welled up in the corners of his eyes. He clung to Ulric like a shipwrecked man.

“I’ll have you, Ulric. From the sky to the blackest depths of the sea, I’ll have you. All I ask is that you take me in return.”

Ulric’s answering kiss was gentle.