Page 43 of Monsters in the Museum

Now, he pressed a kiss to her temple, taking in a deep breath of sweat and leather and something sweet and feminine underneath. Xander nudged the horse along to walk along the beach, horizontal to the water. With the double burden of the two of them, they would not be making it back to the Sanctuary tonight. He could ride for an hour or so while Aediene rested, so their journey come morning would be shorter.

The sun had dipped below the ocean, the moon rising in the sky to reflect off the gentle waves, when Xander pulled his horse to a stop. He pressed another kiss to Aediene’s ear, murmuring to wake her from her doze.

As he dismounted, he helped her down after him. Letting his hands linger on her waist.

“I thought we could rest the horse for a bit and set out again at dawn,” Xander murmured. There was no reason he couldn’t speak at a normal volume, but the moment felt quiet and peaceful; the only other sound on the beach was the gentle lapping of waves. They had so few quiet times these days that it felt wrong to disturb the serenity.

Aediene nodded her agreement, and he moved to pull a spare blanket off his mount’s back. He also took the moment to remove her saddle and bridle so they wouldn’t chafe while they rested. As he did, Aediene laid the blanket over the sand and settled down on her back.

He joined her a few minutes later, and the moment he did, she rolled toward him, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, endeavoring to get comfortable so they could rest.

Aediene despite her earlier tiredness, seemed to have other plans, her palms drifting down Xander’s chest towards his waist. His eyebrows rose, and he rubbed gentle circles on her back.

“You’re tired,” he murmured to her.

“Never too tired for you,” she countered, despite the fact that her tone was muffled and groggy. “We don’t have enough time together these days.”

Even as her words tugged at his heart strings, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He reached down to grab her wrist, stopping the hand that was now sneaking under the hem of his peplos.

“How about we make a deal then?” He suggested as Aediene shot a scowl up at him. “Let me take care of you tonight, and we can do the rest tomorrow.”

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment, as if considering.

“You did save my life earlier,” he pressed.

Aediene’s gaze softened. “Alright.”

With a triumphant smile, Xander turned her in his arms so her back was molded to his front. Slowly, he traced his fingers down her torso, ghosting over her breasts through her tunic until he reached the hem of the garment. As his fingers met the skin of her thighs and began traveling up, he took a moment to kiss the spot behind his wife’s ear he knew made her squirm.

She sighed in response, before letting out a quiet squeak as he nipped at the spot with his teeth. He drew the flat of his tongue over it to sooth the sting, but Aediene still retaliated by grinding her hips back into the partial hardness growing under his peplos.

He ignored that, though. That’s not what this was about.

Ever so slowly, he dragged his fingers up to the apex of Aediene’s thighs, tracing over the shape of her gently. He didn’t part her yet, simply running his fingers through her curls until she went pliant in his arms.

This was his favorite part: When the fiercest Warrior he knew let him take care of her.

Finally, he dragged his fingers through her wetness, getting them thoroughly slick before beginning to draw lazy circles around the bud of nerves that hardened under his fingers. As Aediene began to tremble, he began to quicken his pace.

His other hand, which had been wrapped around her waist, holding her to him, traveled up to cup her breast. A sharp gasp escaped her as he pinched the hardened bud there in time with his touches between her legs.

She was close now. He recognized it in the rhythm of her pants and the sharp gasps at the end of each breath.’

“Just like that, my love,” he murmured into her ear. “I have you.”

Aediene shuddered in his arms, her release soaking his palm as he stroked her through it.

After long moments, she went limp in his arms, rolling her head to the side so he could just make out her expression in the moonlight.

“I don’t know what I would do without you,” she murmured with a smile.

“Well, you don’t have to,” I promised. “Wherever you go, I will follow.”

Aediene’s response was only a sleepy grunt as she snuggled impossibly closer. Xander listened to her even breaths, knowing he would never have enough of her, before letting Hypnos claim him too.