Page 175 of Carnal Wagers

The hours ticked by. The moonlight shifted from a murky glow to bright shafts of daylight through the window shades. It highlighted the clumps of dried blood over my arms, which in turn made me feel the suffocating cakiness of sweat and grime along my upper body. It gnawed at me and itched, clinging to me with the weight of yesterday’s memories.

I rose with the sudden need to wash off but stalled only two feet away from the bed.

Two men stood sentry at my front door, but no one guarded the inside but me. That left her vulnerable while I was a room away, as water cascaded over my head and drowned out any sounds of danger.

I locked the door and latched a chair beneath the handle for extra security. Then I slipped a gun—safety on—under her pillow and a knife under mine, just in case. She never even twitched at all the noise, and I rubbed my chin at how unguarded she looked.

With a trill of my lips, I forced myself toward the bathroom. Beneath the cleansing warmth of a shower, I tipped my head back and let the water sluice away every one of my worries down the drain.

What felt like only seconds later, the shower door scraped open. I swung around to find the light of my life standing before me, naked.

“You alright?” she asked.

“Didn’t mean to wake you.”

I soaped myself and let my eyes rove over her figure. Her body was made for the sins my tongue, fingers, and cock desired to commit every day for the rest of our lives.

“Maeve and Erel are coming over. Remember? It’s not the time to be lazy.”

“Or we can be lazy together and let them wait.”

With a firm grip on her wrist, I pulled her into the shower, her front to mine.

“I need inside you, síbhean.”

Her arms wrapped around my neck, my longing mirrored in the wistful twist of her smile. “I need you too.”

Slowly, I lifted her against me and the wall. She locked her legs around my waist as my cock nudged the weeping entrance of her pussy. Gently, gaze riveted to hers, I pushed inside her tight warmth. The feel of it was better than any surge of adrenaline. With a tenderness only she brought out in me, I thrust into her, back and forth, and slipped my thumb between us to rub her clit.

“Anything you ask for, it’s yours,” I told her, pressing my forehead to hers.

“Just you. Just give me you.”

“Always.”

We made love under the stream of water and the buildup of steam. Every sound was amplified under the steady plummeting of white noise. Every view of her was more striking through the haze. Every touch was worth more than all the ones before it, and when we fell over the precipice in each other’s arms, it was like coming home after a battle.

The noise in my head cut off. The darkness blanked against the comfort she provided. She was the sneaky downdraft sent to smother my internal tornado. That settled me in ways I didn’t think possible.

“You’re stuck with me, love. Forever.”

“With pleasure, mari chéri.”

Her head lay against my chest, and we simply held each other. Even though yesterday’s events hung between us, neither of us rehashed it. It happened. We lived it. Now it was time to move on.

“I wish we could stay like this forever,” she mumbled as I kissed a gentle trail over the bruise along her neck. She huffed against me. “Hélas. Things to prepare. Guests to receive.”

“Have them come tomorrow instead.” I couldn’t get enough of her, and my cock throbbed at the thought of another round.

“And tomorrow you’ll ask me to do the same. No, it has to be today. I can’t let this fester.”

“You talk like it’s a wound.”

“It is. For seven years, your neglect hurt me, and Maeve heard all about it. She was the one I called after you left me at the altar, after every email you never responded to, when I was desperately horny with no husband to help me through it.”

“I’m here now, happy to be of service.”

She slapped at my wandering hands.