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Chapter Seventeen
Ryder
“You asshole!” Ven growls.
“I’ll be happy to finish you off if you’ll admit that you lost,” I say, a smug smile on my lips.
But really, I stopped when I did because I had to. Pleasuring Ven was turning me on so much that I was about to lose control again. I’ve never experienced such a visceral reaction to someone else’s pleasure before. I just can’t figure out what it is about her that makes me react like this…
“Go fuck yourself,” she snarls as she climbs out of the pool.
“You’re being very touchy,” I call after her, hurrying so I don’t get hit in the back by our orb. “After all, you started all of this.”
Ven realizes she stomped right past her clothes in her attempt to storm off, and spins around. She’s naked and dripping with water, her pale skin flush from the heat. Both kinds of heat. She reaches down to grab her things and when she straightens, she jabs a finger at me. “I did not start this.”
“I specifically asked if you wanted me to stop. I recall that you did not.”
She spins again and stalks off, her ass cheeks bouncing as she moves. God, she’s hot. And also definitely ignoring me. When she reaches the bedroom, she throws her dress down on the floor, perhaps realizing how dirty it is. Then she climbs under the silken covers nude and pulls them up around her. I have to crawl over her, especially with the size of the bed, to stay within our perimeter. She rolls over, facing away from me, and shuts her eyes.
“The silent treatment. Splendid,” I mutter.
Ven flips over and jabs me in the chest with one of her fingers. Magic sparks off her skin and zaps me. “It’s better than blasting your dick off with a spell, which I’m just a hair away from doing. Now shut the hell up and let me sleep!”
She flips over again, her back in my face.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman so angry. And I’ve seen a lot of angry women. I almost feel bad… almost. But Ven should’ve backed down when she had the chance. What was I supposed to do?
Plus, she’s not the only one with unspent passion. My cock is still hard as a steel cannister. I replay every moment of it in my mind. The softness of her skin. The feel of her perky nipples reacting to my tongue. Her soft exhalations. Not to mention her sweet core, and how slick she’d been in response to my fingers. It’s all I can do not to enter her from behind right now, thrusting over and over until we’re both spent in the best possible way, sweaty and tangled up in each other.
Of course, if I hadn’t been so determined to win, that’s probably what we’d be doing right now. I’d had Ven right where I wanted her. Where I’d wanted her from the moment I saw her. A sick feeling forms in the pit of my stomach, and another sensation I’m not familiar with. I realize what it is a moment later: regret.
Shit. I’ve pretty much fucked it all up.
With a sigh, I close my eyes. It’s going to be a very long night…
The rising sun slanting into my eyes wakes me the next morning. I roll over and see Ven, and for just the barest of moments, I’m surprised to see a gorgeous redhead in my bed. Then I remember where I am, and who I’m with. She must have turned over in the night, because she’s facing me now. Her long eyelashes cast shadows on her cheekbones, and her chest rises and falls slowly as she sleeps.
I realize that I’ve woken up next to the same person two mornings in a row. Hell, I don’t wake up next to someone ever. It’s strange, because I actually like it. But then Ven stirs, and I have to pretend to be asleep so she doesn’t realize I’ve been staring at her. I flatten myself out into a flattering pose and wait until I feel her sit up before opening my eyes again.
“Were you watching me sleep?” I ask with a faux yawn.
“You wish,” she says. But it doesn’t carry quite the same heat as last night. She seems to have settled down a bit.
“I didn’t hear you having a nightmare last night. You must have been tired out.”
I mean it as a perfectly innocuous comment, but she stiffens and her eyes widen. “You’re right. I didn’t have one. For the first time in…”
She trails off, and I don’t press her further.
“I guess we’d better get up and see if Fitz is up and about yet. He was probably partying pretty late.” I sit up and move toward the side of the bed. “We’ll see what he knows about the Night Guild, and if he has any intel on their base of operations. It should be somewhere pretty close to here.”
Ven nods, a worried look on her face. “Every day that passes, Luciana could be… we just need to find her.”
“My gut tells me she’ll be at this facility,” I say. “They’re obviously smuggling people in there, as we saw down at the cove. But at a minimum, even if we don’t find her, we can find someone there who knows more. I assume you know a truth spell or two.”
Ven nods, her expression fierce. “I’ll make them talk.”
“Fitz should have supplies for us, too. He’s usually got a ton of useful stuff for this kind of thing. All sorts of magical artifacts and tools.” I swing my legs over the side of the bed and stand up, stretching.
