Page 158 of Poet & Protector

When he rolled his hips, I turned my head to catch his lips with mine and kiss him hungrily before I grasped his wrist and dragged his hand down to stroke me. He tentatively withdrew a few inches and pushed back in.

“Yes?” he murmured, repeating the action.

I nodded, unable to speak, only feel. My head dropped forward and I groaned as Mason gradually increased the pace of his thrusts. With each pass he reached pleasure points deep within me I’d barely been aware of and every stroke left me gasping.

When my pelvis instinctively bucked into his fist, I felt him smile against the back of my neck.

My breath hissed out when he sank his teeth into me and at the same moment withdrew before thrusting hard. I moaned and snarled as he buried himself completely, over and over, merciless, all the while working me with his strong grip.

His hips snapped faster as he lifted his mouth from my shoulder to whisper in my ear. “You’re mine, Nev. You’ve always been mine and you always will be. Tell me you’re mine.”

“Fuck, yes, Mason.” I closed my eyes and braced myself against the tiles, pushing back to meet his every thrust. “I’m yours.”

When he subtly changed the angle of his hips, lightning flashed behind my eyelids.

He bit me again. All the tension roiling within me surged violently and I hurtled over the edge, shouting as I pulsed into his grip, the pleasure so intense I thought I might black out.

Mason growled, his teeth sinking even deeper as my body tightened around him. He thrust hard one last time before he came, spilling while he was deep inside me and staying there.

I rested my forehead against shower tiles as he released his bite and his lips moved up the side of my neck. He licked the sensitive place where my ear met my jaw. His arms locked around me, keeping me molded against him as we rode the aftershocks.

“That was unbelievable.” His breath was still coming fast. “Thank you.”

“So polite.” I smiled, remembering the first time I’d teased him with those words and what happened after.

He laughed softly. “I love you.”

When he slipped out of me and stepped back, I turned and kissed him. “I love you, too.”

A shadow of concern passed over his features. “It was good for you?”

I took his face in my hands, kissing him again. “So good.”

“Yeah?” He smiled with a tenderness that made my soul ache.

“Yeah.”

“I guess we should shower for real now.” He grinned at me. “Then go back to bed.”

“We’re going to end up here again, aren’t we?” I nipped his jaw.

“Yes.”

After we cleaned up, Mason insisted we eat cookies to ‘replenish ourselves’ before we focused on several things that eventually brought us back to the shower. When we returned to the bed, we wrapped ourselves around each other and fell asleep. For a little while.

We took turns waking each other through the night. Asking. Answering. Needing. Giving. Restless until, at last, exhaustion took us captive and we surrendered.

* * *

I blinked awake as dusty rose and rust hues crept through the window to chase away shadows; a harbinger of dawn. Mason stirred in my arms and I nuzzled his nape.

He shuddered suddenly and I tightened my embrace.

“I’m afraid, Nev.”

The quaver of his voice was a stark contrast to his playful seduction the previous night. But the harsh light of day has always been unforgiving.

There was no space for lies here. No running away.