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He climbed onto the bed beside her and pulled her against his chest, wrapping both arms around her. The contact was immediate and that familiar tingle of her magic reached through his skin, drawing on whatever energy his body could give. She cuddled closer to him and they stayed like that for a long time. He held her and let her take what she needed. After several minutes, some color returned to her cheeks, but she still looked wrung out.

“More,” he said. “Take more.”

“It doesn’t work like that.” Her voice was stronger now, though still strained. “It’s not about how much contact there is. It’s about the quality.”

“The quality?”

“The intensity.” She pulled back enough to look at him. “Skin on skin helps. But what really charges my magic is…” She paused. “Connection. Real connection, I mean, both emotional and physical.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying we should have sex.”

He snorted. “You can barely stand.”

“I’m lying down.” She managed a grin. “Also, I want to. I want to finish what we started on the train. I want you to do all the things you promised me on the train.”

The train. He remembered every second of it, remembered how she tasted and how she’d come on his tongue. He remembered the promise he’d made to her before they were interrupted.

I’m not going to fuck your cunt for the first time that fast. I’m going to make sure you never forget it.

“You’re drained,” he said. “You passed out in a hallway.”

“And now I’m fully conscious, telling you what I want.” She took his hand and laid it against her stomach. Her skin was warm beneath his palm. “I want you, Asterion. And I don’t have to ask, because I know you want me too.”

“Aye,” he exhaled. “I do.”

He kissed her. Slow at first, careful, his hand still resting on her stomach. She responded immediately, her lips parting beneath his, her fingers sliding into his hair. The magic beneath her skin came alive where their bodies touched.

He pulled back just enough to speak. “If anything hurts, you tell me.”

“I will.”

“If you need to stop⁠—”

“Asterion.” She caught his face between her hands. “Stop being noble and take your clothes off.”

He wanted to laugh, but instead, he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Her hands were all over his chest, her palms spreading over the fur, fingers tracing the hard muscle beneath.

“I like touching you,” she declared, her eyes greedily taking him in.

He unzipped his jeans and kicked them off while Ria pulled at her own clothes. He helped her out of her shirt, then her bra, peeling away the layers until she was naked. He paused. On the train, he’d only seen parts of her. Now he had all of her, and the sight made his mouth go dry.

She was beautiful. He already knew that, but seeing her like this, her dark hair fanned across the pillow and her skin flushed from her collarbones down to her breasts, it really hit him how lovely she truly was. He lowered his mouth to her neck and kissed a trail down to her collarbone. She arched beneath him, her breath catching. When he reached her breast and took her nipple between his lips, she gasped and her magic flared against his skin.

“That,” she breathed. “More of that.”

He sucked harder, and her fingers grabbed at the hair on his scalp. He moved to the other breast, giving it the same attention while his hand slid down her stomach. Slipping underneath the band of her underwear, his fingers sought her folds and found them already soaking wet. He tugged the scanty fabric down her legs and off her, then moved down lower and pressed his lips to the inside of her thigh.

“You don’t have to⁠—”

“I want to.” He looked up at her. “I’ve been thinking about this since the train.”

“You have?”

“Every moment since then.”

The blush that spread across her face made him grin. Now that he was certain there would be no interruptions, he took his time. His tongue stroked her folds, teasing her and making her moan aloud and lift her hips toward him. When his tongue touched his clit, she practically ground her cunt into his mouth.