At least I wasn’t the only one who felt like she’d been put through the wringer. If all orgasms were going to be like that, then I’d better work on building my stamina. Pressing my cheek against his skin, I listened to the steady thump of his heart, curling my leg over his and twining them together. Calm suffused every cell in my body, a quiet contentment that I’d never known, never thought existed. It was a day of firsts.
“I thought I was the one that was blunt.”
I brushed away his retort with a wave of my hand, not bothering to lift my head. I’d said all my pretty words earlier, anyway.
A strange sound came from him, kind of a cross between a cough and a chuckle.
“What is it?” My hand trailed across his chest, following the scattering of darks hairs and smoothing them this way, then that.
“My dragon. He’s talking to me again. I mean, he occasionally spoke to me before, but only to tell me how pissed he was with me. But now…” Hope cracked his deep voice.
I held my breath. “And?”
“He forgives me.”
I snuggled closer, pressing so our bodies touched from head to toe. “About time.”
“He says it’s because I forgave myself. Because I stopped self-sa
botaging my recovery.” He snorted, and out of the corner of my eye I saw him shake his head. “Egotistical bastard.”
“Takes one to know one,” I drawled in a light voice.
At once strong arms dragged me off the bed and I was airborne, clasped to his chest in an iron tight grip. “Little minx. I think I’d better show you exactly how I earned that ego.”
My hand snaked up his neck as he carried me into the bathroom, tugging his head down until we were nose to nose. I flashed him my own version of his trademark smirk. “I’m waiting…” I whispered.
Epilogue
Faye
A month or so later…
Bastian’s hand tugged at mine, dragging me along the dusty lane and into the forest, his low chuckle at my soft protests music to my ears. When we’d first met he hadn’t laughed much at all. Or smiled, apart from that devious smirk that I now knew he used as a shield against the outside world. Which he still did, but not with me, unless I was purposely riling him, or he was being deliberately obtuse, as he was now.
“Where are we going?” I was kind of hoping it wasn’t to visit the school, as I didn’t want to share my mate with anyone this afternoon. We’d snagged an afternoon off, our schedules synching for once, and I wasn’t giving it up for man or beast. Even for the children’s sake.
Especially for the children’s sake. If we were going to make our own, then we needed every available moment to practice.
He pulled me off to the right and I let out the breath I’d been holding. We were moving away from the school. Maybe he was taking me back to that little clearing, the one with the large boulders each a perfect height for clinging onto as he bent me over and thrust into me from behind. Or leaning back on as he buried his head between my legs, wringing scream after scream from me. Or the tree with the smooth bark, perfect for when he’d braced me high in his arms, teasing me with slow, shallow thrusts designed to reduce me to a gibbering wreck.
“I know where your mind just went,” he murmured, pausing to steal a kiss. Which turned into an embrace, our lips breaking away to gasp and stare at each other in wonder.
“Will it always be like this?”
A wicked grin curved his lips, enough to crease the corners of his eyes. “It will if I have anything to do with it, my love.”
A few more minutes and we entered the clearing, which was fast becoming my second favorite place in the world. The first being our bed. Or bedroom. And add in the bathroom. Bastian was a creative lover. Which meant I’d better add in his office too, as he liked to surprise me when I worked. And I had a particular soft spot for the basement. Watching him work out, his skin slick with sweat, knowing that this gorgeous man was all mine just plain out did it for me. And the fact that he usually finished with a stiff cock and an urgent need to bury himself inside me. Quick. Hard. Dirty.
Okay. It was the whole house plus the clearing.
“I like where your mind is going, my love, but that’s not why I brought you here today.”
“It’s not?” I couldn’t help the plaintive whine, or my tiny scowl at being denied.
Crushing me against his chest, his hand tipped my head up. “I’ll make it up to you. I promise.”
I breathed him in, snuggling against his cotton shirt and smoothing my hands down his back to tuck into the back pockets of his snug jeans. “How?”