Her fingers dug into my hair and she said my name, over and over, eyes rolling back, spine extending, legs tensing. I kept going and tasted her cum on my lips, loving every moment of her orgasm, needing her to release all that tension, that sadness, that frustration, needing it so badly I could scream. She gasped, still twitching, and fell back against the couch, breathing hard.
I kissed her lips. She kissed me back, tasting herself on my tongue. I stared at her swollen mouth and admired her body, unable to believe how lucky I felt, being this close to this incredible woman. I breathed her in, wanting to savor every second of our time together, and I held her tight against the night, blocking out thoughts of our enemies and the pain that might come later.
None of that mattered now. Not with her in my arms.
I shuffled back and stood. She looked up at me, mouth open. I lifted her up and carried her in my arms to the bedroom. I put her down and climbed into bed, pulling her ass against my hard cock. She purred and turned to look in my eyes, hand touching my cheek.
“I don’t remember inviting you in here,” she said playfully.
I bit her lower lip. “I didn’t ask permission.”
“Look at you, playing the alpha.”
“There’s no game here, love.” I squeezed her ass and she laughed, batting me back.
“I shouldn’t have done that.” She put her hands on my chest. “It was a mistake. I just…”
“You couldn’t help yourself.”
She shrugged, embarrassed. “I couldn’t sleep and I was thinking about you.”
“I like to hear that.” I kissed her neck but she pulled away. She looked into my eyes, frowning, then rolled onto her back and put her hands behind her head. She was still mostly naked, covered only by her panties, and I admired her breasts and shoulders and arms in the relative darkness of the bedroom.
“I need to tell you something.” Her voice sounded serious, and I knew our fun night-time play session was over.
I rolled over onto my back and mirrored her position. “Is it something Penny said?”
“No, not exactly.” She was quiet and I studied her face. It was a mask of anxious doubt. “It’s about me and my past.”
“If you’re about to tell me that you’re a virgin, I already know.”
She glared. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”
“Then what are you saying?”
She let out a huff and looked back at the ceiling. “I am a virgin, but does that even matter?”
“Not to me, it doesn’t.”
“Good.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “You have this maddening habit of knocking me off balance.”
“Tell me what you want to say.”
“My mother is not my mother. I’m Penny’s half-sister, not her full sister.”
I leaned back in surprise. “I didn’t know.”
“Nobody does, aside from my parents. I thought my siblings knew, but Penny said they didn’t.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “All this time, I’d been living like they knew I wasn’t really their sister. Like they understood I was an outsider. What if that was all my fault, and I was the one pushing them away?”
“You can’t blame yourself for that.”
“But it would be my fault.” She shook her head. “I felt like a freak my whole life, then I learned my family isn’t really my family, and I started disassociating myself from them. I began to tell myself that they hated me, that I was an outsider and they all knew it, and that made it easy to—” She stopped, her voice choked. Tears welled up in her eyes.
I stayed quiet. I had to let her work this out for herself. Interrupting now would only make things harder, and she clearly had things she wanted to get out, but she was still forming the words.
“I sold my sister to an Oligarch.” She let out a sob. It was ugly and painful and I wanted to reach out so desperately, but she kept talking. “It was a terrible thing to do, but I kept telling myself I had to do it. She wasn’t really my sister, after all. She knew I was an outsider and a freak, and she would’ve done the same thing to me given the chance. But I was wrong, Redmond. I was so wrong. She had no idea, and I treated her like a game piece.”
I touched her hip gently. “I’m so sorry.”
“I hate myself for what I did. And the worst part is, Penny forgives me. She’s a better person than I’ll ever be, because if I were her, I’d try to cut my throat. I don’t deserve her.”
“I don’t think anyone deserves anything. Penny’s your sister, whether you like it or not. She must understand that too. You’re linked together forever, and you can hate each other or try to be family again, but that link won’t ever go away.”