The sound of our panting breaths filled the room. I had no idea how long it was before I came back to myself, only that he was still there, still filling me, and I didn’t want it to stop.
“Kingston?”
He leaned down and feathered a kiss at the nape of my neck. “Yes, Sunshine?”
“Can we do that again?”
“Already?”
“Do you need some time?”
He chuckled softly. “You’re going to have me again before we leave this room, I promise. But once my knot goes down, we’ll need to rest before the next wave.”
Alarm shot through me. “The next wave of what?”
“Heat. I’m here to service my mate until her heat ends. That’ll be, at minimum, three days. More if we’re lucky.”
I yawned as soon as I allowed myself to feel anything other than him. I was tired. So tired, everything felt heavy. I hadn’t had a peaceful sleep in close to a week, and now it made sense. If I hadn’t insisted on shoving him away, on denying what was between us, things might not have gotten this out of control.
“Lie down with me,” Kingston said, his voice more gentle and tender than I’d ever heard it.
I nodded and let him take us to the soft blankets together. Then I snuggled against him, my back to his front, as the two of us basked in the afterglow of finally fully coming together with no barriers. I was his and he was mine, and there wasn’t anything to keep us apart now.
I didn’t knowhow much time passed as Kingston got me through my heat. All I knew was I woke, I needed him, he served me, over and over. Eventually we moved from the nest of blankets and soft fur rug on the floor to the bed. But I hadn’t given a single shit about comfort. The one thing that made me comfortable was him inside me.
The only breaks in that pattern occurred when sharp knocks outside alerted us to the presence of food. Each time Kingston opened the door, Caleb’s lingering scent would wash over me, making a different kind of hunger curl in my belly, but we never saw our caretaker. Other than ensuring we were fed, he left us to our own devices.
I should have been worn out, sore, exhausted... but I was insatiable. At first, I thought it was just about the sex, but Kingston surprised me. In the quiet moments between our frantic coupling, he’d take care of me. He made sure I was warm even though we both spent all our time naked, covering me in blankets, holding me close, stoking the fire. I’d never thought of Kingston Farrell as a tender lover, but here he was... gentle and sweet.
Warm kisses trailed up my spine, pulling me from my contemplation of how things had changed. “Are you awake, Sunshine? Do you need me again?”
I bit down on my lip, debating my answer. The warm flush of arousal hadn’t begun to work its way through my body, but I did find myself wet and willing. The heat had been coming in fast and terrible waves, one right after the other. I expected need to crash through me, the gnawing ache to take over, but it didn’t. It was there, but not on the scale it had been before. That alone spoke volumes.
“Soon,” I murmured instead. “I think it’s slowing down.”
“Is it wrong that I almost don’t want it to?”
I smirked. “You? Sad about our sex marathon coming to an end? Shocking.”
“Sad that I have to give you up when this is over.”
My heart lurched. I couldn’t come to terms with the differences between the man who had me in his arms and the one who’d made it his mission to destroy me. Staring into the dancing flames as they ate up the logs in the fireplace, I let myself drift and remember who he’d been when we first met and who he’d become.
“What’s going on inside your head? You seem lost in thought.”
I laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“I never thought you’d give a single fuck about what was in my head.”
His fingers curled over my hip, rolling me over so he could peer down at me. “What do you mean? Of course I care what you’re thinking. Do you have any idea how many nights I stayed awake trying to figure you out?”
“How are you two different people? I can’t keep up.”
His devilish smirk had things tightening low in my belly. “I’m the same man I’ve always been. You just never gave me a chance to show you.”
“With the exception of the first time we met, you’ve been so mean.”