Page 22 of Accept Me (Fate’s Choice #4)

STAR

Climbing into bed that night, I felt high. Not in a real way, not like on drugs, but everything inside me was spinning, my head a little dazed, a little off-kilter. I could just make out Hunter’s silhouette across the room, lying flat on his bed with his head turned away from me.

My fingers kept fidgeting, tugging at the edge of the blanket, then the corner of my pillow, as if pulling it tighter around me would somehow calming the storm of feelings still churning in my chest.

That earlier confusion, the way fear and excitement had tangled together, had started to shift.

The fear was fading, the excitement creeping in stronger, taking over.

The memory of his proximity, that kiss… it lit up something inside me.

I could say without hesitation that it was the brightest moment of the last three years of my life. It left me… intensely alive.

I could feel how deeply he respected my pace. There was patience in him, even though I could sense his strong arousal. Any other alpha would have followed that instinct, that impulse, but not Hunter.

Was it his military training? His nature? Just basic decency? Whatever it was, he didn’t push past where I wanted to go.

And the truth? I think part of me had wanted him to push just a little further.

Tentatively, I dragged my fingers down my neck, over my collarbones, and then brushed lightly over my nipples. They’d always been extra sensitive, and sometimes I avoided touching them altogether just so I wouldn’t stir feelings I couldn’t handle, couldn’t direct anywhere safe.

But my hand didn’t stop. It kept sliding lower, down to my cock, which was clearly more than a little interested in taking things further.

Still, I couldn’t exactly start jerking off with Hunter right there beside me, obviously still awake. So I just wrapped my fingers around the shaft, now half-hard, and let myself hover at the edge, making the tiniest, gentlest motions. Just enough not to make a sound.

That old fear, the one wired into me, flared the second I even thought about penetration.

I hated the whole idea of sex. My body never got slick.

It was always bone dry, and I had to use tons of lube just to get through it without horrible pain.

Sometimes I worried I was one of those omegas who barely produced slick at all.

But then I remembered a time, maybe a year and a half ago, just before I quit the strip club. There’d been a few days when I was sure my heat was coming. I felt… damp down there. I even noticed a couple of customers sniffing the air more than usual when I got up on stage.

But whatever had started back then fizzled out fast. Two days later, Dino showed up at the club.

Seeing him again shocked me so hard I got sick for days.

Whatever heat I thought might’ve been starting…

just faded, and the dryness came back. Later I read that extreme stress could block or shorten a heat cycle, and some omegas, especially sensitive ones, might experience a kind of shutdown.

I kept asking myself, was that supposed to be my first real heat? And did Dino ruin it like he ruined everything else? Did he terrify my body into freezing up… into stopping itself from maturing?

But now, tonight, as I reached deeper into my senses, I felt something there. Some strange kind of commotion, something alive down in me, something I didn’t know how to name. Slowly, I let my hand slide lower, between my thighs.

I didn’t like touching myself there. I rarely did.

That part of my body only ever meant pain, discomfort, or at the very least, nothing at all.

Not all my clients were rough; some were just mechanical, so I would get through it, detached and impassive.

In any case, I didn’t like paying attention to my hole.

But now… I let my fingers explore. Carefully.

I circled the tight ring of muscle with light pressure, wondering if I could ever break the spell, break the curse on that part of me.

Could I ever actually want penetration? Could I let Hunter inside me?

Let him fill me up and not be afraid of it hurting?

He was definitely at the top of the list of people I’d ever consider giving that to.

Wait… was that…? I paused, and swallowed hard.

Had I just felt the faintest trace of moisture under my fingers?

God, was that even possible? I didn’t want to let myself hope.

My poor hole has been violated so many times to the point that I have seemingly blocked myself from feeling any stimuli in this area, whether pain or pleasure, I have numbed it, withdrawn my awareness of this part of my body.

But the truth was, for the first time, I actively wanted to change it. To break out of this mental cage and move forward. Just being ready to do that was the first step.

Slowly, I started touching my hole, drawing lazy circles around the opening.

What if Hunter were the one doing it? With his tongue, maybe?

I pulled away from that thought right away. He’d probably be disgusted. Or would he?

In my mind, in the perfect version of him, Hunter wouldn’t be disgusted at all. I squeezed my eyes shut and imagined the tip of his tongue teasing gently around the edge of my hole.

To my surprise, the idea didn’t scare me at all. It was actually tempting. Really… tempting.

I let myself fall into it while my fingers moved in soft spirals, brushing over tender skin, pressing lightly, getting a little deeper with each breath. I imagined his lips down there, kissing me, caressing me with slow, teasing licks.

And… I hadn’t even noticed the soft, breathy moan that escaped my mouth.

That’s when I realized Hunter was still awake. He turned slowly toward me, and in the dimness of the room, I saw the pale shape of his face.

"Just say the word, Star, and I’ll touch you there. Only with my mouth. Nothing more."

What the…?!

A jolt of shock surged through me.

How the hell did he know? How could he have guessed what I was doing, as if he’d tapped right into my thoughts, or at least my emotions?

I was trembling. My body was burning up.

I could hear his breathing now, faster, heavier, and his heartbeat, pounding in sync with mine, so loud it drowned everything else out as my arousal climbed higher and higher.

I pulled my hand away from my hole, but instantly felt a wave of regret, because I didn’t want this to stop.

Hunter whispered, "Say the word and I’ll use my mouth."

My other hand found my cock, hard and straining against my thin boxers. The scent of my precum and slick was thick in the air. No wonder he’d noticed.

Was I really about to dive headfirst into this? That wasn’t like me.

But on some deep level, I trusted Hunter. Completely.

"Yes," I whispered, so quietly that if he’d been a beta, he wouldn’t have heard it.

A low, vibrating sound came from his chest in the AO language, pure desire wrapped in a growl. The sound hit me like a wave, lighting up every nerve ending in my body, stoking the fire in my passage. A quiet whimper slipped from me in response, primal and needy.

Hunter slid off his bed. There were maybe six feet between us. He dropped to his knees.

At the same time, without even thinking, my hips started to tilt back.

I’d heard about this kind of response, but I’d never experienced it myself.

Blood rushed to my lower stomach so fast it made me dizzy.

For the first time in my life, I felt such an intense craving.

My hole throbbed, clenching and fluttering open again.

The special, deep, humming sound he made affected my tissues there, preparing them, vibrating them, stimulating them…

In the dark, I could sense him crawling toward me, moving on all fours across the floor. A low growl rumbled from his chest, the sound of an alpha closing on the rut.

Something subconscious stirred inside me. My omega instincts kicked in, and I flipped onto my stomach, slid off the bed, leaving only my upper body on it, legs on the floor. Then I pushed my knees apart, presenting myself to him like a submissive, willing omega.

His breath grazed over my ass, the deep tone of his growl buzzing directly against my skin.

"Goddamn," I heard him murmur. "What a perfect ass. So big, so juicy."

Was this really happening? Was I dreaming? Still caught in some fantasy?

His hands landed on the edge of my bed, next to my hips.

Then I felt it.

A subtle, warm, wet flick, right against my hole.

His tongue slid across my rim in a slow, delicious circle and I gasped.

I never thought I could feel something like that, not there.

Not in that region of my body that had only ever known pain or detachment.

But now… everything was different. A warm, golden-pink shiver rippled through me; it felt new, like a reset.

Like his touch was unclogging blocked nerves, clearing out the damage.

I pressed my forehead to the sheets, gripping the edge of the blanket tightly.

My breath hitched as I felt him swirl deeper, twisting his tongue gently inside.

"Such a sweet pink hole," he mumbled. "You taste amazing."

Then his mouth latched onto me and sucked softly, and I saw stars behind my eyelids. Fuck.

How was this even possible? How could what he was doing feel so different from anything I’d experienced before?

He didn’t grab my hips or shove into me or start pounding me.

His every move was slow, gradual, but intensely erotic.

He touched me like I was precious, and his tongue sent waves of pleasure through every nerve in my soft, pink tissue.

My hole pulsed, clenching and releasing in rhythm. A low sound tore from my throat, one I’d never made before, a sound that meant yes, don’t stop, this feels good .

His hands, which had been resting on either side of my hips, started to move. Unhurriedly, almost lazily, his right hand slid lower toward my belly.