Page 102 of Axios

I kept raking glances at Eryx to see his reaction—to check if he appeared angry. But his expression was only one of interest.

He trailed his hand along my chest as he listened, only stopping me every so often to ask me to expand more on certain parts of the story. He was curious about the part with the fig.

“He fed it to me,” I confessed, feeling my face heat as I remembered how awkward it had made me feel.

Instead of the anger I assumed I’d see, Eryx’s expression held only amusement.

“Why do you grin?”

He shrugged and smoothed his hand down my stomach to play with the dark hair below my waist. Heat spread to my groin, but I pressed again for an explanation, knowing he meant to distract me.

He looked back up with humor gleaming in his eyes. “The act of him feeding it to you nearly upset me because of the intimacy that detail evoked in my mind… but then I saw your expression. It clearly made you uncomfortable.”

I scoffed. “And this brings you joy?”

He laughed and kissed my shoulder before raising his head and meeting my gaze again. “No, you foolish man. It is not humor it brings me but satisfaction. You adore it when I feed you, so it is a hold over you that I have that he does not.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “There is no competition, Ery. I am yours and forever will be. Caring for another does not change that, for I do not love him. And if I do love him… it is not in the same way.”

“I know.” Pressing his body closer to mine, he asked, “What happened after he kissed you?”

Even though he had asked the question so casually, I felt him tense.

“I denied his request for more, we said our goodbyes, and then I left,” I answered, sparing him from the unnecessary details. “One reason I believe the day meant so much to me was because… and you may think this silly… but he told me I was extraordinary. Yet, it was more than that. You had just informed me that morning that you planned to eventually marry a woman—to cast me aside—and I was hurt.”

“And he made you feel wanted,” Eryx whispered.

I nodded.

“I find it difficult to be angry with him now.” He lay on his back and stared up at the ceiling. “You were in a fragile state and he took care of you when I did not… when I was blinded by future responsibilities and hurt you. Made you believe I no longer wanted you.” His green-eyed gaze shifted back to me, and they glistened with unshed tears. “It is no surprise he fell for you too. You are everything that is beautiful and right in this world. I do not deserve you.”

“Enough,” I demanded. He was drowning in regret and self-hatred, and I refused to allow him to continue. “I forgave you long ago. It is time for you to do the same.”

Eryx regarded me with a furrowed brow before leaning forward and kissing me. His lips were soft and inviting. He grabbed the back of my head and tangled his fingers into my hair before pulling me on top of him.

Sometimes our kisses began slow and gradually built, but that time, it started rough and verged on aggressive. More than a submission to lust, it was a claim of possession—that we belonged to the other and no one else.

When we came together, it was hard and driven by both passion and sexual hunger.

I rode him, flinging my head back as I sped up my pace, not wishing for the moment to end but needing the release. The pleasure was all-consuming.

Eryx leaned up and bit my neck as he lifted his hips and drove himself faster into me.

“Ery!” I wrapped my arms around him and clawed at his back, begging for more.

Growling, he grabbed my hips and flipped me to my back on the bed before repositioning himself between my legs and thrusting again.

I came apart beneath him soon after, and he followed, burying his face into the crook of my neck as his heat filled me and his muscled body quaked.

Each time we joined, serenity blossomed inside me—one I could find nowhere else. Being connected to Eryx in such an intimate way completed me, as if he had the missing half of my heart and when we united, the two halves met once more.

“At it again?” A voice asked from the entryway.

I jolted and looked to see our three companions grinning and shaking their heads. Haden had been the one to interrupt, of course, as he always seemed to do.

Eryx pulled out of me and lay on his side, draping his arm across my stomach and looking toward them. “Just because your wife is miles away and you cannot stick your prick in anyone, does not mean you need to be so jealous, my friend.”

Haden snarled his upper lip and plopped on his bed.