Page 47

Paradise.

My hands were braced on the edge of the tub as Vince scrubbed me clean.

I swallowed, trying to control my cock, which wanted to harden.

Sex wasn’t on his mind, not even close. Vince seemed to take almost an indescribable amount of joy from simply cleaning me, caring for me, loving on me.

His lathered hands scrubbed at my scales between my butt cheeks and my inner thighs.

True to his word, cleaning his seed from last night off my scales was proving difficult, but he didn’t care.

Vince washed me thoroughly and relaxed thoughts floated through his head. The act of caring for me pleased him greatly, and it made tears burn my eyes. He didn’t expect sex, he didn’t expect repayment, and all he wanted was to take care of me. I didn’t understand it.

“I have you,” Vince whispered, placing a kiss on my back.

“How did you know?” I hadn’t made a noise to alert him to my sweeping emotions.

Vince kissed me again. “Letting other people take care of you can be hard, Don, but I want to. Rely on me. I’ve spent every moment of this journey leaning on you, but I want to be there for you too.”

I didn’t know why letting someone take care of me was so difficult, but it was. I’d spent my life taking care of others—my younger brothers, my fellow soldiers, and now my mate. It seemed almost wrong to allow Vince to care for me when I could be caring for him.

“Let me wash you,” I said, changing the subject.

He kissed my back. “No.”

“Vince,” I said, swallowing as tension filled my muscles.

With a long breath, he rubbed his face against my lower back, hands finally stilling. “Sweetheart, I want to take care of you. Please let me. I need this.”

I could feel his desperation to care for me. It was hard, though. But I couldn’t deny my mate something he required, and deep down, I was certain I needed this more than he did.

“Alright.”

With another gentle kiss, he continued his ministrations.

Vince’s every touch was soft as he scrubbed me clean, no speck left unwashed.

He even made me sit so he could wash my hair.

His fingers rubbed the products through the long strands, then massaged my scalp while he hummed a light tune.

It didn’t have a true melody, but I joined him, humming along, and soon we found a rhythm all our own—one I would never forget.

Unable to stop it, my cock lifted, poking out of the water.

Beads of pre-seed slid out of the slit as Vince massaged my scalp.

I swallowed a needy groan. I wanted him to fuck me again.

Because of my large size, I wasn’t often on the bottom or snuggled or treated gently, all of which I craved.

Vince easily and happily met those needs.

My tail coiling around Vince’s wrist, I scoured his thoughts—sex wasn’t on his mind. Loving on me was.

“Close your eyes, Sweetheart,” Vince said right before I heard metal scraping on stone.

He had to be grabbing the detachable nozzle on the side of the tub.

I complied, and warm water rushed over my hair as Vince washed the cleanser off.

I only opened my eyes when I heard the metal of the nozzle hit the side of the tub once again.

The water sloshed over the sides as Vince climbed around me. I averted my gaze when he moved directly in front of me—my needy cock was obvious.

Soft fingers grabbed my chin, and Vince made me look at him. He kissed me, then muttered against my lips, “Did you need me to take care of that?”

“If you want.”

Vince frowned, and I blinked at the frustration that rushed through his mind. “Don,” he said, “what do you want? I want to take care of you. If you want sex, tell me. I might not always say yes, just like you don’t have to when I ask, but you sure as hell can ask. I want you to.”

“I want to have sex,” I said, not sure why the words were hard. Vince was mine. I loved him. He cared about me. He wouldn’t be upset if I asked, but I couldn’t stop the tension forming.

“So do I,” Vince replied, kissing me. He pulled back after the barest moment, eyebrows pulled together. He reached for my hand, bringing it to my cheek. “Sweetheart, why are you so tense?”

I didn’t want to share my feelings with him. I wasn’t in control. Vince frowned but didn’t press when I refused to make the connection between us.

“What’s going on?” His eyes widened. “Did a past partner get mad at you for asking or expressing what you needed?”

Rage, pure and unfettered, flowed through Vince. The potency as well as his desire to murder whoever hurt me made me blink.

“No, my Vince,” I replied, drawing him onto my lap. We both ignored my aching cock as he snuggled against me, holding me securely in his embrace. I ran my fingers through his short hair, tugging on the black strands, and tried to organize my thoughts.

“I’ve never been in a long-term relationship, or in one even like this,” I said carefully. Vince and I had never defined exactly what this was. “No one hurt me as people hurt you, so I feel almost bad even discussing this.”

Vince frowned. “This isn’t the pity olympics . Just because I had something horrible happen to me doesn’t invalidate what happened to you.” He pressed a hard kiss to my collar bone. “I want to know.”

“Olympics” was a foreign word and NAID supplied: competition and events. I couldn’t help but wonder if humans competed for who had the worst trauma. That seemed quite horrific in my mind, but they did have entertainment programs about murder. As a whole, humans were odd.

I continued to stroke Vince, more for my own comfort than his. The feel of his silky skin beneath my scales calmed me. “Many of my past partners were unkind at times.”

“Why?”

“My gift. They expected more.”

He stared at me, confusion clear in his thoughts.

I brushed his bottom lip. “They expected me to be the best lover, which I was not.”

He kissed the pad of my thumb. “You’re the best lover I’ve ever had, by far.”

I preened at the compliment while, at the same time, doubt surged. Vince was being completely honest, but I couldn’t help but think he hadn’t been with many people. Though I hardly wanted to contemplate who he’d fucked in the past. That would only anger me.

“Almost none of them were outright mean, but I sensed their frustration or disappointment. Some had told me I sounded odd or was too needy, so I tried to be quiet and not ask. I let them lead. No matter how many permissions we discussed, I kept being a lackluster lover. It got to the point I rarely accepted when people expressed an interesting in me fucking them, especially when most of the time I would rather someone fuck me.”

Vince’s wet arms came around my neck, and he went up on his knees to kiss my lips.

His tongue invaded my mouth and his thoughts stabbed me.

They were wrong. You are perfect. I moaned, hands moving tentatively to his butt.

Vince didn’t even slow and fucked me with his tongue, claiming me with a resounding, Mine. All mine.

I held Don’s hand when we went down for breakfast, finally.

We’d stroked each other off in the tub after he’d told me a little about his past sex partners.

Even thinking about what they’d said to Don or how they made him feel had hot lava pouring through my veins. I wanted to find them and murder them.

Don kissed the top of my head, no doubt sensing my murderous intentions. He was by far the better half of this couple, but I didn’t fucking care. I was fine with being the asshole if it meant keeping Don’s emotions safe from selfish pricks.

We weren’t the only ones late. Fyn and Caleb were just sitting down as we entered the private dining room. Kal was fussing over a bright red Seth, and Mindy was kissing Teddy, who didn’t seem to care about the audience. Everyone looked oddly happy.

“Did something happen?” I asked Don in a low voice.

His tail twitched, and his eyes purposefully moved away from me. He cleared his throat. “We all had a good night.”

What the fuck did that mean? I mean, it was probably the obvious—we were all on a vacation of sorts and had fucked our partners. But a single glance at Don, who seemed oddly tense, had me questioning exactly what he meant.

He refused to look at me, and I felt tension in the hand I held, so I let it go. It didn’t matter. Everyone was in a good mood, which meant we were all having fun.

I took a seat around the low wooden table.

The floor was stone and freezing under my ass—the thin cushion did nothing to keep the chill away.

Fake torches, like in our room, lined the walls.

On the wall to the right of the entrance was a waterfall that let off steam into the pool that surrounded the eating area.

The water put enough moisture in the room that all of the drakcol had beads of moisture gathering on their scales.

Don made a plate for me—grain, berries, and some type of bright red meat.

I shot him a smile, and he dipped his head in what I knew was embarrassment.

His tail coiled around my wrist, and I rubbed the tip instinctively, making his breath increase.

I stopped because he didn’t like me to touch his tail when other people were present and sex wasn’t an option.

He kissed my temple, no doubt from my thoughts, and I beamed.

“I’m fine, Kal,” Seth said, drawing my attention away from Don. Kal was frowning at Seth, who readjusted once again, and began to fuss over him, straightening his clothes and adding more food to his plate. Seth caught Kal’s hands, giving him a soft smile.

Dontilvynsan’s tail tightened around my wrist, but I thought, I’m fine, Sweetheart . I wasn’t jealous of Kal and Seth anymore, at least not how Don thought. I was jealous of their relationship. I wanted the same thing with Don, though at the same time, it freaked me out.

His tail flicked the back of my hand, soothing the stress out of my muscles.

I leaned against Don’s shoulder and nibbled on the strange meat.

It wasn’t cooked. The flesh was firm and tasted salty and fresh like fish.

I put it down. I wasn’t a fan of raw fish, especially for breakfast, but the berries and grain were tasty.

Fyn was feeding bits of food to Caleb across the table from us, and Serlotminden and Teddy hadn’t stopped making out yet. Kal continued to fuss over Seth, who would shift every few seconds—like his ass was sore.

I chuckled, catching Seth’s gaze, and he flushed clear to the roots of his hair. Yeah, they’d had a good night. They’d all had a good night. My forehead creased as I recalled feeling Don’s heightened emotions when we’d fucked.

His head dipped and his hands curled into fists.

“Sweetheart,” I said in a lowered voice. “It’s fine. I don’t care.”

Don had lost control last night. He’d told me once that his emotions sometimes spilled over to those closest to him, and no one was closer to him than his brothers, except possibly me, if I allowed myself that arrogant thought.

I almost laughed. Of course I allowed it.

Hell, I reveled in it because I wanted that thought to be true.

I wanted to be closer to Don than anyone else in this entire universe, even his brothers.

He was mine.

Don nuzzled my temple. “Just yours.”

“So,” I said, “what are we doing today?”

“I think me and Kal are going to hang around the cave, lodge, resort, thing, here,” Seth muttered, flushed.

“Seth is very tired,” Kal added, which made the red in Seth’s cheeks deepen.

I chuckled, lifting my eyebrows. “Oh, I bet. So very very tired.”

Seth squeaked, and I laughed, wrapping an arm around Don to squeeze him to make sure he was joining into the fun.

“Everyone seems… tired,” Don added, earning a laugh from each of his brothers.

Caleb piped up, “Me and Sunshine are going to explore the other cave system that we found yesterday. There’s so much glowing moss. Several varieties. Fyn thinks it can be spliced into the moss that covers most ship floors, which means it would glow if there were power outages.”

“Impressive,” Teddy said.

Caleb beamed, hugging his mate, who grunted and wiggled in the no doubt too-strong hold. “My Sunshine is the smartest person.”

Serlotminden ran a hand through Teddy’s extremely short curls. “That he is. Bartholomew and I are hiking to a secluded spring.”

More fucking, it seemed.

I rested my chin on Don’s bicep. “What do you want to do?”

“Spend the day with you.”

I pressed my face into his arm to hide my smile, but nothing could hide the fierce joy burning through me at his words. Snuggling next to Don, watching my closest friends with their partners, and basking in the comfortable atmosphere was as close to paradise as I would ever get, and I wanted more.