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Good Intentions

Caspian

“Cas…”

Hearing her gasp my name as she falls back, sinking into the mattress, my heart thunders like a thousand drums.

Already, I’m anticipating what the simple act of touching her will do to me. I’ll savor every fucking moment of it, only to walk away feeling as though my sole purpose in this world is to please the goddess on display before me.

She stares intently, locked in on my eyes, clocking my every move as I rest beside her. I prop myself up on one elbow, and from this angle, I’m able to take in the entire landscape of her body.

Every perfect inch of her.

She’s focused, trying to steady her erratic breaths as I slowly trace one fingertip around her nipple, feeling it harden beneath my touch. The fabric of her gown is so thin it leaves little to the imagination. My mind has already shifted, and I’m imagining myself undoing her buttons, slipping a hand over her breast to cup it, teasing her nipple with my tongue instead.

Her stomach quivers at my touch, labored breaths puffing from her lips. Annalise Breedlove is completely mine, and despite not yet being allowed to claim her fully, there’s no question about this fact. There have been women before her, but none came close to making my very soul feel as if it’s theirs more than it’s my own. But with Annalise, I want her to have it all. Every single part of me.

My hand smooths down the flat plain of her stomach, slowing at the soft mound where her thighs meet, but her voice halts me.

“We said we’d take things slowly,” she says. The words are spoken barely louder than a whisper, but I hear them as though they’ve been yelled through a megaphone. In fact, they prick my heart with guilt, because… she’s right.

Damn.

“I’m… sorry.” Without hesitation, I lean away, trying to force my brain to understand that this isn’t happening, willing myself to accept that she’s off limits tonight. “I got a bit carried away. Please don’t think I?—”

“Wait.”

She cuts me off with that one word, catching my wrist, stopping me as I attempt to put distance between us. Despite having just reminded me that we aren’t supposed to yet be in such a compromising position, her eyes are telling a much different story. They’re saying she maybe wishes she hadn’t stopped me. They’re saying she desperately wants to take those words back. But I wait, listening to the subtle change in her breathing as we stare into one another’s eyes.

“I… didn’t say I wanted you to stop.”

Her neck throbs where her pulse races, and she’s hard to read. Now, I’m frozen in place for fear of doing the wrong thing. Whether the wrong thing is moving too far away or staying too close. Where we go next is completely up to her.

Her lower lip quivers, and my attention is completely focused there, wanting to kiss her more than I think I’ve ever wanted to before.

“Annalise, tell me what you want.” My voice is deep and raspy, riddled with lust as I’m drawn into her beauty.

“I—I’m not sure I know what I want. I?—”

“Annalise…”

This time, when her heart picks up speed, my wolf’s senses are heightened, and I don’t only see it pulsing against her throat, I hear it. And it’s pounding for me, saying what she may not be ready to say, but I need her to say it. I need her to tell me where she wants this to go.

Her lips part, but no sound leaves them. Then, it feels like time has slowed when she begins to gather her gown, pulling the hem higher to expose her thighs as she slowly lets her knees fall apart. Just a little. Next, she takes my hand, pushing it between her legs until my palm is covering the warm mound at their apex. Heat radiates from her core, and as my finger trails along her slit, the tip is coated in her arousal.

Her name nearly slips from my mouth, but before it has the chance, she grips the back of my neck, bringing my lips to hers. A quiet moan vibrates in her throat as her tongue wanders into my mouth, at the precise moment I push two fingers into her pussy, taunted by the wet heat that surrounds them. Oh, what I’d give to feel her on my cock, opening for me, pushing me to the brink of insanity.

Fuck.

“Is that better? Is this what you needed?” I can already sense her relief as I breathe the question against her chin when we come up for air.

She nods, but it seems words have escaped her. There’s also this deliciously pained look on her face as her eyes slam shut. I’m tempted. Tempted to push deeper into her, but I know better. If I ruin her, if I go too far, that telling scent of hers would disappear, thus giving away our secret.

That, with her, control is almost an impossibility.

However, I have no choice but to curb my need. Otherwise, her purity —as perceived by the council’s sense of the word—would be sullied. So, using all the strength within me, I refrain, pulling free from her tight, soaked channel, using the arousal coating my fingers to stroke her swollen clitoris. First, in small, teasing circles that have her mouth gaping open. Then, letting the tender bud glide between my fingers as my own breathing becomes labored.

I swear, if I could have her in this state every hour of every day, I wouldn’t get a single thing done.

Another moan falls from her lips, and the sound is so sweet, drawing me in as I pray for another. Like a fucking addict. Her legs gently squeeze my hand as she gasps, her tightening clit tempting me to drop to my knees. I’m desperate to tease it with my tongue, suck it between my lips, watching her flood the bed as she comes, but it’s too late. Right before my eyes, she’s coming undone, placing her hand on top of mine, feeling me play, feeling me take her over the edge. And just like that, she succumbs to the orgasm that’s been buzzing within her, begging to be brought to the surface.

Set free.

She hums with satisfaction, then smiles at the feel of a kiss being placed on the tip of her nose, then her chin, then her lips.

I pull away to stare at the contentment on her face, but it’s one step beyond that. Her lids are heavy, staying closed for several seconds before she flashes her big, beautiful eyes my way.

“That did the trick, I take it?” I laugh because, on cue, she yawns, answering my question.

Her hand is warm against my cheek, and I can’t look away. “I feel like I should thank you, but… that feels somewhat inappropriate,” she smirks.

“Anything for you. Always.”

She places one last kiss against my jaw, then her eyes do that thing again. Where they’re hardly open, and her body’s gone almost completely limp now.

“Rest,” I say, stroking her hair before sitting up. “I’ll be back after I shower.”

I move to the edge of the mattress, and my cock pulses as a reminder of why I’m eager to close myself off in her restroom. After touching her, feeling her come against my fingertips, I’m desperate for a bit of relief myself.

“Hurry back,” she says, and the sound of her voice has me shifting a look over my shoulder toward her. “I’ll keep your spot warm.”

I almost miss the hidden meaning beneath her words, but then it hits me. She’s permitting me to bypass the promotion to the settee, choosing to advance me directly into her bed.

The feeling that rushes in, hearing how she’s opening up to me—unafraid, with reckless abandon—it makes all the hard days, the nights filled with uncertainty, completely worth it.

“I’ll return as quickly as I can.”

After making a promise I fully intend to keep, I grab my bag and head straight for the shower. I don’t look back to confirm it, but I sense her gaze locked on me like a heat-seeking missile. But what’s even more incredible is what I feel.

Her love.