Page 322 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

I would have kept talking, feeling oddly nervous and out of my element, if not for the hand she pressed over my mouth, a grin on her face.

“Well, who’d have thought, the ever-so-confident and skilled Eoin, flustered…

” She wasn’t angry; she was smiling, which had to be a good sign, but I fidgeted with the buckle on my harness until she moved her hand from my mouth to still the motion.

“I love you too, Eoin,” she said, her voice going a little husky, but her eyes were warm and steady on my face.

I checked, but there was no sign of that trigger-happy blush she often sported.

She said she loved me, and my heart leaped with elation.

I knew she cared for me—I knew that—but love?

Had I won her over? Had giving her freedom been what she’d needed all along?

“I’ve always loved you, Eoin,” she added.

“I just… I wasn’t ready. I needed to grow a little more.

Do you understand?” There was a bit of shyness now, a little hesitation, as if she were worried that I’d be upset with her.

Far from it, I knew she was right, and she wasn’t the only one who’d needed to grow.

Fear of losing her, of losing yet another person I cared for, had made me want to hold on to her too tightly.

It had taken her strength, and her will to be independent, to show me how to protect, but also to trust in someone else at the same time.

“So did I, Tori,” I said, my voice rough from emotion.

“We really needed this adventure, didn’t we? ”

The smile she gave me in return made everything right in the world.

*

Tori

I’d just fed Novalee, put her in some fresh pajamas, and tucked her into her improvised little crib.

She was a content little nugget right now, and any worry I’d been carrying that I’d done the wrong thing by leaving her with a male I barely knew…

was appeased. Brace had done a good job, and the Captain’s statement when we picked her up had made me realize that maybe we’d done him a favor instead of the other way around.

Good, I was happy if Novalee had brought Brace some peace of mind.

He had to be a troubled man if he hid himself the way he did.

None of those thoughts could dampen the celebratory mood I felt.

We had rescued not just the two humans, like I wanted, bringing our rescue counter up to a hundred percent; we’d rescued several more alien males.

I knew there was still a chance we’d lose one of them, he was just so horrifically hurt, but he had a chance now.

For the first time since I met Eoin, my feelings for him were out in the open, and that was freeing.

That moment in the hallway might not have been the most romantic place to share our feelings, but for me, that moment had really happened in the mines.

That’s when it had clicked, when Eoin had trusted me to be in charge of that final rescue while he took care of something else.

That’s when I knew I could be his at last; that’s when I knew we were going to make it as a couple.

Behind me, Eoin was softly talking into his com device, updating the Vagabond on our situation.

It sounded like they’d managed to escape the ships chasing them and had made it to Rakex safely; now they were simply waiting for us.

I hoped it wouldn’t be long until we got there.

I was actually starting to miss my galley and my daily routine.

I missed my friends aboard the ship too, and the readily available babysitters like Fierce, Aggy, and Sunder.

Just thinking of the Tarkan male who had been my shield—my protector—during the first months after my abduction made me sigh.

When I’d discovered I was hugely pregnant while in a completely foreign future…

yeah, I really did miss him. He was a bit like my father in many ways; he’d even been there to help me give birth.

I had to muffle a chuckle when I thought of what he’d say if he found out that Eoin and I were now officially a thing.

Would he make a fuss when Eoin moved into my quarters on the Vagabond? Probably, just a little.

“What are you grinning about, Tally?” Eoin asked quietly from just behind me. I felt the heat of his body brush up against my back, and immediately, my body tingled in all the right places. It was always like that, and I fervently hoped that feeling never faded.

“I was imagining Sunder’s reaction when you moved in with me…” I said, and then I had to muffle a chuckle when he gave an exaggerated shudder. The look in his eyes said, ‘Why would you imagine something like that!’ It was a little betrayed, almost, then the look turned sly, and a little pleased.

“Move in, huh? I guess I can face Sunder if that’s on the table,” he said, a husky note in his voice.

He had curled his arms around my middle from behind and was slowly pulling me away from where Novalee was soundly sleeping.

It was late evening by now, according to our internal clock, so it was no surprise.

“Yeah, I think you should. Don’t you want that?” I asked. I knew what his answer was going to be—he’d take anything I offered. This was his wish come true. It did wonders for my self-confidence to know that a male as sexy as Eoin wanted me so much.

He rumbled a laugh at me, spinning me around to toss me onto the bed.

His mercury eyes sparkled at me in the dimmed light of the cabin.

“You know I want that, brat,” he teased.

Crawling up onto the bed at my feet, he prowled up my body like a sleek panther.

I shivered at the sight; there was something so pleasing about being caged beneath his big body, it made me feel so coveted.

“Good,” I told him, and then I nimbly dodged his grabbing hands.

If I let him, I’d find myself tied to the bed again—no matter how much I loved that, no matter how much I craved it—even though that wasn’t what I wanted tonight.

He raised an eyebrow in surprise but let me push him over and climb on top of him, indulging me.

I didn’t mind that it was just that, an indulgence, as long as he was letting me.

“I thought we’d try something different,” I told him, locating the bottom hem of his shirt so I could pull it over his head.

He helped, teasingly bucking his hips beneath mine as he did, the thick bulge of his cock pressing intimately against the crease between my thighs.

I loved the sensations that rocketed up my spine, but it wasn’t what I was after, not yet.

Once I had him bared to me from the waist up, I shaped my hands over his muscles, taking in the feeling of his skin and the ridges along his belly.

I ground myself against his hips, and his hands found spots on mine, anchoring me to him, helping me find pleasure.

“Tally, so confident tonight, I love it.”

I grinned, and my confidence surged. He liked that, huh?

So did I. It felt good to be on top for once, to be the one in control, even if that control was mostly a thinly veiled illusion.

Taking his hands from my hips, I pressed them up over his head and into the pillows.

He smirked in return but gamely kept his hands where I’d put them, watching me avidly as I got up and undressed, then worked on pulling his pants off.

He didn’t offer any assistance, just groaned quietly when I freed his cock but didn’t touch it.

Eyeing the thick erection reaching for his belly button, I licked my lips.

Yeah, I wanted to know what it felt like to have that inside me when I was on top.

I wanted to ride him, but I wanted other things too, foreplay things.

So I focused on those, gliding my hands along his smooth skin, teasing him but not touching his cock.

I knew he wasn’t tied up, but he understood, and he was staying still for me, even though it was difficult, making his muscles strain beneath his skin, which was honestly the sexiest thing I’d ever seen.

Following the sharp depression of one side of the V-like line along his hip, I curled my fingers through the soft hair at the base of his cock.

It was not as coarse as the silver and copper hair on his head, and the nearness of my fingers made his cock twitch.

He groaned again. “Tally, please…” I knew just how he felt, and, taking pity on him, I dipped my head down and swirled my tongue over the thick, mushroom-shaped head.

Slickness coated my thighs in response to his taste, salty and strong.

It was uniquely him and entirely addictive.

I eagerly lifted him so I could suck him between my lips, hollowing my cheeks as I drew him deeper.

He muffled a hoarse kind of shout by pressing one wrist over his mouth, his mercury eyes huge in his face.

Then he groaned again—deep and heartfelt—when I managed to make the head press against the back of my throat without gagging.

Deciding that he needed a little help to stay quiet, I turned so I could swing my leg over his shoulder, presenting my wet passage to his mouth.

He latched on immediately, his hands clamping over my hips, pressing me to him as his tongue delved deep—wetly pumping into me before licking from clit all the way up to my puckered back hole.

The naughty move made my entire body spasm, and I was glad I had his cock in my mouth, or I would have been the one shouting.

Rocking against him, we found a rhythm, pumping my mouth over his length while he pleasured me with his tongue.

Fucking me on both ends with his sexy body.

The thought made an orgasm explode through me, my toes curling on either side of Eoin’s head.

He just eagerly lapped up every drop of wetness leaking from me.

When it got too sensitive, I wrenched myself free from his grip; for a moment, he didn’t seem to want to let go, and then he conceded.

I scrambled around clumsily, in a rush now.

Eoin just watched me, eyes gleaming in the same way the entire bottom half of his face glistened with my juices.

He was holding himself back, watching me for what I wanted next.

Throwing my leg over his hip was all the cue he needed, his eyelids dropped, gaze hooded.

Lining his cock up with my opening, I sank down on him with a moan I barely managed to muffle by biting my bottom lip.

He felt good, sliding into me easily at this angle.

He felt bigger—it felt like he went deeper—and it was so good when I got him all the way in and my clit ground against his pelvis.

“Yes, ride me,” Eoin hissed at me through his teeth, his hands rising above his head as if he intended to grab me, but then he pressed them back into the mattress.

That felt like a victory. With my knees for leverage, I rose up and down, impaling myself on him each time with a forceful thrust. It felt so good, and I was rapidly finding myself climbing that mountain again, ready to hurl myself off.

Legs burning, my thighs aching, I felt sweat coat the small of my back, and then Eoin’s hands were suddenly on my hips, guiding me, pushing me just a little more forcefully onto him, his hips rising to meet mine.

That was exactly what I needed, and within seconds, my orgasm rushed through me, my passage clamping down on his intruding member.

A mewling sound escaped my throat, my eyes locked on his, and he followed me over that edge with a shudder.

His cock kicked as he came, twitching hard so I could feel each spurt of his seed as it coated me.

I collapsed onto his chest, and he wrapped me tightly in his arms, nuzzling his face against the crown of my head.

“I love you, Tori—shy or bold, warrior or not—I love you.” And for the first time, I knew that he meant every word he said.

He did. He loved every part of me. I now had faith that he could give me freedom when I craved it, and hold me close when I needed that, too.

The future was bright with him at my side. Since he’d come into my life, he’d filled the hole losing my family had left behind. With him and my precious baby at my side, I’d never be alone. And that big family I was used to? It was waiting for me, ready to welcome me back on the Vagabond.