Page 22 of Malice: The Mate Games (Apocalypse #3)

Chapter

Sixteen

MERRI

T he first thing I heard when the dream materialized around me wasn’t the crashing of waves or the birds in the trees on this tropical beach. It was... a Tarzan call?

“Ah-ah-ahhhhhh!”

“What in the world?”

I didn’t know if I was more surprised or amused, but when it came to Sin, I was usually a bit of both.

The sound echoed in the distance again, causing me to abandon the sandy shore and go in search of the man. He was the reason I’d come here in the first place, after all.

“Sin?” I called, pushing past the thick flora and fauna as I wandered deeper into the jungle.

“Looking for me?”

I glanced around, not seeing him anywhere. “Are we playing hide and seek?”

“Up here!”

I lifted my gaze just in time to see him swinging from a thick vine and landing on a tree branch.

Even from this vantage point, I could see the sweat glistening on his muscles, his skin bronzed by the sun.

That loincloth also left very little to the imagination.

Hell, I knew what he was packing under there, and I still had a reaction to seeing him clad in so little.

I could tell he was pleased with himself, so I did my best to swallow a laugh as I asked, “What is all this?”

“Me Sin.” He thumped a fist on his chest and then pointed to me. “You Merri.”

I tilted my head, taking in his cascade of golden hair and bright smile. “I dunno, man. You look more like George of the Jungle to me.”

“So... you think I’m hot.” His smirk was a deadly weapon aimed right at me.

“That goes without saying.”

In a graceful series of movements, he jumped down from the tree and landed directly in front of me.

“I thought we could do a little role-play. I’ll be the man raised by apes.

You can be the brilliant, bookish explorer.

You teach me everything you know. And by everything, I mean.

..” He leaned in and waggled his eyebrows.

“Is that so?”

“Well, you enjoyed it so much the last time, I figured why not next level the shit out of it?” He shrugged.

“But if you aren’t into it, we can go a different route.

Chaos mentioned you were into the idea of playing chase.

Do you want me to put on that Scream mask?

I could try to catch you as you run. Except I won’t kill you, and the only thing I’ll impale you with is my dick. ”

As he was speaking, the jungle around us shifted. Instead of bright greens and dappled sunlight, I was now surrounded by a forest shaded in moonlight. The mask in question was now draped over his face, along with an all-black ensemble that camouflaged him too well.

“What do you say, kitten? Wanna run?” His voice was a deep growl in my ear.

My heart flipped in my chest, and I let out a breathy laugh as I placed my hand on his chest. “Tempting, but maybe something less terrifying?”

“Okay, okay. Challenge accepted.” He pulled the mask off his face and dropped a kiss on my lips. “No psycho killer. We could be two astronauts stuck in space. The only thing keeping us going is the fiery passion between us. Forced proximity is so hot right now.”

Before the setting could change to a very un-sexy anti-gravity space station, I shook my head.

“Also scary. I’ve seen Alien. No, thank you.” I couldn’t keep the laughter from my voice.

He tapped his lower lip, his eyes going hazy as his mind worked. “Okay, so what I’m hearing is you want less fantasy/sci-fi and more contemporary romance. I could bring back OriginalSin and introduce you to your cowboy era?”

My nipples hardened at the mention of Emmett and that accent he used when he was pretending not to be the Sin I knew and adored.

“I’ll take that as a hell yes, darlin’,” he drawled, the forest melting and being replaced by a sprawling ranch with the warm sun setting behind majestic mountains.

This time he was clad in low-slung Wranglers, with a shiny belt buckle and a cowboy hat dipped low over his eyes. I’d be a lying liar who lied if I said my ovaries didn’t have a whole implosion over the picture he painted. Hussies.

But it still wasn’t what I was craving.

I moved closer until our bodies all but touched and gave him a sweet kiss. “Let’s just be Sin and Merri.”

“How very domestic. I like it.” He took off his hat, and it disappeared before his palms cupped my ass. “Kiss me, baby.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. Closing my eyes, I gave in to him and let myself fall into the magic of kissing Sin. The man lived up to his name. Every sense came to life when his lips were on mine. He practically turned kissing into an Olympic sport. Tens across the board.

As his tongue danced with mine, my stupid heart gave a twitterpated flutter, and I sank further into the sensation of being his.

I didn’t break the kiss until he sat me down on a cold, hard surface.

Apparently I wasn’t wearing anything under this little silk nightie I’d manifested. Good job past me.

My eyes fluttered open to find the two of us in an unfamiliar kitchen. Something was bubbling away on the stovetop behind Sin, and there were a couple of candles scattered around that smelled delicious. Everything about the setting was sweet and cozy. Definitely much more my style.

Don’t get me wrong, the out-there fantasies were fun. But I’d denied myself these simple intimacies for my entire life. These were the experiences I was most interested in collecting.

“What’s cooking?” I murmured, nuzzling his neck and peppering light kisses up to his jaw.

“Don’t know. Don’t care. The only thing I want to eat is you.”

My whole body tightened at the promise in those words.

“I mean . . . I won’t stop you.”

He grinned, his hands warm on my thighs as they slid up higher, pushing the little nightie up as they did. “What my girl wants, she gets.” Eyes darkening with lust, he whispered, “Lie back for me, kitten. Spread those legs and let’s start with dessert.”

I leaned back on my elbows so that I could support myself and watch him work. As he dropped to his knees, I widened my legs as far as they would go to make space for his broad shoulders. He closed his eyes as he leaned forward and ran his nose along my seam.

“Mmm, fucking delicious.”

“You really think so?” I asked, a blush heating my cheeks.

“I don’t get to do this for you enough. If I could, I’d settle myself between your thighs and make you come over and over on my tongue until your legs tremble and you beg me to stop. Every.” Lick. “Fucking.” Kiss. “Day.”

Then he sucked my clit into his mouth, and we both stopped talking.

I was reduced to little more than moans as I dug my fingers into his hair and held on to him for dear life. The things he could do with his mouth were, well, sinful. I was so on board with what he was doing to my body that I didn’t even feel the need to beg for forgiveness. I was a total convert.

He wanted to do this every day? Sign me the fuck up. He needed to feed too. I could take care of him. Honestly, I should. He did the same for me.

“Fuck, Sin,” I moaned, whimpering when he slid two fingers inside me and curled them upward, pressing right fucking there.

“I know, baby. You’re being so good for me. Taking everything I’m giving you with such pretty whimpers.” He pulled back just far enough that he could look up at me, his lips shiny with my arousal. “But I’m a glutton, and I won’t be satisfied until I have all of you.”

“Don’t make me come yet. If I come, you will too, and you have to be inside me if you’re going to get me pregnant.” Was that my voice that sounded so high-pitched and frantic? Yes. Yes, it was.

“Christ,” he muttered, pressing his forehead to my inner thigh. “I never thought the idea of knocking someone up would make me so hard, but those words from your lips have me leaking.”

I reached down and grabbed his arms, tugging so I could get him to stand. I needed to see exactly what I was doing to him. “Show me.”

Rising, he stood there on display, his clothes completely gone, dick standing proudly at attention, the tip glistening with precum, a drop falling to the floor as I watched.

“You’re wasting it,” I whispered. “Everything you can give me belongs inside.”

His cock twitched, hands grabbing my thighs hard enough I’d have bruises. Twin pulses of arousal punched through the room, blanketing us in each other’s pheromones and sending our need for each other through the roof.

“Stop teasing me, Sin. Fuck me and breed me already.”

His expression was feral as he leaned in to steal another kiss. “You could not be more perfect,” he breathed.

Impatient, I snaked a hand between us and grabbed his length, giving it one long stroke that made him groan before notching him at my slick entrance. “Please.”

“As much as I love hearing you beg, you never need to. I’m pretty sure I was born to take care of you, Merri.”

He drove home, bottoming out in a deep thrust that had us both making unintelligible sounds of pleasure.

“Yes. More.” I was nearly incoherent as I clawed at his back and wrapped my legs around his hips.

It didn’t seem to matter how often I fed these days. When it came to my four horsemen, I was always a needy bitch. And they loved to cater to my needs.

I really loved that for me.

“Fuck, kitten. Your cunt is squeezing me so tight.”

“Yes.”

“You want to make me come in your pretty pussy?”

“God, yes.”

“You want my baby.”

The way those words caused my belly to clench made him gasp, and I was pretty sure his knees buckled there for a second.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

As much as his breeding talk was doing for my impending orgasm, it was suddenly super important that he know that wasn’t all this was. Yes, we needed to save the world. And yes, he needed to impregnate me for that to happen. But even without that, I wanted more of this. More of him.

Cupping his cheek in my hand, I made sure he was looking at me when I bared a tiny sliver of my soul. “I...” I stopped myself as words I wasn’t ready for danced on the tip of my tongue. No, that wasn’t something I would say. Not now. Possibly not ever again.

“What, baby?”

“I want it all with you, Sin.”

The look that crossed his face was a mixture of peace and euphoria as my words hit and his orgasm followed.

He groaned my name, his hips losing their rhythm as he came deep inside me.

His pleasure took me along for the ride, setting off my own climax, but this time it was different.

There was something new that floated in the hazy aftermath of our shared release.

It was hard to pinpoint it, but there was no denying the rightness of this moment.

I was sated. I was content. I was... whole.

Like for once in my life, I was exactly where I was supposed to be. And with exactly who I was supposed to be. I didn’t have the words to describe it other than that. But I knew Sin was feeling it too. I could see my wonder reflected in his warm gaze.

He tucked a stray lock of my hair behind my ear before sighing happily. “It’s never been like this with anyone before. Every time we’re together, this feeling just gets stronger.”

I couldn’t deny he was right. Exciting as it was, I’d spent so much of my life trying to keep myself from losing someone I cared about. That niggle of fear I tried to bury worked its way to the surface.

“I know. I feel it too,” I finally said.

He kissed me again. When I opened my eyes, I was in my bed—alone.

Well, not completely alone.

It took a couple of tries to get my eyes to focus in the darkness.

It was morning, but only just as the light from the rising sun barely made a dent in the shadows.

Even so, I could make out a familiar masculine shape.

A place where the shadows were so dark they were impenetrable.

As I got to my feet, the form vanished, and the light in the corner where he’d been standing guard changed.

He was gone, but I knew now. Daddy Death had been keeping watch.

The question was . . . why?