Page 5 of Rix & Val (Cosmic Crowns MC #2)

T he banging on the door is a rude awakening.

Rix slips from the bed, and I can hear from the tone of his voice he isn’t happy.

I’d have got up, but I’m too relaxed. My body aches, but in a good way.

Realising it’s one of his brothers, I slip back into sleep, only to be woken what feels like seconds later by Rix running his finger up and down my nose.

“Tired,” I moan. It isn’t often in my life that I’ve had the luxury of sleeping in and I want to make the most of it.

Plus, I’ve been hoping that Rix would let me use his body again.

It’s a fine body, after all. Well, maybe I’m hoping he’ll let me use his cocks again if I’m honest. I don’t think it’ll take much persuasion.

Curling, I lay my head down on his lap and press my forehead into his bare abs, inhaling deeply, loving the combined smell of our scents.

Nuzzling my cheek against him, I ignore his cock when it twitches against my cheek.

As much as I’d love to, I realise I’m not sure I have it in me for another round.

“Ignore him, a chroí,” Rix growls as his fingers tunnel into my hair, massaging my scalp. “Sadly, we don’t have time, milseán . We’ve been summoned.”

That got my attention. Rolling onto my back, my head still on his lap, I look up at him. “Why’ve we been summoned?”

Rix continues to stroke his fingers through my hair, and my eyes close. It feels so good. I’ve never been cared for. Ever! Except for in the last few hours. Rix has shown me in so many ways he cares.

From cleaning me up after our last bout of lovemaking to making sure I’m covered by blankets and not cold. Then showing me care in how he woke me up.

My eyes shoot open at his next words, though, and I sit up. “Your sisters are waiting for you in the common room. I’m guessing they want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Oh,” I gasp, but my heart is full. That they care enough to check on me means more than anything else in the world, and it gets me moving. Turning, I hurriedly stand up off the bed and head to the cleansing room. I need to have a quick wash. I don’t need my sisters smelling Rix all over me.

Rix chuckles at my mad dash, and the next thing I know, I’m being crowded into the cleansing room, and he’s reaching past me to press a button embedded in the wall. “Here, let me show you something. I think you’ll enjoy this,” he tells me as a sprinkle of real water rains down from above.

“Oh,” I whisper, lifting my face to the flow. I’ve heard of showers, but I’ve never been in one. It reminds me of standing out in a rainstorm but gentler and not as cold. “How?” I want to know.

“We all have one but don’t use them very often. The water is recycled so that it’s not wasted. We collect it when it rains; there are barrels on the roof for that purpose.”

“It’s amazing,” I reply, blinking the drops from my lashes.

At that moment, I realise my smile and the bubbly feeling in my stomach are happiness.

It’s such an unfamiliar feeling that it has taken me a while to realise what it is.

It only intensifies when a citrus scent invades the room and Rix's hands start massaging my scalp.

As the suds run down my body, I realise he's washing my hair.

Tears prick my eyes. Again, here he is, taking care of me.

“Rinse for me, milseán ,” he instructs. Tilting my head back, I let the water carry the shampoo away. Then his hands return to my body, washing away our night. I feel a pang as his scent is washed away.

Rix grips my hips and turns me so that I’m facing away from him, my hands on the wall of the cleansing unit.

He lowers himself to his knees, washing first my legs, then up my thighs around the globes of my ass.

He hesitates a little when he gets to my back.

Until that moment, I’ve forgotten about the scars that riddle my back.

His room has only a dim light and while he’s felt them, he hasn’t been able to see them.

Tensing, I wait for him to say something.

But he doesn’t. Instead, he presses a kiss to the worst one and stands back up, running his hands over my shoulders, digging his fingers into the tight muscles of my neck, easing the tension.

A soft sigh leaves me as the tension seeps out, and I lean back against him.

He nuzzles my neck, his hard cock nestled in the cleft of my ass. But he does nothing except hold me.

“Thank you, Rix,” I whisper. He kisses my shoulder.

“For what, a chroí ?”

“For so many things.” I stop and inhale a shaky breath before continuing.

“Thank you for caring for me and teaching me how amazing lovemaking can be. Thank you for not making me feel dirty for the scars on my back. For being you and treating me with gentleness when I’m not used to it.

Thank you for giving me time to trust you without demanding it, since we are mates. ”

Rix’s voice is husky with emotion when he replies, “ Mo ghrá, you never have to thank me for taking care of you. It’s my honour.”

Turning around, I wrap my arms around his waist, holding tight onto him, my ear over his chest listening to the thump, boom, thump, boom of his two hearts. Two hearts. Somehow, I’m not surprised. A male like this one, one who has the biggest capacity for love, would need two hearts.

Rix presses his lips to the crown of my head as there’s another pounding on his door. “Feck’s sake,” he mutters grumpily. “Your sisters are an impatient lot, aren’t they?”

Giggling, I tilt my head back, my chin resting on his chest so that I can see him. “They care about me,” I say. Although even I can hear the surprise in my voice at the thought that they care enough about me to check on me.

“Of course they do,” he rumbles. “Why wouldn’t they? You are an amazing female. Now,” he steps back, pressing another button and the water stops and fans start up, drying the moisture from us within seconds.

“Handy,” I laugh. Stepping out of the cleansing cubicle, I walk back into the bedroom and pick up my scattered clothing.

Slipping them back on, not hiding the fact that I’m watching Rix wander naked around his room as he finds his own clothing.

He winks at me when he catches me watching and I grin at him.

Why wouldn’t I watch all that yummy blue muscly goodness?

Muscles bunching and flowing as he pulls up his leathers and then his boots.

But when he fits the cross braces on, my claiming mark showing sharply against the leather and he fills the slots with knives, that’s what really does it for me.

A gush of warmth floods through me, and I know he knows because his nostrils flare as my scent fills the air.

He closes his eyes with a moan, pressing a hand against his cocks that are outlined in his leathers, “Feck me, milseán , are you trying to kill me?”

“Sorry,” I apologise with a soft laugh, “but it’s your fault. Well, you and your knives. Do you know how hot that was?”

His eyes pop open when I ask him that.

“Only to you, milseán , only to you,” he assures me, and there’s no mistaking the heat in his eyes when he looks at me. He enjoys knowing that I find him weaponing up hot.

We have to get out of this room because if he keeps looking at me like that, I’ll have to have my way with him, and I’m not sure if my body can take any more sex right now.

Finishing tying my boots, I stand up from the bed and walk towards the door, looking at him over my shoulder as my hand turns the handle to open it.

I’m amused to see his eyes trained on my ass. Amused and turned on.

“Ready?” I ask, eyebrows raised in query.

“For you? Always,” he assures me. “Meeting your sisters? I’ll let you know.”

Throwing my head back, I laugh, walking out of the room, and I’m still chuckling when we get to the common room and find a pacing Vena.

I can hear the others in the distance, so I know they’re around.

But out of all my sisters, Vena and I are most alike.

That she’s been worried has my heart doing funny flips again.

Not that you know she’s worried with the way she turns to look at me and says with no expression, “Glad you’re alive.” Her eyes flick to the male behind me before she continues, “We’re wanted in the kitchen.”

She may not show it, but I can see everything she doesn’t say in her eyes. We can read each other like a book, and as our gazes hold, I know mine is telling her I’m fine and I’m happy. Hers is saying that she’s relieved and glad she doesn’t have to kill anyone.

Rix is silent as Vena and I stare at each other, but I can feel his heat at my back, and it’s a good feeling knowing that I’ve got someone there that I can trust. When Vena looks away, my gaze moves to the grumpy old man that has taken us in and loves us like we are his.

He’s watching us but hasn’t said anything.

Walking away from Rix, I walk up to Kragor and surprise him by enfolding him in my arms, squeezing him quickly before letting go.

“Thank you,” I tell him. His gaze softens, and he cups my cheek. “You’re welcome, iníon. You found a good one.”

Rix moves to the bar and pours two cups of kafe, handing me one. “I have, haven’t I?” I say to Kragor.

Vena lets out an aggrieved sigh just as Vex and another male come into the room.

“Prospect,” he barks, and the two males that are behind the bar jerk to a stop. “In the kitchen—my female says you don’t know how to clean, and she’s going to show you.”

The look on their faces has Vena and me biting our lips to stifle laughter. That doesn’t stop Kragor, though; he laughs long and hard.

“Ah, you lot are in for a hard morning. I’d get moving if I were you. My daughters are slave drivers.”

Chuckling, I watch as they hotfoot it out of there in the direction that Vex had come from.