Page 104 of Shadowblood Souls: The Complete Series

Thirty-One

Riva

I wake up with Jacob’s sharply cool scent filling my lungs and a needy ache pulsing between my thighs.

At some point during the night, without really thinking about it, I kicked off my cargo pants, which make for poor sleepwear with all their lumpy pockets. Unwise move.

Now my bare knee is hooked over Jacob’s leg beneath the duvet he pulled over us. At least he’s still wearing his slacks, thank all that is holy.

The rest of my body decided to press up against his while we slept, my hand resting on his chest. My head lies against his shoulder, cushioned by the arm he’s still got tucked around me.

I feel the rise and fall of his breath beneath my hand and try to convince myself to pull away. But it isn’t just the shadows in my blood shouting at me to twine myself with him even further.

I’ve recognized how gorgeous he is even when he was acting like a total jackass. My hormones have gone haywire every time he’s been close to me, regardless of how the rest of me felt about it.

And now he isn’t being a jackass. He shook me out of my self-berating funk yesterday like I’m not sure anyone else could have.

He held me through the whole night like the armor he promised me he’d be.

The thought of giving him my whole heart is still a little terrifying. But fuck, I don’t know how I’m going to concentrate while I’m around him when my defenses against my attraction have crumbled so much.

Is it possible I could satisfy some part of that itch without giving in to the most vulnerable bits?

Is it selfish of me to even want that?

Jacob’s breath speeds up a little, and the waft of pheromones that laces the air tells me he’s awake… and not exactly unaffected by our current position either.

His hand rises to stroke carefully over my hair. I can feel the tight control he’s maintaining over the simple movement, over his entire body where it touches mine.

“Okay, Wildcat?” he murmurs.

“Yeah,” I say, but even with that one word, my voice comes out a bit ragged.

Jacob twists a little so he can peer down at my face, managing not to dislodge my hand or my knee. I’m not sure if that’s for the best or a precursor to my impending doom.

“What?” His tone firms with a protective edge that only fans the flames nibbling away at my own control.

I swallow hard, my cheeks flushing. Am I really going to say this?

I should peel myself off him now and jump in the coldest of cold showers.

But somehow I’m still not moving.

Jacob lifts his other hand to brush his thumb over my cheek. He’s definitely taking my instructions to prove himself with gentleness to heart.

When I lift my gaze, the worry shimmering in his eyes nearly cracks me apart. “If something’s wrong?—”

It suddenly feels ten times more selfish not to tell him what’s actually on my mind.

Which doesn’t make it any easier to spit the truth out. I lower my gaze back to the muscled planes of his chest that show through his button-up shirt and fumble with the words.

“No, I just— I think I want— It doesn’t seem right to ask?—”

Jacob waits out my babbling patiently, his fingers stilling against my face. When I halt completely, he studies me.

“Ask for what, Riva? You can ask me for anything . Hell knows I fucking owe you.”

My mouth opens and closes again. My flush spreads down my cheeks. “I—Do you think we could?—”

I squeeze my eyes shut and force my thoughts into something vaguely resembling coherency. “Could we… enjoy ourselves a little, without it being anything permanent?”

Jacob goes even more rigid, but a fresh whiff of desire tickles my nose at the same moment.

“Without leaving a mark, you mean,” he says, his voice lowering in a way that sends my temperature spiking. “Nothing binding us. Just to get off.”

“Yeah,” I mumble, and then feel I need to make one thing clear. I meet his gaze again even though my face is flaming. “For now.”

I’m not making any promises, but I don’t want him to think I expect it to be never. That nothing he’s done has meant anything.

A small smile that brings a flutter into my chest crosses Jacob’s lips. “I told you last night that I’m yours, didn’t I? Whatever you want with me, I’m right here. Take as much as you need.”

A tight, hungry sound works from my throat, and then I’m rolling right onto him, straddling him like I did last night.

I splay my hands against his sculpted chest and wet my lips. Leaning over for a kiss feels too risky.

If I’m not going to lose myself in the moment and end up careening past boundaries I’d rather not, I need to keep a little distance.

Jacob trails tentative fingers down my neck, but his eyes have gone stormy with his own desire. “What can I do for you, Wildcat?”

The ache between my legs seems to be pulsing all through my body now. “I—touch me. Make me feel good. ”

A groan he can’t quite suppress seeps from his lips.

He drops his hand further to trace the side of my breast through my tank top. I press into the contact, shifting my hips at the same time—and my pussy, covered only by the thin panties, grazes the rock-hard bulge behind the fly of his slacks.

Both of our breaths hitch in unison. As the pleasure of the friction spirals from my core, Jacob cups my breast completely.

He rolls his finger over my nipple and then squeezes it. I whimper at the heady sparks the gesture sets off.

My hips rock. I can’t stop myself from grinding against him, seeking more of that delicious friction that’s quickening both our pulses.

“Fuck,” Jacob mutters shakily. He massages my breast with more forceful strokes that bring a whimper to my lips.

He bucks up to meet me, his erection locking against me even more firmly through our clothes, and my fingers dig into his shirt. I’m afraid to do anything else, to ask for anything else, or I might lose my grip on the reins.

Maybe I should stop this. Maybe it was a stupid idea.

But I’m not sure I know how to stop.

Jacob must see the inner conflict playing out on my face. He hesitates for just a second, and then both his hands slide to my thighs.

“I know what you need. Come here.”

Before I can ask what he means, he hefts me up without the slightest sign of effort. My muscles might be supernaturally powered, but I’m still tiny compared to him.

In one smooth movement, he lifts me so I’m kneeling over his face instead of his groin. My hands grasp onto the top of the headboard instinctively.

Then Jacob tugs my panties to the side and swipes his tongue over my throbbing cunt.

The starker rush of pleasure shocks a cry from my lungs. As if that’s the confirmation he was waiting for, he pushes up to plant his entire mouth against my folds.

His tongue flicks over my clit and down across my opening. He moves his lips against every sensitive part of me, sending quivers of delight racing through every nerve.

Oh, God. I clutch on to the headboard and sway with his attentions, my body outright quaking with the sensations he’s conjuring through it.

It felt incredible when Dominic kissed me there, but something about this position makes the act even more potent. I can set the pace; I can adjust the angle when he moves from what’s just the right spot.

Jacob follows my lead without complaint or any sign that I’m smothering him. His hands work up and down my thigh muscles as he devours me from below with every part of his mouth, even the softest graze of his teeth.

He plunges his tongue right inside me and then laps all the way to my clit, and I shudder against him with a moan. My hips can’t stop bucking, urging him on.

“That’s right,” he murmurs with a torturous vibration against my pussy. “Ride me for all you’re worth.”

He dives back in like I’m the best meal he’s ever eaten. The pleasure swells until it’s resonating through my whole body.

One of my hands falls to grip the rumpled strands of his pale hair. The other grips the headboard as if for dear life.

He sucks down on my clit, and the rising wave breaks.

It crashes over me, washing away every sensation but the surge of blissful release, whiting out my vision. I sputter another cry, lost in the haze.

Jacob keeps moving his mouth against me until my body starts to sag. Then I ease off him, sated but also a little awkward at how up close and personal we just got.

He’s buried his face in the most private part of me, and he hasn’t even taken off one piece of clothing.

Of course, that was by my choice more than his.

The shadows twist through my veins, yanking at me, but my baser desires are satisfied enough that I can ignore them as I sink into the mattress.

Jacob licks his lips, the gesture so unexpectedly erotic after what he just did that I practically come all over again. He grins at me, looking nothing but satisfied himself.

I’ve forgotten how absolutely breathtaking he can be when he’s actually happy. I don’t know if I’ve gotten a chance to see it since our escape.

He can’t be that happy, can he? His erection is still straining against his slacks.

But he sits up before I can think about offering to repay the favor, his grin unwavering.

“That is exactly how you should always look, Wildcat.”

I hesitate. “Do you want?—”

He shakes his head before I can finish. “I’m good. That was about you. And it’s really good to be able to give you something that lights you up for a change.”

A different sort of embarrassment heats my cheeks. “I feel like I used you.”

He fixes with me a look both heated and determined. “Riva, it’s a fucking privilege to be used by you. If that’s what you need, I will eat you out every day of the year and take the blue balls as a badge of honor.”

Okay, now my cheeks might scald right off. “Um…”

Before I can decide how to respond, reality crashes back into the room with a jaunty rapping on my door.

The heat of our interlude drains out of me. My body tenses, knowing it’s Rollick before the demon even speaks.

His voice calls through the door, as lively as his knock. “Rise and shine, little banshee. Breakfast is being served, and then I think it’s time we talked. The porcupine can come too.”

His summons wipes away the last wisps of the afterglow even as Jacob grunts in mild objection at the sardonic description of him. My heart sinks.

We’re on Rollick’s ship. We’re alive and well because of his mercy.

And after seeing his full demonic form, I’m really not inclined to test his patience or his generosity.

I caught up even him , with his millennia of built-up power, in my scream for at least the short while it lasted before I wrenched myself out. That fact is both incredible and unnerving.

I don’t think he’s going to forget any time soon that I can be a threat to him. One he might want to squash if I start looking like I’m more trouble than I’m worth.

“I’ll be there,” I reply, sucking in a breath, and gird myself to face the comeuppance I got to put off yesterday.