Page 89 of The Fates We Tame

As the words come out of my mouth, I mean every one of them.

Itisfate.

Kismet.

And where the heck do I know that word from?

“I mean it, Soph. You’re meant to be here with me right now. We’re supposed to be on this path together at this very moment.”

“Is this optimism I’m hearing from you, Mr. Serious?”

I smile at her teasing. I love the way her eye sparkles with mischief. “Call it whatever you want. None of this could possibly be a mistake.”

“What if life is more like those choose-your-own-adventure books they had in the speech therapy room? There are a million different outcomes based on the choices we make. What if the options become our fate based on our decisions?”

I run my knuckle down her cheek, then rub my thumb over her lush lower lip. “It’s the exact same thing as fate. The river runs where it needs to, even if it has to wear down rocks over hundreds of years…it’s still gonna run exactly where it wants. All those paths are just the water coming up against rocks andfinding ways around them. Your destiny still takes you where it’s meant to.”

Sophia gently bites my thumb, and my cock twitches. “I like this poetic and sage and romantic side of you, tough guy. I peered around the end of the bar and saw you flip that table to save Spark and Iris. I think what we’re learning about old me is that she would have greatly appreciated your courage and bravery and strength under fire. But current me likes this version of you.”

“Then, as old me returns, I’ll try to not forget to be this guy every now and again.”

Sophia laughs, and I wrap my arms tightly around her until all our good bits line up. One brush of my lips against hers, and I’m sunk for her all over again. I roll her until she’s on her back and I’m settled between her legs. Her hips tilt against mine, and it would take nothing to slide into her.

Bareback.

I don’t remember having done it before, yet, somehow, I remember whatbarebackactually means.

But I also remember enough from the lectures Dad gave me when I was a kid that I should wrap it up unless I want to knock up the woman I’m with or catch something that would make my dick rot.

I’m sure it’s not as simple as that.

“We should get tested,” I say.

“Tested for what?”

“Sexually transmitted diseases. Then we don’t have to use condoms.”

“Wait. You can… eww.” Her nose wrinkles. “Why did no one fill in the blanks about sexually transmitted diseases for me?”

“Don’t overthink this now. We can use condoms and be fine. Then we can go get tested, and if neither of us has anything contagious, we can go without.”

“But then I’ll get pregnant.”

“Not if you go on birth control. You don’t want kids?” I ask.

“I don’t know what I want right now. I haven’t thought that far ahead about kids. Have you?”

I think about my family. The rough-and-tumble nature of my brothers. “Yeah. I want kids. I want a family like I had growing up. One with siblings who fight and tease and would defend each other to the last. And parents who love each other fiercely, through thick and thin.”

Sophia reaches up and pushes a lock of hair back off my forehead and then chuckles when it flops straight back down again. “I’m sure that’s the kind of childhood I had. Not sure where I fit being the only girl, but I get the feeling we were close. So, if I had to put a stick in the ground, I’d say the odds are that I’d like kids someday. But I’d be happy getting to know myself first before I spent time getting to know children.”

I kiss her softly, because for all she said the words in jest, there’s an ache of sadness when she talks about getting to know herself.

“I know a way you can get to know yourself,” I say, my lips dangerously close to her ear. She smells…soft. Sweet. Like a man could lose himself in her for a couple of hours or a lifetime.

“What’s that?” Her hands come around me and stroke down my back. It tickles in a way my cock really appreciates.

I shuffle down the bed, planting kisses as I go: on the rise of her breast, her nipple, her ribs, the soft plane of her stomach. Using my thumbs, I part her pubic hair and lips so I can swipe her with my tongue.