Page 38

My stomach drops at the realization. In my rush to leave Ultrup, I didn’t even consider stopping by an apothecary for the special blend of herbs that would prevent pregnancy. But then, I hadn’t planned on sleeping in the same bed with the man I robbed.

“I’ll find a healer tomorrow,” Arlon says. “This village is big enough to have one, aye?”

I raise my eyebrows at him. “You’d do that for me?”

His fingers find the laces of my stays. “Why not? I want to fuck you, so I need to make sure you’re protected.”

My heart melts a little more at his declaration.

In the past, I’d always been the one to take care of this.

Hugo hadn’t even known I was taking the tea, and we never talked about it.

I’d simply been grateful my mother pressed a jar of it into my hand as I packed to leave home forever, warning me to take it regularly.

It was the last thing she did for me, and it saved me from bringing a child into a union that fell apart months later and left me shattered.

But Arlon, this stranger I met only days ago, looks ready to run out right now and find the tea I need.

“We’ll go together,” I tell him. “I want this, too.”

It’s the darkness that lets me confess this. The moment is so intimate, so private, that I’m comfortable sharing my thoughts with him.

His hum of approval makes me squirm underneath him.

“That’s fantastic news,” he growls. “Now help me figure out this gods-forsaken contraption so I can touch all of you.”

I feel for the laces of my stays and tug on the bow tying the two halves together. “This contraption is necessary so my tits don’t hurt after bouncing around on a horse all day.”

Arlon pauses, his hands stilling on me. “Do they hurt now?”

I shake my head. “No, but I should probably have taken this off earlier. I didn’t want to undress in front of you.”

“You can undress anytime you?—”

He pushes the fabric aside and stops talking. He lets out a shuddering breath and places his hands on my sides, his thumbs rising to caress the undersides of my tits.

“Are you all right?” I ask, teasing. “Do you need a moment?”

I wish I could see his expression right now. Gods, I wish I had his sharp eyesight because I want to see all of him. Instead, I close my eyes and feel.

“I can just see the lines where the stays pinched your skin,” he murmurs. “I hate that you thought you couldn’t be comfortable around me.”

I let him lay me back down on the bed. “It’s not—I’m comfortable. I just didn’t know how to…”

“I know.” In the darkness, he looms over me, heat radiating from his body. “But we’ll learn. We’ll figure out how to be together.”

A shuddering sigh escapes me. Out of all the promises he’s given me, this one feels the most honest. I don’t doubt he meant the others—he’s not a liar. But this one… I can believe in this. We can learn together.

The warm puff of breath is all the warning I get before Arlon presses his lips to my ribcage. His tusks skim my skin, a cool touch that makes me shiver in his embrace. He shifts to the left and kisses me again, this time beneath my breastbone.

He’s kissing the marks left by the stays. I scrunch my eyes shut and bury my fingers in his hair, needing him elsewhere but unwilling to stop him from kissing me like this.

“These are too beautiful to be confined,” he murmurs, finally cupping my tits. “Every time we stop for the evening, I’ll make sure they’re taken care of, I promise.”

My breaths come fast and shallow, so my voice gets a little squeaky as I answer, “Oh? You’ll do that out of the goodness of your heart?”

“Not at all,” he rumbles. “I just want to touch you, Tessa.”

His thumbs find my nipples, and I arch off the bed, heat streaking through my body. He squeezes me just right, then a little tighter, the pleasure sharpening into a sting that he soothes moments later with his tongue. He licks one nipple first, then the other, and sucks it into his mouth.

“Your scent’s been driving me mad for days,” he growls, moving to the other side, plumping up my breast with his hand. “Do you know why?”

I shake my head and dig my fingernails into his warm skin. “Why?”

He sucks me again, and I bite back a moan, just barely.

“Because I knew you’d taste even better.”

When he raises his head, I tug him up to kiss him, my chest flush against his. He’s so warm, I want to wrap myself around him and never let go. His confession loosens something in me, and I follow my instincts. I hook my legs around his hips and rock upward, chasing contact.

Arlon hisses as his thick cock nestles against my pussy. The linen fabric of our underwear is the only barrier between us, thin enough that I feel every hard inch of him as he thrusts into me.

“The underwear stays on,” I gasp. “For tonight.”

He lowers his lips to my ear and sucks on my neck. “I can still make you come.”

“I’m counting on that.” I grip his ass and shift myself half an inch to the left. “Here. Please.”

“That’s it.” His voice drops to a low growl as he rubs his cock over me. “Use me, love. Show me how to please you.”

I shouldn’t. This is too much, too fast. But I don’t care, because it feels incredible. The pressure of Arlon’s body on mine, the hot slide of his length against me… I’m hurtling toward my climax, and I don’t want to stop.

“When you’re ready for me,” Arlon pants against my skin, “I’ll give you my knot. Fill you up so well.”

His knot? That must be the interesting shape I saw at the stream, the bulge at the bottom of his cock. Grasping Arlon’s sides, I shift a little lower, and on his next thrust, the thickness drags over my pearl, hitting me right where I need it.

“Fuck!” Arlon bows his body over me, then moves closer, his movements rougher than before. “Tessa!”

He’s losing control, and I love it. My pussy throbs, empty and clenching, and I wish we could…

“I can smell how wet you are.” His words are barely more than a groan, his grip on me tightening. “Show me how to make this good for you.”

I tug his hair to get him closer. “It’s already good. So good, Arlon.”

He kisses me deeply, his tongue sliding against mine in a seductive, devastating rhythm.

I whimper into his mouth and hold on to him, the tension in my body coiling tighter with each stroke.

I can’t see a thing, but it doesn’t matter, because he’s right there with me, cradling me, protecting me, all while taking me apart.

The first shiver of pleasure has me crying out, and Arlon curses, then tilts my hips up to stroke me faster.

“I want to be inside you,” he rasps. “It’s all I?—”

“Arlon!”

I gasp as the dam breaks, and my climax hits me fully, pulling me under.

His knot presses down on my pearl, rubbing, sliding.

I dig my fingernails into Arlon’s skin and hold on, afraid of being swept away completely, but he’s right there with me.

His big body shudders, and then he’s coming too, rocking his hips into me.

He chants my name, his face buried in my neck.

I hold him tightly to me, suddenly afraid that this will change everything between us.

We’d just reached a truce of sorts, and now this…

How does one act after being taken apart so completely?

My body is still thrumming with pleasure, the residual sparks dancing through my veins.

It’s almost embarrassing how easily he pushed me over the edge, how?—

A thumping on the wall behind the bed breaks through the bliss of the moment, as well as my anxious thoughts.

“Will you shut up?” someone yells from the next room over. “Some of us are trying to sleep!”

I freeze for a moment, then dissolve into a fit of giggles. The tension between Arlon and me breaks. He chuckles, then pushes himself off me in one fluid movement.

“Uh, I need a washcloth,” he murmurs, mindful of our neighbors. “Wait right here. I think some of it got on you, too.”

In the darkness, I can only feel, so I touch my stomach tentatively and grin as my fingers slide through the sticky substance. I didn’t even feel Arlon’s cum on me before. I was too focused on myself.

The bed dips as he kneels beside me again. He clicks his tongue and grabs my wrist, then runs a cool washcloth over my fingers.

“I told you?—”

“I don’t mind,” I tell him softly.

He stops, and I know he’s staring down at me. “You don’t?”

I shake my head. “We can bathe tomorrow.”

“Fuck.”

He swipes at my stomach anyway, the touch brief and cool. A wet slap follows, telling me he’s just tossed the washcloth away.

I roll to my side. “What is it?”

He stretches out beside me and puts one warm hand on my hip. “I like it. That you don’t mind smelling like me. I thought you’d be…”

“What?” I scoot a little closer, until our knees are touching again. “Disgusted by the cum?”

“Aye.” His laugh is a huff of breath over my heated skin. “I suppose I shouldn’t assume anything about you. You always end up surprising me.”

I wiggle an inch forward before I can stop myself.

Despite the heat of the room, I’m craving his closeness, and it’s dangerous, because this, what we just did, was about taking the edge off our need, no?

Like Arlon said earlier, we made each other come, and now we’ll be able to sleep.

But I’m drawn to him by a force I can’t explain.

Arlon doesn’t even hesitate. His hand moves from my hip to my ass, and he tugs me into him, until our legs tangle and my chest is plastered to his.

“I’m not certain this will help with the heat situation,” I murmur, my cheek pressed to his muscles.

He kisses the top of my head. “Nor will the delicious scent of your wet pussy, but I will endure.”

I smack his arm, then muffle my laughter against his skin. “You’re awful.”

“And you were amazing just now,” he murmurs. “I’ve never felt anything like it.”

Warmth blooms in my belly, and I snuggle into his side. “Me neither.” I pause, then add in a smaller voice, “Where does this leave us?”

His chest rises with a deep breath. “We’re both still here, so I think it means we both want to try, true?”

“I…yes.” It feels like a leap into the dark, but to deny him would be a lie. “I think so.”

Again, I wish I could see his face, but I simply feel the tension bleeding out of him.

His muscles relax underneath me, and I find myself drawn into an embrace that has my throat closing up.

From his casual jokes and confident attitude, I assumed Arlon would treat bed sport the same way, with enthusiasm but little emotion.

I should have known better.

He rolls to his side and tucks me against his chest, then hooks his leg over mine in a possessive gesture I should loathe. But I’m too tired to pretend. Instead, I brush back his hair and press a soft kiss to his lips, using touch to guide me in the darkness.

Arlon kisses me back, his tongue just lightly brushing over my lower lip. “Sleep, love.”

I want to argue, but there’s no use. His warmth, his embrace, the steady beat of his heart—they’re all lulling me into dreamland, so I trust him once more and close my eyes, knowing he’ll keep me safe.