“You’re a stubborn ass.”
“It’s been said before.” My voice deepens with desire. It’s taking everything I have not to shift down a little until my cock notches at her entrance. I need her to agree first. “Promise me, Evelyn. Promise that you won’t try to go without me. I give you my word that I’ll see you safely through the portal home.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. You went and gave me your word, so now I’m going to look like a big asshole if I sneak out.” She sounds put out, but amusement warms her green eyes. “If you’re going to insist on seeing me through the portal, then I guess I’m going to have to insist on sucking your cock.”
I blink. “What?”
Instead of answering, she shoves on my shoulders to get me to roll onto my back. Evelyn wiggles back until she’s kneeling between my thighs. She strokes the twisted scar on my right thigh. “What happened here?”
“Kraken.”
Her brows wing up. “No shit?”
“No shit.” It had been an ugly fight that almost killed me and everyone onboard. It was only by working together that we managed to send it to the deep, and even then, I’m not entirely certain we killed it.
There were no more deaths attributed to the creature, at least.
She shifts her touch to my hips, dancing her fingertips over the sensitive skin of my lower stomach. For a moment, it looks like she might ask me another question, but instead she dips down and takes my cock into her mouth.
Last night was a frenzy, a need to get closer to her, to have nothing between us, to escape the horrible thoughts in my head and finally—finally—get my fill of this wicked little witch.
This is different.
With the warm morning light filtering through the narrow windows, there are no shadows to hide within. There’s just this woman, her green eyes seeing too much, as she dismantles me with her clever lips and tongue and, yes, teeth. She doesn’t go directly to suck me down. She … plays. Evelyn flicks her tongue against the underside of my cock and then presses open-mouth kisses along my length.
For my part, I am seconds away from losing it. I’m always seconds away from losing it with this woman. My body is strung tight with tension, and evil woman that she is, she laughs a little as she cups my balls and makes me jolt. “Relax.”
“If I relax, this will be over too soon.”
“Mmm.” She works her way back to the head of my cock. “We have all day, Bowen. Come in my mouth, eat my pussy, then we’ll relax in the bath for a bit, and when we’re both recovered, you can bend me over the edge of the bed and fuck me from behind.”
I grab fistfuls of the sheets and glare down at her. It feels half-hearted at best. “You’re not a witch, you’re a succubus.”
“Maybe.” She drags her lips over my slit. “But last night wasn’t enough. If I only get a day or two with you like this, I don’t want to waste a moment of it.”
There it is, that desperation that’s twin to the feeling boiling inside me. I’m not fool enough to think that having sex a few times would allow me to drink my fill of Evelyn. I knew it when I kissed her a few days ago, and last night only drove that truth deeper.
There’s no space for self-preservation here, though. We’ve crossed that bridge and lit it on fire behind us. There is only the pain of losing her, and it will come whether we bolster the time between with pleasure or not.
With that in mind, I force myself to relax. “Very well. Do your worst, witch.”
“Oh, Captain, I plan on it.”
CHAPTER 20
Evelyn
I SHOULD HAVE CAPPED THIS THING WITH BOWEN AT ONE night. One night can bruise a person, but it shouldn’t rock their foundations down to their very core. It shouldn’t have them questioning their very reasonable plan to escape a realm they were never meant to wander into. I wasn’t built for cities, but that doesn’t mean I was built for Threshold.
I don’t have to think about any of that now, though. Not with this complicated, lovely man spread out at my mercy. Bowen is … stunning. He would argue with me if I said as much, but it’s the truth. He has the kind of body meant for work, carved muscles and solid stomach. And his scars. Gods, I’m not one to swoon at signs of violence, but he should be dead a dozen times over if the map of his body is anything to go by.
I suck his cock down as best I can, drinking in his sharp little inhales and the way his thighs flex every time I lick the head of him. For someone so stoic, he holds nothing back from me. It makes me feel powerful and melty. I want to see what else I can do to provoke even more of a response.
I’ve never been so aware of the time ticking down. We have so little of it. That should be a good thing. This was never going to be permanent. And yet it feels like grains of something priceless slipping right through my hands.
“Come here.” Bowen sinks his fingers into my hair and tows me off his cock. I could fight him, but what’s the point? He’s doing exactly what I want, too. I straddle him and work myself down the length of his cock. It doesn’t matter how many times we’ve had sex; his size means I have to work for it.
I plant my hands on his broad chest and roll my hips. More. Faster. Harder. Anything to keep the pending loss at bay. But even as I tell myself to stay silent, I part my lips and words spill out. “It shouldn’t be this good. It shouldn’t mean this much.”
Bowen sits up and pulls me close. He kisses me as if this is our last day living. “It is. It does.”
I love him a little bit in that moment for not trying to reassure me. This will hurt him when it ends, just like it’ll hurt me. I always was a fool when it came to my heart. Repeatedly tossing it at the feet of people who will hurt me. Literally, in the case of Bowen and Lizzie. I don’t want to think about her right now, though. I don’t want to think about anything but him and the orgasm barreling down upon me.
It’s not love. Not really. But it feels like it could be if I gave in and let myself fall.
I kiss him and ride him faster. At least if his tongue is in my mouth, then I’m not saying things I have no business putting to voice. Except it doesn’t seem to matter, because he pulls me even closer, holding me as if I’m the most precious thing in existence. As if he truly is worshiping me like he said last night.
My orgasm crests and there’s no peace in it. The pleasure seems to get deeper and stronger with every moment I spend with Bowen.
It scares me. Because there’s one rule of Bunny’s that was less of a rule and more of a warning. The women in our family might play at giving their heart away, but the truth is that they only do it once. Guard yours, little bird. Because once you hand it over, you’ll never get it back.
I’m not giving my heart to Bowen. Damn it, I’m not. He might be honorable, and sexy, and protective, but so are a lot of other people. He might kiss me like I mean the world to him, but that’s just because he’s so devastatingly serious.
He tightens his grip and moves my body over him, fucking up into me. I thought I was done. I should’ve known better. My thighs are shaking so intensely, I can do nothing but hang on. He doesn’t need my help, anyway.
When he comes, it’s groaning my name against my throat. He makes it sound like a benediction. Like a prayer.