“Do you want to?” he asked. I blinked, and he smiled. “Technically, we don’t need one, but if you would like one, there’s some in the drawer.”
“Oh. Um, I guess it doesn’t…”
He waited.
“I don’t know, Noel.” I dropped my eyes, hating the doubt building in my chest. “Whatever you want.”
Rising to a half-sitting position, he pulled me in and kissed me. “I want you to come inside me,” he whispered against my mouth. “I don’t want any more barriers. I want nothing but you. I want to feel your cum inside me hours later to remind me that I’m yours.”
And holy cats if that didn’t punch me in that primal place I never knew I had. Because I wanted that too. I wanted him flushed and desperate and so full of me that he’d never forget me, never forget this moment where I claimed him for the first time.
“Oh God. Okay. Yeah. Okay.” I practically threw myself at him, and he fell to the mattress once more. Our bodies aligned, our erections pressing and grinding. I was going to come too soon. I didn’t want to; I wanted to make it last long enough for Noel to come too. Oh, but I didn’t think I could.
“Riley, beloved, please. Please.” Our kisses were rushed. Sloppy and wet. “I’m ready. Please. I need you.”
One of his legs lifted and hooked over my shoulder. The other hitched around my hip. He curled into himself, raising his hips just enough that mine slipped down. And I was right there.
“Are you sure?” I asked again. I needed to hear it, needed to know. “Is this okay?”
We were so close. Our noses almost touched as we shared panted breath. His eyes sparkled, and the heat of him was pressed right against me.
“Is this okay, Noel?” I repeated, and tears welled in his eyes.
“Yes,” he said, his voice cracking. “Yes. Please. Riley, please. Make love to me.”
I rubbed our noses together. “I love you so much.”
How he smiled.
I pushed, and he gasped.
His hands at my back dug in, nails scratching the sensitive scar tissue. I shuddered, and he kissed my damp hairline.
I pushed, and his thighs trembled.
His chest heaved, cheeks flushed. His eyes were bright. He tasted like honey and starlight.
I pushed, and he opened for me.
It was… intense. There was so much pressure. It was hot and soft and tight. God, he was tight, and I couldn’t catch my breath because it felt good. So good. Too good. But I couldn’t come because Noel needed to be there too. He needed to feel this. Could he feel this?
“Riley, Riley, Riley,” he chanted, grasping at my neck, my shoulders, my arms.
“Oh my God, it’s… Noel, I can’t… I’m sorry, I can’t.”
I was supposed to wait. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I was supposed to wait. But my body didn’t understand. It needed to move.
My hips jerked, and Noel hissed.
“Wait.”
I needed to be closer, deeper.
“Wait!”
With an agonized whimper, I locked every muscle. “Sorry.”
“Shh.” His mouth swallowed my apologies.
Kisses. Kisses were good; they were perfect. I loved kissing Noel. I could kiss him forever.
As sweat trickled down my temple, my arms trembled, my hands fisted in the sheets. Noel welcomed my tongue in his mouth, and slowly, painfully slowly, his body relaxed. The pressure eased slightly, and he sighed.
He hummed deep in his throat and rolled his hips, and I swore I almost blacked out. Yeah, this wasn’t going to take long.
“Oh my God. Holy… God, I—”
“Keep saying God, and I’ll get jealous,” he teased.
I blinked through blurry vision and laughed. “I love you. I love you so much. You feel—Noel, you feel—it’s so much.”
“Move, ahuvi. Let me feel you.”
So I moved. I didn’t know how, not really. But my body did. It wasn’t smooth. I had no finesse. It was a stilted, unsteady rhythm, but with every push, pleasure washed over me. With every push, Noel moaned. With every push, the power between us buzzed and popped.
Noel’s ribbon flared first. It sprang from his hands and coiled around my arms. It snaked over my torso and tightened around my right thigh. I didn’t expect it. I should have, but I didn’t. And whether I was prepared or not, my power responded.
Electricity sputtered and crackled over Noel’s body, hungry and desperate. It feasted, and Noel surrendered. He submitted, and my power speared into his chest, diving into the pulsing orb of his power.
His eyes flew open, and I swore I saw lightning flash behind his irises. His ribbon tightened, and suddenly, he was everywhere. He was honey on my tongue and passion in my veins. He was turpentine and lilac and charcoal fingertips. Courage and vulnerable tenderness. Colors flared inside my soul as his titanium ribbon secured itself beside Jai’s rope. Beneath the ground, they intertwined.
Jai felt it. I knew he did. I felt him in the back of my mind, like the static in the air before a storm. He was here with us, but then he withdrew, allowing Noel and me this moment. And I loved him for it.
This was about all of us. But it was most importantly about Noel. Noel, who loved me more than I ever thought it was possible to be loved. Noel, who had sacrificed everything, who had given everything. Noel, my Noel.
The bond sealed and burned, flaring under our skin. We glowed bright and hot as the sun.
Noel said, “Riley!”
I said, “Mine.”
And then we burst.
The pleasure was overwhelming, his and mine—ours, combined. Because that was what we were. Fused. Two bodies, one heart. Noel’s soul wasn’t mine; he’d given it to Jai long ago. But his heart? That was mine forever, mine for always.
And I wouldn’t let him go. Because he was my Committed, and I would never let anyone separate us. Not ever again.
Chapter Eleven
Lying between Noel’s legs, I dozed, my head cushioned on his stomach. His fingers sifted through my hair as his tummy gurgled in my ear, reminding me we hadn’t eaten. It was late in the morning, and we had yet to get out of bed.
We’d wasted away the time lying in each other’s arms. Talking. Cuddling. Kissing. At some point, we’d made love again. I hadn’t thought it possible for me to come for a third time in less than twenty-four hours, but under Noel’s hands and body, I accomplished it somehow.
He spent forever kissing every inch of my body. His mouth went places I never thought mouths should go, but it felt too good for me to stop him. With his tongue inside me, I’d writhed and begged. When he finally sank into me, his erection filling me until I feared I’d explode, I’d nearly wept. He took me apart slowly, gently, until we were desperate and covered in sweat. Then he shuddered above me, emptying himself into my body as I moaned my painful release.
And now, we lay in sated exhaustion, our hearts beating to the same rhythm, our Committed bond pulsing and glowing between us. His limp penis rested against my chest, and I kissed his belly button as he twisted a curl around his index finger. Looking up at him, I smiled dopily.
His mouth spread in a responding grin, lips swollen from my kisses. His white hair splayed across my pillow, his skin retaining a beautiful, after-orgasm flush. A light layer of sweat had dried on his chest and neck, making his skin shiny. He was the most gorgeous man I’d ever seen.