I stilled as I came down, then fell over him, kissing his shoulder. He flattened on the bed, breathing heavily, but I couldn’t move.
After a few minutes, I pulled myself out of his ass and reached up to untie his wrists. I frowned at the slight red marks on his wrists, but he turned his head and shot me a lazy smile that I kissed, and he said in my head, It’s fine—no, it’s good, promise.
When he was free, I pulled him into my arms and treasured having his sated, warm body pressed against my skin.
“I think you killed me. Am I dead?”
I chuckled. “Nope, still kickin’.”
“I’ve never come that many times so close together… I don’t even know how you managed that.”
I preened a little under the compliment, and he smacked my shoulder in protest.
“Don’t get cocky.” When I snorted, he added, “Cockier.”
I kissed the top of his head and buried my nose in his hair.
Another minute passed before he muttered a spell to clean the mess off the sheets. I was pleased that he left our skin alone because I loved smelling our scents mixed together. That was somethin’ I’d had to adjust to since drinking that kelpie water. My senses were on overdrive all the time, and I had an even deeper need to make sure anyone that came near Bas knew who he belonged to. Irrational? Yes, but he told me many times that he liked people knowin’ who I belonged to as well, so as long as my viramore didn’t mind, what-the-fuck-ever. My hum of appreciation must’ve told him how I felt about him leaving our mixed scents together because he chuckled.
“You’re such a weirdo.”
“No weirder than you.”
He snorted and scooted in to press his nose against the side of my neck. “Hiro?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
I smiled. “I love you, too.”
“I like when you’re like this.”
“Like what? Sweaty and covered in your cum?”
“Gross.”
“You said it.”
“I did not.” He smacked my shoulder, then buried his fingers in my hair. “I mean when you don’t mind me cuddling up against you.”
I frowned at that. “I never mind that.”
He sighed and started tracing my tattoos like he tended to do anytime I was shirtless around him. “You, my dear Hiro, are absolutely not a cuddler.”
I kissed his forehead and murmured, “Sorry.”
He scooted closer. “Don’t be. Your sexiness makes up for it.”
I snorted. “Sometimes you’re so sweet, I don’t know what to do with you.”
“Sarcastic much?”
I grinned and pressed my lips to his forehead again, then repeated, “Sorry,” because I wanted to give him everything he needed, and it seemed like maybe I wasn’t.
“You’re sometimes a little cuddly if we’re sitting on the couch, and sometimes I sneak close when you’re asleep, but you don’t hold me too much.”
I was quiet for a minute. “Do you wish I did?”
He shrugged. “Maybe sometimes, but I kinda like you the way you are.”
I snorted at that and pulled him closer. “I kinda like you, too.”
He chuckled, making me smile, then he leaned up and licked my dimple and hummed.
“You’re such an oddball.”
“Your oddball.” He snuggled back into me and went back to tracing my tattoos. “I think I could trace them for ten years straight and still discover new ones. They’re beautiful.”
“Thanks.” I nuzzled into his hair and sighed. “I like yours, too.” He had a lot less than I did, but as with everything, they were sexy on him.
He kissed my chest in thanks. “You’re going to take me out in the morning?”
“Yes. I promised you a date, but I wanted to take advantage of bein’ alone in the house first.”
“I’m glad you did.”
“Me too.” I kissed his forehead again. “Go to sleep, love.”
He hummed and scooted in further, somehow. I reached down awkwardly to grab the newly cleaned blanket and covered us both, bein’ sure to hold him tight. I never wanted to let go.
Epilogue
Basil
FIVE YEARS LATER
“But she’s only thirteen,” Hiro said, grinding his teeth together.
“She’ll be fourteen in a month, babe.” I rolled my eyes and lined up my next shot. Rasha was definitely at that age where one minute she was the sweet little girl she’d always been, and the next, she was an angsty teenager who thought her parents were wrong about absolutely everything. She and Hiro had been arguing constantly all week—both of them were hotheads, and for me of all people to be saying that was a little crazy.
“Yeah, but she likes this boy.”
“She’s going to have crushes, babe. She’s a teenager.”
He grunted. “Argh. Don’t remind me. We shouldn’t let her go. Boys are assholes.”
“That kid is actually pretty sweet, if you remember when you scared the shit out of him at the school play last month.” It was hard not to laugh at the memory of Hiro towering over a little thirteen-year-old and basically interrogating him—okay, I’d totally laughed at him as I’d dragged his ass away from the poor kid.
Hiro grunted again. He knew the kid was sweet, he just didn’t want to admit it.
“It’s a birthday party at the kids’ house with his parents home and a bunch of other kids. I already talked to his parents to make sure they’ll really be there, and they assured me they will.” I released my throwing knife and hit the bullseye, although it was just a tad off center.
Hiro sighed, stepped up, and threw his throwing knife without hardly aiming, and the fucking thing went smack center.
“How are you so good at this?” I asked.
“I will never reveal my secrets.”
I snorted. We were in Faela for the weekend, and since he was frustrated, I thought a little competition would help. So far, he was kicking my ass.
He sighed with a big frown on his face. He was practically pouting, and I sort of wanted to make fun of him, but instead, I said, “We can always spy for a few minutes to make sure the parents really stay home. We’re dropping her off, anyway.” I threw a knife at the second target.
“She’ll kill us if she catches us.” He threw his knife and hit center again.
“For fuck’s sake.” I sighed. “Then we won’t spy, and we’ll trust her instead.”
Hiro groaned. “Why does she have to keep growing up?”
I dropped the rest of my throwing knives on the ground and moved closer to him to grab his neck and pull him down to kiss me. After a few seconds, he dropped his knives and wrapped me in his arms, deepening our kiss and holding me tight.
When he broke our kiss, I said telepathically, It’s going to be alright, Hiro. She’s smart and strong and brave, and she has a shit-ton of spells in her jewelry and bracers if she ever needs them. Rasha wasn’t a witch, obviously, but she could still release stored spells, and because of her Faela blood, magic responded well to her. Magic, water, and sometimes a bit of some psychic ability no one understood. We were going to start doing some lessons with water to see if she had an affinity for it. Hiro had mostly gained extra senses, strength, and speed, but nothing like what Rasha had.