Chapter 357

“Oh, look who’s talking,” he murmurs, running his hands up my thighs and then sitting up a little as he reaches further back, one hand cupping my ass while the other slides up my back, obliging me to lean a little closer into him. “Miss I dress as a boy every day, never wear makeup, sometimes have black eyes, and still drive my mate absolutely insane.”

I grin at him, my brain a little more than fuzzy, blocking out the memories of these two horrible days. And I really give myself over to the moment, allowing my mate to just…make me feel good. “Insane?” I whisper, leaning closer. “Just how insane are we talking here?”

“Completely unhinged,” he murmurs, leaning back and taking me with him. “Here – let me show you.”

Luca kisses me, and a little groan of want slips out of my lips as he rolls me over in his sheets.

In the next half hour Luca again makes it abundantly clear that he knows what he’s doing - that he knows precisely what I like and he’s very, very willing to give it to me. He kisses me almost languidly, taking his time unbuttoning my shirt and unfolding it to reveal my skin beneath. His palms are cool against my hot skin, sending shivers through me in waves.

Luca takes his mouth from mine for a moment to help me tug my bra off over my head, tossing it to the ground and then tossing his own shirt after it. My breath is stolen from me as I admire, again, the golden gleam of his tanned skin.

“How do you do it?” I murmur, tracing my fingers down the hard ridges of his stomach. “Stay tan, when you spend your life in a black uniform like the rest of us?”

Luca smirks at me, kneeling between my legs and lowering himself to press a kiss to my stomach, chasing it with a teasing little lick that makes my breath catch.

“Seriously, gorgeous?” he asks, looking up at me from below, quite cheeky. “That’s what you’re worried about right now?”

I just laugh and bite my lip, running my fingers through his pretty blonde-brown hair, and he lowers his face again to my belly, kissing and licking his way down, down, down.

Luca makes quick work of the button and zipper of my pants, tugging them off and then again adding his own to the pile. My heart pounds as he returns to his place low on my body because – because I’ve never done this before.

But all anxiety and anticipation are ripped from me the moment he pulls my panties down over my thighs, and ducks his head beneath my legs, and gives me a long, slow lick right up my center.

I moan, my head tilting back on my neck and my fingers twisting in Luca’s hair as he continues to lick me, long and slow, precisely where I want him to. I can feel his own pleasure echoing down the bond – how much he loves torturing me with each steady stroke, how he’s drawing this out, making me beg.

But I have never, ever been above begging.

“Please,” I moan, wanting more, my hips rising up against him as Luca presses his tongue harder and faster, but still quite tender, against that one spot. He sends a cool little pulse down the bond, bidding me to be patient, but I just snarl at him – because I’m feeling the opposite of patient right now.

Luca laughs and glances up at me as he moves his hand from its place wrapped around my thigh. Then he flicks his tongue against that tiny spot at the center of me as he obeys my order and deftly presses two fingers into me, curling them deliciously before he begins to pulse.

Mouth and hand work together with steady intent and I just – completely go to pieces. I gasp, my head turning hard to the side as that heat begins to curl within me, as tension seizes each of my muscles in turn, as the pleasure begins to build within me. God, fuck, but he’s good at this – the pace he sets with his tongue and hands – it’s like he knows precisely what I want before I even know I want it –

But suddenly, with one long final stroke of that tongue, he lifts away.

I give a little gasp of protest, my eyes flying open as he moves, keeping his hand low on my body but crawling up so that his honed body, naked except for his little black boxer briefs, hovers over mine.

“Ariel,” he whispers, looking intently down into my face. “I love you so, so much. It almost killed me to come close to losing you like that. I want…I want to go further. Life is so short – we shouldn’t wait -”

I still, realizing what he’s asking. But then my eyes flick over his gorgeous form, his tan skin and his lean muscles, his broad hand still cupping my sex. And god – god do I want more –

My wolf taps anxiously in my soul, unsure.

And I don’t know if it’s the whiskey, or the grief, or the exhaustion taking over me at this point, but I gently nudge her aside and give myself over to the moment, nodding to Luca, wanting him.

Because why shouldn’t I?

Here I am with my gorgeous mate – who is mine, mine forever –

And he’s right! I almost died two days ago, and yesterday, and what is the point of holding out for some ‘right’ moment when life is so, so precarious?

Suddenly I want him with a vehemence that surprises me.

“Yes,” I whisper, reaching up to curl a hand behind his neck. “Yes, Luca – yes.”

He groans as he lays his body out over mine, kissing me and pressing me down into the mattress with his full weight – a sensation that I love, his skin and body all warm against mine. He pulls his hand away from me and shoves hard at his underwear, pushing them down and kicking them off as I kiss him hard and fast, gasping breaths in between our lips, not wanting to be separated from him for a second.

He pulls away, though, as he palms himself, moving his hand over the smooth shaft of his cock, glancing down anxiously at me. “This might hurt, Ariel.”

But I just shake my head, bringing my mouth back to his, wanting to be kissed again. “It’s fine –“

“No, Ariel,” he says, pulling away more and frowning down at me. “It’s your first time –“

A little guilt curls in my stomach and I blink hard, a little hazy, as I stare up in his face. Because, I mean, it’s not – and I should…

My wolf turns anxiously again, half wanting our mate, half…half wanting something else.

“It’s fine,” I murmur, again pushing my wolf away, wanting Luca very badly and needing to push past all of this. I want him – I want the pleasure I know he can give – I want him to fill me up and wipe away all of the thoughts and the memories and the grief. I loop my leg up over Luca’s hip as his wolf prowls across our bond, looking for mine, wanting to be close to her. “Please, Luca –“

Something in that breaks him, and Luca moans, bringing his mouth back to mine. He shifts forward, pressing the head of his cock hard against me for a long moment, his breath unsteady before he presses inside. I moan in turn as my body stretches for him, accommodating each thick inch. I pant as he slowly sinks himself all the way into me, his hips twitching, wanting to pull back so he can slam into me again and again –

But going slow for my sake –

I don’t want slow, though. I lift my hips to meet him, pulsing, wanting the friction, wanting to feel him pound himself steadily into me, so hard I spill over and over –

Luca moans again at the intensity of it, turning his face to the side and tucking it low against my neck. Then he begins to move, gentle at first, pulling out an inch and then pressing in and in.

“More,” I moan, wanting it faster and harder. “Please, Luca –“

He nods and gives me what I want, his lips hot against my neck as he does. My head tilts back as the feeling swells in me again, as I feel it start to come to that breaking point – as I feel not Luca’s lips pressed against my neck, but his teeth –

My eyes fly suddenly open as my wolf howls.

As I remember Jackson telling me to break for him that first time.

As I remember Jackson’s teeth grazing against that soft spot between my neck and my shoulder and how badly I wanted that mark –

As I remember him hesitating and pulling away, because the timing wasn’t right –

“No,” I whisper, starting to turn my head, pulling away -

But it’s too late. Luca’s teeth sink deep, marking me as his.