“Got thrown against the rocks when we washed ashore.”
My hand lowers to his belt buckle, even as my head’s conjuring images of the rough sea tossing him around. I hate that he had to go through that. “How bad was it?”
“Princess…you’re making it hard to think, let alone speak.”
“You don’t have to do either.” I shove his pants down, and as his cock springs free, I’m already hollowing out my mouth.
“Baby, wait?—”
My tongue kills his protest, just like I meant for it to. Taking my time on the head, I gently suck, little more than a tease as I scrape my scarlet nails along the smooth ridges of his shaft.
He hisses in a breath, then lets it out in a curse.
Salt and need flood my senses. I drag my tongue over him one more time before inching down, my lips stretching to take in his girth.
“Fuck,Novalee?—”
Spurred on by the gravel in his voice and the warm ache between my legs, I work him even deeper, toward the back of my throat, and gag, knowing exactly what that does to him.
Nothing holds me back—not fear, not uncertainty.
Just the drive to swallow him down.
I moan around his cock, my breaths coming shallow through my nose while his thrusts increase in force, same as the epithets he can’t bite back. With a grunt, he fists my hair, holding me in place.
Holding himself deep.
“You’ve got me so damn close.”
I peek up to find his head tilted back, neck straining, teeth clenched.
“Goddamn it.” He releases my hair and pulls free of my throat.
I blink up at him, my mouth agape, jarred by his quick withdrawal. “Why did you stop?”
“The elixir. It’s affecting your decisions.”
“I know what I want,” I say, fighting the tremor in my voice. “I’ve always known, so don’t use the elixir as an excuse.”
“It’s not an excuse.” He wipes at my damp lips, his thumb silencing any further objection as his breathing evens out. “It’s fucking risky.”
Driven by urgency, I rise to my feet and cradle his face, frustrated to tears.
Because he doesn’t understand, and I’m not sure how to put into words how much this means to me.
But I have to try.
“The night I tried to jump, I begged Liam to take my virginity.”
He searches my expression, as if trying to decode the impossible. “Why would you do that?”
“It felt like a burden. I thought you died protecting my virtue, so I resented it.” I slide my hands over his shoulders, trembling under the weight of the mistake I almost made that night. “I’m grateful Liam said no, because you’re here now, miraculously in front of me, and wedeservethis.”
“The Brotherhood won’t see it that way.”
“Maybe it’s time they started seeing things differently.” I lift my chin, defiant and resolved. “A group of men made these ridiculous laws centuries ago. I refuse to let superstition rule me longer than it already has.”
“God, baby. You amaze me. Your conviction…your bravery.”