“River dusted off his needles and helped me refine the design. He inked it on, too.”
“Should I be jealous of one of my oldest friends?”
“Not at all. River, Kaz, and Wes are like the brothers I never had,” I said. “Besides, not only am I spoken for, but River’s got a date with a water witch.”
“It’s about time.” He resecured the medical tape and guided me to face him.
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
He grinned slightly and blushed. “I want my friends to find the kind of happiness I feel when I’m around you.”
Leaning back on my hands, I crossed my ankles and waggled my feet. My almost-naked druid had perched himself on the edge of my bed. The parched part of me, the adult woman whose body lit up when he was around, wanted to drink in his presence. “I missed you,” I said. “A lot.”
“I missed you, too.” He ran his hands down the sides of my thighs and calves and cupped my heels. Uncrossing my legs, he shifted my body on the bed until the mattress accommodated us both, then rolled me onto his chest. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get regular messages to you.”
“The crystals were a nice touch.”
“How did you figure out those were from me?”
“Mmm, I hoped they were from you,” I answered, cataloging every part of the face I had missed more than I let myself admit.
I tried to secure the hank of hair that kept swinging in front of my mouth. Tanner grinned and tucked it behind my ear. “Kiss me.”
I followed his request and brought my head closer. I found his mouth and familiarized myself with Tanner’s lips and their ripe-cherry color. Firm, generous, willing to soften under my inquiry and let me explore with my tongue and fingertips.
It didn’t take long for the rest of my body to soften, to grow receptive and imagine instead of my tongue exploring his mouth, that he was exploring the inside of me. I tilted my head, fitted my mouth to his for one more taste, then broke away.
“Is there anything you want to know before I ask permission to be inside of you?” he said, his voice deepening into the moment.
I shook my head. “Belle has me on birth control and Rowan gave me a clean bill of health.”
Tanner’s expression went serious. He found my free hand and interlaced our fingers. Sweeping our joined arms to the side and over my head, he flipped us both, so he was on top. He searched for my other hand and pinned my wrists.
“The Physik at the compound in France gave me a clean bill of health, and I brought condoms.” He lifted one hip enough to slide his other hand between our bellies. His fingers found my sex and cupped the entirety of the area. “Druids are known for their stamina. I hope you had a good dinner.”
We laughed softly, together. “There are vines at my disposal that would tie you to my bed so fast your pretty head would spin,” I whispered, pressing into his hand and nipping at his chin.
Tanner stopped talking. My fantasies of finally—finally—having full-on sex with my druid involved hours of creative, sweaty foreplay, a multitude of unusual positions, and rolling rounds of orgasms. For both of us.
In reality, we barely moved. We kept our eyes open, watching the other. I could feel myself swelling into his hand, getting wetter, juicier, as we kissed. When he lifted away enough to roll a condom on and resettle between my thighs, he was exactly where I wanted him to be. And when warm fingers cupped the side of my neck, I opened my legs wider and took Tanner in, adjusting him inside me in a series of slow, protracted movements.
With a minimum of fanfare and negotiations, our bodies rocked as one. Wordless, where-have-you-been-all-my-life joining. I bundled the last of my fears and inhibitions and imagined tossing them through the half-open window. For tonight, Tanner was all mine and I was all his.
He filled me. I molded myself to his shape and held tight. The ground below the house fed us, the beams and walls held us, and whatever spirits haunted the place turned their backs.
“I might be having a religious experience,” I whispered. Dancing along the edge of an orgasm, my lover’s length responded to my words.
Tanner’s mouth hovered above mine. “Come with me,” he whispered. I arched my chest so I could heighten the friction of his skin against my nipples and lifted my head so our mouths could meet. In that moment, I experienced a side effect of mostly wordless sex. My awareness moved elsewhere, out of my head and down. When I crested, it was as if I had finally mustered the bravery to roll my body to the edge of a chasm and let go into the unknown.
Tanner filled me as I wrapped my arms behind his neck and fell into waves of sensation that had me screaming beneath my skin and moaning into his mouth. He swallowed every strangled thing I had to say until my jaw and throat relaxed. Eyes closed, I collapsed into the softness of the mattress and drifted.
Many long minutes later, I closed my eyes and spun against the front of Tanner’s body. I was powerless to move any more than that. He got the message and spooned me, gathering my hair into a loose twist, and covered us with the blanket as best he could.
I think I fell asleep. I was aware of the moment my lover left the bed and when he returned, tucking us chest to chest for warmth and connection. Languid in my half-asleep state, I drew my inner thigh over his leg, wrapped my arms around his neck, and clung to him as he entered me again.
Sunlight tapped against my eyelids and nudged at my limbs. I resisted moving at all, instead rolling with Tanner’s movements as he plumped a pillow, tucked it against the headboard, and
