Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97188 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
My mouth works, but I can’t seem to speak. If I was a better person, her jealousy wouldn’t make me hotter. I wouldn’t take it as some kind of proof of wanting. But I’m not a better person. I grip her arm, not trying to stop her, just hanging on and letting her guide this. “I only want you.” I don’t mean to say it. I truly don’t.
“I know.” Maeve cups one breast with her free hand, plucking at my nipple even as she works me toward a third orgasm. “You have me, Lizzie.” She kisses my throat. “You just have to take me.”
Except I don’t have her. She’s a selkie wife, mine for the time being, but I was always destined to lose her. There’s a reason all the stories end the same. I thought it was bullshit, but the truth is undeniable. I’m going to spend the rest of my life chasing the feeling of being with Maeve . . . and I’m going to spend the rest of my life coming up short.
That, more than anything, gives me the strength to move, to turn and kiss her. To focus on giving her even more pleasure than she’s given me. “She wasn’t you.” I speak against her lips as I wedge my arm between us and stroke her pussy. “No one compares to you, baby. No one will ever be you.”
“Take me,” she repeats. The words have weight, as if they mean far more than sexually. I can’t think, can’t reason through why doing so would be a bad idea.
Nothing can touch us right now, right here. I haul myself to my feet and scoop Maeve into my arms. It’s only a few steps to the bed, and I lay her down like a bride on her wedding night. Moonlight filters through the window, bathing her in soft light. “I will, baby. I’ll take you all night.”
I’ll take you forever.
chapter 27
Maeve
Hyacinth really liked Lizzie’s bite, enough that she allows us to sleep well into the afternoon instead of kicking us out at dawn. It’s nice to wake in a bed with Lizzie. Really nice. I turn onto my side and study my vampire. Most people look younger when they sleep, but not Lizzie. She doesn’t look more innocent, either. But there’s still something in her that relaxes. The fact that she trusts me enough to allow me to witness it feels like a gift I’ll spend the rest of my life cherishing. Even long after she’s gone.
I didn’t mean for my jealousy to slip its leash last night. I certainly didn’t expect said jealousy to make the sex hotter. My heart feels strangely bruised, but I can’t begin to say why. Lizzie has made no promises to me. Yes, her determination not to hurt me seems to suggest she cares, but that ultimately changes nothing.
Except it feels like something changed, as if some piece clicked into place, as if we crossed a point of no return that I hadn’t noticed. I don’t know what it means. I don’t even know how to ask if she feels it, too.
Lizzie’s a natural predator, so it doesn’t take long for her to sense my attention. She blinks her eyes open, instantly awake. “You were watching me sleep.”
“Only a little.”
She stretches slowly, her gaze tracking to the bright blue sky outside the window. “It’s well past dawn.” Lizzie sighs. “Shall we take bets on whether the ship has sailed off without us?”
I want to reassure her that Alix wouldn’t do that, but the truth is I have no idea. They hardly wanted Lizzie as interim captain, for all that they’re getting a promotion as soon as we leave the crew. It would stand to reason that they’d speed said promotion along by leaving us behind the first chance they got. “No bet.”
“Thought as much.” She gives one last stretch and then sits up. “I think we’ve abused Hyacinth’s hospitality long enough, even if we paid for the privilege. Let’s get moving.”
I clamp my lips shut on the protest that rises within me. I don’t want to get moving. I want to stay in this strange moment of in-between forever. As soon as we leave this room, the real world will come rushing in, reminding me Lizzie will never be mine in any meaningful way.
There’s a very real chance that when she leaves, she’ll take a piece of my heart with her.
We dress in comfortable silence that grows more tense as the seconds tick by. When Lizzie opens the door and I follow her down the stairs and out onto the street, it almost feels like last night never happened. Until she grabs my elbow and uses her hold to spin me around and press me against the wall.
She steps close, the heat of her enveloping me. “Stop that.”