Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 485(@200wpm)___ 388(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Five minutes ago, I would’ve said there’s no possible way I could have sex again without a longer recovery time. Five minutes ago, I would’ve been a goddamn liar. “I’m only a little sore. Nothing you can’t kiss and make better.”
He smiles, some of the shadows fleeing from his expression. “You don’t have to give me an excuse to get my mouth on your pussy again.” He tightens his grip and rises out of the water, turning to set me on the edge. It’s much cooler in the room than it was in the hot spring, and my nipples pebble in response.
I prop my hands on the ground behind me and spread my thighs as Bowen sinks into the water until his face is even with my hips. Without him saying a word, I scoot to the very edge. He doesn’t fuck around. He covers my pussy with his mouth and kisses me there as if he’ll never get another chance. It feels so fucking good, I barely have the presence of mind to mourn the fact that it probably is the last time. If not this time, then maybe the next. The clock on our interlude together ticks faster. This will be over too soon. We just have to make it count.
I’ve never felt so doomed, even as I’m receiving the best pleasure of my life.
CHAPTER 21
Evelyn
NO ONE HAS EVER TOUCHED ME LIKE BOWEN DOES, AS IF I’ll shatter into a million pieces if he holds me too tightly. We come together over and over again, fast and slow and downright lazy at times, but as soon as our bodies cool, one of us will reach for the other and start the process all over again. It’s barely been twenty-four hours since we arrived at the inn, but time feels like taffy, stretching into infinity. It won’t last.
I want to tell him I’m not breakable, but I’m afraid that I’d be lying. It’s good and right that he doesn’t cling to me as if he never wants me to leave. He’s offering me my freedom, or what passes for it. It’s what I wanted. It’s all I wanted.
Except that doesn’t feel quite true anymore.
I don’t know what to do with that feeling, so I shove it down deep and work to lose myself in the feeling of his body against mine and his taste on my tongue. It’s not enough, but I’ve long since learned that nothing is enough to fill up the void inside me.
It’s always been there, for as long as I can remember. Maybe it spawned into existence with my parents’ death. I don’t know. It was less noticeable then, with Bunny’s presence to combat the darkness. But ever since she died, it feels like it’s only gotten bigger.
Like it will swallow me whole someday.
A pounding on the door startles us both. Bowen moves before I do, tossing a sheet over my naked body and stalking to the door. It gives me a glorious view of his ass, and, for a moment, I almost forget the potential danger.
He angles his body behind the door and cracks it open. His shoulders drop, which tells me all I need to know.
It’s over.
He confirms it when he says, “Dia.”
“The Audacity just made dock,” Dia says. “They’ll be here overnight, and then they’re headed north to finish up a hunt before they circle back to Lyari. Best that we both be on it when it leaves in the morning.”
“Both,” he echoes.
I can’t see her, but I swear I feel her attention on me all the same. “I haven’t survived this long by being a fool, Bowen. That girl is going to take her fate into her own hands, damned or not. I just hope you’re not lovestruck enough to do the same. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Bowen shuts the door and turns around to lean against it. Not even the sight of his glorious cock is enough to combat the sudden weight that settles over me. It’s finished. I knew the ending would come at me fast, but this feels too soon. We barely got twenty-four hours. It’s nowhere near enough.
Still, he didn’t promise me more, and I’m the one who’s leaving. I’d be an incredible asshole if I held that against him. I try for a bright smile, though it feels painted on. “Please tell me that I heard her correctly and there’s a ship named the Audacity.”
“You heard right.” He scrubs a hand over his face. “I’d rather sail on any other vessel. Her quartermaster, Nox, isn’t so bad, but the captain is …” He sighs. “He’s the worst of everything you believe the Cŵn Annwn to be. Everything we are. The captain sets the tone for the rest of the crew. If you weren’t already headed elsewhere, I’d risk the anger of the Council to wait for the next ship rather than press you to join that crew.”