Total pages in book: 179
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169943 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 850(@200wpm)___ 680(@250wpm)___ 566(@300wpm)
He just gives me a wry smile, as if he doesn’t quite believe me. “You couldn’t have waited for me to come home? Asked me for help instead of Magpie?”
“You’re too honorable. You wouldn’t help.”
“You think I’d rather sit around with my horn up my arse? Watch you get sent home and put in danger?”
“First of all, I don’t know how you could put your horn up your own arse without some pretty thorough twisting. Second of all, I don’t know. I’ve been so used to taking everything on, to expecting no one to help me. I’m sorry I didn’t come to you.”
“You should have. I’m your husband. It’s my job to protect you.”
“You’re my husband in name only, remember?”
“That’s not what it feels like.” He rocks his hips, and I suck in a breath, because it does, indeed, feel like we’re far more than just two strangers in a marriage of convenience. Today has changed everything.
No, I realize. It changed long ago. I’ve just not acknowledged it until now. I’ve lost my heart somewhere along the way to this huge, fierce Taurian who hates spiders.
FORTY-FIVE
ASPETH
Just like we had in bed at home, we talk of nothing and everything. With Hawk’s help I bind up my injured wrist so it has some support. Hawk caresses me idly while I tell him about our caved-in adventures, and then we separate, his spent cock pulling free from my body. Oh. It feels strange to not have him inside me, stretching me past comfort into something that’s bliss. I sit up and look around for something I can use as a chamber pot, since my stomach still feels incredibly full of his release.
In the end, I empty a bag and designate a corner, humiliated that we don’t even have the privacy for this. I remember my ladies talking about things one does after sex—always pee afterward, and hop to get rid of his leavings. I do both while Hawk politely ignores me, and I’m mortified at the absolute flood that leaves my body. Taurians sure do have a lot of seed.
I clean myself up, cheeks burning, with a dampened scrap of fabric torn from my sleeve. The pack Gwenna tossed has several canteens, much to my relief, and I don’t feel terrible using a few spoonfuls to clean up.
Once I feel a bit more like myself, I pull on a short chemise I had in my bag. Well, now, that wasn’t quite the ordeal everyone made it out to be. I turn to Hawk, the satchel of foodstuffs in my arms. “Would you like a snack—”
He rips the bag from my grip and grabs me by the waist. I yelp in surprise—though he isn’t hurting me—and Hawk tugs me against his groin. It’s rock-hard once more, and when I look up, the red is back in his gaze, stronger than ever.
Poor Hawk…that wasn’t much of a break from the madness.
He grabs my chemise at the collar and I stop his hand before he can tear. “If you rip this, I won’t have anything to wear!”
He snarls at me, all red eyes and hunger, and I slither out of his grasp, going underneath his clutching arms. The chemise is loose and falls off the moment I do, and I collapse on the floor, naked once more.
Hawk is over me in a heartbeat.
He presses me to the rumpled cloak that’s serving as a blanket and shoves me forward. In the next moment, he pulls my hips into the air and spreads my thighs while I’m on hands and knees. That’s all the warning I get before he’s pumping into me again, his strokes quick and decisive and so full of hunger that it takes my breath away.
My body is still stretched and slick from before, and he’s able to knot me in less time, and then he’s coming, quaking over me as his release takes control. That time was fast and furious, and while it didn’t give me multiple orgasms like before, I don’t mind. The feel of Hawk over me and inside me is erotic all on its own, and I ache for him because he’s clearly lost right now.
I’m glad it’s me with him and not a stranger.
He collapses over me, pressing me into the floor, and I shift, twitching and full, trying to get comfortable underneath him. After a few minutes pass, Hawk rubs his face against the back of my head, further tangling my wrecked hair. “Mmm. Aspeth.”
“I’m here.” I pat the hand that reaches for me. “Here and fine.”
“I didn’t make you come that time, did I? I feel like it was fast.”
“Fast but not rough. It’s fine.” I love that he’s still inquiring about me, as if I’m just as important as his endless hunger.
“ ‘Fine’ is not acceptable.” He strokes his hand down my soft belly, moving between my thighs. “And the nice thing about you being knotted is that you can’t squirm away while I touch you.” He deftly strokes my clit, and the combination of his cock filling me and the sensitive nerves being strummed makes me whine loudly. “And oh, how I love to touch you.”