She was coming, exploding, the release tearing through her over and over again, throwing her, tossing her through space and light until the final explosion sent her careening into the dark.
She was still flying. She could feel it. She knew it. But reality ceased and there was only sensation, liquid, heated, overwhelming sensation that drew a dark, pulsating blanket of pleasure around her.
For long, intense moments, Kia didn’t exist. Just the dark. Just the blanket. Just the pure, undiluted wash of sensations that filled her senses and tore her past reality for long, desperate seconds.
He had won. She had won, because she felt him slump over her as she blinked, fighting to focus, feeling him shudder as his release spilled inside her with hard, white-hot pulses of semen.
They had won.
She collapsed beneath him, exhausted, weightless now. She had, for those few blinding seconds, lost consciousness, but while she had been there, while he had done as he had dared her he would, she hadn’t been lost. She swore, just for that moment in time, she had been a part of Chase.
She had felt his claim on her. Unspoken. Silent. Not even fully acknowledged by him. She had known the possession and the possessiveness. She had seen the darkness, and it was her as well.
Chase eased from her slowly. The feel of his cock, so sensitive, still throbbing with sensation, withdrawing from the tight grip she had on him, brought a groan from his chest. He eased back, turned off the vibration in her rear, and felt spikes of pure sensation race through his body at her moan when he released the inflated plug and eased it from her.
He collapsed beside her, tossing the toy to the table beside the bed, barely finding the strength to pull her into his arms, to hold on to her with a strength born of desperation.
Had he ever felt anything like that? Hell, he thought he might have passed out himself as his cum spurted inside her, filling her body as he swore she had filled his heart for long, endless seconds.
He didn’t know where she had taken him during those endless seconds of release, and he wasn’t certain if he wanted to know.
He breathed in long and deep, forced his heart to slow, to ease, then somehow found the strength to rise from the bed and lift her into his arms.
Carrying her into the bathroom, he couldn’t believe the weakness in his arms and his legs. He sat at the edge of the tub and flipped the tub stopper before turning on the water and adjusting the temperature.
He gave it a minute to fill the bottom of the tub before he eased into it, holding her against him as he settled them both into the comforting liquid.
“No,” she muttered, obviously put out as he adjusted her between his legs, her side resting against his chest. “I want to sleep.”
“You sleep, baby.” He grinned as he pulled a washcloth from the small shelf by the tub and gripped the bottle of shower gel he had put in the bathroom the day before.
The sensual scent of jasmine didn’t smell so good on his skin, but damn if it didn’t smell good on hers. He poured a thick amount on the wet cloth, sudsed it, and began to bathe her.
She deserved this. She had deserved it that first time he and Khalid had taken her together, and he had been terrified of sharing it with her. Of being this close to her. Somehow, he had known this would be different with Kia than it had ever been with any other woman.
She was going to end up owning him, if she didn’t already. And he couldn’t even find the strength to let it concern him.
He would know soon if she could handle the darkness in him. A few days, a week, if she stuck it out, then there would be hope for it. Because possessiveness was nothing compared to what he was feeling for her. He had nearly lost her the other night. He couldn’t chance that ever happening again.
As she dozed against him, the warm water rising around them, he washed her gently, kneading her trembling muscles, washing the sweat from her body.
He detached the handheld shower, washed her hair, and let a grin tug at his lips as her expression became sensual, almost catlike in her pleasure.
As he finished, the water was lapping at her breasts, warming her as she snuggled against him. He kept her there, holding her, careful not to arouse her. She would be sore tomorrow, and he wanted to ease the worst of the effects of the loving he had given her.
The loving. Damn, that thought should have had him panicking. Instead, it filled him with contentment.
“Ready to get out?” He let his lips caress her brow as he whispered the question.
“Hmm. Only if I have to.” Amusement lightened her voice, made it sparkle around him. Damn, he was a goner, that was all there was to it.
“You’ll turn into a prune.”
“So will you.” She smiled, her fingers threading through the damp hair on his chest as he grunted at the reminder.
“Come on, vixen.” He lifted them both out of the water, wondering which was getting more important, that nap or the need for food.
“You’re treating me like a baby,” Kia told him as he helped her out. He dried her hair with a towel before bending and drying the rest of her body.
“You deserve it.” He stared at her as he dried himself quickly.
“Why? All I did was lay there.”
He looked too sexy, standing there naked, still half aroused. Hell, maybe he had stayed aroused. He was definitely fine to look at with all the muscle and bronzed skin. Black hair fell around his face and sprinkled over his chest and thighs. He looked the way a man should look, she thought. Sexy, dangerous, and completely confident.
He shook his head at her comment. “You did more than lie there, Kia.”
“Yeah, I came like I was dying.” She laughed as he lowered his head and whispered a kiss over her lips. “I should be bathing you for the experience.”
He shook his head as it lifted. He wanted to tell her exactly what she had given him, but he couldn’t find the words. He felt strangely helpless, and that was a feeling that didn’t sit well with him at all.
“You pleasured me,” he whispered instead. “More than you know.”
Her eyes brightened, the gemlike glow deepening as pleasure flushed through her.
“I can feed you then.” She smiled. “I’ll find my legs again in a minute. I can cook, you know.”
Chase nodded. “After we eat, we’ll get some of your stuff and start moving you in here.”
Kia paused. She froze, actually, and watched him carefully. She wasn’t certain now that that was a good idea at all. It had taken her too long to find her balance in the face of his disregard to start with. She had finally settled herself into the idea of being alone, living alone, sleeping alone.
And she didn’t fully trust him, she realized. Not with her emotions.
“I was just learning to do without you. Now you want me to move in here?” She pulled a towel around her, suddenly uncomfortable with her nakedness. “Isn’t this a bit quick, Chase? Weren’t you the one who told me just last week that I didn’t want this with you?”
She was scared, she realized. Afraid to let herself believe and to risk his changing his mind in a day, a week, whenever.
She couldn’t do this. She could feel the panic rising inside her. The risk to her heart was too great right now.
“It’s not negotiable.” His expression hardened as he stared down at her, obviously more comfortable in his nudity at this moment than she was.
At his statement, her brow arched. “Not negotiable?” she asked him softly. “Then it had better get negotiable, Chase, because this isn’t happening. I’m going home today. Period.”
She moved to sweep from the bathroom, determination welling inside her. She was willing to be his lover; she wanted to be his lover. But the past weeks had been brutally hard on her. She wasn’t willing to chance that sort of upset again. Not this soon.