She puts her phone down. “She will.”

She turns toward me, her red hair splayed across the pillow in swirls of garnet. Her ivory skin is almost iridescent in the moonlight. The tip of her finger grazes the scab on my lip, then moves to my swollen eye. Gently, I pull the sheet down and away from her breasts. They spill out, free from the confines of fabric. I cup one in my hand, feeling the fullness of it. The softness.

I’m not sure how someone so hard and sharp can be so soft and delicate. I brush my thumb over her nipple and her entirebody stills. I pull it into my mouth, grazing the sensitive spot with my teeth. Her hands find my hair, her fingers soft and light as they tangle in it.

I push her gently to her back and climb on top of her. My tongue trails up her breast and along her collarbone, planting feather-like kisses that make her tense beneath my lips.

“Cassius, what about,” she whispers.

“Shh,” I murmur against her neck, cutting off her protests. I take her earlobe between my teeth, tugging it just hard enough to make her moan.

“Right now, it’s just you and me,” I whisper into her ear. “And the only thing I want to do right now is worship my queen.”

I kiss her softly, teasing her tongue with my own. “I’m going to find every spot that makes you whimper, every place that makes you tense beneath my touch.” I kiss her again. “I’m going to make you tremble with need and burn with desire.”

I am awarded with a shiver, and it feels like an eruption. Like life exploding at my fingertips.

Our eyes meet, and I feel her in the deepest parts of me, navigating all my broken parts. But instead of trying to fix me, instead of trying to glue the shattered parts of me back together, she settles in and fills the empty spaces, making me whole.

My lips crash into hers, swallowing the moment, committing it to memory. Her tongue touches mine, tentative and sweet. I slide mine across hers, our mouths saying everything without saying anything at all. Her fingers skate across my naked back, and now I am the one who shivers.

I trace her jawline with my lips, my hands exploring the rest of her. They glide down her body, and my mouth follows. I trace her nipples with my tongue and look up at her as I gently blow on them. Goosebumps erupt over her body, and I move my face to the valley between her breasts, my hands a little rougher as I bite the inside of one.

Ruby squirms beneath me, her fingers making their own discoveries as they try to make their way between my legs.

I pull her arms up and hold her wrists over her head, and she traps her bottom lip between her teeth.

I drop my jaw and look at her expectantly. She sighs, but when I remove my hand from her wrists, she leaves them there.

I kiss her scars, cherishing each one, wishing I could release her from the things that haunt her. There are so many that I can’t even comprehend how many demons she battles on a daily basis. I pay special attention to the one that starts under her left breast and continues across the span of her torso to her right hip. Someday, I’ll ask her about that one.

I move down her body, savoring the way she sucks in a breath when I spread her legs and climb between her thighs. Her skin tastes sweet on my tongue as I skim it down one leg before making my way back up to her inner thigh. I bring the taut skin there into my mouth, and she inhales sharply. I suck lightly at first and then harder, marking her as my own. Her legs stiffen in anticipation, but her hands remain where I put them.

I twirl the tip of my tongue near her center and back along her inner thighs, barely touching her. Her breaths are quick and shallow as her body clenches, her legs tightening around me.

I lift my head to look at her, her eyes are squeezed closed, and her knuckles are white against the headboard.

“Baby, breathe,” I coax. Her eyes open to glare at me, clouded and sinister. “This will be so much better if you relax.” I dip my head back down and slide my tongue along her slit, she shudders. “I promise.”

I tease her with my tongue, getting close to, but never touching her clit. Her breaths get deeper, and I reward her with a flick to her sensitive nub.

“Cassius,” she moans, her voice breathy and dripping with need.

I slip a finger into her pussy and a gasp escapes her lips. Slowly I finger fuck her while using my tongue to play with her clit. Frustration coats every sound she makes, but I take my time because when I finally let her orgasm, it’s going to be an explosion of pleasure.

I add a second finger, and she shifts her hips up to meet me. Abandoning her clit, I glide my tongue to join my fingers, sucking softly on her folds.

“Oh my God,” she utters between clenched teeth.

“Not God.” My voice is muffled by her pussy, and I know the vibrations are killing her when her thighs trap my head in a death grip. “Who’s your king, baby?” I ask her, pausing all my movements while I wait for her to answer.

She reaches for me, and I follow her pull back up her body.

Ruby takes my face in her hands, hands that have taken the last breath of so many. Hands that have been covered in blood more often than they’ve probably been clean. But it doesn’t matter, none of that matters, because I trust her with my life.

“You, Cassius.” She pulls my face to hers, her lips claiming my own.

We fit together, our bodies in sync as I line my cock up with her entrance. She tugs on my bottom lip, and I don’t hesitate any longer. I enter her slowly, and when I’m buried to the hilt, she smiles. I take my time, gliding in and out of her, planting soft kisses on her lips and down her neck. She whimpers a little when I get to the spot behind her ear, and I increase my speed slightly. Leaning back, I lift one of her legs to rest on my shoulder, changing the way my cock hits her inside to find the spot that will undo her.