Page 23 of Elemental Affections

Dae’s cry was a hoarse, shattered sound as she came. Her body quivered, jerked against him as her inner walls contracted. He cursed, thrusting gone erratic, before he stiffened. A grunt was followed by a pulse of his cock, liquid heat filling her. He rolled his pelvis with slow, shallow movements, careful not to dislodge while ensuring she wrung him out.

“That was…” A laugh bubbled out of her and grew into a giggle when her movement made him groan. She propped herself up on her elbows, gave him a lopsided smile. She squeezed him again and felt her own smug satisfaction at the way he closed his eyes behind the mask. The way his jaw trembled with a shaky breath.

His eyes opened and snapped onto her.

Dae’s mind could barely keep up as he slid back out, swept her legs down, and flipped her onto her stomach. Then his cock was back at her entrance, and he slid balls deep in a single push. She muffled her scream in the bedcovers and gasped for breath as he drove into her, his cock rubbing against the still-sensitive inner walls in an entirely new way. Intense, almost too much.

His frantic pace finally gave out, a long, low groan spilling from his lips as he collapsed across her back. His cock bobbed weakly inside her, spent.

For a moment, only their panting filled the room. Then he propped himself up on one arm, sparing Dae his weight as he flopped onto his back. She let herself roll over and ended up tucking against his side. She hadn’t meant to go that far, was only going to lie next to him rather than plastered tight like a limpet. But his arm dropped over her shoulders, and she let it stay.

It was so comfortable, so sweet. Dae would’ve been lying if she said the concerns that he’d fuck and run hadn’t crossed her mind. That this surreal night would have a more practical, pedestrian end.

They didn’t speak, content to lie together. Exhaustion made her drowsy. She sighed, shifting to give her arm more space, and made a comical, part sheepish and part dismayed sound.

“I’m kind of … dripping … you,” she said in answer to his half-asleep grunt.

Her admission startled a bark of laughter from him. He pressed the heel of his hand to his eyes. Groaned. “Don’t say—fuck. I don’t have anything left.”

“Good. I think I’d pass out if we went again.”

He lumbered from the bed, found a spare cloth in the tiny washroom attached to her room. They cleaned up in relative silence, the unspoken question of what came next lying heavy upon the air.

Dae absently touched her mask. Their identities were still intact. As her fingers skimmed the perfectly soldered line he’d made when eliminating the beads, a smile spread across her face. She’d hoped the night would be enjoyable—and it had been, several times over—but she hadn’t expected to feel so light. That tonight would befun.If tonight was to be one of a kind, then why not enjoy it in full? Or at least put the offer out there. If he declined, she wouldn’t begrudge his choice. She’d already gotten so much more than she’d ever thought that first kiss would bring.

“Stay,” she murmured. His eyes widened behind his mask, so she gently added, “Just until morning. It’s the middle of the night.”

He hesitated, eyes leaving her to fix on the door, then the wall clock. When his gaze finally returned to her, there was something like … resolve, perhaps, in his expression. Dae couldn’t be sure, and sleepiness made it a struggle to keep her eyes open.

She leaned her head against his arm as they settled into bed. Not quite cuddling, not the awkward distance of strangers.

“You really are a prince,” she murmured, stroking his mask. “Came to my rescue.”

His laugh had a wry edge. “Not really.”

“Mhmm.” Dae leaned over, pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before rolling onto her side. “Goodnight,” she said.

She fell asleep with his warm presence at her side.

Chapter 9

Arhythmicwashofheat across her shoulder gradually brought Dae to waking. She didn’t move, simply let her sleep-fuzzy mind clear at its own pace. It was back to raining again outside, the gray sky offering diffused light into her room. Morning, though light enough for Dae to gather at a glance that they were well past sunrise. She’d slept late, by her standards.

The puff of warmth, ofbreath,whispered over her bare skin again. She smiled to herself. At least she wasn’t alone in having slept in. Nice to have had a reason. And company. Her heart did a little flippy motion in her chest. He’d stayed. She’d mentally prepared to find him gone in the morning, but he hadn’t.

They lay on their sides, his head mostly on her pillow. The even pattern of his breathing told Dae that her masked paramour was still asleep, and she was loath to disturb him. Their one night was over, but what could a few more minutes hurt? A little longer to enjoy the perfect fiction they’d created.

He sighed, the exhalation causing a ticklish sensation across her skin. A lock of his long hair had fallen onto her shoulder, sliding along with each breath.

Gently, Dae lifted it between her fingers. So silky, so…

Dae blinked, hard. The last vestiges of sleep scattered from her brain. Because the strands of hair in her hand were blond. Unmistakablynotdark. Pale,paleblond, of the sort that even the dark of her room at night could not have hidden. Rhellian blond.

She jerked upright, startling her bedmate awake as she whipped around.

“Ezzyn?”Dae snatched the covers up to her chin.

He sat up, eyes opening and closing in exaggerated blinks as his mind caught up.

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