Page 96 of Anchor

“Maybe she did,” said Taland. “Maybe she would have known if she saw this.”

“But not the Council?” That seemed highly unlikely. “I mean,they arethe IDD. The IDD is them.”

At that, Taland smiled and turned his head to me again. “No, sweetness. That’s not it at all. Believe it or not, the IDD directors and the Council members are rarely on peaceful terms. They’re always enemies posing as friends. David Hill works for Selem—is at the head of it himself, and also at the head of the IDD, and I assure you, he does not play by the rules of the Council. On the contrary—that’s why Selem even exists.”

So many things to think about, and I wanted to ask him more questions. I wanted to ask himallthe questions and figure out all the answersright now,but my head was going to explode soon, and I doubted I could handle even one tiny bit of new information right now.

“Sweetness?” Talan whispered when I closed my eyes.

“Can we sleep?” I thought I muttered because my mind was begging me for time off.

He chuckled. “We can do anything you want, any time you want it.”

He grabbed me and spun me around and wrapped me up in his arms while I kept my eyes closed, and then I heard his whisper and the room became dark, the sunlight hidden behind the drapes.

“Sweet dreams, baby. I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

I slept better than I had in years.

He was there when I woke up, just like he said. Being wrapped up in Taland might be the best gift the goddess had ever sent in this world for me, and that’s why I was smiling even before I woke up all the way.

“I’ve been waiting years for you to wake up,” he whispered when I reached behind and wrapped my hand around his neck.

He brought his lips to my ear and kissed my lobe slowly.

Goose bumps erupted everywhere on me at once. “I slept years?” I muttered, my attention on his hands now, on one that was on my breast and he was starting to squeeze it lightly, the other over my stomach, gently rubbing circles on my skin.

“It was at least a decade for me,” he said, and I laughed a little.

“You should have woken me by year five,” I whispered, then a moan ripped out of me when he stuck his tongue in my ear.

Fuck,the way he felt. The way he fired me up so quickly.

“But I love to watch you sleep, too. Tricky situation,” he said, and if I wasn’t busy moaning, I’d have laughed again. Except his left hand had moved lower, to my pelvis, his fingertipsalmostto my clit, and his right hand was now squeezing my breast harder and pinching my nipples, and his tongue licked the side of my neck until I lost sight of the room we were in completely.

Such a small bed, made foroneadult to sleep in, not two. And I was so thankful for it, thankful that we couldn’t leave an inch between our bodies if we tried.

“Mhmm, so tricky,” I mumbled as he continued to play with me, and when his fingers pressed onto my throbbing clit, Ipushed my ass back until I felt his hard cock clearly against my buttocks.

Fuck, he was so delicious, I couldn’t wait to have him inside me again. The more he gave me, the more I had him, the more I wanted. So much more.

“Thisis worth the wait,” he said cupping my pussy, shaking me. “A thousand fucking years would be worth it.”

He moved us, grabbed me and put me on my back, and pushed the cover off when he rose on his knees on the bed. Naked. So blissfully naked.

A bit of sunlight streamed in through the cracks between the drapes he’d pulled in front of the window that morning, which meant I hadn’t even slept the whole day. But I was rested. And turned on. And so ready for him I was shaking.

“You’re perfect,” I muttered, drinking in the sight of him in the dark, the tallarose that marked his skin right over his heart, the curves of his muscles and his messy hair. The tip of his cock, the length and thickness of it that I couldn’t see very well but salivated over anyway.

“I am?” he said, but he wasn’t really paying attention to my words. His eyes were on my body when he grabbed my ankles and pulled them up, put my heels over his shoulders just like he liked. Then he proceeded to caress my legs, my thighs, brought his thumb to my clit.

Goddess, my eyes turned in their sockets right away. The way he knew how to touch me was a sin.

“Yes, Taland,” I breathed. “Perfect, perfect…” My hips moved up. “Don’t stop.”

“But I have to,” he said, and he did. My eyes opened and I almostscreamedat him, but he was already lowering on the bed, my legs still over his shoulders. He held my eyes when he turned his head and kissed my thigh, then turned to the otherand bit hard. I cried out, my center burning, just the thought of his mouth on my pussy making me weak.

“Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I’ve had a taste of this pussy?” Again, he never took his eyes off me when he stuck his tongue out and licked me, right on my clit.Slowly.And it was like he’d put a magic spell on me because I couldn’t even lower my head on the pillow, couldn’t take my eyes off him, either. I just gripped the sheets and held my breath and watched him licking his lips and closing his eyes and moaning.

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