Page 31 of Enslaved By Magic

She smirked at him. “Can’t handle the woman on top… Luke?”

There’d been just enough of a pause before his name to let him know she could have called him Master. “In bed? It definitely has some perks.” He gave her a hungry glance that made it clear how much he’d liked it. “Out of bed—not so much,” he felt compelled to add.

Amari rolled her eyes and left it at that, but she had a self-satisfied smile on her face as they relaxed and tried to find a cozy way to lie together in the double-bed. Cuddling for the first time was always a process that took some adjusting. After he softened and slid from her body, they became two separate people again, and he pulled her into his arms. Their sweat-damp skin was tacky and stuck together as he tried to arrange his body against hers. Her long hair kept migrating into his mouth, or it got caught and elicited a pained complaint from her when he accidentally pulled, but finally they were settled comfortably, except for the damp spot under his thigh.

A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Fuck,” he said. The curse seemed harsh and abrupt, and she jumped, looking up at him in surprise.

“What’s wrong?”

He forced out a long slow breath, trying to push back the stress so he sounded calm when he answered her. Just because they’d made a terrible mistake didn’t mean they needed to panic. “We forgot condoms,” he said. He was willing to take the blame for it. He should have thought of it because he was the one experienced in the modern age, but she just laughed.

“It’s not an issue, Luke,” she assured him.

“Amari, I—oh.” He stopped there, eyes narrowing in thought. “You know I never really thought about it, but can you even—I mean you’re immortal, so I assume diseases aren’t a problem.”

“No, and neither is pregnancy. I told you, my body is in a kind of stasis. It doesn’t age or change in any way. I’m not really sure if it’s that I can’t get pregnant at all or if the cells just freeze at conception, so the pregnancy doesn’t progress and eventually is flushed out of my system. Either way, there’s no need for condoms,” she said calmly.

He had to accept this was true if everything else was, and it did make sense. Immortals didn’t need to pass on their genes after all, so he relaxed and pulled her closer to him. He was relieved; not that he didn’t want children—someday, but it was the last thing either of them needed now. He pushed thoughts of the future out of his head and focused on the present.

Holding her close seemed somehow more intimate than the sex, and he loved the feeling of her warmth pressed against him, but he wondered if it made her feel too vulnerable. She seemed to take longer to relax and he could feel the tension keeping her body stiff until long after his heartbeat had slowed to normal. He wanted to say something, to talk to her about it, but he couldn’t find the words, so he just held her until he fell asleep.

He woke up later. Something was wrong, and then he felt for her and realized she’d gotten out of bed. He wasn’t entirely surprised to find her gone, disappointed, but not surprised. Assuming she’d gone back to her bottle, he sighed and grabbed a pillow up against his chest, hugging it as he drifted off again.

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