Page 45 of Charmed By Destiny

His balls heavy, Richard couldn’t fight the tingles along his spine. But to his shock, he didn’t come immediately. Bright white sparks filled his mind. They coalesced into a solid form, and something deep inside Richard reached for that radiance.

It was his soul. Black touched white. Destiny had found them. They were soulmates. The realization had barely formed when a scream caught in Richard’s throat. His muscles locked, his back arched, and he clung to Lucas as he spilled his seed between them.

Lucas’s arms banded tightly around Richard, and his name fell from the inspirit’s lips as he shuddered in Richard’s embrace. Richard tilted his head and pressed his face into Lucas’s throat. All he could do was focus on breathing as realization crept in.

“Richard?” Lucas asked.

Refusing to be a coward, Richard moved so their eyes met. The first thing he noticed was how the flush of Lucas’s chest and cheeks suited him and made him sexier than ever. Lucas’s gray gaze was wide with shock. Richard understood how he felt and wanted to reassure him, but he was too surprised to form words.

“Was that what I think it was?”

Richard wasn’t up to words yet, so he nodded.

“Okay, just checking.”

Lucas relaxed against him, and they lay there in the cooling room gathering their wits. Although Richard was struggling to figure out how to react or cope, it was nice to be held by Lucas. Which was the answer to everything, really.

No, Richard hadn’t planned to go to bed with Lucas when he’d woken up that morning. Nor had he intended to have a soulmate. But destiny had intervened. Or Lucas had charmed destiny into upending every one of Richard’s strict rules.

Whatever the case may have been, Richard refused to deny the future intended for them. More importantly, he refused to push Lucas away. Their souls were a perfect match. Now they had to figure out how to make every aspect of their relationship work.

Richard gave in to the divine impulse to drag his palms up the smooth skin of Lucas’s firm ass and back.

“We should talk,” Richard said as he tangled his fingers in Lucas’s hair.

Lucas kissed Richard softly and turned his insides to goo. “Can I get a cloth to clean us up first?”

“Or I could go.”

“Don’t move, I’ve got it,” Lucas insisted with a flash of that grin Richard had admired since the day they met. As Lucas untangled their limbs and strode naked to the bathroom, Richard smiled. The man was gorgeous. And according to destiny, he belonged to Richard.

How the hell had he gotten so lucky?

Chapter 17

Once Luke was in the bathroom, he braced his hands on the countertop and dragged in a deep breath. The one thing he hadn’t quite dared to ask for was his, and Luke was in disbelief. He lifted his gaze to the mirror. His hair was a mess thanks to Richard’s questing fingers. There was an unrecognizable wildness in his eyes.

But he was smiling.

His soul had reached for Richard’s, and it’d been glorious. It made sense to him now why he’d been so attracted to the necromancer. Richard had crept into his dreams. Luke nearly laughed at his own foolishness. How had he ever believed soulmates didn’t exist? Or that he’d somehow miss the sign when discovering his? There was no mistaking the vision, nor the tug of his essence touching Richard’s.

Forcing himself to stop mooning in the bathroom, Luke grabbed a plush washcloth from a shelf and ran it under the tap. As he washed their essence from his skin, he wondered what the future would hold.

Did Richard regret anything? Was he happy about finding his soulmate? There was only one way to find out. Luke turned the water on again and ensured it was toasty warm before dunking his cloth beneath the faucet. There was no way he’d allow himself to use a cold towel on Richard.

As Luke returned to the bedroom, he tried not to notice the thong tossed haphazardly on the carpet. Richard’s choice of underwear had been surprising, and Luke mourned that he’d been denied a view of the necromancer’s backside in them. Luke walked toward Richard and ignored his outstretched hand.

Instead, Luke gently wiped the mess off Richard’s firm abs and the dark curls above his pretty cock. His gaze met Richard’s, and he grinned at the necromancer’s blush.

“I’ll be right back,” Luke promised as he reluctantly left Richard to drape the rag at the edge of the tub.

Luke returned to find Richard digging things out of his suitcase. He tried not to think about possibilities as he grabbed his underwear from the floor and tugged them on. Across the room, Richard pulled on an off-the-shoulder sweatshirt and matching shorts that barely hit him mid-thigh.

Everything the man wore made him delectable.

Richard faced him, and his extraordinary face was impassive. Swallowing thickly, Luke felt the first wave of fear hit him. To deal with his sudden bout of vulnerability, Luke shrugged into his shirt but didn’t bother buttoning it. His knees were getting shaky, so he sat on the edge of the bed.

“I could use a glass of wine,” Richard said. “Can I get you anything?”

---