Page 81 of Covenant

Crying with Jackson when he woke up to realize he’d lost his leg, that his dreams of being a professional baseball player were over.

Jen’s face when I returned home. The screaming matches. The empty closets when she left.

The way my heart was cracked open when I found out Matthias had fired me. It was bad enough what he’d done to me before, but this…this almost seemed worse. The final nail in the coffin that had been my life.

I can barely breathe, the past coming up like a nightmare to haunt me.

When I finally open my eyes minutes later, Matthias is standing up, looking out of the cave.

“The storm’s passed,” he says gently. “It’s just sprinkling now. We can go.”

I glance up at him, all of his revelations spinning in my mind, making me almost dizzy. Is he telling the truth about work? If so, why has it taken him so long to tell me?

“Are you serious?” I ask, more about his revelation than the announcement that the rain has mostly stopped.

“I am. We can head back to the villa now.”

That’s not the question I wanted answered, and I think he knows it. I push myself up, wiping off the seat of my pants and moving toward him. His shoulders are so broad and straight, like he’s never doubted himself for a minute of his life. And yet here I am, right now, making him shrink away.

From me.

His eyes meet mine, eyes flashing with something I can’t read before he steps out of the cave and into the sunshine. A light mist hits us as we walk down the wet beach, my eyes swiveling from the beaten path to Matthias himself.

He’s wet, his hair drooping slightly, moisture sitting against the curve of his neck. I want to lean over and lick my way up it, to hear him moan my name.

Fuck. His admission in the cave…it changes things.

Some things at least.

He really didn’t have me fired? He tried to get my job back?

It never occurred to me that Matthias might’ve fought for me. I can’t quite process it.

When was the last time anyone fought for me?

We pick our way back toward the villa, moving past a fallen palm tree. We skirt around it, our hands brushing as we walk, and when I nearly trip over a root protruding from the sand, he reaches toward me and grabs my hand tightly.

I don’t pull away either. I let our fingers twine and wrap around each other until we’re finally back to the villa. The doors were left open, water puddling on the tile floors from the wind and rain, but it goes ignored as he pulls me toward the kitchen.

We stop near the large island and our hands part as he hands me a bottle of water from the fridge. I twist the cap off and gulp it down, realizing I’m thirstier than I thought before handing it to him. He takes it, our fingers brushing, and he finishes it off. With the empty bottle sitting between us, he reaches over to swipe a drop of water from my bottom lip. His thumb lingers there and my lungs squeeze, trying to capture air.

Breathe, Wy. Just breathe.

Before I can overthink it, I lean forward, nipping at his thumb roughly, pulling it between my lips, sucking on it deeply. His breath catches and his pupils dilate, black eating up his irises as he watches me.

“Wy.”

I force him to hold my gaze as I hollow out my cheeks. He shifts where he stands, a shaky exhale leaving his lungs.

His thumb falls from my mouth, and I wet my lips. “Do you still need time to breathe or can I do what I want to you?”

He swallows, a tremble moving through him. “No. Make me breathless. I don’t need air when I have you.”

Those words, they sink into me as I lift his hand where it’s frozen between us and pull it back to my lips, pulling his forefinger between my lips, sucking on it, rolling my tongue along the knuckle. His nostrils flare when it pops out, wet and slightly pink. I do it to his ring finger and pinkie too, relishing the way he tries to stay in control. But I can see him crumbling, can see him letting those tethers loose.

“You’re still breathing,” I say slyly as Matthias shivers. “Maybe I’m not doing a good enough job.”

I lick up his palm and nip at his wrist, teasing him about things I’m not yet ready to do. Not yet. But fuck, if the way my cock is responding is telling me anything it’s that I want to try.

---