Page 107 of Another Damned Storm
I blinked into the darkness, dread seeping into my bones.Not again.
Despite the lack of light, my surroundings were painfully familiar. I knew every line of the bedposts, every curve of the settee. My only saving grace was that my brain refused to accept what it was seeing.
My heart, on the other hand, desperately wanted to believe. It ached to be in that room, enveloped in Hook’s scent. But my heart had almost fooled me before.
I’d come so fucking close to giving in so many times.
Just one thought, and I could be with him. The only thing that stopped me was reminding myself what that one thought and that brief moment would cost me.
So, I did like I’d done at least a thousand other times and dug my fingers into the dirt to anchor myself, to remind myself that I couldn’t go back. No matter how much it hurt, and no matter how vivid the dreams were that taunted me.
“Never?” Hook asked quietly.
It was like someone grabbed the dagger piercing my heart and twisted it viciously. He sounded like he was close enoughthat I could reach out and touch him, but I knew better. I squeezed my eyes shut against the sting of tears and tried to will myself awake.
“Love, look at me.” A warm hand touched my arm, and I jerked, clutching the ground harder.
Only it wasn’t dirt between my fingers or hard ground beneath my back. It was impossibly silky sheets and a mattress so soft I could have cried from that small comfort alone.
I pried one eye open to find Hook propped up on his elbow beside me. Concern creased his brow as he reached over and brushed his thumb along my cheek. “Breathe.”
I sucked in a hitching breath and let it out in a rush.
“Good. Now, do it again.”
With the way he was looking at me, it took me a second to get my throat to unlock a second time, but I finally managed another uneasy inhale.
“This is real,” he said softly. “You are safe here with me. Your family is safe in their realm.”
I wanted to believe him. I was trying. In the back of my mind, I vaguely remembered talking with Rue and the crushing relief that came with her reassurance that my brother, Angie, and Lily were all thriving. The human realm was mending, and the space between realms was on the mend too.
Then there was Leo and his weekly rants about the parade of eligible women who were practically throwing themselves at him for a shot at being the next alpha’s mate.
By the time Hook peeled my fingers away from the sheet and pressed a gentle kiss to the inside of my wrist, I was almost convinced.
“Tell me?”
A knowing smile curved his lips. “I love you.”
More of the tightness in my chest eased, and I closed my eyes. “Tell me again.”
“I love you.” His warm whisper in my ear triggered a riot of goosebumps.
Those three words had become my anchor to reality. Even in my deepest, most convincing dreams in the Alius, my mind never let him torment me with them.
“Again,” I breathed.
His lips skated along my jaw to that sensitive spot just below my ear, pulling a moan out of me. “Would you rather I show you?”
Desire pulsed through our connection, another blistering reminder that this wasn’t one of the dangerously tempting dreams I’d had during my time in the Alius. There was always an underlying ache in those fantasies, a painful longing for something that was just out of reach.
Hook’s desire in real life was different. It carried a heavy dose of anticipation and an unshakeable confidence. The man knew what he wanted, and he knew exactly how to get it.
His lips and fingertips traveled slowly down my body. Every touch, every sensation, seemed to wake up a different part of me. His gentle kisses along my shoulder made my fingers twitch with the need to reach out. The sharp suck on my nipple made my core clench. And when he worked his way between my thighs, finding just the right rhythm and pressure with his talented mouth, my toes curled into the sheets as my back arched.
I dug my fingers into his dark hair and held on for dear life as he wrung one orgasm after another out of me, until I was covered in a sheen of sweat and panting with pleasure. But I already knew he wasn’t done with me.
Before the Alius, Hook had loved to tease. He would bring me to the edge and hold me there until I was ready to break. Then he would back off, let the feeling recede, and build me back up again. He would do it over and over, until I was woundso tight I was in physical pain. But it was a delicious kind of torture, and the orgasms after those edging sessions were mind-blowing.
