Page 40 of Viking
The last thread of his control snapped.He covered my body with his, his weight pressing me into the mattress in a way that felt like sanctuary rather than restraint.His mouth found mine in a kiss that burned away any lingering doubts, any hesitation that might have remained between us.This was right.This was where I belonged.
My fingers traced the dragon tattoo, following its inked scales across his skin.“It’s beautiful.”
“Got it after I turned eighteen.”His breath hitched as my hands explored lower, tracing the hard planes of his stomach.“Reminder that even monsters can protect.As well as being a visual reminder of my heritage.”
I pressed my lips to the dragon’s head, then to the scar beside it -- a puckered line that spoke of old violence.“You’re not a monster.Not to me.Not to Athena.”
Something vulnerable flashed in his eyes before he captured my mouth again, his kiss deeper, hungrier.His hands weren’t idle, skimming down my sides to grip my hips, thumbs pressing into the hollows beside my hipbones.When his mouth left mine to blaze a trail down my neck, across my collarbone, to the swell of my breast, I arched beneath him, a soft moan escaping my lips.
“I dreamed about this,” he confessed against my skin.“About you.About how you’d taste, how you’d sound.”His tongue circled my nipple before drawing it into the heat of his mouth, and I cried out, my fingers tangling in his still-damp hair to hold him closer.
“Viking,” I gasped, his road name falling from my lips like a prayer.“Please.”
“Call me Lief,” he murmured.
He continued his journey downward, lips and tongue and teeth marking a path across my ribs, the sensitive skin of my stomach, the jut of my hipbones.When he settled between my thighs, his broad shoulders spreading them wider, I held my breath, anticipation coiling tight in my core.
The first touch of his tongue against my pussy sent electricity sparking up my spine.My back bowed off the mattress, a broken sound tearing from my throat as he devoured me with the same focused intensity he brought to everything else.His calloused hands gripped my thighs, holding me open for his assault as he found every spot that made me writhe and whimper.
Just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, when pleasure was building to a crescendo that threatened to shatter me, he pulled away.I made a sound of protest that died in my throat as he moved up my body, positioning himself between my spread thighs, the hard length of his cock pressed against where I needed him most.
“Look at me,” he commanded softly.
I did, drowning in the blue of his eyes as he pushed forward, entering me with excruciating slowness.The stretch and burn of him filling me drew a gasp from my lips, my nails digging into his shoulders as my body adjusted to his size.
“Fuck.”His forehead pressed to mine as he bottomed out.“You feel like heaven, Karoline.”
For a moment, we were perfectly still, joined as completely as two people could be, our ragged breathing the only sound in the room.Then he began to move, withdrawing almost completely before driving back into me with a force that made us both groan.
We found our rhythm quickly, as if we’d been made for each other, my hips rising to meet each of his thrusts.His mouth claimed mine, swallowing my cries as the tension built between us.One of his hands slid beneath me to grip my ass, angling me to take him deeper, while the other tangled in my hair, holding me where he wanted me.
“Mine,” he said, his voice a near growl against my lips.“Say it.”
“Yours,” I gasped, the word ripped from somewhere deep inside me.“I’m yours, Lief.”
His rhythm faltered at my words, his control slipping as he drove into me harder, faster.I wrapped my legs around his waist, taking him as deep as I could, feeling the precipice approaching with each thrust.
“Come for me,” he demanded, his voice strained.“Let me feel you.”
His hand moved from under me to slip between us, thumb finding my clit with unerring accuracy, and that was all it took.I shattered beneath him, my inner walls clamping down around his cock as wave after wave of pleasure crashed through me.Viking followed a moment later, his hips jerking against mine as he buried his face in my neck, my name a broken litany on his lips as he found his release.
After, he rolled to his side, taking me with him so we remained connected, my leg thrown over his hip, his arm around my waist holding me close.I traced idle patterns on his sweat-slick chest, feeling his heartbeat gradually slow beneath my palm.
“I can’t believe you’re actually here with me right now,” he said.
I turned my face to press a kiss onto his chest.“I didn’t really date, at least not after high school, but even those guys fell short.None of them made me feel safe, or looked at me, the way you do.”
“How do I look at you?”he asked.
“Like I’m something valuable.Something worth protecting.”I swallowed hard.“Something worth loving.”
His eyes darkened, his arm tightening around me.“That’s because you are.”
We didn’t say the words -- not yet.But they hung in the air between us, in the gentle way he tucked me against his chest, in the press of his lips against my forehead, in the tangle of our legs beneath the sheets.Tomorrow would bring new challenges -- the aftermath of the attack, the ongoing threat from whoever had sent those men, the reality of integrating Athena and me into the club’s world.But for now, wrapped in Viking’s arms, I felt something I hadn’t experienced since before Kris died: peace.
Chapter Eleven
Viking
