Page 64 of Veiled in Stars and Silver
And her goddamned tightness.
He rammed his hook into the desk, his own back arching as he came, spilling into her. “Brimstone and gall, Wendy,” he growled as he pulsed inside her. His hand vibrated that place between her legs, determined to make her cry out.
And she did. Her nails dug into him, leaving red scrapes stinging over his arms, and she let out a wild cry, her mouth open as she gasped and gasped and gasped.
He didn’t stop.
She cried out again and again.
“Jas, I—”
He didn’t stop.
She screamed. Her warm fingers gripped his hand, shoving it aside, as her chest rose in great heaving breaths. “I can’t… I can’t…”
Her tempestuous gaze took him in. Triumph gathered in his chest. Despite everything that had happened, she was completely unwound. He shifted, dropping onto the desk and drawing her against him and held her moaning, raging body as they both came down.
“Did you like that?” he asked, running his hook over her spine, in a movement meant to both caress and possess. “Did I please you?”
She pressed her face into his chest and moaned.
He chuckled darkly. “Turnabout is fair play, Wendy Darling,” he murmured. “I claimed you as thoroughly as you have been claiming me from the moment you returned to Neverland.”
Chapter 24
Wendy
I lay in James’s arms, feeling the heat of his body against mine. We’d moved onto the floor, where there was more room for us to spread out. The rocking of the ship had lulled us into a relaxed state. The lash marks on my back bore testimony to the harsh years I’d endured with no warmth, no gentleness. James had brought those things into my life, at least for a moment, and I would cherish it.
I lazily traced a vein in his arm, nerves gathering in my stomach. I wasn’t sure why I needed to say something, but I took a slow breath. “Thank you, James.” I took another breath. “That may not be what you are used to at Madame Pearl’s—”
“That was nothing like Madame Pearl’s,” he murmured, and my heart sank. He stroked my cheek. “Madame Pearl’s was survival. A reminder that, at least while I was there, I had complete control over my body. But what we just did…” He pulled me closer. “I have never wanted someone so much.”
I ran a hand through his dark hair. “And you are redeemable, JamesHook.”
A shadow crossed his eyes, becoming stormy—not violent, but with a heavy bleakness that seemed to weigh him down. “The worst thing about not returning was that they never knew how badly I desired to go back to them. My daughter had no idea she had a father who loved her, who wanted to be part of her life. And my wife—” He swallowed. “I probably destroyed her faith in love.”
“I think the worst thing is that you fight to give others a second chance you won’t allow yourself to take.”
“It's a chance I don’t deserve.”
“I’ll be your second chance,” I murmured in his ear.
He leaned in, and we kissed. Soft yet firm.
I enjoyed the feel of his lips against mine.
After parting, we lay back to enjoy the rhythmic swaying of the ship. I stared at a coiled rope as it methodically struck a post in time with the boat’s movement. The map of Neverland that James had used to find my brothers bumped my feet along with Stardust’s spellbook. I held up my palm to stare at my four-fingered hand.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he whispered.
“The Crocodile said we are missing something, and if we don’t figure it out, then we will lose. Tell me about the night you kidnapped my brothers. What was it like being under Peter’s control?”
James gave me an odd look. “Perhaps not the best example,” he grumbled. But his head fell back against the floor. “On the more subtle side, he puts ideas in your mind that you can’t ignore. If you try, it repeats until it consumes you, and no matter how much you don’t want to, you do it anyway.” He gazed at me, brows pulledtogether. “I fought it, Wendy. I swear. But if you fight too hard, then he simply takes over. Like when he cut off my hand.”
“But when you were in London, you were far away from him, right? You weren’t even in Neverland. How did he control you from such a distance?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know, love. Normally when he leaves Neverland, our minds are freed from his power, until he returns. We can’t leave of our own volition, but on that occasion, he made me abandon Neverland, and he stayed behind. I only had Tinker Bell with me.”
