Page 21 of Cruel Tides

He hissed like a man burned, a deep craving flickering in his lilac eyes. He clearly wanted to touch, to explore my chest like I’d just explored his, and I held my breath as I waited. But his hands only hovered, then dropped, settling low on my hips.

Perhaps he needed a little encouragement.

“Gosh, it’s warm in here.” I shrugged the shirt the rest of the way off with a dry laugh and dropped it on top of his chest.

His teeth gritted as he watched on in silence, not even regarding the shirt I’d just returned.

Oh, his eyes might have shown a slight panic, but he was definitely enjoying this. The Pacific’s customs were still a mystery to me, but with the way he was watching me, it wouldn’t surprise me if their women kept themselves wrapped up as tightly as their men did. His gaze slowly panned over my breasts. Then his dick throbbed, its hard heat practically begging for relief.

Should I have told him we were playing a dangerous game? That humans didn’t typically bump their junk together just so they could do thetotally more intimateact of feeling each other up? Only this quiet moment together was so real, so comfortable after all the chaos…No—I wasn’t ready for it to end.

“You can touch me,” I breathed out, leaning forward. Before I could press our stomachs back together, Kai’s attention snapped to his shirt, and he yanked it right off his chest, casting it off the bed like the thought of breaking this moment and putting it on was the furthest from his mind.

That made two of us.

“I want to,” he all but groaned, though his hands settled right back at my hips. I leaned forward to give his chin a teasing peck.

Damn, he was cute. Even his lips were pulled at a weird angle. Like he’d seen me and his muscles somehow forgot the correct way to smile. “Then why don’t you?” Another nip, and he groaned again. I could get used to teasing him. My lips aimed higher, pressing a soft kiss against his mouth so he could feel my bare skin against his chest.

Oh, he felt it. His fingers curled, biting into my thighs, and my body rocked forward. I wanted him to make more sounds. A groan, a whimper, a grunt. Something. I just wanted to hear him.

My nipples drew against his chest, flaring little tingling sparks through my breasts as our cores rubbed together. One kiss. Then another. For someone new to kissing, he was sinfully good at it. His lips pressed back with a fiery strength, leaving no room for doubt or hesitation. More fire, more heat, more urgency. It wasn’t until we broke apart in a combined gasp, both of our faces alight with arousal, that I realized I’d been grinding away at him. I hadn’t meant to do it, butdamn, it felt good, and with the way Kai’s dick throbbed between my legs, the feeling was mutual.

Kai stared up at me, all wet lips and lust-drunk eyes. We had paused momentarily, taking each other in. Did he notice how aroused I was? I was pretty sure his dick was slick with evidence of what he did to me. All I knew was that he didn’t want us to stop for long. His fingers sank into my thighs, coaxing my hips to move over him again. I failed to stifle a gasp as I slid against his length some more. Yeah—there was no way he didn’t know the mess I’d made all over his dick.

“It’s like back in the pool,” Kai rasped, his hands kneading into my hips, urging me to keep grinding against him. “Nothing ever feels as good as it does when you’re with me.”

Moving at a frantic pace of my own, I seized one of his hands, bringing it up to my breast. “Sorry, but I can’t take the credit for the water jet.” I puffed a laugh that was snuffed out as soon as his thumb stroked over my nipple.

A moan built in my throat, and Kai stopped immediately, his hand popping off my breast to stare up at me like a puppy that wasn’t sure if it deserved a scolding.

“No, no—it’s good,” I coaxed, drawing his hand back to me and grinding against him again.Damn, it was like the more weight I gave him, the more his steely dick pushed back. “Reallygood. I love it when you touch me here.”

I leaned back down, feeling out every slick inch of him, and caught his lips with mine as our bodies rocked together.

Then he did something unexpected, pulling off my mouth to move to my shoulder. His tongue traced up my neck, and it nearly threw my hips off their rhythm.

“Kai,” I moaned as the tips of his teeth grazed the sensitive edge of my ear. My nails bit into his chest to keep myself from falling off of him. Another graze, more pressure. He was testing me, seeing how much I could take. “More,” I begged, and he laughed. He actuallylaughed.

He flicked my ear with his tongue, then scraped it with his teeth. Hot breath beat against me as he pulled me even closer. “As if I had any intention of stopping.”

His teeth sank, biting into the fleshy part of my earlobe. It wouldn’t leave a mark, but it did ignite a burst of adrenaline that went straight to my head.

I gasped. “Yes, like that—” Goodness, I could become addicted to that feeling. The way the little spark of pain messed with my brain, confusing it into thinking it was pleasure. Then again, maybe itwaspleasure, and I’d just never known how incredible the slight sting could be to one’s senses. I moaned, leaning into him. “Just like that.”

His mouth slid back to my neck, his teeth grating all the way down. I arched against him, my hips grinding. He was so hot between my legs, his hips, his cock, all lying so perfectly still underneath me, letting me use him to chase these feelings higher and higher. More, more,more. When I was biting into my own lip, those sharp tips that had been working me into a frenzy sank into the spot between my neck and shoulder. I cried out, the sudden spark sending me hurling over the edge. Stars glittered in my vision as Kai tensed, garbling a moan against my skin while every inch of him shuddered underneath me.

Hot spurts jetted over our stomachs, but I kept moving, kept grinding, until I almost lost my balance and he had to forcefully grab hold of my hips. “Easy…” he groaned, leading my movements until I finally slowed, both of us spent, panting messes.

When our bodies stilled and we both started coming out of our haze, Kai held me there like he wasn’t ready to let go. I blew out a long, satisfied breath as he rubbed up and down the small of my back.

“That was…Wow.” I looked down at the trails of cum smeared over his abs. Heat flared over my face as I rubbed a hand over my neck. My skin still stung from where his teeth had been, but it was a good sting. I lurched forward, rolling off of him, and as soon as I hit the bed, his mouth was on me again, easing the ache with a flurry of soothing kisses.

In between kisses, he whispered against my neck. “Was that too hard?” His hands ran light strokes over my skin like he was eager to relieve any pain he might have caused. “Did I hurt you?”

“A little,” I admitted, leaning into each caress of his lips. It felt nice. Loving, even. Like he loved taking care of me. But he was the one always looking out for me, wasn’t he? Getting me clothes, doing my hair. Making sure I always had what I needed. “But I asked you to do it harder, so it’s not your fault. I bet it won’t even leave a mark.”

“Damn,” he blew out under his breath before kissing over my neck all over again. It was the first time I’d ever heard Kai curse. “I swear my mouth just does things,” he grumbled. “Moves all on its own—but that’s no excuse.” He pulled away to look at me, his eyes full of sincerity. “I won’t do it that hard again, Claira. I’m sorry.”

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