by S. M. Soto
Endymion scoffs. He drops his arms, taking a step toward me. “You want me to forget it ever happened, Selene?” His eyes are molten pools of lava, and I’m the ash at his feet. My heart lurches when he closes the distance between us, backing me into a wall. Literally and figuratively. “What if I don’t want to forget?”
My heart stalls, and my stomach dips at his words. Something that feels dangerously like hope blooms in my chest, and before I can tamp it down, End crowds me, caging me in until all I feel is him. All I can smell is him.
Everything about this moment is wreaking havoc on my nervous system. My chest is heaving wildly to accommodate my breaths, and my nipples pebble against my bra, vying for attention from this godlike man.
I shake my head, trying to clear the lust fog he’s induced. “What are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’m still so fucking angry with you, but goddammit, I can’t stay away,”
Before I can comprehend his words, his mouth slams down on mine, crashing through the last barrier I had in place. A cry of longing pours from my lips, his kiss possessing me right down to my very soul. There’s no fighting it. This need, the magnetic pull between us is stronger than both our wills combined, and I succumb to it, letting it drown me in my own desire.
End curls his hand possessively around the nape of my neck, yanking me into him. My hands fly to his warm chest, and I moan into his mouth at the feel of his hot, smooth skin beneath mine. He’s all hard muscle and pure unadulterated male. His other hand grips and kneads at the flesh of my hip and backside. The pads of his fingers on his free hand toy with the material of my shirt as he slowly drags it up over my head. My first instinct is to curl in on myself, but when he glances down at my chest, he growls like a wild animal, taking in the see-through lace demi-cup bra. Taking one of the straps, he slides it down my shoulder, his eyes following the movement. He lets it hang there, his fingers toying with the tantalizing soft skin of the top of my breast. My breathing is ragged. That and the sound of my pounding heart are all that echoes around us.
When Endymion finally meets my eyes, my core clenches painfully, and my mouth drops open in a gasp. He’s eye-fucking me. There is no better way to put it. The emerald green in his eyes is burning and licking at my flesh as he sweeps his gaze across my face. And Jesus, I’ve never wanted anything more than his mouth on me. Almost as if he can read my innermost thoughts, Endymion tugs on the other strap of my bra, causing the cups to peel down and expose my nipples. The points harden immediately at his heated gaze and the cool air.
“You are fucking beautiful, Selene,” he murmurs appreciatively, rubbing the pad of his thumb back and forth against my nipple. A moan falls past my lips without permission, and it seems to spur him on. With a growl, End drops down, taking my breast into his mouth, and I become putty in his hands. The moans that spill from my lips are embarrassingly loud. But he doesn’t seem to mind.
Heat swirls through my stomach, tugging at that place deep inside me. I’m struggling to catch my breath. The way his tongue is swirling and his teeth are nibbling at the hardened peak is driving me wild. My sex clenches, demanding to be taken care of.
“End-d, we can’t,” I pant out, still trying to hang on to some sense.
“Tell me you don’t want this, Selene. Tell me, and I’ll stop. But just know, if you say no, this is it, Selene. I won’t be toyed with. I’ve shown my hand; now show me yours.”
“I can’t say no,” I whisper. “Not after years of waiting for this.”
“Neither can I.” Swooping down, he takes my mouth again, his hands sliding under my backside, kneading the globes. He hauls me into his arms, and my legs wrap around his waist of their own accord. Our mouths fuse, and I shamelessly grind my center against him. “Jesus Christ,” he rumbles between heated kisses.
His mouth trails down my neck, sucking and nipping at the skin there. Before I realize what’s happening, I’m dropped back onto his bed, and he strips me of my clothes. When End drops to his knees before me, spreading my legs, I throw myself back, gripping the comforter in anticipation. His mouth continues its tormented path, leaving its mark until he’s kneeling at my feet, his warm breath fanning over my hot center.
“End,” I breathe, thrusting my hips toward his face in an uncontrollable motion. The need burning inside me is combustible, searing me from the inside out. He spreads me open for his viewing, taking a long, leisurely lick of my most intimate part.
“Oh, God!” The heated whimper flees me, my legs trembling as desire floods every part of my body.
“Easy, baby,” he croons, gripping my thighs to keep me from crumbling to pieces.
With slow, methodical movements, he trails kisses up and down my thigh, toying with me. He kisses me everywhere except the one place I really need his mouth again.
“Please.”
That must be the magic word because his tongue does a long swipe down my center and swirls around my clit, causing my back to arch off the bed. His licks are slow and attentive, and the skill, the finesse with which he eats me with should make me angry, but I’m not. I’m suddenly thankful. He flutters his tongue over my folds, and my back bows. Sliding a long digit inside me, he strokes my inner walls, toying with me, hitting someplace deep inside me that has me gasping for breath and clawing at the sheets.
“Christ, you’re beautiful,” he groans, as he watches me writhe.
Something hot coils deep in my gut, and when End adds a second finger, the sound of my arousal smacks around us. When he arches his fingers inside me and sucks my clit into his mouth, I fall apart. My body shoots off like a bottle rocket, spasming on the bed as the orgasm rips through me.
Endymion trails hot, wet kisses up my stomach, between my breasts, until he reaches my mouth. His hard body covers mine, my back kissing the cool sheets as his hot lips descend on mine. I can taste myself on his tongue, and I find myself savoring him. His tongue swirls against my skin, down my neck. When his lips curl around a throbbing nipple, I jerk against him, another cry ripping from my throat.
He blows on the stiff peak, soothing the sting before taking the other one into his mouth and inflicting the same exquisite pleasure.
My head drops back, fingers gliding through his hair. Every tug and sharp bite of his teeth against my flesh makes my pussy clench and ache for more. As if sensing that’s what I need, End strips out of his remaining clothes and climbs between my legs. As I stare up at him, I get flashes of that shaggy-haired End, hovering above me in the field.
“I never thought I’d be here with you again, like this.”
Warmth swirls behind those intense moss-colored eyes. “I’m committing every moment of tonight to memory. I let you slip through my fingers once, babe. It’s not happening again.” End chooses then to slide inside me, and we both groan. Him with pleasure, and me, a slight sting of pain. My walls stretch to accommodate his length, but it’s a burn I welcome.
With each deep thrust of his hips, I lose myself a little more. I fall into him, down the rabbit hole, seeing no way up. Perspiration clings to his skin, making his muscles glisten under the moonlight seeping in through his bedroom window. And the way he stares down at me? It’s different. A world away from our first time. He’s really here with me. Not inebriated or stuck in his head about the issues in his life.
Keeping one hand flat on the mattress beside my head, he wraps the other around my waist, changing the angle of his thrusts. His cock slides in and out of me. The sound of smacking wet flesh echoes around us, percolating the air with the scent of my desire. The tip of his cock hits something inside me at this angle. It has my mouth dropping open in a silent scream and pleasure rippling down my spine.
“That’s it, baby. Let go for me. Let me watch you come on my cock.”
As if my body lives to serve him, I follow his command. The muscles in my stomach clench violently, and my sex grips his cock like a clamp as the first wave of pleasure slams into me. It takes my breath away, spreading through my chest like e
mbers from a wildfire and flowing through my veins like I’ve been lit on fire. Every one of my nerve endings is vibrating.
“You’re so fucking beautiful when you come,” he praises. My body spasms beneath his, and he keeps going, his cock sliding in and out at a pace that takes my breath away until he finds his own release.
He hangs his head, resting his damp forehead against mine, and I can’t help the smile that takes over my face. Tentatively, I rest my hand on his muscular back and let myself explore his body while I still can.
Endymion grunts hotly when I palm his backside. He has the best ass on a guy I’ve ever seen.
“Jesus Christ, Selene,” he growls, making me laugh. Pushing upright, he hovers above me, staring down at me with an unreadable expression on his face. “I could listen to you laugh all day.”
My heart flips in my chest, almost bursting at the seams. “I’m sure that would get annoying.”
He shakes his head, obviously disagreeing as he brushes my hair out of my face. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.”
My heart jumps into my throat, on my tongue even. “Thank you,” I whisper back. “You are, too.” A crooked grin steals over his features, making him look even more handsome. That ever-present electricity, that tension is there, lingering between us as we search each other’s eyes.
No words are needed at this moment. Everything that needs to be said is done with our eyes. Endymion places a warm kiss to my lips before lying back and pulling me into his arms. I rest my head on his chest and close my eyes. A smile steals over my features as I listen to the synchronized beat of his heart until it beats with my own.
I wake up the next morning to hot dreams of Endymion’s body on top of mine. His tongue trails across my flesh as his delectable mouth places fevered kisses on my sex. My core clenches as if I can actually feel his tongue on me in real-time.
I’m on the brink of an orgasm, but I’m certain it’s just a dream until my eyes spring open, and I find Endymion’s face buried between my thighs. A moan rips past my lips at the sight of him, and I swear, he grins.
End takes a languid lick, making a show of the way he’s eating me. That tongue doesn’t miss a single spot, swiping across every nerve and crevice of my slit. With one hand fisting the sheet, the other finds purchase in his hair, and I tug, silently begging him for more.
With a growl, he delves deeper into me. He tongues my clit, swirling faster the louder I moan and the more I writhe. A thick finger nudges my entrance. The teasing makes me whimper. Everything feels so tight, so sore from last night, but for the life of me, I don’t want him to stop this. I want more. I need more.
“Christ, you’re so fucking swollen here, babe,” End groans, while his finger pumps in and out of me with lazy strokes. It’s a slow rhythm that drives me wild with lust.
“More, End. I need more.”
Endymion slides in another finger, shushing me. “Shhh. I know what you need.” With two of his digits stroking my upper walls, he delves down, his mouth finding purchase on my clit, and he sucks the bundle of nerves with a ravenous need. My hips arch off the bed, and heat consumes my body. I feel like I’m on fire. His tongue alternates between sucking and licking at my clit with rapid bursts. It’s so much, so many sensations at once, that I feel like I am going to explode. End snakes his hand up my torso, landing on a peaked nipple. My knees lock around his ears as I buck into him, my orgasm ripping into me with a fervor I’ve yet to experience. Liquid nirvana blooms through my core, spreading beyond reach.
My chest rises and falls sharply as I come down from my high. I sense him moving around, but I’m so boneless and dizzy after that orgasm, I can’t bring myself to open my eyes and look.
“Good morning.” He chuckles, climbing into the open space next to me.
A wide grin steals over my face. Blinking my lids open, I turn to face him, warmth filling my chest. “Good morning, indeed.”
He smirks at that. With the morning sun filtering in through his bedroom window, it brings out the bright green in his eyes and the light strands of his hair. He’s beautiful, painfully beautiful.
“Let’s do something today. As a family.” My heart flips wildly at the suggestion. “I was thinking we can take Luna to the zoo. Together.”
There’s a damn furnace in my chest. “She’d love that.”
“And what about you?”
“What about me?”
“I meant what I said at the falls, Selene. I want you. I want this. You’re mine, babe.” His thumb swipes across my lower lip slowly, and the movement goes straight to my core.
I kiss him. Slamming my mouth against his, I kiss the man I’ve loved for what feels like an eternity.
As I lie in bed, my body wrapped around Endymion’s like I’m a contortionist of some sort, I smile thinking about the day we had. It was beyond perfect. It was everything I could’ve asked for. And Luna, my sweet girl, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy. She smiled and laughed with her dad as they walked from exhibit to exhibit, looking at the animals.
Watching their relationship blossom is beautiful. The way End looks at our daughter makes my heart soar. With every moment we spend together, his eyes remain glued to her as if he’s committing everything about her to memory. As if he was trying to recognize each of her smiles and each of her expressions.
By the time we got home from the zoo, Luna was out cold, and End suggested we let her sleep at my parents’ place. Apparently one night wasn’t enough. He needed more, and so did I. After three orgasms, I’ve been lying here, wrapped in his arms, trying to soak it all in.
I try to stay here in this perfect moment with him, but my mind begins to wander. The worries slowly flood in, making me wonder if this is all just a fluke. It doesn’t feel like one, but we have a daughter now. We can’t make these reckless decisions anymore. He must sense where my thoughts are heading because he presses a kiss to my temple and breathes out a sigh.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.”
I nibble on my bottom lip, wondering if I should settle on the truth. “I was thinking last night and today were amazing, but…but what are we doing? What happens now?” I shift on the bed, tilting my body, so I can face him. He does the same, craning his neck, so he can look down at me.
In this new position, I feel something trickle out of me and drip between my legs, remnants of what just transpired between us. It hits me then. My eyes widen. I sit upright, glancing down at the bed, then back to Endymion. His eyes are heated, darker than they were only moments ago, as he stares down between my legs.
My heart kickstarts, racing in my chest, and I swallow thickly. “I’m not on birth control, Endymion.”
Slowly, he glances up at me and quirks a brow. “And?”
My lips press together in disapproval. “And? And this is exactly how I got pregnant with Luna in the first place. Because we didn’t use protection.”
Jesus, why does sex with this man always turn my brain into mush when it comes to protection?
He grinds his teeth together, causing the muscles along his jaw to jump with frustration. “I take it this is a problem for you?”
My eyes slam shut. A spark of anger flicks to life in my chest at how obtuse and nonchalant he’s being.
“We can’t do that, End.” I sigh. “We have to be responsible and think about Luna.”
He grunts. “I am thinking about Luna. She told me she wants a sister or a brother. She told me she wants to be a real family, and I want to give it to her.”
My chest squeezes. “You can’t give a child these things if you’re not even sure you want them. It isn’t fair.”
His brows tug low, anger passing over his features. “Who said I wasn’t sure I wanted them? I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life. Yeah, we have plenty of things to figure out as a family, but I want you. I want you and Luna. Not just because it’ll make her happy but because it’ll also make me happy.”
I’m stunned into sil
ence by his words. I wasn’t expecting that. I mean, I knew Luna wanted a bigger family, but that was always a topic I avoided broaching, but now, it may be unavoidable. Everything he’s saying sounds so perfect and easy, but can it really be that simple? Can we just live happily ever after, especially after everything that has happened?
“I don’t know how to do this, Endymion. And the last thing I want is Luna hurt in all of this.”
A protective gleam enters his eyes. “We’ll figure it out together. And she won’t get hurt. Neither will you. I won’t allow it.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’d protect you both with my life. I’m all in with you, Selene. Mess and all, I want you.” He reaches out, caressing my bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. “Move in with me.”
I stiffen, my eyes growing wide at the suggestion. “What?”
His lips quirk. “I said move in with me.”
“I know what you said. I’m just trying to make sense of it. I can’t just move in with you.”
“Why not? Would it really be such a bad thing?”
I sputter. “Moving in? Having another baby? Yeah, it might. I don’t even know how Luna feels about all of this. About us. Kids say one thing one moment but change their minds the next.”
His face pinches in a scowl. “She wants us to be a family. I want this family with you. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is, you hated me just a few days ago, and now you’re suddenly trying to impregnate me and get me to move in with you.”
“I’ve never hated you. Am I angry? Yes. That’s going to take some time to go away, but that doesn’t just rest on your shoulders. I’m angry with myself, too. I’ve made just as many mistakes. The fact of the matter is, I can’t get you out of my head, Selene. I want this. I want you. And I want our daughter. All of us under one roof.”
I search his gaze, trying to tamp down that bursting sensation in my chest. I don’t need to get my hopes up. He could just be saying all this now, in post-coital bliss, but what about tomorrow, or the next day? We’ll need to talk about this when he has a clear head, and sex isn’t involved.