for my best friend. Then I’m going to consider fucking you. And after that, we’re going to talk. Unless you want Vera to alter my mind again?”
Leela stared at him. “I don’t need you to take care of me.”
“I know you don’t, but I’m going to do it anyway.”
“And there’s no considering anything when it comes to fucking me,” she added, ignoring his reply. “If I want to fuck, we’ll fuck.”
He smiled. “I can make you beg.”
“You can try.”
“Oh, Leela,” he said, stepping into her personal space and kicking her bloody clothes aside. “I’m going to make you crawl, baby.”
“That’ll never happen.” The words she spoke out loud didn’t match the ones in her head, which were along the lines of, Yes, please. And the bastard heard them because of the altered rune.
It struck her then that Vera had to know what would occur after she altered the marking. Just as she’d clearly not warped Balthazar’s mind the way Leela had asked her to.
He smirked. “You think what happened in Brazil was the best I can do? That was just an introduction. By the time we’re through, you won’t even know how to move without feeling me between your thighs.”
Her body heated at the promise underlining those words. “Show me.”
“I will,” he vowed. “After I make you crawl.”
She snorted. “Then it’s all talk, baby, because I’ll never crawl for you.”
He smiled, his lips brushing hers in a sensuously bold move that lit her blood on fire. “Thank you, Leela.”
She frowned. “For what?”
“For providing me with a new challenge,” he replied softly. “Now get your fine ass in the shower. I’ll join you momentarily. And we’ll see how long your resolve lasts.”
Sethios stood in a towel out on the balcony of their temporary room, his gaze on the stars above.
Caro joined him in the robe he’d left for her on the bathroom counter. They’d both showered in silence, kissing frequently and speaking into each other’s minds but not doing anything other than existing together once again.
She wrapped her arms around his bare waist, pressing her nose into his shoulder as she just held him to her.
It felt nice. Warm. Right.
The peaceful roll of the waves along the shoreline below seemed to resemble the calm before the storm. She shivered at the thought of what was to come, the potential for devastation and war.
“Gabriel’s still in Hydria,” Sethios said softly. “Ezekiel’s staying with Skye for now, but he’ll continue to communicate via the phone he left on the nightstand.”
“Ezekiel was here?”
“Yeah, he traced in for a quick chat while you were drying off in the shower.” Sethios rested his arms over hers, his fingertip dancing along her skin. “He’s going to try to learn more from Skye about the Fates but didn’t seem too certain of his ability to coax information from her.”
Caro sighed against him. “It’s not in her nature to explain the future so much as to foresee it.”
“We need her to be a little more detailed.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean she’s capable of it,” Caro replied, moving along his back and side to face him.
His arms immediately came around her lower back, his forehead dropping to hers as they held each other in a contented silence. She understood his need, as it rivaled her own, their bodies having missed the comfort of the other for far too long.
They stood like that for a long, long time, with no words spoken between them but enough emotion to drown out even the loudest of events.
His lips found hers, worshipping her in a way that made her legs shake. But he held her upright, his tongue a benediction in her mouth that ignited her entire being.
She encircled his neck with her arms, holding on, their bodies marrying in a way that rivaled their spirits.
Each stroke of his tongue against hers grounded her even more in the present, her reformation experience subsiding beneath the memories he evoked from her mind. All those years lost between them meant nothing. They had now. They had the future. They had their daughter.
That was all that mattered to her. She sensed Sethios’s agreement through the bond. He lifted her into the air, carrying her back into the room and laying her on the bed.
Her legs spread for him, aware of his intentions.
He parted her robe and tossed his towel to the ground, then kissed a path down her body to the sweet spot between her thighs. His tongue continued that sensual assault, licking and tasting and sending