insides. He took his sweet time there, not venturing any further south than my navel with his touches.
He was stalling.
Smiling, I pushed him onto his back and pressed my lips against the scar on his throat. Then the one covering his collarbone. My tongue flicked the one that bisected his nipple, and he groaned.
Continuing south, I took my time kissing and licking until I’d made certain he knew I was serious about having sex with him. When I reached his belly button, his shaft was safely cradled between my breasts. He arched into me, his fingers stroking my hair.
“Want me to stop?” I asked.
“Never stop,” he rasped.
I slid lower and licked the clear bead of liquid shining at the end of his cock. He made a pained noise a moment before I was on my back, pinned under him.
“Maybe, sometimes stop,” he said, setting his forehead against mine.
I giggled and wrapped my legs around his hips.
“Or maybe sometimes just hold on and enjoy the ride.”
He kissed me hard and positioned himself at my entrance.
“Choose me,” he said.
“I choose you.”
He entered me slowly, one agonizing inch at a time. It burned as my channel tried to stretch to accommodate him. But, I knew he was so worried that he’d stop if I gave any indication it hurt. So, I tried to relax. It didn’t help. He was just too big and wasn’t getting anywhere because, thankfully, he wasn’t forcing anything.
“I must do something,” he said. “You’re too small.”
Before I could ask what he meant, he withdrew and had his face buried between my legs.
A strangled ‘ah’ escaped me with his first, unexpected lick. I buried my fingers in his hair and hung on as he brought me to the brink again and again.
“Please,” I begged. “Stop teasing me.”
“No,” he mumbled against my clit, sending tingles of happiness through my vagina. “Teasing makes this better. Ghua told me.”
I didn’t have time to wonder what else Ghua had said because Thallirin made my eyes roll back into my head by sucking gently. One finger slipped inside me. Then two. Then three.
“Are you ready to try again, my Brenna?”
I nearly clawed him to get him back on top of me.
This time, there was no burn, only pleasure, as he slowly slid home. He growled low and withdrew to thrust deeply again. I lifted my hips, meeting his advance with enthusiasm. My orgasm hit me hard, and I cried out. Thallirin’s pace doubled, sending me into a spiral. I didn’t know what was up or down until he buried his face in my hair and was growling and groaning.
Each pulse of his shaft sent another wave of pleasure through me, and I pressed my mouth against his shoulder to muffle any noises I made. Thallirin was making enough for both of us. I grinned against his skin as the sound of his growls faded.
He didn’t roll off or crush me with his weight. Pulling back a little, he looked down at me.
“The more we do this, the safer you will be,” he said in all seriousness. “But it is your choice.”
I grinned up at him.
“I have no other plans until dinner.”
Epilogue
Mom’s watchful gaze caught me shifting in my seat again, and a knowing smile made a flash appearance on her lips.
“Well, I’m glad you two finally figured out what’s important,” Mom said. “I was going to start baking cakes and singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you until he pulled his head out of his ass.”
“She does not mean that literally,” Uan said to Thallirin. “She knows our heads cannot reach our butts.”
Thallirin grunted and resumed eating while Mom, Zach, Tasha, and I started laughing.
“Would have been the perfect night for cake, too,” Mom said with a nod to the bow on the counter. “It’s beautiful.”
Thallirin’s gaze held mine for a moment before he looked at Mom.
“It will never replace the one that was taken from Brenna, and I am sorry for that.”
He meant every word. His sweet apology, which had been given with the bow during one of our brief water breaks that afternoon, had brought me to tears. As had the bow he’d made. The carvings on it were beautiful. Trees and rocks and small animals decorated parts of the grip and limbs. He’d said they were of the caves, where he’d come from.
“And nothing will ever replace this one,” I said. “It’s the most beautiful bow I’ve ever owned. I can’t wait to use it.”
Under the table, I lifted my foot to trail a toe along Thallirin’s thigh. His fork paused halfway to his mouth as his gaze locked with me.
I turned to Tasha.
“How was today?” I asked.
“Good. Zach says I’m a natural with the bow.” She looked at Uan. “Can I have my own, too?”
“Of course. I will start on one tonight.”
I didn’t know where he’d get the wood from, but I knew that small detail wouldn’t stand in the way of doing something that would make Tasha, his newest daughter, happy.
“Any word on how Hannah is doing?” I asked.
“She is sick,” Thallirin said very seriously. “But Merdon is caring for her. He knows how to help her.”
“Is she sick because they took her?” Tasha asked, worried.
“No, sweetie. She was sick before that,” I said. “But Thallirin is right. With one of the fey looking out for her, she’ll recover. Merdon will see to it.”
I gave her a reassuring smile before meeting Thallirin’s gaze. The fey had a funny way of getting to women. It wasn’t aggressive but it was persistent and endlessly patient. It sounded a little stalkerish when I thought of it like that, and I smiled slightly, thinking of all the times I’d thought of Thallirin as my stalker. He didn’t feel like a stalker, now. I slid my foot a little higher up his thigh. In fact, he felt very much under my control.
He slowly set down his fork.
“Brenna is done eating and would like to leave now,” he said, standing.
My grin widened as Mom snorted.
“Right. It’s so obvious she wants nothing to do with that big, juicy steak on her plate. The steak that would give her hours and hours of energy.”
Thallirin paused in the process of moving away from his place at the table, looking from the steak to me, before sitting down.
“Eat quickly,” he said. He began eating his steak with a gusto that made the ache between my legs throb a little bit more in anticipation.
“Make sure to take a soak in a warm bath before bed,” Mom said under her breath. “It helps.”
Zach made gagging noises and started tugging on his ears.
“I think I just went deaf,” he said loudly. “Can you hear me? I can’t hear you.”
I rolled my eyes at him and started eating.
I loved my family. We were uniquely diverse but better for it. I could see in Mom’s eyes that she was missing Dad at the moment. But I knew, without a doubt, he would have approved of the choices we’d made since his passing. After all, he’d given his life so we could live.
I was determined to do just that with Thallirin at my side.