the humor is lost on me. “And then I saw flashes of you. But not you you. A different you. And there was a connection there I can’t explain. It felt like something snapped or maybe settled into place. I can’t explain it.”
Carrick frowns slightly, and, if I’m not mistaken, he seems slightly bothered by my words. But then it’s gone and he’s smiling. Bending down, he kisses me lightly. “I promise you there was no magic.”
“Oh, good,” I say on a sigh of relief. “Because… that just didn’t seem real.”
“No, it did not,” he murmurs gently, then his eyes start to twinkle. “This isn’t going to seem real either.”
“What?” I ask, eyebrow cocked high.
Carrick moves his hips, and I realize he’s still deep inside me and hard as steel. “Again, not magic, but there are definite demi-god strengths you’re getting ready to have a better understanding of.”
Drawing back his hips, he pushes back in slowly, and my eyes flutter closed as my arms loop over his shoulders. I smile upon a sigh, the feeling beyond exquisite.
And I know a connection was not only forged, but also sealed tonight.
We’re on borrowed time so I know this won’t be forever, but it doesn’t mean Carrick can’t have my heart in the interim.
CHAPTER 11
Finley
I lay in the middle of Carrick’s bed, snuggled under the covers while morning sunlight dappled by rain clouds filters in. He’s not beside me right now, but I’m too comfortable to go exploring to find him. I’m quite frankly, exhausted, as Carrick didn’t let up on me all afternoon and through the night.
Not that I’m complaining. I think I’ve been waiting my entire life for this.
After the second time we had sex in my bedroom, Carrick insisted on food. He had no qualms with walking gloriously naked into the kitchen, but why should he? He’s a freaking demi-god, and he’s perfection from his head to his toes.
Outside of the heat of passion, though, I had a good dose of modesty guiding my actions, so I snagged his shirt on the way out of the room and put it on. It swallowed me up, but it smelled like him, and I had to resist not pulling the material up to my nose to inhale.
Carrick gave me a side glance as I followed him in there and smirked that I’d covered my body. He fished around inside the refrigerator, and I shamelessly ogled his butt while he did so. He came out with some eggs and bacon and set about the kitchen completely at ease in not only his nudity, but also in his cooking abilities.
Until tonight, I didn’t know Carrick could actually cook but I suppose even demi-gods pick up a few human-like activities in almost five thousand years of living.
We talked about Kymaris, the prophecy, Custodia angels, and everything in between that we’d learned so far. When he plated up the food, we ate standing at the counter with no awkwardness, although I found his naked proximity a little distracting.
There was none of that dead silence I usually don’t know how to fill. He certainly didn’t become detached and remote as I was slightly afraid might happen after reality set back in. I was afraid there’d be regrets.
But there wasn’t.
Carrick actually seemed… unburdened.
When we finished eating, I somehow found myself on the counter with the shirt gone and Carrick doing all sorts of wonderful things to me on top of the granite. When we were done, I made a mental note to myself to come back later and clean up before Zaid came back, whenever that may be.
The rest of the afternoon, we relocated to Carrick’s bedroom. It was hazy hours of long kisses, intimate touches, sometimes hard furious sex, and for me, napping in between. I’d wake up to find Carrick hadn’t left, but was working on his laptop beside me in bed. I found that endearing as he could have easily gone to his office. I also found it shameful I needed the naps, but I’m not a demi-god like he is. It was more than just sex that sucked me dry at times. It was the myriad of emotions he conjured within me that left me depleted. Because things seemed a little too good in the precious hours we’ve had alone. I felt like one of those women who could say all my dreams had come true while, at the same time, be waiting for something awful to happen to ruin it.
But one thing that