threw his head back as he jetted into the condom.
Helena had never come that hard in her entire life. Probably because I’ve been edging for five years. Too many Burning Moons with no lover at all. Though to be honest, Conal probably would have made her come just as hard if she’d been sleeping with the entire starting lineup of the Atlanta Falcons. The man knew how to do things with his tongue she’d never even read about.
When the storm was finally over, he lowered her gently to the bed, then sat back to dispose of the condom. After tossing it, Conal started to collapse beside her, only to convulse with a quiet oath. She looked up, startled. He was frowning at the bed spindle, which jutted out from the headboard like a spear. “Oh fuck! Conal, I’m sorry! Did it get you?”
“No.” He grabbed the spindle, forcing it downward. Her brows rose. He was pretty damn strong himself. Conal wrestled the spindle back into place over the jagged holes she’d ripped in the headboard. As she watched, it began to glow. When he took his hand away, it was whole again. “I do have some power,” he said dryly. “Just wish I could have done that while the bastards were torturing me.” As if to demonstrate, he closed his hand over one bracelet of her handcuffs, which clicked open, freeing her. He unlocked the one around her free hand and reattached it to the repaired spindle.
Finally, with a satisfied sigh, Conal lay down and pulled her into his arms. He felt huge and hot against her, all thick muscle. His body seemed to gleam in the light of the city, pearlescent with sweat. Helena clung to him, loving the feel of his muscled arms around her. Burying his nose in her hair, he made a deep rumbling sound. “God, you smell good.”
“You smell pretty good yourself.” And he did, a hot tang of masculinity and magic. His hair spilled across his pillow, a mane of stark black silk against the linens. Her cheek resting on the thick muscle of his pectorals, Helena listened to the slowing beat of his heart and drank in his scent. For the first time in days, the relentless burn of the moon had died to a background hum. Though she’d probably want him whether she was in her Moon or not. All that crazed heroism… The question is, would he want me?
“I think I’ll take you sightseeing in the morning,” he said in a lazy, sated voice. “I’d like to show you Beltane, introduce you to the people there.” His expression went grim. “For one thing, I suspect some of them spy for Siobhan.”
She lifted her head and stared. “Why in the hell would they do that?”
He huffed something that wasn’t a laugh. “The universal reasons to sell your soul: power, money and greed.”
“But there’s all that crazy. Like going to work for a ‘gator. Sooner or later, she’ll get the munchies.”
“That’s the fucking truth.” He brooded a moment, then shrugged. “Then I want to take you shopping, give you a look at what Changelings can do. They may not have as much power as pureblood Sidhe, but they do a fuck of a lot with what they’ve got. And they work.”
She grinned. “You seem to do plenty with yours.”
He grinned back, a flash of teeth, violet sparking in his gaze. “Why, thank you, ma’am.” They eyed one another. With the lust banished for the moment, something else hung in the warm darkness -- a sense of intimacy that felt even more seductive than his naked heat against her bare skin. “I need to get some sleep,” Conal said finally in his deep thrum of a voice. “You’re welcome to go back to the guest room, but if you want to stay here, I wouldn’t turn down the company.”
She felt a smile break across her face. “I could use a little company myself.”
“Good.” With that little purr of approval, Conal drew her into a closer snuggle. His skin looked very pale in the moonlight, particularly compared to her own, and his chest felt hard and strong under her cheek, the beat of his heart comforting.
He must have been exhausted, because he slid into sleep between one breath in the next. Considering the day he’d had, that was probably no surprise. Sleeping with him was a probably a bad idea, but why spend the night alone when he was here, solid and warm? Besides, maybe