lost in the sensation. “Come on, want to feel it.”
“Christ, the mouth on you,” Priest said. He straightened up, gripped my hip hard in one hand and jerked my cock with the other as he buried his cock in me a half-dozen more times. Then, with a loud, shuddering moan, he came. His cock throbbed inside me, and his grip around my cock went loose and sloppy.
I didn’t need much, though. The sensation of Priest coming inside me—knowing that I was the one to make him lose control like that—was so fucking good. I wrestled one hand beneath me, tangled my fingers with Priest’s, and guided his grip. It took only a few more strokes before the intense pleasure that had raced through me was building, and building, like a wave, or a storm.
“Fuck, Priest,” I cried out, drawing out the syllable of his name into a moan as I spilled all over his hand and onto my sheets.
“Goddamn,” Priest murmured as he pulled out. He disposed of the condom, and then flopped on the bed, uncaring of the wet spot there.
With some effort, I lowered myself to lie down on the bed as well. I felt loopy, a little spacy—he’d fucked me so hard I could barely make sentences.
Priest rolled onto his side next to me and grinned. He looked gorgeous—flushed with exertion, his blue eyes glimmering happily, his salt-and-pepper hair messy with sweat. “You all right?” he asked, half-teasing and half-concerned.
“Jeez,” I said. “How the fuck am I going to ride my bike after that?”
Priest barked a surprised laugh. He maneuvered me onto my side, facing away from him, and then slotted up against me so his chest was pressed to my back again. He wrapped his arms snugly around me and then dropped a kiss to my shoulder. It was so sweet and cozy—a delicious counterpoint to the rough, passionate way he’d fucked me just moments before.
“I’ll give you a massage,” he said. “I think you’ll survive.”
“We can’t sleep,” I muttered. “It’s the middle of the afternoon.”
“We can sleep for a little while,” Priest protests. “Not like there’s anything on the schedule.”
“Hm,” I said. “Maybe just for a little while.”
“Then we’ll shower,” Priest said, “and then go downstairs and let the enforcers tease us.”
I laughed, then folded my hands around Priest’s forearm where he was holding me close. That did sound good. A nap, a shower, then hanging with the club—enduring their good-natured teasing.
It sounded almost too good.
Because despite how intense and passionate the sex had been, it hadn’t felt like just sex. It’d felt… it’d felt like more than that. Like making love.
I knew it was just because we had such a strong friendship—the foundation of trust and mutual respect was there. It wasn’t love, not in a romantic way. It was just an extension of our history together. And even though I knew that, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it’d felt different. Like more, and in a way that didn’t make me want to run.
Priest’s breathing evened out behind me, and I tried to do the same. But despite how exhausted my body was, my mind started running in circles. No matter what happened, I couldn’t fall for my best friend. Not when we’d so carefully established the boundaries around this—whatever this was.
I wasn’t going to risk our friendship. And I wasn’t going to ask Priest to give me something he wasn’t ready to give. He might not ever be ready, and I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on this. Because where there was pressure, there was potential for breaking. Our friendship was the most important thing. I’d prioritize that over my confused feelings any day.
And yet, as his arm tightened around me in sleep, something inside me ached.
19
Priest
“Ugh.” Mal grimaced at his phone, squinting in the dim morning light.
It’d been a few days since we’d finally had sex, and since then, I couldn’t keep my hands off him. It hadn’t lessened my desire at all—if anything, the sex had only made my desire stronger. I wanted to spend every moment I could with him. We didn’t spend every night together—our schedules were too busy for that—but I savored the nights we did. Like last night. Waking up with Mal in my bed, in my cabin, felt almost too good to be true.
“What is it?” I asked. I rolled over onto my belly and swung my arm over Mal’s middle, then pressed my nose into his shoulder. He was flat on