with my leg around his waist as my orgasm crashed through me. I came over Priest’s hand, over my chest, and he jerked me through it until I was shivering with exquisite overstimulation.
“Fucking hell,” Priest groaned. “You’re so gorgeous when you come. And so fucking tight.”
He mouthed a kiss at my neck as he grabbed my thigh again, tilting my hips up as he pounded into me faster, chasing his own release. It was right on the edge of too much, but it still felt good, intense and delicious as he fucked into me. I sank back into the mattress, pliant beneath him, and ran my hands up and down his back.
“Come on,” I murmured into his ear. “Come inside me.”
“Mal,” Priest groaned, and pressed so deep inside me it made me gasp again, and then came. He shuddered through it, cock throbbing inside me.
Then with a heaving sigh, he collapsed onto me. The sudden weight made me exhale, surprised, and then I wrapped my arms around him. We stayed like that for a long few moments, wrapped up in each other, Priest still inside me. Finally, with a heaving groan, Priest lifted up and pulled out. I cringed a little at the sensation, and he kissed the expression off my face.
“Don’t move,” he said. “I’ll clean us up.”
He got to his feet and padded into the bathroom.
Then I was alone in the center of his big bed, still dizzy and flushed from the aftershocks of my orgasm.
It’d been so good. Impossibly good.
And we hadn’t fucked like friends messing around. Face to face like that, wrapped around him… It was impossible to call it just sex this time. Just fucking. Just blowing off some steam. It was undeniably more than that.
Or at least it was for me.
Maybe it wasn’t for Priest. There was no way to know. The way he treated me—it felt big. Important. Something that could be life-changing. But it couldn’t be. We were taking care of each other, because we were friends. If Priest felt differently, he’d speak up about it, let me know, and it wasn’t my business to push. The club relied on us too much to disrupt the status quo in such a huge way.
We’d decided to take things one day at a time, with no pressure, no expectations, and… I didn’t know what this meant. But it felt scary. Like soon, it might hurt.
Priest emerged from the bathroom with a washcloth, clearly intending to clean me up again, but this time, I didn’t think I could handle the tenderness. Not with this new, almost-painful knowledge twisting in my chest. Before he could climb onto the bed, I stood up and took the washcloth from his hand.
“Thanks,” I said. “Just a sec.”
“Sure,” Priest said a little confusedly. He was just as surprised as I was that my legs worked.
I slipped into the bathroom and shut the door behind me. Then I braced both hands on the edge of the counter and took a deep breath, with my head bowed so I couldn’t see my own kiss-swollen lips or the fresh hickeys on my neck and shoulder.
But I couldn’t deny it. I couldn’t play off this feeling like it was just the years of friendship between us.
I loved him.
And that thought terrified me. I could handle whatever Xavier had to throw at me, but this feeling… this I didn’t know what to do with. All I knew was that I couldn’t tell Priest. I’d promised I wouldn’t ask him for anything serious—not when he was still grieving his husband. And I intended to keep that promise, no matter how much it hurt.
I cleaned up, rinsed my face, and then slid back into bed. Priest hummed happily and tugged me into his arms, slotting his chest against my back like it was the most natural thing in the world. “You okay?” he murmured into my nape.
“Yeah,” I said. “Good night.”
Priest inhaled and his grip tightened on me minutely, like he was about to say something. But he just sighed out the breath and murmured a goodnight as well.
Despite how exhausted I was, sleep wouldn’t come. The realization was twisting me up in knots, and being in Priest’s arms, knowing I shouldn’t feel this way, knowing I couldn’t have him the way I wanted, was too much to bear. I waited until his breaths evened out, and then slid out of his grasp. I dressed quickly and quietly. I just needed some fresh air. Needed some time