Brave
Page 31

Oh, no.
Ren made this sound in the back of his throat that curled my toes and turned my blood into molten lava. The hand at the back of my head tightened and his other dropped, his arm circling my waist, sealing our hips together. The kiss deepened and the first touch of his tongue against mine was like striking a match to gasoline.
Ren pushed in, trapping me between his body and the pool wall. I tilted my head as the hand at my hip slid down my thigh. He lifted my leg, curving it around his waist, and I moaned into the kiss.
With him wearing nothing but boxer briefs and me in thin leggings, it almost felt as if there was nothing between us. Almost. I could feel his hard length against my core, and when he pushed his hips in, I thought I might have an orgasm right then.
My body reacted without thought. I wasn’t thinking about us fighting, about how I’d changed, or what the Prince had done to me. There was no room for that. We were kissing like we’d been in a drought and we had just been given water. Each time I rolled my hips, he answered and gave it back. Our bodies were moving, stirring the water, and our hands were exploring, slipping over wet skin. His were under my shirt, skimming over my ribs and up and up until my heart was slamming in my chest.
Then Ren stopped.
Breaking the kiss, he placed his forehead against mine as he dragged in deep breaths. His hand splayed across my cheek now. “Maybe . . . maybe we should slow it down?” His warm breath danced over my lips. “I want to make sure you’re ready for this.”
My heart squeezed in my chest in the most wonderful way. I touched his jaw as I opened my eyes, seeking out his gaze. I found it. “I’m ready. More than ready, and I . . . I don’t want to wait.”
Ren growled something that sounded a lot like ‘thank God’ and then he kissed me again. Our hands fumbled in the water. I managed to slip him free, and somehow he got my soaking leggings down below my knees. It was a slippery job, and we were both laughing, because holy crap, wet leggings were not easy to work with, but then the laughter died.
Ren’s gaze held mine with an all-consuming intensity as he lifted me up just enough until I felt him between my thighs. Then his lips moved over mine and along my jaw as I felt his hand against me. One finger and I nearly went off like a firecracker.
“God,” I gasped against his mouth as I clutched his arm.
He worked his hand, pressing his palm right against the most sensitive spot. He added another finger, and we both groaned out loud. It was too much, and when he hooked that finger deep inside me, the first orgasm hit me so hard I dropped my head to his shoulder to smother my cry.
“I’ve missed you.” His voice was husky and ragged. “Fuck, I’ve missed you so much.”
Raw emotion swelled as my body shook. He kissed his way down my throat, coaxing my head back. “I missed you,” I said. “I’ve missed all of this.”
“Not anymore,” he promised. “Never again.”
Then he was inside me, in the way I wanted, always wanted. At first it was a shock. Ren was not small and I couldn’t spread my legs with leggings down at my knees, and for some reason that made it all so much more . . . wow. The friction, the tightness was incredible.
He started moving, one hand clamped around the back of my neck, his other arm wrapped around my waist as he pumped into me—one deep, long thrust after another.
What we were doing, knowing we could be caught at any moment, was crazy but that didn’t stop us. It was just us, our bodies moving together until it became frenzied, sending the water lapping over the side.
“Hell, Sweetness,” he groaned, and I felt it building inside me all over, that terrible tension, a mess of longing and lust.
He launched us backward, and then the rough cement was digging into my back as he pressed into me as far as he could go, grinding against me until he pushed me to the edge of bliss again and then threw me right over it. I came, crying out as he buried his head in my neck, thrusting once and then twice before he followed me right over the edge, my name a harsh burst of air at that oddly sensitive spot below my pulse.
I was limp in his arms, my cheek slipping to his chest, vaguely aware of him pulling out and lowering me so my feet hit the bottom of the pool. He didn’t pull away though, still holding me tight to him.
His breathing slowed as he dropped his chin to the top of my head. For a little while, we stayed like that, neither of us talking. It was just us and the rippling of the water.
It was Ren who broke the silence. His hand tightened around the back of my neck. “Are we okay?”
For the first time in days, I didn’t have to think about how to answer that question. I knew the answer immediately. “We’re going to be.”
Chapter 18
Having non-feeding related sex didn’t fix all the problems we had and were facing, but it sure as hell chilled me out enough to be able to talk about them.
“I don’t know how to do relationships,” I admitted from where my cheek was plastered to Ren’s chest. After the pool, we’d come back to our room and changed into dry clothes. Well, mostly. Ren threw on a pair of sweats and I’d stolen one of his shirts. It was long enough to cover all the interesting parts. Then we hit the bed, him on his back and me on my side, pressed up against him. His arm was curled around my waist, his hand resting on my hip. “I mean, I think I used to. I did with Shaun. I guess I just forgot how.”
“I don’t think there’s one way to do relationships.” His hand was still, but his thumb moved in a slow, continuous sweeping motion. “And you know what I think?”
“What?”
Ren shifted onto his side, and the next thing I knew, we were face to face. “We’ve got to cut ourselves a break.”
My gaze wandered over his face. “I like the sound of that.”
His lips quirked up on one side as he dragged his hand up my side. “Seriously though. Both of us have been through some shit. We’re both getting over that. We’re not going to be perfect.”
Folding my hands between us, I smiled a little. “You’re pretty close to perfect.”
He caught the edges of my hair and tugged on a curl, pulling it straight. “No, I’m not. I should’ve kept my mouth shut this morning.” He let go of the curl, watching it bounce back. “You have every right to be pissed over that.”
Yeah, I did. “And you have every right to be pissed at me for trying to bail on you guys.”
“True.” His grin spread as he touched a finger to my cheek. “Look at us, agreeing on something.”
“So, you’re not going to flip out when I get up in the morning and get ready to go find Marlon?”
“No.” He let out a sigh. “It’s not going to be easy, but I’ll deal with it.”
“Good.”
He trailed his finger along my cheekbone. “And you’re going to keep talking to me, right? Especially when you feel like you don’t know who you are anymore? You’re going to let me help remind you, right?”
Tears immediately blurred my vision. Ren saw them, because his hand stilled with his thumb just below my lip.
“Right?” he persisted.
“Right,” I rasped, choked up.
Lowering his hand, he skated his thumb over my lip. “Promise me that, Ivy.”
I swallowed down the sudden knot in my throat. “I promise.”
He leaned in, his lips replacing his thumb, kissing me softly. When he pulled back, his gaze was a little less heavy. “When we were in the pool and you were letting me make your dreams come true—”
“Wow.”
He smiled broadly then, and my heart skipped a beat. There was one of those dimples! And I bet if I could see his whole face, both would be out in all their glory. “How were you feeling? Besides being blissed out of your mind?”
I rolled my eyes. “I felt . . . normal. Like I wasn’t thinking about . . .” Heat crept into my cheeks, but I didn’t allow myself to shut down. “I wasn’t thinking about him or anything like that.”
If Ren had been worried about that, he didn’t show it. “And what about the whole sucking out my essence thing?”
The warmth in my cheeks deepened, but I pushed through the uncomfortableness. “I didn’t want to feed. It never crossed my mind.”