Chapter Four

It was the first time the ship had ever felt too small. Matt led her into the forward berth immediately after their meal was finished and proceeded to shock the hell out of her.

He lay stretched out on the mattress, his chest bare. The weather was warm enough that all he wore was a pair of knee-length khaki shorts. She sat on the edge of the mattress, letting her appreciative gaze roam his body.

He returned her admiration, his fingers trailing down the side of her cheek, trickling over her collarbone. The brushing tease lit a warmth deep inside. His voice when he spoke was lower than usual, not quiet as if to avoid Kallen overhearing, but husky and needy, like he was a second away from jumping her. “You were brave to try to cure Kallen earlier.”

“Brave? Matt, he’s a friend. If I can help, I want to.”

“What if it takes a lot of energy to heal him?” Matt warned. “Are you prepared for that?”

Laurin leaned back on one elbow. “Is that why we couldn’t do it before? I’m not strong enough?”

He shook his head as he tugged her closer, rolling onto his back with her draped on top. She lay uneasily, intensely aware that on the other side of the door, Kallen remained at the table looking over a pile of magazines. While they had eaten, Matt had asked him to stay for the night, and although she was happy to have a little longer with Kallen around, being in the bedroom with Matt right now seemed somehow…dirty.

“You’re strong enough. It comes down to the method of releasing the magic.”

Hope rose inside. “Really? Can you teach me how to do it the right way?”

He stroked her hair back from her face, tenderness in his touch. “Why are you so eager to cure him? He’s the brother of someone who scared you to death the last time you met.”

“Kallen isn’t like his brother. He’s a good man, Matt. I didn’t spend a ton of time with him, but what I did, and the stories I’ve heard, made me admire him.”

Matt’s eyes darkened, changing from the bright blue of the ocean under the endless summer sky to a storm-tossed sea, fraught with potential violence as it headed unstoppable toward shore. “Then we’ll cure him. As soon as you’re sure.”

She pressed up, ready to head back into the galley. “I’m sure. What do we need to do?”

His arms pinned her in place. “Join our magic. Through you.”

Laurin froze. “Excuse me?”

Matt didn’t allow her to retreat. In fact, he rolled again and trapped her under his body, hand cradling her face. “I’m going to tell you simply. The magic is built in layers, and this Kilade of yours has found a curse from the mountain people powerful enough to steal his brother’s voice. But he mixed it with a curse from the sea, and that means neither of our people can cure Kallen alone. We have to be completely united to cause any effect.”

“We are united, aren’t we? Don’t you want to heal him?”

“It’s not enough, Laurin. Want is one thing, but power is another.” He stared at her, the centers of his eyes dilating. “Remember the fertility ritual we witnessed? Remember the woman at the center of the celebration and how she took both men into her body? That’s what a cure will take, Laurin. The magic of the sea poured through you into Kallen.”

He waited. Her pulse had increased the entire time he spoke as the images from the ceremony returned to her—sensual and erotic. It had been one of the most incredible nights of her life, but she still couldn’t think back on it without blushing.

This time she pictured herself as the center of attention instead of the woman. Two sets of hands on her body. Matt’s familiar and heart-pounding touch. Kallen’s firm body pressed to hers, exploring and caressing for the first time. Both of them, working together to bring her to ecstasy.

Her mouth instantly went dry.

“You want me to have sex with Kallen?”

Matt swooped in and took her lips like a wild animal denied food for weeks. He ravished her mouth, thrusting with his tongue and settling his body on hers so she felt his hardened shaft against her stomach. His touch moved everywhere, driving up her desire without a conscious thought. The gentle caresses of moments before vanished as he took ownership of her. Pulled a response from her, made her entire body ache for him to fill her sex with the full length of his cock and drive the madness of his words away.

The drag of his teeth down her neck made her cry out. Pain, followed by unspeakable pleasure hit as he shoved up her T-shirt and bit her nipple through her bra. He crawled over her, arranging her limbs where he wanted them, biting and licking, pinching and sucking until the room spun and she gasped for air.

“Matt, oh my…” He ripped off her clothes and raised her hips in the air and thrust his tongue into her body, nipping at her clit, laving her sex until a climax exploded from her. She bit the back of her hand, striving to muffle the calls escaping as her body shook with release.

Matt snatched up her hands and restrained them over her head, wrists pinned together in his strong grasp. It left his other hand free, and he caught her chin, turning her face toward his. He spoke softly, but clear, loud enough that if Kallen was listening, there would be no doubt that he could overhear.

“Do I want you to have sex with another man? There’s a part inside me that says no. Never. I want you to be mine, and mine alone.” His gaze dropped over her body, lust filled, possessive. “Your breasts are mine to enjoy and admire. To bite and suck until you squirm under me and beg for me to give you more. Your lips are mine. To kiss softly like a gentle wave, or to take like a winter’s storm until they throb from my touch.” He traced her mouth with his finger. “Your mouth is mine—not only to kiss, but to press my cock into, filling you intimately, letting you pleasure me until I can’t stand it any longer and spill my seed.”

Laurin shivered, arching up hard as he stroked his fingers down her body, caressing one moment, scratching his nails over her sensitive skin the next.

“I love to give you pleasure like that,” she confessed. Whispered, only for his ears.

He grinned at her, a wild look in his eyes. “Your sex is mine. The taste of your cream, the squeeze of your muscles. The gasps that escape from your throat when I work my way in—all mine, and I don’t ever want another to experience what you share with me.”

He touched her, fingers circling her labia. She was soaking wet from simply listening to him. When he slipped a finger into her depths, she breathed out a sigh. Matt thrust slowly, one more finger added. He twisted his hand and the spiraling motion hit something inside that made her gasp. Even as his hand moved, he had leaned forward and now stared into her eyes.

“That’s the one part of me. But there’s another part…”

He kissed across her cheek, butterfly soft. The illusion of a touch. Laurin attempted to clasp him, but he had her locked in place, hands still frozen to the mattress above her head.

“Another part of me longs to see you in the throes of a climax and be able to watch your face from a distance. I want to feel your pleasure increase exponentially as not only one pair of lips suckle your breasts, but two.”

His hand moved relentlessly. As he spoke, he stretched up her arms a little farther, pressing her breasts upward.

“I want to see another man admire you, but only if in the end I know that no matter how good he makes you feel, how much pleasure you receive from him, that it’s me you love and want forever.”

She teetered on the brink, needing just a little more. “Matt, please.”

“Please, what? Shall I open the door and let Kallen watch? Would you like—?”

“No!” Even the thought made her shake.

He rose over her, his fingers slipping from her sex, the hard tip of his cock nudging her folds. He held her in place with his body, wrists still trapped. She was helpless, controlled, and yet there was no fear but an overwhelming sense of urgency inside her demanding she satisfy his need.

Whatever he required at this moment, she was willing to give. All the time they’d spent together, all the conversations and quiet evenings, all the wild moments in bed and more unusual places, meshed together into a tapestry filled with color and sound.

“Take me. Oh God, please, Matt. I’m yours, just take me.”

He thrust and she screamed out, his hard length splitting her in two, and she’d never been so filled before. Her heart pounded, her breasts ached. It was as if everything he’d mentioned was there, available. The sensation of his mouth at her breasts—but not enough. His cock thrusting in again and again—and yet somehow she was empty. He slid over her, skin on skin, lowering his mouth to hers, and she kissed him eagerly, offering her lips, her tongue.

Herself.

Her cries of pleasure grew louder, and still he didn’t stop. He released her wrists, growling as he spoke. “Keep them there.”

She clutched her fingers together and clung to the sheets, wanting to obey, fighting the dire need to hold him tight.

He reached down and lifted her hips into the air and thrust even harder, and she called out his name, waves pulsing through her as her orgasm rocked her. Matt slowed, sweat trickling down his brow, his eyes glittering as he let his gaze roam over her. A series of aftershocks shook her as he lowered her to the mattress, his hard length still buried within her sheath. His body shook as if he fought for control before he withdrew without reaching his own climax.

She struggled to catch her breath. That had been the most unusual and wild lovemaking session yet, except for the fertility ritual she’d witnessed. Even thinking the words brought the images back, and when she felt a touch between her ass cheeks, she tensed.

Matt stared at her. “Even here, Laurin. I want this to belong to me as well. I want every part of you to know my touch and feel my possession.” He pressed in a circle against her, wetness on his finger. She shuddered and would have closed her eyes, but he shook his head. “Watch my face. Witness how much this means to me.”

He slid a digit in, opening the tight muscle, and she struggled to relax. Matt worked his finger in and out slowly, the sensation strange, but not unwelcome. The rest of her still buzzed from her climax, and when he leaned over and touched his tongue to her clit, her head nearly hit the ceiling.

“Too much. No, no more. I can’t…”

“You can. Accept the pleasure I give you. Take me—into your body, and your heart.”

She was going to die from an overdose of ecstasy. One touch led to another. He licked her intimately, adding to the fire building in her core. The sight of his head buried between her legs, dark hair against her light limbs, combined with what he was doing, drove her crazy. He wouldn’t stop, not until she fisted a handful of his hair in an attempt to pull him away long enough to smooth out her breath.

He moved like lightning, grabbing a tie-down strap from where it usually secured the cupboard doors. The firm black material was looped around her wrists in an instant, his fingers slipping along her wrist.

“Matt, what are you doing?” Each word took extraordinary effort to say, desire wrapping her in a tight cocoon of need and want she feared might never get answered.

He paused after slowly tugging on her wrists as he looped the free end of the strap through a wall bracket. Matt swallowed hard, rasping out the words. “Tell me again. Tell me to take you. That you’re mine, any way I want.”

She wiggled, brushing his naked body with hers the best she could, and his eyelids fluttered, face tightening. On the other side of the door, Kallen still sat, unless he’d escaped to the deck of the ship. He would have heard every one of her cries, could probably imagine what they were doing, and the thought didn’t embarrass her, but made her hot. Heat poured from Matt, his hunger for her clear. But over his desire, the powerful need for her to surrender to him was obvious.

Did she want this? She tugged on the straps securing her wrists, and the flash of desire in her core nearly tipped her over the edge into another orgasm.

“Anything. Everything. I’m yours.”

Relief filled his eyes briefly before being washed away with lust. Something cool and wet touched her. His finger pressed into her ass again, easier this time. Smooth and slick. Somewhere he’d found lubricant, and when the stretching touch on her back passage grew she gasped.

Flat on her back she could see his every move. He adjusted her position, pressed her limbs higher, knees wide to the side. With her arms trapped overhead, there was nothing she could do but comply and allow him control.

And watch. Examine every nuance of expression that flitted over his face. Every word that escaped his lips fell clearly on her ears. Words of love and desire, and possessiveness. She shivered and he caught her gaze with his own.

“You’re mine.”

The tip of his cock touched her body. Pressure increased and she consciously relaxed, drawing strength from the look of love in his eyes. Heat, pain, something between the two streaked through as he opened her. It was strange and wonderful, and she couldn’t remain silent another second. She called out his name, her voice echoing against the walls of the small room. There was nowhere on the ship that wouldn’t have heard her, and she was glad.

She wanted Kallen to know that here, now, Matt was loving her so completely she could no longer restrain herself. The sensation of Matt filling her body grew in pleasure as he worked his way in. One slight rock after another, each one touching her in new places, not just in her body, but her soul. She’d given to Matt before. Offered her body, but this—far more intimate, far more complete.

And the pleasure? “Oh my God, how can this feel so good?”

His groin met her ass and she shuddered. He leaned forward and suddenly her hands were free.

His eyes—incredible. The light in them dazzled her. “We belong together. In all ways. At all times.”

He dragged his hips back slowly. A series of ecstatic shocks spread through her lower limbs. It wasn’t just where they connected that felt the pleasure. Inside her sex, over her breasts. Her entire body was a part of the lovemaking and she needed completion. Needed to have him truly take her. Laurin planted her feet on the mattress, and the next time he pressed in, she moved as well, increasing the pace and the hardness of the thrust.

“Matt…more. Harder.” It wasn’t enough. She was in danger of igniting into a pyre, the lingering embers of passion heating her everywhere. She cupped her breasts, pinched her nipples. Anything to make the moment she craved arrive.

Matt’s grasp on her hips increased, his fingers squeezing the soft flesh as he raised her slightly and drove in. Her breath whooshed out, each plunge into her body priming her closer to the breaking point.

Then he leaned over her, one hand resting on the bed, his cock still buried deep. He slipped his other hand between them and touched her clit, and that was all it took for the sky to meet her. She was flying, her entire body a part of the experience. Pulsing around his shaft, his continued drags as she clutched him serving only to draw out her pleasure beyond what she thought possible. His thumb rubbed her clit, her orgasm washed through her core, making her blood pound, her hands shake, her vision blur.

Matt froze, his groin tight to her skin, his shaft buried deep. Their eyes met and he came, the ecstasy on his face setting off another series of tremors in her body. Heat, pressure. His possession of her complete and oh-so-welcome. His arm where it pressed into the mattress beside her body shook, and she reached up and hauled him down, skin to skin. Like a flash fire, sparks exploded as their bodies connected. She shivered with how good it felt to belong so completely, to have been commanded by him for her own pleasure.

She felt cherished as he wiped her clean. Felt treasured held in his embrace as they cuddled together on the mattress. Their breathing still erratic, still shaken by the extreme satisfaction of their lovemaking.

She closed her eyes and soaked in the experience.

When he tugged her shoulder, rolling her to the side, she went willingly. Oh God, his eyes—his eyes glowed like a lightning storm over the water. He touched his lips to her forehead. Held them there. Spoke against her skin so quietly she had to strain to hear.

“I love you, Laurin.”

The words blessed her ears and stirred something deep, deep within her heart. “I love you too.”