“Oh,” I gasp suddenly as he touches me perfectly. “Right there. Right there. Oh my God.”

I cry out loudly when I start to shake with my orgasm, and the rush of slickness between us has the sound of his skin slapping against mine sounding downright filthy. I throw my head back, oblivious to anything and everything except the feeling of his cock sliding along my sensitive inner walls. Distantly, I can hear Hunter let go also, and I close my eyes when his knot starts to swell, feeling it press against my insides tighter and tighter until he can barely move, until he’s forced to slow. Even then, he continues to rock his hips in tiny thrusts—like he simply can’t bear to stop.

I don’t know how long we stay like that—clinging to each other and trapped in our current position—but when the pounding of my heart finally slows, when I can finally let my eyes flutter open, I find Hunter watching me through hooded eyes, his expression awestruck.

“Are you…okay?”

I blink slowly, trying to make sense of the question, and when I do, a laugh burbles out of me. “Am I okay? I’m fucking fabulous. I mean, I feel like Jell-O, but I’m great.”

“I didn’t…hurt you, did I?”

“Not at all,” I assure him, tucking my head against his shoulder. “That was perfect.”

His fingers comb through my hair, and I hear him slowly inhale at my temple, hear the soft sigh that follows.

“You were perfect,” he says quietly.

My mouth curves into a smile. “I was?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“So were you,” I assure him.

He moves to situate himself, the action making his knot jostle inside me, forcing a soft whimper out of me.

“Oh.”

“It’ll pass,” he assures me. “In a little while.”

And instead of feeling put out by the fact that I’ll be here for the foreseeable future, I feel oddly morose that it won’t be longer. I know it’s probably simply the hormones, but something deep in my brain mourns the fact that we can’t stay like this forever, as silly as the thought is.

“But this will happen again?” I ask, trying to sound curious and not desperate.

He nods against my hair. “It will. For a couple of days, most likely. I can’t be sure since your cycles are so irregular.”

I don’t want to think about what that might mean for when my brothers return or when we’re forced to go back to the real world, so I choose to live only in this moment. It’s a really nice moment, after all.

I can’t help but shudder with pleasure as I remember the intensity in Hunter’s eyes when he fucked me, when he uttered dark promises of owning me, and I let them replay over and over in my head as his hand starts to rub soothing circles against my back. I hold him close and wonder what it means—how much I liked hearing it, how much I want to hear him say it again.

The things I’m feeling right now could be just hormones, just some product of biology—but I feel them just the same. And what does that mean for us? Can I really let him take care of me like this, knowing what I do about him? What will happen when this is over? When we’re forced to return to reality? Will I still feel this way? Will he? The uncertainty of it all has my stomach twisting into knots. Because given that this is temporary, given that we’re only supposed to be “friends who help each other”…I have no way of knowing what all this means.

If Hunter’s contemplative silence as he touches me is any indication…I have a feeling he doesn’t either.

It’s been twenty-four hours since her heat hit her fully, and Tess is still just as needy. Not that I mind. I’m realizing, much to my surprise, that I like her this way. In fact…I might like it a little too much.

“Look at you,” I croon. “Making a mess of the blankets. So messy.”

She bites her lip. “I’m sorry, I—”

“No,” I say with a shake of my head. “I want more. I want you to make a mess of me.”

I’ve never been as hard as I am for Tess right now. It’s like my cock knows. It knows what’s coming. It’s almost painful, how hard I am for her. That voice inside me that seems to be running the show screams for me to take her, to bury myself inside her—but not yet. Her scent has been waning the last few hours. Not significantly, but enough to let me know this won’t last as long as I thought it would. And I want to savor her a little more first.

I reach to curl my arms beneath hers, pulling her against me and rolling so I can drape her across my abdomen. She’s moving—tiny shifts of her hips as her slickness drenches my skin—and fuck, I need more of that.

I press two fingers to my lips, looking up at her. “This is where I want you. Come here.”

“Please,” she says pouting. “I need—”

“I know what you need. Come here.”

She is hesitant as she moves up my chest, a trail of slickness left in her wake, and I’d be happy to let it cover my entire body. When her thighs are around my head, I pull her close, my hands gripping at the rounded curves of her ass until the wet center of her pussy is just where I want it.

Fuck.

I could live like this. Survive on her alone. Breathing her in. Tasting her. I can see everything from this angle, the way her slickness trails out of her at a steady pace, the way her pussy clenches at nothing.

Soon. Soon I will give her more than enough to fill it.

I tease at her entrance, enjoying the way she watches me as I do so. I like the way her lashes flutter when I push a finger inside her, wetting it, slowly pumping it in and out until her breath catches.

“Lean back,” I urge. “Put your hands on my stomach.”

She does so without question, and her obedience speaks to something inside me that I haven’t allowed myself to touch for a very long time. I’d almost forgotten it, it’s been so long.

“That’s my good girl. I want you to brace yourself. Don’t let go.”

“Hunter.”

“I know, I know. I’m going to take care of you. Just take the edge off a little.” I curl my fingers around her hips, gripping the soft swell and tugging her even closer so I can lick a long stripe up her center. I hum against her slick core, loving the way it forces a gasp out of her. “You made such a mess, after all.” I let my tongue linger at her opening, teasing her there. “All over the tent. So wet for me.”

“Hunter, please.”

I feel her hands slip a little along my stomach, and I turn my head to nip at her inner thigh with my teeth. “I said brace yourself, Tess. If you let go, I stop. Understand?”

“I understand,” she says with a fervent nod. “I’ll be good.”

Fuck, I love the edge in her voice. Breathy. Soft. Desperate. I want her that way.

I want her out of her mind.

My chest is so wet now that she slides against me, and I have to physically hold her to my mouth to keep her from falling away. I love it. Love being so coated in her that I’m not sure if it will ever wash off. I imagine still being able to scent her on my skin tomorrow, keeping her with me. And I want that. I want to take her again tomorrow, and the next day. I want to knot her for days.

But first things first.

She rolls her hips over my face when my tongue meets her pussy again, and I pull her even closer until the only thing I can breathe in is her. I lick through her drenched folds and pull her clit between my lips to suck as I let my tongue swirl over it. Her slick continues to stream out of her, coating my chin and more, even as I drink her in from the source.

Her pussy clenches around my tongue as I slide it into her, and if I could, I would crawl inside her fully. Her flavor is enough to drive me mad—I don’t think I’ve ever tasted anything as sweet as Tess.