She cups my balls, squeezing gently and causing lightning to shoot up my spine. Then her gaze sharpens, and her nails prick my sensitive skin. The command is clear enough: eyes on her.

“Enjoying yourself, baby girl?” I murmur.

Eve hums a little and resumes fucking me with her mouth, slow slides with a hint of teeth. She knows exactly what I like, and she gives it to me with everything she’s got. I’m too big for her to take fully, but that only adds to the experience—especially when she uses her hands to make up the difference.

I want this to last forever.

Unfortunately, my body has other ideas. I can’t stop myself from thrusting into her mouth, just a little. She gags and hums again, shifting her grip to my hips, urging me to move, to do it again.

I curse. “Going to come if you don’t slow down.”

She doesn’t slow down. Of course she doesn’t. I thrust again, meeting her mouth, making her gag and tears trail from her eyes even as she keeps it up. I fight to not fist my hands in her hair, to not do anything to hurt her, even a little, and then I’m orgasming, grinding against her lips and teeth as I come down her throat.

Eve keeps sucking me until I pull her off my cock. “Fuck, baby girl.” My knees feel like they’ve turned to liquid. I manage not to collapse, but only barely, as I sink to kneel in front of her.

She licks her lips, looking particularly pleased with herself. “I missed that. A lot.”

“Me too.” I cup her cheeks, use my thumbs to wipe away her tears, and then kiss her. Tasting myself on her tongue is overwhelming. I want this to mean something. I want her to promise things I have no business asking her to promise.

It takes a few moments to get my strength back, and then I tug Eve to her feet. “Come here.” I pull her shirt off, and she seems to realize what I need, because she doesn’t try to help me. She simply lets me undress her, and I trail kisses across her body as I do.

Part of me wants to take her to bed right here and now, but it’s like she was made for this place, the carefully cultivated greenery thick around us, the cobblestones of the pathway beneath my knees. No wonder the castle brought her to this space specifically. No wonder she’s obviously been spending so much time here.

I lift her easily and set her on the table. “Show me.”

Eve understands immediately what I mean. As I take a step back, she spreads her thighs and skates a hand down her stomach to part her folds. She’s so wet, she’s dripping all over the table. Her color is high, and her smile is impish. “Like what you see, Daddy?”

I go to my knees once more, enjoying the bite of stone against them. “I see a godsdamned mess. Better clean you up.” I part her pussy and drag my tongue up her center. She tastes so good. She always tastes so fucking amazing.

“Oh, fuck.” Eve wraps her hands around my horns, letting her head fall back and eyes close. “I’m never going to get enough of your mouth.” She moans. “Daddy, please.”

I’m out of patience. There’s never enough time. There wasn’t before, when I was pretending to be human and measuring my time with her in hours. There isn’t now, when I continue to constantly misstep around her. I want forever with this woman, the frenzied fucking and the lazy lovemaking, but I know better than to say as much.

I impatiently push a finger into her, and then two. “Don’t want to hurt you,” I mutter against her pussy.

“Azazel.” She jerks my horns. “If you hurt me, you can kiss me better later.”

I stand and grab her hips to pull her off the table, then spin her around to bend her over it. I stroke a rough hand down her spine. “Spread for me, baby girl.”

She obeys immediately, moaning when I palm her pussy and resume fucking her with my fingers. She’s ready enough that I won’t harm her, but only barely. Eve rocks back onto my fingers. “Fuck me. Now!”

The table isn’t tall enough to get her where I need her, so I lift her hips, taking her feet clean off the floor, and push into her. I have to work to get the head of my cock past her entrance. I pause, breathing hard. “You’re still too fucking tight.”

Eve wriggles her hips, though she has no leverage to do anything at all. “Then do something about it, Daddy.”

I work my way into her in short strokes. Her body gives way to mine a little at a time, her wetness making everything smoother. My earlier orgasm grants me a little more control this time, but watching her ass jiggle threatens to undo me. “You take me so sweetly.”

Eve pants and shakes. “Fuck me, Daddy.”

“Eve.” I lean down and nip her shoulder as I press all the way into her. “So fucking greedy.”

“Yes,” she moans. “You feel so good.”

I’m rapidly losing the ability to speak. Good doesn’t begin to cover it. This is bliss. This is beyond comprehension. This is love.

“Don’t stop.” Her head falls forward, baring the back of her neck.

I kiss her there as I fuck her slowly, withdrawing almost completely and then thrusting forward again. “I won’t stop. Not until you’re coming for me.” It takes me a few tries to find the exact angle that makes her whimper and shriek, but once I do, I don’t let up. I want to feel my woman come around my cock. She may hate me in the morning, might hate me right fucking now, but she’s begging me not to stop, so I’ll be damned if I don’t give her exactly what she needs.

And then she’s orgasming, her pussy pulsing around my cock and dragging me right over the edge with her. I grind into her as I finish. Gods, I love this woman. Even in this moment, I know better than to say it, but the emotion rolls over me, so strong that I could weep from it.

Things are a bit of a blur after that. I carry Eve into my room, somehow manage a shower, and then we collapse in bed. I think that might be it for the night, but she turns in my arms and kisses my throat. “Azazel?”

I’m instantly hard at the needy tone in her voice. “Yeah, baby?”

She rubs my cock with the heel of her palm. “You promised to kiss me better if I was sore.”

Fuck, the things she does to me with that bratty tone of voice. “You’re tired,” I murmur as I reach behind me for the balm. “You should be asleep.”

“You’re right.” She squeezes just beneath the head of my cock. “I know just the thing to get me there.”

I want to be able to simply enjoy this or even to pretend that this is how it could always be with me and Eve. Her in my bed. Sex and jokes and conversations and us. I know better.

Nothing has changed for her. She’s been honest with me from the start, her anger completely understandable. She may very well not forgive me. But if this is all she’ll allow me to give her, then this is exactly what I’ll do. I tug her leg up over my hip. After dipping my finger into the balm, I press it into her. “How’s this to start?”

She shivers in my arms. “Pretty solid. But I have a better idea.”

Eve pushes on my shoulders, and I allow her to guide me onto my back. She nabs the balm and smears a generous amount on my cock. I freeze. “Eve, that’s not how it’s meant to be used.” I have nothing to heal, but that doesn’t stop the balm from trying. A tingling radiates through my cock, making me hard enough that it’s painful. Fuck.

“I know.” She grins. “But can’t hurt to try.” She tugs me up to sit and grinds against my length. “Unless you want me to stop?”

“You know I don’t.”

“Thought not.” She positions my cock at her entrance and sinks onto me. It’s easier this time, though she still has to work for it, wedging me deeper and deeper until I’m sheathed to the hilt. Eve’s eyes flutter closed. “I was right. Your cock really is ruinous.”

It’s so damned hard to focus with her clenched tight around me. “Do you need to⁠—”

She keeps talking right over me. “How am I supposed to fuck other people when I’ve had you like this, Daddy? How am I supposed to want to?” There’s something in her tone, something soft and sweet and aching.