Page 166 of Harbinger

I tilt my head back, savoring this final moment of anticipation. Above us, through the haze of steam, the constellations burn in the darkness like silent witnesses, as if the night itself has been expecting this moment to unfold.

I don’t know what waits for us on the other side of this.

Hopefully, a wall. A bed. Any and all flat surfaces.

But it scares me how much I want him.

How alive I feel in his arms. How he makes me feel safe even as he slowly unravels me.

His mouth burrows against my neck, sucking at my skin like he’ll let me take all the time I need.

Every muscle in my body tenses, coiling with my own need. For weeks, I’ve fought this pull between us. But there’s nowhere left to hide. I hinge my hips an inch, the water shifting around us. He accepts the invitation without hesitation, adjusting his grip to rock my clit against his crown, my own hand pressing it dangerously close as he drags me along his shaft. Over and over until my entire reality is centered on where our bodies meet and the sweet, torturous need he’s stoking.

“If you aren’t ready …” His words grate out, scraped from the last of his control. “If it’s too much …”

“More,” I breathe. “All of you.”

He presses his forehead to mine. “Void take me,” he growls, his grip on my ass tightening. “I need my cock inside you.”

He’s finally issued a demand I’m willing to meet.

“Then take me,” I whisper. “Stop holding back.”

His hands dig into my hips for a beat, and I whimper, my body betraying the longing I’ve kept secret from both of us.

I’ve never wanted anyone like this. Like I’ll die if he stops touching me. Every inch of me is desperate for him to lose control.

“Please,” I beg.

That does it.

Bishop surges up, wrapping his arms under me as he hauls us out of the water. His fingers sink into the soft curves of my ass harder this time. Enough that my flesh smarts in delicious agony. I hook my arms around his neck, a hiss of approval escaping my lips. His eyes flare at the sound, and something in them snaps.

He slams into me with one swift thrust, all that self-discipline gone in an instant.

Thank the fucking Stars.

A snarl rips from his chest as he sheathes himself fully. He grasps my hips, pumping inside me until I’m panting. I cling to him, eyes closed, dazed as Bishop unleashes his primal side. The pool swells violently around us, water rippling and spilling over its tiled lip—sweeping away the last of my own restraint with it.

“More,” I demand. And I mean it.

More of him. More of the way he’s undoing me one stroke at a time.

I can’t remember why I’ve spent so long denying this. He’s past every wall I’ve built now. There’s nothing left to guard.

Bishop plunges inside me tirelessly, over and over, each stroke harder and deeper than the last, drawing more moans from my lips.

My eyes flutter open, breath stalling when I find him staring back, his blue eyes wild and that iron control utterly obliterated. His cock drives into me relentlessly, determination clenching his jaw tighter with every stroke as if he can’t rest until he urges every last mewl of pleasure from my lips. For a few stolen heartbeats, there is no future and no past. Just heat and breath and release.

“That’s it. Come for me,” he grunts, urging me to the edge. I go over it willingly, shattering in his arms.

Falling apart in a way I only can with him.

Bishop captures my mouth like he needs to taste my climax, like he can’t bear to accept anything less than claiming every part of me. He coaxes me through it, his own body tensing as I clamp around his cock. He drives deeper, harder until he groans into my mouth and buries himself to the hilt and spills inside me.

And when our breath settles at last, he presses a final kiss to my lips. “I’ve got you.” It sounds different this time, and my heart stutters. “I always will.”

His certainty finds places I haven’t fortified yet, and suddenly I’m acutely aware of everything I’ll never forgive myself for. Blood in the dirt and last breaths and the quiet, terrible knowledge that my survival always comes with a cost.