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A fork struck the floor. Marcus swept the plates out of reach, then opened her jeans and pulled them down with her underwear. Delphine braced her hands behind her, bare from the waist down except for her socks, and widened her knees for him.

He knelt between her thighs. Her pussy was already wet, the slickness shining when he opened her with his thumbs. Marcus dragged his tongue over her clit, and Delphine’s fingers closed in his hair.

“Do that again,” she said. The order broke on a gasp when he obeyed. He flattened his tongue against her clit and worked it with steady pressure until her thighs tightened against his shoulders.

Marcus pushed one finger inside her, then added a second when she rocked forward to take more. Her muscles clenched around him while his tongue circled her clit. He learned the rhythm from the movement of her hips and kept it until her grip on his hair became almost painful.

Delphine came with his name in her mouth. Her pussy pulsed around his fingers, and her heels dug into his back as he continued licking her through each contraction. Marcus stopped only when she tugged his hair and told him she had become too sensitive.

He stood between her open thighs. Delphine reached for him, pushed his shirt from his shoulders, and wrapped her hand around his cock. Her thumb spread the wetness at the head before she stroked him from base to tip.

Marcus gripped the table beside her hips. “If you keep doing that, this will end here.”

“Then take me somewhere with a bed.” She tightened her hand once, watching his control fracture. “Unless you would rather clear the dishes first.”

He lifted her before she finished the sentence. Delphine wrapped her legs around his waist and laughed against his mouth as he carried her down the short hall. The sound became a moan when his cock pressed against her bare pussy with every step.

Marcus set her on the bed and stripped off the rest of his clothes. Delphine removed her bra, then lay back against his pillows with her curls spread across the dark fabric. He had seen her naked during treatment, but this was a gift rather than a crisis, and the difference struck him hard enough that he paused.

She reached for him. “Don’t turn me into a memory while I’m right here.” Her fingers closed around his wrist and drew him onto the mattress. “I survived. You kept your promise. Now let me have what I asked for.”

Marcus covered her body with his and kissed her. He held his weight on one forearm while his other hand moved over her breast, her ribs, and the curve of her hip. Delphine stroked his cock between their bodies before guiding the head to her entrance.

He pushed inside her slowly. Her pussy stretched around him, wet and tight, and she breathed through the first deep press until his hips rested against hers. Marcus stayed there, fighting the need to move while she adjusted.

“I’m not made of glass.” Delphine hooked one leg over his hip and pulled him closer, taking the last fraction of his cock. “Fuck me, Marcus.”

He withdrew and drove back into her. The bed struck the wall, and Delphine’s nails bit into his shoulders. Marcus thrust again, harder this time, until the careful doctor she had challenged disappeared beneath the man who had wanted her for far too long.

Her body moved with his. She met every thrust, lifting her hips as his cock drove deep, while her mouth traveled along his throat. Marcus slid one hand between them and pressed his thumb against her clit.

Delphine cried out and arched beneath him. He kept the pressure firm as he fucked her, watching pleasure strip away the last of her control. Her pussy tightened around him, and Marcus had to stop himself from coming before she did.

“Again,” he said against her mouth. His thumb moved faster over her clit until her thighs shook. “Come for me again.”

She gripped the back of his neck and held him close. Her second orgasm hit with a sharp cry, her body clamping around his cock in hard waves. Marcus thrust through them until his own release tore through him, and he came deep inside her.

Marcus kept his face against the curve of her neck for several seconds, aware of her breathing but refusing to measure it. Delphine’s hands traveled down his back with slow, firm strokes.

“That,” she said when she could speak again, “was worth surviving for.” Her mouth curved against his shoulder. “You should put it on the menu.”

Marcus raised his head. “Don’t say that.” His voice cracked before he could stop it. “Survive because your life belongs to you. This is only one of the things you get to do with it.”

Delphine studied him, then touched the line between his brows until he relaxed it. “Fine. This was worth waiting seventeen days for.” She kissed him once. “Better?”

“Marginally.” He eased out of her and brought a warm cloth from the bathroom. Delphine accepted the care without accusing him of practicing medicine, although her smile said the thought had occurred to her. Marcus returned to bed before she could decide to argue.

Afterward, they lay beneath the blanket with her head on his chest and one thigh across his. Marcus rested his hand on her back. Her heartbeat reached him through her ribs, strong enough to feel but easy not to count.

“Dinner again tomorrow?” Delphine asked. Her voice had gone drowsy, and her fingers traced a line across his bare chest. “You can try cooking next time.”

“That seems unnecessarily dangerous.” Marcus drew the blanket higher over her shoulder. “But yes. Dinner tomorrow.”

Chapter 19

Marcus came around the side of the packhouse with his kit in one hand and his white coat on. The late afternoon light lay flat and copper across the yard. Arrow’s sabotage was everywhere.

Artifacts lay half-buried in the dirt. Cursed glass shards scattered near the woodpile, each one hissing when the light caught it. Runes carved into fence posts pulsed a dull red. The yard held the wrongness of magic pushed where it didn’t belong.