Page 66 of A Reckless Indulgence

His chest glows brighter. Her hungry eyes cling to it, one hand lowering to tug on the ties of his shirt. When she molds his bare breast in her palm, he bites his lip to keep from moaning, but there’s no stopping the sound when she teases his nipple until it hardens.

He arches into her. There is no hesitancy in her touch, equally hungry for every part of him, like she would brand her teeth into his breasts and thighs and neck just to remind him who he’s captive to.

He wishes she would. Gods, he wants her so badly, he might burn out of his skin. He wants more of this. He wants it again and again. He doesn’t care how foolish it is.

There is something wild within her, spurring her on, sending her hair spilling over her shoulder. Her mouth scrapes his with a fervor he hasn’t felt before. “You can never come back,” she gasps. Her motions grow stronger along with her voice. “Swear it.”

Nothing comes out of him. He can hardly think with the heat burrowing in his gut. All he can see are her hips rocking, her wet cunt clenching around his scales, her lips parting when she whines. “Say it.”

They can’t stop, frantically spiraling while their desperate desires clash and climb and race toward the peak.

“Swear you’ll never return here,” she grits. “Swear you’ll never even try.”

His teeth clamp together. Of all the things she’s done to him, this is the worst. It doesn’t matter that she’s setting him free. He won’t say it. It’s the one thought he can’t bear. It’s a denial of the only thing he wants.

A furious look sparks in her eyes. “Swear it, pirate!”

It almost sounds like a plea, but Cav knows better. Why would she beg when she could command it? There’s no use fighting. He is helpless to deny her, with or without her song. Mournfully, he breathes out. “I swear.”

She meets him like waves crashing against rocks, overtaking him and dragging him down into his release. Her teeth dig into his lip to hide her sounds. It draws blood to the surface, and all he can do is whimper when she rakes her tongue against it. Lava swells between his scales and leaves a sticky mess between them.

Her head drops to his shoulder. She catches her breath in the crook of his neck, and he has the irresistible urge to hold her, to fit their mouths together, to convince her to keep him here…but darkness seeps in from the rims of his eyes.

Lyx lifts her head like she knows it’s coming. She eases him onto his back and hovers over him. When sleep overtakes him, she fades from his vision and into his dreams.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Lyx

Lyx doesn’t look back when she escapes the alleyway. She keeps a steady pace toward the Indulgence, her limbs buzzing to take off sprinting.

Bet he’d fall over himself to give you anything you want — given the right motivation.

She forces her feet to slow. If Tidus is watching, she can’t prove him right. She cannot give away anything else. She cannot give him more reason to take interest in Cav.

There’s no reason to run. She saw Cav not an hour ago, and Tidus couldn’t possibly have gotten to him since then. Yet she can’t deny the strange urge pushing her forward, an insistence to lay eyes on Cav, to see for herself that he’s alive and well.

Along the dock, the crowd thickens. Lyx presses through the sea of bodies, but they jostle her off course until she can’t make out the Indulgence’s sails any longer. Her chest tightens. She’d almost call it panic, but panic is for people who can’t appreciate chaos.

Not her.

This is not the first time she’s raced to reach Cav before someone else. She remembers the last time with dizzying clarity, swimming from the feeding frenzy of sirens until her gills burned. She had to get to Cav before any of the others. She has to get to him before Tidus has a chance.

She shoves through the crowd. If anyone complains, she doesn’t hear them, honed on the tip of the Indulgence like a black marlin. It takes too long before she breaks through the throng of people. Her heart pounds until she sees him.

He’s fine. He’s fine, his eyes rolling at some comment from Lace. Lyx can finally take a breath, bracing her hand against a nearby pole.

She’s seen him. It should be enough to satisfy her, yet she can’t pull herself away. Strange how she never noticed the restless charm in his movements before — or at least, never put words to it. His smile twitches, thumb pressed to his canine, tail curling around his ankle. It’s a relief to see him in motion. No one could replicate this, not when every movement is undoubtedly Cavalier.

Yet when Lyx slapped him, he was completely calm. All the thoughts drained from his head, and he melted at her feet, all that energy funneled into desire. She didn’t know he could be that still. She didn’t know she could bring him to that.

She didn’t know she’d crave both parts of him so eagerly.

The thought is so sudden and shocking that she jolts. That’s when Cav looks at her. It’s like he hears her thoughts and knows some part of her is reaching toward him. He wastes no time moving in her direction, and she knows she should move away, that she should get back on the ship and finish what she came here for…but she doesn’t.

Cav stops in front of her, his lips parted like there’s something he wants to say. It takes a moment before he does. “I’ve been thinking about what you told me.”

Scales lift on her arms. Depths, she’d forgotten everything she said in that damn hammock. It still feels like a fever dream. She wasn’t thinking straight. How could she with his mouth against her ear, his fingers inside her, him begging for more?