Holding her hand out in front of her, Nova admired the band around her finger. It was nearly the same shade of white as the pearl on her ring, but it felt silky against her skin as if she wore nothing at all. She didn't fear damaging it, at least not as much.
"I love it more than I can express…" She murmured, her head resting against his bare chest. Tilting her head back, she frowned, "I'm sorry you had to go through so much to bring it back."
Nova knew he'd held back on every detail of his retelling from this past week, and honestly, he might be right to do so. Thinking about him in danger like that, where she couldn't help him, twisted her stomach in knots.
Gliding his fingers gently back and forth across the dips and grooves of her stomach (his band identical to hers), he moved a little lower with each pass and pressed his lips to her neck.
"Hm, but we're both here now," he smiled against her ear, "safe and sound."
The fire and meal had been pleasant, the shower wonderful, but pushing two beds together and holding each other was a feeling that couldn't be replicated. They were in the same barracks Hollis and Nova inhabited at different times, sharing the same bed in the peace and quiet as the others either remained in Windhaven or returned to Velaris.
They'd been sleeping on and off, tasting each other when they woke again, and now simply relished the moment of not being apart. They'd both nearly lost their lives, which put things in a different perspective. They truly never were guaranteed their next breath.
"Hm…" Nova murmured as his soft touch swept the sensitive skin of her pelvis, shuddering as he ventured lower and stroked his middle finger languidly through her silky cunt. She sighed softly and rested her head against his shoulder, watching him in a heated daze as he swirled his fingers in her arousal.
When his fingers were slick with her, Hollis brought them to his lips, and Nova watched with a heart that skipped a beat as he sucked his fingers into his mouth. The violet in her eyes flamed, a new hunger in her eyes.
"Do you like how I taste?" She murmured, watching him with hooded eyes.
Hollis didn't speak; he couldn't, not with the way she looked at him as though she promised retribution for his sensual action.
A soft laugh tickled the back of her throat as she leaned forward and caught his lower lip between his teeth. She bit down and pulled before letting go. "Oh, the things I want to do to you…"
Hollis swallowed, vision glazed as he breathed, "Why don't you do them?"
Smirking, she raked her nails across his ribs and watched his eyes roll back in his head. "I suppose I could, so long as you want it."
"Oh, cauldron, forgive me, I want it…" That was meant to be an inner thought, one that escaped his lips a little too loosely.
Nova tilted her head as she studied his face and smirked, "I'd love to obligue." She searched his face as her expression turned from playful to severe, "So long as you understand you can tell me when to stop. The pleasure I find in your moans under my control is..." She trailed off as Hollis shuddered just before she clutched his chin in a tight grip and forced him to look at her. "If it's too much, you'll tap the bar three times. Understood?"
Hollis nodded, eyes wide with eager hunger. The nerves he felt quickly turned to excitement. This was different than Reign taking control…with her, he never had a choice. She did what she wanted, and he was expected not to interfere with her instruction. She was allowed to do what she wanted to him, and then direct what he did to her. Yet, the moment he expressed what he wanted her to do to him, she would scoff and ask if he had any 'balls left to play with'.
He'd never asked for himself again after that.
But with Nova, he didn't have to feel like less of a person for giving up his control or less masculine for enjoying it. She'd never taken that trust and run with it. Never. They didn't have to feel ashamed for doing what they wanted, because they understood each other. Nova wanted to dominate, and Hollis wanted to be dominated, and that was okay.
He raised his brows, smiling crookedly as Nova moved to straddle his hips as she took his left wrist and began tying it with an intricate knot to the post behind him. Careful with his left arm, while mostly healed, still had bruises.
"I'm quite skilled with my knots, you know," Nova smirked as she tested the restraint, ensuring it wasn't moving, then moved to the next until his wrists were secure against the steel.
"Well, I don't know about that," Hollis smiled, "I'm also very flexible. Give me some time, and I could get out."
Nova raised a brow as she sat back and eyed him. "You understand that you're in no position to criticize me, correct?"
He paused and pursed his lips, "Well, now I'm highly aware."
Grinning, Nova raked her fingers down his stomach, admiring the smooth plains of his form. He didn't bulge with muscle, and she loved the soft touch of his belly and the sleek jut of his hips. Admiring his shaft, she ghosted her fingers down and wrapped her hand around his hardening length.
Hollis shivered, watching her stroke him with long, squeezing pulls. Resting his head back, he tried to withhold his groan, but when she glided her thumb over his slit, his hips bobbed instinctively, making Nova giggle with approval.
"Jumpy?"
"Fuck, that feels good, Nova…"
"So," she released her grip from his cock, "If I just stopped?"
Hollis's eyes widened as he looked down at her nonexistent touch; the throb of his cock with the sudden lack of pressure was almost painful. "Please don't stop…" He breathed.
"You did insult my knot-making."
"You're knot-making is the best knot-making I've ever seen. It deserves to be showcased in museums."
Nova smirked and teased the base of his shaft with a feather-light touch. "Such flattery…" She murmured, moving her hands to his sides just above his hip bones, and dug her thumbs in with deep, rotating circles.
"Nova!" Hollis exclaimed, crying out with a sudden spell of laughter as he tried to escape her grip, but to no avail.
"I think my knots are holding well, don't you?"
"Yes! Okay, yes, I take it back!"
Nova grinned and released his hips, but didn't let him catch his breath before spitting into her palm and began working his cock with a sudden and harsh pace. She watched him slam his head back against the headboard, his noises of pleasure quick and desperate while he bucked his hips.
She pulled her hands away again, leaving him with nothing, and Hollis gasped, digging his heels into the mattress.
"Is it too much?"
"No." He managed, finally able to catch his breath. As torturous and infuriating as it was, it was amazing.
Biting her lip, she searched his face for a moment before she slid off the bed and walked to the corner where their clothes were piled. Digging in, she took out the underwear she'd been wearing during the Blood Rite.
"Did you know," she murmured as she straddled his hips again, "That those days without your touch, I thought of you. Especially at night, when I was the only one awake. It was too cold to take anything off, so every time I thought of you, and I touched myself, it was through this bit of fabric."
Hollis watched with parted lips and saliva pooling on his tongue as Nova spread her legs, revealing herself to him. Using the friction, she teased her clit with the fabric of her underwear, watching Hollis's face as she urged herself to climax. Her breath rattled as she leaned back, knitting her brows together as heat surged in her lower belly. Nova whined as Hollis maoned, flexing his fingers as his cock quivered. He wanted to see past the fabric, to watch her pulse with her impending orgasm.
His toes curled as her jaw slacked and her head hung back, gasping a cry as she came, and a fresh wave of arousal coated her panties. Leaning forward, Nova shivered through the chill on her damp skin. Moving closer, she dragged her pussy up his stomach, careful to keep her whole weight off him as her knees trapped either side of his face.
"Stick out your tongue," she demanded, and Hollis didn't hesitate to obey. She then coaxed the soaked fabric into his mouth, stopping just before as he started to gag, and tucked the remaining fabric at the base of his teeth. She leaned up and pressed herself against his nose. "You're going to gag on me while I eat your ass."
Hollis moaned around her taste, shuddering as she grazed her clit against his nose and pulled away. He watched her settle between his legs, belly on the bed, as she grinned up at him. Pushing his thighs apart, she lifted his swollen sacks, massaging them with gentle pressure as she dove with her mouth, pressing into him with a wicked lash of her hot tongue, eating him as a bounty meant to be savored.
As Hollis rotated his hips, Nova let go of his balls in favor of holding his pelvis in place as she massaged his hole. Smirking as he whimpered with pleasure. She pulled away and slipped her middle finger into her mouth, withdrawing it only when it was coated in a layer of saliva. Then, while she licked the subtle veins of his cock, her finger worked to loosen his asshole.
"Remember," Nova said as he moaned, "Three taps and I'll stop." She took his head into her mouth and groaned at the salty precum that she touched the back of her tongue.
Hollis cried out against his gag, toes curling as he tried to relax his body for her. He wanted it, but he also wanted it to feel good. He watched her lick and suck his head as if it were a decadent dessert, but his breath hitched as the pressure of his finger increased.
Keeping her eyes on his face, searching for any sign of discomfort, Nova pushed her finger in little by little, and as she did, she nearly melted watching his neck bend back and eyes cross. She was careful, making sure she didn't move too fast or too hard before she found something smooth and soft. It was almost rubbery as she stroked against it, and the sound he made wasn't one she ever thought he was capable of.
Eyes spiraled back in his head, chest arching as he gurgled on his gag. Tears streaked down his cheeks, unable to process the pleasure that rolled through him. While Nova's fingers worked him inside, her other hand kept a steady stroke on his length, and her mouth devoured his head, flicking her tongue across his weeping slit. She licked away the salt that leaked from him, threatening to erupt any moment.
Nova smirked as his cock twitched once, then twice.
"Are you going to cum, Hollis?" She purred, a flash in her eyes as he looked down at her with manic eyes, as she blew a stream of air over his slit. "You already came twice in the last hour. I didn't know you had anything left to give."
Hollis's whimper, though muffled, was desperate as she swallowed him to the back of her throat again. He lifted his hips and released a feral cry as his orgasm rocked him with a burst, coating her throat in his cum, which she swallowed eagerly. Panting, drool spilled around his gag and onto his chest, trying to catch a breath as her mouth milked him for every drop he had left.
Removing her finger, she massaged the now sore area, pulled her head away, and stroked his hips with a calming caress. Crawling up his body, she removed the fabric and laid it on his chest before untying his wrists. She kneaded the indents of his skin, bringing back the blood flow in his hands, kissing each fingertip as she watched his face.
It seemed he was at a loss for words, but so was she.
***
Finch looked up at the flickering light in the House of Wind. "Is there a storm coming?"
Shaking her head, Kyra ate another sticky bun, her head resting against Kole's thigh as he slept. "I don't think so."
"Hm, weird."