Chapter 182

Helen’s POV

Justin nibbled at my earlobe, running his hands up and down the length of my back. “Tonight will be amazing. I have an idea. It’s still early enough that we have some time to settle in with one another. We’ll take turns taking off as much clothing as we’re comfortable with seeing the other person in. Then we’ll climb in bed, and I want to snuggle my wife.”

I blushed at the thought, drawing a warm chuckle from him.

“I want to play with you,” he continued softly, “and when we hit your limit, or if I’ve hit mine, all we have to do is say the word, and we’ll stop.”

“What if I need to stop part way?” I asked. “You know how rough our sex can get. What if you get all the way inside me, and we’re doing something, and it’s too much, and I can’t handle it?”

He let out a purring growl next to my cheek, kissing along my neck. “Then I will do my best to stop.”

“Your best?” I asked, starting to draw away.

He sighed, hot against my neck. “I will stop. I promise. You have my word that it doesn’t matter when you ask me to. If I push you into anything uncomfortable, I will stop when you ask.”

“Okay then,” I agreed. “We’ll see where things go.”

I reached down and grabbed the bottom of Justin’s shirt, pulling the fabric up and over his head. I let that fall to the floor and took a moment to enjoy the sight of his chest.

Normally, when we had sex, it was just ripping clothes off and ramming our hips together in frantic fucking. We rarely took the time to admire the other one’s body. So, this time I did before going for his pants.

I let my fingertips trace his muscles, starting at his pectorals and running all the way down the ridge of his abdominals to the waistband of his pants. He closed his eyes now, pleased sounds coming from his throat.

Popping the button on his jeans, I undid the zipper and slid them down his legs. Behind the fabric of his underwear, he was already beginning to stiffen. I tried not to focus on that and drew my eyes back up to the muscles just above his belly button.

Carefully spreading my fingers across those muscles to feel them one more time, I whispered, “You get to take off your own socks.”

He laughed and stepped out of his pants, then pulled his socks off. “My turn,” he growled in a husky voice.

Justin took the buttons of my blouse, undoing each one slowly and skimming his finger across the skin that it exposed. When he finished all the way down, he peeled open the shirt so he could slide my blouse off my shoulders and let that fall to the floor.

“I like that bra,” he said.

I blushed. I’d put on a pretty lace bra because it made me feel nice. But it also made me blush to know that it made him feel nice too.

Before I had regained my composure, he’d already unfastened the button and zipper on my skirt, and that fabric dropped to the floor as well. Because it had been so cold outside, I was wearing tights. He slipped his hand inside the stretchy fabric at each of my hips and slid those down my legs as well, pausing on his knees on the floor.

Using his teeth, he started to pull my panties down. But I grabbed those.

“Not yet,” I whispered.

Like a gentleman, he stood up and waited while I finished getting my feet out of my tights. Then he took my hand and drew me over to the bed. He pulled the covers back far enough that the two of us could snuggle in.

Honestly, I’d thought this might be awkward since it wasn’t his room or my room, and we were in a hotel in a strange bed that belonged to no one. But the reality was I actually felt much better curling up next to him here. This space wasn’t his or mine, and it held no memories either way. This was neutral territory, and that made me a lot more comfortable.

He reached over and flipped off the lights on the wall above the nightstand next to him. “Are we sleeping?” he asked, his breath coming warm against my scalp.

I shook my head and realized that he wouldn’t be able to see me and whispered, “No.”

Realizing that I had to do something to invite a touch because he had told me that tonight would be all about my choices, I scooted up so that my back was pressed against his chest. The warmth of his skin mingled with the heat of mine, and everywhere our skin touched, the connection of mates crackled between us.

Now that I was better aware of both his and my power, it was easy to see where the draw had gotten lost in heated sex every time before. Tonight, that fire moistened between my legs as it always did, but rather than letting him ram himself into me and get all breathless, I was able to identify the draw to him and control it.

I wondered if this was the way that he was forced to control his lycan? It certainly seemed like my lust wanted to be an out-of-control beast. And judging by the harsh breaths he was taking, I assumed it must be the same for him.

His lycan drew power from me by having me as a mate, and I drew power from mating with a strong male. The combination was potent. But just like he mastered Beowulf, we contain this thing between us. I would see that we did.

Against my rear cheeks, the pulse of his cock told me that Justin was ready to do more. But just as he promised, all he did was put his arms around me and hold me to his chest. The gentleness of the moment drew tears to my eyes. This was so different from all of our fucking before.

Were we actually going to make love this time? I gasped at that thought.

“Is everything okay?” Justin asked. “I can back off if you need me to.”

“No. Everything is actually good,” I admitted.

Though, I couldn’t say the words out loud that I had actually been thinking about the two of us making love. That wasn’t a thought that had entered my head in a very long time.

As if to confirm my new-found want to have sex with my mate, I grew even wetter between my legs, and a tingly need started to build there. The same desire caused my nipples to perk.

I wanted his hands on me. I wanted him to touch me. But he still wasn’t doing anything, so I reached up and put my hand on top of his and slid it lower until his fingers went inside the edge of my panties.

“Do you want this?” he crooned in my ear.

“Yes,” I breathed.

I parted my legs a little so that he could get his fingers onto the sensitive spots that ached for his touch.

“We’re not going to start here,” Justin said, taking his hand back and leaving me feeling rather desperate.

“Why not?” I asked.

He chuckled. “Well, I’ve been doing a little research, and I think we’re going to go about tonight a little differently.”

“What kind of research?” I demanded.

“Porn,” he admitted.

“Porn?” I gasped. “Why have you been doing that?”

“Waiting for you to be ready for me, I had to do something. At least if I was watching porn, I could imagine that it was you and Beowulf, and I got some pleasure out of it. But I also learned a few things. I fully intend to put all of my time and effort into you now that you’re back in my bed. You are, right?” He gazed up at me, his eyes questioning.

“You are back in my bed right now, quite literally,” I said, patting the mattress beside me. “But I haven’t decided that I’m going to let you bed me if that’s what you’re talking about.”

“Okay, then,” Justin said, “I’ll get started, and you just tell me when to stop.”