Page 74 of Devotion

I feel safe. Completely safe. Like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

It takes a while, but I finally drift off to sleep. And my final thought of the night is that Gabriel is still awake.

He still hasn’t stopped holding me.

18

A month later,my 208th day as Gabriel’s partner, he’s got me folded in half beneath him as he fucks me hard.

He went down for his morning swim like usual, but he came back early and didn’t even take his shower before he was grabbing me and swinging me over onto his bed. Now my heels are on his shoulders and my body is bent in a helpless, undignified position, and the muscles in my butt and at the back of my thighs are straining. My pussy is aching from the vigorous motion of his cock, and it’s so wet I can feel the moisture leaking onto the sheet beneath me.

I’ve already come once, and I’m almost there again. I’m clutching the headboard with one hand and his hard biceps with the other. He’s really enjoying the way I’m responding. I can see it in his eyes. Hear it in his thick voice.

“That’s right, baby. You’re almost there again. You’re liking it like this, aren’t you?”

His words always get me going as much as the friction of his cock moving inside me. I writhe, digging my fingernails into his arm and pushing against the headboard as I processthe intensity of the sensations. I make a few uneven humming sounds but can’t form a complete word.

He’s exerting a lot of effort to sustain the fast thrusting. I can see it in his uneven breathing and the twisting of his features. “You’re doing so good. I love to see you let go like this. Come one more time for me.”

My mind is whirling so wildly I wouldn’t think I could focus enough to reach another climax, but it overtakes me anyway. I cry out again as the pleasure consumes me, shaking and gasping with a few random tears streaming down the sides of my face.

Gabriel loses it too. With a choked sound, he freezes and then falls into clumsy, primitive jerks as he comes. He comes inside me, rolling his hips through the last of his release with a deep, satisfied moan.

My period started yesterday, so the chances of my getting pregnant are minimal, but there’s still something so intimate, so innate about the feel of his semen inside me. I wouldn’t have expected to feel this way, but I do.

He catches himself before he falls on top of me and helps me unfold my body and stretch out my legs before he collapses beside me, smiling in my direction.

He never used to smile this much. I know I’m not imagining or exaggerating the difference. He was one thing when he first arrived at the palace, and he’s something different now.

Or maybe he’s finally willing to let the real man out of the guarded shell.

“You feel okay?” he asks, his blue eyes scanning me from top to bottom. There’s a faint hint of concern and a lot of satisfied possessiveness in the look.

I beam at him. “I feel exhausted. And a little messy. But otherwise incredibly good.”

“Good.” He groans, staring up at the ceiling. “I’ve got a meeting with the president first thing. He wants an update.”

“Well, you’ve got it almost done, and you still have a month before the deadline even after he took four months away from you. It’s brilliant and clearly laid out and backed up with more numbers and research than I can wrap my head around.” I reach over to rub his slightly soft belly. “It’s good, Gabriel. It’s incredibly good.”

“Thank you.” That’s all he says, but there’s a lot more than that in his expression.

I might melt into a puddle of pure sentiment if it wasn’t for the discomfort between my legs. I haul myself to a sitting position and slide off the bed, grabbing the towel I spread out beneath me so his sheets wouldn’t get spotted with blood from my period. “I’m going to clean up. You have thirty more minutes before you need to shower and dress, so you just rest. Looking over your plan for the twenty-thousandth time won’t do you any good at this point.”

He chuckles at my exhortation and watches me as I limp toward the bathroom, leaning over to grab my nightgown from the floor on the way. “You sure you’re okay?” he asks in a different tone.

“A little sore,” I admit. “But not enough to bother me. And not enough to make what we just did less good.”

“Okay.” He’s smiling again as I step into the bathroom and close the door.

His meetingwith the president lasts for two hours, and he’s changed when he returns.

He tells me everything went fine. President Vincent wants a few revisions but nothing major. Overall, he’s pleased with Gabriel’s work.

I don’t believe him. I can see very clearly that something isn’t right. But continued questioning yields no further information and eventually annoys Gabriel. He finally snaps at me, telling me he needs to work rather than repeating the same answers endlessly.

His stern tone halts me, as it always does. I huddle in my alcove, pretending to read but covertly studying Gabriel’s face and posture as he pulls out his notebook and starts to write in it, pausing often to think.

Something is definitely wrong.

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