Page 57 of Steve's Barmaid
I hadn’t even gotten to the bed, given my state, before Steve was behind me. He laid a large towel over the center of the bed before directing me to lie down, starfish style. Starting at mytoes, he used a warm cloth to meticulously clean each of my feet. I giggled.
“Sorry, it tickles.” I blushed.
“Don’t be sorry,” he said before moving slowly up my calves, cleaning every part of me.
As the cloth he was using started to get cold, he went to get a new towel. He came back to me with a new warm towel and resumed cleaning my thighs, gently massaging me as he went. It was hard not to sigh into the warm feeling of aftercare, something I was not used to. As he finished my thighs, he dragged the towel across my hips before dipping between my legs and gently, oh so gently, cleaning my very overstimulated mound and lower lips. He did this all with a level of extreme concentration on his face.
Once he finished, he returned to the restroom, and I could hear the tap running. He must be cleaning up himself. I wasn’t the only one covered in cum. I flipped to my side and pulled my blankets up to my chin, waiting for him to return. While the weather was changing, the fire hadn’t been lit, and now that our frantic fucking was over, I was getting chilly.
Steve returned, still in all his naked glory. He was muscular without a ridiculously defined six-pack that you only saw on the cover ofSports Illustrated. His shoulders were bulky, and I was reminded of how he easily lifted me. I quirked up my lip, thinking of what that could mean for future options. His smattering of black silky hair across his chest and happy trail made me practically salivate. Though we’d been together multiple times, this was the first time I’d really gotten to see him afterwards. His penis, now soft, was still impressive, and I found myself longing to take it into my mouth to wake it up.
Get it together, Billie. We have a pretty serious conversation to have. You cannot be led by your desire to suck his cock!Ishook myself to get my head back into a place to talk about mates and everything it meant.
But Steve had noticed me staring. “Do you like what you see?” he asked, giving me a shy smile.
“Yes. Yes—very much so.”
“Well, unfortunately, you have covered up your delicious body and all your soft curves.” He fake-pouted.
“Well, there’s nothing stopping you from joining me.” I lifted the blankets.
He quickly closed the distance between us and crawled into bed with me, pulling me to him with his muscled arms. I melted into him. He was so warm. He trailed his hand down my spine before grabbing a handful of my ass and pulling me in for a kiss. It started as a brief brush of our lips, but it wasn’t long before our tongues were tangling together, and I could feel his cock hardening against my stomach. We were insatiable for each other. He was a drug I was happy to be addicted to. But I pulled myself back, disentangling myself.
I propped myself up on my elbow. “We have to discuss this whole Elska thing. I don’t think either of us expected it.”
Steve, incapable of keeping his hands off of me, traced along my collarbone to the tip of one of my pebbled nipples as he thought about my words.
“Sir. Hands to yourself as we talk about this. It is serious business.” I gave him a mock angry face.
“Okay, okay, how about here? Can I put my hand here?” He placed it on the curve of my hip.
“That is acceptable,” I replied seriously but followed with a giggle. “So this whole mate thing is forever?”
“Yes. Forever. Once your mate dies, most mates find it hard to go on—as you heard when I explained about my dad. He lived for quite a bit longer, but he was a shell,” Steve looked sad, tracing his fingers along the marks on my back.
“What usually happens?” I asked.
“Mates live out their lives together, and when one finally succumbs to old age, the other follows quickly. There are mates that have lived successfully without each other. I believe Astrid would be an example of this, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a part of her aches daily for her mate.”
I hadn’t thought about how long Astrid had lived without her mate. She seemed so strong and in control. Perhaps it was the weight of being jarlin that had kept her going. Or, before her mate died, they produced three orklings to which she was very close. I thought about being tethered to Steve for life. Maybe I was still cock drunk, but that didn’t sound bad at all.
“Do you want to be tied to me for the rest of your life?” I asked, skeptical.
“I’ve wanted forever since our first conversation,” Steve said plainly before pulling me in for a kiss.
I kissed him back, unable to help myself, but pulled away quickly.
“Hey, hey, hands and lips where they belong,” I chided. “What makes you so certain about me?”
I’d never had someone want more than a casual hookup. Someone wanting forever was exciting but scary.
“You are so full of joy and possibility,” Steve said. “You look to the future and see nothing but opportunity ahead. You have a huge heart and give your all to those lucky enough to call your friends. And you have spent a lot of time figuring out what you want from your life—I feel like I want that. I don’t want someone to drift along with me. I want someone with a goal, a desire, and a life they want to create. And I wanted to create that life with you. I think that is what I have been missing.”
That sent me reeling. Steve wasn’t just saying yes to the Elska bond. He was saying yes tome.He saw me in a way I didn’t think anyone had ever seen.
I couldn’t help the tears starting to well up in my eyes. To have someone see me, for all of me, and want me—it was more than I was prepared for on the same night as a kidnapping.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
