"Perfect," he breathes when he's fully seated inside me. "You feel extraordinary."
I can only whimper in response, overwhelmed by the fullness, by the way those ridges press against sensitive spots I didn't know I had, by the empathic feedback that lets me experience his pleasure alongside my own.
What happens next transcends anything I thought I understood about sex. It's not just the physical sensation of his cock sliding in and out of me, hitting my prostate on every thrust. It's not just the way those ridges drag against my walls, sending sparks of pleasure through my nervous system.
It's the empathic connection that makes me feel everything he feels—his awe at being inside me, his careful control as he finds the rhythm that brings us both the most pleasure, his overwhelming need to make this perfect for me. And somehow, impossibly, I can sense that he's feeling my responses too—my wonder at the way he fills me completely, my amazement at pleasure I never knew was possible.
"Finn," he gasps, his rhythm becoming more urgent. "I can feel... everything you're feeling. Your pleasure, your wonder, your..."
"Trust," I finish without thinking, then realize how true it is. "I've never trusted anyone like this."
Instead of pulling away, instead of the panic I expected, Tev'ra's face transforms with something that looks like awe.
"Nor have I," he breathes, leaning down to kiss me desperately. "You're extraordinary."
The admission breaks something open between us, and suddenly the empathic connection intensifies beyond anything we've experienced. I can feel his amazement at my trust as clearly as my own wonder at being able to give it, can sense the way this revelation changes everything for both of us.
His thrusts become deeper, more purposeful, and I meet him movement for movement, chasing the building pressure that threatens to tear me apart in the best possible way. When he wraps his hand around my cock, stroking me in rhythm with his thrusts, I know I'm not going to last much longer.
When my orgasm hits, it's with the unprecedented sensation of feeling my climax through his awareness as well as my own—doubled intensity that leaves me sobbing with the overwhelming nature of it. I come hard between our bodies, painting streaks across both our chests while my body clenches around his cock.
The sensation of my orgasm pushes him over the edge, and I experience his release as if it were my own—the way pleasure wracks through his body, the way my name becomes a prayer on his lips, the way he fills me with his release while bioluminescent patterns explode across his skin.
Afterward, we lie tangled together in his sleeping alcove, skin still glowing faintly with residual bioluminescence. The empathic connection has settled to a gentle hum beneath the surface, warm and comforting rather than overwhelming.
"Is it always like that for sex? With the empathic thing?"
"I don't know," he admits. "I don't know if it will happen again, or if this was some kind of... anomaly."
The thought that this might be a one-time thing sends a pang through me that's sharper than it should be. "I guess we'll find out."
"Finn," Tev'ra says quietly, and something in his tone makes me look up at him. "What we shared... the way you trusted me. I've never experienced anything like that."
"I've never trusted anyone like that before. Which is terrifying, because I've never... I don't do trust. I don't do letting people close. I do work and isolation and keeping people at a safe distance."
"What changed?"
"You," I say simply. "You changed everything."
His soft smile is beautiful, made even more so by the gentle pulse of bioluminescence beneath his skin.
"The Council expects assessment results in forty-eight hours," he says after a moment.
"What will you tell them?"
He's quiet for so long I think he might not answer. Finally, he says, "I don't know. But I know it won't be what they expect to hear."
I settle more comfortably against his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, feeling the gentle pulse of bioluminescence beneath his skin.
"Good," I say. "I never liked meeting expectations anyway."
His soft laugh rumbles through his chest, and I feel myself relaxing completely. Whatever happens with the Council, whatever this assessment becomes, I'm exactly where I want to be.
And for once in my life, I'm not planning my escape route.
Chapter Twelve
Tev'ra