Page 23 of A Deeper Blue
“I don’t want to lose you!”
Azure gasped and pulled herself back to the present, yanking her fingers out of Rafe’s beard. He grunted, mumbled something, and then turned onto his side, cradling her in close to him. Even in his sleep, he cared for her, but somehow, sometime, he was going to break her heart.
Azure clung to him, trying to still the rapid flutter in her chest. Her first instinct was to look further—to find out why she would lose him. But Azure had tried that before and had ended up making matters worse as she attempted to stop fate from happening.
There was no one to explain precognition to her. Even her grandmother couldn’t see the future the way Azure did. But Azure had sat through enough TED talks on time to develop a theory. Free will was real. The future could change. But time was not linear. Time happened all at once. And as decisions were made, some events became more likely. When an event became very likely, it became…heavier. That was how Azure thought of it. She felt like her brain was probably some sort of weak spot in reality, and when an event became more probable, it would press through the separation between times, and she could see it. But concentrating on an event gave it mass, and trying to prevent something usually only made it happen faster.
If Rafe was destined to break her heart, then, paradoxically, the best way to prevent it was to act like he wasn’t—to direct her energy into creating a future rather than avoiding something else. The question was, what kind of future did she want? How could she even attempt a future when their lives seemed to be pulling them in different directions?
He twitched in his sleep, yanking her closer, pressing his hips into her. She slid her leg up over his hip and settled against him. Were they going in different directions? She needed him to get to the summit, but beyond that, it was becoming increasingly apparent that he shared the majority of her values. Obviously, not the one about Walmart. But his anti-speciesist attitudes and his naturally environmentalist bent were quite clear from everything he’d said about his cabin. His home sounded like a heavenly escape from technology. They were more alike than she had first thought. She adjusted her hips and felt his cock move into just the right spot, but his breathing was still sleep heavy.
Azure rocked her hips and was rewarded with a soft twitch between her thighs. She rocked again, giving a little wiggle and his cock began to stiffen. She slid along it in tiny movements, holding her breath and biting her lip. He gave a slight groan, and Azure forced herself to keep quiet. He sighed and didn’t move again, so she gave another little wriggle. His cock was pressing hungrily into her. Her nipples began to tingle, and her body warmed as she became more aroused. She wanted him inside her, but the man was still sleeping like a log.
For a long moment, Azure hesitated, looking at his peacefully resting face, then she bit him on the shoulder.
Rafe grunted and nearly sat up, but Azure pushed him onto his back as she kissed him. It only took him a second to get with the program. He hauled her on top of him, attempting to push her to where they both wanted her to be. But Azure held off, barely letting his cock graze over her wet pussy. He growled in frustration, and she watched with interest as his ears went slightly pointy and furry.
She swayed from side to side and sank a little downward, letting him get a taste.
“Azure!” His voice was rough as a gravel road.
“Are you going to fuck me hard, like I like it?” she asked softly, stroking her hand through his hair.
In response, he seized her by the hips and thrust up into her. Azure gasped in shock and pleasure and scrambled to brace herself on his chest. She rocked back, closing her eyes as she met his rising hips. Her breasts were cold in the morning air, but she didn’t care. The heat from beneath her made anything else irrelevant. Again and again, they came together, each thrust hitting sweet and deep. She dug her fingernails into his chest, and he groaned.
“God, yes, baby, dig them in. Make me feel it.”
She did want him to feel it. She wanted him to think of her every time he touched his cock. She wanted him to want her more than anyone else in the damn world. If he was going to leave her, she wanted him to know that he had left the best fuck off his life.
She went down harder and opened her eyes. Rafe’s forearms were covered in fur, and his eyes nearly glowed in their intensity. The idea that she was making him wolf out made her move faster. She wanted him to come inside her, and she wanted him to howl like he had in the grocery store.
“Fuck baby! You’d better come soon because—” He broke off with a groan, slamming into her hard.
“Howl for me,” she demanded, gasping out the words between thrusts.
He let go, tilting his head back and letting out an unearthly wail that hit on a cellular, magical, and auditory level all at once. She came in a gut-clenching spasm with a wordless cry of her own. He came into her, hips bridging as his hands pulled her down. He ground his pleasure into her, and Azure felt as if her entire body convulsed and throbbed around him like a giant heartbeat.
It seemed like hours later that she formed her next conscious thought. She was still laying on top of Rafe, his arms wrapped around her.
“Well,” he said, after a while. “I don’t know what you have in mind for the rest of the day, but I have to say I’m starting to enjoy your plans.”
“I was just winging it,” said Azure.
He chuckled, his chest bouncing underneath her. She rolled off of him, her limbs uncoordinated and rubbery. “I suppose we should get up,” she said, still feeling breathless.
“Getting up is an overrated concept,” he said, rolling up to his side and leaning over her.
There was a crunch of gravel, and a truck pulled into the clearing.
“Uh… hello Azure,” said a dark-haired man rolling down the window and leaning out.
“Hey Milo,” said Azure, yanking the blanket up under her chin.
Milo climbed out of the truck. “Do you two need a moment?” he asked cheerfully, his Greek accent pulling out the vowels oddly.
“We just need to get dressed,” said Azure, glaring at Rafe, who appeared to be on the brink of laughing.
“I will make improbable fidgets with the trailer and pretend that I don’t see you,” Milo said, with an encouraging nod. Milo had heard of polite lies, but he’d never quite mastered them.
