“I think so.” I tested my equilibrium with a slow nod. “Where is Lida?”
His hand remained on my chest, music still surrounding us. Love. “Fed, watered, and in her bed. Told you she was knackered.”
He had. I should have listened, to that and everything else he’d ever said.
I laced our fingers together. “I am sorry I have been difficult.”
“Fuck off.”
“You do not accept my apology?”
“I don’t need it. Life being hard doesn’t make you fucking difficult.” Ranger smoothed his palm over my chest and lower, skating over my ribs, skimming my abdomen. “You think I expected all the shit you’ve been through to go away cos we left the tangerines behind and got distracted by other things?”
“Tangerines?”
He grinned for a moment. But it faded. “I know you miss home.”
I started to shake my head. Changed my mind as the room shifted too much. “We need to be here.”
“Vik—“
“Shh.” I tapped a finger to his lips. “Can you come closer?”
Ranger obliged. I leaned into his touch and our lips met in a sweet kiss, aslowkiss, his hands still alive on my bare skin, skipping over the marks and scars that did not like to be touched, caressing the ones that did, grounding me and setting me fit to fly all at the same time.
My body responded to him in ways I never had anyone else. I pulled him over me, his long legs straddling my waist, his jeans shoved down, my hand around his cock and mine.
Ranger leaned back against my thighs, his hands on my knees, watching me work us with hooded eyes, biting his lip as we both grew harder, sliding together in my fist.
He found lube and squeezed it into my grip. The change in friction rolled my eyes—with him, the simplest things always felt so good.
“This will be fast for me,” I warned him.
A groan was Ranger’s only answer. He thrust into my fist, his long body arched and beautiful, the shiver in his limbs matching the tremor in mine. He came and it was all I needed to propel me over the edge.
Apparently, we were both feelingfasttonight.
My body settled, sweat cooling on my skin. I moved to sit up, but Ranger made me stay.
“I have it.”
The mess. He cleaned us up, then wrapped me in his arms, still breathing hard, still trembling. My arms were around his waist, my face buried in his chest.
I tipped my head to look at him. “You are okay?”
“Apart from my shooting my brains out of my dick?”
“Yes. Apart from that.”
Ranger grinned and kissed me. “I’m okay, cosyou’reokay. That’s how this fucking works.”
His lips distracted me from agreeing. And then the weariness in his onyx gaze that told me he hadn’t slept while I had. “I love you. You will sleep now?”
Ranger hummed.
I pressed closer to him and shut my eyes, halfway gone before his voice reached me again.
“It didn’t work, by the way.”