I tell myself that’s enough.
That being here, part of it, part ofher, doesn’t require more than that.
Then she reaches for me.
It’s quiet.
So quiet it almost feels accidental, like her body moved before her mind caught up with it. Her hand lifts from the blankets, fingers drifting until they brush against my chest, catching there like she’s checking I’m real.
Everything in me stills.
Her fingers curl, tugging lightly, and the contact is so soft it shouldn’t carry weight. But it does.
“Koa,” she murmurs, my name slower on her tongue than it’s been before, softer too. There’s no challenge in it. No testing edge. It’s not the way she says Kai’s name, sharp and sparking, or the way she looks at Sol, defiant even when she leans into him.
This is different.
This is pure unadulteratedneed.
Something under my ribs settles into place with a quiet certainty that leaves no room for hesitation.
I move, shifting closer, closing the distance she’s already bridged, my hand coming up to cover hers where it rests against my chest. I don’t pull her. Don’t guide her yet. I just hold the contact there, grounding it, letting her feel that I’m here, that I’m not going anywhere.
“I’m here,” I say, my voice low enough that it stays between us.
Her eyes open a little more, focusing properly this time, and the way she looks at me stops everything else from mattering.
There’s no calculation in it.
No weighing, no comparing.
Just warmth.
“You took your time,” she murmurs, the words softened by the heat but still carrying that faint thread of teasing that’s always been hers.
I let out a quiet breath, the corner of my mouth lifting without thinking. “You didn’t ask sooner.”
Her lips curve at that, small but real, and then she shifts – closer this time, deliberate in a way the first touch wasn’t. Her body turns toward mine, sure and moving like she already knows where she wants to be.
I slide my hand from hers to her arm, guiding her gently as she rolls onto her side, careful of the way her body has softened under the heat, of how every inch of her is more sensitive now. She comes easily, no resistance, no hesitation, her head settling against my chest like it’s the most natural place in the world for it to be.
The contact settles through me all at once.
Warm.
Steady.
Right.
Her scent shifts again, the sweetness deepening as she presses closer, her breath warming my chest with every soft exhale. She’s so sweet like this. Her perfume settles, spreading through me in slow, even waves that feel less like something taking over and more like somethingfitting.
Behind us, I’m aware of the others without needing to look.
Finn’s stillness, deliberate and watchful. Sol’s purr, quieter now, but still there, still anchoring the space. Kai somewhere close, the edge of him present even when he’s not pushing it forward.
None of them step in. They let this hold. Let me have it.
“You’re warm,” she murmurs, her voice muffled slightly against my chest as her fingers curl into my shirt again, stronger this time, more certain.