“Yes, but…” She trailed off. There was no pretty way of looking at this. Julian was right.

“There are no buts, darling,” he whispered as his gaze fixed on her rosy peaks.

“You don’t understand,” she argued. “As nice as what you offer sounds, it’s not possible.”

He shifted against her. “We will see.”

She glanced down to where his body brushed hers. He was hard, and all thoughts of forcing him to understand it could never be an option were thrown out the window. “Julian?”

He paused, grinning devilishly at her. Then he pressed her back down as he placed himself over her body. “I believe I could do this all day.”

One gentle thrust set her on fire. She reached down and cupped his rear. “I think I agree.”

And Julian did, over and over till they collapsed into each other’s arms. He didn’t mention her leaving again, and Lily was grateful. They were able to create a little cocoon in her room, where the world outside didn’t exist. In his arms, she could forget about her duty and what she would face when she returned to the Sanctuary. It didn’t matter that it was only temporary.

Chapter Twenty-one

She woke to find the sheets completely removed from her and Julian’s lips latched onto her breast, drawing her nipple deep into the warm recesses of his mouth. Dazed, her hand fluttered to his head. A ball of lava formed in her belly. “What…what are you doing?”

He lifted his head, smiling down at her. “I was beginning to think you’d never wake up. It’s late in the afternoon.”

They hadn’t fallen asleep until the sun started to rise, and her muscles ached in a delicious way. When he hadn’t been doing crazy things to her body, they had nestled together, talking until they both passed out.

Sleep still fogged her brain as her lids fluttered open. There was a wicked glint to his azure eyes and a mischievous tilt to his sensual lips. He picked up her right hand, bringing it to his lips and sucking her finger into his mouth. She felt the pull all the way to her core.

“What are you doing?” she asked, breathless.

“I want you.”

“You have me,” she said, using the same words he had told her while on the couch.

“Do I?” He sat up, swinging his legs off the bed and standing in one fluid motion. “Prove it to me.”

Her heart thundered as she rose unsteadily. Things seemed to blur around the edges as her eyes locked with his. He gripped her shoulders, bringing her to her knees on the bed so that she was kneeling in front of him. The unspoken demand was clear, and her skin tingled.

She reached out, wrapping her hand around his cock without breaking eye contact. Moving her hand from his base to the head, she felt him swell in her palm.

“I woke up earlier, and all I could think about was you.” He brushed his knuckles across her cheek. “I can’t stop thinking about you— about this. It consumes my thoughts.”

She shuddered as his hand dropped to her breast, tweaking her nipple. Dipping forward, she darted her tongue out and circled his engorged head as she watched an array of emotions flicker across his striking features.

He groaned, staring at her with such intensity she felt like a goddess. She stroked his rim, laving the ridge with her tongue and then back to his head, lapping at the moisture beading there. “You like this?”

“Yeah…I like…a lot.”

Her tongue followed the length of his throbbing member. He reared against her as if she had done something rather drastic. “Oh, you like that more?”

His lips parted, and he nodded. She did it again, and this time her lips followed the path. His hand left her breast, balling in her hair, opening and closing mindlessly. She kind of liked him like this, completely vulnerable to her. It was usually the other way around.

Before long, he was cradling her head as she worked him with her lips and tongue. His groans sparked her own lust, boiling her from the inside. But then he reached between them, grasping her free hand and lowering it to her own sex.

Pulling back, she recoiled from what he was silently urging her to do. “I…I can’t.”

He lowered his chin, his heated gaze piercing hers. “You can.”

Her cheeks flamed with embarrassment even though her sex was throbbing, excited by the idea of pleasuring herself while she pleasured him. “Julian…”

Shifting slightly, he guided her hand down until she cupped herself. Then, as she watched him, his finger pushed hers inside. She moaned from the wicked act, her skin flushing for a whole different reason.

He guided her hand until she was doing it herself, then cupped the back of her head and urged her to pick up where she had stopped. Taking him in her mouth once more, she sucked harder as she thrust against her hand.

Julian’s eyes grew luminous. “Oh God,” he groaned, picking up rhythm, forcing her to take his full length as she slipped another finger into her wet folds.

Suddenly, he pulled away from her mouth and wrapped his own hand around the base of his member. “I want to watch you finish yourself,” he ordered roughly.

The erotic act of pleasuring herself while he watched made her dizzy. She wanted to refuse, but it seemed like her moral compass had fallen to the wayside. Unable to say no, she eased down onto her back and moved her fingers in and out. This wasn’t the first time she had touched herself, but with him watching it was so much more potent. Her toes curled as she came close to the edge.

He kneed her thighs apart and knelt between her legs, slowly stroking himself as his eyes followed her fingers in and out, covered in her arousal. “Harder,” he whispered.

And she did. Pumping her fingers, she arched her hips up to meet her own thrusts. Her head tipped back, and her soft moans filled the bedroom as she watched him through glazed-over eyes. Her hips came clear off the bed as she grinded against her fingers. Her heart was thundering deep in her chest and stomach. The need for him to be against her consumed her in a way that left her panting with want.

His scorching gaze followed her arousal as it ran down her thigh. Never breaking eye contact, he bent at the waist and lowered his mouth to her thigh. Using his tongue, he lapped up the slick moisture. The act toppled her right over the edge. She came, writhing shamelessly.

He climbed over her, his attention feral and possessive. Slipping an arm under her waist, he flipped her onto her belly. Her fingers dug into the sheets as Julian rained kisses down her spine, over her hips and her plump cheeks. Then he drew her to her knees, using his thigh to push her legs farther apart.

She was primed, ready, her sex filling with anticipation. This…this was what she’d needed, what she desired so badly. For him to take her, to fill her. His tip probed her moist entrance, teasing her until she squirmed.

“Tell me,” he said, holding her still as he ran the edge of his cock over her swollen lips. “Tell me you want this.”

She threw her head back. “Yes! Yes!”

He thrust into her, gripping her hips with bruising force. He pulled her back against him as he plunged into her savagely. He pressed his lips to her damp temple, cupping her sex in his hand as he continued to pump his hips. “This is mine,” he told her, voice thick. “It always will be.”

She broke apart, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces as her release crashed through her and milked his cock with such force that he growled. She cried out his name over and over again as he drove into her. Julian’s arms tightened around her. One more deep thrust and he came, shouting her name. Panting and slick with sweat, he brought her down to the bed.

Minutes, maybe hours, passed before either of them could form a coherent thought, let alone a whole sentence. He tugged her across his chest, running his hand through her hair idly. They lay together, tangled in each other’s arms, while Julian made her laugh with his twisted take on current affairs and she fascinated him with tales of her training and first battle.

Her cell phone beeped from the bedside table. She didn’t remember dropping it there when she returned to her apartment. Reluctantly, she wiggled out of his embrace and snatched her cell. Flipping it open, she quickly scrolled to her texts while Julian dropped a line of delicious kisses down her spine.

“I could nibble right here,” he murmured, catching the flesh just above her hip between his teeth. “Or here…”

She glanced over her shoulder at him, grinning. “You’re insufferable.”

He chuckled against the small of her back. “You like my kind of suffering.”

That she did, but she opened Luke’s text: U need to go to Nate NOW. Her heart sank, and, just like that, the cocoon around them unraveled. Reality crashed over her. She was in trouble, big trouble.

Julian stilled behind her. “What is it?”

Snapping her phone shut, she twisted around. Concern—for her—dampened the heat in his eyes. She cupped his cheek, leaned in, and kissed him. When she pulled back, she forced a smile. “Nothing, but I have to get ready and go.”

His gaze dropped to the phone in her hand. “It’s the Sanctuary?”

She nodded. “I need to go to Nathaniel. If I don’t, there’s a good chance he’ll come here.”

A different kind of heat flared in his eyes. “Let him.”

She kissed him again. “It’ll be okay. Nathaniel has been like a father to me. He’ll be pissed, but he’ll get over it.” She hoped that was the case.

He pulled her against him, holding her tightly to his chest. He rested his chin atop her head. “I don’t want you to go back there.”

“Julian…”

“Because I can’t follow you there,” he said. No Fallen or minion could enter the Sanctuary, as the ground was blessed. “If something were to happen, I can’t help.”

Warmth spread through her chest as she wiggled free, catching his chin in her hand. She forced him to look at her. “Nothing is going to happen to me there. I’ll be okay. You have nothing to worry about.”

He didn’t let go at first, but then he did release his hold…and followed her into the shower. And when they stood under the hot spray of water, he stared down at her with such tenderness in his gaze that she felt those tears again building behind her eyes. Then he lifted her, pressing her back against the tiled wall, entering her slowly. For a little while, as he brought her to the edge and back, she let herself forget what was waiting for her outside her apartment.

A few hours later, Lily walked through the front lobby of the Sanctuary. When Sandy didn’t respond to her greeting, she felt the flush of anger and embarrassment all the way to the tips of her ears. It was obvious Micah had not kept quiet. She was going to kick Micah again. She could see it, and it filled her with a vicious amount of happiness.

That pleasure was short-lived.

The moment she stepped inside Nathaniel’s office, a coldness settled over her skin and seeped into her bones. This was going to suck in more ways than she could count.

Nathaniel came out of one of the smaller rooms, dressed in full evening attire. Lily stared, wide-eyed. She couldn’t help it. He was a handsome man—okay, more than just handsome. He was one of the best-looking men around, and in all his current finery he would even give Julian a run for his money.