Atonement (The Protectors 6)

Because I’d been sure Magnus would come to his senses at any moment. Sex would have bought me a little more time with him and it would have given me back some of the control he’d so effectively stripped from me.

He might have said he wanted the real me, but I didn’t want anything to do with the real me.

When Magnus had returned to the room, his cock semi-hard, I’d been beyond ready and when he’d gotten in bed with me and told me to turn on my stomach, I’d happily complied. But he hadn’t stripped my underwear off and pushed into me. Hell, he hadn’t even touched my ass.

He’d kissed me.

Everywhere.

Softly, reverently.

And then his fingers had followed.

It was the strangest fucking foreplay I’d never known.

And I’d loved it.

“Dante,” Magnus murmured and I felt him tap on my back impatiently. He’d been writing words on my back with his finger for several minutes now and I had yet to get one right. Not that I cared because I was trapped in a haze of sensual pleasure.

“Dick,” I suggested.

Magnus laughed and I turned my head so I was looking at him instead of the window on the opposite side of the bedroom.

“I never said it was a dirty word,” he said.

“Maybe I’m trying to tell you something,” I responded as I flexed my ass. The move definitely caught his attention because his nostrils flared and his eyes filled with heat. He was lying on his side and using one arm to support his head so he could watch what he was doing to me.

“Get this word right, and maybe I’ll accommodate you,” he said huskily.

“Fine,” I groused. “If a relationship means it always takes this much work to get laid, no thanks.”

I jumped when Magnus’s big hand gently slapped my ass. He rubbed the sting away as he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “I promise to make it worth your while.” He punctuated his words by pressing his finger into my crease. I wished like hell I hadn’t put the damn briefs on before getting into bed.

“Magnus,” I growled when he continued to tease me with his hand and his tongue which was tracing the shell of my ear.

“My poor Dante,” he murmured, his lips skimming over the back of my neck and along my shoulder as he removed his hand from my backside. “I’ll make it easy on you, okay? One letter at a time.”

“And then you fuck me,” I said grouchily.

Magnus ignored my comment and traced a letter on my back. My painfully hard cock had me concentrating this time around.

“P.”

Another swipe of Magnus’s fingers.

“E.”

Shivers were electrifying my skin with every pass of his calloused finger over my back.

“R,” I said quietly as I began to realize where Magnus was going with this.

When I didn’t answer after the next letter, Magnus settled his hand on my waist and began rubbing it up and down my side.

“What was the letter, Dante?” he asked, all humor gone now.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked as all the pleasure fled my body and I turned my head back towards the window so I wouldn’t have to look at him anymore.

“What was the letter?”

“F, damn it. It was an F. Perfect,” I snapped.

“Do you know why I chose that word?” Magnus asked as he moved his hand up to my shoulder and began massaging it.

“Because you think I’m perfect,” I bit out as I tried to control my anger. Why the fuck had he gone and ruined everything?

“I do think that, but that isn’t why I picked the word.”

“Fine. Then why?” I asked, though I didn’t really care.

“Because that’s what this moment is,” he answered. “You here like this,” he continued, his voice soft. I felt his fingers sift through my hair and couldn’t deny how good it felt. I felt him shift and then his arm curled around my shoulders. “Sex with you is unbelievable, Dante. No argument there. But this,” – he urged me to my side and then shifted until his body was pressed flush against mine, our lips just millimeters apart – “is what I want.” He kissed me softly before saying, “You are the main course, Dante. Sex with you is just dessert.”

I wanted to come up with some joke about dessert being the best part, but I was too raw. “Fuck, this is hard,” I whispered as I wrapped my arms around him.

“I know, baby,” Magnus said softly and then he kissed my forehead. The endearment made my eyes sting. “We’ll figure it out.”

“And if we don’t?” I asked. “I’m going to fuck up, Magnus. It’s who I am.”

Magnus pushed me to my back and skimmed his fingers over my cheek. “If I ever meet whoever made you believe that about yourself, I’m going to kick their ass.”