Page 130 of Commander’s Mate

“That bad?” she asked.

“No.” My voice was rough. “That beautiful.”

She looked toward the bed. Then at me.

“I’m tired,” she said.

“But not only tired.”

She walked toward me. “I don’t want the vow tonight.”

I made myself breathe. “Then there will be no vow tonight.”

“I don’t know if I want full mating tonight.”

“Then there will be no full mating tonight.”

“But I want you to touch me.”

“And I want to touch you,” she added. “I need something that feels good. I need to remember my body is still mine. I need—” She looked down, frustrated. “I don’t know how to say this without sounding broken.”

I crossed the distance slowly and stopped before her. “You sound honest.”

She placed hers in it.

“I can touch you,” I said. “I can kiss you. I can give pleasure and ask nothing in return. If at any moment you want sleep instead, we sleep.”

“I can,” I agreed. “But not because I owe you anything.”

“Never. We can share sex without sealing the solmatu bond if I wear a seed shield on my cock. I must give you my seed to seal the bond.”

Harper smiled up at me. “Okay, let's do that.”

She leaned into me and pressed her cheek against my chest. My cock went hard almost instantly, and I knew Harper could feel it against her belly by the quick little intake of her breath.

She drew back a little and looked up at me, her eyes slightly hooded beneath her dark brown lashes. She deliberately pressed her belly harder against my erection, and a knowing smile played across her soft lips. I claimed her lips in a hungry kiss and dominated her mouth with my tongue. She let out a soft moan and pressed more tightly against me, caressing and swirling her tongue around mine.

I slid my hands down to cup her ass and lifted her, bringing the heat between her thighs against my cock. The contact nearly stripped the restraint from me.

Harper wrapped one leg around my hip and ground against me, her breath turning ragged.

“Zared,” she murmured. “I do want you.” She nuzzled and kissed my throat as she wrapped her other leg around me. She wound her arms around my neck and pressed on the back of my head until I kissed her again.

She was not ready to seal the bond, and I would not ask it of her. This was enough because she had chosen it.

At the bed, she lowered her feet to the floor and looked up at me so quietly that, for one uneasy second, I wondered whether she had changed her mind.

Then her hands slid beneath my shirt, warm over my chest, and her fingers teased my nipples.

The doubt vanished.

Her breasts filled my hands, warm and soft, her nipples already tight. The sound she made when I stroked and pinched them went straight through me.

Then her hand moved lower.

I groaned as she closed her fingers around my cock through my trousers, found the fastening, and pushed the fabric down over my hips. My pants dropped to the floor, and I stepped out of them. I hadn’t bothered to put my boots on. I pulled off my shirt, then hers, so we were both naked. I smiled down at her, enjoying the view of her beautiful breasts and the triangle of light brown curls covering her pussy.

Harper sank to her knees and wrapped one hand around my cock.