Page 7 of Bloom in Darkness

“Do what?”

“Get angry at the entire world before I’ve had coffee.” His thumb moves once over my skin, and the smile he gives me is small but real. “I’m here. I want this. That’s enough for right now.”

I believe him, so I roll onto my back and let him decide what comes next.

Astra pushes the blankets down and climbs over me without hesitation. Faint marks from last night are still scattered across his skin. My hands settle at his hips, and his eyes drop between us when he feels me hard beneath him.

He reaches between us and guides me where he wants me. The first slow sink of his body around my cock pulls a hard breath from me. Astra’s lips part, his shoulders tensing as he takes more, but he never looks away. He lowers himself inch by inch until he is fully seated, then stays there for a moment with both hands braced against my chest.

“Fuck,” he whispers.

I run my palms up his thighs and let him adjust. “Take your time.”

Astra lifts slowly and sinks back down, testing the angle before doing it again. The movement starts measured, but pleasure loosens him quickly. His breathing changes, his pace picking up while his hands slide from my chest to my shoulders for leverage.

I watch him work himself down over my cock again and again, his lean thighs trembling around my heavier body. Every time he takes me deeper, his mouth opens on another sound and his scent sweetens around us until every breath I take tastes like him.

My hands tighten around his hips, fingers sinking farther into the soft give there as he rolls down again. Astra looks at my hands, then back at me.

“Harder,” he blurts out. I hesitate long enough for his brows to draw together, his body still moving slowly over mine while he looks at me like I’ve disappointed him. “Bryn.”

“I heard you.” My grip stays where it is even though every instinct in me is split between giving him exactly what he wants and remembering how easily my hands can leave proof.

“Then stop treating me like I’m going to bruise if you breathe too hard.”

My gaze drops to the marks already darkening his skin: fingerprints along one hip from where I held him against the wall last night, another faint bruise high on his thigh, and one near his shoulder from my mouth. My fingers flex against his skin. I like seeing the proof more than I expected to.

Astra follows my gaze and smiles. He doesn’t hide the marks or shift away from my hands. His palm covers mine where it grips his hip, and he deliberately presses my fingers harder into himself until the skin dimples beneath them.

“Those make me feel good,” he says, watching me closely. When I look back up, his smile softens without losing any of the heat behind it. “They make me feel powerful, like I got to have something I wanted badly enough that it left proof.”

My hands tighten around him. Astra leans forward until his mouth almost touches mine.

“Mark me, Valla.” My grip tightens, and his breath catches at the pressure. Astra’s eyes stay on mine when he adds, lower this time, “Make me hurt so good.”

I drive my hips up beneath him hard enough that the sound he makes tears through the room, sharp and startled before it breaks into pleasure.

Astra’s hands slam against my chest, fingers digging in while I hold his hips and fuck up into him again. His body jolts with every thrust, slick spreading hot between us as the rhythm he had been controlling falls apart completely. He stops trying to ride me within seconds and braces himself instead, letting me take over while his thighs tighten around my sides.

I pull him down hard enough on every thrust to leave fresh marks, and Astra takes it greedily, head falling back while his thighs tighten around me. Another cry rips out of him when I hit deep. His body shakes over mine, mouth open, scent thick enough to coat the back of my throat, and I drive into him again.

I could watch him take me like this for hours. He’s loud now, completely gone beneath the pleasure, and every broken sound feeds the next thrust until I feel the first unmistakable thickening at the base of my cock much sooner than I expect.

Astra’s eyes snap open when my knot begins swelling inside him, his body clenching around the pressure.

“Oh fuck.” The words come out breathless, and I slow before my knot can grow too quickly against him.

Astra catches both my wrists before I can ease my grip. His fingers are shaking, but there’s nothing uncertain in his face when he says, “No. Keep going.”

“You just took my knot a few hours ago.” I keep my hips still beneath him even while his body squeezes around me, slick making every tiny movement feel sharper.

“I know.” Astra shifts deliberately, rolling his hips down enough to make both of us suck in a breath.

“You could be sore.”

“I am sore.” His mouth curves, wicked and pleased, and then he sinks himself down harder over me. His breath breaks apart immediately, satisfaction flashing over his face before he manages, “I like it.”

That nearly finishes me. My hands clamp tighter around his hips and I drive up again, watching pleasure crumple his expression as his cock bounces between us, already leaking across his stomach. My knot thickens with every thrust, dragging wider against his entrance until Astra starts pushing down to meet it.