Twenty

Sometime after our mutual love confessions, we"d fallen asleep. Hobie had promised me he wasn"t hungry, and we"d curled up close, sharing soft kisses.

Now it was morning, and the two of us were alone on the island.

Talking to Nox yesterday, I"d realized he knew who"d hurt Hobie, since he"d been there when the man had thrown Hobie into the sea. Nala had realized it too, but because I didn"t want Hobie to start worrying about it, I"d merely given Nala a look and hoped he"d ask Nox the right questions.

I had a feeling Nala and Tarika were close to finding the bastard, but until they had him, I wasn"t going to tell Hobie.

There was also the matter of what Nox had said about Hobie being in danger still. I"d said I would protect Hobie, and I meant to.

"Mmmph," Hobie mumbled sleepily, his lips pressing against my chest. I brushed my tentacle over his back, slowly pulling him toward the waking world. He hadn"t had a nightmare this time, which I was glad for.

"Hey," I murmured, and he blinked slowly, peeking up at me with sleepy eyes. A smile curved his lips when he found me watching him, and he snuggled into me with a happy sigh.

"Good morning," Hobie murmured, then smiled into my chest. "I love you," he said, a delightfully sweet look on his face.

"I love you too, sweetheart," I replied, and he made a happy little sound before peering up at me.

He licked his lips, a nervousness replacing his earlier ease. "Um, Eben," he murmured, and I hummed.

"Yes?"

"I want to try. I want to make love with you," he said, then promptly blushed a bright shade of pink.

I blinked, surprised at the statement. Heat rushed through me, making my whole body tingle as my tentacles instinctively tightened around Hobie.

"Are you sure?" I asked, and Hobie nodded slowly, a look of yearning and determination in his eyes. He wanted this.

Pulling him on top of me, I pressed my lips to his, kissing him. He made a soft, mewling sound, his fingers curling against my chest as my tentacles held him up, supporting him so all he needed to focus on was our kiss.

Hobie traced the tip of his tongue against my lip, and I opened for him, welcoming him into my mouth. Our tongues tangled, and I teased the tip of a tentacle beneath the waistband of his pants, brushing the top of his asscheek.

Hobie moaned softly, thrusting his groin forward. I could feel his erection against my abdomen, and I brushed a tentacle against it, making him jerk in my hold.

Slowly, I turned us around, gently placing Hobie on the mattress as I hovered over him. "Is this okay?"

Hobie nodded, his lips a deep pink color, his eyes dark with desire. God, he made a fine picture.

Smiling, I reached for his t-shirt with two tentacles, and he helped me pull it off before demanding I take mine off too.

Running the tip of a tentacle down Hobie"s chest, I brushed it against his nipple, delighting in the little moan he gave. I used the suckers on the back of my tentacle to play with his nipples, sucking at them and giving them little pinches until they were hard and bright pink.

"Eben," Hobie groaned, dragging out my name in a whine. "Stop teasing me!"

I grinned, leaning forward to kiss him again. "But tormenting you is fun. I want to see how pink you can get," I murmured against his lips, and he huffed, smacking my arm.

"I"m not a damned science experiment," he grumbled, making me chuckle into his mouth. Pulling back, I smiled down at him, running my fingers through his hair as I pushed it away from his face.

"I know. You"re my precious mate, and I want to explore every inch of you," I said, and he pursed his lips.

"You"re trying to butter me up with sweet talk," he said pointedly, and I grinned before trailing kisses down his jaw, tasting the salt and sweetness on his skin.

"Can I take your pants off?" I murmured the words into the skin of his neck, and his answering hum vibrated through me.

While I licked and sucked at his skin, tasting it like it was the most delicious thing in the world—which it unequivocally was—I used two of my tentacles to remove his pants and underwear, leaving him completely naked under me.

I hummed when I felt his hands on my ass, and then he pushed my pants off. Since he was practically pinned down under me, he could only push them off to my thighs.

"Get it off," he demanded, then moaned when I nipped at his skin, making sure not to break through it. I only ever wanted to give him the pleasant kind of pain.

Following his order, I got rid of my pants, throwing them somewhere over the side of the bed.

Pulling back from his neck, I turned my gaze to his face, needing to see his reaction as I slowly trailed a tentacle up his thigh, drawing closer and closer to his groin.

Hobie threw his head back, eyes shut, lips slightly parted, and for a moment, he looked very much like the man in those illustrations he"d shown me the other day, naked, all wrapped up in tentacles, and thoroughly enjoying it.

He spread his legs wider as I drew my tentacle closer to his groin, and I debated between which part of him I wanted to focus on...before I remembered I had more than enough tentacles to focus on all of him at once.

One day, I was going to spread him out just like this, pin him down with my tentacles, and pleasure him for hours, driving him over the edge again and again until he was too exhausted to even move. Not yet, but soon.

I wrapped the end of one tentacle around his cock, and he groaned loudly before thrusting up into me. He snapped his eyes open and reached up, wrapping his arms around me, his nails digging into my back hard enough to break skin.

I paused, taking a moment to check in. "Okay, sweetheart?" I murmured, and Hobie"s eyes cleared a little as they met mine. He was breathing hard, but I couldn"t tell if that was from being turned on or from growing panic.

Hobie blinked, then nodded quickly. "I"m fine."

Waiting another moment, I scanned his face for any sign that he wasn"t being completely truthful, but found none.

"Stop me if you need to," I said, leaving no room for argument, and he nodded quickly.

Satisfied, I curled my tentacle around his cock once more, determined to make this an unforgettable experience for both of us.

For just a moment, I"d found myself on the edge of slipping into a flashback, but I"d opened my eyes in time, and used one of the tricks my therapist had taught me to center myself. Eben had noticed, of course, because he was an amazing partner.

Having my hands on him helped me remember this was something we were sharing, something we were doing together. What we were doing was nothing like what I remembered of the things my captor had done to me, but I still needed to be on guard against flashbacks because there was no way I was letting them ruin this for me. My captor had gotten six months of my life, and I wasn"t going to give him a day more if I could help it.

"Fuck," I gasped out as Eben started jacking my cock with his tentacle, the oil it secreted making my cock glide smoothly through the sleeve he"d created. It was unlike anything I"d experienced before, and I almost came just from that.

Then he brushed the tip of another tentacle against my hole, and I couldn"t hold back a loud moan. I really hoped the others weren"t anywhere close, because I was sure my voice reached all the way out to sea.

"Stop, stop, stop," I blabbered, and Eben stopped instantly, gold, hooded eyes meeting mine, concern etched on his face.

"Too much?" he asked worriedly, and I answered before he could worry.

"Too good. I was about to come," I explained, and relief filled his face. Smirking, he brushed his nose against mine.

"You can come if you want to," he murmured, and I shook my head.

"I want to do it with you inside me," I said, "so prep me quickly and make love to me."

Eben pulled back to blink down at me, a rather stunned look on his face that made me chuckle. Smiling back, he shook his head before uncurling his tentacle from my cock. While I wished I could fuck into it again, I was also relieved because I had been too close to coming.

I moaned when he brushed a tentacle between my asscheeks, and I realized he was coating my hole with his oil. Natural lube, huh. Handy.

"Oh, that feels good," I murmured when he slid the tip inside, keeping my eyes on his face as he gazed down at me. His other tentacles caressed my legs, my arms, any bit of skin they could touch. My body tingled all over, and I wasn"t sure how much longer I"d be able to take it.

I"d never felt quite so treasured before. For most of my life, I"d only known how to be unwanted. My parents hadn"t wanted me, my foster parents hadn"t wanted me, and when someone did want me, it was for all the wrong reasons and in all the wrong ways.

But Eben was different. He made me feel like I was something precious, something to be shielded and protected. Something to be loved.

His tentacle slipped deeper inside me, and I moaned loudly when it pressed against my prostate, sending sparks for pleasure all over my body. I shivered, feeling like I was close to falling apart.

Eben somehow sensed it too, because he quickened his movements, pumping his tentacle in and out before sliding the tip of a second one into my hole to stretch me properly. Like with everything else, he still took his time to make sure I was ready and that he wouldn"t hurt me.

"Please," I begged, moving my legs restlessly. "I"m ready!"

Eben"s eyes were dark when they met mine, the gold just a slim ring around his pupils, and he licked his lips as he shifted his weight, sitting up between my legs as he withdrew his tentacles from my hole.

Before I could protest about him moving away, he wrapped his tentacles around my back and pulled me into his lap, holding me upright as his cock brushed my hole.

Instead of sliding inside me, he took my chin between his thumb and index finger, and pulled me into a kiss.

The kiss was soft and intense, familiar and new all at the same time. I panted into his mouth as the head of his cock pressed against my hole, then moaned loudly when it slowly started to slide inside.

Eben"s tentacles had full control of my limbs, four of them wrapped around my arms and legs, holding me in place as he slowly, so very slowly, pushed deeper and deeper into me.

It felt freeing in a way because I knew in my heart that Eben would never hurt me. Willingly giving him control over my body made me feel like I was finally close to being released from the shadow of my captivity. I knew I"d never completely get rid of it, that there would always be things that would remind me of that time, but being able to do this made me feel like I would be okay, that I would heal.

Eben bottomed out inside me with our lips still tangled in a kiss, and I let my body fall lax, trusting Eben to take care of me in this as he did in everything else.

Giving me a moment to breathe, Eben pulled away to look at me, his eyes roaming over my face. I wondered what he was looking for, and if he found it.

Raising me up until he almost slid out, Eben held me in place and slowly started fucking up into me. His thighs pressed against the backs of mine, but I was practically weightless and floating in the air, his tentacles holding me up like I weighed nothing.

Reaching forward, I pulled Eben into another kiss, sliding my palms down his back and digging my fingers into his skin, clinging to him as he moved inside me with a patience that betrayed his age, even if he didn"t look it.

I could feel my orgasm racing close despite his sedate speed, and I already knew it was going to be intense.

"I love you," I murmured between kisses. "I love you so damned much, Ebenezer."

Eben groaned into my mouth, and I gasped softly as warmth filled my insides, Eben"s cum claiming me as his.

"Fuck," he grunted into the space between us, and something about the mix of his gruff voice and the feeling of his cum heating me up sent me over the edge, and I spilled into the nonexistent space between us, falling forward as my orgasm took all my energy with it, leaving me boneless and shaking with aftershocks.

Eben held me as I trembled, his tentacles moving leisurely as he slid out. I felt a cloth wipe against my ass, and I was half-tempted to tell him to leave it, to let his cum dry on me, but I didn"t have enough energy to do more than peer up at him.

Once Eben was satisfied, he shifted us around before lying on the bed with me spread out on top of him. His tentacles held me in place, and I hummed happily as I rested my chin on his chest, his heart beating steadily against my ear.

"Sleep, my sweet mate. I"ll wake you in a few hours," Eben murmured, and I sighed, sleep already tugging at me. I really needed to learn how to not fall asleep after sex, but Eben was just too damn good at sapping all my energy with his sexcapades.

Just before I drifted off, I felt Eben"s fingers brushing through my hair. The words "I love you, sweetheart," followed me into my sleep.