Snatching a quick breath, I duck-dived under the heavy pound of water, buffeted by the torrent of currents and eddies, kicking my way to the small cave hidden behind the falls.

Breaking the surface, I swam to the small rock ledge about half a metre underwater and waited for her.

She didn’t disappoint me.

Her head popped up a few moments later, the shape of her face highlighted thanks to wet hair plastered to her sun-kissed shoulders. Her eyes seemed bigger, her lashes thicker, her lips redder. I couldn’t tell anymore if she was the most stunning human alive or a true immortal goddess sent to slay me.

She already had my heart in her keeping. If anything happened to her, it would kill me through sheer rules of biology. I couldn’t survive without a heart. I would die.

She can’t ever leave.

I would do whatever it took to provide her with every wish and desire, so that she never asked for her freedom. Because if I granted her her freedom, it would be like locking me in a cage all over again.

I can’t do it.

Not now she’d shown me what was possible between us.

I didn’t speak as she swam toward me, her small hands landing on my thighs under the water, keeping her in place from the swirling water around us.

My eyes snapped shut as her fingers trailed up my legs, wrapping around my cock with no pretence or shyness. Just like I knew she belonged to me, she knew I belonged to her.

There were no games, no lies.

My cock was hers.

She could touch it whenever she goddamn wanted. She could have it any way she wanted. Just like her pussy was mine.

Wrapping my fingers over hers on my erection, making her squeeze me painfully tight, I growled, “Are you wet?”

Her eyes flashed. “Is that a trick question?”

“I need to know if I’m going to hurt you. Has the swim washed away—”

“I’m wet, Sully.” Her cheeks pinked. “I’m always wet around you.”

“In that case.” Shoving her away from me, I slipped off the ledge and pressed her belly against it. The second her fingernails dug into the slippery stone, I spread her legs and slotted myself behind her. “I’m going to fuck you now.”

I speared up, ruthless and true with my aim.

She screamed as I filled her in one slick impale.

The waterfall swallowed her cry, keeping us hidden, granting us privacy to be whatever we wanted.

Gripping her by the nape, I thrust into her. My legs kicked with power, driving her belly up and onto the rock. Her body lay prone on an unmovable surface, holding her firm for my taking.

She screamed again as I didn’t hold back.

I drove every inch into her. My balls pressed against her clit. My weight pressed her flat onto the rock. There’d been time for playfulness and now…this was sobriety to that drunken joy. A grave reminder that I needed both.

I needed her light.

I needed her dark.

I needed to hurt us with the insane amount of need she created in me.

I snarled as my pace turned manic. Nothing soft. Nothing gentle. I didn’t stop the savage noises falling from my lips, just like she didn’t.

She moaned and screamed.

She yelled my name while I fucked her.

And Nirvana swallowed each and every one, hiding our fiery, bone-snapping releases. Keeping us hidden while we figured out how to exist in this new terrifying existence.

Chapter Twenty-Five

“HOW MANY GODDESSES DO you own?” I kept my gaze on the table laden with delicious food. His chef had been busy creating vegetarian fare that rivalled any five-star restaurant, using ingredients I’d never heard of, blending flavours that exploded on my tongue.

After Sully had taken me ruthlessly hard in Nirvana, we’d spent the rest of daylight swimming in the cool embrace of freshwater. His villa’s deck had been designed to have access to the waterfall, providing steps from the pebbly bottom all the way to the cantilever platform with sun loungers and a table with a large white umbrella.

Sully had climbed those steps twice while we swam, his ass clenching in perfect muscular symmetry as water sluiced down his skin. He’d returned with freshly squeezed apple and strawberry juice, piled high with ice and a slice of papaya wedged in the side.

We’d drank the much-needed hydration while sitting naked on his deck, our legs dangling in the water.

I’d never stayed naked this long. Never fully lost my self-consciousness being completely bare. But Sully made it so easy. So right.

His cock hung heavy between his thighs as he watched me suck on the paper straw, drinking what he’d made me. With each breath, he’d grown harder until our drinks were abandoned for a different kind of thirst.

He’d pulled me onto his lap and speared into me, the same way I’d taken him after he’d told me he was in love with me. We rocked together until we came together, and then he pushed off from the step and tumbled us deep into the water, sluicing our shared releases away, raking his hands through his hair as he popped to the surface.

In all honesty, it’d been the best afternoon of my life.

I’d never been so content, so cared for, so utterly in love with absolutely everything. From the sunset glowing fire through the palm trees, to the roosting sounds of birds all around us, to the serenade of cicadas, crickets, and frogs as night fell.

Pika and Skittles never went far, preening themselves on branches while we swam, visiting us and stealing morsels of fruit and vegetables while we ate dinner.

This truly was paradise.

Yet…it wasn’t paradise for everyone.

Sully stiffened in his chair.

His hair had dried into a wild tangle of dark and bronze swept off his forehead. He wore a simple black t-shirt and cargo shorts, loaning me a blue and white striped shirt that I’d fastened with a belt around my waist, fashioning a simple dress.

We’d shared a shower in his amazing bathroom, watching the waterfall turn silver in the rising moonlight, taking turns to soap and rinse, sharing a kiss when he passed me a towel.

Our interactions were laced with lust but also so at ease with domestication.

I didn’t understand how it could be so simple, so peaceful between us. I expected an argument, a ripple—something to disrupt the endless satisfaction I felt in his company.

Maybe that was why I’d asked a condemning question after we’d spent the day making small talk about the animals around his villa, Serigala, and a few hush-hush drugs his scientists were working on.

Maybe it was my turn not to trust him…trust us.

Trust that love could be like this.

“Why do you want to know?” Sully asked, his tone carefully guarded. He reached for a chargrilled mushroom stuffed with aubergine and drizzled in coconut cream.

I mulled over his question.

Did I want to know so I could berate him into freeing them? Did I want to know how many girls I had to share him with? Did I want to know for good reasons or for selfish ones?

I settled on honesty and shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t agree with what you’re doing, but it’s hypocritical of me to say that as here I am, eating the food their services provided, willingly turning a blind eye to love you. I guess…” I sighed and finished, “I’m just glad Calico, Jupiter, and Neptune are gone.”

“But that’s not enough for you.” His chair creaked as he shifted his weight. “You want to free them all.”