Reia reached for him again, her fingers curling into his shoulders, pulling him down to close the distance. If she was going to lose herself, she might as well drown completely.
What followed was not a single act, but a blur of heat and friction that seemed to stretch time itself.
She felt him turn her over, laying her on her stomach before driving into her in a way that made her see stars.
"Nngh...yes right there!"
She had to burry her face into the pillow to stifle her moans as his hips rocked and pounded her deep in her pussy, the debauched sounds echoing in the room.
They moved together with a desperate, renewed energy.
Soren seemed to have found a second wind born not just of lust, but of a need to prove he could give her everything she had been lacked.
He explored her with the patience of a man who had all night, finding every sensitive nerve, every hidden ache, and soothing it with his mouth or the deliberate pressure of his body.
They rolled across the mattress in a tangle of limbs and sweat.
Sometimes she was on top, driving her hips down with a fierce, angry need to dominate the sensation.
Other times he was over her, his strength overwhelming and comforting all at once.
The room became a haze of muffled moans, the rhythmic creak of the bedframe, and the intoxicating scent of lavender mixed with raw arousal.
Thirty minutes passed, then more. Each round left them more spent, more exposed, but also more connected.
The transactional wall Reia had built around her heart was crumbling under the relentless assault of his attention.
With a final grunt, Soren shot his load, pulling out of her wet swollen pussy and finishing on her ass, the sensation extending Reia's orgasm.
It took a few minutes for her conscience to fully reconnect. When it did, he was beside her, both their limbs heavy as lead, their breathing slowly syncing in the quiet room.
Reia lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling, her body feeling pleasantly wrecked.
For the first time in years, the hollow emptiness she expected after sex wasn't there. Instead, there was a strange, warm fullness.
She expected him to turn away again now that things were really done. She expected the familiar distance.
But as she lay there, drifting toward a deep, dreamless sleep, she felt something she couldn't explain.
Soren didn't retreat to his side of the bed. Instead, he shifted closer, sliding an arm beneath her neck and pulling her against his chest.
His other hand came to rest possessively, yet gently, over her hip.
Reia stiffened instinctively. Her mind whirred with confusion. Why is he doing this?
There was no more sex to be had even if they wanted more or not, there was no reason for this tenderness. This wasn't part of the arrangement.
She waited for the catch, for the moment he would ask for something more, but it never came.
There was only the steady, reassuring thrum of his heartbeat against her back and the heat radiating from his skin and his hand brushing through her hair in a way that felt hypnotic.
It was aftercare, something she had never experienced before. Not a calculated move to get another round, but a simple, quiet acknowledgment that she was a person.
The confusion warred with a deep, bone deep need for safety. Slowly, her muscles uncoiling, she allowed herself to lean into him.
She nuzzled her face against the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent, and let the unfamiliar comfort wrap around her like a blanket.
As sleep finally claimed her, her last conscious thought was a bewildered whisper to herself, This is supposed to be a mistake.
But as she sank into unconsciousness, she didn't feel like she had made one.
...
Soren waited until he was sure she had fallen deeply asleep.
With his cultivation, he wasn't as tired as he let on, though even he could feel a pleasant soreness filling his body.
Reia was still asleep, her breathing deep and even. In her unconscious state, she had abandoned all pretense of distance.
She was curled against him like a koala, one leg draped over his thigh, her face pressed possessively into the hollow of his throat.
Her arms were wrapped around his torso, clinging to him as if she feared he might vanish if she let go.
A part of him, the part that still valued control felt a flash of dismay at how thoroughly she had invaded his space.
But the rest of him, the part that had felt more alone than he wanted to admit, simply felt a quiet, aching warmth.
What's with me, this is just for the collar... He told himself.
He could hear the faint chime of the system at the back of his head, he decided to ignore it for after he woke up.
He waited until he was certain she wouldn't wake, then carefully, with the precision of someone handling something fragile, he extricated himself from her embrace.
The cool air hit his bare skin where she had been pressed against him, making him shiver slightly.
Reia made no move to follow him. Her sleep was profound, the kind that only comes from true exhaustion and the rare safety of feeling protected.
Soren sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, watching the steady rise and fall of her shoulders.
Then, he reached into the empty space beside him, mentally calling upon the interface he had grown accustomed to.
He asked Loraine to buy clean water from Lilith, three medium sized pouches costing just 1 LP.
The sealed pouch appeared in his hand. He took it to the washbasin in the corner of the room, pouring a portion of the water into a clean cloth.
With deliberate gentleness, he returned to the bed. He began with himself, cleaning away the evidence of their shared night.
He moved with care that awed him, something he attributed to the muscle memory from the previous Soren.
Using the damp cloth to wipe away the sweat, the faint dried up marks of up and dried salt from her skin.
He cleaned her neck, her shoulders, and the soft curve of her hip where their bodies had been joined. He was careful not to wake her, his movements as light as a breeze.
As he cleaned her, he couldn't help but notice the way she looked in the dim light soft, unguarded, and impossibly human.
Soren shook his head and only put the task at hand, not giving himself the chance to think and make things complicated than he'd needed.
When he was finished, he set the cloth aside and pulled the thin blanket up over her shoulders, tucking it around her to ensure she remained warm.
He settled back into his place on the bed, leaving a small gap between them, though he knew it wouldn't last.
Almost as if sensing his return, Reia stirred. She didn't wake, but she let out a small, contented sigh in her sleep and shifted a little.
Within seconds, she had found him again, her forehead resting against his collarbone, her fingers curling loosely into his shirt.
Soren stared at the ceiling, the quiet of the room settling around them. He was tired, his muscles ached, and he knew that tomorrow would bring complications he wasn't ready to face.
But as he closed his eyes, letting her heartbeat anchor him, and for a few hours, told himself he didn't particularly need to care.