Without warning he dipped his head to take that nipple into his mouth. His tongue lapped at it as he sucked gently. Aliya arched back, longing for more contact with his hard shaft at her throbbing core.
But he wasn’t ready to give in to her yet. His tantalizing ministrations continued at her breasts, moving from one aroused nipple to the other. Her dampened skin prickled in the night air.
She leaned in toward him. He smelled good: a mixture of soap, male, and love. So very human, but irresistible to her. She cradled his head as he moved down to work his mouth over her belly. He was on his knees, worshipping before her. She laughed from sheer pleasure.
Then he was kissing the delicate mound just above her burning opening. Oh, she wished she’d asked more questions. How was it that her body was doing all this? The sensations, the motions, the heavy breathing…it was completely foreign to anything she’d ever experienced before, but yet it came so very naturally. Was it just her newly created human form that made her feel this way? Or was this really a part of her?
But as Devin knelt before her she stopped thinking and let her mind drift into blissful awareness. Devin slid his hands up and down over her back and thighs, letting them settle on her buttocks where he massaged her with a wild tenderness. Nothing mattered but that they were together here and now. She would let herself enjoy this.
There would be time for explanation later.
“Lean against the wall for me,” he said.
She realized she’d backed up beside the cabin and was glad for this support. Her hands found a line of decorative woodwork and she gripped it as Devin pushed her legs apart and nuzzled in, burying his face in her and making her legs go weak.
The flood of excitement was more powerful than any she’d experienced so far as he found her throbbing core and dove in with his tongue. She willed her shaking legs to open farther for him, inviting his probing tongue deeper and deeper. Sensitive nerves, newly formed and still waking, felt each delicious stroke of his tongue. The whisper of beard on his face rubbed her and heightened the pleasure.
Just as she was about to tumble over the edge and lose herself in the fever of sensation, he backed away slightly. His hands slowed their roaming; his touch was gentle and calmed her raging passion. His tongue flicked against her and his lips laid tiny kisses around her heat.
“Come inside me, Devin. Please!”
“Not yet.”
She barely heard his response, but sighed in relief as his fervent kisses increased their intensity. Now he was sucking on her there, and she was back to floating on a sea of insensible bliss. His tongue stroked inside her. She ran her fingers through his dark hair.
She pressed against the wall, barely conscious of it. Devin was drawing something from her, something wonderful and thrilling. She was very nearly shouting to the sky when, again, he pulled away from her.
She whimpered. He was running his hands over her legs in slow patterns now, and his kisses had moved from her steamy center to the insides of her thighs. She knew enough of their lovemaking to understand he was doing this intentionally, but couldn’t make sense of it. Why didn’t he continue? Why had he stopped just as she was coming to the point of succumbing to his efforts?
Earlier he had been so excited by her passion. He said watching her, hearing her cries, was the best part of it for him. Why now was he so carefully keeping her from reaching a climax? There were so many things she just did not know about being a human, but everything she felt in Devin’s emotions was that he was every bit as aroused—and frustrated—as she.
He must have sensed her confusion. He was getting good at knowing her thoughts and emotions. Was that because of her mermaid abilities, or was that all a part of this human act?
“I want to be so good for you, Aliya,” he said, gazing up at her. “I want to be better than everything else, so you’ll stay.”
She saw the love in his eyes and understood what he was saying. He knew she was going to leave, and he thought it was because she would choose it. Her heart broke for them both. Suddenly it wasn’t so very difficult to lie.
“I’ll stay, Devin. I’ll stay forever.”
He smiled at her, and pulled her closer to him. Again his face disappeared and he was working magic on her. She slumped against the wall and pressed her hands into his shoulders to hold herself upright. By the Seas, he was amazing.
She felt his taught muscles under her fingers. He was holding himself back for her pleasure. He was being as careful with her as if she were the most precious thing on earth. He was giving her his entire being and she gladly gave herself up to him.
The pressure mounting inside her was unbearable. Devin’s tongue, his hands, his lips, his scent…it was all too much. At last she came, crying out in nonhuman utterance and calling Devin’s name to the stars above. Her body was quaking and just before she crumbled into a pile of pleasured flesh, Devin stood and took her into his arms.
He lifted her feet off the floor and held her against the wall. She draped her arms around him and kissed his neck, his ears, his chin. With a growl, he drove his hardened cock into her.
She cried out again, awed by the revived wave of desire and passion that washed over her once more. She thought she’d already risen to the heights of pleasure just seconds ago, but now he had her drowning again in his love. She gasped for air, every moment her ecstasy increasing and gaining strength. The power of it was terrifying, and wondrous.
She arched into him. He thrust once, then again, harder. He was breathing heavily, thrusting into her again and again. She felt herself spiraling out of control, but never wanted it to end.
Her face was buried against his chest; she was gasping out words but not caring what she said. She only knew she was encouraging him, begging him to make her his own. Forever.
And he did. Panting and shuddering, he finally reached his climax, taking her with him. They fell into each other, leaning against the wall, still joined and clinging for dear life.
“You are amazing, Aliya,” he said when he could speak. “Like no one I’ve ever encountered.”
“That was more than I ever could have wished for, Devin,” she replied. She did wish, however, that she could confess that she was falling in love.
Chapter Twelve
Kyne hovered over the field of wildflowers he’d taken refuge in. He’d managed to avoid everyone all through the night, but now the dawning sun was just brushing fresh, rosy fingers over the horizon and he breathed in the heady scent of dewy nature. This is where he belonged, here alone, halfway between magic and earth. This is where he was safe.
He’d been so angry last night when he discovered the mermaid. Raea had gone way over the line and he’d been ready to throttle her for it. But the more that he searched for her and the more he recalled those human bodies intertwined, the more he realized he couldn’t quite dare to approach Raea. Not in the state he was in. It seemed anger served only to fuel his forbidden passion. He’d had to give up and retreat off by himself, far away from humans and fairies.
But he knew where Raea was. This time of the morning she’d likely be back near the city, granting the first of the day’s wishes and muddling in human affairs. Human affairs that allowed them to indulge their animal lust and desire. He knew what she was about. Thank the Skies he was safe here, too far away for those passions to affect him. If only he’d been able to leave his own thoughts so far behind.
But those had followed. The anger at Raea for dragging an innocent mermaid into it, anger at the human for mistaking that poor creature for one of his own, and anger at himself for being so damn turned on by it all. By the Air and the Skies and everything in them, he hated himself.
Even with Raea and the humans nowhere near him, he had suffered throughout the night. His body throbbed, ached, begged for release. At first he just ignored it, tried to focus on his anger and how he’d confront Raea once he’d calmed down. But thoughts of her just made things worse.
So he’d put his energy into his
work, using the last of his rationed Fairy Dust to make things grow, to seed the clouds for a gentle summer rain later in the day, to tint the breeze with honeysuckle and warmth. But nothing helped.
Everywhere he looked he was reminded of the natural urges of earth things. Night creatures called out for one another. Grasses swayed in the damp air, their fronds swaying and rubbing against one another like lovers.
Even the moon, a silver shaft in its phase, dipped in and out of the passing clouds in a rhythm that was entirely too familiar. The whole world was a constant reminder of what Kyne craved but could not have.
No, he corrected himself, it was not that he could not have it. He could have it any time he wanted, could flit around, taking whatever he wanted from any creature he desired. Human, fairy…mermaid, apparently. He could plunge his too-human part into anything soft and open and female. It would be paradise.
All he’d have to do would be sacrifice everything he’d ever known. To acknowledge that the human ways were stronger than the fairy ways. To declare himself weak.
And that he would never do. Never! Humans had proven themselves everything he detested. They were dull, cruel, selfish. They lived only for those carnal desires and cared nothing for what it did to others, like his mother. She’d been used and tossed aside. No human man had ever come looking for them, wondering what had come of the woman he’d seduced or the child that he’d sired.
No, Kyne would never embrace that side of himself. If he had to suffer through every day of his life, he would never give in. He’d rather die first.
And he practically wished he could die by the time his body finally gave in to frustrated exhaustion and let him sleep. But it was a restless, dream-filled sleep and now he was finally glad to be awake. Fairies needed very little sleep, after all. Plus, the tree he’d chosen to settle in hadn’t been any too comfortable.
Now with the sun just coming up and another day dawning, he let himself hope that things would be better. The flowers were flourishing under his care, the bees buzzed in harmony, and a perfect summer was under way in this part of the world. He could take pride in that. He was a damn good Summer Fairy, if he did say so himself.
And he did say so, over and over again, assuring himself that this was the best life had to offer and that he was wholly satisfied with it.
He almost had himself convinced, too, when Raea flitted up and interrupted his mantra.
“So here you are,” she said. Her voice was cheerful and perky, and her pink was even more pink than usual.
By the Skies, she looked good in the morning.
“Of course I’m here. I’m working. What are you doing here? There’s no one making any wishes around here, that’s for sure,” he grumbled. “There’s no revolting human sex going on, either.”
She just rolled her lavender eyes and looked annoyed. And smug. He pretended to be very interested in a wilted milkweed in need of some tending. Infuriating fairy. She thought he had no clue what she’d been up to. Just how stupid did she think he was?
Then again, she hadn’t expected him to be out spying on her lusty little mermaid. Hmm, that might be uncomfortable, trying to explain what he’d been doing out there in the middle of the night, eavesdropping on their tryst. He’d have to come up with some logical excuse. As soon as he could formulate logical thought.
Raea hovered in the air, not two feet away from him. Her wings stirred up the pollen in the air, filling Kyne’s senses with summer smells and Fairy Dust. The combination played havoc on both of his halves, human and fairy. Damn it! How did she have this effect on him? Why couldn’t he just be angry at her, instead of noticing how soft her skin looked in the warming dawn light?
And why could he not get this milkweed to stand up straight? It only served to draw attention to the certain particular object that ought to be drooping—but wasn’t. Damn his human half!
“So, how’s that summer stuff coming?” Raea asked with way too much cheerful indifference.
“It’s just fine, thank you,” he snarled. “Not as if you’re actually interested.”
“Well, I’d just hate to find out you’ve been hauled in for incompetence before I’ve even had a chance to beat you at our little wager.”
“Oh? You’re that sure you’re going to win this?”
She tossed her wavy hair and gave him a smile that he would have described as nothing short of flirty. Flirty! By the Skies, was Raea flirting with him? Great. That’s all he needed. Fairies didn’t flirt. He had to be imagining it.
But she fluttered closer to him and started circling. He was glad his feet were currently firmly on the ground. Flying would be decidedly difficult at this point. Raea’s lovely rounded breasts, covered in her traditionally scanty costume of close-fitted dove feathers, were exactly at Kyne’s eye level. And near enough for touching, if he were so inclined.
Which he was—quite intensely—but he managed to restrain himself. She was a cheater, a mermaid-user, a rule-breaker, and all sorts of other undesirable things. He didn’t want her at all. Not in a million years.
Okay, he was lying. He wanted her badly and several million years probably wouldn’t change that. He wouldn’t mind testing that theory, however. A million years to satisfy his need for Raea…not a bad start.
“What’s the matter, Kyne?” she said. No, it was more like purring. Damn her. “You look nervous. Are you afraid maybe you made an unwise wager with me?”
“I’m not afraid of you,” he said.
He was terrified, in fact, as she came even closer. He could feel her breath now.
“Oh? So it wouldn’t bother you if I said I’d already won the bet?”
He could feel the air between them crackling with excitement. Could she feel it, too? Did she know what a dangerous dance she was doing, flitting around him like a helpless hummingbird teasing a ravenous falcon?
“Have you?”
She smiled. It spread slowly over her face. This was not her usual bright, open smile, but a sly grin filled with heat and anticipation and promise of something wonderful. If she had any idea what it did to his already elevated body temperature—and parts—she’d have flapped her little wings as fast as she could back toward home.
But she didn’t. She trusted her friend, so she stayed. It was torture for him.
“Even as we speak, one very happy former virgin is enjoying the last hours of her wish come true,” she said.
Images of the couple on the boat flooded Kyne. He swallowed back desire.
“That’s fast work, Raea.”
“Naturally. I warned you it would be too easy.”
And it would be only too easy to wrap his arms around her, pin those dainty pink wings down, and hold her here. She was small, a full inch shorter than he was. After all, he was a giant by fairy standards. She wouldn’t stand a chance against him. And the way she was smiling all coy and fluttery at him, it seemed perhaps she wouldn’t put up much struggle, either.
“So the deed is done so soon, is it?” he asked, for something to say. “And all the stipulations were met? You found a virgin, never before touched by carnal pleasures?”
It was nearly painful for him to even form the words.
“I did. She was as innocent as the driven snow.”
Kyne could only imagine. Mermaids had even less contact with humans than fairies did, in general. That poor girl on the boat could have had no idea what she was in for. She must have been shocked, frightened even, as that man came to her in full arousal. Kyne shuddered at the mental image that conjured.
And Raea had set her up for that. How could she do this thing? Did Raea truly have no idea what went on? No, she’d seen enough to know. She’d seen the power of a man’s desire. She’d heard the cries of lovers in the midst of their ecstasy. She knew. Yet she’d still sent that mermaid into such a situation.
“The subject agreed to our terms?” he asked.
The slightest pause confirmed any doubts he may have had. Yes, Raea had cheated. The mermaid had not
known the full truth. “Yes. I told you she would.”
“So, this virgin knew what she was getting into and she’s still happy about it this morning?” he asked.
“She’s very happy.”
By the Skies, he could make Raea very happy, too. She would enjoy what he could do for her. He could bring her to life deep down in those forbidden parts. He could make her know desire, heat, passion, and satisfaction. He could show her things she’d never imagined. He could love her in a way no other fairy ever could.
And she would join him willingly, he was sure of it. She’d give herself freely with abandon. They would enjoy each other to the fullest and no one would have to know about it. Ever.
“She was a willing participant?” he asked, his muscles tense from the struggle to keep his hands off her.
“She was more than eager to participate,” Raea said.
Her wing brushed his chest as she drifted nearer to him, meeting his smoldering gaze unafraid. It was all the encouragement he needed.
A tiny gasp of surprise escaped her when he shot an arm out to catch her. In a heartbeat she was in his grasp, wrapped against him, her wings folded and useless. He knew his embrace was forceful, but he didn’t want to run the risk of losing her.
His lips came down on hers, ensnaring her before she had a chance to realize what was happening. She tasted sweet and needy and pink. She tasted like he’d always known she would. She felt like what he’d been begging for all along. This was the rightest thing he’d ever done. All of the yearning and desire that he’d repressed for so long, the wants that he’d cursed year after year, wrapped themselves around him like a comfortable cloak. With Raea in his arms he was finally embracing the rolling tide of passion inside him. His skin, his fingers, his very essence, sizzled with anticipation.
She did not sizzle, though. He felt her body go taut. She was frozen in his arms, motionless and rigid against the onslaught of his kiss. His tongue probed for entrance, but her lips remained sealed. There was nothing yielding in her soft, curving body as he held her, touched her, desperately tried to drag passion from her.
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