by Ophelia Bell
With a wicked tilt to her mouth, she pressed a hand against his shoulder and pushed. Gaius fell onto his ass, landing on the bed in a patch of bright moonlight and gazing up at her with a fierce, defiant look.
Nessa half-expected him to complain again about how bossy she was, but instead he just reached for her, a low growl erupting from his throat. He yanked her to him, and she had no choice but to spread her thighs and straddle him or else bang into his bandaged knees. Her thighs slid against his hips and her soaked core grazed his hard length.
Any semblance of tenderness he’d displayed a moment ago was long gone. He urgently pushed the shirt off her shoulders, tearing it away impatiently.
“Thought you wanted me in that thing,” she said, laughing.
“Need you naked more.” He pushed his hips up into hers, making her gasp at the raw, silken heat of his cock as it grazed her tender folds. His big hands roamed up and down her back, his beard brushing against her chest as he covered her neck in kisses and soft bites, gradually moving down to pepper her breasts with more.
All the while he tortured her with the slow, languid thrusts of his hips, rubbing the length of his shaft along the slick, swollen flesh between her thighs to the point she was close to climax again.
She tried pushing him back so she could climb on and fuck him, but he just growled and gripped her ass harder, grinding his hips more fervently against hers.
“Dammit! I need you inside me so bad.”
“How bad?” he asked.
“Gaius, will you just lay down so I can fuck you?”
He chuckled around her nipple and lifted his eyes as his lips popped off the tip of her breast. “How bad do you need it, Ness? I think maybe it’s not bossy if you beg.”
It was her turn to growl. “Down,” she said, pushing with bear strength against both shoulders this time. Gaius went, laughing up at the moon as she moved to straddle his cock.
“Hang on, baby,” he said. “Let’s do this right.” He hooked an arm around her and pushed himself farther up the bed until they were fully on it, bathed in moonlight. “Better?”
“Yes. Much.” She braced her hands on his chest and fixed her gaze on his as she lifted her hips again and positioned him between her thighs. His tip pierced her perfectly, sliding deep with a long, smooth stroke that she savored every second of. She dropped her head back as she began to move, enraptured by the sensation of his entire length receding from her before plunging back in hard.
They maintained a slower tempo than before, Gaius seeming content to let her set the pace. When she glanced down at him, he had both hands propped under his head as though he were merely a spectator to their fucking. He seemed entertained more than involved, which irritated her.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“Getting fucked by a gorgeous she-bear. You wanted to be on top, baby. I want to lay back and watch you take care of yourself on my cock. Make yourself come on me.”
She lifted off him and sank back down, slower now, enjoying the way his gaze heated with each slow increment of her sheath encompassing his length.
“I don’t need you to get myself off,” she said. “I could just go home and finish.”
“But you won’t. You’re enjoying yourself way too much, and so am I. So let’s compromise. You got me on my back, now let me boss you around a little. Make yourself come, baby.”
The slow strokes along his length were affecting her sanity. She desperately wanted to come, but after the last two rounds had somehow built up an expectation that he would be the one to do it.
“I want you to come with me,” she said, though the excuse was a weak objection.
“Honey, I’m ready to explode right now. Just waiting for the right moment to let go. Now touch yourself.”
Her thighs ached from the slow lift and fall of her hips against his, and she almost wished for him to flip her over again and nail her hard like he had before. But she did as he demanded anyway, the bossy bastard.
Sliding her fingers between her thighs, she found her clit, slick and hot and unbelievably swollen with need. She couldn’t help but gasp as she gave herself one light stroke, her eyelids fluttering closed at the intensity. Her channel clenched hard around him and he emitted a low growl of encouragement as he rose up to meet her downward thrusts.
Biting her lower lip, she couldn’t help but watch his face as he watched her. She clutched one breast, squeezing and pinching her nipple while she swirled her fingers between her thighs in quicker strokes, a rush of sensation already flooding her lower extremities.
Gaius’ lips parted and his chest heaved. His eyes blazed with need and he dropped his hands to her hips, squeezing and urging her to a quicker tempo.
He’d taken over control, easily guiding her up and down his cock as he rocked his own hips into her with increasingly needy, violent thrusts. Nessa’s eyelids fluttered half-closed and she let out a long, rough moan when her orgasm blasted through her. Gaius looked completely enraptured at her crumbling, and a second later, he slammed hard into her and held her tight against his hips as his cock pulsed. The slow throbbing beat of him sent prolonged tremors through her body and she licked her lips, exhausted yet unwilling to move just yet and interrupt the delicious sensations.
His body relaxed by increments, his cock slowly softening inside her. He reached up and pulled her down to his chest, kissing her deeply and wrapping his strong arms around her torso. She settled against him, oddly content and more sated than she’d ever been after sex.
12
Nessa returned to semi-consciousness later. She must have dozed for a while, because the room was dark, the moon having moved across the sky and no longer bestowing its light on their little tryst. Gaius held her close, body curled around hers, his warm, hard chest pressed against her back. It had grown chilly, but she was toasty warm, thanks to the blankets he must have covered them with while she slept.
She felt so damn good she didn’t want to leave, but spending the entire night in the man’s bed would set a terrible precedent. They could only coexist professionally. The fact that they’d had mind-blowing sex for hours that night didn’t change how they would have to act toward one another during the day.
Nessa eased herself out of his embrace, hoping the evening fog hadn’t descended yet and soaked her clothes through yet again where they hung on his clothesline outside. She could sneak out, take the rest of the weekend to come to her senses, and shake this weird need she’d acquired since visiting him—the need to stay despite all indications that it was a bad idea.
She swallowed when she saw how far the edge of the bed was. Had the thing somehow gotten bigger while she slept? Slowly, she crawled toward the far end, practically holding her breath so she didn’t wake him. She barely made it a couple feet when he reached out, gripped her wrist, and squeezed.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Gaius rumbled. He rose up and toppled her over, pressing her back into the bed as he straddled her.
“Gaius,” she breathed. “I should go home. This was nice, but . . .”
“But what? You don’t like my bed? If you want, we can move back to the stairs.”
“Your bed’s fine. I just need to go.”
“For what? I know Ig and Bry are gone all weekend for the annual League banquet. You don’t need to be anywhere but in my bed. You’re staying.”
Nessa bristled. “I don’t need a reason. If I want to go, I’m going!”
Gaius shook his head and settled himself between her thighs. His elbows sank into the bed on either side of her and his face hovered just above hers, his breath tickling her lips. Nessa’s heartbeat sped up when she realized he was hard again, his cock hot and heavy against her hip.
“The thing is, I don’t believe you really want to go, do you?” He drifted his lips across her cheek from the corner of her mouth to the sensitive skin beneath her ear. His beard tickled in the most delicious way, sending a tingling rush of sensation to her nipples and straight between her thig
hs. “You wouldn’t have even gotten into my bed to begin with, if you didn’t want to be here.”
“Gaius, we need to be adults about this. The sex was great, but it’s a bad idea to get comfortable.”
His mouth and tongue tickled over her shoulder as he slipped lower, one big hand palming her breast before he tweaked her nipple, making her gasp. “Like I said, the stairs are right over there. But you’re not going home until I’m done with you.”
Nessa groaned, partly from frustration and partly from the delicious pleasure that flooded her when he captured her nipple between his lips and sucked hard. She involuntarily lifted her hips, aching for more contact between her thighs. Her entire body craved more of him. It was crazy she could want more after the night they’d already had, but she did.
“You are infuriating,” she complained, but didn’t move when he slid down and knelt between her thighs. He slipped his hands down over her sides, beneath her legs, and pushed them wide. There was no mistaking his intention, and her core flooded with want for exactly what his gaze promised.
Gaius licked his lips as he parted her folds with his thumbs, sliding one digit through the flooded channel before sinking it into her.
“Pretty sure all this has nothing to do with the idea of climbing into your own bed alone.”
“Please . . .”
“Please what? I know you want to tell me, Ness. You want my dick, or my tongue? Your choice.”
He slipped his thumb back out of her and began rubbing slow, tight circles over her clit.
Her body buzzed with need and she tilted her hips up into his touch. Then he stopped.
She glared at him.
“You’re the boss here, baby. What do you want?”
Her bear was already beside itself, ready to pounce on him. He had asked for a decision. Either-or. But she wanted it all.
“Your tongue,” she finally said. “Lick me. Make me come with your mouth. Then I want you to fuck me, but . . .” The image of what she craved—what her she-bear growled for—flitted through her mind.
“But?” Gaius prompted.
“When you fuck me, do it from behind.”
He bared his teeth in a salacious grin. “You got it, babe.”
He immediately settled against the mattress, his broad shoulders pressed against her backside with his palms holding her spread open as far as she could go. Beginning with a slow lick, he traced her cleft with the tip of his tongue all the way from her ass to her clit, drawing out the action until she groaned. He seemed intent on teasing her, probably because he wanted to make her beg again, but she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
He tortured her for several more minutes with long, slow licks, each one greater proof of how fucking amazing he was at using that tongue. Nessa began to mentally plot her revenge, and the very idea of having her mouth on his cock drove her need to greater heights.
Finally she lost patience and tangled her fingers in his hair, forcing his mouth over her clit. “Suck, damn you. Use your tongue there, on my clit.”
His shoulders shook and a low, amused rumble rolled from him, sending pleasant waves of vibration through his mouth and straight into her core.
“My pleasure,” he murmured against her flesh. A second later, he assaulted her aching clit with the perfect combination of sucking and licking, so quick and relentless she completely lost track of all sensation except what she felt between her thighs. Within moments, he had her at the edge and flying over with a loud yell, yanking at his hair and bucking up into his mouth.
Before she’d even had a chance to come down, he grabbed her hips with both hands and flipped her over. He dragged her hips up off the bed and slammed his cock into her soaked pussy so hard she let out a yelp of surprise.
Gaius’ rough grunts and rutting thrusts had her soaring again within seconds, and when he slid a thumb between her ass cheeks and pressed into her tight hole, she lost her mind completely. Her body clenched around him with her most mind-blowing climax yet, her cries this time coming out as hitching, gasping sobs that sounded completely unlike her. But he sounded less than himself as well, his voice rising in a roar that might have shattered glass if his house had windows.
He hunched over her as his cock pulsed into her, teeth grazing her shoulder and leaving a tingling sensation and a weird longing behind. It was as if he’d thought to mark her, but decided against it, and she was both grateful and strangely disappointed.
He hooked his arm around her waist and held her tight as he rolled them onto their sides, his cock still solidly buried deep in her. She reached for the blanket and tugged it partway up her body, Gaius grabbing the edge and covering them both as he settled against her with a low rumble of contentment.
“You’re staying,” he said again, as if the argument hadn’t already been settled when he promised her oral sex.
Nessa smiled to herself and bit her lip as she clenched her core around his half-hard shaft. “I’m a little trapped, so I guess I have no choice.”
Gaius let out a low noise of approval, pushed his hips into her, and then relaxed.
Nessa let go of the worry as well as she could. The truth was that she really didn’t want to leave. But that was the problem.
* * *
The next time she woke up, the room was awash in a dim glow and Gaius’ callused hands were sliding over her body in slow caresses, squeezing and touching every inch of her he could reach. Heavy thickness stretched her core, the delicious fullness of his cock instantly heating her blood once again. How the hell could she still long to be fucked? She’d never been such a crazed, wanton female in her life.
But good god, she still wanted him.
She let out a moan of pleasure and pushed back into him, enjoying the languid rocking of his hips into hers from behind. He kept up the rough caresses, his mouth pressed to her ear and his panting breaths gusting hot across her cheek.
“Can’t fucking get enough of you, Ness. Fuck, what you do to me . . .”
“Don’t stop,” she said, even though he had shown no signs of ever stopping. He slipped a hand down her leg and gripped her knee, lifting her leg high to give himself better access. Behind her, he shifted positions, adjusting his legs and lifting his hips to spear her more directly.
Nessa twisted her torso so she could see him. At that moment, one of Nova Aurora’s two suns broke over the mountains outside and gilded Gaius’ body in a beautiful glow. Instead of silver, all the gray threads in his hair and beard turned gold. His intricate tattoos stood out against his lighter skin now backlit by the sunrise.
Nessa’s breath escaped her at the glorious sight, with his curly mop of dark hair shot through with silver half-hanging over his bearded face, his blue eyes intense as he slowly fucked her. He looked weary, yet for all the world, still intent on her pleasure. His cock thickened inside her and he shuddered, his mouth falling partway open. Without any cue from her, he slipped his hand down her thigh and found her clit, rubbing it in the perfect rhythmic tempo to drive her to the brink with him.
They came in a tangle of limbs, Gaius wrapping his arms around her as he continued thrusting into her. At the very moment of their shared orgasm, the second sun burst over the horizon, flooding the entire house in brilliant light.
Gaius landed on his side in front of her, their legs still entwined. He gave her a semi-irritated look belied by the twitching pull of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “I’m too damn old for this.”
Nessa giggled. “Don’t blame me. If you’d let me leave last night, you could’ve gotten more sleep.”
As if roused by the sunrise, both their bellies rumbled in unison. They gave each other equal looks of shock, then burst into laughter. When their mirth subsided, Nessa said, “I saw breakfast fixings in your fridge out there. I’ll go get something started.”
She started to slip out of bed, hunting around for his old shirt as she made her way to the edge.
“Not a chance,” Gaius said, easily climbing out of bed and a
mbling naked toward the door to the deck. “My house. My kitchen. I cook.”
Nessa stared after him, filled with both envy and disappointment. She had yet to have him eat a meal of hers, but she couldn’t very well bully him out of his own kitchen to prove herself. With a little huff, she snatched up the shirt off the floor and tossed it on, following him out the door.
It was hard to sulk for long. She sat by the dormant fire pit and propped her elbows on her knees, opting to enjoy the view of a big, naked, and perfectly proportioned bear cooking for her.
“I could get used to this,” she said in a warning tone.
Gaius chuffed and glanced at her as he whipped up whatever passed for breakfast to him. Then he came over and stoked up the banked coals until a low fire burned in the pit.
“Better get comfortable, Ness, because I plan to make sure you get used to it.”
13
Gaius wasn’t sure exactly when he’d decided he had to have her as his mate. For all he knew, the desire could have been building since they first set eyes on each other, or when he’d first seen her naked. Possibly it was when she’d tended to his aching knees with such no-nonsense, yet tender care. Or maybe it was during the fifth or sixth time he made her come that first night and still craved more.
Probably it was when he’d first seen her wearing his old shirt.
Whenever it was didn’t matter, because despite spending an entire weekend either making love in his bed, under the waterfall, or around his unfinished house, he could tell she was holding something back. When he was inside her, she was all his, giving herself to him wholeheartedly. But when they took a break to eat or, god forbid, sleep, he sensed her distance herself from him bit by bit.
The end of the weekend came far too soon for his satisfaction. She’d been either naked or in his old shirt for two days straight, but when she slipped her own clothes back on, it was like a wall went up. She was still chipper and as bossy as ever, giving him final instructions on the liniment recipe for his knees. The only difference was that the bossiness made him want to take her back to bed just to hear her beg.