“Not the feet.” Desperately, her mind scrambled for an argument that would actually make sense to him. “Laughter is good, especially in bed. But my feet are sensitive, and if you make me jerk away from you like that, you’ll just end up pissing me off.”
It was the truth, but it was also a lame argument considering she was tied to the bed. He had her exactly where he wanted her. She had a feeling this scenario was new enough to him that his “play” might extend to places she hadn’t considered. Like tickling her feet.
“You said you’d stop if I asked you to.” She looked down her body at him, willing him to keep his word. Suddenly the discussion had nothing to do with her being ticklish, and everything to do with him being worthy of her trust. The moment stretched and loomed into something much bigger than the context of their conversation. The air grew heavy and she knew that if he failed in this, something precious would be broken.
He kissed the not-ticklish arch of her foot and released her. Pushing her legs apart, he prowled up the bed. “I told you I would honor your trust.” He paused to kiss just above her mound, then rubbed his cheeks against her abdomen and belly as he advanced up her body. “That holds true for all things, big and small.”
Those quiet words, delivered in his deep voice, seemed to lodge directly into her heart. Winter’s eyes prickled and she squeezed them shut before tears could form.
“That’s…” She had to swallow before she could get the rest of the sentence out. “That’s very important to me. I find it hard to trust and…” Her thickening throat cut off her words and she clenched her teeth, fighting to regain control.
She felt stupid. Only minutes ago she was overcome with pleasure, and now she was on the verge of tears. Kasim would think she was a whack job if he realized how far she’d see-sawed. He stilled against her and she held her breath. Please, please don’t notice. Just keep going.
But of course he didn’t. It seemed Kasim was sensitive to more than just her arousal. He moved to lie on top of her, his denim-clad legs outside hers, his arms under her back and his hands cupping her shoulders. His body was big, hard, and hot. She felt small and feminine lying beneath him. Rather than feeling overwhelmed or caged, he made her feel safe and protected. The sensation was so new, so unique, it made her heart ache.
“Talk to me, Winter.”
She shook her head, keeping her eyes squeezed shut. “I don’t want to ruin the mood.”
“You’re still willing to share yourself with me?”
“Yes. I want that very much.”
His lips brushed her forehead, then her cheeks, and when he licked gently at her eyelids, she felt a hot salty tear slip free.
“Shit. I’m sorry.” What a buzz kill.
“Why are you crying?”
“I don’t know.” Her face flushed with embarrassment. God, could this be any worse?
“Open your eyes.” Well, yes. Apparently it could get worse. Kasim nipped her jaw in what felt like a warning. “Winter.”
After a couple of clearing blinks, she met his gaze. He looked so beautiful and strong as he loomed above her. She couldn’t believe she was fucking it all up.
“Why are you crying?” The question was just as soft, and just as impossible, the second time around.
“I don’t know. It just…” She blew out an impatient breath and tried to pull herself together. “I’ve been let down my whole life, on things both important and innocuous. Being with you like this”—she flexed her bound hands—“is an act of trust beyond anything I’ve given any man.” She frowned and her gaze slid from his. “I expected to feel physically vulnerable, but I didn’t expect to feel emotionally exposed. It just caught me off guard, that’s all.”
Kasim lowered himself until his forehead rested softly against hers. “I thought your body was the most precious gift you could give me, but your tears are an unexpected treasure.”
They rested quietly, face to face, breath to breath, and body to body. And, as far as Winter was concerned, soul to soul. She’d thought she understood emotional intimacy, but in that moment she realised just how wrong she’d been. She’d never experienced anything like this and she’d sure as hell never encountered anyone like Kasim.
When he lifted his head, his eyes burned hot. “I give you my word, here and now, that I will never betray your trust. If you need me, for anything at any time, I will come for you.”
“Kasim.” She didn’t know what else to say.
Leaning on his elbow, Kasim freed one hand to roam her body. “I don’t like it that you have no one to rely on.”
My God. For someone who tried to appear so cold and hard, he had a huge heart. Winter looked up at him as his eyes followed the trail of his hands, his thoughts lost in her body. And that was when she realized she was seeing a part of Kasim that was usually hidden. The insight made her heart skip and her lungs squeeze.
“Thank you, Kasim. I am deeply honored.”
He nodded, satisfied that she had accepted his promise. And she had accepted it, tucking it deep in her heart where it would be safe, never to be used.
His warm, calloused hand skated up her body until he reached her breast. Squeezing gently, he plumped and kneaded, testing her weight and texture. Then he flexed his hard cock against her mound. “Are you ready to continue our play?”
And just like that her body caught fire. “Yes.”
Kasim sat up, easing back so his ass pinned her thighs. As he did so he slid his hands down her body until his hands cupped her hips. “You are very beautiful, Winter.”
“Thank you.” So was he. She just wished he’d trust her enough to get skin-to-skin.
Keeping his palms pressed tight to her body, he pushed his hands up until he covered her breasts. “Is there anything else I should know? Are there any other pleasure zones you’d like me to explore?”
“Well”—she licked her lips in anticipation—“if you want to play with my breasts for a while, that would be okay.”
He rolled her nipples between his thumb and forefinger and she arched under his touch. “Just okay?”
“Yep.” She put as much defiance as she could in that one word, instinctively knowing that Kasim would enjoy the challenge.
The smile he gave her was kind of evil, and she suddenly saw the flaw in her flirtation. Kasim liked to learn, but he also liked to torment.
He started stroking her breasts with the tips of his fingers in light, barely-there caresses. Occasionally, he would bend down and lick her nipples, or he’d brush his beard lightly over her skin. He was baiting her, and she held out as long as she could, but it was an unequal contest from the start.
“Kasim, please.”
“Please what, jessira?”
“I need more.”
“More than just okay?”
“Yes.”
When he leaned down this time, he took her nipple into his mouth and sucked hard enough to elicit a moan of pleasure. Then he used teeth, tongue, and lips until she was writhing under him, sweaty and panting. Switching from one breast to another, using both hands and his mouth, he turned her into a creature of sensation.
Bolts of pleasure shot from his body into hers and she became a tangle of need. Her breasts ached, her pussy throbbed, and her insides grew heavy with desire. The sensations burned through her body, growing bigger, more intense, until her skin became too tight to hold them all in. She rode a wave of ecstasy so high and wild it was almost painful. The pleasure wrapped around her, coiling tighter and tighter until she could do nothing but beg. When Kasim lowered his hand to her pussy, she exploded the second he touched her clit.
The orgasm was violent. It picked her up, held her on the cusp, rigid and shuddering. Then it blasted her apart, exploding her from the inside out. Nerves sparked, muscles clenched, and her mind blanked. She shattered into a thousand pieces of blinding light, screaming as she came.
When she returned to herself, she was sweaty, panting, and completely without muscle control.
Ka
sim rolled to one side to relieve her of his weight, but he kept one arm tightly wrapped around her waist. She pressed closer to him, needing the contact. He pulled her tight, rolling slightly so he could throw his leg over hers.
“All good?”
“I’m not sure.” She was too shattered for a polite lie, and the truth just slipped out. “I’ve never experienced anything so intense. I feel like I’ve been sandblasted from the inside out.”
Kasim lifted his head to look at her. “That sounds bad.”
“No, it was good.” But somehow also devastating. She kept that revelation to herself and smiled at him. “For a novice in the art of human women, you’re exceeding all expectations.”
His grin made his stern features seem almost boyish. “And we haven’t even got to the good part yet.”
Oh God. She wasn’t sure she could survive another orgasm like the last one.
Said no woman ever. Until now.
Kasim moved over her, making room for himself between her thighs. He reached between them and unzipped his jeans, wriggling a bit as he rearranged his clothing. Then Winter felt the hard, blunt tip of his cock at her entrance. Pushing in just a little, Kasim loomed over her, bracketing her ribs with his forearms, his hands easing under her to grip the top of her shoulders. He caught her gaze, locking their eyes together as he tightened his hips.
He entered her slowly, inching into her in small flexing pulses, rubbing his cock against her internal muscles. When he finally seated himself, Winter was stretched to the limit, full and aching.
Then he pulled all the way out and slammed into her. Once, twice, three times before he came in a shuddering wave that seemed to last minutes not seconds. He clung to her, his seed flooding her with heat, his body reverberating against hers in an act both powerful and vulnerable.
She knew from their previous night together that Kasim was capable of multiple orgasms. Locking her ankles at the base of his spine, she held him close the only way she could.
Cradling her jaw with one hand, Kasim tilted her head and brushed his lips over hers. A kiss of tenderness, gratitude, and connection. His lips were soft and firm and the brush of his beard was an extra layer of sensation.
When his tongue darted out to lick the seam of her lips, she opened for him and he growled in pleasure. Taking her bottom lip in his teeth, he tugged and nipped until Winter lifted her head to get closer. Then he sealed his mouth over hers, sweeping his tongue inside her mouth to ravage her.
The force of his kiss pressed her head back into the pillow, and Winter was helpless to anything but return the kiss. Stroking her tongue against his when he invaded her, suckling him when he eased back, chasing after him when he moved too far away.
His kiss was incendiary, lighting her up like a match to gasoline. She moaned into his mouth, automatically flexing her hips to get closer to him. He pushed back, shoving himself deep and high inside her.
It was glorious, and she was drunk on the pleasure Kasim gave her. A fact that would have bothered her if she’d been able to form a coherent thought.
Chapter Fourteen
Kasim was out of his mind with need. Winter writhed underneath him, moaning in pleasure—begging him for more in the brief moments he freed her mouth. With every breath, her scent invaded his body, calling to both man and cat. And with every twitch and moan, her intimate muscles squeezed his cock, scorching him with the heat of her desire.
He plundered her mouth, rough and demanding, and Winter gave him everything she had. Open both physically and emotionally, she bared herself to him in a way that had nothing to do with being naked. And before he thought about it, before he could talk himself out of the insanity, he mentally reached for her. Dropping his shields, he pushed his energy out to mesh with hers. Masculine to feminine, Jendari to human, lepardine to mate. It was the most intimate act a rhe’hashan could perform, and it was one Kasim had never thought to offer before now.
Once they were joined body, heart and soul, Kasim started to move. Rolling his hips, he began to fuck Winter slow and deep, savoring the slide of his cock against her slick heat. She met him stroke for stroke, her calves wrapped around his thighs to give her traction.
It didn’t take long before they both became desperate. Kasim sped up and Winter lifted her hips to meet him, pushing faster than the rhythm he’d set. Hungry for something deeper, he lifted his torso from her body. Gripping her hips to keep her tight against him, he sat back on his heels. Winter was stretched out before him, bound and helpless, and he’d never felt more humble in his life.
Her golden skin was sheened in sweat, her dark hair lay in long tangles on the pillow, and her desire-clouded eyes never left his face.
“You’re exquisite, jessira.” Not just in the way she looked, but who she was as a woman.
“Take off your shirt.” Winter’s tone held equal parts of demand and request.
Kasim froze and his ardour cooled in a heartbeat. He never allowed skin-to-skin contact. It made him feel too exposed. Too vulnerable.
“Please, Kasim.” She looked up at him, her brown eyes asking for things he didn’t think he could give. “I’m tied up, I can’t touch you. But I want to feel you. Please.”
He stroked his hand over her belly. “I can’t. You know that.”
“Have you ever tried?”
“No.” After he’d been raped, the mere thought of anyone touching him made him physically sick. Over the years, he’d learned to deal with his mental scares, had found ways to accommodate them, but they always lurked just under the surface. Getting skin-to-skin would risk awakening all his demons.
“Will you try with me?”
He looked down at her, so calm and confident despite the fact she was bound and naked. No clanswoman would ever allow herself to be in such a position. And no Jendari, regardless of gender, would push a rhe’hashan in a direction he or she didn’t want to go.
Yet Winter was doing all that, and her expression told him she expected him to rise to her challenge.
Gritting his teeth and calling himself all kinds of fool, Kasim yanked his t-shirt over his head. He was about to fling it across the room when Winter’s voice stopped him.
“Put it on the floor near the bed, just in case you need to put it back on.”
He nodded, too anxious to speak. All of a sudden, the need to please Winter superseded his need to protect himself. She had fulfilled his deepest fantasy and she had given him a level of trust that humbled him to his very bones. He understood the risk she’d taken on him, and he wanted to do something of equal value for her.
It was a shame this was what she chose, but choose it she did. And while he might not have the courage to succeed, he did have the courage to try.
His blood pounded through his body, the roar in his ears drowning out everything else. Nervous sweat prickled down his back and his cock—which had softened—slipped from her body.
Kasim shut out everything but Winter. Ignoring the tremors that wracked him, he shoved his pants down his legs and kicked the fabric away. Keeping his arms straight, he positioned himself over her, his hips between her legs.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide. “It’ll be okay. No matter what happens, you and I are good.”
By the Goddess, he hoped so, because he was stepping into new and treacherous territory.
Carefully, gently, he lowered his body onto hers. Hips, belly, chest, until he came to rest with his cheek against her temple.
Kasim emotionally braced himself, waiting for the fear to come, ready to battle the flashbacks. He breathed deep, taking Winter’s scent into his body, using it as a shield to keep the memories at bay.
“Just stay with me,” she whispered. “Keep yourself in the here and now.” She rubbed her face against his, the movement cat-like enough to give him comfort. “You’re so much bigger and stronger than me, Kasim. I’d never be able to hurt you, even if I wanted to.” Another nuzzle, and this time he felt the velvety touch of her lips on his neck. “I’m tied dow
n. You are completely and totally in charge.” She kissed his neck again and this time he tilted his head to give her better access.
Kasim kept waiting for the past to come at him, but it never arrived. Saturated as he was in Winter’s scent and energy, it seemed the past couldn’t reach him. This brave, fragile human had somehow formed herself into his shield. In surrendering to him, she’d become powerful enough to unlock his prison, at least for a while.
For the first time in his life, Kasim lay skin-to-skin with another person, and the sensation was pure bliss.
Turning his head, he whispered in her ear. “I’ve never been naked in bed before. I’ve never felt the warmth of a female against my skin.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.” Surprisingly, amazingly, he felt good. Better than good. “The sensations are so much sharper without the barrier of clothing. I can feel your breasts against my chest, skin soft and nipples hard. I can feel the rise and fall of your breath.” He nipped at her earlobe. “I can feel the silky hair of your core against my cock, which is growing harder by the second.”
Rising onto his elbows, he speared his fingers into her hair, holding her head exactly where he wanted it. “Thank you, jessira. Words cannot describe the gift you’ve given me.”
“You’re welcome.” Her smile was soft and he bent his head to taste it, running his tongue over the curve of her mouth.
She opened for him and he sipped at her, nibbling her full lips, tugging gently with his teeth. Then he sealed his mouth to hers, sweeping in and claiming her with every stroke of his tongue. Skimming his palms over her body, he imprinted the feel of her into his hands. The curve of her hip, the indentation of her waist, the subtle ridges of her ribcage, the glorious fullness of her breasts. The delightful sensitivity of her nipples.
She was so beautiful, so sensual, he couldn’t hold himself together. Without meaning to, he began to sing her his song.
Cheek-to-cheek, his mouth at her ear, he sang the song of his soul. Pouring every part of himself into the words, he gave them voice in his native language. He rocked against her, more exposed than he had ever been. More joyful. More right.
Breaking Ice (The Jendari Book 2) Page 12