by I. T. Lucas
The woman had him wrapped around her little finger and doing her bidding as if she was the one calling the shots.
She was, though, wasn’t she?
He would do anything to please her.
Except, Amanda might think she had gained the upper hand, but in the grand scheme of things, her victory was an illusion. It played right into his plan. Dalhu was fully committed to doing whatever was necessary to win her over, and to that end—to please her he was willing to go places and do things he’d never endeavored before.
In the end, she would be his.
There was no way he was losing this most important campaign.
He took his time collecting Amanda’s bathing paraphernalia—which was everything besides the soap, razor, and toothbrush that were his—the minute or two spent helping him get over the initial shock of seeing her naked. When he was done, Dalhu was ready to face her again.
Like a man…
“Thank you,” she said when he came back with an armful of stuff he had no idea what she was going to do with. But what did he know. Perhaps all females required five different hair products and nine kinds of lotions.
“My pleasure.” Leaning against the counter, he crossed his arms over his chest, purposefully. His bulging biceps producing the response he was hoping for. Amanda’s appreciative glance had lingered before she shifted her gaze back to his face.
“Well, hand me the stuff and get out. The peep show is over.”
“Which staff are you referring to?” Dalhu arched a brow.
Look at me, being all clever with the wordplay and all…
“Funny, aren’t you?” Amanda feigned nonchalance but couldn’t help shooting a quick glance at the other bulging part of his body. “Just the soap, shampoo, and conditioner,” she said a little throatily.
“You sure that’s all you need, sweetheart?”
“Need and want in one hand, shit in the other—see what you get the most of…” She pinned him with her blue stare. “Get out, Dalhu, I mean it.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He saluted and pushed off the counter. “Don’t take too long, though, I’m of a mind to get in there with you… As you can see, I’m dirty…” he looked down his pecs, flexing “…absolutely filthy.” He winked and walked out.
Closing the door behind him was a no go because the handle was broken and the thing wouldn’t stay closed, but he did the best he could, leaving it only slightly ajar.
He exhaled the breath he was holding and picked up his shirt from the floor, using it to wipe the sweat off his face and his chest. Well, that hadn’t turned out a complete fiasco. When he’d finally been able to think with something other than his dick, he’d noticed the way Amanda had been struggling with her own lust.
Things were not going as smoothly as he’d anticipated, but then nothing ever did. All good things were worth waiting for, and though he didn’t think he’d be waiting much longer, if need be, he would.
After all, time was on his side. The way he’d carefully covered their trail, no one was going to come to Amanda’s rescue anytime soon.
CHAPTER 3: AMANDA
As she heard Dalhu exhale a relieved breath from behind the bathroom door, Amanda smirked with satisfaction.
Dalhu’s surprised expression when he’d burst into the bathroom had been priceless. Seeing her in all her nude glory with her body boldly displayed in the bath’s clear water—not gasping or trying to cover herself as most women would—the guy had been rendered speechless,
But then she was nothing like what he was used to.
Not even close.
Amanda was the daughter of a goddess, for fate’s sake.
He hadn’t been the only one affected, though. As he’d devoured her with his hungry eyes, her body had responded, her nipples growing taut under his hooded gaze.
Ogling her, he’d wiped the drool off his mouth with the back of his dirty hand, looking just as awestruck as one of her students. But that was where the resemblance ended.
Dalhu was a magnificent specimen of manhood, and in comparison, all her former partners looked like mere boys. Shirtless and sweaty, he’d looked just as amazing as she’d imagined he would.
He was big; not even Yamanu was that tall, and Dalhu was more powerfully built. Nevertheless, his well-defined muscles were perfectly proportioned for his size with no excess bulk; he looked strong, but not pumped like someone who spent endless hours lifting weights at a gym.
Following the light smattering of dark hair trailing down the center of his chest to where it disappeared below the belt line of his jeans, she hadn’t been surprised to find that he was well proportioned everywhere. And as he kept staring at her, mesmerized, his jeans growing too tight to contain him, she’d held her breath in anticipation of her first glimpse of that magnificent length.
Oh, boy, am I in a shitload of trouble.
There was just no way she could resist all that yummy maleness. Amanda knew she was going to succumb to temptation.
She always had.
Except, this time, she would be stooping lower than ever. Because she could think of nothing that would scream SLUT louder than her going willingly into the arms of her clan’s mortal enemy…
Shit, damn, damn, shit… she cursed silently.
It had taken sheer willpower to kick him out. She so hadn’t wanted to…
But she would’ve never been able to look at herself in the mirror if she’d succumbed to the impulse and had dragged him down into that bathtub to have her wicked way with him.
Hopefully, he’d been too busy hiding his own reaction to have noticed hers.
What was it about him that affected her so? Yes, he was incredibly handsome, and she was a lustful hedonist… but, come on, she had been a hair away from jumping the guy…
Was she one of those women that got turned on by bad boys?
Yep, evidently I am.
How shameful…
Her hand sneaked down to the juncture of her thighs, and she let her finger slide over the slick wetness that had nothing to do with the water she was soaking in. But after a quick glance at the door that wouldn’t close, she gritted her teeth and pulled her fingers away from the seat of her pleasure.
She couldn’t let Dalhu know how he affected her if she hoped to have a chance of keeping him off her.
And herself off him…
Damn!
She had to keep telling herself over and over again, repeating it like a mantra until it sunk in, that there was nothing that would scream SLUT louder than her going willingly into the arms of a Doomer.
Oh fates, I’m such a slut…
But wait… this was it…the solution to her predicament…
If there was one thing that was sure to shatter Dalhu’s romantic illusions, it was to find out that the woman he wanted for his mate had been with a shitload of others before him.
She was well acquainted with the Doomers’ opinions about women and their place in society. Someone like her would be probably stoned to death in the parts of the world they controlled. And though Dalhu seemed smarter and better informed than the average Doomer, he no doubt believed in the same old double standard. It was perfectly okay for him to fuck a different woman every night because his body demanded it. But it was not okay for her.
She was supposed to suffer the pain like a good little girl because decent women were not supposed to want or enjoy sex…
Well, she not only wanted it and enjoyed it but needed it to survive, just like any other near-immortal male or female.
But try explaining it to a Doomer…
Stupid. Blind. Deaf.
Members of the brotherhood of the ‘Devout Order Of Mortdh’ were brainwashed to hate women and believed them to be inferior and unworthy. It was sad, really, how easy it was for Navuh and his propaganda to affect not only his followers, and not only the male population of the regions under his control but also the women living there. They succumbed to the same beliefs, accepting that they were inferior, that being abused was their du
e, and that that was what their God wanted for them.
The poor things didn’t know any better.
If a girl heard all throughout her life that she was worthless, and her education was limited to basic literacy at best, she was going to believe it, buying into the label she’d been given and perceiving herself that way.
Thinking back to her own youth in Scotland and even later in their new home in America, the situation for women had been only slightly better. Though they were not as badly mistreated as their counterparts in Navuh’s region, the prevailing attitude, sadly, had been similar up until recent times. Women had been considered not as smart and not as capable as men, but at least their mothering and homemaking skills had been appreciated. For most of her life, women had accepted these beliefs as immutable truths, treating the few that had tried to rise above them as bad mothers, misguided individuals, and an undesirable influence on their daughters.
Thank heavens this was changing. There was still discrimination in the workforce, with men getting better pay and faster promotions, but at least the West was on the right track.
Oh, well, her mother and the rest of their clan did what they could. But where Navuh had his clutches deeply in the hearts of mortals there was nothing to be done.
They were lost souls.
As was Dalhu.
The guy struggled against what he was, though, she had to hand him that. But could he break free after the centuries of brainwashing he’d suffered?
As a scientist, Amanda knew there was no hope for him. But as a person, as a woman… well… hope was for children and fools—as Kian was fond of saying.
She wasn’t a child… so that left being a fool…
Still, hopeful or not, how was she going to get the guy disillusioned with her without getting him so enraged that he would chop her head off?
Dalhu was unstable, going from rage to affection in a heartbeat, and she was afraid of what he’d do if she told him the truth about whom he was planning to spend his life with.
Perhaps the smart thing to do was to bide her time and wait to be rescued.
But how would anyone even know where to look for her?
Damn. What to do… what to do…
Wait… but what if she let Dalhu have her…
Just so he wouldn’t kill her… of course…
That wouldn’t count as her going to him willingly, would it?
And if she didn’t suffer horribly in the process… well…
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Dark Enemy Taken
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