His heart stuttered at the contents. Names. One was circled. Daya Arianne. Our daughter has a name.
His fears that she was shying from the idea of a winged child faded away.
“Rietin?”
“On my way.” He pushed through the drape and handed her the glass. It had warmed and was nearly melted. “Would you like me to refresh it?”
“No. It’s good.” Jo drank down half the glass and set it on the table next to the training doll.
He examined her, noting Jo’s preoccupation. Sakkra had said she seemed distressed. Rietin still had no clue what caused her upset.
“Why did you call for Sakku Amy?”
Her cheeks darkened in a blush. “It’s nothing. Really.”
Rietin squatted to her level, trying to meet her gaze. “If it’s nothing, share it with me.” It seemed she didn’t want to share important things with him. Maybe she would share something unimportant.
Jo hesitated, looked at him directly, and cleared her throat. “I have a...sensitive spot.”
“Painful?”
She shook her head in a negative response.
“Show me?”
Her hand traced a line from between her breasts to the lower curve of her womb.
Rietin realized his mouth was hanging open and snapped it shut. Dame’s down. She has dame’s down. According to the medical reports on Amy, even the princess hadn’t displayed that pregnancy sign.
“It’s dangerous. Isn’t it?” Her tone made it clear she was on the verge of tears.
“No. Not at all.” Rietin placed a hand over the center of her womb, and she gasped in response. He rubbed lightly at the line, his cock coming up in excitement.
“What is it?”
“It’s called dame’s down. It is a Sakk pregnancy sign.”
“Why didn’t Amy warn me about it?” she huffed.
“I don’t believe she exhibits it.” He knew she didn’t, but it wouldn’t be proper to admit such intimate knowledge of another male’s mate.
Jo nodded solemnly, no doubt forgiving her cousin for the presumed oversight. “What does it do?”
Oh, this is flirting with impropriety. He decided to simplify it for her. “Have you heard of Kahdi?”
“Yes. Amy warned me about that one. She said—” Her blush went crimson. “Well, she said you would be the best person to soothe it if it occurred, but I don’t believe it’s supposed to happen for another month or so?”
“Not typically, but it can occur anytime after the fourth month. Dame’s down, when it does appear, appears at about the same time as an early Kahdi.”
“So they’re connected?”
“Not...quite.”
Jo’s brow scrunched in confusion. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
Rietin tried to order his thoughts. “There are certain things that help minimize Kahdi.”
“Okay. I assume you mean avoiding it instead of treating it after it occurs?”
He nodded.
“Maybe I should know how to do that.”
His heart ached in the possibility that she wanted to avoid it just to avoid his touch to treat it.
“Rietin?”
I started this conversation. I should see it through. “Sakk females and young are...most comfortable with a male’s touch.”
She sat back a bit, her eyes narrowing.
“A male she trusts,” he clarified for her. If she doesn’t trust me, that’s her way out.
“You mean...?” She rolled her hand in the suggestion of more.
“In the correct circumstances, the dame’s down becomes quite stimulating.” He phrased it as gently as he could.
“An erogenous zone, you mean.” She didn’t question it.
“Yes. I’ve been told it’s quite potent.”
Jo looked at his hand, still cupped around her womb. Rietin withdrew his touch. After such a pronouncement, it was wrong to assume she would welcome his touch.
“I will not. Not unless you want me to,” he assured her.
“Trust,” she repeated back.
“Yes. Trust.” Would that Sakkan would bless him with Jo in his bed once more.
A knock at the door brought his head around. “Yes?”
“Jo?”
Amy. Rietin raised Jo’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “I will leave you to speak with your cousin. I fear I have given you more to think about, when I meant to ease your mind.”
She hesitated a moment, then leaned toward him and brushed her lips against his. “Thank you, Rietin. Maybe...Would you come again tomorrow for lunch? I’d like to learn how to wrap one of the other styles of cazta.”
He tipped his head, in shock that she’d kissed him. “Of course.”
“Jo?” Amy called out again.
Rietin went to the door and let her in. He tipped his head to Amy and made his way past her guards, his heart light.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jo paced the floor of the sitting room, her nerves jumping. I’m crazy. Why am I considering this?
It was a nonsensical question. She knew precisely why she was considering going to Rietin’s room. Sex. My God, the man is the best lover I’ve had.
Rationally, she knew women often turned into well-rounded—Damn the puns you could make about a pregnant woman!—nymphomaniacs while they were pregnant, but she knew she’d want to have sex with Rietin, pregnant or not. He could turn her on with a look, and what he could do with the rest of his body was worthy of a sex god.
It wasn’t smart to jump into a sexual relationship with him again. If they mated, Jo wanted a relationship based on more than that.
Well, we do have common interests. Teaching, for certain.
Technically speaking, she wasn’t jumping into this blind. He’d been coming to her room to help her learn to wrap the caztas for three days, and she’d been arguing this, day and night, for nearly as long.
Should I do it? Shouldn’t I?
“Oh, damn this.” A person could drive herself crazy arguing where she should go from here.
She made her way to Rietin’s door, shutting her own behind her. The eight steps between her door and his felt like eighty meters. Jo took a calming breath and knocked.
Rietin appeared in the doorway, a book in his hand...wearing a cu-wrap, his chest and legs deliciously bare. He stood there, mouth opened wide, seemingly stunned by her arrival.
I’m not backing down now. Jo went up on tiptoe, tunneled her hands in his hair, and brought her lips to his.
It took him only a heartbeat to take her up on the offer. His mouth meshed with hers, and a sound that was probably the book hitting a wall followed.
Rietin guided her into his room and shut the door. He lifted her into his arms and pulled away from the kiss, his breathing rasping.
“Are you sure?”
That kiss had erased all her doubts. Jo nodded and leaned toward his lips again.
The second kiss was even more involved. Rietin moved them across the living room and shouldered the drape across the front of the bedroom away.
He lowered her to the mattress and started working her robe off, his breathing rasping. Jo covered his hand with hers, and he snapped a look at her.
“We’ve got all night,” she reminded him. And if he dared disappear on her again, he was going to pay for it.
Rietin slowed. He unknotted the robe and slipped it from her shoulders, revealing the short Sakk-style nightgown she wore beneath. What she guessed was a Sakk curse escaped his lips.
He glanced up at her and managed a strained smile. “All night?”
His cock tented the front of his cu-wrap, proving he was as naked beneath as she was. Words stuck in her throat, and she nodded.
Rietin trailed his hand up beneath the nightgown, stroking at her heated slit. “Commando,” he breathed. “I like it.”
She liked it, too.
“Remove the nightgown.”
Rietin didn’t wait for her to comply. He worked two fingers in and
out of her, driving Jo toward a shattering release, while she unclasped the nightgown, unwrapped the front, and dragged it off her arms.
She didn’t doubt it was his intent to drive her over, but she wanted more.
“I want you inside me,” she demanded.
Rietin’s shock melted into a hungry look. “Far be it from me to deny a lady what she wants.”
Her protest that he certainly wanted it too came to an abrupt halt at the sight of him unfastening his cu-wrap and dropping it away. Her mouth watered at the sight.
It’s been way too long since I’ve touched him.
Jo wrapped her hand around his cock and started stroking. She leaned toward him and worked her mouth down his length, moaning at his taste firing her arousal. She massaged his balls, and they filled with semen, testifying to how long he’d been without a woman’s touch.
“I thought...” He gasped. “...you said you wanted me inside you.”
She released him. “I didn’t say where inside me,” Jo teased in return.
His expression challenged her. “I know where I want to be,” he informed her.
“Are you saying you don’t want me to suck you?”
“I don’t need to come that quickly. We have all night.”
In the next heartbeat, Rietin was lying across the mattress beside her. He lifted Jo astride his body and buried the length of his cock inside her.
There was nothing frantic about the sex.
Not like our first night together.
He moved slowly. Not so gently that she’d call it careful, but unrushed. Jo had been prepared for a wild ride. She hadn’t been prepared for this.
Every stroke sent her higher. Every touch reminded her why she’d dreamed of him for more than a month after the Christmas party.
Climax crashed over her, and she pushed down onto Rietin’s length with a series of little cries. He followed her over with a groan, his heat making her body tremble in delight.
He looked up at her, his eyes pleading. “Don’t leave yet.”
Jo shook her head, swallowing a laugh. “I believe you promised me the night.”
****
I’ll promise you more than that. But she wasn’t offering more. Take what she offers, one step at a time. Just keep praying there will be another step offered.
Rietin stroked a thumb up the dame’s down, smiling at her demure little shiver. “Do I have permission to teach you?”
She nodded and gasped out a “Yes.”
He pushed himself to sitting under her, used one arm to support her back, and arched her over it, giving himself room to work without removing his cock from its snug home. The move drew new moans from Jo’s lips, and her eyes slid shut.
Rietin brought his head down, blowing puffs of air over the nearly-invisible hair feathers starting just between and below her breasts. Jo’s hands fisted in the blanket, and her inner muscles clenched tight on him.
He exhaled a long, slow breath along the length of the line he could reach. The reaction was more pronounced that time.
Every moan urged him to more. Within minutes, Jo was moving against him, driving down on his cock while he stroked at the wispy threads of feather.
Jo levered herself forward, leaving the support of his arm. Her hands closed in his hair, and she parted her lips against his, inviting him into another heated kiss. It was nothing short of a carnal promise he intended to take her up on.
Her shouts of climax escaped into his mouth, and Rietin added more touches along the dame’s down, driving her further. When her lips left his, she collapsed to his chest with a gasp.
Rietin smiled, then sobered. She was bearing and clearly tired.
“Do you need to sleep, Jo?” he offered.
“You’re not getting off that easily,” she informed him. “I’ve waited a long time for this.
“How long?” He had to know. How long had she wanted him?
She pressed a kiss to his chest. “Since the morning after the Christmas party.”
His cock jerked in excitement, and she swiveled her hips against him.
Rietin nibbled at her earlobe, then laid kisses from there to her mouth. “Then I suggest I show you all the other things a man can do with dame’s down.”
Her answer whispered against his ear. “What, for instance?” She bit lightly.
Rietin envisioned pretty little love bites on her nipples. He’d heard it made them sensitive and the woman receptive, as a result.
“I suggest we turn you to your hands and knees and experiment.”
Her next bite was slightly harder. “I imagine there are more ways than that to use it?”
He nipped at her lips, parting them with his own to mute her groan in a deep kiss. He pulled away minutely. “Yes. There are.”
“Enough to last more than a night?” she hinted.
“Possibly.”
“Bring a cu-wrap to my rooms with you tomorrow. After we practice wrapping a cazta...” Her short fingernails raked at his back. “I have plans for you.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Rietin brought his mouth down on hers, ravenous for more of her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Rietin opened his eyes, smiling at the sight of Jo in his bed. He considered trailing his fingers through the light dusting of dame’s down, then dismissed it. She was bearing and needed her sleep. They’d gotten precious little of it the night before.
Not that I’m complaining about it. If it meant Jo still saw him as a potential mate, Rietin would go light on sleep every night of his life she allowed him to.
Sounds of rushing feet in the corridor brought his head up off the pillow. Rietin waited a moment and then relaxed. Whatever the problem, his only duty was to the woman in bed with him.
The door to his room opened, and he came to sitting, pulling his sword from the sheath at the bedside. He had just enough time to make sure Jo was properly covered with blankets before the curtain parted and Sakkra marched through.
“Rietin, Jo is—” His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped.
The lady in question snapped awake, scrambling to Rietin’s back, the blankets held to her chest. Her breathing rasped in and out, and one hand closed around his ribs.
Sakkra’s gaze went to the sword, and Rietin took his time, sheathing it with a prayer to Sakkan.
“You could have knocked,” Rietin informed the prince.
Sakkra seemed to recover his wits. “Jo didn’t show up for breakfast with Amy and wasn’t answering comms. When she wasn’t in her quarters, we assumed the worst.”
Jo groaned. “I slept in.” That sounded like an apology.
Rietin stroked her hand. “Everything is at the leisure of a bearing woman. If you need sleep, you sleep.”
Sakkra sighed. “Unfortunately, we are dealing with two bearing women.”
He isn’t saying Amy’s comfort is more important than Jo’s, is he? Rietin prepared to protest such an impertinent assumption, prince or no prince.
Sakkra beat him in the race to words. “I will inform Amy that you will meet her for lunch instead, Jo. You need sleep.”
She whispered her thanks, and her grip on Rietin’s ribs eased.
The prince looked toward the drape. “When you are awake, have breakfast delivered here. I will leave a guard on the door.” He didn’t add that he was doing so, because the other males would now view Jo as a sexual woman but still unbound.
Rietin tipped his head. “Thank you, Sakkra. We appreciate your concern.”
Sakkra made his way out and shut the door behind him. Sounds of him giving orders filtered back toward them.
Jo didn’t emerge until the sounds of men moving in the corridor faded away. She tucked the blankets under her arms, her face flushed.
Rietin offered a smile. It widened at her gaze moving down his body to the blankets pooled at his waist. His cock hardened, and her breathing hitched.
“Should we order breakfast?” he offered. Duty demanded he see to her well-being, no matter how much
he wanted follow through on his arousal.
She licked her lips, and Rietin’s mouth went dry.
Please let her want something more. Please.
“I don’t think I want to be out of bed yet,” she informed him.
He waited for her to expound upon what she was insinuating. Did she want sleep or did she want him?
As if in answer, Jo pushed the blankets away, drew his hand to the line of dame’s down, and dragged him into a kiss.
****
“So... Rietin.” Amy didn’t have to make it a question.
Jo swallowed hard and looked around for Sakkra. He was nowhere in sight. He’d disappeared halfway through the meal and hadn’t reappeared.
“I told him we needed to have a female talk. You wouldn’t believe how quickly most Sakk men will scram when they hear that.”
“You know I’ve been spending time with Rietin.” She didn’t doubt that Sakkra knew where they were almost every moment of every day. How her trip to Rietin’s room had escaped his notice was beyond her.
“Learning to wrap a cazta. Yes, I know.”
“And talking about his dreams for the future.”
Amy raised an eyebrow. “You and the baby?”
“Not exactly. Did you know Rietin wanted to be a teacher? Before he became a tracker, I mean.”
Her eyes widened a bit. “He did? I never would have guessed that.”
“Is it possible for the master teacher to train Rietin, too? I know he would love to follow through on his dream.”
“And you two would be able to work together.”
Jo took her time, drinking down several sips of her berry freeze. She set the glass on the table. “Yes. I guess we would.”
“You don’t expect me to believe you’ve never thought of that.” Amy smiled a knowing little smile.
“Well, of course I thought of it. He suggested it, and I... Well, I wouldn’t argue that holds appeal for me. Why else would I be asking you to let him train?”
“Of course he can train. He’s an adult male. If he wants to give up his position as my personal guard, I can’t very well stop him. Nor would I want to.”
Unexpected Mates (Sons of Heaven) Page 23