Tip of the Spear

by Marie Harte

  He sat up, slicked back his hair, and let the shock of the cool air against his chest steal his arousal, leaving him limp, aching, and without. Sitting on his ass with his legs splayed out before him, Hinto let the shock of water glide past his hips as he studied the world around him. “Take a minute and smell the flowers,” his father would say, repeating something their mother had often told her husband. It never hurt to refocus, and Hinto needed all the help he could get, lately.

  The sun looked on the verge of going down. As it set, its rays glinted off the water like a sea of diamonds. The cool wind did more than make him shiver, but brought the scent of cooked fish with it. His stomach rumbled, protesting his recent diet of raw vegetables and berries. They hadn’t eaten meat in days, not since Thais had captured a rabbit outside of Morrow.

  Maybe with a full stomach and the warmth of a strong fire, he’d find rest without all the fuss of sexual fantasies and a hard-on that wouldn’t go away.

  Easing out of the water, Hinto took a moment to regain his bearings. His leg hurt, but the cold water soothed his injury.

  “Hinto?” Thais gasped, her eyes wide as she stared at him.

  His cock rose to meet her, and he swore. So much for a respite from his constant companion—lust.

  “What?” he snapped, refusing to feel embarrassed about his arousal. His cheeks heated anyway, and he toweled off, then turned to find his clothes.

  “I—”

  He didn’t want to hear it. Hanging onto his desire by a thread, he carefully reached down to grab his trousers. Thais bent down to get them.

  “Here,” she whispered. Her gaze centered on his cock and she worried her lower lip with white, even teeth.

  Don’t lick your lips. Don’t do it. Please—

  She licked her lips and he couldn’t help himself. He pulled her to her feet and kissed her with all the frustration he’d been feeling for days. She resisted for the span of a heartbeat before dragging him closer with a groan. Her lips parted, and he thrust his tongue inside her mouth. Stroking, pushing, pulling, loving her the way he longed to with his shaft.

  “I want you so much,” he managed before kissing his way down her throat. He rubbed his hands up and down her back, aggravated by the binding cloth he could feel under her shirt. He sucked hard at her throat, wanting to mark her.

  “You’re so aggravating,” she growled and yanked his head back by his hair.

  The fury in her gaze shocked him. “Thais?”

  She ripped her shirt down the front then tore at her binding.

  He could only stare, dazed. Thais stripping down, willingly? Fear that none of this was real sat at the forefront of his mind. “I’m awake, right?” He reached out to touch her and she slapped his hand.

  “Yes, you’re awake,” she hissed. “And I’m awake. And needy, and aching. And it’s all your fault. You look at me all the time. And your body is…” she sucked in a breath and dropped her shirt and binding cloth to the ground. With a firm hand she cupped him, and he moaned her name in surrender. “You lure me with every breath. So hard, so hungry for me.”

  Thais raised her face and looked at him with such longing he couldn’t stop himself from kissing her again. When he pulled back, they both breathed hard. She rubbed a thumb over his slit, now pooling with seed. Crying to finish inside her, finally.

  “I want this craving to go away.”

  The sheen of angry tears stopped him. He wanted her, but he didn’t want her upset.

  “Thais—”

  She shrugged away his apology and stepped back. In seconds she removed her boots and stepped out of her trousers.

  “I’m always wet for you.” She stuck her hand between her thighs and came away with glistening fingers. “I feel you all the time. I throb; my breasts ache.” Her stiff nipples beaded like rosy pebbles. “I want you to end this. But I can’t chance a child, not now.”

  Not now. But later, maybe? After he’d shown her how good it would be between them?

  Not thinking so much as acting on instinct, Hinto pulled her to him and sucked her wet finger into his mouth. The taste of her, the feel of her lean curves enflamed his already eager body. Desperate for release but aware she placed an extraordinary amount of trust in him by allowing him to be her first, he didn’t want to ruin anything.

  “Help me down,” he ordered in a gritty voice.

  So focused on her nudity, he barely felt the protest of his injury as he lowered to the ground. The cold didn’t bother him, not when he had Thais keeping him more than warm.

  “Now lay on top of me, but turn around. Put your pussy at my face, and your mouth around my cock.” He could barely get the words out, so excited at thoughts of having her to himself.

  She blinked, confused.

  “It’s oral pleasure, honey. That way we both get some ease, and you don’t get with child. I’m so damned desperate right now I can’t promise I wouldn’t come inside you.” He wanted so badly to do just that.

  “Oh.” She blushed, a virgin’s innocence in a body made for sin.

  Hinto wanted to protect her, while at the same time he wanted to corrupt her. To take her in ways no one ever had, to claim her, keep her, and…

  “Fuck.”

  She’d put her mouth over him and sucked the head of his cock. The sensation took his breath away.

  When he could think around the pleasure spiraling through him, he pulled her down and parted her legs. She didn’t have much hair covering her mound, just enough to tease him into petting her.

  She writhed when his thumb grazed her clit, and took more of him in her mouth.

  He moaned and parted her folds, exposing her tight nub. So slick and pink and ready for him. Like a flower blossoming under his touch.

  Hinto latched onto her and sucked. She moaned and rewarded him by sucking harder. Her tongue ran up and down his shaft. She cupped his balls, her small, callused palms an erotic tease all their own.

  He couldn’t help thrusting up into her mouth, even while he tried to retain control. He wanted to show her how much he treasured her trust. How much he wanted her. Affection entwined with his desire until he felt more than a physical response to her every caress, but an emotional tug as well.

  She laved him with care, exploring him while responding to his slightest kiss with unbridled enthusiasm.

  He moaned and licked her slit, enraptured by her warrior’s honey pooling because of him. Thais wanted him, had lost her will to resist because she needed Hinto. Not any male, not Butch McKenzie or any of the bastards she’d run into since living in the Territories. She wanted him.

  Her response pushed him to end it before he came. He wanted her to come first, to fall and tremble before he took his own pleasure.

  She nicked the underside of his glans with her teeth and he nearly shot into her mouth.

  Increasing the pressure on her clit, he teased her with his tongue and lips and teeth. And then he ran his fingers up and down her thighs, encouraged when she took more of him into her mouth.

  Her hands grew rougher, exciting him.

  Hinto used his fingers to toy with her, to spread her cream back and forth over her slit. And then he teased her by entering her slowly. First with one finger, then two. Widening her, readying her for his cock.

  He couldn’t stop surging up as he pushed his fingers in deeper and deeper still. When he met a slight resistance, he pushed past it. She didn’t flinch, didn’t so much as cry out as she squirmed to take more of him.

  Her head bobbed faster, swallowing his cock. His dick. In her mouth.

  An unfamiliar rush of ecstasy built at the base of his spine, in his balls, through his body and burst from his shaft as he came hard. He shoved his fingers deeper and bit down on her clit.

  Dimly aware she moaned long and loud over his cock, he couldn’t stop himself from unloading into her hot, wet mouth.

  She milked him, swallowing him as he licked her, consuming the honey flowing just for him.

  They both trembled, the a
ftermath of loving making them both too sensitive to continue such play. Hinto kissed her and pushed her hips up, a small pause from such a delectable sight.

  She eased off his cock, nuzzling his thighs with soft kisses as she did so. The telling affection almost hurt, breaking a stiff wall inside him wanting to hold her at a distance. Sex was sex. This… This loving was something altogether different. Hinto knew enough to be wary, but at this moment, after what she’d done for him, he couldn’t move away.

  She shifted and turned around to face him. Their gazes met and held. Blue eyes met green. A connection that had been steadily growing between them, despite their reservations, snapped into place.

  Hinto sighed and pulled her down on top of him. Not even the jarring press of her leg against his thigh interrupted the mood.

  Kissing her tenderly, he tried to show her what he felt, because he didn’t understand it himself.

  Thais accepted his touch and stroked his shoulders, his neck, his face. Her hands cupped his cheeks as she met every press of their mouths with greater and greater intimacy.

  “So beautiful,” he whispered, under her spell and never wanting to leave.

  “Yes,” she agreed, her tone reverent. “I didn’t know… can’t believe…” She met his lips in gentle entreaty. “You’re very giving, Hinto.”

  “You’re the one who’s giving, honey. So pure, so good.” He rubbed his cheek against her hand, wanting to mix their scents like a damned vore. “You tryin’ to tame me with some lovin’?” he teased.

  She smiled back, the expression so unguarded he could only stare at her in awe. Thais overcome by joy was a sight he’d never forget. “Is it working? Is this beast tamed?”

  Delighted at this side of her, he grinned and rolled them onto her back. He levered onto his elbows, conscious not to crush her with his weight. “Tamed? I don’t know. I think we’ll have to do this again, several times at least, before we find out if it took.” He nuzzled her neck and sucked, covering the mark he could already see. “Yes, that’s it.”

  He wasn’t surprised to find himself growing hard again. Rubbing against her mound, he continued to stroke, wanting inside her this time. Now, with the edge off, he trusted he could withdraw before coming inside her.

  “Remember when I said we could be together without worrying about babies?” he rasped.

  She locked her hands on his biceps and closed her eyes, welcoming his kisses. He moved down her body and took a firm breast into his mouth, teasing her nipple with his teeth.

  “Yes,” she hissed, arching into him. “You’re so strong, so fierce. A warrior,” she breathed.

  He let her go and met her gaze when she looked up at him.

  “Trust me?” he asked softly and angled his shaft between her thighs. He settled but didn’t move, caught between her muscular thighs.

  “Yes, I trust you.”

  He liked to imagine he saw the beginning of love in her eyes before her lids lowered and shuttered her expression.

  “I’m gonna put myself inside you.” He had trouble speaking clearly, consumed with the desire to fit himself in her sex. “My cock is going to be snug inside your cunt, honey. So damned tight.” He used a hand to guide himself to the entry of her channel.

  “Watch me,” he said as he pushed inside.

  She didn’t blink as he moved, inch by inch. When she tensed, he stilled, until she lifted her hips to take more.

  Sweat beaded on his forehead, the line between pleasure and pain driving him to want to shove fast and hard, while the need to protect and care for Thais cautioned him to continue to be slow.

  “So full,” she moaned.

  “Yes.” He continued to push until he seated himself balls deep. He stopped and waited. “I’m going to move in and out of you, and it’s gonna feel good. But I won’t spend inside you. I’ll pull out first, all right?”

  Since the Nature Laws forbade contraception, as if any fool would say no to fostering a kid, birth control didn’t exist except in some black markets run by crazy folks out east. Hinto just hoped the orgasm she’d already given him would hold him steady. Because thoughts of impregnating Thais excited him to no end.

  “Pull out?” She blinked up at him, wonder in her face. “This will work?”

  He groaned and leaned down to kiss her. Trying not to move while in heaven nearly killed him. And then she pistoned her hips and he lost it. Hinto pulled out and thrust back inside. Thais’s indrawn breath turned to pleasured gasps as he began rocking back and forth. Shafting her with harder and faster thrusts, he made sure to graze her clit with each pass.

  Her throaty cries mingled with his deep moans. She clenched around him and shouted his name, squeezing him with her sex until he could no longer hold back.

  “Fuck, I’m coming.” In an instant he pulled out and jetted all over her belly. Pressing down, he rubbed his cock over her slick stomach and continued to spend, caught in a desire that seemed never-ending.

  When he opened his eyes he saw her watching him, a lazy smile on her face.

  He swore she purred. “Your seed is all over me.”

  Marking her as his own. “Hell yeah,” he croaked and rested on shaky arms. He pressed his forehead to hers, then rolled over onto his back with a groan. “Am I dead and in the great beyond? Can’t believe I made it to heaven.”

  She laughed, her happiness evident in the lightness of her being.

  “Now I understand why you men want to do this all the time.”

  “See? And you thought it was nonsense.” Hell, he still couldn’t catch his breath.

  Her fingers closed around his finally flagging erection. “So much seed. I think if you had not pulled out, you might have made a baby.”

  He turned his head to look at her, wanting badly to try it all over again. But all he said was, “You may be right. Good thing you can’t get pregnant from swallowing.”

  She looked confused for a moment then blushed. A reluctant smile lifted her lips. “You are crude, but funny. And very talented.”

  Now he flushed. “Ah, thanks.” He groaned and sat up. “Time to clean up again.”

  Thais gasped. “I hope Beast didn’t eat the fish. I was coming to get you for the meal when I saw you and, well, lost my focus.”

  Hinto chuckled and let her pull him to his feet. “Lost your focus? Honey, I can’t wait to help you lose your focus a few more times tonight. And tomorrow. And the next day—”

  She rolled her eyes and followed him into the water.

  They bathed in silence, until the lowering temperature penetrated.

  Grabbing their clothes, they hurried as best they could back to the campsite. The fire had nearly burned out. Beast, with a shit-eating grin, stood boldly over the empty plate where Thais had left the fish.

  She swore, in Territory speak and her language. “I’ll find us some firewood. I guess it’s more berries tonight.”

  “And the rest of the hardtack. I’ll get it from my saddlebag.”

  They dried off and dressed by the sputtering flames. Thais left to gather firewood, while Hinto sought food. The sunlight left just as she returned with wood.

  Feeding the fire, Thais concentrated on her responsibility.

  When it appeared she didn’t intend to look at him again, Hinto bit down on a smile.

  “Honey, you okay? You sore?”

  She glanced up at him and blushed. Even in the firelight, he could see her embarrassment.

  “My warrior, blushing?”

  “Ass.”

  “Witch.”

  Her lips curled. “Bastard.”

  “Bruiser.”

  She smiled. “Faker.”

  “Faker?”

  “How much did your injury really pain you if you could have sex like that?”

  “Make love,” he murmured, realizing how different being intimate with Thais was from being with any other woman.

  “What?”

  He cleared his throat, uncomfortable with his jumbled feelings. Hell, I sound lik
e a dammed female. “Make love.” God. “I can’t wait to have sex with you again,” he growled. “A real man’s never too hurt to please his woman. A woman like you,” he hastily amended, “who looks and acts like a siren of yore.” He wiggled his eyebrows, pleased when she mumbled something less than complimentary under her breath.

  Thais, at least, had no intention of becoming clingy or overly emotional after losing her virginity. So why the hell was he making a muck of it? Because the thought of her loving anyone else but me is plain wrong. Of her fucking anyone else but me, he corrected, then wanted to smack himself for acting so missish.

  “Are you all right?” she asked. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  “Hurt me?” Hinto had to laugh. He laughed so hard he cried. “Let me keep a little bit of my dignity. Hurt me?” When she gave him a puzzled frown, he chuckled hoarsely. “I’m just fine. Tired maybe, and hungry, but nothing some food won’t cure.”

  They shared the hardtack, drank some water, and watched the fire burn. Some time later, Hinto spread out his blanket and held out a hand to Thais. She accepted it and joined him, using her blanket to cover them both. His arm curled over her side and rested on her belly. She sighed and snuggled closer, smelling like flowers.

  As sleep slowly claimed him, Hinto knew with a certainty he’d never be the same again.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Thais dreamed of a giant snake tightening its coils around her, making it hard to breathe. It had Bartel’s face and her mother’s spear sticking out of one of its pallid blue eyes. The end of the spear mesmerized her. Useless, broken, a last bit of her mother that had failed against the enemy. Then a bright blue flash caught her attention, the waters of the Goddess Cave captured in the beauty of a man’s eyes. Hinto. He slapped his hand over the snake’s nostrils.

  It struggled to breathe, wrestled free of his hold and bit him before Thais could reach her dagger and kill it. But Hinto didn’t fall under its poison. The snake faded from sight, but Hinto wouldn’t go away.