Casting a glance his way, he watched her carefully with a quizzical expression. His forehead was crinkled up, the way he got when reading for too long. She ducked down before shaking herself and standing up to head for the bathroom. A moment alone without those eyes on her was what she needed. A splash of water on her face, she checked herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen and red from running them through her teeth in an attempt at distraction. A heavy weight settled in her core and she squeezed her thighs together trying to relieve the ache. She’d felt arousal before, and even lust, but if that feeling had ever been as all-consuming as this one, she might have divested of her virginity a long time ago.
There had never been anyone who interested her enough to strip naked and act like animals. But for this, she would do a lot to relieve this ache. She plopped on the toilet and cupped her face in her hands.
“Get it together. He is not your friend and he certainly won’t be your lover. He barely tolerates your presence.” She told herself these things even if she wanted something different. What? She didn’t know.
She leaned back and slid her hand into her shorts over her underwear and cupped herself. She took deep breathes and ignored the desire to do more, to relieve the ache herself. But he was a hound, it was likely he smelled her arousal and heard her little pep talk. She didn’t want to embarrass herself further.
She let out a long sigh, washed her hands and face, and went back to her chair. The room was stifling hot and the second she exited the bathroom his eyes tracked her all the way to her seat. Even now she could feel the heavy weight of them. Thankfully he said nothing.
Unable to pick up the book again, and add to her torment she lay her head along the top of the arm chair and closed her eyes. Maybe she could sleep it off.
His voice broke her attempt at mindful breathing. “Sleep won’t help you.”
She opened her eyes and stared at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His face remained neutral but his eyes burned into her. “I’m referring to the fact that you are dripping wet and aching. If I were able to move, to be a proper lover, I’d help you out. One friend to another.”
“Is that what we are, friends?”
He shrugged the shoulder on his good side. “I don’t know. You tell me.”
“What exactly are you offering me?”
“An arrangement…between friends, to pass the time, until I’m better, of course.”
She settled her head back and closed her eyes again. “Not going to happen.”
“Is it because you’re a virgin?”
Chapter 8
When midnight passed and Arwan rolled over to pretend sleep, Katherine waited before climbing into bed. This time she didn’t build a pillow fort between them. Arwan took it as a good sign. He wished he wasn’t injured. The list of things he wanted to do to her was growing. That innocence in her eyes tempted him because he saw the fire flare there when she read those scenes and spoke that word. It wasn’t one he particularly cared for, but he wanted to test her, find out if she would do it. The realization she was a virgin came with her flush at each scene he made her read. He hadn’t been completely sure, and she didn’t confirm it once he asked, but if he was going to die soon, via infection, or by the hand of a Horseman, he wanted to find out, personally.
Once she fell asleep he rolled over to watch her. The creepiness of it struck him but what else was he supposed to do. A beautiful woman lay in his bed and he couldn’t touch her on multiple levels.
He fell asleep listening to her quiet snoring.
When he woke she had already left the bed, as was her usual practice, and he pretended he didn’t know she’d been there or he had dreamed of pulling her close all night.
He sat up and stretched his side carefully. It felt remarkably better, there was little pain remaining, and all in his ribs where the bones were now mending. He scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up on his own.
Katherine dove out of her chair almost falling in the process, just catching herself on the opposite chair to reach him. “What are you doing?”
“Let me try to do this on my own. If I need you, I’ll call.”
“What if you fall or hurt yourself worse?”
“Then you’ll have to come rescue me.”
She laughed and wrapped her arms around herself, watching him warily.
He waved her away. “Go sit down. I promise. I won’t do anything overly strenuous.”
With a nod she took her seat but didn’t get comfortable, simply sat on the edge. He shook his head before entering the bathroom and closing the door. He was glad she didn’t help him. He had a raging hard on since he woke up and didn’t want her to witness that. With a quick wash of his face, hands, and teeth he sat on the toilet and took some calming breaths, intent on gaining control over his body. She’d likely scare at the sight of him. His blood beat in his head, he could hear the whoosh of it matching his erratic heartbeat. He checked the wounds but they had closed over, an ache barely permeating the area.
It hurt to breathe as well. He tossed the bandage and didn’t bother getting another. It would be better to let it have some air. If he could walk a little bit, he might be able to convince Katherine to take him down to the water. He missed walking on the beach in the evenings. Something he didn’t get to do much of in the last few years under Hel’s control. He barely made it home at all, it was a shock the place remained when Baldir brought him home to recover. But seeing it whole and waiting for him had been enough to give him hope. He loved his house.
He looked down, his pants were no longer tented, and he hobbled out of the bathroom back to the bed. She came over and looked at the wounds with a nod. “You’re looking better. Another couple of days should do it. I didn’t think hellhounds healed that fast.”
“And how fast do you heal?”
She shrugged. “Fast enough. Do you mind if I take a bath?”
“Of course not, help yourself.”
The smile she offered him made him want to let her bathe more often. It was positively radiant. He had to blink her into focus before she grabbed her bag and shut herself in the bathroom with a click. There was a long moment he stared at the door contemplating the situation. He liked her. She was smart, sexy, and generous with herself. The generosity part he’d never understood but seeing it from her, the reality of his life jarred into focus. The only person he’d ever offered such kindness was Baldir. He wondered what his life could have amounted to if he’d been more giving of himself. Then he considered about Sanbra. He’d offered himself to her, and her pack, and look at him now. All of them were likely dead and soon him along with them.
The water in the bathroom shut off and he could hear her climb in as it sloshed against the edges. He closed his eyes and imagined her long legs, bare, gliding through the hot water and his erection returned. He pressed the top it with his wrist and tried to imagine something else but he couldn’t pry the image from his mind. Her calves and thighs swallowed up by clear hot water.
Maybe if he tried to sleep some. He grabbed some of the pills by the bed and took them with a sip glass of water. He lay back and deliberately counted the lines in the ceiling, intent on ignoring a nude Katherine sitting bare assed in his bathtub. For a while it worked and he began to drift off on a sea of narcotic induced euphoria until his stomach rolled and he threw himself upright pulling everything on his side in the process. A wave of pain and nausea washed over him and he dove for the bathroom door intent on getting to the loo before he puked all over the floor. He didn’t want Katherine to have to deal with that, too.
She gave a little squeak he barely registered as he dove for the toilet. He didn’t look at her, focusing on getting across the room. Nothing came up but part of a pill and some water. He lay across the toilet bowl waiting to see if anything else would happen while his stomach went back to where it belonged.
“Are you okay?” she asked, half out of the tub, holding herself o
n the sides.
He was struck speechless for a moment. She was long and lean as she looked in clothes but her waist was tiny, she had a hard flat stomach and generous breasts. Her hair was down around her shoulders in a glorious mess. He couldn’t look away even as she sunk back into the water aware he was staring. Realization hit him and he tore his eyes away. “My apologies.” He climbed upright slowly, his side awash in pain. He should have eaten before he took those pills. Hobbling from the bathroom, he shut the door behind him without a backward glance even though he desperately wanted one more good look at her. She was perfect. Her skin was flawless, like a statue except for a long scar flat across her stomach from the side of her belly button to her hip.
How did a Horseman come by such a scar? From what little he knew of them, they secluded themselves in the void until one day they disappeared. Not that they were really spoken of in the circles he travelled. He’d never actually caught specifics about them until he served in the Underworld. Then shit hit the fan too fast for him to keep up. He took a sip of water before laying back propped up on the pillow. Food was a good idea before he tried anything else. He started to stand but Katherine charged out of the bathroom. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
She looked angry. Even angrier than the first night she’d arrived and they aired their dirty laundry.
“I was trying to start doing things on my own.”
“And what if you hurt yourself irreparably? Lay down, what are you doing now? Do you feel sick again?”
“No, I was about to make some food before I tried again with some pain meds.”
“Let me.” She glared at him before heading to the kitchenette. Her passive aggressive slam of every door and cabinet made him smile. Riling her up was almost as sexy as seeing her naked. She usually asked him what he wanted but not today. She cooked scrambled eggs quickly and efficiently, and almost threw it in his lap.
“I’d say I’m sorry but I feel like I’m always apologizing to you.” He offered.
“Well, it would help if you would stop doing things requiring an apology in the first place.”
She plopped in the chair and dug into her food without looking at him again.
The silence weighed heavy in the air. He finished his food and watched her eat. Technically, quickly, and a lot less than she should be eating. “Why don’t you eat?”
Lifting the plate up she glared at him. “What does it look like I’m doing right now?”
“No I mean, more than a bird size portion of food?”
“Alright, Mr. I’ll answer your question if you answer mine.”
His earlier proposal rang in his ears. “Deal.”
“Why do you hide out here on the coast with your books?”
He considered lying to her but likely she’d see right through it. “I used to live here before I was brought into the Underworld skirmishes. I live here again because I fear it happening all over. A new war, a new deity seeking to use me to promote their cause. I won’t be a pawn in a game I don’t understand anymore. I figure, for now, hiding is a good option.”
She nodded, some of her anger abetted.
“Now you…”
She licked her lips and dragged the bottom one between her teeth. With a different kind of hunger waking he watched it and the wetness left behind when she released it. “I eat this way because I hope, that one day, if I have to end the world, what little I’ve consumed will keep one person alive longer. If I can save one of them long enough, then it will be worth it.”
Her confession surprised him. She didn’t eat like that for vanity, but to save a life if she had to do her job?
“Do you know what it will look like?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I know if my seal is broken, I’ll take up the mantle of horseman and I’ll no longer be me, Katherine. The choices I make will be toward the goal of world destruction. That hurts me to consider since I’ve devoted most of my life to helping others.”
“It seems no one wants to help you. Why do you give so much of yourself?”
She straightened and stared him down. “Why do you hold so much of yourself back?”
Chapter 9
They barely spoke the rest of the night. But that didn’t mean when his body brushed hers in the early morning hours it lit up from the inside. An ember stoked to a flame. She tried to dampen it, but it was as if Arwan had loosened something she couldn’t fit back into place. A temperance she’d cultivated over hundreds of years blown apart by sea glass eyes and a sexy smile. Well, more than simply a sexy smile. She’d seen every inch of him and admired his toes to his messy mop of hair. That was her secret. She was well aware he kept trying to bait her but she kept her face neutral whenever he might expect her to elicit any sort of emotional or physical response.
Accusing her of giving too much hurt her to the core. If it weren’t for her giving nature she wouldn’t be stuck in a cabin with a surly stubborn dog who couldn’t listen to save his life. She rolled carefully over to slide from under his hand but this time it didn’t slip off. He latched on to her hip and dragged her back toward him so her butt nuzzled against him. She lay immobile trying to figure out how to extricate herself from his arms when he pressed his pelvis against her butt and she felt the hard heat of his erection through her shorts.
Now, completely at a loss for what to do she waited to see if he would let her go. Obviously, he was dreaming. And of someone who aroused him. It could never be her. A liquid fire pooled in her core. She wished it could be. She would have no idea what to do with it, anyway. So many times she read in her novels of women falling to their knees to take a man’s dick in their mouth. If she tried a new sexual experience she would want to try that. His arm snaked up from her hip to her breast and palmed one of them in his large hands. She exhaled as softly as she was able through her mouth in an attempt to stifle a moan. Maybe she should wake him. If he realized his actions he would be mortified. Hell, she was mortified, but so turned on. She was torn between throwing herself off the bed and snuggling closer.
She chanced a glance back at him and jolted. His eyes met hers shooting a line of heat through her body. He’d been awake the entire time. “What are you doing?” she ventured.
“I can smell your arousal. Do you want to know what it smells like?”
“Um…no?”
“I’m going to tell you anyway.” He gave her breast a little squeeze and her eyes rolled up in her head from the pleasure. “It smells like morning dew on the sea grass outside. Wet, fragrant, and lovely.”
She had no idea what to say to that. Instead she steeled herself to roll over, he released her enough to allow it. Staring into his eyes was like dipping a toe in the ocean. If you stayed too long, the tide would rise up around you and you would find yourself lost. “What are you thinking,” he asked, in a whisper.
“I’m thinking about your eyes and I’m thinking I have no idea what to do with you.”
“I don’t come with an instruction manual. Do what feels right. Do what you want to do.”
She hesitated and then reached up and ran her thumb down his plush bottom lip. When she got to the outer edge he captured it and sucked her thumb into his mouth. The heat of his tongue and lips on her flesh sent a shockwave through her body. How could he make her feel this way? Just by the rhythmic pull of his mouth on her thumb? “What are you doing to me?”
“You know what I’m doing. Say it.”
“No.”
“Say it.”
She shook her head, and he released her digit from between his lips, and climbed off the bed carefully around her. When he reached the bathroom door he stopped and looked back. “I don’t fuck girls. I fuck women. If you can’t tell me what you want, or that you’re turned on, then I’ve nothing to offer you.”
She rolled on her back and covered her face with her palms. Her thumb still warm and wet from his lips. Her body made one pulsing heat wave and she didn’t know how to stop it. She cupped herself over her shorts try
ing to cull the ache but it didn’t work. Not that it ever did, but sometimes she could trick herself into believing it. Only a few more days and she could leave of his house and escape him. Every movement she witnessed seemed trained to turn her on. Every time his accent got darker, richer, it sent a pulse through her. It took her moment of deep breathing to be able to climb off the bed and over to the kitchen. She made coffee and drank it standing against the counter. He exited the bathroom looking for her. When he caught her eyes he licked his lips as if she were a meal he was ready to devour at a moment’s notice.
She grabbed a sweater from the chair and wrapped it around her, hoping it would make her feel less exposed to those eyes. He walked slowly to the kitchenette and Katherine noted how much better his mobility seemed. Maybe only a day more and she could leave. She better call the airlines and buy a ticket home for the end of the week. The thought of reopening her coffee shop made her smile. Maybe, despite her vacation’s oddities, it had done her good.
“Is that smile for me?” he asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee. He took a sip and let out a groan at washing away all her carefully constructed indifference. She slid down the counter and off the end to put distance between them. Another noise like that and she would mount him on the kitchen floor. She would never be able to live with herself afterward. Even the wild fantasy running through her mind mortified her.
“Do you want to go down to the beach?”
His voice broke her meandering again and she answered with a nod, oblivious to his actual question. Anything to get out of the stifling house threatening to close around her. She took her mug and walked out the door without checking if he would follow. When she reached the edge of the hill the ocean spread out before her in seemingly endless brilliance. The sun shone down creating diamonds on its surface and she stood transfixed until he joined her. “This is another reason why I stay here. It’s magnificent.”
On a Black Horse: An Apocalyptic Paranormal Romance (Revelations Book 3) Page 5