Then he lowered his face a few more inches and nuzzled her mound, his breath hot through the silk, his hands holding her to him. She took a shaky breath, trying to steady herself by putting her hands on his shoulders. The bridge of his nose split her lips and he licked her. All she could feel was the pressure as the silk pressed against her. She didn’t even know if the fabric was wet because of him or because of her.
“Don’t ruin them,” she moaned. He grunted and she didn’t think it was in agreement. “They’re my only pair and I really like them,” she reinforced, pulling him away so he could see her pout.
He tugged on her hips again. “I’ll buy you ten more. Lie down.”
“Let’s go to the bed,” Maggie said, jostling his shoulders.
“No, here,” Ro said, smiling.
She was just too weak against his smiles, even when she knew he was doing it on purpose. She obligingly went to her knees, not sure that she wouldn’t prefer to do whatever he had planned on her nice comfy bed instead of the living room floor.
Ro put his arm around her back and leant into her, gently lowering her onto her back, her knees bent either side of his hips. He moved back and pushed her knees further apart with his hands, looking down at her. This was what she’d wanted when she’d dressed up for him, but now she was kind of regretting not just tearing both their clothes off and getting him in bed.
She could see he was hard though, so she let him set the pace. He knew what he was doing.
“I love these,” he said, running his hands over her thighs, feeling both the silk and her skin. “I can touch you, smell you, taste you, but there’s no way I can get my cock in. Such a tease.”
“I’m surprised you find them so enticing,” Maggie mumbled, not sure she really wanted to have a conversation when his mouth could be doing other things. “I thought you’d be used to them.”
“Hmm,” he considered. “Must be you then,” he decided, before lifting her legs over his shoulders and touching his mouth to her sex.
Maggie slapped her hands against the floor, panting to keep quiet as his tongue dragged hard between her lips, flicking her clit at the end of his stroke like she was an ice-cream.
“Ro…” she moaned. “Let’s go to bed…”
He shook his head and settled in, folding his arms over her hips, closing her thighs against his head. It was a good thing too because she writhed as he nuzzled her clit, catching it in his mouth, his dental ridges blunted by the fabric. He pressed his tongue against her and she felt his saliva soak through the silk and knew he could taste her wetness from the other side. She wanted to tell him to take the shorts off but didn’t think there was any point. He had a plan and he was clearly sticking to it.
Maggie could only reach his head as she focused on not crushing him between her legs, and she plucked and tugged at his crest. He growled, a vicious tearing sound that she felt through her pelvis, making her moan along with it. He was clearly done teasing her, increasing his rhythm, licking and nipping at her quickly, efficiently, savagely. She didn’t last long, coming in her shorts, her body jumping against the floor and jerking around him.
Ro moved before she was done, going to his knees and freeing his cock from his pants while Maggie surged with pleasure and watched him. He all but ripped the shorts down her legs, pulling them off with more force than finesse, but she didn’t care. She was glad to see them go, and glad when he lifted her hips onto his thighs and lined their bodies up, bending over her and letting her kiss him before sliding into her. She moaned and tightened around him, bumping her hips against him for more. It had been a while since she had last felt his cock inside her; she had forgotten about the pillow of flesh at the bottom that kept him from going all the way in, and the slick feeling of his skin catching up to his core inside her.
Ro growled again at her desperate movements, then thrust into her hard, making her cry out as he hit her cervix, another sensation she wasn’t used to but had missed without realising. His hands curved under her hips, supporting her, and he watched her face from inches away, his expression fevered as he chased his own climax. She ran her hands over his scales, holding him to her as he quickly made her come again. She tied her legs around him as her body seized, and his thrusts became short and erratic until he followed her, coming deep inside her with a choked snarl.
His rigid body relaxed in parts, and he let her go, swaying to the side and catching himself on one hand. He looked drained suddenly and Maggie pulled herself off him, getting clear, and he let himself lie down beside her, breathing hard.
“Are you okay?” she asked, worried. This wasn’t like him. When he had been in heat, he hadn’t been satisfied after coming the first time. She hadn’t expected every time to be like that, but he looked like she’d just made him run up twenty flights of stairs.
“Fine,” he reassured her, his voice soft and back to normal. He raised his hand a little as if reaching for her. “Lie next to me.”
Maggie wasn’t convinced he was as fine as he wanted her to believe, but she couldn’t think what could be wrong with him. Maybe it was just a head rush or something. She lay down beside him and tucked herself into his side, hugging his chest as his arm wrapped over her shoulders.
“I told you we should have gone to the bed,” she chastised him.
He chuckled. “I heard humans are more likely to remember sex if it is done in an unusual place.”
“Oh my God, that was your reason?” She lifted her head to look at him, and he smiled, not his glamour smile this time, but a real one.
“I wanted you to remember it,” he said. “Is that bad?”
“No… But of course I would remember it. Why would you think I wouldn’t?”
He shrugged.
Maggie sighed, laying her head back down on his chest, stroking his stomach. “The bed is good too. Then we would have pillows and covers, instead of lying naked on the floor out here.” She was trying to make light of it, but she still felt unsettled, and she couldn’t put her finger on why. “Just for future reference…” she began, trying to put her thoughts into words. “We would be lucky to have so much sex that it blurs together. That would take years, I think.” She propped her chin on her hand to look at him, making him tilt his head at an uncomfortable angle to see down his body. “We would be lucky to have that kind of relationship. And you don’t need to worry about me getting bored, okay? I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Ro struggled up to kiss the top of her head, then rolled out from under her. He bent and picked her up. She stiffened and grabbed him as she wobbled, but he made it up and she relaxed. “Come, I’m taking you to bed,” he said, and proceeded to do just that, tucking them both up under the covers.
Chapter 26
From then on, Ro’s sexual appetite seemed to come roaring back. He suggested they spend the night together every day, and for the first four days, Maggie welcomed it. He seemed crazy for her and she was flattered, and wasn’t going to turn down great sex. He still seemed exhausted sometimes, but he always brushed her off with a smile when she asked about it, and it seemed to get better on its own. It got to the point where she wondered if he was going into heat again, because even after he came, he didn’t want to seem to want to let her go.
Things were a little different in bed, but she just told herself she’d never really experienced the base-line, had she? Her first experience with him had been his heat. So maybe this was what was normal for him. The way he seemed to take ages to get hard, to come, to relax again afterwards. How frantic he seemed to be. He didn’t make love to her slowly anymore. He didn’t joke around as much.
She always pushed her worries away. It had only been a few days! Hardly a pattern. And he insisted she had nothing to worry about, and he was doing what she’d asked, wasn’t he? She’d wanted sex, and he was giving it to her. Hard.
But after four nights in a row, she found herself wanting a break. Her body needed one, and her domestic life was starting to fray at the edges be
cause she was never home. She needed to get groceries, and throw out the stuff she hadn’t eaten because she wasn’t there. She needed to do laundry, and tidy up, and clean her bathroom. She needed to call her family, and shop for her mother’s birthday present. None of it was exactly critical, but knowing it needed doing was bugging her. As much as she loved Ro – though she hadn’t said it again after New Year’s Eve – she needed a few hours to get organised at home, and her body wouldn’t thank her if she decided on another night of almost-rough sex again, though she could definitely be tempted.
But when she told Ro she needed to go home alone that night, she thought for a minute that he was annoyed. She was taken aback. He had never been annoyed at her before, she hadn’t even known what that looked like on him. But he huffed, scowled, his mouth twisting, looking away from her. He didn’t argue, but she was amazed. She had seen him angry after that call from the Balor. She had seen him jealous at the office party. But she had never seen him dismiss her like this. It just wasn’t like him.
“What?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” he replied, shutting her out.
“I’m getting pretty sick of hearing that,” she said before she could stop herself.
Ro just shrugged.
Maggie took a calming breath and tried again. “I’m sorry, okay? I just haven’t been home in almost a week. I need to talk to my family, let them know I’m still alive.” She crooked a smile, trying to take a joking tone. She reached for his hand, hooking his claw with her little finger. “It’s not because I don’t want to see you. I do. I want to be with you all the time.” They were alone just then, having picked their moment in a deserted hallway, so she pressed her body against his and spoke quietly. “You’ve just been using me a bit hard lately. I can’t keep up with all this enthusiasm.” She smiled when she said it, meaning it to be complimentary, flattering. She wanted to smooth what she took to be ruffled feathers over a perceived rejection.
“And what am I supposed to do?” he said, his tone still harsh. He hadn’t shaken her hand off his, but he was still scowling and looking away from her.
“I don’t know, maybe work on that attitude?” she threw back, folding her arms, getting annoyed herself now.
He glanced at her and his expression softened, as if realising he had hurt her. He sighed, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Sorry,” he said.
Maggie forgave him, reaching out again, trying to get his attention, make a connection. She wanted to overcome whatever it was that was setting them at odds. The Ro she knew might have been disappointed that she turned him down, maybe get a little possessive, but he wouldn’t blame her. But maybe she’d just been spoiled. She knew they’d have to disagree on something eventually.
“Are you really okay?” she asked again. She would have to stop asking soon. There was no point in nagging him, it wouldn’t make him more likely to open up. It was starting to sound like a broken record even to her.
Ro smiled, but it was thin and forced. “I’m fine. Better than ever.”
Maggie wanted to disagree, and that made her think they had a bigger problem, but she didn’t say anything. What could she do if he didn’t want her to know? Instead she just agreed. “Okay.” She kissed him, almost as a test. She wanted to see if he would kiss her back, or if he was still mad. But he met her quick peck with one of his own, burying the hatchet. Maybe it was all in her head.
“Let’s go out tomorrow,” she said. “Talk.”
She thought she saw something flicker across his face for a second as if he didn’t want to do that, but he nodded and his smile didn’t falter, so Maggie put it out of her mind. She had to trust him, or they couldn’t be together. She did trust him. She knew he was a good person.
So the next evening, she suggested a restaurant in town that was nicer than the sports bar and not near either of their apartments. She wasn’t planning on ambushing him, she just didn’t want him to talk her into going home early, which she knew he could, especially if he decided to do it on purpose. All he would have to do was touch her hand, hold eye contact, and tell her in that voice of his exactly what he wanted to do to her, and she’d cave. He made it sound so good, he made her want it, and him.
They had always been able to talk to each other. She had always found him intriguing, charming, funny. But for some reason, she was afraid their date wasn’t going to go well. It was just a nagging sense of unease that she couldn’t really put down to anything. She sighed, and forced herself to relax. He said he was fine, and certainly nothing he had done had implied that he wanted to break up with her. He had promised her that he would always want her. He had been so sweet. Even if she had been worried once that he had lost interest in her, that was definitely not what was happening now, when he couldn’t wait to get her home and it was not doing it that was frustrating him.
At the end of the day, Ro was waiting for her to finish up when Kez walked past on his way out and Ro jumped up, telling Maggie he would meet her in the lobby. He went after Kez before Maggie had a chance to reply, so she just completed tying off her loose ends for the day, shut everything down, picked up her bag and followed.
She heard Ro’s voice in the hall, around the corner in the opposite direction from the lobby. He was growling in Balin, and he sounded angry. Alarmed, Maggie followed his voice and almost walked right into them when she turned the corner. She couldn’t say for sure, but she thought Ro had had Kez pinned against the wall, but they had sprung apart when she appeared. Kez’s crest was half raised, and he was watching her with open cold aggression. He wasn’t moving, but his expression was totally unforgiving.
Maggie looked to Ro, confused. She wouldn’t say he looked normal, since he was normally more relaxed and in a better mood, but there was nothing about him that immediately set off any alarm bells. He just looked closed off.
She adjusted her bag on her shoulder. “I heard your voice,” she explained, feeling awkwardly put on the spot, though she didn’t know why she was explaining herself. She should be the one asking questions.
“Wait for me by the doors,” Ro said, his voice angry but tensely controlled, so she didn’t think he was angry at her.
Maggie didn’t like this. “Are you coming?” she asked meekly. She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of Kez, or of leaving Ro with him – and she wasn’t sure who she was more afraid for if she did leave them together. The way Kez was looking at her made her want to escape, but she also wanted to know why he seemed to hate her when she hadn’t done anything to him.
“I’ll be there soon,” Ro said, a note of softness finally creeping back into his voice, so with a glance between the two men, Maggie left. She reached the doors and waited, wringing her hands, hoping she hadn’t made a big mistake. She turned around to watch for Ro just in time to see Kez step into view from around the corner and throw something on the floor. It was too small and far away for Maggie to see what it was, she could only see the motion, but whatever it was, Ro’s hand appeared to pick it up.
Kez stormed down the corridor and she moved out of his way, keeping her distance. He turned to shoulder the door open and cursed her in Balin. With his free hand, he stuffed folded bank notes into his pocket. She didn’t understand what he’d said, but from his tone and expression it was pretty unmistakable, and he finished it off with “woman” in English. She was too stunned to reply and he quickly disappeared outside.
Maggie turned back to watch for Ro, and saw he was heading towards her.
“What was all that about?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Ro answered, his standard reply for the last week.
Maggie looked at him, and didn’t push it. He was already mad. She would let him cool off on the way to the restaurant and maybe try again, but maybe not. She wanted to have a nice evening.
Maybe Kez wasn’t her business. Maybe whatever was going on was just between the two of them. Maybe Ro had lent Kez some money and they were fighting about it, and that was what had been making Ro act so tense, a
nd he didn’t want to embarrass Kez by telling Maggie about it. That was the honourable kind of thing that Ro would do, she thought.
But even as she told herself that, there was an ugly, cold voice in the back of her head that said she was giving up, that she no longer expected Ro to include her in his life, that there was something wrong with their relationship.
Maggie followed Ro out of the building and down the steps to the street. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. She just watched him, trying to read him, trying to unpick whether or not she needed to be worried. If something else was stressing him out, making him act weird, then she would see him through it. She knew it wasn’t work, but there was plenty in his life that could be upsetting him. Perhaps his housing allocation was being changed and he was being forced to move into the city, or even further away, and he didn’t want to tell her. Maybe he’d met someone he knew on Teiss, heard bad news about a friend or relative. Maybe he’d had another run-in with a Balor.
Whatever it was, she didn’t care. The problem was that he wasn’t talking to her about it.
The one thing she didn’t want to be true, was that this was the real Ro. That he’d been putting on a persona to charm her into being with him, and now they were together he couldn’t be bothered being nice to her anymore. That was the only thing that would make them break up.
“The restaurant is really nice,” she tried eventually, changing the subject once they got on the bus. “I’ve only been there a few times, but the food is nice.”
Ro grunted but didn’t say anything, looking out of the window.
“I think they’ll have things you’ll like. Or we can look for one of the new Teissian restaurants in town, I don’t mind. Would you rather do that?”
“I don’t care.”
“Right.” Maggie gave up. He wasn’t trying, so she’d save her efforts for the restaurant. They finished the journey in silence, and didn’t speak to each other again until they were seated at the restaurant with their menus.
The New Guy (Office Aliens Book 2) Page 21