* * * * *
Varrik stared into Echo’s thick-lashed eyes, amazed by the emotions she elicited in him. He’d expected the slow, burning desire. She was a very beautiful woman. But the rest was an uncomfortable surprise. Her temper challenged him, and her courage intrigued him. He enjoyed talking to her, wanted to spend time with her, wanted…wanted things that had no place in the Shadow Maze.
She was here for one reason and one reason only. Every minute he spent longing for illusions was a waste of time. “Are you ready for bed?” He allowed a hint of a growl to roughen his tone.
“Do I have an alternative?”
“There are always alternatives—” He lowered his gaze to her parted lips. “Or at least variations on the theme. You can sleep in my arms, or I’ll cuff you to the foot of the bed and you can sleep on the floor.”
She glanced at the bed, and her lips pressed together. “What’s the catch?”
He cupped her chin and drew her gaze back to his. She had the most beautiful eyes, expressive and luminous. “Why must there be a catch?”
“There’s always a catch, and you know it.”
“I sleep naked and so will you,” he told her.
Her eyes widened and color spread across her cheeks. “Even if I choose the floor?”
“No. If you choose the floor, you can keep the tunic, and I might even give you a blanket. But the floor is hard and the nights are cold. The bed is a much better option.”
“If I crawl into bed with you, do I have your word you won’t try to seduce me?”
He chuckled and shook his head. “It’s my purpose in life to seduce you. That’s a promise I’ll never make. However, for this one night, I will not enter your body unless you invite me inside.”
“What about tomorrow?” Despite her brave façade, her voice shook just a little.
“We’re talking about tonight.”
She crossed her arms over her breasts, her gaze fixed on the bed. “There’s an awful lot you can do without—entering my body.”
“The voice of experience?” She looked back at him, her expression carefully guarded. “How often did you allow your bodyguards to touch you? Have you ever used a toy when you pleasured yourself?”
“I thought we were going to sleep.”
“I asked if you were ready for bed. I didn’t say anything about sleeping.” He swept her off her feet and carried her toward the bed. “Which is it to be? Naked in my arms or huddled on the floor?”
“I’m trusting you to honor your word.”
The insistence in her tone sent an odd combination of anger and amusement surging through him. “Why are you so afraid of sex? I know you enjoyed the way I touched you in the crystal chamber.”
He placed her on her knees in the middle of the bed. “I’m not afraid of sex.” As if to illustrate her claim, she tugged off the tunic and scrunched it into a ball. “I resent being kidnapped and held hostage. You intend to use me like a broodmare and throw me away when I’ve delivered your son. Surely you can understand why I’m not anxious for those events to begin.” She threw the balled-up tunic at his face.
Batting the garment to the floor, he tugged off his boots and shed his own tunic, dropping it on top of hers. “I understand being held hostage far better than you might think. We are each prisoners to the past.”
“Then let’s escape together.” She licked her lips and crawled to the edge of the bed, her eyes narrowed with speculation. “If you help me…”
He unfastened his pants and pushed them past his hips, his gaze boring into hers. “I can’t help you, Echo. But you can help me. You can give me a son strong enough to end this tyranny.”
“There are other ways to fight oppression, more direct, faster ways.”
Never shifting his gaze from her flushed face, he braced his legs far apart and closed his fingers around his shaft. “Have you ever watched a man come? Did any of your bodyguards let you touch them?” Like metal drawn by a powerful magnet, her gaze lowered to his cock. Her eyes widened, then narrowed to passion-bright slits. “Touch me,” he whispered.
She extended her hand then snatched it back. “I won’t give in to you.”
“This isn’t giving in.” He caught her wrist and guided her hand to his erection. “We’re just playing.”
Her eyes closed as her fingers encircled his shaft. “You’re a wicked, wicked man.” Pressing his fingers over hers, he moved her hand up and down his length. Her eyelids fluttered, and he realized she was watching the slide of their hands from beneath her long lashes. Aroused as much by her curiosity as by the press of her fingers, he rocked his hips and reveled in her touch.
A bead of moisture formed at the tip. She kept up the firm, steady slide with one hand, while she gathered the drop with the index finger of her other. Taste it. Raise your finger to your mouth and know my taste. She looked up when her finger reached her lips, and he nearly lost control. He wasn’t sure if he’d sent a compulsion or simply encouraged her with his thoughts. It didn’t matter. She sucked on her finger, and his balls drew up tight, his shaft bucking against her grasp, and he groaned.
“Do it,” she urged in a throaty purr. “I want to watch you come.”
The sensual command was more than his over-stimulated senses could stand. He threw back his head and roared as his seed spurted out. Over and over he shuddered, jetting until his balls had nothing left to give.
Her fingers relaxed, and she touched her stomach, fascinated by the milky fluid.
“Rub it in,” he urged. “I want to fall sleep with my scent on your skin.”
“That’s disgusting.” Pushing him backward, she snatched his tunic off the floor and wiped up the mess they’d made.
He growled, feeling savage, desperate to take her, to imprint her with his shape as well as his scent. Cupping her breasts, he inhaled deeply and felt his cock begin to rise. He’d just spilled his seed. How could he harden again so quickly?
Her pert little nipples beaded beneath his thumbs and a flush spread across her chest. “Invite me inside. We both want this, Echo. Speak the words.”
“This isn’t right.” She tossed the tunic aside, her gaze filled with uncertainty. “I can’t—want you.”
“But you do.” He rubbed her nipples, and she trembled, turning her face away. “You want me inside you as badly as I want to be there. Why deny us both?”
“I must.” Her tone was thick, filled with meaning his passion-muddled brain wouldn’t absorb. “I can’t give in to you.”
Before Echo realized what he intended, Varrik bent and lifted her to his shoulder. She gasped and scissored her legs. He wrapped his arm around her thighs and smacked her bottom. Spiraling heat followed the sting, and she went still against his shoulder. What was he doing to her? Every touch, every glance increased the pressure building between her thighs. She had never felt this wanton, this needful.
He pulled down the bedding and dumped her onto the mattress. She rolled to her knees and scrambled for the other side. His strong fingers closed around her ankle. She kicked out at him as he dragged her legs out from under her.
“I can’t do this,” she cried, more afraid of her own desire than any demand he might make on her. Was she really so weak, so lustful that she would succumb in less than a day?
His hand came down on her ass again, and Echo moaned. Her nipples rasped against the sheet and her core ached. No one had ever made her do anything. She was protected and cosseted, indulged and admired. His aggression should terrify her, repulse her, certainly not turn her on!
Without saying a word, he wrestled her arms into the wrist cuffs and tightened the chain, stretching her out on her stomach in the middle of the bed. He grasped her panties with both hands and rent the lace-trimmed fabric.
“I thought your breasts were perfect until I saw your ass.”
It was such a ridiculous excuse for a compliment, Echo grinned into the mattress. Would he take her now? Pull her up to her knees and “mount” her? Her inner muscles r
ippled, and her clit twitched. This was so perverse. How could she feel anything but fear?
He stroked her legs from ankle to ass, over and over. Lulled by the caress of his warm fingers, she didn’t realize he was spreading her legs until his fingers brushed her folds. She whimpered and tried to close her thighs, but he knelt between her legs.
“You’re so wet, your inner thighs are slick.” He slid his fingers across her skin to illustrate. “Are you still going to claim you don’t want me?”
“It’s not a matter of desire.” She panted. “My body is responding predictably to specific stimulation.” He didn’t need to know similar stimulation had never resulted in this profound of a response. She ached. She burned. She trembled.
He traced her slit, teasing her opening without breaking his word. Tingles skittered up her spine. “May I please come inside you?” He whispered the question against the small of her back, his moist breath wafting across her skin.
“I will not ask to be defiled,” she said with more conviction. “I won’t ease your guilt by inviting my own degradation.”
The bed shifted as he moved to her side. “You’re right. This isn’t fair.”
Shocked by his acquiescence, she turned her head and looked at him. His gaze still burned with desire and beads of sweat dotted his brow. Lean and lethal, his body had yet to accept the new strategy. He’d felt thick and hard sliding between her fingers. How much better would it feel to have him thrusting into her again and again? With stubborn resolve, she dragged her gaze back to his face, but the memory lingered. Did his Rodyte heritage account for his size, or had Kiel been unusually small?
“Release me from my vow.” He trailed his fingers from her armpit to the outer curve of her breast.
“What?” She thought he’d finished toying with her.
“I accept full responsibility for what we’re about to do. Now release me from my vow.”
“No!” She rolled onto her side, presenting him with her back, arms still extended overhead. “You swore you wouldn’t… I have no intention of releasing you from your vow.”
“Fine.” He lay down and pressed himself against her back. His body heat sank into her flesh and his breath stirred her hair. Starting with her upraised arms, he caressed her entire body. He stroked her skin, squeezed her curves, and stimulated her nerve endings with a combination of sensations. He rubbed until she relaxed, then suddenly used his nails.
“Stop…touching me.” She tried to twist away, but he followed.
“I like touching you, and you need to grow accustomed to my touch.” He cupped one breast and then the other, his thumb circling her nipples. “Relax. You won this round.”
She tried to remain stiff and unresponsive. Her mind cooperated. Her body had other ideas. Her breasts swelled, her nipples tight and tingly. He splayed his fingers low on her belly, then pulled his hips back. What was he doing? She glanced over her shoulder, and he grinned.
“You’re so hot and wet. We’ll finish like this.” He pushed between her thighs, parting her folds with his thick shaft. She clasped the chains attached to her cuffs and waited for his length to fill her. He slipped his other hand under her body and adjusted the angle of her hips. “Squeeze your thighs together. Make it nice and tight.”
With one hand on her abdomen and the other on her hip, he moved between her thighs, short, shallow thrusts that bumped against her clit. She pushed back against him, unable to ignore the pleasure yet yearning for more. Each time he rubbed against her clit, a ripple of sensation gripped her. She pressed her lips together to keep from crying out. Pleasure burst in staccato pulses, radiating through her entire body.
He clasped her to him and rolled her nearly on top of him as he shook against her back. His seed splashed her thighs and his hands cupped her breasts. For a long time they lay there panting in the dim light. Echo eased her hold on the chains, relaxed yet confounded. How could she respond so readily to her enemy?
After the last tingle receded, he reached down and scooped his seed off her thighs. He smoothed it over her mound and gently coated her folds, mocking her stubbornness.
“You might have won this battle, Princess,” he whispered into her ear, “but our war has just begun.”
Royal Obsession (Shadow Assassins 1) Page 10