"Beautiful," he whispered with reverence and stroked the underside of her breast. "And so very soft."
"You shouldn’t be doing this," she managed in a shaky voice, but made no move to avoid contact with him.
"You’re my prisoner," he said with a sly smile. "I can do anything I want with you. Everything I want with you."
He moved in a blur and had her lying flat on her back in her mossy bed. He loomed over her and his cock brushed her stomach.
She gasped at the contact.
"I’m through waiting, Isa," Catam said. His eyes darkened to burnished gold and he lowered his body to hers.
Her curves cushioned him, fitting perfectly against the rock hard structure of his frame. Isa bit her lip to keep from crying out, but Catam would have none of it.
"Purr for me, little thief. Give me what you promised earlier."
Not understanding his comment, she opened her mouth to question him when his mouth swallowed her words.
He tasted like cream, smooth and warm and so very satisfying. He finessed her mouth, using his lips and tongue to mimic the actions of his body. When he thrust his tongue in her mouth, he ground his erection against her mound.
She groaned and shifted, wanting his cock inside her.
"Not yet," he said huskily, and traced his mouth over her lips to her neck.
He sucked and nipped, leaving stinging pleasure along a trail from her ear to her collarbone. He licked her shoulder and centered himself above her breasts.
"You make me so hard," he breathed and licked her breast slowly, the rasp of his tongue a sensual torment that eased along the pale globe to the nipple aching for his touch.
He rubbed his cock harder against her, and she spread her thighs without thought.
He groaned and she shifted her pelvis so that his cock teased at her swollen nub bathed in the juices he’d created. She wanted him so much. With every thrust of his cock against her, he increased her sensitivity. She was close to orgasm, but not close enough.
His lips finally closed over her nipple and she arched into him, putting the tip of his shaft in direct contact with her clit.
He hissed his pleasure and sucked hard, gently biting her stiffened peak and causing her to cry out her pleasure.
With skilled lips, he made her breasts ache for more, for the touch of his tongue and the scrape of his teeth. His callused hands teased her nipples into hard pebbles of want, and she could feel her arousal pooling around his cock.
"Hell." Catam gritted his teeth and refrained from thrusting deep and hard into her.
He didn’t understand this driving need to fuck her so badly. He wanted to bury himself in Isa, so much so that it scared him while it made him crazed with lust.
She shook her head from side to side, needing release that he kept just out of reach. He didn’t know why he did it, but he wanted her to come around him. He normally didn’t care, seeing to the woman’s need before his own. But this time was different.
She arched into him again and he cursed at the effort it took not to come right then. His cock hurt, straining at the effort not to fuck her raw and he finally gave in to his urges.
Teasing her folds, he coated his cock in her moisture and paused, waiting for her to look at him.
She squirmed and stared into his eyes.
"What are you waiting for?" she groaned and reached for his hips.
"For this," he answered and stared at her as he sank deep, sliding through her tight sheath as though he’d done so before.
They both groaned at the joining, at the intense completion the contact wrought. She fit him like a glove, the warmth of her body both welcoming and exciting. He stilled for a moment, letting the feel of him sink into her.
Isa groaned and bucked at his hips, pulling him deeper into her womb.
"Ohh." Her head rolled back and forth, her eyes shut as if in plea for mercy.
Catam would show her none. He withdrew against the strong grip she had on his hips, then rammed into her. She arched and cried out, but he was relentless. Again and again he thrust, harder and deeper, always changing the friction against her clit.
The frustration and need that had built since their encounter in the bar increased until he could bear it no longer.
"Catam, please," she begged and locked her ankles around his waist. "I need more."
Gritting his teeth, he pressed against her clit and rode her hard. It didn’t take much before she came, screaming his name as she tightened around him. And Catam, a skilled Xema used to making women beg to love him, was helpless to follow her into bliss.
Her contractions heightened the feeling in his cock and he tensed, the pleasure overwhelming. Ecstasy consumed him, blacking out his vision as he spurted inside her. Isa continued to come, groaning and tensing around him. Her body milked him, prolonging the pleasure until he sank onto her, drained and sated.
He rolled to his side, remaining joined with her while keeping from crushing her. She lay in his arms, her breathing harsh, her heartbeat thumping loudly in the silence of the new morn.
Catam sighed and hugged her close. She smelled of sex, of him, and the hint of wildness that had attracted him in the first place.
"Gods, woman, I think you’ve killed me."
He heard a small chuckle followed by a groan, and he knew he’d never before felt so alive after sex. Though sated, his mind remained clear, his body felt weightless, and his spirits were ready for anything. He had reached wainu--that spiritual place where perfection rested.
Wanting to thank her for sharing such peace, he opened his mouth and froze.
What the hell had just happened?
Only a select few Xema and Thesha--the System’s lone sensually gifted races--could reach wainu. And to Catam’s knowledge, no other System inhabitant even knew about such a state. How then had Catam experienced such bliss in the arms of a common thief?
She must have felt his tension for she drew apart from his embrace enough to look up at him.
"Catam?" she asked hesitantly.
Shit. Panic replaced the contentment he’d been feeling, and he wanted to both curse and thank her for taking him to perfection.
"Who exactly are you?" He withdrew from her, putting a necessary distance between them. He’d just come so hard he’d seen black, yet the minute he looked at her his ardor rose, strong and solid.
Her eyes fell on his stiffening cock, but she didn’t comment on it. "I told you already." She looked uncomfortable, but more than that, she looked ... like she wanted to cry?
Dread filled him. Catam preferred to face a hundred barbarians rather than a woman’s tears. And the fact that she tried to hide her sorrow shook him to the bone.
"What’s wrong?" he asked quietly, deliberately releasing his tension as he soothed her with his voice.
She subtly wiped at her eyes and turned her gaze to the lake beside them. "Why are you so angry with me? Wasn’t it good for you?"
He stared at her, wondering at her game. "Good for me? Hell, woman! I came for more than a minute! You’re wet with my seed. Of course it was good for me!"
His angry tone should have insulted her. Instead she slowly smiled. "It was really good, wasn’t it?" She seemed inordinately pleased with herself. "I was hot, wasn’t I?"
Catam’s easy nature reasserted itself as humor at her bragging stole through him. "You were scorching."
"You’re hard again." She pointed to his groin and licked her lips. She blinked and reached down, slipping her fingers through her dark curls, making his cock swell.
"I want you again. I should be too tired, too sensitive, but I want you again, right now."
She looked wondrous at the revelation, and some of Catam’s concern faded. If Isa was surprised by her body’s response, she couldn’t possibly have any idea what she’d done for him.
For a man who prized control, Catam should have been more upset over her revelation. He had no idea what had happened, and obviously neither did she.
Her fin
gers dove deeper, fingering her clit while she stared at him in invitation.
Without another word, he rejoined her on the ground. Wanting her again, he decided to take her fast this time. He quickly mounted her and thrust deep. He sealed his mouth to hers and mated with her tongue, pulling her deeper into his thrall.
As their coupling continued, he lost track of his control, of who was really in charge. Her slick heat stole his thoughts and he reacted to her urgings unconsciously. He sucked her tongue and grazed her breasts with his chest, knowing she liked the way his silken hair teased her nipples.
She arched into him, gripping his buttocks to pull him deeper, and his patience snapped.
His hips like a piston, he pumped in and out, driving her into another orgasm before he spilled into her with a harsh cry. His cock pulsed within her tight pussy, and he had to grit his teeth to keep from keening aloud.
The aftershocks faded after a time and he drifted into wainu without thought. Oddly enough, this time perfection wore Isa’s face.
Chapter Five
Isa’s body ached in strange places. She sat up, confused at first that she wore no clothing and that moisture pooled between her legs. Then she blushed, recalling Catam’s ardent lovemaking.
By Flor’s dagger, she wasn’t frigid after all!
She wanted to shout with joy, to run to her family and share with them the news that she had in fact inherited the Araye gift of sensuality. She liked being a thief, truly, but the option had never before been present to be anything but. Now she could enter the world of the pleasurer, if she so chose.
She frowned, wondering why the thought of sex with others felt so distasteful. And then her answer appeared from around the corner of the rock face.
Catam strolled toward her with both arrogance and possession stamped on his sensual face. His lips quirked at her nudity and she realized she’d been grasping her jacket to her breasts.
"No need for that," he drawled and pulled the jacket from her.
Whereas she’d before been unconcerned about her nakedness, now she felt vulnerable, and a tad ... ashamed? Disappointment filled her as she realized she may have disproved her frigidity, but she still didn’t have the mindset to become a pleasurer.
"I can see you’re having doubts," Catam murmured. He took one last lingering look at her and sighed. "We’d best save this conversation for when you’re dressed. You might as well make use of the lake to clean up."
He glanced again at her body, seeming pleased to see evidence of his seed smeared on her thighs.
"I’ll be a minute," she mumbled and hurried into the water, ignoring the deep chuckle that followed her.
She quickly washed herself clean and exited the water, only to have Catam staring at her as if she were his last drink of water in the desert.
"Maybe I’ll wait behind the rock," he said in a gritty voice and disappeared.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Isa did her best to dry herself with her coat before donning her clothing. She couldn’t help that her shirt and trousers stuck even tighter to her as a result of her wet body. With a shrug, she dropped her jacket to the ground and sought out Catam.
He lounged on top of the massive rock like a lazy cat, swinging one leg over the side while he gazed at the sky.
Common sense told Isa she’d be better off running than facing Catam. Despite the incredible, mind-shattering sex, she was still a thief, and he was still a peacemaker intent on bringing her to justice. Yet she couldn’t make herself leave without trying to seek some understanding.
"We need to talk," he said, and she jumped. He continued to stare at the sky, and she hadn’t realized he’d known she stood there.
He rose and stretched, then gracefully joined her on the ground.
"I’ve got a dilemma," he admitted and leaned back against the rock to stare at her. "If it were up to me, I’d spend the next few weeks fucking your brains out."
She blushed dark red at his crude language and he laughed. "Sorry, sweet, but it’s true. Even now, after the incredible session we shared, I want you again."
She glanced at the bulge in his trousers and shook her head in disbelief. She felt too sated and relaxed to want sex just yet. Was the man for real? He certainly looked too good to be true, and his sexual prowess ... maybe he was one of those new pleasure droids?
"Isa?" He looked puzzled and she scrutinized him from head to toe.
"You are flesh and blood, aren’t you?"
He flashed her a grin. "I am. If you want to blame something, blame yourself. I’m not usually this, ah, stimulated."
"Well then." She had no idea what to say to that. She was still having a hard time acknowledging that she could respond to a male sexually with anything other than: "Maybe I’ll come next time. Don’t worry about it."
"If I was a normal peacemaker, this would be much easier," he said and took a deep breath.
"What do you mean a normal peacemaker?" Alarm flared as she realized for all Catam’s seeming safety, he might be working for the real killers.
"What I mean is that I’m not normally a peacemaker."
She relaxed hearing that he did indeed wear the badge.
"So you’re normally what then? A pleasurer?"
He snorted. "I wish. No, I’m a bounty hunter currently on leave to help my brother. Sernal’s the peacemaker, but he’s got too many responsibilities just now."
He stared at her, making her uncomfortable with his scrutiny.
"What?" She crossed her arms belligerently, hiding her nervousness with anger.
"I just don’t see it." He shook his head and walked around her, studying her from different angles. "You’re gorgeous. You have a body to kill for. And you’re a thief."
A body to kill for? Gorgeous? She could really grow to like Catam if he continued to say things like that.
"I don’t get why you’d murder a statesman, for Stars sake. Don’t you have a brain in that pretty head?"
Suddenly his compliments didn’t sound so wonderful.
"I do have a brain, you drun. If you’d use what small intellect Flor granted you, you’d realize I’m being set up." She glared at him, her arms akimbo.
Her black hair curled around her face, her eyes flashed like green danstone, and Catam wanted to lay her flat on her back and take her again.
Scowling at his lascivious thoughts, he focused on her combative stance and glowered at her when he realized what she’d called him.
"You know, sweet," he gritted through his teeth, "if you’re trying to get on my good side, try not insulting me. I don’t like it."
"You don’t like it?" She looked incredulous. "I don’t like having the law on my tail. I don’t like being accused of a crime I haven’t committed!"
"So you weren’t in Statesman Klin’s home the night he was murdered?" Disappointment settled in his belly. If he had a bek for every time one of his bounties protested his or her innocence, he’d be a rich man.
"I didn’t say that." She shook her head and her cheeks glowed with passion.
Down boy, he ordered his cock.
"I was there that night," she explained.
"But?"
"He was dead before I arrived."
"Sure." He grimaced. That was the best she could do? The sex must have muddled his brain. He’d actually convinced himself she might be innocent. No one who’d murdered another in cold blood could have taken him to wainu. At least, he hadn’t thought so.
"Catam, listen to me," she urged. "I should never have taken a contract from Harron, but I did, and it was a mistake.
"He sent me to Klin’s home in Voran. I was supposed to steal a priceless heirloom Klin had stashed in his wall safe, along with anything else I could get my hands on. Unfortunately, I missed my first opportunity to enter the study when a rather amorous couple surprised me in the wife’s bedroom."
"Go on." The story had a lot of details. He’d see if she could keep them straight. One fact, however, held a ring of truth.
Catam k
new of Harron. The slimy bastard had once tried to cheat a friend out of a priceless antique. Luckily, Sernal had found out and put a stop to his pawn brokering days. It appeared, however, that Harron might have taken to brokering other things, like theft and murder.
"I heard the man groan "Daarna" before he and she, uh, climaxed."
Catam wanted to grin. She sounded so embarrassed, and after the intimacies they had shared. Then her words struck him. "Wait a minute. You heard him say Daarna?" Klin’s wife?
Isa nodded. "I managed to sneak into Klin’s study while they were occupied. But instead of the wall safe, I found Klin lying dead. His throat had been slit and he’d been stabbed in the belly." She scowled. "And he’d been stabbed with a Voranian knife, not by an Aran dagger."
"So you’re telling me you never saw the statesman alive. What about the safe?"
"It had been opened and emptied before I arrived. I found Klin by tripping over him." She frowned. "Contrary to what you might think, I’m a damned good thief. I wear a mask and gloves, and my handprint was found on his wall because I slipped in his blood trying to get up from a fall."
Catam stared at her, thinking. It had bothered him that the thief had left a handprint, especially since the lab had determined a gloved hand left the print. Why would a thief be smart enough to wear gloves but not wipe up a handprint left in blood?
"I barely had enough time to hide before Daarna and her beau Arnath entered."
He didn’t like where his thoughts took him. "Did you see Daarna and Arnath?"
"I saw the back of Daarna’s body, and I can tell you she had dark, curly brown hair. I didn’t see Arnath, though."
Daarna had to be Klin’s consort. But Arnath?
Isa continued. "They made me sick when they started screwing each other right by Klin’s dead body. There was blood all over the floor! They would have kept at it if Arnath hadn’t cautioned Daarna to be careful."
She paused before she added, "He said something about not wanting to be seen together before tomorrow. I had assumed he meant he didn’t want to be seen at her house when Klin had just been murdered. Now I’m not so sure."
The Thief of Mardu Page 4