He took her hands and pressed them to his cock through the jeans. Her fingers moulded around him, working him through the fabric, and the sight of those long, dark fingers had sweat beading at his hairline. He needed to see her skin on his. “Never,” he got out, his voice little more than a croak. He cleared his throat. “I just want everything checked.”
Those gorgeous, wondrous fingers undid the zipper, letting his cock spring free, hard and ready for her. His earlier hopes were answered as she curled those fingers around him and gave a long, lazy pull. “No underwear?”
“Didn’t want to slow you down.” Her stroke was feather-light, barely-there, yet to him it was a brand.
She slipped off his lap, her expression sensual and mischievous all at once. Her head dipped, and that pink tongue slipped out, and, oh fuck… She licked him. She licked him like he was an ice cream cone and she’d just discovered the treat. Little licks, but nothing tentative about them. They were sure and often, and the came all around the head, driving him fucking nuts because it was too much and not enough, and she was going to kill him.
Her mouth surrounded the head, the first pull of suction eliciting a groan. With slow, sure strokes she went deeper, swallowing more of him, pulling him further and further into her throat.
His hand came to rest on the back of her head, directing her, and he fought with himself not to force her down, and to put all of his cock in that incredible wetness. But he didn’t have to, because she deep-throated him in one smooth movement. And she did it again. And again. And again.
And between how she worked him with her throat and the long-desired sight of her sucking him off, he came quicker than anyone older than fourteen ever should, his head thrown back and his vision gone white.
When he came to, her head was in his lap, and she was stroking his cock, petting it like it was a kitten. Or a pussy. Petting a pussy sounded like a good idea. He made to pull her up. “My turn.”
“No.” She was adamant, pushing him back when he would have risen from the chair. “Nothing else tonight. You heal.”
“I’d rather bury my face in your pussy and see how many times you come in an hour.”
Instead of crawling on the bed and opening her legs, she bust out laughing. “You have a broken nose. Do that and you’ll suffocate.”
“Worthwhile way to go.”
“You’re cute when you’re trying to be naughty.” She got up and kissed him on the top of his head, and it warmed him in a way not even the feel of her lips on his cock had done, the warmth more valuable than any sexual heat ever could be to him. “I’ll make dinner and we’ll turn in early. Tomorrow will be interesting, and I want us both ready.”
“Nalah.” She paused from getting out a pan and looked at him, her eyebrows raised in question. “From here on out, if I tell you to run…run.”
She blinked once, twice, long slow blinks under furrowed brows, and he was grateful she was taking it seriously. In the end, she said, “If I did that, I wouldn’t be me, would I? Besides, where could I go? It’s together or not at all.”
And even with the fear that churned his gut at the thoughts of what could go wrong, that didn’t sound too bad at all.
Chapter Fourteen
‡
Esh was gorgeous in the basic white tailored shirt and black pants combo, and the complete boredom on his face as he talked with the various guests made him better looking, not less. The women certainly thought so. Or maybe they just took it as a challenge. Either way, Esh was surrounded.
Not that Nalah didn’t have her own gaggle going on here. Tiffany grabbed her and dragged her from group to group without letting her do more than sip from her drink between sessions. If Nalah could have gotten away with it, she’d give them all an Esh-level scowl and huff off. All the women talked about were clothes and make-up and hair. Gods knew at this point she’d take Laire over any of them. Sure, Laire usually talked about clothes and make-up and hair as well, but at least she threw in the occasional story about blowing something up.
Fifteen minutes later, Esh was still surrounded but she saw a chance for escape and took it. Free of the women, she breathed deep and gave another look around. The Pale Lady wasn’t here, but Nalah would place money every other guest was.
Tiffany was wearing the ring, and every sighting of it poked at Nalah, mocked her because she had no idea what to do, other than smack Fallon the next time they were together for not sending a better thief. There had to be a back-up plan. Esh’s disdain and her own frustrated grumbling aside, the Guild always had a contingency strategy in place. All she could do was keep her eyes open and be ready for when it appeared.
Well, that, and hope it was sooner rather than later. Not only were they now dealing with Esh being in Beylor’s crosshair and a psychotic guard obsessed with both of them, but the dark magic around here was battering the hell out of her magical shields. She hadn’t felt this exposed since those first days of training, but now was worse. Now, she knew what it looked like when someone’s mind was torn apart because their shields fell. That her shields were crumbling and she couldn’t quite keep them shored up was a terror she had to keep to herself, because Esh would make them leave.
It wasn’t because of the ring that she was determined to stay, either. She wasn’t so naïve that Esh could hold the truth from her. Once Beylor made that offer, Esh was either leaving here as one of Beylor’s men, or he wasn’t leaving, unless the Guild stepped in. If he tried to get her away now, Beylor would take that as open season.
She wasn’t going to risk him like that. She’d deal with the shields, keep them up somehow, but she wasn’t going to give him yet another reason to make himself a target.
A new woman approached her, a clone of Tiffany except her hair was dark and wavy and her eyes such an electric green they had to be fake. Unlike Tiffany, there was nothing of genuine feeling in her smile, and when she spoke, her voice was malicious regard. “You’re Nalah? I had to come over and meet you. I never thought the Cage King would get a woman. I know women who’ve been trying for years and there’s never been the suggestion of anything outside of him bedding them for a night.”
Really, that was appropriate? But she pushed down the urge to take out her earrings and gave the most obvious fake smile in return. “Yes, I’m Nalah, and yes, I came with Esh. Who are you? I don’t remember Tiffany introducing you.”
The woman didn’t bother to answer and gave a negligent wave that highlighted her manicure. “How did you get him?”
This woman was pushing every one of her buttons with the attitude. “I wish the story was exciting, but it’s pretty boring. We knew each other as kids, and we reconnected as adults.”
The woman leaned closer, eyes sharp and looking for any weakness. “And you weren’t scared off by his violent reputation?”
“He fights in the cage. So do many others. Doesn’t make him a thug.”
Stroking the rim of her champagne glass with one red-tipped finger, the woman smiled with malicious delight. “You can’t tell me you don’t know the rumors involving him and Vitto. Why, if you don’t…” she gave an exaggerated shudder. “You might feel differently about him once you hear the truth.”
All the blood fled from Nalah’s limbs, leaving them icy cold in the wake of hearing her brother’s killer’s name. She’d blocked that name for five years, never let it be heard even in the deepest recesses of her mind.
But, what were the rumors she was speaking about? Esh never fought for Vitto, not before her brother died, and there was no possible way he fought for that man after what happened with them. This woman was talking crap, and Nalah was done. “I’m not interested in rumors. Excuse me.”
The woman grabbed her arm and forced her to stay, and as Nalah’s hand balled into a fist, from the corner of her eye she noticed Esh turn towards her. The woman continued. “He’s a murderer. They say he single-handedly destroyed Vitto’s organization. They say he killed Vitto himself.”
Nalah was rooted to the
ground, buzzing in her ears as the woman’s words ricocheted in her head. That couldn’t be true. Esh would have told her if he did something like that.
A large, calloused hand wrapped itself around hers, and the back of her mind registered Esh coming beside her, glaring at the woman and pulling her away, leading her out of the party and towards their rooms.
The buzzing in her head quieted until other sounds could penetrate. The soft hum of the refrigerator, the radio she had left on from earlier, a jazz song playing, low and mournful. “We keep leaving his parties. Beylor’s going to get a complex.”
He retreated to the wall, leaning against it and staying silent. He looked like a mistreated junkyard dog, watching a new arrival and just waiting for the blows to start.
The tension stretched between them, the weight of that last week – the week that started with her brother falling to his knees in front of her and ended with his body being lowered to the ground – crushing them underneath. “Is it true?”
“It’s true I killed Vitto. That his organization fell afterwards wasn’t on me.” Esh’s voice was clear and steady and neutral. It was a statement of fact, concise, the way he approached everything.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The question hung, suspended in the air. He lifted his chin, like fighters did when they were daring their opponent to take a hit. “It wasn’t meant for you to know. I didn’t kill him for you. Unless it’s convenient for you to attack me with, you seem to forget Jac was my best friend. Vitto was an evil bastard who killed my best friend, and by doing that, destroyed my life.” In a sharp motion he brought his hand to his hair, clenching the strands between his fingers before smoothing the hair back. “Why would you think I wouldn’t kill him after that?”
“Because you don’t get involved. Because doing that marked you.”
She didn’t mean the words as an attack, but the way his body tensed told her he took them like that. “Well, maybe you weren’t the only one who didn’t care what happened afterwards, as long as the pain ended.”
No. Gods no, she never thought Esh…she never wanted him to be in that dark place, with nowhere to turn and no one to believe in him.
And she had put him there. She didn’t mean to do it. She was thoughtless, mired in her own pain, but even in her darkest times she never wanted Esh to hurt.
His gaze was sharp, defiant. “Got anything to say about that? Like, it was what I deserved? Too bad it didn’t work out that way?”
Standing like that, for one moment he was the little boy she’d known, standing rebellious and daring everyone to judge him, daring her to put him down once again for his choices, but underneath the attitude was fear. Fear he would be rejected. Fear he’d end up alone again.
The thought of him going off alone, it struck her hard on her breastbone, crushing her chest and making it impossible to breathe. Any mistakes he made were the same kind she had – thoughtless, maybe prideful, but never malicious.
No, never malicious. She never told him she knew that, when they were starving in the streets, he would give her his portion of food, telling her he’d eaten earlier. Or he made sure she was blanketed even if he faced the cold nights in nothing more than a thin T-shirt. She’d watched him work long into the night with Jac giving Jac the only help her prideful brother would ever accept, help on making himself a better fighter, even nights that Esh had watch and wouldn’t get any sleep afterward.
A street kid who managed to hold onto that goodness would never let his best friend go into a fight that would kill him, no matter what consequences faced them. She’d been so wrong to put so much blame on him.
All because she didn’t want to rail against Jac. Her brother had been so reckless, so careless, so weak. Weak that he’d get himself into these situations without care of the cost the rest of them were always paying.
No, her brother wasn’t malicious either, but he was weak, and in those last days, she had begun…
She’d almost started…
Gods help her, those last days, she’d hated Jac.
“Nalah.” Esh’s voice was concerned, his thumbs brushing over her cheeks, and only with that did the wetness on her cheeks register in her memory-dimmed mind.
Five years they’d been separated, but as she looked to see his gaze on her, she saw what she always had – love, concern, happiness that she was near him. He was so easy to read, at least to her. Five years and nothing had changed. Not for him.
Not for her.
The bands she’d unknowingly placed around her heart snapped free, and with their destruction all the love and affection she’d been holding back burst forth, flooding her with warmth and contentment and joy because she was back where she belonged, with the boy who protected her and the man who challenged her, and both of them always, always loving her.
She lifted her head and placed her mouth on his, and in that kiss she let everything she felt run free. As she licked at his lips and was allowed access to go deeper, she poured everything running rampant inside her into that kiss. Adoration, joy, hopefulness, and above all the love and happiness she’d denied herself so long, in a misguided attempt to punish herself.
He’d stiffened for a moment, then wrapped his arms around her, crushing her to him as he took over the kiss, drawing from her everything she offered and leaving himself open in return. His kiss contained awe, wonder, and a bone-deep promise to always stay at her side.
Esh lifted her in his arms, never breaking the kiss, and headed for the bedroom. Once there they were naked within moments, with Nalah only having a vague impression of tearing cloth and buttons flying.
The sheets were cool against her back while the man above her was hot and hard, the glide of his skin on hers sparking a deep desire that had her heart rate soar and brought a sheen of perspiration to coat her skin.
“I’m going to devour you,” he growled when his mouth wasn’t otherwise marking her breasts and the valley between them. “I’m going to get between your legs and not leave until you forget your name.” And then he headed down to make good his claim.
She watched that skillful tongue come out to make a light pass over the outside lips and clit before it delved deeper, entering and tasting her, lapping up the wetness and creating more.
She watched the dark curls move as his head turned this way and that to taste every inch available. There wasn’t a patch of skin that hadn’t experienced his lips and tongue on it, and his expression was of a man savoring every experience, committing it to memory.
She watched as his fiery eyes lifted to meet hers, and not breaking their gaze, his tongue and lips found her clit and began to work.
His teasing had worked her up, made her muscles jump and her skin crackle with electricity, but it was his eyes that ratcheted up her arousal, had her wet beyond all reason and desperate to come. Those gorgeous eyes watching her, taking his cues from her body and without words, pressing harder here, sucking a little more there.
A rolling hunger swept through her, and in quick decision she grabbed his hair and pulled him up. “Not like that. I’m coming with you in me.”
His eyes closed like a man in pain. “Are you sure?”
In answer she spread her legs wider, opening and making herself vulnerable, willing him to understand everything in her heart with what she was offering.
He lowered himself over her, taking her mouth again, and she accepted greedily, tasting herself on him and loving how they combined. “Esh, I’m yours.”
He surged forward, burying himself in her. She wrapped her legs around his hips, holding tight as he rode her, long perfect strokes that had her already primed body coming apart in minutes.
As her orgasm began to end he came, groaning in her ear as his body emptied in hers, and she held him tighter, holding onto him and vowing in her heart she’d never let him go again.
Chapter Fifteen
‡
The final day of the fights. Esh was going against Rorth in the first round, and Nala
h had accepted Esh at his word that she didn’t have anything to fear from the half-orc.
She did fear the albino, though, and her heart beat a mad rhythm whenever she considered the possibility the final match would be between him and Esh.
All in all, fear held her in its grip, though she did her best to dispel it and keep moving forward. It was too insistent though. Today was the end, and all she saw was disaster. She didn’t tell Esh, but she was beginning to question what was going on with the Guild. There was no indication she’d received about anyone else being her back-up or coming for her, and that combined with the albino and Beylor’s looming offer had her downing antacid and hoping she wouldn’t be sick.
She’d seen Tiffany earlier at breakfast. The woman had been wearing the magical ring and talking her usual mile-a-minute about nothing in particular. Before she left she gave Nalah a hug and a wink and said how glad she was they were joining the “family”. That made Beylor’s expectations pretty clear.
Esh was already at the ring. After breakfast she’d come back to their apartment, but it was about time to head out and cheer him on. There was a knock at the door, and before she could answer Beylor walked in, followed by Lian.
“Hello Nalah,” he said in that high voice, and strange how being alone and defenseless made the usually pitiful tone suddenly menacing.
“I’m about to head to the ring,” she replied, though from Beylor’s smug, sure face, there wasn’t anything she could say that would change what was about to happen.
“I hope you understand we don’t want to harm you. We just need to give Esh the proper incentive to make the right choice.”
Lian moved towards her, and his power rose in him, a beacon shining from within. In his hand was a gold cuff, and as he fastened it around her wrist, his power surged forward, branding her and making her hiss at the repugnant sensation. Her hand jerked in automatic desire to get rid of the loathsome shackle.
Entwined Realms Volume One Page 40