Dark Warrior Mine (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Series Book 7)

by I. T. Lucas

  “You like it, don’t you?”

  Andrew opened his eyes, his hand reaching for the top of her head. “I love it.” He caressed her hair and then cupped her cheek. “And I hate to press the pause button, but I would prefer to be freshly showered for you.”

  She gave the plump head one last kiss before getting up. “You smell and taste delicious. But I get it, I’d rather be freshly showered too.” She winked at him.

  This was another fantasy Nathalie wished to explore. She’d been thinking about it ever since reading in one of her romance novels about a couple pleasuring each other with their mouths simultaneously. It had been one of her favorites, probably because the girl in the story was also a virgin, even though it wasn’t a historical romance and the girl was in her mid-twenties. Nathalie could identify with the character.

  Washing each other, they took a little too long caressing and squeezing and pinching. Nathalie was afraid they would run out of time.

  She was pretty sure that if Jackson came back and realized they were still in her room, and the door was locked, he would distract Fernando. Still, better to be done before Jackson brought her father back.

  Andrew grabbed one of the thick towels she had stacked on the shelf by the shower and wrapped her in it, then reached for another one to dry himself.

  “Come on, gorgeous.” He stepped out of the shower and offered her his hand. She took it, and he led her to her small bedroom.

  Her twin-sized bed wasn’t meant for a couple, and Andrew eyed it for a second before striding up to it and sitting down, then pulling her down to sit in his lap.

  “Sorry about the bed.”

  “Why? Is it lumpy?” He bounced up and down with her still cradled in his arms. “Feels solid to me.”

  Was he the sweetest guy, or what?

  She cupped his cheeks and kissed him lightly on the lips. “I love you, Andrew Spivak,” she said, feeling like everything had just shifted, her crazy world realigning because of how right it felt to say these words to him.

  Chapter 55: Andrew

  Dear God Almighty, Nathalie’s words, so unexpected, so priceless, hit Andrew like Zeus’s mythical thunderbolt, and the shock left him speechless for about a second. Then he crushed her to him. “I love you too, Nathalie Vega,” he croaked, ashamed that compared to her steady and assured tone, his delivery sounded like that of a teenage boy whose voice was still in a flux.

  “You’re smushing me!” She laughed.

  He let go, but just a little. “Now that I have you, I’m not letting you go, better get used to it,” he whispered into her hair.

  She wiggled a little, forcing him to loosen his hold and free her arms.

  “Look at me, Andrew,” she said in a serious tone, and for a moment, he was worried that he’d gone too far.

  But as he lifted his head, he saw that her eyes were smiling through a sheen of moisture.

  “Now that I have found you, I’m not letting you go either. You’re mine. So you better get used to it, buddy.” She chucked him under the chin.

  Her statement was meant to reassure him, but instead, it gave him pause. He was her first, and didn’t most people believe that they fell in love with their first sex partner?

  Nathalie was naïve and inexperienced, and surrendering her virginity to him must’ve been emotionally stirring for her. And it wasn’t only the sex, he was also her first romantic interest. Not to mention the hope he’d given her of finding her mother. Substitute any Joe Schmo for him and Nathalie would’ve most likely fallen, or believed she had, for him too.

  Andrew, on the other hand, had no doubt that she was the one for him. Deep down, he’d known that he’d fallen in love with her, probably from the start. He just needed to be hit over the head with her proclamation to admit it to himself.

  Nathalie’s finger was tracing a path down his bare torso, and he tensed, expecting her to linger on his scars, but her finger continued its downward track until she reached the top of the towel he had wrapped around his hips and gave it a tug.

  “Are you going to keep it on for long?” She smiled suggestively. “Tick, tock, tick, tock… time is not on our side.”

  She was right, of course. And talking about whether what she was feeling was love or just infatuation could and should wait for when they were both dressed and not so hungry for each other. Perhaps when her hormones no longer ran the show, Nathalie’s head would clear, and she’d be in a better position to re-evaluate her true feelings for him.

  “Come here.” He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head. Taking her lush lips in a passionate kiss, he poured his heart into it, licking inside her mouth and tasting her sweetness. She was panting when he released her mouth. With a slow hand, he unwrapped her towel. As she was revealed to him, the steam that had been trapped there rose up from her smooth skin, and he wanted to lick her all over.

  “You’re so beautiful, Nathalie, you take my breath away,” he told her as he lifted her off his lap and laid her on the bed. “I forgot about the lotion, I’ll be right back.” He kissed her belly before turning to go back to the bathroom.

  “Let’s leave the massage for some other time.” She stopped him. “Come back here, I want to taste you again.” And just like that, his shaft that had been already hard from their kiss sprung up and tented his towel.

  Nathalie giggled and lifted up to her knees. “Look at this…” She reached for his towel and pulled, leaving him standing in front of her with his erection standing up at attention and ready for inspection.

  Dropping the towel to the floor, she took him in hand. Gently moving up and down, she then rubbed her thumb over the tip to spread the drop of moisture that had welled there.

  “I love how your shaft feels, hard on the inside but velvety on the outside.” She looked up at him and smiled. “The opposite of you. You’re hard on the outside but sweet on the inside.”

  Andrew rolled his eyes. What was with that sweet thing? He was as far from sweet as it got. His internal rumblings ceased as Nathalie extended her tongue and gave it a halting lick, and then another one, then rubbed her cheek on it like a kitten on a scratching post.

  He ached to bury himself in her moist mouth, but he was letting her explore.

  Mercifully, she’d gone back to licking, swirling her tongue all around the head before closing her lips around it.

  “Yes, just like that,” he groaned, his hips surging forward of their own accord, pushing more of his length into her mouth.

  She sucked it in even deeper, and he cupped her cheek, feeling his shaft on the other side. Guided by instinct, she moved her mouth and her tongue in a way that drove him wild, and it took all he had not to thrust deeper. When she moaned around him, he almost came.

  But as much fun as this was, it wasn’t how he wanted to proceed. It wasn’t enough for him to be pleasured, he needed to pleasure Nathalie even more.

  Andrew put his hand on top of her head, stroking her hair as he pulled out of her mouth.

  She looked up at him with worry in her big brown eyes. “Did I do something wrong? Wasn’t it good for you?”

  “No, sweetheart, you did it perfectly. But even though I’m a selfish bastard, pleasuring you gives me pleasure too.” He lay on her small bed and pulled her on top of him, her knees straddling his face and her mouth hovering above his cock.

  She turned her head around to look at him, a blush painting her cheeks red. “Oh, God, how did you know?”

  He gave her slit a lick, getting a little taste before answering her. “Know what?” He thrust his tongue in between her wet folds, finding her entry and licking all around.

  Nathalie moaned. “I’ve been fantasizing about doing this exactly like that,” she breathed and took his shaft into her mouth, going down as far as she could before retreating.

  The girl was a natural. Which meant that he needed to perform magic with his tongue to have her orgasming before he erupted in that skillful mouth of hers.

  Splaying his hands over her
heart-shaped ass, he held her in place, stilling her gyrating hips as he tongued her.

  Damn, she was hot, wild, her tender flesh quivering on his tongue, and as he pushed a finger into her wet heat, she cried out, momentarily letting his shaft slide out of her mouth.

  It was good, the cool air on his wet erection was exactly what he needed to delay his climax for just long enough to bring her off first.

  He added another finger, and she took him back in her mouth, groaning around him—the vibrations bringing him close to the edge again.

  Closing his lips around her clit, he sucked, and at the same time scissored his fingers, thrusting them deep inside her.

  Nathalie screamed, the sound muffled by his shaft, then took him so deep that he bumped against the end of her throat. With a grunt, he pulled out before his seed erupted, finishing all over her face but at least not in her mouth.

  She wasn’t ready for that, yet.

  Rolling off him, she grabbed one of the towels from the floor and wiped her face, then sprawled next to him on the bed.

  “Sorry about that,” he mumbled trying to catch his breath,

  “You should be.” She turned her head, pinning him with a pair of narrowed eyes. “Don’t you dare pull out again like that. I told you that I wanted to taste you.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” He saluted her, barely stifling a laugh.

  Who could’ve known that his shy virgin would turn into a hungry cougar after her first taste of sex?

  Chapter 56: Nathalie

  Nathalie barely stifled a giggle. Andrew could’ve not looked more surprised and confused if she’d told him that she wanted to dance naked in the street.

  Maybe she’d overdone her pretense?

  Yes, she was disappointed that she didn’t get to enact her fantasy to the letter, but she wasn’t really mad. How could she? Andrew had pulled out only because he’d thought she wasn’t ready. No doubt he would’ve preferred to finish in her mouth than all over it.

  Hm, she’d wiped away most of it but not all. Tentatively, Nathalie licked her lips.

  Oh, yeah, there it is—Andrew’s taste.

  She snuggled up to him, and he wrapped his arm around her pulling her even closer. “I wish we could stay like this.”

  “Yeah, me too. Unfortunately, Jackson and my father are going to be back soon.”

  “Do you think we have time for another shower?”

  “Probably. Knowing Jackson, he will text me when they are about to come back.”

  “Then let’s go, and take your phone with you.”

  This time, their shared shower was all about efficiency and not intimacy. They were out of there and fully dressed in no more than five minutes.

  Nathalie took Andrew’s hand and led him to the den. “Let’s at least snuggle until they return.”

  He kicked his shoes off and lay down, then pulled her on top of him. His hands gently caressing her back and her butt.

  Her cheek on Andrew’s chest, Nathalie smiled. The man was obsessed with her behind—in a good way. And to think that she’d always been self-conscious about the size of her ass and her hips. Apparently Andrew counted them as assets. She giggled.

  “What’s funny?”

  “I was thinking about my ass assets.” She giggled again.

  He cupped her butt cheeks and then squeezed them possessively. “I love your ass.” He gave it another squeeze.

  Nathalie sighed. This was so nice, and she hated that soon she would have to say goodnight to Andrew. She couldn’t keep him on the couch for another night. He had to go to work tomorrow.

  Evidently, he was thinking along the same lines. “We need to find a better solution for your father. Jackson is an angel, but he is just a temporary fix.”

  “I know. But you’ve seen the types that showed up for interviews, I wouldn’t let them take care of a dog.”

  “Neither would I, but we have to keep on looking. You deserve a life, Nathalie, a full one.”

  “I know, but I won’t sacrifice my father in order to have one, I just can’t.”

  Not even for Andrew.

  Nathalie hoped it wouldn’t be a deal-breaker for him, because if he left her over this, she would just die.

  “I know, baby, and I’d never ask it of you. Hell, I would’ve been disappointed in you if you even considered it. I’m just trying to think outside the box. Perhaps we are going about it all wrong. There must be a better solution.”

  With a snort, she rolled off Andrew’s chest and lay beside him. “I’m open to suggestions.”

  “I don’t have anything yet, but I’m going to give it some serious thought.”

  “It’s easier for those who have extended family, so they can take turns. But I have no one. It’s just my dad and me.”

  Andrew made a face. “You have me, and I have an extended family. In fact, it’s a pretty big one.”

  “Really? You’ve only mentioned one sister and your parents who are in Africa.”

  “True, but my sister is married to a guy who has a big extended family, so in a way they are mine as well.”

  “That’s wonderful, and I would love to meet them, but it’s not as if I can ask them to help.”

  “Maybe not, but I can ask for their advice. Or if they know someone who they could recommend as a caretaker for your father. After all, that’s how you got Jackson.”

  She frowned. “What do you mean? Bhathian brought him.”

  Andrew shifted, and she had the impression that he’d said too much. “Bhathian is a cousin of my brother-in-law, and Jackson is the son of another cousin.”

  That didn’t sound like something that should’ve been kept a secret, so why had no one mentioned it before? What exactly were Andrew and Bhathian up to?

  Come to think of it, it was so strange how the two of them had shown up at her shop and how quickly they had ingrained themselves in her life. Bhathian was there almost every morning, drinking his coffee and sampling all of her pastries, complimenting her each time as if it was his first time tasting them. And Andrew, hitting on her full force from the first day.

  Somehow, she doubted it was all a coincidence. Still, why would anyone bother to deceive her? She had nothing of value and was no one special.

  Did it have something to do with her mother’s disappearance?

  After all, Eva could’ve been more than a simple drug enforcement agent, downplaying the kind of work she’d really done before retiring.

  Suddenly, Nathalie saw it all clearly.

  Eva hadn’t retired voluntarily, she had been forced to leave and hide because she knew something that others wanted to either get their hands on, or silence her so it would never be found. And in that context, her mother’s secretiveness, and aloofness made perfect sense. Then six years ago they must’ve discovered her, and she’d had to run again. Not keeping contact with her daughter had been necessary to keep them both safe. Or… the option that Nathalie didn’t want to consider—that those mysterious they had gotten to her mother.

  Bhathian and Andrew were looking for Eva, and she’d been stupid enough to supply them with information. Luckily, there wasn’t much that she really knew, and she was going to get rid of the box with her mother’s stuff as soon as Andrew left.

  God, am I just being paranoid? Please, oh please make it so.

  To find out that Andrew was just pretending to care for her so he could get information about her mother was going to kill her.

  Nathalie wouldn’t survive a disappointment of this magnitude.

  Hopefully, the whole mess was just in her head.

  Yeah, like there isn’t enough of it in there already.

  But in case it wasn’t sheer paranoia, to be on the safe side, she wasn’t going to tell him anything else about Eva.

  “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” Andrew sounded so genuinely worried.

  Damn, if her suspicions were true, then the guy deserved an Oscar. “Nothing, I’m just tired.”

  “You’re crying because you are tired?�
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  Was she? Nathalie swiped a finger at the corner of her eye, and sure enough—it came away wet.

  Chapter 57: Andrew

  What was wrong with her? Why had Nathalie lied about the reason for her tears? She couldn’t still be mad about him pulling out, could she?

  Was it the talk about her father?

  Probably.

  He hugged her closer and caressed her arm. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re so good and so brave. Such a wonderful daughter. Don’t worry about your dad. We will find a solution that will make things better for him, not worse. I promise.”

  Nathalie nodded into his T-shirt. “I know.”

  “So what is it? Are you hearing voices again? Are they bothering you?”

  Andrew suspected that she wasn’t telling him about most of her ghostly visits. He’d often caught her making hand gestures as if she was having a conversation with someone—an internal one. But Nathalie was so uncomfortable talking about what she believed was a mental disorder that he hadn’t pushed.

  She snorted. “They are always bothersome, but it has been quiet in my head lately. Tut is basically gone, I haven’t heard from him in days, but there is a new guy that calls himself Sage, who tends to pop up at the most inopportune moments.”

  “What do you mean?” Thinking about that ghost seeing her naked when she’d looked at herself in the mirror made Andrew see red.

  Nathalie lifted her eyes to him, and a small smile bloomed on her beautiful face. “Are you jealous? Of a ghost?”

  “You damn right, I’m jealous. And the worst part is that if that ghostly pervert is sneaking up on you when you’re nude in front of the mirror, I can’t even beat him up.”

  Nathalie snorted.

  Great, he was mad as hell, and she was laughing.

  “You have nothing to worry about, Andrew. Sage, and I’m quoting him, is more interested in seeing you naked than me.”

  A gay ghost? Hell, that was something. Except, there was no reason to believe that all ghosts were straight. If the guy liked other guys when he was alive, there was no reason for his preferences to make a flip around just because he was dead.