by Azure Boone
Karly's heart nearly launched from her chest when she opened her eyes and found Kassern sitting next to the tub she soaked in. "Shit, you scared me."
He stared at her from the chair where he reclined, looking like a vision, fire licking eagerly in the depths of his blood-red eyes, making them glow in the candlelit space. That sight would terrify any other human, but his passionate gaze boring into hers had a far different effect on Karly. Along with the sharp angles of his milk-pale face, the full and inviting ruby lips, and the crimson cross glowing on his gorgeous ripped torso, all sent her pulse whooshing in her ears and between her legs. Heaven had come home.
She slowly sat up and his massive body leaned forward as though to meet her half way. The air trembled with his arousal and tingled over her body until she became weak. She sat there, immobile under his spell, trapped in the power swirling around and between them. He stood and his pants dissolved. The fierce bondage of his fiery gaze on hers prevented her from taking in his gorgeous body and heart-stopping arousal.
Desire forced out her whimper and Kassern answered with a deep purr as he lowered to his knees next to the tub. "Lay back for me."
The velvety words pushed against her body with invisible power, demanding obedience. She surely didn't fight. It was as though he'd read her mind, knew the fantasy she was in the middle of having when he showed up.
He tilted his head and his gaze blazed across her breasts, bringing that otherworldly purr of his to flow with real sensation over her sensitive nipples. Karly gasped, helpless, watching him lick his lower lip, leaving a trail of flame. Her body remembered what he could do with that perfect tongue and she moaned.
The red silk chains he loved to use with her materialized from nowhere and jerked Karly's knees wide, holding them firmly against the tub. "God, yes, yes," she whispered, weak with need. Her fingers latched onto the tub behind her head. She tried to move and found he'd secured her tightly.
Was he really going to act out the exact fantasy? God, she hoped so. The tub was perfect for it, antique and deep, spout in the center so that both ends could be reclined against. He climbed in and laid back on his side of the tub, just as she'd imagined.
Then he began to make love to her flesh with the literal heat of his gaze. It licked at her mouth and she parted her lips, letting it stroke sensually inside until she was breathless. Slowly it descended to her neck and she arched, eager, the flames feeling exactly like his hot tongue. By the time he got to her breasts, she panted and mewled, out of her mind with want.
Kassern licked his gaze over her nipples, sending sparks of desire lower. "God, Kassern," she cried, hoarse. "Please." She squirmed her hips, mentally begging him to send the heat between her legs.
He apparently heard her loud and clear because the results were immediate and powerful. His purrs turned to sharp growls and he shut his eyes as though pained.
Mmm, telling him what she wanted was his weakness. Her heart pounded harder as she remembered her desire could control him. "I need…to suck you." Her words gasped with longing.
Just like that, her restraints were gone, but Kassern's agonized expression remained, his eyes clenched tight. Guess that meant he understood exactly what she needed to suck.
But what was he fighting?
Karly knelt in the tub before him. "Look at me."
He slowly opened his eyes and the look in his gaze stole her breath. She saw it clearly—human want fused with his angelic eternity. He still feared she'd be crushed under the power.
The idea that anyone could care so deeply for her only increased her desire. She captured his strong face between her hands. "God, how I love you."
His fiery gasps hit her lips as she kissed him tenderly, making need vibrate through his body and even the water.
He broke away and begged through a growl, "Please!"
Karly regarded his heaving body, near breaking. She swallowed her inhibition. "Go in the bedroom and bind yourself. Standing. Against the wall."
Water splashed everywhere with his ungraceful disappearance, leaving Karly gasping on the need to bring her precious angel release.
****
Kassern breathed a sigh of relief the second he was in chains. He was going to kill her, he could feel it in his eternal bones. Love her right to death. How would that look on his record? Guilty of impaling wife to death with his cock!
His limbs trembled when she rounded the corner. Naked. She was so beautiful, it literally hurt. His erection strained forward and his frame shook with desire when she stood inches from him. He reached for her with his spiritual touch and slid inside her. Was he dying from lack of connection? God, it felt like it. His head went back as he let his soul's essence slide in and around hers, eager and hungry.
She glued her body to his and stroked his back with hungry fingers. Kassern thought he'd erupt in flames. Her lips and tongue feasted on his heated skin as she slid slowly down his body, hands tracing his torso as she went.
She made it to his cock and lavished it with affection, her face and lips sliding along the shaft, her hands exploring everything between his legs. Kassern could no longer hold back his roar.
Breathless, he looked down and saw his flame in her eyes, his own passion filling her. "I'm going to suck you. So. Very. Good."
Oh Father, give him strength.
Her sultry threat brought Kassern's armor in a new and innovative way. Red straps covered her body, tying her to his torso and legs. He vaguely realized the armor reacted to the threat of her not doing what she promised. The intuitive gems that comprised his offense and defense would allow her no escape. The straps were nearly liquid, moving sensually against her skin, glittering with scores of miniscule rubies embedded within the leather. God yes. Of course his instincts would make the straps aggressive. Pleasurably aggressive. Winded, he watched the liquid squeeze against her hard nipples. She threw her head back and gasped and Kassern felt the straps between her legs, shuddering with perfect heat, slivers of liquid ruby licking at her folds, seeking the throbbing nerve there.
Kassern let out another roar when her head came forward and she dove on the length of his cock. She descended eagerly until his painfully thick head pressed into the back of her throat. The pleasure made him thrash and strain until the chains nearly broke his flesh.
In all his existence he'd never fought this kind of battle. He fought himself. He needed to tear into her like any other enemy, only pleasure was his weapon. He focused on the liquid restraints buried in her sweet sex and created more tendrils of ruby. He inched them inside wet heat, seeking her core. When he reached it, her cry of pleasure felt like a direct attack, and the battle once again became to resist the urge to devastate and consume with pleasure.
But Father, she was a damn worthy opponent. Aware of the battle raging, she fought him, groaning her way up and down his cock with perfect suction. He turned up the heat a notch and strobed her core with molten ruby. Karly's groans turned frantic and Kassern was sure he'd won. But then she focused her tight lips over the head of his shaft and mercilessly flicked the most sensitive spot.
Heat surged into his groin, reckless and unstoppable. A roar and yank of the chains signaled his climax. He thrust his cock into her mouth and a tendril of ruby into her sweet ass.
It was a close tie. Her orgasm flooded out the pleasure filling his armor and adding to his own. He twined his spirit in hers as hard as he could, needing to fuse to this woman in every way possible. When he held her in the stratosphere between universes, he released their bonds and kissed her. Kissed her with all his warrior's heart, mind, and soul, marveling over their massacre. They'd ravished each other's souls to violent pieces then fused them back together into one being.
Husband and wife.
Kassern had never been more awed. Immortality and eternity took on an entirely new significance.
Jessie sailed into the Nursing Supervisor's office after clocking in forty-one minutes late. Not even having a new
butthole torn by the dour woman could put a damper on Jessie's day. Every time she thought about the end of the shift and Leo picking her up, her skin turned to gooseflesh.
Jessie stood, tapping her foot, and waited while the tough-as-nails elderly woman signed a stack of papers. Anticipation buzzed through her blood, and she sternly reminded herself Leo was just being nice. He considered her a friend, by his own words, and you picked your friend up from work while their car was in the shop. That's all it was. Be foolish to hope a man like him would have further interest in someone like her anyway.
But she was as foolish as they came.
With a distinct snap, Ms. Perkins placed her pen on the desk, exactly parallel to the right margin of the sheaf of papers before her. She sighed and clasped her gnarly fingers over the papers. "Nurse Hutchinson."
Years of lecture-taking kicked in, and Jessie squared her shoulders, tucked her hands behind her, and straightened her spine. "Yes, Ma'am." She met Ms. Perkins' gaze, her voice clear and strong. No weakness, no insolence, no disrespect. Her dad would be proud he'd trained her so well.
"Relax, dear, I'm not going to bite you." The petite weathered woman pushed her chair back from the desk and stood. "Would you like a cup of coffee?"
What? "Um, no, thank you, Ma'am." Jessie forced her hands to stay tucked so their trembling didn't show.
Ms. Perkins went to the small table holding a coffeemaker and helped herself. "I called you here for a couple of reasons. First, I understand you were late today?"
"Yes ma'am. My car broke down on the way to work. I had to call a mechanic. He had it towed to his shop."
"And you called ahead to let your shift supervisor know?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Good. Now, I know you haven't been exactly thrilled to be on the Post-Op floor." Ms. Perkins sat back at her desk and took a sip of her coffee.
No secret there. "Yes, Ma'am." She'd been trying to get off Post-Op for more than a year. Packing incisions, cleaning drainage tubes and the rest of the associated details of working with post-surgical patients tested her nerves every single day. Each patient's life hinged on the smallest of details. The tiniest error could result in infections, hemorrhages, horrible scars. Death. All departments carried the same sorts of risk, but Post-Op was the last place you wanted a clumsy twit.
"Well, I have good news then. There's an opening in Neuro with stroke aftercare. I believe you requested a position there if one became available?" Neatly lined red lips pursed as if concealing a smile.
"Yes, Ma'am." Jessie refused to show the elation that quickened her pulse. Shock too. She'd never imagined the woman cared a lick.
The full-of-surprises woman opened a folder from the stack at her left. "I understand your performance in Post-Op has been less than exemplary." She almost glared at Jessie over the rims of her glasses. "On the other hand, your shift supervisor says your care of longer term patients is beyond reproach. Yet the department supervisor hesitates to assign you anything too challenging."
Jessie struggled to decipher where this was headed, what she should brace for. The Supervisor often used a tone contrary to the conclusion of a conversation. Pleasant tone did not mean pleasant conclusion.
Ms. Perkins stood and retrieved a thick file from the cabinet behind her and thrust it toward Jessie. "Read and sign everything and bring it all with you Friday when you report for work. Your new shift supervisor in the Neuro Department will meet with you then to go over everything and assign someone to show you the ropes."
Jessie took the folder with numb fingers. She couldn't contain the silly giggle that pushed past her lips. "First Leo, then this? I must be dreaming."
Ms. Perkins gave her a funny look. "What, hun?"
"Oh, sorry. Um," she waved a hand, "just thinking out loud."
"A new man in your life, I take it?" Faded blue eyes twinkled with mischief as Ms. Perkins laughed and patted Jessie's arm. "Head on up to start your shift." She turned back to her desk, apparently not expecting an answer. "Don't disappoint me. I fought for you. The Director wanted me to give you your two week notice today. I called in favors and got you a last chance, because I think you have the potential to be a really good nurse."
The sudden change of tone disconcerted Jessie, but when nothing followed, she left the office.
Other than tripping over air when she got in the elevator, Jessie made it up to her floor without incident. She checked in, grabbed her charts, and started off on her first rounds of the evening, fending off dozens of questions from co-workers about the unusual glow in her cheeks. Several assumed Todd had finally made some sort of move toward advancing their relationship. Jessie was careful to say nothing, about the transfer or Leo. Gossip was the last thing she needed. Bad enough some would likely see her get in Leo's truck at the end of the shift.
The last hour of work seemed like a marathon in molasses. She must have checked her watch at least a dozen times every minute. Anticipation built until her stomach churned. With her luck, she'd end up puking right in Leo's lap. She rummaged through the drawer in the lounge until she found a roll of antacids and popped three into her mouth.
Then the unthinkable happened. Five minutes before time to clock out, the elderly volunteer at the information desk stepped off the elevator with Leo in tow. An arthritic finger pointed to Jessie. "There she is, dear. I hope the two of you enjoy your day together."
Every person around Jessie froze in complete silence as the sexy grin on two legs strutted to the station where she double-checked the day's charts. "Hey there." Leo leaned one arm comfortably on the counter. "I hope you don't mind, but I realized we hadn't planned where to meet and was afraid of missing you."
Oh…Myyyy… The confidence in the man was just…fascinating. Probably strutted out of his mother's womb. Why couldn't she be that self-assured? "Um, yes, yes, of course, it's fine. I still have a couple minutes before I can clock out, though." She pushed hair behind her ears and hugged the charts while she attempted to chew the tremble from her lower lip.
"Good, that gives me a chance to watch you work." The intimate rumble of his voice sent her stomach into a series of insane acrobatics.
Ruth, doing her own charts next to Jessie, gasped aloud as if Leo had said something unfit for mixed company.
He wanted to watch her? "Uh, ye-yeah. Okay." That doggone stutter from elementary school reared its ugly head after more than a decade of hibernation.
He just smiled and nodded, while all her co-workers tried to scrape their jaws off the floor.
Jessie finally initialed the last block on her chart and closed it. "I need to get my purse and stuff from the lounge and clock out, then I'll be ready."
"Cool. I'll wait here, if that's okay?"
"Of course. I'll hurry." Jessie turned, forgetting Ruth next to her. A series of gasps and squeals and oh my Gods followed, along with Jessie's profuse apologies as she climbed out of the poor girl's lap. "So sorry," Jessie gasped for a fifth time, patting Ruth's shoulders and head before hurrying around the counter and past Leo.
"Maybe I should walk with you," he said.
She paused, fighting down the humiliation. Just meeting those honey-baked eyes, all sweet and warm, made the air leave her lungs in a rush. His tongue swept across his lower lip in a way that should be illegal for the things it did to her.
Leo finally grinned and drew her to his side. "Which way?"
The walk to the lounge was uneventful, unless the stuff going on in Jessie's body counted. Her nerves went for Olympic Gold in Gymnastics, and her pulse became a serious contender for the 10K. Her coworkers stood in dumbfounded silence, staring pointedly at Leo's arm resting casually around Jessie's waist, fingers curved to fit her hip.
A couple of centuries later, he escorted her into the elevator and then out to the staff parking lot where he helped her into his truck. She sat there, bouncing her legs while he went around and climbed in. The scent of his cologne, all musky with woodsy overtones, f
illed the enclosed area and her heart went to pounding again.
He drove and talked but no one better ask her what he said. She was too focused on the timbre of his voice and how it wrapped around her in an intimate embrace. They reached her house and he insisted on walking her to the door.
When she fumbled with her key, he took it and unlocked the door, and held it open for her. She stepped inside and turned to thank him, but he had followed her.
He gave her that seductive little smile and swung the door closed.
Jessie's heart banged against her ribs in alarm when the deadbolt snicked into place.
****
Leo smiled as the smell of alarm rose off Jessie's skin. A woman's fear was one of the sweetest smells in the world.
Finally, he had the little teasing twit alone. His hard-on strained his zipper. No doubt he would be her first. And he had all fucking day to spend with her. His earlier research paid off, just like always. The sister who had recently moved in with her would work until mid-afternoon, then go to the library to study religious texts for several hours. It was going to be a bright-bright-sun-shiny day.
He licked his lower lip as his fresh little cunt stumbled back, hands fluttering behind her. Fucking hot with terror filling those sexy innocent eyes.
Leo's smile broadened. "We're going to have so much fun today." He reached, catching her arm, and dragged her into his embrace. The warm curves of the kicking hourglass figure squirmed against him, making his cock twitch with anticipation.
"Please, stop," she gasped.
The light from the window caught on her necklace. His eyes landed on a crucifix and the familiar cold feeling that always accompanied his triumphs wavered. Warmth invaded his spine and his focus faltered.
"Please don't hurt me," she whimpered.
He shut his eyes and shook his head as a voice echoed in his head. His own six year old voice. Please dad, stop. Please don't hurt me.