What an utter delight she was. What a challenge. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like this—full of anticipation, so alive each throb of his blood through his veins was a visceral, discrete sensation. Through the bond of the atraspa he could feel her heartbeat too, faster, excited, and the two rhythms, hers and his, became the music of desire.
So she didn’t moan during sex, or scream with pleasure when she came? Xbal almost laughed aloud at the thought. Hopefully she was telling the truth, because there was no way in hell he was leaving this booth without giving her an orgasm.
“Let me know if you want me to stop.” As he said it he pushed the magic lower so it brushed the tops of her breasts, exposed by the vee of her dress.
“I doubt I will.” She was still giving him the stink-eye, that determined chin jutting, the picture of determination. “Do your worst.”
That did make him chuckle, but it wasn’t amusement echoing in the low sound. “Worst? I’ll do even worse than that.” He strengthened the magic, made the touch more intense, pushed it beneath the leather of her top so it cupped her breasts completely. “I’ll do my very best.”
Her lips parted on a silent gasp, and Xbal inhaled, marshaling his control, pulling it around him so as to really begin.
What most people didn’t realize was, like all magic, atraspa was both cause and effect. It was not just an extension of magic and mind, but of all the senses. When he touched with the magic of sex his fingers felt the flesh, his tongue tasted, the scents flooded his head. And whatever pleasure was given out was also given back to the practitioner threefold. That was why so few initiates made it past the first few levels. They lacked the ability to withstand the blowback, the sensations returning to them too strong to be tolerated, often bringing themselves off before the receiver achieved orgasm.
Xbal didn’t have that problem. Or, to be more truthful, he’d taught himself how not to, after a long and determined battle with his very strong, very insistent libido. And he had never been more glad for the centuries of work, as the sensations traveling back through the bond grew in intensity.
He turned inward, savoring the feeling of the warm weight of her breasts even as he watched every changing expression on Cassandra’s face. Her nipples were already hard peaks under the silky bra, and he couldn’t resist slipping beneath the filmy fabric to pinch at them. That elicited another silent gasp and a flutter of her lashes. He pinched a little harder and her eyes widened for an instant before half-closing.
“Harder?” he asked in a low, intimate whisper, and from the rush of lust that came back at him knew what the answer would be even before she nodded slightly.
He indulged her, increasing the strength, gauging her reactions from the throb of her pulse, the increasing shallowness of her breathing. As soon as she held her breath he stopped, knowing she was on the brink of pain and the optimal pressure had been reached.
“Is that good?”
“Yes, thank you.”
The wobble in her voice gave lie to the polite words and the dichotomy ratcheted his own desire up a notch.
Suddenly, as though struck by lightning, Xbal realized exactly what was happening, and the realization made him want to smile again. Finally, finally, he had the opportunity to do to this woman all the things he’d dreamed of doing. Touch her, explore the lush, enticing body, watch her come apart under his hands.
His excitement faded slightly. He was an idiot to do this here, in a restaurant, in public where he could only use magic, not his hands and mouth and cock the way he really wanted to.
Yet she was loving it. He could tell by the shivering waves of pleasure coming back at him through the bond and her glazed eyes, dark now, closer to violet than their usual lighter hue. Her heart was pounding, her skin growing moist as her temperature rose. Inhaling through the bond brought a rush of her gloriously aroused scent to fill his head.
There was no way he was going to stop.
Leaving the pressure on her nipples, he let the atraspa caress down her arms, over her torso. By the Heavens, her skin was soft, smoother than the spidersilk over her breasts, the warm, trembling expanse stretched taut across the sweet, full curves of her body. She shivered when he touched the insides of her elbows, clenched her fingers into fists as he circled her navel, shifted in her seat when he slowly, carefully explored the length of her spine.
“You are incredibly lovely.” It took a lot more effort than he expected to keep his voice conversational. “Your body is so delectable, I want to gorge myself on you.”
“I…” Her voice faltered and she blinked slowly, as though trying to pull herself together. “I wish you would.”
“I will. Later. In bed. With you completely naked and spread wide for me, so I can look and touch and taste and fuck you until you’re too exhausted to move.”
Cassie didn’t answer, but the powerful jolt coming through the bond made him have to tighten his own control when his cock pulsed for a moment, as though catching the frantic beat of her heart and wanting to mimic it.
Through the atraspa he found her toes, used his magic to fully explore each one, feeling them curl and flex, her foot arching in response. Later he’d suck on them, now he knew how sensitive they were, how much she enjoyed having them touched.
Up now to her calves, where the muscles strained and shivered beneath the long, slow strokes of his caresses. Then to the backs of her knees, which didn’t seem to thrill her as much, despite the slight spike in her excitement. When her legs inched apart, he knew she was anticipating him going higher, to her thighs, her pussy.
Oh, he wasn’t in a hurry. He no longer cared where they were, only wanted to know what it would be like to take her lust to the edge of madness, feel the explosion of her release.
“Do you like what I’m doing, Cassandra? Does it feel rushed, or incomplete?”
Her eyes had fallen almost shut, and her lashes fluttered slightly at his question, a shiver working its way along her spine to her shoulders, her temperature rising again.
“No.” It was little more than a breath of sound, laden with enjoyment and longing. Resting her head back against the high cushion of the booth, she licked her lips and repeated, “No, it doesn’t.”
Xbal watched her, felt her through the bond, not ready to take her to orgasm although he knew how badly she already wanted it. How badly he wanted to do it. Beneath the thrum and pulse of her arousal was still a barrier between her and final, fully actualized pleasure. He’d seen it before in a couple of women, an inability to trust or to relinquish the self to desire, and it hadn’t bothered him before. It didn’t mean they weren’t enjoying themselves, weren’t able to find release, just that they held a part of themselves in abeyance. Why was it he wanted so badly to break through Cassandra’s wall of control, have all of her, not just the little part she was willing to give?
He pushed the thought aside, but couldn’t help upping the power of his magic, wanting her to know this was just a taste of what he was capable of.
As he stroked along the outsides of her thighs, from knees to hips, he changed the tenor of his attention on her nipples, which before this he’d kept at that initial, constant pinch. Now he sucked and laved, as though a pair of mouths were on her breasts, two men dedicated to nothing but bringing those pink, tight peaks to the highest pitch of sensation. Her back arched slightly, her eyes flew open and her lips parted but she didn’t make a sound. Holding her shocked, pleasure-drunk gaze, he let the atraspa on her legs stroke inward, knead the soft, silken skin of her inner thighs.
She sighed, as though releasing a long-held breath, and her eyes drooped closed, her legs moving apart in silent appeal. Her belly tightened, shivered, and he knew she was getting closer and closer to orgasm. It wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge.
How tempting it was to pause right then and ask her if she wanted him to continue, make her ask for him to make her come, but Xbal knew he wouldn’t. Strange to be unsure about whether she would give in o
r not, to care whether she would be able to walk away and not be willing to take the chance she would.
Leaning a little closer, he growled, “I hope you have nothing else planned for this afternoon, Cassandra, or for the rest of the night. You came and asked me to have sex with you, and I plan to do just that—repeatedly, all night long. In as many positions and ways as I can think of.”
Not giving her a chance to reply, bracing himself against the harsh stab of her reaction, he found her most intimate flesh, bombarded it with sensation. There was an almost vicious edge to his need, to the attention he gave the wet, slick folds and crevasses. His exploration was thorough, from the puffy outer lips to the delicate inner, swirling and teasing and pressing. Finding her opening he circled it, even as he was also going lower, finding the tight pucker of her ass and circling it too. He touched everywhere, except the place he knew she wanted it most—her clit. Oh, no, he wasn’t letting her off that easily.
The sudden bloom of red in her already flushed cheeks was beautiful, the shocks and pulses of her rise to release made Xbal have to grit his teeth, draw on reserves of control he hadn’t needed in centuries. She was panting through barely opened lips, squirming slightly in her seat, yet he knew to anyone who might happen to look across, it would seem almost as though Cassandra were taking a nap. By the Heavens, her silent yet fervent inner response to his magic was enough to make him want to lunge across the table, tear off her clothes and have her, right there in front of everyone.
He couldn’t resist pushing into her body, wanting the sensation of her wetness and heat surrounding his magic. When he did, and the walls of her pussy clamped around it, Xbal bit back a growl of pleasure.
More.
It was what he wanted to hear her say, but instead it was the chant inside his own head, demanding he force her higher, press her to the breaking point.
Snaking a tendril of magic into her ass made her gasp, low and hot and passion-struck, and he let it linger there, twirling in a slow, intimate dance. Cassie’s eyelids lifted fractionally, revealing just a sliver of gleaming purple, and her lower lip trembled. Her hand, which had been lying on the table clenched in a fist, slowly slid off into her lap and she pressed her palm against her shuddering abdomen. There was a hard clench of her inner muscles, a rush of intense bliss coming at him through the bond, as she slid down a little in her seat and spread her legs wider for him.
She was wet, hot, ready, and Xbal wanted more than anything in the world to be inside her, physically rather than just magically. Once more he cursed himself for starting this. Once more he knew, no matter what, he wasn’t going to stop.
Clawing back the need tearing at his control, he began to work all the points of magical contact in tandem. The sucking on her nipples and twirling in her ass were joined by deep, strong thrusts into the willing, pulsing heat of her cunt. Through the bond of atraspa he felt her heart rate accelerate, her breathing pick up speed too, until both magical movements and physical responses were in sync, rushing her toward orgasm.
The muscles in her beautiful throat tightened, the glowing flesh of her breasts began to tremble, just enough for him to see it from across the table. He couldn’t help feeling a flash of respect for her, for the ability to take all he was giving without making even one revealing sound.
It was the hottest thing he’d ever witnessed.
And, suddenly, Xbal knew he couldn’t wait a moment more. The sensations charging back at him, coupled with those received from the actual connection of the magic to his own flesh, were growing too much to handle. His cock was so hard it hurt, his balls pulsed with an almost angry beat. Sweat coated his skin beneath his clothing, and the snarl of the jaguar inside was that of a cat on the verge of the kill.
Yet he held on to his control, tightening it until he felt almost sick from the strain, and leaned a little farther over the table to growl.
“I’m going to make you come now, Cassandra, then I’m going to take you home and make you come, and come, and come again.”
Using the magic to open her outer lips, he flicked across her clitoris, once, twice and, before he could do it a third time, her body went rigid, her head rolled toward the back of the booth, hiding the unmistakable grimace of orgasm from the other patrons of the restaurant. But he didn’t stop, didn’t ease up, loving the sensation of it, the look of her lost in passion, the thrill of finally having her body pulsing and coming for him too much to be easily relinquished.
It was only when the insistent urges of his body broke through the atraspa and he realized he too was on the verge of orgasm did he stop, break the bond and sit back. Battling the almost overwhelming need to come, he took a couple of deep breaths and forced the magic to settle. Cassandra still had her face turned toward the back of the booth, and Xbal watched the pulse beneath her ear slowly begin to go back to a normal pace. When they were alone and she was naked beneath him, he would put his lips there, feed the inner beast with the sensation of her life rushing through her veins.
Just the thought made the jaguar snarl with pleasure.
“Are you all right?”
As though the sound of his voice brought her back to herself, Cassandra straightened in her seat, brushed at the curls clinging to her cheek. She took a deep breath, then released it slowly. Her hand wavered for a moment, as though to straighten her lapel, then fell to her lap.
“I’m fine.” Her voice was rough, her eyes gleaming, still darker than usual, and the rosy blush across her cheeks and cleavage hadn’t completely faded. “By Sol, Xbal. That was…”
She shook her head, obviously at a loss for words, and Xbal found himself smiling, inordinately pleased by her inability to articulate.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
The look she gave him, part amusement, part promise, made his entire body tighten even more.
“I don’t think that’s the appropriate word, but it will do until I think of one better.”
By the Heavens, why was it the sound of her voice, so calm and collected, drove him wild?
Xbal looked away, taking another deep breath as he signaled to the waiter for the bill. The atmosphere between them was heavy, filled with the remnants of what they’d just done, the anticipation of what would come next. Xbal wondered if he would be able to walk he was so hard, so aroused, but it wouldn’t do to let her know just how painful the experience had been for him. It was worth every instance of discomfort to give her the pleasure.
“Xbal?”
The hesitancy in her voice made his stomach clench. Was she about to say she’d had enough, wasn’t willing to go home with him? He had to force himself not to snarl at the thought, to turn a merely questioning face to her.
“Would you mind terribly if we just translocate out of here?” She smiled, but something else, other than humor, flickered in her eyes. “I don’t think I’ll be able to walk after what you just did.”
Relief made his head light, and Xbal could only nod, release the breath he’d been holding and say, “Not a problem, at all.”
In fact it was the best idea he’d heard in a long time, if he didn’t count Cassie’s initial one that they have sex.
They stayed silent until the waiter brought the bill, and Xbal watched her look around the restaurant, her long, narrow fingers playing with the strap of her bag. He could almost see her rebuilding whatever barriers she may have lost during their encounter, or building new ones in preparation of whatever was to come next.
He wouldn’t let them stand.
Suddenly he knew, without a doubt, he would be tearing at whatever walls she built, all the ones he’d felt already existing inside, with teeth and claws and every trick he’d learned over the centuries of his life. Cassandra may think they were going to have one day of unbridled sex then go their separate ways, but he hadn’t lived this long without knowing the connection between them was something special. It had been built over years of knowing each other, liking each other, apparently each wanting the other too. Now that
he’d linked to her with his magic, felt her responses, almost lost control because of them, he wasn’t willing to let it all go so easily.
An unexpected wave of sadness made his stomach clench, but he wouldn’t let it spoil the moment. It had been too long since he’d wanted a woman for more than just fun, a few months of sex and enjoyment before he pushed them away and moved on. There were definite benefits to being immortal, and decided disadvantages too. He wouldn’t think about the implications of what he was feeling, what he wanted from her now.
Unfortunately, there would be lots of time to do so in the future.
Chapter Four
Cassie slid out of the booth carefully, not at all sure her legs would even hold her weight. Her head was still spinning, her insides vibrating with the aftermath of the best orgasm she’d ever experienced. Xbal hadn’t touched her with anything but his magic, for fuck’s sake, and she was already overwhelmed, undone.
Devastated.
He was standing beside the table, waiting for her with his hand out to help her rise, and for a split second Cassie hesitated, almost afraid to touch him. If his magic could wreak such havoc with her senses, what would it be like when they were together physically? When he made good on the promises he’d whispered while his atraspa surrounded her, stroking and taking her to ecstasy?
Yet, she wanted to know—wanted him even more now than she had before.
She put her fingers over his, couldn’t suppress a little shiver of anticipation when his warm, strong hand enveloped hers and he pulled her to her feet.
Into his arms.
The shiver turned to a shudder as Xbal pulled her close, his other hand pressed to her back so her body was flush against his and she could feel the length of his erection against her stomach. A sweet, hot rush of need bloomed deep inside and fired out, up her back, down her legs and, just like that, she was completely, utterly aroused all over again.
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