by Autumn Dawn
“Not yet.” His answer was guttural and swift, but plain enough. His mouth switched to the breast he’d been massaging with his callused palm, and she arched underneath him, bridging the space between them with her body as she cried out. He reared up to watch her, something like surprise and fierce satisfaction in his face. “More,” he commanded her and slipped a finger inside her hot, slick body.
This time she screamed.
Thoroughly aroused, eyes bright, he demanded, “Again,” This time his thumb circled her sensitive peak as he slid two fingers inside her, fast.
Her response deafened them both.
“Please!” she cried, scrabbling at his back, begging with her words and her body. “Please! I-I can’t—”
“Yes,” he promised. “I will please you.” He tossed his hair over his shoulder and kissed his way down her belly, dragging his tongue over all the sensitive hollows as he went.
“Keilor!” she wailed. What was the man doing? She wanted him, needed him more with each passing second, and all he wanted to do was stoke the fire! What would it take to make him put it out?
By the time he reached her ankles and began to lick his way back up she was ready to kill him. She begged for more with her hands, tugged urgently at his hair, yet he wouldn’t—
He reached her inner thigh, and she knew that she was about to die. No flesh and blood woman could possibly survive this kind of pleasure. There was no time to consider whether or not she was ready when his burning lips left her thigh and covered her intimately. His tongue darted deep within and she went mad, twisting and begging him to stop, to not stop, to make it stop while her hands tangled in his hair and forced him to remain exactly where he was.
And he loved it.
One look at his riotous eyes was all that her overloaded senses could take. A beast knelt between her legs, feasting on her body, deliberately driving her to the edge of sanity. She began to sob. “It’s too much!” she cried. Any more and the barriers that she’d carefully constructed around her emotions would vanish like so much dust, leaving her completely exposed and vulnerable. That couldn’t happen. “I can’t take it!”
“You will,” he growled against her, giving her a long, deliberate kiss.
And the walls came a’ tumbling down.
Only then, when she was completely spent, trembling, and feeling more shy and untried than at any other time in her life, did he come to her. Without a word, he stripped off his pants as she slipped under the covers, hiding. It did no good. He simply flung the covers back and pinned her hips to the bed with his own, slipping his legs between her thighs and forcing them wide. “I’m going to love you so deeply you’ll never get me outside of you,” he warned her. “You’ll walk from this bed, but you’ll take a piece of me with you wherever you go.”
She panted as the broad head of his erection parted her slick folds. She wanted him there, but it burned. She knew she’d taken all she could when the burning turned to fierce pain. “Are you done yet?” she demanded, freezing up around him.
He huffed in disbelief. “I’ve barely begun.” He pressed harder, gaining what seemed to be more than enough ground.
“H-how ‘bout now?”
Teeth gritted, he forced himself to a trembling halt. “Have you done this before?” His breathing was harsh and getting harsher.
“Once. Four years ago,” she admitted with embarrassment, adding defensively, “But it didn’t hurt then!”
He growled. “What was he, deformed? You’re as tight as any virgin. Never mind,” he told her as she tried to hide her face. “All the better that I be the one to break you in properly.”
The actual words were harsh, but she understood what he meant. Reassured, for she’d had no way of knowing what he’d think of her sexual history, she found the strength to endure as he slowly and gently worked his way inside her.
“That will have to be enough for now,” he said at last. “You can’t take any more of me tonight.”
Her eyes widened with indignation. What she’d already ‘taken’ had caused her discomfort enough. The idea of having to absorb more of him at another time displeased her greatly.
Her expression must have said as much, for he laughed, causing vibrations deep inside of her. Giving her a quick kiss, he told her with more than his share of cockiness, “Don’t worry, sweet, you’ll soon have cause to be thankful for a big lover.” His eyes darkened, and he became serious. “Tell me if it hurts.” He withdrew a fraction, and she stiffened in pain. The careful return thrust was no better. Switching tactics, he began to rock her gently, neither pushing nor withdrawing, using the least possible friction. The micro movements were bearable as the longer thrusts hadn’t been, and she began to feel a touch of pleasure in spite of the discomfort, just enough to keep her from asking him to stop. Still, it was a guilty relief when he threw his head back in a silent roar as he shuddered and stiffened above her with his own climax.
He held his weight over her for long moments while she stroked his damp back. When he finally gathered his strength and rolled off of her, drawing her with him, she lay quietly with her head on his solid chest, thinking.
“So, when do I get to climax?”
Keilor drew back, startled, and peered at her. “Sweetheart, you found your pleasure so many times that I lost count.”
She propped herself up on her elbow and frowned at him. “I didn’t feel like I was exploding, or flying, or anything like that.” When his expression grew even more mystified, she explained lamely, “That’s what all the romance novels I’ve read described it as.”
He laughed and shook his head at her. He opened his mouth, but words must have been beyond him because nothing came out. Closing it again, he leaned over and kissed her, grinning against her lips. Then his hand drifted down her body as he worked his potent magic.
This time when the pleasure came, she knew it for what it was.
“Oh,” she panted, when the power of speech returned to her.
“Oh,” he agreed smugly, propped on his elbow as he watched her. He smoothed the hair from her face with fingers that smelled of sex. Thoughtful, he asked, “How is it that such a beautiful woman comes to me almost untouched?” His eyes warmed. “I am grateful, but astonished at the foolishness of the men who’ve known you. Were they all such dolts?”
Jasmine ducked her head. “No one ever thought of me as beautiful.”
“Impossible,” he assured her, giving her another tender kiss. “What of slug tongue?” She choked and spluttered with laughter. He sighed and drew her closer, lying back on the pillows. “Their foolishness is my good fortune, and I am a happy man tonight.” He kissed her temple. “Go to sleep, wife, in the arms of the man who loves you.” He felt her swallow against his chest.
“I love you, too, Keilor.”
He kissed her again, nuzzled against her hair and settled back with a contented sigh. “I know.”
What a view.
Jasmine wasn’t one for mornings, but if she got to wake up to this every day, she just might revise her opinion.
Keilor rested his forearms against the back of a wing chair, watching the sunrise. Pink and gold light delineated every inch of his superbly naked body, from his sculpted back and loose, dark hair to his tight behind on down to his strong, long legs. It was a sight to make a make a maiden faint, or even a newly-made wife.
She must have made some sound, for suddenly she was looking at her first, full frontal view of a living, breathing naked man. Fire leapt into her cheeks, and she looked down. They might have done it, but she’d never actually checked one out before, and she found she just couldn’t stare at it—him—and still look him in the face.
He had no such hang ups.
“Good morning,” he murmured and joined her on the bed, sliding down her quilt to suckle on one unsuspecting nipple. She grabbed his head, started to arch with pleasure and then gave a tiny cry as sore muscles protested. Instantly he stopped, concerned. “Are you all right?”
; She gave him a rueful smile. “Just a little sore, is all.”
“Ah.” He looked down at the painful area, hidden under the blankets until she squirmed. He sighed. “I shall have to be very careful with you, I see.” Casanova poked his nose at them, asking for attention, and he petted the little villi, shifting a bit on the bed and exposing himself to her. Jasmine gulped and looked away. He smiled and gave her another sweet kiss. “You have nothing to fear from my body, my love.” He lowered his voice and took her hand, placing it on his erection. “I like it when you look at me.” He moved her fingers on him, watching her. “I like it even better when you touch me.”
Given formal permission, Jasmine explored him, watching in fascination as her hand moved slowly over him, from wet tip and silky-hardness to the vulnerable testi at the base. All the while, he neither flinched nor displayed the least bit of self-consciousness. When she began to stroke him with a rhythmic pattern, he wrapped his hand around hers and showed her the proper pressure and timing, then let go and let her have her way, throwing his head back and reveling in the pleasure. It was...beautiful.
Afterward he gathered her up to share his bath, gently cleansing away the exertions of the night and starting new fires. She was still too tender to fully appreciate his loving, but still she wanted him too badly to stop, and she knew that it would get better every time until nothing was left but pure, sweet pleasure.
They ate breakfast and reclined on the bed afterward, relaxing. Keilor held her against his chest while they talked.
“We’ll need to choose a suite,” Keilor murmured, drawing her hair away and kissing her neck. “Our rooms aren’t suitable for a mated couple.” She felt him smile against her skin. “I think we’ll have to take this bed and the mirror with us, though.”
Some of her drowsiness fled and she turned over to swat him in playful warning. “Don’t you dare!” He grinned, nipped at her and pretended to wrestle with her, ending their play with a long, drugging kiss.
Drawing away with reluctance, he murmured under his breath what sounded like, ‘many more nights’ and settled her comfortably into his arms. Resting his chin on her head, he said, “Jayems’ and Rihlia’s wedding ceremony is tonight. Maybe you should get some rest. It’s bound to be a long evening.”
A sudden thought struck her, and she leaned up on one elbow, resting her head on her hand. “Do we have to have a ceremony?”
He brushed her loose hair off her shoulder and behind her back. “Do you want one?” he asked, feeling indulgent. If that was what she wanted, he wouldn’t argue. In truth, though, he’d never favored public ceremonies, and wouldn’t feel any the more married for it. As far as he and Haunt law were concerned, she was now his wife in every way that mattered.
She frowned and looked down at the bed. “To tell the truth, I’d rather just skip it. It seems like an awful lot of bother just to announce to the world that we’re, ah, married.”
Something about the careful way that she said it raised his short hairs. Pinning her with a deadly serious stare, he told her, “You gave me your promise, Sylph.”
It was the wrong word to use.
She wouldn’t look at him. “I said I was yours for as long as you want me.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “In twenty or thirty years—”
Forcing her to look at him, to see his anger, he told her in no uncertain terms, “My promise was for a lifetime, wife. And I meant it.” She pulled away, and he cursed the fact that she was too new to loving to speak to with his body. She needed his possession right now.
Not knowing what else to do, he got up and pulled on his boots, intent on working off his frustration somehow. “I do not understand you, woman,” he snapped, tugging on the carefully polished boots, so at odds with his careless housekeeping. “One moment you trust me enough to take me to your bed, and the next you are taking me for an honorless animal who’ll mate with anything that catches his eye.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off, his eyes sparking gold. “You’ve got something to learn about your new world, wife. Haunt men take but one mate, and we don’t touch another woman for as long as she lives, unless we wish to go insane.” He paused, reining in his temper. “Unlike humans, once mated, for us there is no going back. As soon as the fluids mix, a connection is made that won’t bear severance. Unlike you,” he said, shocking her, “I can never play you false. Do you not think that I considered that carefully before speaking to Jayems?”
“I’m not planning to run off with the butler and the family jewels the first chance I get,” she told him tightly, most of what he was saying going right over her head. “I was just trying to give you breathing room, a chance to bow out gracefully when—”
Disgusted, he turned on his heel and stalked to the door. “I am not listening to any more of this,” he said grimly. “If I’d known what madness it was to take a human for a wife—” The door slammed behind him, cutting off whatever else he had to say.
Jasmine stared at the door, wondering what had just happened. She’d been trying to be considerate, letting him go in advance. He’d never be able to have kids with her, and she couldn’t believe he wouldn’t be revolted by her once old age overtook her. It wouldn’t be fair not to let him go....Her chest constricted, and she quickly shut off thoughts of Keilor taking another lover, or a wife. She’d be better off thinking of this as an extended affair. Her eyes prickled, and she closed them, sealing off the emotion before she got too close a look at it.
Some things were better left unexplored.
She sighed in frustration and flopped back on the bed, her arm covering her eyes. So much for the honeymoon.
The moment Rihlia saw her somber face, she dropped what she was doing. Ignoring the women hovering around her, she dragged Jasmine into her old room and firmly shut the door. The lock clicked shut. “Out with it,” she demanded, sitting down on the white and yellow quilt and pulling Jasmine down with her. “I know Keilor spent the night with you.”
“Rih!” Jasmine rolled her eyes and avoided her friend’s curious gaze. She felt guilty for taking her away from her wedding preparations, but she’d needed to talk to someone, and somehow she’d doubted that Keilor would appreciate her talking to the door guards.
“So now you’re married,” she continued, all curiosity, not realizing in her happiness that Jasmine wasn’t nearly as thrilled.
“Sort of,” Jasmine hedged.
A thunderous frown gathered on Rihlia’s brow. “Sort of? How can you be ‘sort of’ married, Jas? Didn’t you sleep with him? Did he not make you a promise?” She braced her arms behind her and leaned back into a golden square of sunlight from the mullion windows, waiting for an answer.
Mutinous, Jasmine blurted, “Yes, but it doesn’t mean anything. I told him that I didn’t want a ceremony, and he was okay with that.” She picked at the bedspread. “He told me he loves me and that’s good enough for me, for as long as it lasts.”
Rihlia peered at her in pained disbelief. “As long as it lasts, Jas? You make love sound like the stomach flu.”
Closing her eyes, Jasmine took a deep breath and explained as logically as she knew how, “It’s like I told him, Rih, I’m going to get old a lot sooner than he will. I’ll waste away, shrivel up. Hey, for all I know, I’ll get Alzheimer’s and go senile on him. How would that be fair?” She shook her head. “Like I said, I’ll take what I can get for as long as it lasts.” She looked at her best friend and was shocked to see a single tear track down her cheek. “Rih?” she asked, reaching for her, uncertain what was wrong.
She shrank away from Jasmine’s touch and stood up with her fists clenched. For long moments, she just stared.
“Do you know what it is for a Haunt to take a mate, Jasmine? Of course you don’t,” she said, answering her own question. Her voice was laden with heavy emotion. “You can only be with one person, if you are a Haunt,” She explained, reaching for words. “That’s the reason why I could only go so far with men before. Jas—you have n
o idea.” Closing her eyes, she fought back tears. “Once I was with Jayems, once we had been together, made love—Jas,” her voice cracked. “He was a virgin, too.”
Jasmine stared at her in shock. Jayems, a virgin?
Gaining control of herself, Rihlia went on, “We can mess around all we want, touching and kissing whomever we please, but the moment that we cross that line, we can never go back. That’s why it’s a marriage. It has to be.”
Still at sea, Jasmine said, “I still don’t understand.”
Frustrated, Rihlia searched for something that Jasmine could comprehend. Inspiration struck. “Do you remember what you said about your first time?” she asked as she sat on the bed, watching Jasmine closely. “You told me that it was mildly pleasant, but that you felt detached and empty. Remember?” Jasmine nodded, and she relaxed a fraction. “Was it that way with Keilor?”
Jasmine sucked in a breath. “There was no comparison. I had feelings for him, and he clearly—” she jigged her head and scratched her cheek, lowering her eyes in embarrassment. “He was clearly a better lover to start with.” Unbidden, the image of him as he’d been this morning, completely focused and relaxed as he’d let her touch him, came to mind. There had been no barriers of any kind for him. Because he assumed that there would never be anyone else for him? Misgiving touched her as she remembered how her own walls had come down when he’d been killing her with pleasure. In that moment, everything that she was had belonged to him and only him. Was Rihlia trying to say that he—that they—were that way with their mates all the time? A frantic bubble of fear rose to her throat and lodged. How could they survive without armor and walls to hold others at bay? She wouldn’t, couldn’t! Surely he wouldn’t expect that of her? She wasn’t capable of that kind of sustained vulnerability.
Something in her face must have given her away, for Rihlia said, very gently, “You became a part of him, connected with something deep inside him that has never been touched, by anyone. Something so much deeper than a loss of virginity that I can barely describe it. If you ever tried to take that away....” Words failed her.