Now, he just needed to convince her that it was what she wanted, too.
When he saw her next, she was perched on the edge of the bed, fresh from the shower and draped in a towel, her dark hair still wet and dripping.
“Hi,” he said, trying not to let his eyes linger on her body. “I brought you some new clothes.”
“Great,” she said.
“I really didn’t want to have to put the old ones back on.” A little shiver moved through her as she thought about the cut down the front of her tunic. She didn’t want to have to relive the memory, but it was hard to keep it at bay.
He handed her the stack of clothes, waiting expectantly.
She raised one eyebrow, her nerves frazzled. “Were you waiting for a fashion show?”
“Perhaps,” he murmured, eyeing her appreciatively. “Is that an option?”
She sent him a withering look, sifting through the clothing. “No. Definitely not.”
“Well, that’s too bad, then. I’m sure I would enjoy it.”
She flushed a pretty pink beneath his gaze, and felt herself growing warm. She knew she needed to derail the conversation, if she had any hopes of not succumbing to her base desires. “Thank you for coming for me,” she finally said, hoping that might do the trick.
Arthos reached out to place his hand on her shoulder. Her skin was warm, still damp. “I will always come for you.”
His voice was earnest, and Kara felt that new warmth start to seep through the rest of her body, making her forget how chilled she had been just a short time ago, chasing away the memory of those other males’ touches, and the fear and the dread that had consumed her.
He let his hand linger where it was, drawing his thumb across the ridge of her collarbone, sliding down until it brushed against the edge of the terry cloth towel.
Her eyes were locked on his. Wide, green and beautiful, her dark lashes sooty against her pale skin. He was watching her breathe, her mouth just parted, her lips begging to be kissed.
He remembered how sweet she had tasted and longing shot through him. He had never known another female who could so easily cause his undoing.
She didn’t protest or push him away, and Arthos took a step closer to her, nudging her knees wide so he could stand between her legs. The hand that wasn’t occupied with her towel was moving over her knee, the rough skin on his palm leaving her flesh raised and tingling in its wake.
Kara made a little sound, caught somewhere between permission and request, and he let his hand slide up under the edge of the towel. His eyes were locked on hers, and when he dropped his mouth toward hers for a kiss, she met him halfway.
His mouth was hungry. Gentle and demanding at the same time, and when the towel fell away from her body and he nudged her back onto the bed, she went willingly.
He followed her, cradled between the juncture of her thighs, one hand tangled in the mass of thick hair, the other cupping her breast.
When he pulled away, she was on display before him, her pale skin perfect, and her rosebud nipples hard and begging for attention. He turned his focus from her mouth to the sensitive space just beneath her ear, dropping kisses down the length of her throat, across her collar bone, and then taking her breast into his mouth, letting his tongue move over her nipple, his teeth scrape against her flesh.
She trembled beneath him, her hands moving up to sink into his hair, encouraging him to please her, and he was more than happy to oblige.
He spent a delicious amount of time on that breast before turning to the other, intent on providing the same service.
While he nipped and sucked at her soft flesh, his hand slipped up the length of her thigh, the pads of his fingers pressing into the soft curve of her ass, loving the feel of her beneath his fingertips.
“Very nice,” he whispered against her.
She all but whimpered in response, lifting her hips so he could get a better grip on her, relishing in the feel of his body pressing against her sensitive core. It had been a very long time since she had been touched, or even since she had wanted to be touched, and Arthos had every nerve ending of hers on fire, need spiralling through her.
He pulled himself away from her breasts, letting his body lean more fully into hers, rocking his hips against her, and she moaned into his mouth in return.
When she couldn’t stand the sweet torture another moment, she let her hands slide down his back, over his muscled backside, tugging at his pants until he pulled back long enough to free himself from their confines.
He was hard, and long, and her fingers were greedy to feel his flesh. She reached for him unabashedly, and he groaned as she wrapped her hand around him, stroking him in a long languid motion.
Arthos was watching her watch him. Her grip was strong, and he throbbed as she made her slow journey up and down his shaft.
Not to be outdone, he rolled to his side to give her better access and to allow him free reign over her body. His hand slipped down over her abdomen and she welcomed his touch, letting her knees bend and drop apart.
He drew his fingers gently over her slit, her lips slick and wanting, before sliding one finger, and then two, into her warm depths. She was deliciously wet, and the knowledge made him burn to be inside of her.
He began a lazy rhythm of his own, moving his fingers in and out of her while she arched into his touch, before turning his attention to her clit.
Just like, her breasts, he knew he would have to taste her. He pulled away from her hand reluctantly, instantly missing the feel of her gentle touch on his arousal, and set his mouth to work on her. His tongue sliding up against her glistening lips before suckling and tapping at her clit.
She welcomed the caresses, her body bucking beneath him, her hands winding back into his hair. The pleasure was almost too much for her to bear, and when he slid his fingers back inside of her to accompany his mouth, she shattered into orgasm, her body spasming around him. She cried out as she came, hearing herself say his name, hearing him groan appreciatively in return.
And then his body was over hers, she was still trembling in the wake of the orgasm as he grasped his length and guided it into her. He sank in slowly, her slick channel readily accommodating him, welcoming him with its heat.
She sighed again as he began to move against her, slowly at first, delighting in every ridge of her channel, how she moved and stretched against him.
But she was pulling at him urgently, her fingertips biting into the flesh of his behind, and before long he was moving with a frenzy that she was matching, thrust for thrust.
When he came it was with a yell, driving as far into her as he could, loving the way she spasmed around him in response, the little purr she made as she reached completion as well. He dipped his head into her shoulder, listening to her heart race and the ragged sound of both of their breathing.
There was no doubt about it, he thought, as he rolled to his side and pulled her more closely to him. This earthling was his and his alone. And that was just the way it was going to be.
******
Kara was buried beneath the covers, securely sequestered in their warmth, studying the pattern on the ceiling and admonishing herself for her failed attempt to escape.
More than that, she was downright cranky about how awful her luck had been lately. Not to mention the part where she slept with the man she’d been trying to escape from in the first place.
In the second place, if she was going to be totally accurate, since she’d successfully escaped the first male who’d had her as a captive.
She’d never have imagined how happy she would be to see her captor again. Twice, he’d rescued her from a worst-case scenario experience.
She had to give him at least a little bit of credit for that, even if he was still interested in selling her off when it suited him. It didn’t hurt that he had been amazing in bed, too. She supposed he deserved credit for that, too.
She was still studying the ceiling when there was a knock at the door. She didn’t cal
l out or move from her position.
Arthos was the only one in the house with her, even the compound seemed to lack many occupants, and they both knew the knock was merely a formality; he had no intention of waiting for — nor did he need — an invitation to step in the room. He’d already seen her naked, after all.
He approached the edge of the bed, and she finally turned her head toward him.
“Feeling well?” he asked, as if he wasn’t sure the exact protocol on how to follow up with his captive after a session of amazing sex.
In truth, her body ached deliciously, every movement a reminder of the exceptional time she’d had. It was enough to leave her blushing. She wasn’t sure that was the answer he was looking for, though.
“Fine,” she said, instead of well-used, but there must have been something in the way she said it, or the look on her face when she moved, that gave her away anyway.
His mouth quirked up, and she would know that peacock look of self-satisfaction anywhere. He nodded, just short of physically clapping himself on the back.
“That sounds about right.” He found the edge of the bed and sat there beside her and took a deep breath. “I wanted to talk to you about earlier.”
Kara wasn’t sure which part of “earlier” he was referring to. There was a quite a bit they could probably stand to talk about.
“I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t try to escape again. I don’t want you to feel like a prisoner here, but, truly, beyond the walls I’ve let a whole community of thieves and pirates and bandits become established to help protect me here.” He shifted uncomfortably.
“I’m sorry that it put you in a bad spot. I’ve never had anyone else here I needed to be concerned about.”
Kara nodded mutely. It wouldn’t have mattered to her what kind of community was living out beyond the walls if he hadn’t brought her back there and then promised to send her straight back to the hell he had rescued her from. She didn’t have the gumption to point that out to him, though.
“You should know,” he continued, as though reading her thoughts.
“That I’ve retracted my offer to the Warlord to barter you. If you’d like to stay here, you’re welcome to. No conditions. You can have free run of the house. There’s no need to stay in your room all the time.”
She wondered if that had happened before or after she’d let him undress her and infiltrate her body. She didn’t really want to know the answer.
He stood, and for a moment she wondered if he was waiting for a response, but she had none to give him, and in another moment, he was retreating to the door.
The room settled back into silence after the door was pulled closed and Kara continued to study the ceiling, mulling over Arthos’ words, wondering if they were supposed to change the way she felt.
******
It hadn’t been the kind of reception he’d been hoping for, but he wasn’t sure what kind of response he was supposed to expect from a female who’d been repeatedly kidnapped and dragged from place to place.
He had time, though. He would do what he could to make her see that being here with him could be a good thing, too.
She’d seemed to be having a good enough time when she’d been beneath him, her body open and welcoming, just as he’d imagined she would be.
Just thinking about it was enough to make him hard and eager, and he couldn’t help but wonder how long he was supposed to wait before he experienced her again. He wasn’t sure he had it in him to be too patient.
Chapter Five
Though Arthos had given Kara the freedom to move through his house and the compound, she didn’t take advantage of it. She spent the bulk of her time in her room, staring out the windows and walking the perimeter.
She didn’t want to be there. She was tired of the brown. The dirt. She wanted to be home again. She hadn’t left behind a family, or even many friends. Her life had been consumed by science for so long. But, Earth.
To see the mountains and the lakes, and all the things that made Earth so exquisitely rare and beautiful. She was dying to feel it beneath her feet again.
Instead, she was here, a glorified prisoner. Unwilling to even try and escape after the last fiasco, caught somewhere between wanting to leave this place and never look back, and dying to be touched and ravaged by the man she thought of as her captor.
She frowned. Even thinking about it to herself, when she didn’t have to follow it up with an explanation, was confusing. It just didn’t make much sense at all.
They’d only had the one encounter. She was pretty sure he wished that were different, and she was also pretty sure she did, too. But she hadn’t been able to move past the malaise that was settling over her. Kara didn’t know how to tell him what she wanted, and Arthos didn’t seem to know how to ask her.
They’d been living together on a tenuous, unspoken agreement. She was polite to him. He was polite to her. There were no advances, though she couldn’t quite understand why, and he always seemed to be open to her suggesting something.
Only she didn’t. She couldn’t. She didn’t think she could go on pretending like this was an appropriate end to her story.
When she first saw the other woman, she was surprised. She wasn’t sure why; surely she couldn’t have expected that Arthos had existed all this time without another woman.
Like he had just been waiting there on his compound for the day she would show up at his doorstep and throw everything into turmoil.
Then, directly after that surprise, she’d felt angry. And then humiliated. And then resigned.
A whole host of things that made her feel even worse than she already did.
Kara heard her arrive. The fall of Arthos’ feet on the stairs, the door swinging wide, the gentle murmur of voices. When she’d moved out into the hall, as quiet as she could be, she’d seen the woman, light spilling in from the open door behind her, bathing her in a kind of glow that brought out the strange, pale color in her skin.
Her hair was long, blonde with orange and gold running through it, and with the light coming in from behind her, she almost looked alight.
And if that weren’t enough, she was tall, but with the kind of curves the female aliens she’d first encountered had lacked.
And, worst of all, very worst of all, she had one hand on Arthos’ shoulder, the other resting lightly on his hip.
Kara could tell the touch was one that had happened a hundred times before. It was comfortable, possessive. There was nothing new and urgent about it, like when she had reached out to Arthos.
When she had let her hands travel along his arm and trace the tattoos there, splay across his back, explore the hardness of his arousal. This woman’s touch was sure. Like she knew every trick in his book, and wasn’t above using them.
From where she loitered in the shadows near the door to her room, she couldn’t hear much of the conversation, just the gentle rise and fall of their words.
What she didn’t need to hear to notice, though, was that Arthos let that woman continue to touch him, long after it would have been appropriate for him to remove her hands from his body.
Kara felt an unwelcome twist in her gut. She couldn’t stand to watch anything else. She let herself slip back into the room, unnoticed. Just another shadow not worth acknowledging.
******
Arthos hadn’t been expecting her. If the scowl on his face suggested anything to her, she chose to ignore it.
He wanted to keep the peace — knew he had to, actually. But he also wanted nothing to do with Mirnam. He’d been plain about it the last time she’d tried to come to his bed, flipping the silk wraps she wore to the ground like a snake shedding her skin.
He couldn’t claim that he hadn’t enjoyed her in the past. He had. There had been a time where he had found her quite enjoyable.
Where he had flirted with the wrong side of the community. Where he had been an ally to the Warlord instead of a sworn enemy. And she was the thing that had made it all happen. And had made
it all end.
He had told the Warlord explicitly that negotiations were off. There would be no further discussion and he was keeping Kara to himself. It was a dirty trick to send Mirnam to him to try and reinstate the barter. One he should have expected, but dirty nevertheless.
And the way her eyes were moving over his body, he knew she had ulterior motives for coming as well. She had found him to be quite enjoyable as well, he recalled.
Mirnam was one of the few hybrids that moved easily between the worlds of accepted aliens and the outcasts. She was beautiful. No one could deny that.
Her wide eyes and unusual skin distinguished her as one of the alien breed, her lithe, firm body tall but shapely. But she was still human enough that those who passed for human wanted her among them.
Mirnam wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, and she wielded every power she could over whoever she could. It made no difference to her if they were outcast or alien.
“Arthos.” Her voice was warm and honeyed, and it slid over him like a tangible thing, evoking all the nights they had lain together, and the feel of her skin against his.
Now, those thoughts did little to excite him. They were nothing compared to the single memory he had of Kara, arching against him, tightening around him.
“Mirnam,” he said by way of greeting, hoping the dismissal and displeasure were more than evident in his voice.
“It’s customary to make arrangements before stopping by. If we’d spoken in advance, I could have told you that you were wasting your time. I’m not interested.”
She raised her hand to his waist, the other sliding up his muscled arm, and the tips of her fingers playing across the skin. “I haven’t brought my offer to the table yet.” She let her eyes drop to his crotch, her tongue darting out to moisten her lip. “You might be interested in what I’m hawking.”
Her lashless eyes were mesmerizing, the strange same shade as her hair, but even so, he felt nothing for her. They couldn’t hold a candle to the green-eyed earthling just upstairs.
“I’m not. And you can let your Warlord know there is no exchange that will provide him with the earthling. She is mine.”
Alien Romance: Hunted By The Alien: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Alien Romance, Alien Invasion Romance, BBW) (Celestial Protectors Book 4) Page 4