The moan that escaped her mouth washed through him like warm, sweet honey.
Thrasher couldn’t seem to get enough of her taste. He kissed her like a man starved.
He gripped a handful of her hair, holding her still for the onslaught of his tongue. He couldn’t seem to get deep enough. He wanted to taste every aspect of her, her tongue, her lips, the depths of her throat.
Her legs parted and Thrasher slid up higher, pressing his aching erection against the juncture of her thighs. Both of them moaned with the contact.
He rolled his hips forward again, basking in the feel of being nestled against her warm woman’s center.
“Kaspyn,” he rasped, breaking off the suction he had on her lips, “I want inside you. God, I need inside you.”
She stared up at him with a look of hunger…and something else he couldn’t name. “I want you inside me, too, and that scares me more than death.”
Thrasher lifted his head a little more, his hand going lax in her beautiful hair. “What are you afraid of? Is it because I’m not a Bracadyte?” He hoped like hell she didn’t say yes.
“I am untouched.”
He couldn’t have heard her right. “You’re a virgin?”
“All Bracadyte females remain untouched until they are mated.”
Ah hell, Thrasher thought, his painful erection still pulsing against her incredible heat. She’s a virgin.
Thrasher eased off her and got to his feet. “I’m sorry, Kaspyn. I didn’t know.” He left the room before he ended up falling on top of her and taking her anyway.
Everyone was gathered beneath a shade tree near the front porch when Thrasher stepped outside.
“I thought you were getting your arm stitched up,” Oz remarked, a humorous light in his eyes.
Thrasher swallowed a retort, his gaze seeking out Carmen. “Would you mind grabbing the first aid kit off the coffee table and sewing this up?”
“Not at all.” Carmen hurried around to the porch and disappeared inside. She returned a moment later with the little white box and motioned for Thrasher to have a seat on the edge of the porch.
Easing down to a sitting position, Thrasher pulled his Ray-Bans down to cover his eyes and attempted to block out Kaspyn’s presence as she stepped out to join them.
Kaspyn didn’t look at him either, Thrasher noticed, glancing at her from behind the mirrored lenses of his sunglasses.
“Kerik is most assuredly aware of our presence in Playa Pilar.” Kaspyn’s voice rang out over the crowd. “The human male was sent to get an accurate count of how many Bracadytes arrived yesterday, and also to be sure that Anthony Vaughn was among them.”
Except for a muscle ticking along Tony’s jaw, he gave no outward sign that Kaspyn’s announcement affected him.
She continued. “The human male was also ordered to locate his contact here and learn of the status of the other Bracadytes that are due to arrive any day now.”
That brought Thrasher’s gaze around. “What other Bracadytes?”
Oz lifted a hand to gain the crowd’s attention. “I specifically told two of my men that I was waiting on more Bracadytes to arrive. It was a ploy to see if Kerik would get the information. Now I know which two men to interrogate first. I will find the spy in my midst.”
“Smart move,” Thrasher murmured. “As long as Kerik is expecting more Bracadytes, he won’t make a move on us. At least not until he realizes we’re leaving.”
Oz nodded. “That was my plan. I’ll drop another crumb as the time draws near. For now, we have six days to prepare for what’s coming. I’ll keep my scouts in the trees, but as far as preparation for the attack, that will have to stay between the nine of us.”
“We need not wait on them to come to us.” Kaspyn’s voice, though soft, held a note of deadliness. “I have seen inside their camp.”
Thrasher swiveled his head in her direction. “It’s a bad idea. We stick to the original plan.”
“But we can catch them unaware,” Kaspyn persisted.
Shaking his head, Thrasher held her gaze, grateful that she couldn’t see the desire still lingering in his eyes from behind his Ray-Bans. “I know Kerik. He is more than aware that we have a spy in our midst, and he’ll also take into account that he could very well have one amongst his group as well. His men will only know what he wants them to know, nothing more. It’s too risky.”
“Thrasher’s right,” Tony pointed out. “Kerik is a crafty one. I think we should stick with the original plan also.”
Kaspyn nodded, though her jaw remained tense.
Zyen spoke up. “As much as it pains me to say this, I agree with the land walkers. Though I do not know this Kerik, I am aware that he lacks honor and therefore will use trickery to his advantage.”
Thrasher was liking the massive Arkadian more and more.
Pain sliced through Thrasher’s arm as Carmen set about cleansing his wound. He held completely still while she poured another dose of alcohol over it and picked up her needle.
Zyen’s gaze flicked in Carmen’s direction more than once as she began to stitch Thrasher’s flesh closed. Thrasher wasn’t sure if the Arkadian was merely curious about her method or curious about her in general.
Just then, Carmen lifted her head and glanced in Zyen’s direction before returning to her task of stitching.
Interesting, Thrasher thought, clenching his teeth as the needle entered his burning flesh. The biggest Bracadyte I’ve ever seen and the smallest human. Good luck with that.
Chapter Twenty
Kaspyn watched as the tiny human worked on Thrasher’s arm. She had to fight the urge to rip the tiny human away from him and toss her into The Gulf. Jealousy, Kaspyn admitted to herself. I am jealous.
Unable to stand there and watch Thrasher being touched by another female, Kaspyn announced. “I am going for a swim.” She turned and strode off.
The Gulf waters were much more beautiful than the Atlantic Ocean. Though Arkadia was situated between the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Ocean, its waters tended to be darker and more blue than green. Not to mention colder.
Kaspyn stepped into the waves, loving the warmth of the southern waters. She dove headlong into their depths, allowing her body to do what it did best…swim.
Salt water raced through her gills in stark relief, and her barbs quickly filled with blood to stand out from her wrists and ankles.
A beautiful Red Snapper crossed in front of her and Kaspyn smiled at his quick surge to get out of her way. Had she been hungry, he wouldn’t have escaped so easily. But Kaspyn only took what she ate, and nothing more.
Unsure of how long she’d swam, she slowed her pace and rolled to her back to stare up at the lights playing on the water’s surface. Her mind opened. “Mother?”
“Kaspyn!” Koral answered immediately. “How do you fare, my daughter?”
“I am well, Mother. I just wanted to hear your voice.”
Koral hesitated. “Tell me what is bothering you, my only child. I can sense it in your voice.”
Her mother had always been able to read Kaspyn’s emotions. “I have met someone that I cannot stop thinking about. I want him, Mother. Even though I know it is not right. Part of me despises him for who and what he is, but the other part seeks him out, wants to be near him.”
Koral’s emotions slammed into Kaspyn. “Who is this male that you speak of? If he is not of royal blood or a great warrior, your father will—“
“He is neither of those things,” Kaspyn blurted through their mental link, cutting off her mother’s warning. “He is a land walker.”
A gasp of disbelief filtered through their connection. “Oh, Kaspyn, no. Please tell me that you jest. You have fallen in love with our greatest enemy?”
“I am not in love with him, Mother. And I am not so sure that he is our enemy. The land walkers that I have met are not what I was taught to believe they are.”
“They are that and more, Kaspyn. There is a reason why we stay hidden beneath the water. Humans are
not to be trusted. They defile and destroy everything they come into contact with! You must return home at once, Kaspyn. Your father would be destroyed if his only child has been soiled by a land walker.”
“No, Mother. I am staying.”
Koral’s anger was palpable. “If you truly care for this human, you will leave at once, get as far from him as you can. Because if you do not, your father will have him destroyed.”
“And if you truly care for me, you will not tell father of this. I am no longer a child, and I will make my own decision.”
Her mother’s voice softened, but a pleading sound still remained. “Do not do this, my daughter. Think about what I have said. If you continue down this path, the land walker will die. Your father will see to it.”
“I love you, Mother, but princess or not, I am first and foremost a warrior. If I am old enough and strong enough to defend our home and act as diplomat for the Arkadians, then I am old enough and strong enough to make my own decisions where my future is concerned.” Kaspyn severed their link, closing off her mind as she headed back to shore.
She had just confessed her feelings about a land walker to her mother. And Kaspyn did have feelings for Thrasher, no matter how much she wished it otherwise. She was attracted to him in a way she’d never been attracted to another. Her body came alive in his presence. His very nearness sent her heart racing and her fangs tingling.
Kaspyn recognized her symptoms for what they were. Her body was preparing to mate, though her mind rebelled against it.
She didn’t have to give herself completely to Thrasher, she decided, swimming toward the shore. As long as she refrained from taking Thrasher’s blood and didn’t accept him into her body, she would be in no danger of mating with him.
Darkness had fallen by the time Kaspyn emerged from the water. She hadn’t realized she’d swam out as far as she did.
She squeezed the excess water from her hair and trailed across the sand to her bungalow.
Stopping on the porch to strip out of her wet clothes, Kaspyn draped them over the railing and stepped inside.
“Where the hell have you been?” Thrasher growled from the darkness. “You can’t just disappear for hours without checking in. Kerik or Howell could have gotten their hands on you.”
Kaspyn stilled at the sound of Thrasher’s voice. Though she couldn’t see him, she knew he sat on the couch.
He suddenly switched on a lamp, his eyes widening as he took in her state of undress. He rose to his feet. “Where are your clothes?”
“On the porch,” she answered, watching him slowly stalk toward her.
Anger sparked in his eyes. “You can’t keep running around in the nude for every Tom, Dick, and Harry to see.”
“I do not know anyone by those names, and I was not running around. I removed my clothing in the cover of darkness.”
He stopped in front of her and ran a hand down his face. “My God, you’re killing me, Kaspyn.”
Not understanding his meaning, she asked, “Why are you here sitting in my bungalow in the dark?”
“Waiting on you. I was worried about you. I also wanted to apologize for my earlier behavior.”
“You mean the way you ran from me after finding out that I am untouched?”
He glanced away before meeting her gaze once more. “Look, I know we’ve had our differences, but I’m not in the business of taking someone’s innocence…especially when that innocence is supposed to belong to their future mate.”
Kaspyn moved to step around him, but he grabbed onto her wrist.
“Not that I wouldn’t love anything more than to make love to you, Kaspyn. I can’t recall ever wanting anything more in my life. But it’s not right. I can’t do that to you. I won’t.”
Anger and disappointment at his words took hold. “You have made your position clear, land walker. There is nothing left for us to say.”
Jerking free of his hold, Kaspyn hurried off to her bedroom and closed the door before she humiliated herself further by begging him to take her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Thrasher stood in the small living room of Kaspyn’s bungalow, fighting the urge to go after her. If he thought he’d wanted her before, he’d been fairly sweating bullets when he’d switched on that lamp to find her naked.
God, but she was perfection in its finest form, he painfully admitted, staring at the closed door she’d disappeared behind.
He quietly moved across the room and rested his forehead against the wooden surface of the door. “Kaspyn?”
Silence.
“Kaspyn, don’t do this. Will you at least talk to me?”
The door suddenly opened. “I could force you to take me, Thrasher.”
That was one of the rare times she’d actually used his name and not referred to him as land walker. “You could, but you won’t.”
She narrowed her eyes.
Thrasher continued. “You have too much honor, which is one of the things I admire about you…about your entire race.”
“You admire me?”
“I admire your strength,” Thrasher stated quietly. “Your pride, your ability to lead. But most of all, I admire your guileless nature. I always know where I stand with you. You’re not coy or deceptive. You know what you want and you go after it. That’s a rare thing in my world.”
She held his gaze without blinking. “I want you.”
Thrasher inwardly groaned. He wanted her too, so bad that his entire body felt erect; not just his shaft.
Allowing his gaze to travel down her beautiful form, Thrasher made a decision. Though it might cost him his sanity, he would give her the pleasure she sought without taking her virginity. “Okay.”
“Yes?” she breathed, her amber-colored eyes glittering in the semi-darkness.
Thrasher clenched his teeth as more blood raced to his erection. “I need you to do exactly as I tell you. No questions asked.”
When she remained quiet, he demanded, “Sit on the foot of the bed and then lie back for me.”
Backing up to the mattress, Kaspyn lowered herself onto its cushiony surface before easing down to her back.
Thrasher couldn’t take his eyes from her breasts. Damn, but she was perfection.
His gaze traveled down her midriff and over her stomach to settle on the slightly raised mound of her woman’s center.
Pulling his shirt over his head, Thrasher tossed it on the floor behind him and went to work on his boots and pants. He peeled his boxer-briefs down his legs and stepped out of them.
Taking an unsteady breath, he moved forward and lowered to his knees before her.
Thrasher noticed that his hands shook slightly as he placed them on the insides of her thighs and gently pushed them apart.
The moonlight spilling in through the window lent him just enough light to see her glistening center, and his shaft twitched in reaction. He’d never wanted anything as much as he wanted to bury himself inside Kaspyn. He wondered if he’d been wrong in thinking he could simply pleasure her. His erection had grown to the point of pain, and his entire body felt fevered with need.
She lifted her head to peer down at him. “I do not understand. Bracadytes use their penises during sex.”
“Lie back and relax,” Thrasher rasped, settling in closer. “I’m asking you to trust me.”
Wrapping his hands around her thighs, he tugged her ass to the edge of the bed and draped her knees over his shoulders.
A growl of need rumbled in his throat as he brought his fingers around and gently opened her to his gaze. She had to be the most sensual creature ever created.
Flattening his tongue, he swiped it from her opening to the top of her mound, groaning when her hips bucked beneath him.
“Thrasher?” she whispered, uncertainty evident in her voice.
Thrasher merely tightened his grip on her and repeated the process before swirling his tongue around her erect bundle of nerves. And she was erect. He could feel her tiny pleasure spot hardening with every pas
s of his tongue.
Son of a bitch! He thought in a lust-filled haze. He’d never been with a female who responded as quickly as Kaspyn. She was sensitive to the touch and loaded with untapped passion.
The more Thrasher lashed at her small bundle of nerves, the tighter it became. And then he sucked it into his mouth.
Kaspyn cried out, her thighs gripping the sides of his head like a vice. He didn’t care as long as he could continue tasting her.
Her hips began to move, her body telling him without words where it wanted him most. Thrasher followed her direction, learning her, recognizing her pleasure points.
Releasing one of her thighs, he brought his hand underneath her and penetrated her to the first knuckle. He could feel the resistance, recognized it for what it was.
He flipped his hand over, curling his finger back toward himself and moved it around in small circles at the top of her vaginal passage; never slowing the movement of his tongue.
The sounds coming from Kaspyn were driving him crazy with lust. Her breathing had accelerated to the point she panted beneath him. Her sweet center grew wetter by the second until her legs locked onto Thrasher’s neck and her entire body bowed off the bed.
Still Thrasher didn’t stop. He rose up onto the foot of the bed, holding her hostage with his hands and tongue until a hoarse scream wrenched from her throat.
Her body convulsing in his arms had to be the most satisfying sensation a man could experience.
Thrasher backed off a little, gently sliding his tongue around the edges enough to prolong her orgasm without destroying it with sensation overload.
Instead of going limp as most females would, Kaspyn stared up at him in wonder while tightening her feet behind his back. “I would like to do that again.”
Thrasher’s erection grew beyond painful. “You’re going to be the death of me.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kaspyn had never experienced the sort of sensations Thrasher had just introduced her to. She wondered how she’d gone through her entire life without knowing they existed.
Thrasher took hold of her legs and gently peeled them away from his shoulders. “Trust me when I say that you’re too sensitive to orgasm again so soon.”
Thrasher: Science Fiction Romance (Enigma Series Book 9) Page 8