Rapture

by Jacquelyn Frank

  “What are you looking at?” he demanded of her irritably.

  “I don’t think you actually want me to answer that, M’itisume,” she observed.

  He sighed. “Yes. Probably not.”

  “I wish you had said something about this earlier. I think I know when it was you were warned about this and who it was that warned you, but you waved me back so I didn’t hear the details.”

  “He wouldn’t have talked with you standing there glaring at him like you do.”

  She brushed it off with a click of her tongue. “I don’t glare. I study. I had to make certain I could kill him in under three seconds if I needed to. That is my job.”

  “Right,” he said dryly. “I’m astounded as to why that would put people off.”

  “Now, now, no need to get sarcastic, M’itisume.” She smiled smugly. “It’s not going to make this any easier.”

  No. It wasn’t.

  And nothing could make it any harder either.

  Tristan moved to the door.

  Daenaira felt Magnus come up against her back within seconds, sweeping a steely arm around her and pinning her to the wall of his body. She dropped the washing cloth into the discard bin and reached to latch on to his wrists as his hands plastered to her skin. His hunger for the feel of her had been obvious for days, but now with free rein it was like unleashing a beast. The very first thing he did was to run his hands up over the breasts he had said that he’d so sorely neglected and desperately wanted.

  She filled his palms and fingers heavily, the deep breath she took enhancing her shape and size for him. He held her tightly a moment, then slowly began to shape the lush fullness of her until she was squirming back against him and releasing little mewls of frustration. Her nipples sat between his fingers, but he did nothing to stimulate them despite the way she tried to seek him out.

  “You didn’t think it was going to be that easy, did you?” he asked in a deep purr against her neck. Magnus stepped back, grabbed hold of her arm, and swung her fully around to face him. “Let’s see what we can do to keep you busy while I catch my breath a bit, hmm?”

  Daenaira found herself soaring back onto the bed with a bounce, her hair flying all around her face. She pushed it free of her eyes in time to see him stripping off his tunic and filling her vision with darkly muscled masculine beauty. All he wore now was the biceps band of his office and the sexy dusted furring of black male body hair. He was so beautiful, and she wished she’d taken advantage of him more when he’d been tied up. She wanted to touch him all over his gorgeous body, but she had a feeling he wasn’t going to let her.

  He knelt onto the bed between her raised knees, his hands sliding onto them and up the insides of her thighs. He parted her legs wide so he could see her little panties better. When he reached out to touch the small triangle of fabric shielding her, she felt a shiver of stimulation wriggling through her as he lightly brushed his fingertips over her. Then he hooked on to them and swiftly skimmed them off her, snapping them away from her ankles and discarding them onto the pile of clothing.

  “There now. Here’s how the gods intended you, K’yindara.”

  He studied her body with open intimacy, his fingertips absently tickling her near the inside of her left knee as he took his time. Dae laughed a little nervously as she tried to figure out what was so intriguing to him. Oh, she knew she was attractive to him, and was even figuring out which parts of her body were an undeniable lure to his eyes and senses, but she still couldn’t always conceive of why.

  “What is your schedule like for the next two nights, Daenaira?” he asked her.

  “Busy,” she breathed in anticipation.

  That made him laugh. “True. Very busy. Are you nervous, honey?”

  She scoffed at him, which meant she was, but wasn’t about to admit it if she could help it. Magnus bent forward and kissed the inside of her knee. He very carefully kept a lid on all of the urges the musky scent of her sent stampeding through his brain, and just lightly touched his fingertips along her legs.

  “Let’s finish this lesson now, shall we?” He settled back onto his heels. Kneeling between her legs and then taking her calves in his hands, he gently relaxed her legs in a drape over his thighs. She must have realized the view the position afforded him, because she squirmed in an attempt to shield herself, but he held fast to her so she couldn’t move from how he had positioned her.

  “Magnus,” she complained with hesitant discomfort.

  “Let’s return to touching, K’yindara. I want to see your hands all over your skin, sweetheart. Whatever feels good.”

  “You feel good,” she noted in invitation.

  “Oh, you’ll feel me soon enough,” he promised her, enjoying the immediate flush of response it provoked over her skin. “But this is something every woman should know. It will feel good for you, honey, and watching you will feel damn good for me, too.”

  Truth be told, he would love to give her her first orgasm. However, he knew it would be better for her like this. Let her learn the path first, and then he could take her back down it again and again with increasing intensity.

  “Let’s go back to those delightful breasts of yours, K’yindara. Touch yourself. That’s it. Your skin is so beautiful. The color of your nipples is so vibrant to me, like berries on a vine, and I am dying to taste them.”

  Dae cupped herself, and with an arching of her back to sit up, she offered him what he wanted. He knew she was curious about the sensation he promised, and he was craving her reaction. He leaned forward and touched warm lips to her skin along the rise of her breast. Instead of doing what she wanted, though, he moved up to her shoulder and neck. Sucking gently against her pulse for a moment, he then drifted over her jaw and found her mouth. He wouldn’t commit to the kiss, though, drawing back every time she tried to insist.

  “Bossy little thing,” he accused her, reaching to push her back on the bed and sitting on his heels once more. She groaned in her frustration. “Touch yourself. You don’t need me to feel good. You copped out once already by turning this around on me. Well, it won’t happen again. Why won’t you let yourself feel your own touch, sweetheart?”

  “I just know it will feel better when you do the same thing.”

  “Yeah. It will,” he agreed, licking at his parched lips. “But we have two nights to compare. And the sooner you do this, the sooner it’s my turn.”

  That seemed to work. Really well, in fact. Magnus watched as she drove suddenly eager hands all over her skin.

  “Pinch and pull at your nipples, K’yindara. See how it feels. Yes, you like that, don’t you?” Her surprised breaths inward and then soft moans to follow were quickly reviving his appetites, so to speak. He began to grow hard again in quick increments, especially when he guided her hands down to her pouty sex with its wet, waiting lips. “Slide your fingers into your pussy, K’yindara. No. Don’t. Don’t be afraid of that feeling,” he countered when she grew upset and restless again and tried to withdraw. He caught her hand under his and singled out her center finger. He used it to guide her up to her fatly flushed clitoris.

  “You feel that? That little gem is your clit. It’s a nexus of nerves that, when we stimulate you right, will make you come nice and hard for us. It’s just like stroking my cock, baby. It’ll make you explode.”

  “Will I be…uh…messy? Like you?” She flushed, feeling stupid for the question, but he smiled.

  “Gods, I hope so. Wet, hot, and messy.”

  Daenaira felt her whole body flash with intense heat just listening to his anticipation. She dropped her gaze along his body as he slowly showed her how to slip her touch in circles against herself. He was glistening with perspiration all along his skin, every contour and muscle standing out in stark relief. She saw his penis was heavy and stiff with renewed excitement, and it altered the entire landscape of her arousal, charging it up to a new level of expectancy. She realized what would be happening soon between them, and little vignettes of the sexual scenes
she’d glimpsed in her life began to stutter through her mind as a strange sensation of spiraling pleasure etched through her—and then faded.

  He let go of her fingers, watching her continue and feeling the picture of her autoeroticism burn him from head to toe. Magnus should have encouraged her to dip her fingers inside herself, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. That, he thought fiercely, was his threshold. It was his to take. She could finish her lesson just like she was. Feeling her legs clutching restlessly around his thighs and watching her hips lift toward the stroke of her own touch assured him of it.

  “Don’t stop. That’s it. Just let it take you, honey. Yes. Gods, you’re gorgeous. Show me how you come, Dae.” She was primed, her free hand restless on her skin and breasts now and her eyes closed as she immersed herself in her own touch and the encouragement of his voice. “And as soon as you do, then I’m going to show you how you come. I’m going to show you a whole different way. I’m going to feel you a whole new way. Dozens of new ways.” Each promise brought her breath faster and harsher, and she shook her head in resistance again. He ignored the gesture because she didn’t draw away from herself. She was just very close and she didn’t know what to make of what she was feeling. She was so dripping wet he could see it and hear it as she touched. She had begun to moan softly, whispering his name and short words of denial.

  “No,” she cried out softly.

  “Yes, Daenaira. Just let it go.” Gods, she was killing him. Something had to break really soon or he wasn’t going to be able to keep still much longer. After so many decades of denial, he couldn’t believe how easy it was for him to fall back into this rush of need and craving. He couldn’t believe how hard it was to maintain even the slightest control. But he was beginning to think it had far more to do with the woman than it had to do with the deprivation. He had seen hundreds of women in hundreds of classes rise to crest and orgasm, and he had been mostly unaffected. Brushing her hair had been the most exciting classroom experience that he could remember. Watching her go liquid like this again, it felt so good it hurt.

  He felt her body shaking in quick trembles against his, and he whispered soft commands to her to keep her on track. She was gasping, her body bowing, and she was incredible. The mixture of stark sensual pleasure and unadulterated anxiety was a stamp on his memory forever. She shuddered, contracted into herself, and burst like fireworks. Magnus could tell instantly that it was a raw ride over the edge for her, her whole body far too worked up for its own good. He reached to quickly replace her touch against her spasming little clit when she jerked her hand away. He put pressure against her, easing the sharpness of the twisting tide for her. Her thighs clutched against his forearm and she cried out.

  Daenaira did not feel the relief she had been expecting. Not in the least. Her heart was pounding and her muscles trembled as the too-keen pleasure spit through her in ragged seizures. Just when she thought she would scream, he eased away from her clitoris and left the little spot twitching and throbbing, hard and alone.

  As she tried to catch a breath, she felt confused by what she had felt, but at the same time it had felt rather like he had looked that day in the bath—in pleasure and in agony, both against his desires.

  “Easy, K’yindara,” he said softly as he moved up over her trembling body to her mouth. “I know how that must have felt. It’s like that sometimes when there’s been such a drought of sensation that strong.”

  “Like for you that day I saw you.”

  “Yes. Exactly like that. It kind of turns you inside out.”

  “Kind of?” She laughed at the understatement.

  But then she saw his smile as it spread slow and wicked over his features. “Yes, baby. I’m about to show you something a bit more specific.”

  “Oh, no, really, I think I’m done,” she breathed, pushing her hands against his shoulders.

  He laughed at that. “Done? We haven’t even started.” Magnus feinted for her mouth but she turned her head and laughed uneasily.

  “Magnus, I’m serious. I don’t want to feel like that again.”

  “You won’t,” he promised.

  However, her belief in that promise would require something she wasn’t sure about. It required she trust him. Oh, she didn’t doubt he knew what he was doing. After all, Hera had told her there was hardly an adult in the city he hadn’t taught sex to in one form or another. Considering what a sexual breed their people were, well, that said something.

  So she didn’t know why she was hesitating all of a sudden. Even as she pressed her hands against him in resistance, she wanted to feel him under her palms. Before she realized the impulse, she was curving hungry fingers up around the thick muscles of his shoulders. Gods, he was packed with power, and she could feel it vibrating through every inch of his hot flesh.

  “I’m not ready for this,” she confessed awkwardly.

  “You’re just afraid, Dae. It’s perfectly natural, especially the way you’ve had to fight to keep control of your body over these years. What you are supposed to feel is a total abandonment of control. Resisting that is what makes it almost like pain for people like us who try to fight what should be coming naturally. You and I don’t like to give up control. But for you, I think I would give up that and a whole lot more. That’s something I’ve never felt before. Light, I’ve never felt half the emotions I feel because of you before.”

  “You mean pissed off beyond coherent thought?” she asked with a giggle as he bent to kiss her in the hollow at the base of her throat.

  “That’s one, yes,” he sighed, finding her pulse and licking against it. “Also, possessive. Violently possessive. I wanted to rip Brendan apart today when he was reaching to touch you. Light, even watching him get on that bed with you just about made me lose it completely.”

  “Really?” Daenaira had no idea why something like that would make her smile, but she did, hiding it against the softness of his hair. The black curls were woven back into a plait at the base of his neck, small simple gold rings having been slipped onto the design at intervals. He didn’t wear ornamentation like that often, she realized, but she rather liked it. It was masculine in its way, and sexy.

  “And stupid,” he sighed, drawing back to look down into her eyes, his hand coming up to touch knuckles over the arch of her brow. “I haven’t made so many mistakes with one individual in all of my life.” At least he didn’t think he had. He suspected Karri might have been a close second. The thought made him frown.

  “Why do you think you have?” She stroked him around his ear. “Am I really that difficult? I mean, I just don’t seem to work right with anyone. Not even the best priest in all of Sanctuary.”

  “You are perfect for working with me,” he countered quietly, “and don’t let my idiotic confusion make you think otherwise. I’m getting this straight now. Not flawlessly, not yet, but I’m beginning to understand that there’s a bigger plan to you and me than I was willing to commit to. Luckily, my goddess sent me a spitfire who could set me straight.”

  She gave him her signature smile, unable to help the slide of her hand straight down his chest and belly until her hand wrapped around his thickened member.

  “Quite straight at that,” she observed.

  “Cheeky little bitch,” he growled at her before snagging her in a kiss.

  Dae instantly recalled how beautiful his mouth felt against hers, her breath sighing into his lips as he dipped for her taste. But the light flicker of a tease was all it took to blow oxygen onto the banked ashes of the passion they shared. He made a rich sound of need low in his throat and speared his tongue in hot search of her flavor.

  Daenaira felt renewed heat rushing beneath her skin, infusing her tissues more deeply and vibrantly with every hungry tangling of his tongue with hers. Whatever his intentions had been, even as inexperienced as she was, she could feel them rapidly deteriorating as the fire in his kisses grew wilder and fiercer. She was breathless and dizzy by the time he began to touch her face with his
fingertips. Dae could feel him pulsing hard between her fingers, her limp, distracted touch around him turned incidental as he assaulted her inexperienced senses with kisses that couldn’t possibly be normal. She was learning how to catch up with him at first, and then how to keep up, but it wasn’t long before even his aggression and passion couldn’t suit them enough and she had to invest her own.

  She let go of him, only to wrap herself tightly around his broad shoulders, lifting herself off the bed to press her chest against him because she was starving for more contact.

  “Drenna!” he gasped when he could finally pry himself away for air. “You’re a siren. You’ve bewitched me from the start. Aiya! I’m desperate for you,” he cried into her mouth as he took her again, his fingers streaking roughly through her hair.

  “Magnus,” she moaned restlessly, her legs climbing his body. “Touch. I need…”

  “Yes, honey,” he agreed, his large, rough hands leaving her hair to streak down over her face and throat. He gripped her silken shoulders, sliding his arms behind her back and thrusting her breasts upward as he pulled from her mouth and lowered his head to rub his lips down the skin of her breastbone. Her sugary cream scent pervaded his senses thickly because of how long she had been aroused already, the state intensifying the heady aroma especially between and beneath her breasts as he kissed and licked the salty sweetness of her perspiring skin.

  When he caught her nipple abruptly between the ginger bite of his teeth, she jerked herself concave to the sensation, but had nowhere to go with his powerful arms at her back. A moment later, she no longer had any desire to pull away. He nipped and drew at the pointed tip until she had both hands dug deep into his hair and she could hear her own cries echoing into the room.