“That’s certainly a unique way of looking at things,” she remarked.
“It’s the only way of looking at things,” Chain declared. “Why limit your chances of happiness in any way? Life’s too short for that.”
Her reluctant smile widened to a grin.
“I like your way of thinking, Chain. You’re pretty much the exact opposite of my ex.”
“Knowing what I do of that poor excuse for a male, I’ll take that as a compliment.” Chain made her a sweeping bow which actually made her giggle. He liked the sound of her laughter—it was low and musical and completely feminine. Sexy.
“All right,” she said when he came back up. “I’ll go with you. But I have to be back here by Tuesday night at the latest so I can teach on Wednesday.”
“You have my word,” Chain swore. “The danger should have passed by then and you’ll be able to resume your normal life.”
Though for some reason he didn’t like to think of the little Elite coming back here alone. But if this was the only way she’d come with him and let him protect her from the possibility—however slim it might be—that the Varians would come back to Earth searching for the T’lix-Kruthe, then it was a promise he would gladly give.
“Thank you for trusting me,” he said to her.
“I’m not sure I do,” Victoria said, a little smile playing around the corners of her lush mouth. “Not completely, anyway. But you’re a Kindred and they’re all supposed to be protective of women.” She shrugged. “No offense—it’s just that I’ll have to get to know you better before I decide if you’re totally trustworthy.”
Chain frowned. “Why would you agree to come with me if you don’t trust me completely?”
“Because,” Victoria said lightly. “I’ve been waiting my whole adult life to have a little fun and adventure—and I have a feeling you can offer me both.”
Chain grinned back. He respected her honesty and liked the attitude she was taking towards their impending trip together. Even if he only took her to the Mother Ship and stayed with her a day or two to give her the tour, he was certain it would be an experience neither of them would ever forget.
Chapter Eight
Was she crazy, agreeing to leave town—hell, to leave the whole planet—with a man she’d never met before tonight, Vicky wondered? She was sure her daughters would think so. And this was something she would never allow them to do. In fact, if either Melli or Jodi called her up and said, “Mom, I’m thinking of taking a trip to Europe with Carlos, this guy I just met in a bar,” Vicky would have done her best to talk sense into them.
Which is probably what they’ll do to me if I let them know I’m leaving Earth to go to the Mother Ship for a couple of days with a strange Kindred, Vicky thought. Rather than telling them she was going off with Chain, it might be better to text them a little white lie—maybe say she was going to visit a girl friend for some time off. It wasn’t normally something she would do but she didn’t want them worrying about her.
Yes, a little fib wouldn’t hurt, she assured herself as she reshelved the last of the books. And when she got home, she was going to call a professional carpet cleaning service to deal with that spot where the alien lizard man had been disintegrated.
The thought made her shiver as she stared at the greasy black stain on the carpet and she realized she had other things she had to do before she went off “skylarking” as her granny would have said.
“I need to pack,” she told Chain, as they walked back to the bedroom together. She nodded at the open door of the master bathroom. “And I have to put some cardboard or something over the bathroom window where that lizard guy broke through. I can’t just leave it like it is.”
“I can handle that while you get your clothing packed,” he said, nodding. “But this reminds me that I never tended to the wounds you got from the broken glass. Forgive me for forgetting.”
Vicky made a shooing gesture.
“Don’t worry about it—I’ll slap on a few bandages and be just fine.”
He frowned. “Why should you take such half-measures when I can heal you completely?”
“You can? How?” Vicky asked with interest. “Do you have some kind of special Kindred medicine you can give me?”
“You might say that. May I?” He was suddenly kneeling before her again—he could move really fast and was surprisingly graceful for such a big guy, Vicky thought. He was lifting just the hem of the red cloak, which she was still wearing wrapped around herself, and looking up at her with his eyebrows raised.
“May…may you what?” Vicky was disturbed to hear the faint breathiness in her own voice.
“If I remember correctly, you had an injury on your inner thigh and your breast,” Chain murmured. “May I have your permission to examine the first cut and see if I can heal it?”
“Oh, well…” Vicky bit her lip. “I…I guess so,” she said at last, nodding.
“Thank you.” Chain lifted the cloak high enough to make her really glad she’d shaved her legs recently, until he exposed the cut on the inside of her thigh, right between her knee and her groin.
Looking down, Vicky saw it really was a nasty cut. There was dried blood on it but even so, it was still oozing—it might even need stitches.
“Hmm…” Chain frowned. “This is worse than I thought. Do you have a clean cloth I can wash it with first?”
“In the linen closet, you’ll find a washcloth,” Vicky directed him.
He nodded. “Thank you. Please lay down on the bed and expose your wounded leg so I can work on it.”
Vicky wasn’t sure what he was going to do to heal her but she lay down anyway and cocked her right leg to the side, carefully arranging the red cloak so that it covered her crotch and other sensitive areas. God, she really should have gotten dressed before agreeing to let him look at her! But then again, he probably couldn’t have reached her if she’d had all her clothes on…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the big Kindred returning with a warm, wet washcloth. He stroked it gently over the long cut, applying pressure as he did until it almost completely stopped bleeding. Then he nodded in apparent satisfaction as he sat back and looked at it.
“Good—it’s all clean now—I just need to heal you.”
“And how exactly are you going to do that?” Vicky asked.
“Very simply.” Chaim smiled at her. But instead of going to get some Kindred medicine or any kind of alien first aid kit as she had expected, he got on his knees at the foot of the bed, put his hands on her hips, and pulled her down so that her calves were hanging over the end of the mattress.
“Whoa—hang on—wait a minute!” Vicky could hear the panic in her own voice but she couldn’t seem to stop it. She propped herself up on her elbows and looked down at him. “What do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, as he leaned over her still-exposed inner thigh.
“Healing you, like I promised,” Chain said. And then he was dragging his warm, wet tongue up the length of the cut, bathing the long wound and her inner thigh with his heat and sending a shiver of pure sensation all over her body.
“Oh!” Vicky gasped and would have pulled away except it seemed to be working. The long wound on her thigh was no longer bleeding. In fact, it was now just a pinkish line. And—as Chain continued to lick it, it faded even more until even the line disappeared and her skin looked as though it had never been cut or marked in any way.
At last the big Kindred sat back on his heels—though he still kept his hands on her thighs, Victoria noticed.
“There.” He nodded in satisfaction. “A job well done if I say so myself.”
“But you…I didn’t expect you to…to lick me like that,” Vicky said and gave a shaky laugh. “I almost thought you were…were trying something, uh, else.”
Chain’s midnight eyes went half-lidded and one corner of his mouth quirked up in a sensual smile.
“Did you think I was going to taste your sweet pussy, beautiful Victoria?”
&nbs
p; “No! No, of course not!” she denied hastily, feeling her cheeks go hot with a blush, though that was, of course, exactly what she’d thought. She’d heard a rumor somewhere that Kindred were exceptionally good at this particular act, though she’d never experienced it herself. Kevin had absolutely refused to give her any kind of oral attention. Her ex’s rationale for this was his firm insistence that the vagina was built to have a penis in it, not a tongue.
“Yes, you did.” Chain’s slow smile grew. “You were afraid I was going to lift the cloak and expose your sweet little pussy so I could give you a tongue bath.” His eyes were hungry as he spoke. “I will if you want me to, your know. In fact, it would be my very great pleasure to taste your honey until you come for me—come all over my face.”
“What? I…I never said…never asked you to…” God, she couldn’t even finish her thought. Why was she stammering like a schoolgirl around him? Maybe because this was something she’d always wanted and had never been able to get.
Not that I’m about to get it now, she told herself firmly. Despite her earlier hope of “getting some” for Valentine’s night, she now felt shy and uncertain. What if he didn’t like the way she looked or tasted or smelled? No, it was better to leave this particular act on the shelf of unrequited desire—at least for now, she decided.
“You never asked me to taste you in words,” Chain said, still giving her that hot, half-lidded smile again. “But the ripe scent of your pussy is calling out to me, Victoria. Your body is hungry for pleasure—I can tell. In fact, I could tell it from the first moment I met you at the Last Call bar.”
“Well, you’re very kind to offer but not right now,” Vicky said quickly, trying to catch her breath. “For right now, please just stick to healing me.”
Chain shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling.
“As you wish. But remember my vow to you. As well as protecting you, I will be pleased to pleasure you thoroughly and deeply any time you want me to—and in any way you wish.”
“Um…thank you.” Vicky felt her heart speed up again. God, how could he offer to taste her so casually—like it was no big deal? But no—not quite no big deal, she thought, looking down at him. He actually wanted to do this. Again the rumors she’d heard about Kindred males flashed through her mind. Some women whispered that they actually needed to taste their mates—that it was a regular occurrence and one of the ways they bound their females to them.
She pushed the tempting but embarrassing thought away. Maybe later she would regain her nerve and take the big Kindred up on his offer. But for now, it was better to let him heal her so they could get out of here before she lost her nerve.
“I suppose I’d better see to your other injury?” Chain raised his eyebrows at her, as though waiting for her permission.
Vicky wondered why and then remembered that the other place she’d been cut had been on her breast—right beside her nipple, in fact.
“Oh…um. Yes…yes, I guess so,” she muttered, fumbling with the cloak. She wasn’t sure exactly how much to show. He’d already seen her entire naked body, but she wasn’t anxious to be that exposed again. Should she try to just show the area of the cut or should she bare her whole breast? How would he react if she did? Should she…?
“Stop.” Chain put a hand on hers, which were trembling and looked into her eyes. “Victoria,” he said quietly. “You only have to expose as much of your flesh as you feel comfortable with. But I want you to know, I won’t do anything you don’t want me to. I can control myself, no matter how luscious I find your curvy body.”
His words and the quiet tone they were spoken in seemed to calm Vicky’s racing heart. He was letting her know she could trust him—that he would only go as far as she wanted him to. That was very comforting.
“All right,” she said and opened the cloak to bare her entire right breast and the wound, which was right beside the nipple.
Chain didn’t comment on her bare breast—he didn’t have to because his face said it all. His midnight-blue eyes went half-lidded again and a soft growl of desire rose from deep in his throat. But all he said was,
“Shall I heal you now, beautiful Victoria?”
“S-sure.” Vicky cleared her throat and tried again. “Yes, please.”
This cut wasn’t as deep as the one in her thigh had been, but it was in a very tender area—just on the wide pink band of her areola. Chain rose from his place on the floor and joined her on the bed, leaning over her in a way that put his big body extremely close to hers.
But though he was looming over her, he was extremely careful and delicate when he healed her. Putting out just the tip of his tongue, he laved the shallow cut, being sure not to touch anything else, even though her nipple was barely a centimeter from his tongue.
Vicky’s heart pounded and she remembered all over again how very naked she was under the long red cloak she wore. He was so close she could smell that spicy fragrance of his again—it seemed to fill her senses and made her almost dizzy with lust. Maybe that was what made her say what she heard herself say next.
“It’s all right if you need to…to suck the whole nipple into your mouth to heal me,” she told Chain. “I mean…I might heal better that way—do you think?”
He gave her that sensual little half-grin she was beginning to know and like.
“I absolutely do. Then I have permission to suck your nipples?”
“Um…both of them?” Vicky asked, wondering if she’d heard him wrong. “I mean why would you need to—”
“Only to be certain there’s no referred pain from one side to the other,” Chain said smoothly, smiling at her again. “Of course, if you’d prefer I didn’t—“
“No, no,” Vicky said quickly. “You…you can do it. Can suck both of them if…if you think it’ll help.”
“It will—I think it will help you immensely, beautiful Victoria,” he growled softly. But let’s find out, shall we?”
Opening the cloak, he bared both her breasts and took a long moment just to look at them. The phrase, “Feast your eyes” came to Vicky’s mind—because it seemed that was what he was doing. She had always thought that her breasts were too big and, at her age, not nearly firm enough. But the big Kindred seemed to find them beautiful and he was gentle and reverent when he cupped them in his palms and lightly thumbed her nipples.
“Oh!” Vicky moaned as he sucked her right nipple—the wounded one—into his hot mouth and continued to flick her left nipple slowly. “Oh, Chain…”
He growled softly in response to his name, as though he liked her calling out for him, but his mouth was occupied and he continued to suck—first laving her hurt nipple gently with his tongue and then sucking harder, taking as much of her breast into his mouth as he could.
The deep pulling sensation of him sucking and playing with her tender peaks seemed to shoot sparks of pleasure through Vicky’s entire body—most especially down between her legs.
This was the kind of erotic play she’d dreamed of for years—the kind of pleasure and attention Kevin had never given her. Her ever practical ex-husband had considered foreplay a waste of time—sex was the main event, in his opinion. And—in this as in all things in their marriage—his opinion had been the only one that mattered.
So though he would occasionally pinch or twist her nipples or rub roughly between her thighs to “get her ready” for sex, he had never once in their entire marriage taken the time to focus just on Vicky—just on her pleasure. And that was exactly what the big Kindred was doing now.
She moaned and writhed under him, her fingers carding through his long, wild hair as he let her healed right nipple slip from his lips and moved over to take the left peak in his mouth. He lapped the sensitive little nub eagerly and then began drawing circles around it with his hot tongue, all the while tugging gently at her right nipple and making Vicky feel like she was on fire with pleasure.
She arched her back. God, she didn’t know how much more of this she could take! It felt so good an
d her body was so hungry for what Chain was giving her. She almost felt like she could come, just from his mouth on her breasts.
He pulled back at last, panting a little, his eyes drowning deep with lust.
“I think you’re healed now, Victoria.” His voice was a hungry growl. “Though you appear to be in some pain down below.”
“What…what do you mean?” Vicky looked up at him uncertainly.
“I mean your little pussy—it’s throbbing, isn’t it?” he murmured, holding her eyes with his. “Your little clit is so hot and sensitive you can hardly stand it.”
“How…how do you know that?” Vicky demanded, pressing her legs together nervously. “I never told you that!”
“No, but your body did,” he pointed out. “It’s in the way you’re bucking your hips and moving your pelvis in those hot little grinding circles. Letting me suck your ripe nipples has stoked the fire of your need and now you ache with unrequited lust.”
“I…I’ll be fine,” Vicky panted.
Chain raised an eyebrow at her.
“Fine but unfulfilled. And I’d bet my next payday that’s the way you’ve lived your whole life. Is that really how you want to go on?”
Vicky frowned at him.
“If you’re suggesting that I’m so hot I have no choice but to have sex with you—”
“No, no,” he said quickly, raising his hands in a gesture of negation. “No, I won’t even touch you if you don’t want me to, Victoria. But that shouldn’t prevent you from touching yourself.”
“Touching…myself? You mean, while you watch?” Vicky asked.
His eyes were heavy lidded as he propped himself on one elbow to look at her.
“If you like, beautiful Victoria. I would be happy to witness your pleasure—even though I would rather be the cause of it myself.”
Vicky bit her lip. She knew it was dreadfully old-fashioned of her, but she’d always regarded masturbation as something intensely private—not even to be shared with her husband—when she’d had one. Of course, it wasn’t like Kevin had ever asked her to masturbate in front of him, like Chain was asking her to do. The idea of touching herself while the big Kindred watched was both appallingly embarrassing…and incredibly erotic.
Stealing Her Heart: A Kindred Tales Novel (Brides of the Kindred) Page 6