Bonded (12 page)

Taimi gasped.

He lifted his head. Guilt warred with the need in his gaze, the combination far too familiar. “Did I hurt you?”

“No.” She lifted her hips in silent invitation. This aggression in him was new. Normally, he was in control of every moment, every motion. Frustratingly slow out of deference to her innocence. She’d wondered what it would be like when he finally unleashed the full strength of his passion. Now she knew. “Do it again.”

“Like this?”

“Yes.”

“Again?” He didn’t wait for an answer. Thrust again. Deeper. “Or like this?”

She couldn’t answer. Not with words. Only a moan.

He kissed her again. Moved his lips to slip along the curve of her ear and teased the edge with the tip of his tongue. His hot breath made her shiver deep inside, and her muscles fluttered around his shaft. “That’s it, sweet. Take it in. All of me.”

She wanted all of him. His body. His heart.

Everything.

Forever.

“Damn, you make me crazy. The way you feel when I’m inside you. All tight and hot and wet.” Jaren tightened his arms around her, crushed her mouth under his. Cupped his hands under her buttocks, bracing her to absorb the impact of his thrusts. He rammed into her, hard and fast, followed by another growl rumbling from deep in his throat.

Jaren stiffened, his cock pulsing his release deep inside her body.

She followed him into climax, screaming his name. Wave after wave swept over her, a flood of fire and sensation, and the mattress threatened to swallow her whole.

Jaren wasn’t finished.

As her senses slowly returned, she became aware of his large cock. Still hard. Still moving inside her. His voice was a whisper of breath against her ear. “I swear, you bring out the animal in me, sweet. I can’t get enough of you.”

If only that was true.

“You have me.” She stopped before she said too much. Promised more than he wanted to hear.

He didn’t notice her lapse. He lifted her legs so they draped over his broad shoulders. He drew out, slowly, until only the tip of him remained inside her. “Can you feel that?”

Oh yes
. She felt that. Just the tip of the thick head, teasing her senses. Making every nerve in her body stretch toward him.

Taimi mewled out an incoherent protest, digging her fingers into his lean hips. “Jaren.”

He waited a heartbeat longer. Then thrust his cock in one smooth, swift motion, and her breath hitched at the sudden sensation, the pulsing feel of his full length inside her. “And that?”

“I…”

“We’ll try it again. Until you decide you don’t like it.” He repeated the slow withdrawal, the pause at the entrance meant to drive her anticipation to unbearable heights. Followed by the sudden jolt of full penetration. “Want me to stop?”

“No.” She panted hard, wriggled her hips to entice him to move inside her. “Don’t stop.”

He was in control again. Full control.

He changed the pace. Moved with careful, almost leisurely deliberation. Long, slow strokes of his cock. Passion harnessed. Manipulating her body. Her responses.

She didn’t like it. He drove her over the edge so easily, every time. Just once, she wanted to know she could do the same to him.

If only she knew how…

The lessons in the auction house had not covered that. They’d concentrated on physical enticements, not emotional.

The headboard of the bed knocked into the wall, punctuating the rhythm of their movements. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh. Jaren’s voice grew deeper, closer to another growl. “Come for me again, sweet.”

She shook her head.

“No?” He lifted his head to stare into her face. Stilled. Kept his cock lodged deep inside, the pause in motion only concentrating the sensations. The anticipation.

There had to be a way to give him a greater pleasure. Instinctively, she tightened the muscles of her sheath. Imitating the contractions of orgasm, but in one hard, controlled motion.

His breath hissed. His lashes fell, half hiding his eyes, and his deep voice grew hoarse. “Do that again.”

She did.

An answering growl rumbled deep in his chest. She tightened her muscles a third time and gave him back his earlier words. “Do you like
that
?”

He half groaned, half laughed. “Are you trying to tease me, Taimi?”

“Why would I do that?” Another contraction, one not so controlled. It took all her willpower not to moan, the gesture as pleasurable for her as it seemed to be for him. “Captain.”

“You know better, sweet. Two can play at that game.”

“Of course. I learned it from you.”

Another soft laugh paired with a quick, wicked grin. He withdrew his cock, and a strangled protest escaped her lips. He pinned her legs to his shoulders, his hands hard, and lifted her to his mouth. She felt his breath against her clit. Warm and moist and tantalizing. He paused. “You don’t want me to do this?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. I mean, yes.” He made her dizzy, and thinking became impossible. Pleasure caused her sheath to clench hard again, and knowing he could see her most intimate responses up close was nearly as potent as his touch. “Please.”

“Please, what?”

She didn’t have the words for what she wanted. Heat rushed into her face. “I’m sorry I tried to tease you.”

“I’m not.” His breathing slowed, and his voice was again annoyingly serene. But the faint tremor in his big hands showed he wasn’t completely unaffected. “I want to hear you say it. Tell me what you want me to do. To you.”

“Jaren, please.”

“The words, sweet. I want the words.”

She moaned, partly from need, but also frustration. She threw one arm over her eyes so she could hide from his too-knowing gaze. “I…I want you to use your mouth on me.”

“Where?” He pressed a kiss inside her thigh. “Here?”

She shook her head.

He kissed the other thigh. “Or here?”

A whimper tore from her throat. She thrust her hips up, trying to guide him without the words.

His soft laugh puffed against her moist flesh, and her whimper turned into a moan. He brushed his lips against her clit. “How about here?”

“Jaren!”

“That sounds like a yes.”

“Yes. Please.”

“As you wish.” He pressed another kiss against her clit but didn’t open his mouth. She tried to arch against him; he forced her to hold still. “More?”

Another whimper tore from her throat.

She threaded her fingers through his thick black hair, tugging on the silky strands. Need flared and burned away any lingering embarrassment. “Use your tongue. Like you did before. Please.”

Jaren’s eyes widened, but his shocked expression lasted only a moment. His tongue snaked out and flicked against her swollen nub. Teasing her for only a moment. Then he burrowed it between the folds of her pussy. “You taste so good. So sweet, just like the rest of you.” He thrust his tongue into her opening. In and out. “I love the way you taste. The way you come, just for me. You’re close again. Aren’t you.”

It wasn’t a question.

Another swirl of his tongue over her clit. The pleasure he brought her made it a little easier to be bold. To a point. “I want you. Inside me. When I—”

“I will be. Next time.”

The sexy promise sent her over the edge, her fingers tugging hard on his hair as she came into his mouth. Jaren slid her legs from his shoulders and guided them around his waist. He rose up over her prone body, pressed a kiss to her mouth. She tasted herself on his lips. “I love watching you come, sweet.” The tip of his cock nudged against her entrance. “Feel how hard that made me?”

“Mm-hmm.”

He kissed her again, his lips lingering against hers. “Come here.” He reared back, drawing her with him. Face-to-face. He knelt on the mattress, the hard length of his cock nestled against her slick folds.

She buried her head against his throat. His skin was slick with sweat, and his scent, spiced with the addition of sex, filled her nostrils. She clutched at his broad shoulders, feeling as if she were about to fall. No. That wasn’t entirely true. She had already fallen. For him. “Don’t let me go.”

“I won’t.” He thrust up into her body, filling her. Anchoring her. “I’ve got you.”

For now
. Pleasure curled through her body, battling her doubts and other emotions too strong for the moment. They rocked together, their bodies moving in perfect unison. As if they had always been lovers.

Lust and love. Twining and intertwining together, each pushing the other higher and hotter.

Love.

Yes, she loved him. The words threatened to tumble out of her throat, and she bit her lip. Hard. Tasted blood.

He eased her back onto the mattress, running a finger along her lip until her hold on it loosened. He devoured her mouth, plunged his tongue inside in time with every hard thrust of his cock.

Jaren broke the kiss, and his rhythm intensified. He nuzzled the side of her throat. Slipped his tongue along the rim of her ear. “I love the way you feel beneath me.”

He used that word so easily, for everything except her. If only he could love her the way she loved him. Taimi turned her head, fused her mouth with his once more to keep the treacherous words from escaping.

All control, all restraint, was lost in the white-hot waves sweeping over her body, and she cried out as she came apart in Jaren’s arms. His cock swelled, pushing against the walls of her sheath, pulsing hard in prelude to the spilling of his seed. The feel of him coming inside her sent her into another quick, hot spiral.

She stroked the breadth of his shoulders, felt tension knot the long, smooth lines of his back. He rested his forehead against hers, briefly. Then levered off her body. “You can’t mean it.”

“What?”

“The words you said. Just now.”

Her mind was still fuzzy from the recent release of emotions and sensations. “I-I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

“Forget it.” He rolled to the edge of the mattress. Sat up.

He reached for his shirt, and his long fingers trembled as he fastened the buttons. His sculpted lips were drawn into a straight line, the look in his eyes distant and troubled.

Nothing she said could have been serious enough to cause such a reaction. Could it?

She thought back. Forced her mind to focus.

No particular words came to mind.

She knew what she had been thinking. What she had been trying
not
to say. “I can’t forget it.” She touched his shoulder, felt the taut cords of muscle through the cloth give a sharp pull, as if he were about to jerk away from her touch, but something stopped his recoil at the last moment. “Tell me what’s wrong, Jaren. Please. Tell me what I did wrong.”

He stared at the rumpled sheets. At the distant wall. Everywhere but at her. “You can’t feel that way about me, Taimi. It’s impossible.”

She froze. Had she really said the words? Her voice barely scraped out of her throat, raw and hoarse. “What’s impossible?”

He still wouldn’t look at her. “You can’t love me.”

Heat flamed her face, but now that it was out in the open, she wasn’t going to hide from the way she felt. And she wasn’t going to let him hide either. “Shouldn’t I be the judge of that?”

He shook his head. “You don’t know—”

“I know what I feel. I’ve never felt like this for anyone else, but I know what it is.”

“You can’t.”

A cold denial. It hit her then, what it all meant.

When he said she couldn’t love him, what he was really saying was he couldn’t love her. Not like that.

Not the way she needed him to love her.

It was just sex. And now it was over.

“Oh.” She sagged against the bed and tears burned in her eyes. She’d half expected this somehow, but still…

Such foolish hopes and foolish dreams, all spun around this man. She’d thought having him buy her contract was a better fate than she deserved.

Now she knew—it was more curse than blessing, generating the greatest pain she had ever known.

He lifted one hand toward her face, then let it drop back to his side without touching her. “We need to get back to the ship.”

Taimi straightened her shoulders and fought back her tears. She was an old hand at hiding how she felt. No master or mistress she’d ever served had cared about her feelings. She could pretend he was just like them. And pretend her heart wasn’t breaking. That
she
didn’t care. “Yes, Captain.”

Chapter Ten

“Papers, please.”

Ethlinda handed over Benj’s ident card. The guard on duty examined it for an inordinately long time, and she resisted the urge to squirm. It would appear most unmasculine and would compromise her disguise.

She opted for bluster instead. Deliberately deepened her voice, though magic had changed it to match her altered sex. “Is there a problem?”

“Perhaps.”

A subtle wave of her hand, unseen by the guard, and Aric stepped forward. “I’ve worked with Benj for two years. I can absolutely vouch that he is who he says he is.”

Another pause. Finally, the guard returned the card, but not before giving Ethlinda another long, considering look. “Very well. You may board.”

A scathing response danced on the tip of her tongue, but this wasn’t the time or place. She looked at the name tag on the guard’s uniform. Memorized it. Filed it on a long list of those she intended to deal with again, sooner or later. The list started with her ex-husband, Captain Caradoc, and included the judge who’d presided over her criminal case. And the judge who’d finalized her divorce. Then there were many of her former “noble” friends…

She’d started the list during her first days in prison. A small consolation during those dark and dreary nights. Focusing on it helped her keep her sanity.

Careful. You’re not you right now
. She was on display and so many things needed to be perfect. The way she walked: an uncomfortable, masculine swagger. It worked with the body she wore but didn’t feel right. Felt almost indecent. She tried to remember other details from her meeting with Benj. Those small, insignificant gestures that were an integral part of expressing his identity.

A quick, surreptitious glance showed her extra vigilance might be unnecessary. No one else questioned her identity. The arrival of Aric and Benj, though rather late in the morning, wasn’t considered enough of an event for the rest of the crew to pay any real attention.