Earth Borne (12 page)

His wife slept in his arms while he headed home. When would she stop surprising him? First Lucian, and now, his people. She cared for everyone. Her selflessness was both astounding and bewildering.

He’d never placed others’ needs so far ahead of his own. His shoulders straightened, his lungs expanded with pride and admiration for the woman in his arms. He didn’t deserve her. No matter what other secrets she hid, this female was his.

From this moment on, he vowed to be the husband she deserved.

Thereus exited the Portal and hesitated. One of Kalliste’s other maids waited, waving for him to bring his wife to her chamber. He ought to hand her to her maidservant. She would know what to do. Truthfully, he knew nothing of caring for others.

Cursing, he shifted his hooves. He didn’t want to leave her; he couldn’t leave her. His arms would feel empty if he didn’t hold her, all night, well, all day long.

Her maid lifted a brow at him, waiting for him to comply.

His horse reared and refused. On that decisive note, he shook his head at the maid. “No, Lady Kalliste will stay in my quarters tonight. Have hot water, tea, and food brought.” He glared at her, daring her to defy him.

“Yes, right away, milord.” She curtseyed and scampered off.

He bit back the triumph buoying his chest. What he got away with while Kalliste was
un
conscious was one thing. When she awoke, it would be another.

Once in his rooms, he gently set her on the bed and paused. What was he supposed to do with her? A knock rapped at the door and he barked the order for the servants to enter.

After they scurried off, he squinted at the washbasin, full of hot water, and back at his mate. Well, she was very dirty. He ought to clean her. What he longed to do was wake her, throw her into the bath and ravage her, but that was out of the question. For now.

Thereus grabbed a cloth, dipped it in the soapy water, and washed her hands, arms, and face. Her dress was filthy too. A little too eagerly, his fingers stripped off her soiled clothing. He had plenty of experience undressing women, so the tiny buttons and lace ties didn’t deter him.

“Corsets,” he grunted as his fingers set to work loosening the garment. He slipped off her boots and skimmed along her stockings, dipping beneath her petticoats and untying them. His greedy fingers grazed her flesh, a thousand times softer than her silky stockings. Her scent watered his mouth, her taste close enough for him to sample. He groaned while he rolled the stockings down, baring her legs. “Bloody unconscious wench.” He shook himself. Just because she was his wife did not mean
she
would consent to hungry admiration.

As he uncovered her, a violent shiver trembled through her body. He tossed a blanket over her. With the propriety of a surgeon’s hands, he slipped off the remainder of her garments. He’d view her nude soon enough, and she’d
watch
his fervent praise.

Centaurs possessed tremendous body heat, so he stripped his clothes. Switching to human form, he stretched out under the blankets with her. Instantly, her shivering ceased, and despite his attempt to keep their bodies apart, she wrapped her arms around his waist. Her skin was deliciously silken against his. Her soft curves complemented his hard muscles. The agony of her pressed against him like this was blissful torment. His breaths grew labored as he gripped her, clasping her face against his chest. His heavy erection had nowhere to hide, so he let it rest on her hip. Sweat beaded his forehead. He forced himself not to slide his cock between her thighs.

Never had he been in such agony, never had he craved a female more. Thereus didn’t desire only her body, he wanted Kalliste, all of her. He yearned to possess her very soul.

His horse roared and his bonding mark enflamed, searing his arm, the pain nigh intolerable. Thereus gritted his teeth against the coming waves of misery. If he didn’t act to ease himself soon, he’d become crazed.

It’d already been too long since he’d last bedded a woman…
Her.
It was too soon to take Kalliste. He refused to pressure or frighten her. Even if she were willing, he must win over her heart before he claimed her body.

Now he possessed the knowledge that she was a nymph, it changed everything.

Nymphs.
Hmm.
She was incapable of denying him. How in the bloody hell had she managed it during their short marriage? Clearly, his wife had formulated a grand scheme. Kalliste had readily agreed to consummate their marriage, but she’d not fancied a second taste.

He stroked her hair away from her face and peered at her as she nuzzled against him in peaceful slumber.

Had her affections since changed? He prayed each of the times she’d melted in his arms had been because she’d hungered for him. Not because this nymph been unable to deny him.

The notion of her rejection caused him to flinch. She was the only woman who’d ever refused his advances. Here she was, the sole woman he couldn’t resist.

She wasn’t going to be like the other women he’d claimed. He didn’t crave her just once. No. A grin tugged at his lips. He’d keep her in his bed for a week, at least. His shaft throbbed anew. Thoughts like those would make this one hell of a long night.

She shifted, her hip inadvertently rubbing against his length. He had to take care of it. She wasn’t ready to awaken to
that
. Not yet.

Thereus maneuvered Kalliste around in his arms and clasped his cock in his hand, intending to give it a quick release.

Chapter 12

The most delicious warmth surrounded her and the heavy scent of male tantalized her nose. Melita lifted her lashes. Firm pectoral muscles came into focus as she blinked. Her perusal slid over a mountainous terrain of smooth brawny flesh, dips and peaks her tongue yearned to explore. Downward, she feasted with greed, until rugged masculine fingers obscured her destination.

Instantly, her sleepy eyes were on alert, widening to drink in more of the erotic scene before her. She suppressed a gasp and managed to remain still.

Thereus rested beside her, turned toward her but on his back. His long, muscular body stretched out in the bed. His long, muscular,
nude
body.

In his large, powerful hand was another large, powerful part of his body. Magnificent, oh yes, indeed he was. His skilled fingers grasped his rigid shaft and pumped up and down in deliciously sensuous strokes.

Her focus shot to his face. His lips were pressed tight, his eyes closed and brows drawn together.

Her body swelled in response to the temptation of Thereus, warmth and moisture welling between her thighs. Thighs as bare as Thereus’s. Her heart gave a rapid series of thumps. Lusty centaur, he’d undressed her.

In recollection of his caress, her blood rushed through her body, her skin tingling in awareness. Her fingers curled into her palms, aching to be the ones touching him. His body was built for pure, raw pleasure. The nymph in her awakened, and longings she’d long suppressed suddenly became unbearable.

She wet her lips and his thick lashes lifted to reveal incendiary gemstones.

His eyes were hooded, not a trace of censure or embarrassment that she’d spied on him. No, he was a creature of passion, a god of carnality. He’d never apologize for his sensual nature. In his gaze, only hunger burned.

His lust blasted through her like a sand storm in the desert. Hot. Painful.

Melita’s nymph instincts consumed her. Desire surged throughout. With Thereus, a fire blazed in her no man except him had ever been able to ignite. Holding his stare, she brushed her fingers across his. He whistled low and his hand dropped to his hip.

She tucked the blanket around her body and shifted onto her knees to use her hands on him. Indeed, he was so large she’d need both.

Her gaze didn’t break contact with his as she bent forward and ran the tip of her tongue along his shaft. He hissed, throwing his head back as pleasure spiked through him. An indulgence she augmented in the way only a nymph could. Her mind seized onto the erotic waves radiating from him and drove them back.

She planned on giving him pleasure such as he’d never experienced.

Here with him, her every sense was of Thereus, of his strong body, the smooth silk of his hardness in her hands and mouth.

As she nibbled the tip of him, he tangled his fingers in her hair and guided her head to take him in her mouth, but she had her own ideas. She heightened his arousal to a point she was certain he’d never experienced. He released her, his hand dropping crippled to his side. Helpless to do anything other than submit to her seductive torture.

She alternated between stroking and sucking him, licking his dark taste. She cupped his heavy sac in one hand, the rigid steel of his length in her other. Each time she detected him on the verge of release, she withdrew, prolonging this wicked bliss.

Melita was about to explode too. Never before had fire this hot burned in her blood. Succumbing to her nymph impulses, she couldn’t get enough of him, this male she craved like no other. What he asked, she would give. No fight, no denial would ever rise in her. He alone made her weak.

Just as she burned beneath his passion, the compulsion to ease it consumed her senses. As much from her longings as from her nymph nature. He arched his spine against the mattress. A sheen of perspiration made his body glisten like one of the gods. His groans grew to fill the chamber, so she permitted him the release he craved. His thick, perfect shaft shot out his seed, and he roared in ecstasy. The sweetest sound she’d ever heard.

She wrung out the last ecstasy from him and sighed against his hip. With a low growl, he flipped her onto her back and pinned her beneath him, his lips hot and demanding on hers.

What could he possibly want? The muscles in his body trembled from his release. She squeaked in protest as his kisses seared her skin, his lips and hands everywhere at once.

“Oh no, nymph, I always reciprocate,” he purred in her ear, his voice husky and oh so deep with masculine control. He wrenched aside the sheet she’d tucked around her body. She was completely nude, in front of a male, for the first time in her life. Melita squirmed and winced as her wriggling served to slide her nude flesh against his.

She’d had a child, had nursed him, and she carried the scars of her pregnancy. He would be appalled if he saw her. She shoved him off and threw the sheet over her body to hide it. “Oh, no thank you.” She refused his offer of… Well, she didn’t actually know what.

***

A deep red flushed her cheeks from more than their intimacy. Kalliste huddled on the corner of the bed, the blanket gathered around her ears. Why was she suddenly shy? After the sensuous torment she’d made him endure? Where had the goddess of love who’d pleasured him beyond ecstasy gone? She blushed like a shy maiden who’d never been with a man. No, it couldn’t be.

“Kalliste, haven’t you had any lovers these past years?” Surely she had, for she’d fondled him with an expertise no virgin possessed.

The deep scarlet in her cheeks drained to a pale cream at his question, and again he sniffed the acrid stench of fear on her. He didn’t like it, not one bit. His precious female should never be afraid of him.

“I, ah.” She fumbled with the blankets, staring at her hands. “No.”

He clenched his fists, knuckles turning white. How? Had he been wrong? Kalliste was so very desirable.

Thereus snapped at the hope floating inside him. No, she must’ve had thousands of suitors.
Someone
taught her those tricks. Her nymph nature alone wouldn’t be enough.

Guilt surged anew, its acid punching holes in his gut. He should have been here, should have been the one to do so.

He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. Bloody ridiculous. Yet, perhaps, she did speak the truth. Perhaps he should as well.

“I have, Kalliste. I was unfaithful to you.” He cleared the thick lump of shame lodging his throat. “Though you might hear otherwise, ’twas only once.
She
was the reason I left.” He cleared his throat. “You were right. You do deserve an explanation, and—”

“I know.” Her gaze flicked to his before returning to the blanket. “I don’t blame you. I forgive you. Please don’t—” She clamped her teeth on her bottom lip.

He frowned. Bloody odd. Rightfully, she should be furious. Hurt. Yet, she’d forgiven him? How had she known about the woman?

“Thank you.” His words hung, a murky fog in the awkward air between them. Pausing, he waited for her to admit her guilt as well. He would forgive her. They would begin anew.

Her lips remained pressed tight, her swallow audible.

Sweet gods, it wasn’t true, was it?

Kalliste inhaled sharply. “Thereus, I’ve never known another.” The sincerity in her tone punched him in the gut, knocking the wind from his lungs.

His nose tingled as he sniffed in the sweet, floral scent of truth. “In all this time, you’ve not had any male court you.” He wasn’t sure if it was a question or an utterance of disbelief.

Her breathing hitched. “There has never been anyone but you.”

Whether she’d been tempted by another or not, the truth stood. She’d never acted upon it. Not like him.