Hers to Choose (12 page)

Eric murmured as he stood, “I’m going to check on the men. Make sure they have something to eat
and are comfortable. Take your bath, then I’ll see you at dinner.”

She sat
eye-level with a prominent bulge that pulled at the lacing of his leather breeches and threatened to escape the belted waistband. A long slow exhale escaped her. She wet her lips and looked up. He regarded her for a moment, then with a low, husky laugh, shook his head. His smile confirmed her inner fear that she looked as befuddled as she felt.

Between her legs
, her feminine flesh felt swollen and slick, hot with need. She longed to rub her aching nipples. She could only manage a feeble wave as he turned and left. She slumped in her chair for long minutes, staring at the wall.

She wanted to run out the door
, mount her horse and flee. She wanted to run after him and beg him to come back.

A
female voice broke her out of her conflicted thoughts. “Mum? M’Lady?” A young woman stood in front of her.

She looked up and smiled. “Yes?”

“My name is Jillie, mum, and if you please, I’ll show you to your rooms.”

After climbing the stairs,
Jillie opened the door to a sparkling clean suite consisting of a large bedchamber and a small dressing area leading into a stone-tiled bathroom. A luxuriously deep tub brimful with scented water called to her.

Without thought
, Sophi stripped off her robes and stepped in, sinking down until all but her head was submerged. She groaned in pleasure.

The young girl
picked up Sophi’s filthy robes and holding them at the end of her outstretched arm, declared, “I’ll take these and have ’em laundered, m’Lady.” She pointed to a folded garment. “Mistress Turner said seeing as you don’t have luggage, you may have the use of her wrapper until we get your things clean, mum. ‘N we’ll bring dinner for you ‘n the gentleman to the room, m’Lady. You know, seeing as how you don’t have clothes ‘n all.”

“Thank you, Jillie. That will be lovely.” Sophi couldn’t be bothered to do more than smile at the young girl.

“Yes, mum.” Jillie bobbed up and down and left Sophi to her bath.

* * *

Jillie and Mistress Turner had just finished setting up a table in Sophi’s room with a dinner the like of which she hadn’t seen in weeks. This was a feast for a prince. A light rap and Eric’s “Sophi?” announced her dinner companion.

She opened the door and stood back as Eric walked in casually.
“All is settled in the stables. The horses and men will be ready to leave at…” His eyebrows rose as he took in her attire and with a slight choke and a cough he continued, “…at first light.”

“It’s Mistress Turner’s. I know
. I resemble an enormous feather pillow cinched in the middle but it is clean,” she said helplessly.

His slow smile turned to a grin
, then to a chuckle and then to infectious laughter. She chuckled in response.

Eric surveyed the sumptuous table and threw over his shoulder,
“You don’t look ridiculous, Sophi. You look like a small child playing dress-up.”

She shrugged and moved to the chair Eric
held away from the table for her. With a smile up at him, she allowed him to seat her. “You are slowly replacing
Flight Leader
DeLorion with Lady DeLorion, Commander.”

“
Never that. Sophi, to me you will always be the
flight leader
who saved my life and that of my men, and Lady Sophillia Gloriana DeLorion—who is going to drag her sleeves through the gravy unless she lets me roll them up.”

With a gurgle of laughter, she hel
d out an arm for his attention. She never realized the inner arm could be an erogenous zone.

By the time he
finished rolling one sleeve to her elbow, her heart thundered in her chest and her breath had quickened.

His solemn,
intent concentration as he methodically cuffed her long sleeves to bare her forearms suggested he thought of baring other parts as well. Between his heavy-lidded glances and the slow, deliberate caresses on her inner arm, she was ready to melt into her seat.

By the Goddess, the man
destroys my composure with the slightest of gestures.

With a slow, wicked smile, he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. Releasing it gently
, he sat across from her.

Silence reigned as they helped themselves to food.
She supposed she got most of what she took from the platters onto her plate. The table itself remained a mystery to her as her eyes seemed unable to leave his.

Sophi
thought of the many weighty questions she wanted answers to. She pushed them all firmly to the back of her brain.

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

Eric paused, dangling a bit of meat from his fork, dribbling gravy onto his plate. “Yes, a younger brother and an older sister.” Laughing, Eric began to regale her with the mischievous deeds of his childhood. His youthful antics entertained her tremendously. The blatant admiration and desire in his eyes rekindled the fire he had lit earlier in the public rooms. Their conversation flowed throughout the meal and it was with surprise that Sophi looked down and realized the opulent spread of edibles had turned to disordered remains.

Eric
shoved his chair back and stood. “An excellent dinner. I am making an early night of it.”

His warm
green eyes caressed her face as if memorizing each feature as he slowly moved toward the door.

Pushing her own chair away from the table, Sophi crossed to the door and opened it
for him. He looked down at her for a long, silent moment, hand on the frame. She could not mistake the message in his look.
He wants me.
She felt confused, unsettled, as if she needed a spell to open a magic door to unknown treasure.

Eric
leaned over and whispered in her ear. “It won’t be locked, Sophi.”

Straightening, he turned and left.

She watched as he crossed the hall and entered his room without a backward glance. As if in a dream, she closed the door, crossed to her bed and sat. Her heart pounded. Her hands trembled. Her stomach threatened to cast up her lovely dinner. She flushed then chilled.

He had left the decision to her.
Four steps. So impossibly far. After all their hardships, after he almost died for her, after the night she spent resting in his arms—could she make her feet take the four steps that would carry her to his door? Conflicting feelings churned within her. With the exception of that one night at Silver Grove garrison, she had never sought sex. Walking through his door admitted too much need, required too much trust, opened up too much vulnerability. The fear she felt at the thought of merely opening her bedroom door left her profoundly shaken.

Silent
tears of frustration trickled down her cheeks. Curling her hands into fists, she pounded the bedding.
No! No! No! I won’t be that pathetic creature. I am NOT that woman. I want him. I desire him. For the first time in my life, I desire. I want to know what normal women feel.

She pushed herself upright and swiped angrily at her tears. She stormed into the bathroom, ran cold water into the sink and splashed her face.

Before she could change her mind, she walked to her door, opened it and crossed the hall. She walked through his door, closed it behind her and then melted into it for support. Now that she was here, her courage deserted her. He stood with his back to her, nude, the covers on the big bed turned down.
By the Goddess, he is beautiful.
He turned slowly, completely at ease. His eyes studied her. His intent gaze missed nothing—not her trembling body—not her hands drawn into tight fists—not her eyes red from crying—nothing.

“My brave Sophi.”
He opened his arms. “Come to me, sweetling.”

She
ran to him.

She
clutched him in a hug that would have been a death grip for a smaller man.

“Make me not afraid, Eric.
”

E
ric swept her up, sat them on the bed and held her. She leaned back and looked up at his elegant face.

“Do you want this, Sophi?” He gazed at her
so intently she thought his eyes alone would drag the answer from her soul. She nodded -- barely.

A t
ight smile tipped his lips. “Perhaps I asked the wrong question. Do you want
me
?”

She nodded.
Voicing a simple “yes” was beyond her power.

He picked her up and stood, setting her on her feet.
Again, she was struck with his ease at being nude. It disarmed her and she relaxed as well.

“I will not make love to a mute, Sophi. Talk to me.” Eric eyed her up and down. “But first—that so-called wrapper has all the charm of a campaign tent. Take it off.”

Shyly, she
unwound the sash and let the voluminous garment fall, baring her to his sight. The look in his eyes warmed her, brought heat to all her feminine places.

He pointed at the bed and with a
playful spank to her butt, ordered, “Into the bed with you, woman.” With a yelp, she leaped forward and sprawled onto the bed, face-down.

“What are you doing?
” She eyed him incredulously over her shoulder. “You spanked me!”

With a grin and a raised eyebrow he asked, “Did you like it?” Seeing her expression
, he sobered. “Sophi, love. Sex is not a life or death experience. Normally, it is mindless pleasure and play and romping and being silly. There is no room in my bed for solemn sacrifice. If you desire martyrdom in sex, you have the wrong man.”

He stood relaxed, his hands on his hips while she thought his words over.

“I would like to know mindless pleasure.”

With a chuckle
, he instructed, “Then move over.”

She scooted over and he lay down next to her
, his head propped on his elbow.

“Here are my rules, Sophi.” He
smiled as her eyebrows rose. “No silence. You speak. No retreating into your mind. I want you here, present in this bed, with me, in this moment—not on some battle cruiser in some distant star cluster in the past or with some previous partner. When I ask you a question, answer me.”

“
Yes, sir, Commander, sir!” She softened her answer with a smile.

“Damn straight,” he growled
, then grinned playfully. “And my second rule. You may do anything you want to me. I like it all. You may ask for whatever you want. I have absolutely no shame.”

“I wouldn’t even begin to know what to ask for,” Sophi said and watched Eric’s smile broaden.

“I am going to have so much fun with you. We will start with the basics.” He flopped on his back and crossed his arms behind his head, his legs stretched out in a sprawl. “Touch me.”

Oh!
“Where?”

Her tentative question brought a masculine chuckle
. A raised eyebrow suggested the answer.
Where do you think?
His eyes held hers in an invitation to play. “Start at my toes and work your way to my nose.”

“Your toes? Stroking your toes arouses you?”

“Don’t sound so incredulous. As horny as I am, you could arouse me by clipping my fingernails.”

S
he couldn’t hold back her amused scoff, but she crawled down to the foot of the bed and positioned herself between his outstretched legs. “As you ordered, Commander, I am starting with your toes.”

Slowly she began to rel
ax and enjoy just touching him. The feeling of erotic power that resulted from her control over his pleasure surprised her. As her caresses lingered on his inner thighs, his penis swelled, pointing rigidly toward his navel. The heavy blue veins running up its length rose, engorged with blood. A small pearl of clear fluid escaped the eye of his cock and balanced in a perfect tear drop. Her eyes returned to that evidence of his arousal again and again, waiting for it to fall.

Throughout, Eric
engaged her, making her laugh. More than an hour elapsed and she realized she had not once thought of what the Haarb had done to her, and she was the furthest thing from frightened. Rather, she ached between her legs, her feminine parts swollen and slick. When she touched him, frissons of sparkling pleasure cascaded down her spine straight to her clit.

“Eric, your body’s a thing of beauty. You are like a beautifully made bow.
” She ran her hands in a caress over his cleanly muscled thighs, dipping her thumbs into the crease where they met his groin. “Deadly utility disguised as glorious art.”

“Sophi,” he groaned. “
A bow? How about a golden god of manly parts or a bronzed warrior of studly proportions?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her in question.

She snorted
, then cast a mischievous look at him, caught her lower lip in her teeth and very deliberately ran her finger, centerline, from the base of his cock up to the tip. There she dabbled a fingertip delicately in the wetness that ran from the eye of his penis and traced a circle where his cockhead flared out.

“Goddess, Sophi! Have a care!”

She laughed as his heavy staff jerked against his stomach several times. “Your ‘manly part’ likes me.”

“
Hell’s breath, woman—that was never in question. You may become better acquainted later, My upper half begs touching. My nipples are as sensitive as yours.”

“Mmm, with pleasure.” She scooted up and started to reach for him.

“That is awkward for you. Sit astride my lap, you can reach me more easily.”

Her eyebrows raised and she glanced at the pink skin of his newly healed wound. “You will tell me if I hurt you.”

A wicked expression crossed Eric’s face. “I have not thought of it once.”

Spreading herself as if to mount a horse, she straddled his groin,
trapping his engorged cock along the valley of her aching heat. As she leaned forward to stroke his chest, his rigid organ worked between her slickness, rubbing her intensely sensitive flesh. Its flared head caught a particularly sensitive spot. “Oh! Eric! Oh, yes. That was nice!”

“Hmm, thought you might like that.” Eric
grinned at her. “I certainly do. You are very wet, and slick, Sophi. Slide your pussy back and forth. Roll your hips and ride me like I
am
your horse.”

Her face flamed at his blunt
ness but she felt freed to respond in kind.

“You mean like this?
At the gallop?” She held his green eyes framed by those outrageous lashes as she pumped her pelvis forward and back as if urging a horse to greater speed. “Shall I put you to the whip?”

At the flare of his eyelids and his choked, “By the gods, Sophi!”
She tossed her head back and laughed at the sheer elation that filled her.

“Stop, love, you’ll have me off if you keep that up.” Eric had her firmly by the hips,
forcing her to slow and shorten her strokes.

“Would you mind?”
Sophi asked.

He shook his head
, not understanding her meaning.

“
I want to make you come like this. I want to watch you. I want to watch you knowing that
I
gave you this pleasure. Please, Eric, I can’t fully explain it but I would find it very—gratifying.”

Eric’s
eyes examined her face and his mouth crooked in a lopsided grin. “
Flight Leader
DeLorion, prepare to advance. At the gallop.” His hands fell away from her hips. “Charge!” he ordered.

With a joyous laugh, Sophi rolled her slick heat firmly against the length of his hard cock,
back and forth and back and forth. She leaned forward and twisted his left nipple between her fingers. Eric reacted immediately “Hell’s breath, I knew it wouldn’t take much.”

With a curse, he threw his head back and bowed up underneath her
. She could feel the jump of his cock between her slick folds as he came in forceful spurts on his chest and stomach. Her soul reveled in the pleasured abandonment on Eric’s face.

She
lost herself to joy. She had offered him the gift of ecstasy and he had accepted it in full measure, baring himself to her at his most vulnerable. She gave him a fleeting moment of sublime pleasure. He removed a lifetime of weight she did not even know she carried.

H
e shuddered underneath her, then opened his eyes, regarding her warmly. “Goddess, I needed that.
That
is how to lead a charge.”

Grabbing at the linens, he swiped at his chest.
Gripping her waist, he lifted her off and bounced her to her back. She squeaked in surprise as he flipped over to kneel between her outstretched legs. “What are you doing?”

“
You found no satisfaction. As you rendered my saber useless, I must resort to other weapons.” With a grin, he flopped down onto his stomach and started to trace a path with a wandering finger up her inner thigh. “So soft. You are like brushed satin here.”

She propped up on her elbows and watched, amused at his expression of
innocent fascination. “Surely you have felt many thighs.”

“No. Yours is the first.” His boyish innocence
made her laugh and then his wicked grin made a lie of his words.

He rested his head on her
leg and watched his fingers play across her folds. “You are bare.” He leaned in and placed a slow kiss at the apex of her tender flesh. “How lovely.”

A small frown crossed her face. “The Haarb did something to me. I don’t grow hair there anymore.”

“Forget about them.” With a wicked glance at her, he ran the tip of his tongue around her clit.

“Gods
. Do that again,” she said.

He did.
Several times.

With a long moan of enjoyment,
she hung her head back and reveled in the exquisite, sparkling sensations that accompanied the warm, gentle swirls of his talented tongue. His unabashed enjoyment allowed her to let go of any reticence, any shyness she might have felt at his intimate position.
By Her light, the man knows what he’s about.

Nuzzling in further,
Eric sucked her tender clit into his mouth. The continuous suction of his lips and swirls of his tongue passing over those engorged nerves forced inexorable pleasure on her. Incoherent cries escaped to fill the chamber.
That sound is me!
She collapsed back on the pillows, her hips writhing, ungovernably. His silky hair filled her hands as she pressed him into that center of her delight. He killed her with a suckling tongue and mobile lips, circling and circling with delicate precision on her tender clit until she detonated in incandescent fire. With a carnal scream she did not recognize as hers, he sent her over. Explosions of brilliant pleasure rendered her incapable of thought or movement. She lay there, destroyed, quiet aftershocks shuddering through her. Silence settled into the room.

“
Mind letting go of my hair, Sophi?” His muffled voice vibrated against her pubic bone.

“Oh!” She released her fists still
violently clenched in his hair. He raised his head, laughter gleaming in his eyes. He passed his face along her inner thighs and wiped her glistening fluids from his mouth and chin.

R
ising up, he pulled her underneath him until she was inches from his face. He examined her intently, his expression a mixture of satisfaction and something else she couldn’t grasp. His finger traced her eyebrows and he placed a kiss on the end of her nose.

“I’ve only started with you. But, I think for
the moment, my brave Sophi, that much is enough.”

She couldn’t stop the tears welling in her eyes.
This evening had changed her life. This man had changed her life. “You make me bold, Eric.”

She swiped at her tears with her hand and Mother Lyre’s words came back to her.
“When the right man comes into your life, your fear will vanish like mist in the morning sun.”

He rolled over, plumping the pillows and holding out his arm in invitation.
“Stay the night with me, Sophi.”

“Yes.”
She snuggled next to him, fitting her head on his chest, her arm across his abdomen.
We fit together perfectly.

* * *

A soft rap on the door the next morning nudged her from sleep. She snuggled further into Eric’s warmth, unwilling to surrender the blissful comfort of his body.

“
Magistra
? M’Lady? Umm, Sir?
Magister
?” The soft rap sounded again.

Eric’s long groan and muttered oath set her to laughing softly. “You’re awake, good. See to the door,
warrior woman,” he said.

“
Unnuuh. You go,
Magister
Bronzed God of Manly Proportions.” She prodded him gently.

With a scoff, he extricated himself from t
he intertwined bedding. Grabbing a towel from the floor, he wrapped it around himself and opened the door.