Highest Bidder: 1 (Mercy) (6 page)

The sound of his name finally bursting past her lips shattered his control. He’d never heard the syllables sound so honest and rich with pleasure.

Hauling backward, he staggered to his feet, heart hammering, blood on fire.

Stare fixed on Naya’s, he tore his trousers open.

His cock sprang free. Thick, swollen and so stiff, pain lanced through his balls.

Naya’s eyes widened. She sucked in a sharp breath, her gaze locking on his engorged organ. Fear flashed through her eyes. Fear followed by excitement.

Slowly he released his gun holster and let it drop to the floor. Silently he undressed, every molecule in his body burning with longing, until—completely naked—he stepped back to the bed.

Naya gazed up at him, and again that shimmer of fear and excitement ignited in her eyes. She slid backward, bringing herself into a semi-sitting position, knees bent, elbows braced.

“Tell me what you want me to do, Naya,” he growled, fighting with the overwhelming need to climb onto the mattress, shove her knees wide and bury himself to the balls in her sweet, wet sex. “Tell me what you want me to do, and by the gods, I will do it.” He swallowed, his cock a throbbing shaft of fire, his balls twin worlds of agony. “I want to fuck you so much my entire body aches, but I’ll do whatever you tell me to, even if you tell me to leave.”

She looked at him, motionless save for the slight rise and fall of her chest. Her eyes enigmatic. Unreadable.

Dreylan’s throat squeezed tight.
Gods, Naya. Don’t tell me to leave
…

“I don’t want the dream, Dreylan Tarq,” she finally said, voice soft yet strong with conviction. “I want the reality. I want you to claim me and make me yours. In every sense of the word.”

She felt on fire. Nothing in her life—the monks’ coy guidance, Taipyr’s crude assault, not even the wonderfully explicit dreams of sex with Dreylan—had prepared her for this. For actuality.

Naya stared at him as he climbed onto the end of the bed. His cock jutted out from a nest of black hair to rise past the sculpted flatness of his belly, a thick, meaty shaft pointing to the heavens. A bead of glistening liquid anointed its swollen head, reflecting the dim light of the room like a tiny jewel. Naya swallowed, fear flooding through her. Gods, could she really take him all in?

“It will hurt.”

Dreylan’s husky whisper lifted her stare from his cock. He looked down at her, piercing blue eyes telling her something she could not yet understand.

“It
will
hurt,” he whispered again, not moving. “But only for a moment, I promise. And I will do everything to make that small moment as pleasurable as possible.”

Hesitant, her mind still trying to comprehend the massive size of Dreylan’s shaft, Naya moved to her knees, inching closer to him on the bed. She dropped her gaze to his engorged organ again. A ripple shot through her body. A ripple of excitement. Making her untested sex contract.

Oh gods. I want this. I truly want this
. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath before returning her attention to Dreylan’s face.

He watched her. Waiting.

I will not do anything you don’t want me to, Naya.

His words. His
word
. Everything that was to come would only happen because she wanted it.

She swallowed again, the pounding of her heart growing louder with each second. Pulling in a deep breath, she met Dreylan’s intense stare…

And took his cock in her hand.

Hot. It felt hot. As it had in her dreams. But oh, so much thicker. And alive. She ran her thumb over the velvety smoothness of its bulbous head, a wanton thrill twisting her sex as she encountered the tiny bead of pre-cum on the tip.

A swift intake of breath lifted her gaze from Dreylan’s cock. He stared down at her, eyes ablaze. The muscles of his jaw bunched, his nostrils flared. And still he stood motionless. Waiting for her next move.

Naya returned her attention to the solid shaft in her hand, letting her fingers slip up and down its venous length. She traced the distended edge of the cock head with her fingertips. She’d never seen a man’s cock before, not one unadorned by clothing, but she knew the one she now held in her hand was impressive. It filled her palm and stretched her fingers.

How much will it stretch your sex?

Her pussy constricted and a soft whimper escaped her lips. Gods, she wanted to feel it inside her. The idea scared her beyond thought, but excited her even more. She wanted to feel it pound into her, a piston of steel propelling her toward a release she’d only ever dreamed possible. Mouth dry, pulse rapid, she smoothed her fisted hand down its length, imagining it sliding into her wet, untried sex.

Dreylan sucked in another breath.

The heat in her belly curled, stabbing lower. Her nipples pinched. She took Dreylan’s sac into her hand. Another ripple of lascivious hunger coursed through her at its heavy weight. She moved her fingers over the twin globes, reveling in the silken hair covering them. A tickle of something bold made her slide her middle finger along the smooth stretch of skin behind his sac until it encountered the puckered opening of his anus.

A shudder rocked Dreylan’s body and his balls rose up. “Gods,” he ground out.

She had no delusions Dreylan Tarq was as innocent as she, yet her very touch seemed to drive him closer to losing control. The thought turned her already heated blood to molten excitement.

Returning her fingers to his shaft, she slid them back up its turgid length. A new bead of moisture oozed from the tiny slit in the head and Naya’s mouth suddenly filled with saliva. She wanted to taste him. Just as he’d tasted her. Without hesitation, she dropped her head and touched the tip of her tongue to the glistening drop.

Salty.
And
sweet.

Dreylan’s hips bucked forward once. Savage. Wild. She heard him moan, the sound drawn out and low. Felt a tremble claim his control. She liked it, his response. It was empowering. Powerful.

Before the tremble left him, before he could regain control, she reached out with her other hand and gripped his ass. Holding him still, she parted her lips and took his cock into her mouth, slowly, slowly lowering down his shaft until his cock head nudged the back of her throat and she could take no more.

“Oh fuck!”

The words shattered the air like an eruption. Dreylan’s hips flew forward, pumping his cock deeper into her mouth. She gagged, and then it was as if two pieces of a puzzle came together. She massaged his cock with her tongue and sucked.

“Gods, Naya. If you don’t stop…”

The statement ended with a strangled groan and another wild thrust of Dreylan’s hips. He tangled his fists in her hair and, before she could react, pulled his cock from her mouth, forcing her head back to stare into her face.

“That is not where I want to spill my seed, Naya,” he stated through clenched teeth. “Not the first time with you.” His nostrils flared as he dragged in a sharp breath. “But if that’s what you want…”

Naya’s heart hammered. Even to her untrained eyes she could see the pure and elemental desire in his smoldering stare. She gave him a soft smile and straightened. “I want you inside me.” She leaned forward and pressed her lips softly to his. “Now.”

His answering growl sent a shiver over her flesh a second before he flattened her back onto the mattress and covered her body with his.

His cock stabbed at her swollen folds, nudging her clitoris. He gazed down at her, sweat slicking his forehead, nostrils flaring. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Naya Kistari.”

She smiled at him, curling her arms around his neck and spreading her legs wider, ready to take him—all of him—inside her. “No, Dreylan,” she whispered, warmth and happiness and pleasure roaring through her, emotions so new she could barely breathe. “I am going to
become
everything you’ve ever wanted. Completely and utterly.”

She arched her back, pressing her pussy forward.

And felt him pull back. Away from her.

He stared at her, eyes wide, horror and pain clear on his face. He shook his head, pushing at the mattress with his palms, creating more space between them. “Gods, I can’t.”

The words cut into Naya, a blade straight through her soul.

“I can’t,” he said again, voice tight. “Naya, you are New Earth’s one chance at survival. The Galactic Union may be led by a corrupt fucker who I want dead more than sanity should allow, but inclusion in the GU will protect the planet and its vulnerable people. New Earth is seen as an untapped resource ripe for the taking and the GU will save it, not just from internal strife but from a brutal, savage invasion.” He shook his head, the pain in his eyes turning to agony with each word he spoke. “I can’t put my desires ahead of a whole planet. No matter how much I want to.”

She frowned at him, an icy numbness spreading through her. “I don’t understand. You bought me. You own me. I’m yours to do with what you will…aren’t I?”

Untainted desire shimmered in his intense stare. His heart hammered against her breast, his hard cock nudged her sodden sex. “I was
sent
to buy you, Naya. On orders from your future husband, the GU Premier. You are not mine.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, his nostrils flaring. “
Shit
. What was I thinking? One touch of your lips and I forget everything but your sweetness.” He opened his eyes and let out a ragged breath, the exhalation somehow angry and sad at once. “I was a GU peace-keeper, Naya. Every minute of my life was spent protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves.” He shook his head again, a lost expression softening the anger on his face. “I may not be a peace-keeper anymore, I may despise every molecule of Ipari’s corrupt body, but that doesn’t mean I would destroy the one chance a desperate world has for survival.”

Naya’s throat slammed shut. She couldn’t breathe. Her lungs felt brittle, her mouth dry. Yet her body still burned, and her heart wanted that burn to continue. “You said you would do anything I wanted.” She slid her hands up his arms and fisted them in his hair, holding him still, refusing to let him go. “You said, ‘Tell me what you want me to do, and by the gods, I will do it’.”

She pulled his hair, forcing his face closer to hers. “I want you to enter me, Dreylan. I want you to make love to me. We will deal with New Earth and the Galactic Union and Premier Ipari later, but you promised you would do what I asked, and I’m asking
you
to claim me.”

She stared into his eyes, every fiber of her being wanting him to take possession of her—body
and
soul.

“Please, Dreylan,” she whispered. “I want the first man to make love to me to be the man of my dreams.” He remained silent, eyes unreadable, muscles like sculpted rock pressed against her body. “Please.”

His gaze locked on hers, his hips pushed forward. His shaft pressed harder against the folds of her sex.

Slowly, slowly, oh so wonderfully slowly, he penetrated her with his cock.

A blistering burn seared through her sex.
Oh gods! It hurts.

She cried out, arching her body in an attempt to escape the stinging pain…and felt Dreylan’s rough thumb slide against her clitoris.

Immediately and completely, pleasure beyond comprehension rolled through her, as though a jolt of liquid heat had surged through her being. She cried out again, this time with primitive and pure bliss. “Oh gods.”

She bucked, and another surge of pleasure tore through her as the swollen nub of her clit ground against Dreylan’s thumb.

“I will stop,” he said, worry fighting with passion in his eyes. “Just tell me and I—”

“No.” Naya gasped, pushing her hips to his. “No.”

Nostrils flaring, Dreylan eased himself into her folds. A burning sensation painted the stretching lips of her sex as he sank deeper, the fire licking into her core and up her spine. She hissed in a breath, the pain lessening with every passing moment.

Had she thought what Dreylan did with his tongue pleasurable?

This
was pleasure. Absolute.

He moved within her, settling his lower body between her thighs and undulating with slow, gentle thrusts. It drove Naya wild. With every penetration, every deep stroke, his cock possessed her completely.

And still he kept his stare on hers, his ragged breaths the only sign their union affected him as much as it did her.

Tight heat squeezed Naya’s heart and a pure happiness she’d never believed possible warmed her soul. Every minute movement Dreylan made was to bring her pleasure. Of that, she had no doubt. Every microsecond was for her. He worshipped her in a way more deeply than the monks ever could.

He worshipped her because he wanted—

Me.

The word slipped through Naya’s head, followed immediately by the complex notion it defined.
Me.

A beat thumped in Naya’s chest and her eyes widened.

She was still
her.

She hadn’t changed.

Penile penetration had occurred and yet she hadn’t changed. She should be
everything
Dreylan Tarq wanted in a mate. Her psychological, philosophical, emotional id should now be that of his ideal mate’s—but she was still herself.

And if nothing had changed, then wasn’t that proof that her true self, her
pure
self, was everything Dreylan desired? Nothing different. Nothing else.

Nothing more.

A heavy pressure folded around her heart and she bit back a choked sob. Gods, she hadn’t changed.

“Naya?” Dreylan’s gentle thrusts grew still and he placed his palms on either side of her face, studying her with growing concern. “Shit. I’m sorry, my love. I’m trying so hard not to hurt you.”

A bubble of sheer happiness enveloped her. She shook her head, lifting her hips to take his massive cock deeper into her sex, reveling in the exquisite wave of pleasure consuming her. “You’re not hurting me.” She pulled his head down and brushed his lips with hers. “It feels wonderful.
I
feel wonderful.”

And to show him how wonderful she felt, Naya lifted her legs higher, squeezed them tighter, pulled him impossibly closer, impaling herself on his cock. Electricity surged through her veins. Gave her life. She sank her nails into Dreylan’s shoulders and pulled herself into his quickening thrusts. “Oh gods, Dreylan. Harder.”

His responding growl vibrated through his body into hers. His penetrating strokes grew faster, more powerful. Less gentle. He curled one hand around her shoulder and grabbed her ass with the other, driving his thick cock into her with such carnal need she felt on fire. A tingle began in the pit of her belly, licked a deliciously rapid path into her core, out to the very tip of her swollen clit and back to her belly again, sending fingers of heat through her until every fiber of her body seemed to quiver in time with Dreylan’s thrusts.