Tell Me What Is Priceless (Siren Publishing Classic) (9 page)

“Drawing. I had an idea for a book cover, and I wanted to do a quick sketch.”

“Do you design your own covers?”

“Yes, I do. I know what everything looks like in my mind. It’s easier than trying to tell someone else it looks wrong.”

He walked over, handing her a cup of coffee and checking what she was doing. It was a bunch of obscure lines. He shrugged. “Stay and finish it. I will slave over the stove by myself.”

“Do you want me to do something?”

“Yes, make something that I can understand out of that. I’ll be back in a little while.”

When he returned with the food, Blaze had just finished up the sketch. It was rough and lacked in finished detail, but it wasn’t bad. Zar handed her the plates, and she gave him the tablet. “You can erase it if you want. I already e-mailed it back to my house.”

“Erase it? Why? This is beautiful. Is this for the cover of Star?”

“Yes. Obviously it’s lacking color depth, and it’s very rough.”

“Am I thinking right that he looks a little like me? Actually both men do.”

“Now that you mention it, they do. I’ve been drawing them forever, and I just now noticed the connection in appearance. It was not intentional, I assure you.”

“I don’t mind. It means that I look like your fantasy. Are you sure that I didn’t influence this particular sketch? I only got the text of your books, not the covers.”

Blaze set the plates on the bed and took the tablet from him, flipping the screen. She pulled up the Internet and typed in a bookstore site. Her books appeared, and she clicked on her favorite cover to show him.

“Wow!” Zar exclaimed. “If anything, this version looks more like me. It’s kind of eerie, but you have never seen me if I let my hair curl. I suppose I’ll have to use normal shampoo for a day or two so you can see it. I may have a picture around here somewhere, but I don’t know where at the moment.”

He shut the screen down and sat across from her on the bed. “So, why me? I wasn’t the only one to hit on you last night.”

She took a bite of the egg and chewed thoughtfully. “Doesn’t that strike a nerve? I let it slip my mind that we only met last night. Somehow it seems longer. These are the most delicious eggs I have ever had, and I have digressed into a total slut.”

“What a thing to say. Thank you for the compliment on the food. You are not a slut, and don’t change the subject. Why me?”

“All the obvious visual reasons for starters. You were by far the hottest man in the bar. When we started to talk, you made me laugh. It felt good to be enjoying a real, intelligent conversation that wasn’t with an illusionary man of dreams. When you asked me to go for a ride, it sent a surge of energy through me. I was thrilled at the idea of spending more time with you. I never imagined it would go this far.”

“Did you want it to go this far?”

“Yes, just not on the first date. I have to admit that I’m slightly overwhelmed by you. I fancied myself a tad stronger than this.”

“A tad stronger than what? What does strength have to do with anything right now? I don’t have you tied to the bed for ransom or anything. Tying you up is an interesting idea, but not right now.”

Blaze looked at him, his comment causing her flesh to tingle. “I didn’t mean physical strength. I meant strength of character. Having control of your actions to not slide into a man’s bed on the first day together. It doesn’t say too much for my ability to say the word no.”

“Don’t get proper and digress. I heard it all earlier. We wanted each other, and it was great, and I want more. There is nothing wrong with two people being attracted to each other and acting on that. We are not in high school where the girl is a slut and the guy is hot shit. We are consenting adults, and we are good for each other. How many men have you been with since David died?”

“None. I told you that.”

“I know you did. I’m making a point. You have been with one man in twenty years, and now you are with me. How does that make you a slut? I think it puts you in the club for sainthood. You are a passionate woman, and I can’t imagine you restraining that fire for so many years. It must have torn you up inside to have David reject you.”

“It did,” she said, suddenly feeling weary. Blaze got up and took his plate, carrying them into the kitchen and washing them. She poured two cups of coffee and shut the pot down. She was digging for the milk when Zar came up behind her. He slid his hands around her waist and pulled her ass back against his body.

She turned her head to look back at him, and he smiled, leaning over her for the milk and then shutting the door. He then pushed her upper body forward, bending her so she had no choice but to put her palms on the refrigerator door to balance.

“Close your eyes and stay right as you are.”

Zar opened the freezer door above her head and grabbed a handful of ice from the tray. He put a cube in his mouth to suck on, and then he stepped back, pushing one up into her flesh. Blaze arched her back at the cold shock and then glared at him as he filled her with more cubes. He grabbed a towel and held it against her body to keep the ice contained and catch the melting water.

Blaze whimpered. “Maybe you could have asked me first? Shit, that is cold.”

“If I asked you, you would have gotten flustered and said no. This way it’s done, and if we like it, it’s an option to do it again. Feel good?”

“It feels weird and really tingly. I’m being frozen inside.”

“How flexible are you? I want to fill you and make you really hot, but I need some help.”

Blaze put one hand to the floor to steady herself and let her legs relax. She reached up with her free hand and began to caress his cock through her parted thighs. Zar took out another piece of ice, running it down the center of her spine. A trail of water ran down her back, bringing a chill as it flowed into her hairline. “Zar, are you into sadism or masochism?”

“No. Why, are you?”

“I was just wondering. You are torturing me.”

“I’m just awaking your body up in a different manner. This was your idea by the way, or did you forget?”

“You are banned from reading any more of my books. Oh shit, I have ice water running down my leg.”

Zar shifted the towel, rubbing her clit with the cloth. Blaze grabbed for the handle of the refrigerator as her muscles tightened around the ice. The drama in her reaction was almost as enticing as the soft feel of her palm around his dick. When she moved away from him, he asked, “What? Tell me why you moved.”

“Because this is quickly pushing me to the point of no return, and the ice is almost melted. I also want to see you. I like watching your face.”

Zar reached over, pushing aside the things on the counter. She stood, shaking herself, and then boosting herself up onto the countertop. Blaze motioned with her finger for him to come closer, but Zar groaned and headed into the bedroom. When he returned a moment later, he was tearing at a package with his teeth. “Tomorrow morning I’m calling my doctor. I will pay him whatever he asks to meet us on a Sunday. When I get back from New York, I want you without a rubber.”

Blaze put her hands to his face, noting the stubbly shadow of a beard forming on his cheeks. She kissed his nose and then his eyes, moaning as he slid her body forward on the counter surface. The contrast of his fiery dick within her icy pussy was agonizing, and Blaze gritted her teeth, shaking her hair across her back.

Zar groaned. “Damn, you are so cold. What a rush. I wish it could be like in your books. I would whisk you off counter and let you wrap yourself around my body. Unfortunately, we would both end up on the floor, and I might end up in the hospital.”

Blaze wrapped her legs around him, her body weight resting on the countertop. “This is close enough. Is it going to hurt your hip to rock this way?”

“Maybe if we do it too long, but not for a little while. Talk to me and tell me what feels good. Faster or slower?”

“Slower, and I’m not good at this.”

“At what?”

“At saying what feels good. It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Don’t let it. I’m not in your mind. The only way I know what’s good is if you tell me. I can gauge by your reactions, but words are far more accurate. At the moment I want to not move while you warm up a bit.”

Blaze reached for a mug of coffee, taking a drink and offering him some. Zar took a mouthful and swallowed, licking his lips. “Feed me some candy.”

Blaze leaned to the side, reaching for the gold box and opening it. Inside was a variety of chocolate-coated pieces of dried fruit and nuts. She took a piece and fed it to him. “I like things slow and easy at first.”

Zar fed her a piece of fruit, leaning to kiss her as it melted in her mouth. “Like that?”

“Yes, I want this to last forever. I love to have my face and hair touched.”

Zar slid her slightly closer, leaving her to balance her weight with her hands as he rocked her hips. The motion became a song, the notes slowly flowing as they picked up tempo. When they both dropped into a place of rolling pleasure, Blaze put her hands to his face, catching his eyes as she alternated between moaning and laughing. “I hate you. I’ve never in my life felt anything so strikingly fantastic.”

Zar staggered back a few steps, catching himself as pain flared in his hip. “You made the angels sing.”

“I did what?” she said, slipping to the floor.

He ignored his body and pulled her closer by running his hands through her hair. His kiss was filled with passion and pleasure as he held her tightly in his arms. When he finally released her, he said, “I’ll explain in a little while. Do me a favor. Go up above the stove and pull down the canister marked ‘flour.’ Take the lid off and get me one of the packets inside. Then grab the coffee and the candy. I need to get flat.”

Blaze did as he asked, balancing everything in one hand as she helped him limp into the bedroom. He wasn’t being snappy or grouchy, but Blaze again asked herself if she really wanted to get into another relationship with a man who was in constant pain.

Zar slowly lowered himself onto the mattress. “Do you get spooked by needles?”

“As in syringe? No, why?”

“Then come sit with me. Feed me a piece of candy. I didn’t want you to see this now, but if you are going to spend time with me, you might as well get used to it.”

He tore open the package and removed a filled syringe. “This is a combination of pure painkiller, anti-inflammatory, and a sort of internal lubricant that helps keep my hip from grinding against the pins.” A bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face. It was a testament to exactly how much pain Zar was in. She fed him a piece of candy, and he chewed as he put the point into the scar and drove the needle in, pushing the plunger. He grabbed for Blaze’s hand, painfully squeezing her fingers as his face twisted from the injection. “It burns really bad for about half an hour and then eases up. In the summer, I can go two or three months between injections, if I’m a good boy. In the winter they usually last a week or two depending on how cold it is and how bad the weather is. Once it settles in, I’m totally free of pain. By morning the swelling in my joint will have gone down, and I will have no trouble walking. Right now, I couldn’t get up if I had to.”

“That is amazing. I’m surprised that no one ever mentioned this shot to David.”

“What you just saw doesn’t exist in the normal world. Insurance companies won’t pay for it because it’s so short term. My doctor has it made for me on special order when I need it. I pay for it out of my pocket. A box of ten injections runs fifteen thousand. That box might last me one year if the winter isn’t too bad. If it’s like last year, I went through two boxes in twenty weeks. It was an expensive year, but it was worth it for me to be able to walk normally.”

“So people like David spend years in helpless agony because the shit’s expensive? That is horrible.”

“I agree with you. I also can’t change the world. I didn’t walk into money. I earned it. I pay for it now with every step I take, and this shot makes it possible for me to go on. Without it, I would probably spend my life in a wheelchair. Don’t get angry with me about this.”

“I’m not angry at you. It just seems so unfair.”

“Life is unfair, and so is death. We all deal with things as best we know how. I can have any physical thing in the world I crave, but there are things even I can’t have. Others could have a false hip put in. I can’t because the bones are too damaged and distorted to hold the artificial hip. The scar on the outside reflects the damage on the inside. I was almost cut in half. I was lucky because I can still walk, and it didn’t damage my lower spine. From the look on your face, I’d say there is one more thing I will not have.”

“What’s that?”

“You.”

Blaze sagged as she stared at him. She had yet to make a concrete decision about their pending relationship, and he was writing her off. “That’s not fair. Tell me why you said that you heard the angels.”

“You’re not answering me, but that’s understandable. Come lie with me, and I will tell you.”

Blaze rolled to her side, curling up against him. He put his arm around her and kissed her hair as she rested her head on his chest. “When I was maybe ten, one of my mother’s regulars was at the house. My brother got up to go the bathroom, and when he came back he looked confused. He told me that the man in the room had told our mother that she made the angel sing when he was with her. We spent the longest time trying to understand why the angels would sing to a man with a prostitute. We knew what she was, and although she always kept her door shut, she didn’t hide things from us. We didn’t ask her because she would have known that Kale was listening at her door. Years later the two us set out to get laid one night. We picked up two girls who were both reputed to be loose and wild. Mine was loose, but wild she was not. It was like making love to a dead fish. On the way home, Kale looked dreamy eyed. He turned to me and said, ‘I know what it means. That girl made the angels sing in my mind when I fucked her. Damn, I’ll have wet dreams about her forever.’ I was insanely jealous, but I never told him how bad my date had been. I forgot all about it until the words left my lips a few moments ago.”