Zara couldn't help laughing. "I wish Shylah was here as well. She'd love this."
"I'd like to see some man try to smack her on the butt. She'd have them on the ground with a knife to their throat in ten seconds."
"She'd be too late," Cayenne pointed out, while Zara circled her neck with her arm. "Ten seconds with these men is far too long."
"You know what I mean."
"Don't knock it until you try it," Cayenne said.
The two women carefully deposited Zara on the middle step. Bellisia grabbed the hose and began spraying her. The water was cold and it felt refreshing in the sultry heat of the night. She sank back on her elbows. "This is heaven. Keep spraying, Bellisa."
Cayenne climbed back in her silken swing, and Pepper joined Zara on the middle stair so she could have the water running over her as well.
"Has Gino ... you know," Bellisia asked. "And not with spankings."
Pepper burst out laughing. "You know? Is that how we say it? Has he touched you yet?"
"Yep," Zara admitted.
"It was a lot more than touching," Bellisia said.
"Details, woman," Pepper coaxed.
"He kissed me. A lot. And it was hot. That's a detail." She wasn't about to share anything else they'd done. It was hers. Gino was hers. "He did say I was his woman. That I belonged to him."
Bellisia groaned and made a show of gagging. "You don't belong to him. You aren't his sex kitten."
"I'm Trap's sex kitten," Cayenne said smugly.
Zara nearly fell off the stair laughing when Bellisia turned the hose on her. "I think your entire relationship is based on sex, Cayenne."
"Isn't everyone's?"
"You are so full of it," Bellisia said.
Pepper shook out her blouse and rebuttoned it to the pearl button just under her breasts. "She never says a word unless she's talking about that man of hers."
"What else is there to talk about?" Cayenne turned upside down and crawled down the long ribbon of silk. "You should see what I can do to him hanging like this."
"I am going to learn the moment I have this baby," Pepper decided. "I think your silks are the coolest thing in the world. And it's beautiful to watch you. I can imagine how much Trap loves that when you entertain him."
Cayenne flashed her a smile, did a slow somersault and planted her feet on the stair beside Zara. "Anyone want lemonade? Nonny made her fresh strawberry lemonade and it's fabulous. I tried it when she was making it. Best yet."
Immediately the other three nodded. Bellisia turned off the hose. "I'll help you carry the glasses out."
"I'm using the tall ones and filling them with ice," Cayenne said.
The two women hurried into the house. Two minutes later, Pepper glanced back at the house when sounds came from the interior. "Is that the girls? They better not have gotten out of bed. I swear, Zara, they're little escape artists. You know those dog crates? Why can't we put our children in them when they go to bed? It's the only way to ensure we get any time off at all." She was up and running into the house, laughing as she went.
Zara leaned back on the stairs on her elbows again and looked up at the night sky. Somewhere, Gino was out there. She sent up a little prayer that he was all right. Something rustled in the dry leaves at the corner of the house. She turned her head and saw a man standing there. He was in the shadows of the house, but she could just make him out. He held a finger to his lips and motioned her to come to him.
She shook her head, sitting up straight, glancing back toward the door.
"Zara, you know me. I'll kill every one of those women if you don't do what I say. Get over here."
She shook her head again. A darker shadow moved close to her, near the hose Bellisia hadn't wound back up. The long rubber tubing lay on the ground right next to the house. She looked at the man standing so close to her. He was grinning, staring at her shirt, the one that was practically transparent. She made no move to cover up. The loop slid over his head, the strands of silk so delicate he didn't feel them until they pulled tight.
Ezekiel came out of the shadows. "Seriously? What kind of soldiers watch a group of women spraying themselves with water in enemy territory and not figure out that they're keeping eyes on them? I bet my wife twenty bucks it wouldn't work and I lost."
The first soldier had eyes on the second one as he dangled off the ground, kicking and swinging macabrely in the night. He looked around at the five GhostWalkers surrounding them and then back to Zara.
"You bitch. Whitney's done with your disobedience. He wants you dead. Orders are to bring your head back to him. Sooner or later, someone's going to get you."
"Maybe," Ezekiel said. "But it won't be you. You were too busy looking at the show to figure out we spotted you the minute you entered our territory. It was only a matter of time before you got complacent enough to come look at the peep show."
"Just do it."
Ezekiel obliged, and killed him.
17
G
ino stared down into Zara's upturned face. She was so beautiful it made his soul ache. That face. Skin so soft. Her bone structure. Her mouth so sinful every time he looked at it his cock got harder than a rock. Those eyes of hers. Pure slate blue. Unusual. Large. Framed with long lashes. All that hair. Red gold. Like silk, but so thick when it was spread around their pillows, it covered them. That was a fantasy in itself.
He could admit to having something seriously wrong with him. He came back higher than a kite, needing sex. Ciro had probably perpetuated that, telling him after every time they interrogated someone and then killed them that the best way to get over taking someone apart was to spend the night indulging one's body so you knew what life was all about. It made sense when he was a kid and now he was certain he'd been programed, but it was different with Zara. With Zara, his need of her was real.
He pushed all that spun red gold from her forehead. He had her sprawled out on his bed, looking more beautiful than anything or anyone he'd ever seen in his lifetime. She looked the picture of innocence, and he was coming to her with blood on his hands. He swore his hands were shaking as he traced a finger from her throat to the curve of her breast.
"I swear, woman, I detest being away from you, even for a minute. I'm not sure what you've done to me, but whatever it is, there's no going back from it." His hand cupped her breast, thumb sliding over her nipple, all the while watching her eyes.
He loved the look she got when he moved in her. When his hands claimed her body. When she gave herself up to the beauty of what they were together.
"I don't like being away from you either, Gino," she admitted, arching into his hand.
The rain had started outside, falling on the roof and beating on the windows, the rhythm adding another dimension to his fantasy. The room was dark, but he could see easily and there was no way he was going to miss out on one detail of her face and body, not one small expression in her eyes.
"See how still you can stay for me." He whispered it, staring into her eyes, his hands filled with her soft breasts, fingers and thumb tugging and rolling her nipples.
She tried for him, because she liked pleasing him. He worked her body, using his mouth, tongue and teeth, his hands, gentle to rough and switching back. Watching her the entire time. Her breath came in ragged pants, providing a counterpoint to the rain's driving rhythm, but she stayed relatively still for him. Because he asked. Her hips bucked and her body writhed, but she held it under control, doing her best, those eyes never leaving his.
He lavished attention on her breasts, taking his time, leaving his mark, wanting to write his name there. He'd never felt like doing such a foolish, childish thing in his life, declaring ownership, wanting the world to know she was his, but there was something about her that, right from the first moment he'd read about her, had made him feel a bit primitive.
He lifted his head just a little as he slid lower. "Going to be a long night, baby. You ready for me?" He was asking if he could be who he was. Take her the wa
y he needed to. Make sure she enjoyed every second of it. "Wet and hot? Just for me?"
"I'm always ready for you, Gino."
Her voice was a whisper but it slid over his skin like a sensual sin. He took his time, kissing his way over every square inch of the front of her. He used his tongue to taste her everywhere, his teeth to leave his mark, and his lips to suckle, bringing up faint strawberries here and there. Her breathing became frantic, her breasts swaying with every frantic inhale and rushed exhale.
He murmured to her, his mouth against her exquisite skin, telling her who she belonged to, letting her know he wasn't ever letting her go, that she was the woman he wanted to wake up to every morning and hold every night. He told her a million things, most that couldn't be deciphered between his mouth against her body and her breath hitching, exploding, rushing, moving through her so feverishly because she was desperately trying to keep still under his assault. For him. Always for him. He asked, and it mattered to her. God, he loved her.
"I can't stay still," Zara said. "I'm trying, Gino, but it's impossible."
He knew it would be, but he was pleased she tried. He spent a few minutes between her legs, devouring that addicting cream that belonged solely to him before kissing his way down her thighs to her ankles. He caught her ankles and twisted, flipping her over so he could claim every inch of her body.
"Your skin is the softest thing I've ever felt in my life," he admitted and then found the lobe of her ear with his teeth.
Zara said something, but it was muffled by the sheets. Her hips bucked again, almost as though she might dislodge him, but he clamped his leg over her thigh and held her down for his slow, exploration. He moved the long thick length of her hair, admiring the way the silky strands spread across the pillow in luxurious golden waves.
His mouth found the nape of her neck. She was particularly sensitive there and he spent a little time kissing and licking, nipping gently with his teeth, watching the slow burn spread through her body, her movements and little cries feeding his own fire. His cock was hard and thick as he dragged it down her spine, leaving a trail of wet. His mouth followed, kissing and nipping, finding every sensitive spot, until he made his way to her buttocks.
"I like the way you look a whole hell of a lot." He nipped her, right in the middle of a small dimple.
She yelped, laughed and pushed back against him, her breath hitching. "You do?"
"Mmm." He used his tongue, more exploring, widening her legs to give him access to what he wanted most. She tasted like heaven. He yanked her up onto her knees, at the same time pressing her head down so she went obediently to her elbows. "Like the way you look just like this, princess." He stroked her breasts, tugged on her nipples and then pressed his mouth to all that slick honey.
She cried out, pushed back against him, and he found his body on fire. No longer a slow burn consuming him, but a raging inferno. He licked at her one last time, pushed his finger deep while he stroked, flicked and circled her clit, wanting to ensure she was ready for him. Her cream coated his finger and he licked it clean, kneeling up behind her.
"Gino." She wailed his name. "Hurry up."
"Right here, princess. You giving me a royal order?" He loved her needy like this. Her body writhing. That little sob in her voice. His beautiful woman with that little hint of desperation drove him crazy.
"Yes," she hissed.
He pressed the head of his cock into her burning entrance. Scorching heat surrounded him, her body clamping around his like a vise, determined to pull him deep or keep him out. He was never certain with that first entry. His breath rushed out of his lungs in a long, slow exhale of pure pleasure or pain, he couldn't decide which, as he pressed deeper. Watching as her body was forced by his steady pressure to accept the invasion of his added to his pleasure. He could watch himself fuck her all night. Fast. Slow. Hard. Rough. Gently. Easy. It didn't matter as long as he was in her and watching her take his cock any damn way he wanted.
"Move."
The sob in her voice added to that mounting lust. "I am moving." He inched forward, forcing those tight muscles to accept him. Each increment was sheer bliss. Fire lashed his thighs, burned through his gut. The flames surrounding him threatened to burn right through his flesh, but it felt so damn good he didn't care.
He rubbed her left cheek, hoping her body would ease up just a little. She was so tight he wasn't sure he could fit, but it was always that way. Every time he entered her, there was this moment, the one he usually retreated and started again, letting her get used to his invasion. Not this time. This time, he was going to bury himself to the hilt, as deep as possible, all in one long assault.
"Gino."
His name again. He loved the need in her voice. That little hungry plea that told him she wanted him just like this. He took his time, savoring every inch he got inside of her. It wasn't just a victory or a claiming; after the first three inches it was just plain paradise. He broke out in a sweat, holding back, feeling the boiling in his balls, the way his thighs hardened and every drop of blood rushed to his cock. All the while he watched as her body swallowed his, and it was better than any porn show he'd ever seen. Fantasies ran through his head, and he knew he would try every one with her. She was his woman and she liked to give him everything.
He used his thumb on her clit, stroking until her body coated her sheath in fresh liquid fire so he slid the last few inches all the way. His hands went to her hips. Finally, she was healed enough that he could hold her there, grip hard. He was going to need hard and she was as well. He withdrew. Her breath hitched. He heard his heartbeat. There was a roaring in his ears, like the sound of thunder.
He surged into her, dragging her hips back hard into his. Lightning streaked right through his cock and up his spine. "Fuck, woman." He didn't know what else to say. There was nothing else, she'd turned his brain to mush. All he could do was feel, not articulate.
He began to move in her, hard and fast, letting the sensation take him, giving himself up to it, riding that edge for as long as he could. Each time he was so close he thought he'd never pull back, he managed, even when he took her there repeatedly. Each time that she came, her body clamping down on his, that soft little sobbing of his name, drove his cock to a new level of hardness.
Gino lost himself in her body, in that incredible feeling, lost track of time and was unaware of his surroundings. He felt power gathering, heating, boiling until he was at the point of no return. His fingers dug deeply into her hips. He clenched his teeth and held on until she was there again, until he felt her coiling tight, so ready for release, so ready to soar with him.
In the end, it was more than soaring. He was flung into the universe, pinpoints of light glittering behind his eyes as his cock filled the condom with long hard spurts while lightning rocketed through him. It seemed to go on forever, that euphoria he didn't want to come down from. His lungs were raw from lack of air and his body wanted to collapse. He circled her waist with his arms and hung on to her while they both fought for air.
When he could, Gino lifted his head. "You all right?"
"I think so," she admitted. "But I'm not sure."
He laughed softly. "Damn, woman. When I said you might kill me, I wasn't kidding. I'm going to ease you down." He slipped out of her, removed the condom, knotted it and tossed it aside so he could help her to the mattress.
She rolled over onto her side and looked up at him, her long lashes framing her slate blue eyes. "I'm not sure I can breathe."
"Then I'd better help you."
He took her mouth instantly, kissing her the way he wanted, the way he knew he was going to be kissing her as long as they both lived. Hot. Hard. Possessive. Demanding. She kissed him back, her mouth so soft, so perfect, he knew he'd never want any other woman's kiss. Her taste was so addictive, it was difficult to stop once he started. He spent time kissing her. Slowly. Burning for her all over again. Knowing it was always going to be like that.
If he'd thought about how he wo
uld be so obsessive over her before he met her, he would have been appalled at the idea of being so wrapped up in a woman. Having been with her, he could only count himself damn lucky that he'd found the right one.
A little giggle escaped her when he lifted his head. The sound pierced his heart just like an arrow. She made him happy when he'd all but forgotten what happiness was.
"I'm not sure that's helping me breathe, Gino," she said.
He surveyed her body. She was a fast healer and the marks of the whips were all but faded. His marks, ones of love and possession, had taken their places. He bent his head and kissed one that ran along the upper curve of her left breast. He liked to see them there. He liked that Zhu's marks were mostly gone.
"I'm so in love with you, woman." The declaration came out of nowhere. He knew it was true, but he hadn't meant to tell her. He smoothed back the silky hair tumbling around her face. "It's impossible not to fall for you, you know that, don't you?"
Her eyes searched his for the longest time, and then her smile came. It was slow and beautiful and it shook him to his core. Something about the way she smiled made his heart shaky, so much so that it actually hurt. He pressed his hand over his chest to try to ease that ache.
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