Putting her off balance.
He took her legs out and felt like a dick when she went down, hitting the gravel hard on her face.
She muttered a curse in French.
Picked herself up like a champion and came at him again.
He blocked and parried, danced with her as she grew more precise with her strikes and started to utilise the footwork he had shown her. She was nimble on her feet, landed three blows in a row, none of them gentle taps. After every blow she landed, she would move back a step though.
“Keep pressing the advantage. If you have your enemy on the backfoot, push forwards. Don’t give them time to recover.” He swung at her, forcing her to dodge.
“But you’re not my enemy.” She swept right, evading another of his blows.
“I am right now.” He grinned. “Later we’ll be lovers again.”
A blush darkened her cheeks.
She froze just as he expected her to dodge and his fist ploughed into her cheek, harder than he had intended because he honestly hadn’t expected to land the blow.
She staggered to her right, her hand flying up to her cheek.
“Damn it, Mari,” he muttered and went to check on her.
She nailed him between the legs with a swift kick he didn’t see coming.
Cal doubled over, grunted and dropped to his knees as he clutched his balls. She hadn’t caught him hard, but pain still blazed through him, robbing him of breath.
“Cal!” She sank to her knees beside him, her face a picture of worry, her blue eyes wide and holding a hint of violet. “I’m sorry.”
He shook his head, unable to speak as he struggled to breathe.
He was glad none of his brothers were in the house to witness this.
Esher had taken Aiko to see her parents for the afternoon, vowing they would return before nightfall.
Cal rubbed himself and gritted, “It might need to be kissed better.”
He meant it as a joke.
Marinda tensed, her entire face heating, and looked as if she wanted to run away from him.
Or at least part of her wanted to run away.
Her pupils dilated, darkening her irises, telling him that some part of her was entertaining the thought and apparently enjoying it.
“Mari.” He wanted to tell her it had been a joke, that he didn’t honestly expect her to do that.
She silenced him with a kiss.
He groaned, captured her nape, and seized her lips, his mind racing forwards, filled with what she had said to him about next time.
This time.
She was a wild, demanding little thing as she yanked his T-shirt off, her hands greedy as they explored his torso. Her eyes darkened further, had him falling under her spell as she raked them over him, a wicked light entering them. He wasn’t the only one thinking ahead.
But he was still thinking.
He pulled her to him and teleported with her, taking her to his room so they could have some privacy. The moment they landed, she was kissing him again, each sweep of her lips over his sending hunger swirling through him, stoking his need.
He wanted to touch her again, wanted to explore her more thoroughly, learning every inch of her and all the things that she liked.
And the ones that made her scream his name.
Her hands shook against his bare chest, fingers trembling to betray her nerves as she skimmed them over his muscles. He rose to his knees before her and let her do as she wanted, kept still so she would grow more comfortable with doing this.
Touching him.
He moaned when she raked short nails down his stomach, followed it with a low groan as she leaned forwards and pressed kisses to his chest. He wanted to tangle his hand in her hair and guide her, hurry her, but he locked his hands at his sides, letting her take the lead.
She trailed her lips down the valley between his pectorals, her palms caressing either side of her head, a sensory overload that he savoured. If there had been a time when he had experienced something like this, a tender exploration of his body but one that roused heat in his veins and filled him with a fierce hunger, he couldn’t remember it.
He relished every lick, every kiss, every stroke of her hands, and if he hadn’t already been on his knees, he would have fallen to them to beg her for more.
To beg her to keep doing this to him.
Forever.
Forever?
He expected to feel shock as that desire hit him, the depth of his need of her so powerful that it was in danger of stirring the darker side of his blood, that possessive part of him that growled at him to stake a claim on her.
But all he felt was contentment, a sense that everything was right in the world, that this was exactly how things were meant to be between them. He lifted his hand and brushed his palm over her cheek, captured her jaw and lifted her head so her eyes locked with his.
The heat of passion slowly faded from her eyes, morphing into warmth that had him falling deeper into them.
He wanted her to look at him that way forever.
He wanted her to love him the way that he loved her.
Even when that terrified him.
Even when he feared that if she loved him, he would inevitably lose her and somehow it would be his fault.
He shoved that fear to the back of his mind, focusing on the present and refusing to let the past taint what he had with Marinda.
He leaned over and kissed her, softly and slowly, reverently, hoping that she would feel that love in it, would know what she had done to him, and that she was all he needed.
All that he wanted.
And he would do all in his power to protect her and keep her safe.
“Mari… whatever Cass told you about me.” He drew back and cupped her cheeks, keeping her eyes on his. He needed this out there. As vulnerable as it would make him feel, he needed her to know. “That isn’t me. Not anymore. I changed the day I met you. You changed me. It’s only you for me now.”
A light filled her eyes, brightening and warming the blue, and her lips curved in a slight smile. She pushed upwards and captured his mouth again, kissed him slowly, in a way that left him in no doubt that she felt something for him too.
Her hands skimmed downwards to his hips, teasing the muscles there, and he moaned softly as she boldly moved lower, fingers tracing the waist of his sweats.
The dark possessive part of him kept his mind on claiming her, making him ache to be inside her again, to stamp her with his mark and possess her. She was his, and he wasn’t going to let anything tear them apart. He didn’t need to get barbaric on her, allowing his possessive side to control him.
The caveman act probably wouldn’t go down well with someone like Mari.
He kissed her softly, savouring the feel of her lips on his, their breaths mingling, and how she tentatively stroked her tongue over his, breaching his lips. He twined his fingers in her hair and pulled her closer, kissed her deeper, eliciting a moan from her that hit him like a drug, had him chasing another high.
His little cellist was addictive that was for sure.
Addictive and demanding.
Her hand cupped him through his sweats, threatening to obliterate the control he was fiercely holding on to in order to keep things sweet and tender between them. He wanted to make love with her this time.
Marinda seemed to have other ideas.
She slid her hand beneath the waist of his sweats and his eyes rolled back in his head as the soft heat of her stroked him, his kiss faltering as his focus shot to his dick.
“Mari,” he murmured, unsure what he was trying to say. A warning that if she did that too long, he would climax? A plea to give him more?
Whatever he had wanted to say, she drove it out of his head as she broke away from his lips and kissed down his chest again. He tried to convince himself that she wasn’t going where he thought she was, but she blazed a trail down his stomach and his cock jerked for her attention, growing harder as he thought about her mouth on him.
>
She pushed his sweats down, freeing him, and he seized her wrists.
Marinda looked up at him, tropical eyes telling him that her furie side wasn’t in control, that she really wanted to do this.
“You don’t have to—” he started, but she cut him off with a shake of her head.
She twisted her hands free of his grip and whispered, “I want to.”
He didn’t get another chance to stop her.
She stroked a hand down his shaft, revealing the blunt crown, and then her mouth was on him. Every sense fired, collided and blended together into one mind-blowing feeling that sent him shooting into the stratosphere as she licked him, exploring him with her lips.
He focused, forcing himself to keep still when all he wanted to do was twine his fingers in her hair and thrust, seeking the release he needed.
Desire was swift to build as she teased him, as her mouth enveloped him, warm and moist, his new favourite drug. She bobbed her head on him, her hand gripping him as she sucked him.
Doing far more than kissing him better.
He panted, his focus slipping as wave after wave of bliss rolled through him, had his balls swiftly drawing up as release neared.
Cal pressed a hand to her head, torn between holding her on him and pushing her back.
Pushing her back won.
Because that dark possessive part of him wanted to stamp his claim on her by finding release inside her.
She frowned up at him, the hint of violet in her irises telling him that he had angered her by denying her what she wanted.
Well, he had to deny her one thing to give her the other.
“You said you wanted me… naked… inside you,” he husked, voice scraping low.
The heat in her eyes blazed hotter and she eased back, the flare of arousal that laced the air with a heady scent tearing a groan from him. Gods, he needed to be inside her again. He needed to feel her, all of her, without anything between them.
She was swift to stand, bringing her hips eye-level with him. She pulled off her tank and shimmied out of her leggings, pushing them down to reveal her shapely toned legs.
Cal stopped her when she went to remove her panties, replacing her hands with his. He eased them down her thighs and groaned as he revealed the neat thatch of gold at the apex of them. He wanted to taste her again.
She stepped out of them for him and he caught her right ankle and pulled it towards him. He pressed his mouth to her mound, delved his tongue between her plush lips and savoured the moan that rolled from her lips. She tasted divine, was already ready for him.
He stroked his fingers along her and slid one into her, his dick kicking as he felt how ready she was. He gently pumped her as he suckled, as he laved and flicked his tongue over her, teasing her closer to the edge, just as she had teased him.
“Cal.”
He loved the way she said his name like that, passion-drenched and needy, a plea that he would always answer.
He lowered her leg, pulled behind her knees so she fell into him and rolled. She hit the bedding on her back and he settled over her, his heart racing, a flicker of nerves running through him as he thought about what he was about to do.
“Cal.” She stroked her hand over his hair, cupped his nape and lured him down to her.
He shifted forwards and kissed her, softly and slowly, trying to keep things tender.
Trying to show her without words how much she meant to him.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and eased him down against her, and groaned in time with him when his shaft met her slick heat. He rubbed against her, couldn’t stop himself as her heat scalded him, as he ached to be inside her. His cock kicked and throbbed, eager for more.
Marinda skimmed her hand down his back and over his hip, slipped it between them to stroke him.
Silently telling him what she wanted.
He pulled back as her legs loosened and gripped his shaft, pressed his free palm to the soft bedding and looked down between them as he guided himself to her entrance. Her breath hitched as the blunt head slid down her, as it breached her and nudged inside.
“Cal,” she murmured.
He swallowed and eased forwards, inching into her, a groan rolling up his throat as she sheathed him.
When he was seated as deep as he could go, he lowered himself and kissed her, absorbed how good it felt and how close to her he felt. She stroked his shoulders and teased his nape as she kissed him back, and he swallowed her gasp as he rolled his hips, easing a little deeper still, making her take more of him. She was tight around him, a hot glove that scalded him, marked him just as he wanted to mark her.
He was hers now.
Whether she wanted that or not.
He slowly withdrew almost all the way out of her and then eased back in, building a steady pace as the feel of her threatened to become too much for him.
She kissed him, groaning softly against his lips, “This feels so much better.”
It did.
He would have said that, but he was struggling to focus as he slowly pumped her, as he rested on his right elbow and lowered his left hand to her hip. He slid it beneath her backside and lifted her, moaning with her as he plunged deeper still as he thrust into her. She took all of him.
He kissed her and curled his hips, gradually building momentum as they fell into an easy rhythm. Her hips rolled to meet his every thrust, her sweet cries like music to his ears as she sought release.
When she grew wilder, her heart pounding in his ears and her moans coming faster, he pressed his knees to the floor for leverage and picked up the pace.
Marinda moaned against his lips as he pumped her harder, gripped her hip tightly to keep her in place as he drove them both towards a release that promised to be life-altering.
He grunted as she tightened around him, as her heat clenched him and he thrust into her, his hips pistoning as he slowly lost control and the need for release took over. It took her over too, had her pressing her nails into his shoulders as she kissed him harder, a desperate meeting of their mouths as she writhed in his arms.
“More.” She pulled him closer and nipped at his lip.
Cal obeyed.
He lifted her backside higher and plunged deep inside her.
She cried out, her back arching and breasts thrusting into the air as her mouth opened and her eyes screwed shut. Her body trembled around his, core milking him hard, gripping him fiercely.
Pulling him over the edge with her.
He shouted her name as seed boiled up his shaft and it burst from him, waves of it that had him grunting as he kept thrusting, unable to stop himself as he spilled.
As he claimed her.
His thrusts slowed, his breath racing from him and heart thundering as bliss rolled through him, as he held Marinda to him and struggled to come down. She lay beneath him, a hazy look on her face, her eyes hooded as she idly toyed with her hair.
Apparently, he wasn’t the only one who had liked that.
He eased down and kissed her, pouring his feelings for her into it.
Hoping she would know without him saying the words that he loved her.
That he needed her.
That he was never letting her go.
Chapter 30
Marinda couldn’t sleep.
She woke just an hour after dozing off in Cal’s arms shortly before dawn, still not quite accustomed to sleeping through the day. She had just been getting used to it in London, but swapping to Tokyo time had thrown her again.
In the hope it would wear her out, she had gone through the moves Cal had shown her, practicing them again and again. It had tired her, but she hadn’t wanted to crawl back under the covers next to Cal while she had been sweaty.
She had risked taking a shower, sure that Esher wouldn’t wake and see her, and that had unfortunately woken her up again. She had debated watching TV, but because it was close to Cal’s room, had decided against it. She hadn’t wanted to wake him.
She had
even debated waking Cass, but her friend had complained more than once about needing her beauty sleep before she had retired to her temporary quarters. Keras had given up his room, which had gone down well with Cass.
Mostly because it was as far from Daimon’s room as she could get.
In the end, Marinda had walked the grounds of the mansion, absorbing how beautiful the old building was as the sun rose higher. The wooden beams were such a contrast to the white panels set between them, and the grey ribbed tile roof that swept up at each corner.
The garden was just as beautiful, with all kinds of trees, and secret nooks and crannies filled with moss-covered boulders or stone lanterns.
She meandered around the front garden, trailing her fingers over the huge stone lanterns, heading back towards the entrance porch of the house.
Maybe she could crawl back under the covers and wake Cal up with a kiss so he would keep her company for a while.
A strange unsettling sensation bolted down her spine and she frowned as she looked around the garden, seeking the source of it. She was alone.
She lifted her head and scoured the block-shaped houses beyond the mansion’s walls.
Her gaze snagged on something on one of the rooftops and darted back to it.
Cold slithered through her.
Rage burned in her blood.
The tallest of the two men casually tipped his hat, nodding his head at her.
Marinda swore and took a step towards him, and then stopped herself, jerking to a halt. It was what he wanted. He wanted to goad her, to lure her beyond the walls of the mansion.
This was what they had been waiting for and what she needed to do was go inside and tell Cal and Esher.
The enemy was finally making their move.
Her feet remained rooted to the spot though as that cold began to consume her, as the rage and fury condensed inside her, and the need for revenge rose to overwhelm her.
She battled it but it was strong, a living, writhing thing inside her.
She couldn’t surrender to it.
She needed to raise the alarm.
Her eyes widened as a purple-black cloud billowed behind the two men, twisting and swirling, spreading to fill a space taller and wider than they were. Violet and green sparks chased across it.
Calistos: Guardians of Hades Series Book 5 Page 29
