Triquetra

by Marguerite Labbe

  Jacob was breathtaking. I could look at him naked for hours, touch him, taste him, and it didn’t get old. I craved him even more now than the night we had first come together. I loved him more today than I had when I first returned. I thought that if it were possible to fall in love again, I was doing so in that moment.

  He leaned over me again, kissing the nape of my neck, nuzzling there until I felt every inch of my skin react to his nearness. “Let me show ya, Kristair.”

  I shivered again and slid my hand back so I could touch him. “Yes, please.”

  Chapter 19

  I SMILED at the softly whispered plea and kissed the back of Kristair’s scalp. “With pleasure, love.” I sat back on my heels and reached for the lotion on the bedside stand. Kristair’s eyes were closed as he pillowed his cheek on his arm, his lashes dark and thick, shadowing the circles under his eyes.

  I warmed the lotion between my palms, and Kristair’s lashes fluttered open again as I brought my hands to his back and began to massage the long, lean muscles. “What are you doing?”

  “Making you relax.” Despite how tired I knew Kristair was, I could feel the tension in every line of his body. He was too keyed up to sleep and far too wound up to let me in even if he wanted to.

  Kristair groaned as I slid my hands to his shoulders, kneading out the knots. “You’re going to put me to sleep,” he complained.

  “Well then, I’ll just have to wake you up again when I get to the fun part.”

  “You’re taking gross advantage of the fact I’ve been up all night,” Kristair mumbled, and I smiled as he yawned and closed his eyes again. I took some more lotion and massaged it down his spine, along his sides, feeling the tension melt away with each stroke of my hands.

  “I know,” I chuckled. “And when I’ve gotten you to the point where you can’t move, I’m going to take even more advantage of your helplessness.”

  “Evil brat,” Kristair muttered, and I chuckled again.

  “Don’t you forget it.” I sat back on my heels again and nudged Kristair’s thighs wider apart so I could kneel between them. Hot damn, he was sexy, his golden olive skin appearing darker against the crisp white sheets, the primitive tattoos following the flow of his muscles. His ass was just about perfect, high and round, his thighs parted just right so that I got a sweet glimpse of his balls. A hot punch of lust hit me, and Kristair stirred, looking back at me.

  “Are you thinking indecent thoughts?”

  I grinned at him and trailed my finger along the shadowed cleft of his ass as Kristair’s breath hitched. “What makes you think I’d do a thing like that?”

  “Experience.” Kristair’s dark eyes were hazy with desire, his lips parted, and I couldn’t resist leaning over him to steal a heated kiss. He made a soft sound of surrender, half-twisting around and deepening the kiss. I stroked my fingers over the small of his back, down between his thighs, and I knew I could get all kinds of pleas from him, any amount of shameless begging that never failed to drive me wild.

  No one saw Kristair like this. No one but me.

  I used that fierce exhilaration to strengthen the ripple of thought I sent out to him. I sensed the jolt of surprise, then nothing as his mental shields came back up again. I didn’t even think he realized how instinctively he protected himself. I smiled against his lips and broke the kiss, drawing his lower lip between my teeth and giving it a gentle bite. It was going to take lots of time and patience, and at that moment, I had both in abundance.

  “You have got to be the most determined man on Earth, Jacob Corvin.” Kristair turned around so that he could look up at me without craning his neck. He slid his foot along my leg, hooking his thigh on my hip, and dug his fingers into my hair. “Stop playing games and kiss me.”

  “Have I ever told you that you’re damn sexy when you’re demanding?”

  Kristair gave me a little sexy growl and dragged my head down, kissing me hard. I admired his tactic, but I wasn’t about to let him distract me from my goal so easily. There was something deeper here than just worrying that the Ascended would take exception to us dabbling with our old abilities.

  Knowing Kristair the way I did, it probably came down to pride. He needed to present the façade that he had everything under control, especially when he didn’t. He’d spent centuries developing his mystique, his aura of infallibility, his ruthlessness when needed. It had allowed him to survive for a very long time when so few of his kind did.

  Now that everything had been turned upside-down, he clung even harder to the image he’d created. I could understand that need, the comfort of the familiar, the security it provided.

  I broke the kiss and flashed Kristair a smile, sliding slowly down his body, kissing his stomach and then the bruises on his chest. “You’re going to let me in, Kristair.” His dark eyes flashed, but he didn’t deny it. “Because you want to let me in.”

  “You’re the only one I trust like that,” Kristair said, fingertips dancing over my shoulders. “I know I’m safe with you. That’s not the problem.”

  “Hush. Stop stressing about it. Just lay back and put yourself in my hands.”

  “Don’t I always?”

  Kristair subsided, laying back down, his eyes intent on me as I trailed my lips over his hip. I wrapped my fingers around his cock, tugging on it with long, slow strokes. He rocked his hips up into my hand, a soft sigh of pleasure escaping him. Such a damn gorgeous sound.

  “Are you going to beg for me, love?”

  Kristair smiled, his eyes going hot as he spread his legs wider. “You want me to?”

  “Silly question.” I circled my thumb over the silken slick head of his cock. Damn, I could smell his arousal, heady and musky. “I’m going to drive you so crazy, Kristair.” So damn crazy that he couldn’t even think about putting up a fight.

  I kissed the flushed head, groaning as I slid my lips around him. “You already are,” Kristair rasped, tunneling his fingers in my hair.

  I cupped his balls in my hand, rolling them gently as I sank my mouth over him. I loved the way he tasted, how hot and vital he felt in my mouth. Our gazes were locked together, and there was such power in it as my tongue lashed his cock. Maybe I was trying too hard to get back what would come naturally. We’d always had a connection, even if it wasn’t tangible.

  I wanted Kristair to give it to me, not to take it from him by wearing down his walls, not to coerce and wheedle until I got my way. A little frown appeared on his face, pinching his nose, and Kristair reached down, pulling me up into his arms. “What is it, mo chroí?”

  “Is it so hard to open up to me?” I slid my fingers over his scalp, touched them lightly to his temple as I watched the struggle on his face.

  “Yes and no,” Kristair sighed. “It’s not you, it’s just that it is foreign to me. I don’t like showing my weaknesses, even to you.”

  “You think I’ll think any less of you?”

  Kristair shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t do that. It makes me feel vulnerable and exposed, like the ground is shaking beneath my feet and I cannot regain balance. But I am keeping no secrets from you. And you know how I feel even without me telling you, and I take comfort in having you beside me.”

  I smiled at that and nuzzled his lips before kissing him slowly. “I like the sound of that.”

  “I know.” Kristair looked at me as if he were having some kind of an internal argument. “I fight myself more than I fight you. If it were just a matter of letting you in, I would in a heartbeat. If it were a matter of just will and not instinct. I’m sorry.”

  “What are you trying to tell me?” I asked him, stroking my fingers down the curve of his neck.

  “That I’m not against you trying to reopen the link between us. And I won’t consider it a violation of my privacy if you succeed. I know I resisted the idea at the beginning, but I have no secrets from you. I may not be able to express myself very well with words, but I do not have a problem sharing myself with you in every way when our minds a
re linked.” A slow smile crossed his lips. “If anyone could reopen it, it would be you.”

  “So you’re saying that my plan of taking advantage of your exhaustion and seducing you with my mad skills so I could punch through your mental shields was a good one,” I said with a grin and a little nip to his jaw.

  The smile turned into a low laugh. “Mad skills? You certainly have a unique way of phrasing things.”

  “I try.” I leaned over and dug a bottle of lube out of the overnight bag on the floor. “It’s been a shitty twenty-four hours and I don’t have the mental mojo for it right now. I just want to make love to you.”

  “I need you,” Kristair whispered, catching me around the waist and rolling me under him.

  “I’m all yours.” I groaned as he nudged apart my thighs and settled against me, our cocks grinding against each other. I watched, enthralled, as the pleasure flickered over Kristair’s face while he circled his hips. “Does this mean I don’t get to finish going down on you? I was enjoying myself.”

  “That wouldn’t be a good idea, Jacob. I just might pass out when you are through with me.”

  “All part of my wicked plan; then I could violate that pretty ass of yours in all kinds of lewd ways.”

  “You’re incorrigible.”

  I was laughing when Kristair kissed me. He rocked his hips, and heat washed through me. I loved every damn sexy inch of his hard, lean body against my own. “God, Kristair.”

  I slid my fingers over his scalp and teased the back of his neck. A shiver rippled through him, and he groaned against my mouth. “I know each spot on you that makes you do that,” I whispered and skated my hands down his spine to that sexy dip in his lower back. Kristair shivered again and kissed the bare spot on my neck between the ends of the torc.

  “I know such things too.” My lover lowered his head and caught my nipple ring between his teeth, giving it a gentle tug.

  “Oh fuck.” I gasped and arched up, grinding my hips into Kristair’s. I didn’t even want to move from this position right now; the friction felt too damn good. Kristair’s tongue flicked and soothed the ache in my nipple before he gave it a gentle bite and brought it to an aching peak again. “You’re such a damn tease. You know what that does to me.”

  Kristair flashed me a grin. “That I do.”

  Anticipation gripped me as he moved to my other nipple, driving me just as crazy with that one until I was in a fever of need. I palmed his muscled ass, teasing my fingertip against his entrance, scoring my teeth against his shoulder as he quivered. “You gonna fuck me, Kristair? ’Cause if you’re not going to get on with it, I’ve got what I want right here.” With that, I pushed my finger into his tight, grasping heat.

  Kristair moaned, his body relaxing as he rocked back, seeking a deeper penetration. I couldn’t get enough of the way he looked and tasted when he surrendered, and an idea struck me. I removed my finger and gave him a quick kiss on soft lips. “Grab the vibrator from my bag.”

  “I didn’t pack that. Where did you get toys?” Kristair asked, incredulous, and I gave him a gentle push.

  “I didn’t know how long we’d be out here. I saw a little shop when I was checking out the town after Steve arrived.” I ogled his ass as he moved to lean over the side of the bed, laughing as he shot an exasperated look at me over his shoulder. “Are you sure you’re not reading my mind?”

  “I have no need to read minds to know what’s going through yours.” Kristair returned to my side and handed me the slim toy, his expression one of wary curiosity. “Just what do you intend to do with that?”

  I would have bet that in the entire history of Kristair’s long life, no one had dared go after his ass with anything other than their finger. I couldn’t understand that, even though I knew the air of reserve he carried about him could be a bit intimidating on its own. Add in the fact that he had been a vampire, and a powerful one at that, and most would have been too awed to give Kristair what he craved deep inside. But I dared, and the thought of the whimpers of submission I would get from him when I used the toy on him made me almost dizzy.

  “Why don’t you just go back to what you were doing and let me worry about the vibrator,” I said, crooking my finger at him and spreading my legs so he could settle between them. “Don’t you keep telling me you trust me?”

  Kristair muttered an oath, and then he was there, his hard body over mine, kissing me breathless. I fumbled for the lube, and he groaned against my mouth as I slicked it over his cock. “Inside me,” I mumbled against his lips, desperate for the feel of him. Then he was pushing inside of me, filling me with a burning sting.

  God, Kristair made it hard to think.

  I groped for the vibrator and lube as he sank into me, and I cradled his hips with my knees. Kristair whispered my name, his eyes dark and hooded, and a tremble went through him as I flipped on the vibrator, filling the air with a soft buzz. “Is this what you’re waiting for, love?”

  “I swear, Jacob, you could make me want for just about anything.”

  I took that as a yes and switched off the toy again long enough to slick it with the lube, a task made more difficult by my own trembling fingers. The sensation of Kristair inside of me, stretching me, sparking hot tingles, made me anxious to get on with it. My hips longed to rock, to arch up into him, and it took effort to remain still.

  Our gazes locked together as I slowly pushed the vibrator into him. Kristair’s lips parted on a soft, sexy sound. Heat flared in his eyes as I twisted it, almost eliciting a whimper as I turned it back on. I could barely breathe, he was so goddamned sexy. I loved every tremble, every quick intake of breath, the dignity and pride he showed in his submission. I didn’t know how he did it, but it was addicting.

  I kissed him, knowing the reaction that I was about to get and knowing he wouldn’t want anyone else to hear. Kristair cried out into my mouth as I thrust the vibrator into him, and then he was moving, rocking into me with each stroke.

  My lover burrowed his arms under me, and my cock throbbed against his stomach. We were so close, not an inch separating us, and it felt so damn good. Kristair broke his mouth away and buried his face against my throat. He quivered with each hard thrust of the vibrator, whispering my name over and over between soft pleading moans.

  I rested my forehead on his shoulder, panting against his skin, fingers curling into his strong back. When neither of us were trying, I sensed him. The elusive swirl of his emotions, the love, the desire and need, the security he got in my arms. And I ceased worrying that he would do something reckless in order to prove himself. Kristair might not have talked about his fears with me face to face, but in his own way, he gave them to me every time we were in bed together. He gave them to me, and I helped ease the tension from him without even knowing I was.

  Kristair gave them to me when he submitted and begged for release. When he showed his vulnerable side and let me take control and took comfort from that act. That was his way of getting rid of all the bottled-up feelings he kept hidden at other times. It was his gift, his way of coping, and I realized it was enough.

  Kristair’s orgasm was coming quick. I knew it with each hard snap of his hips, each muffled, desperate sound. “Not yet, love, not yet,” I said, flipping the vibrator to a higher setting as he writhed on top of me.

  “Jacob… Jacob, please,” Kristair begged under his breath, his lips close to my ear. I could have lived off of the sound of his voice at those moments.

  “Not yet, beautiful.” I ground my cock against him, sweat and pre-come making his stomach slick. “You’re not there yet.”

  But I was, and when I came, marking Kristair’s clean skin with my scent, he went wild over me, nipping my shoulder and throat urgently. I wrapped my legs around his thighs, trapping him against me, the feel of him buried inside of me so hot and hard, throbbing with each heartbeat. I slid my arm around his shoulders, holding him down as he rocked his hips as best as he could, and worked the toy ruthlessly in him.

  “Jaco
b… please… let me go.”

  “You don’t want me to,” I replied, twisting the vibrator, feeling him jolt as I found his spot. I smiled as he nodded, his fingertips digging hard into my back.

  “I do… I do, Jacob, please… I can’t take it….”

  “You want to take it.” I kissed him hard, tasting each whimper and sharp cry. I kept kissing and tormenting him until I felt his resistance fade, his mouth going pliant as he submitted. God, I loved him.

  I slid my hand up to his scalp and broke the kiss, staring up into his dark eyes. Everything was there, all laid out and naked, and it made my heart ache. “Who’s got you, Kristair?”

  “You, mo chroí.” A shudder rippled down Kristair’s spine, and I nipped his lower lip hard.

  “Come for me, my beautiful man,” I said, kissing him again as he cried out into my mouth and his cock throbbed sharply in me. I held on tight as his orgasm ripped through him and stroked my hands over him, caressing until each ripple subsided. I never wanted to let go of him again.

  Chapter 20

  THE SUN had long since set by the time I stirred. Jacob’s side of the bed was empty and cool, but I could sense him in the other room. I wasn’t sure if it was because he had made a breakthrough to me or if I had finally opened my mind to the possibility. The connection wasn’t very strong, but it was enough that I could find him if I needed to, and that alone was vastly reassuring.

  I lay in bed for a few minutes, trying to orient myself. I suspected that those pills Jacob had given me weren’t just painkillers. I’d slept heavily after I’d fallen asleep so fast in Jacob’s arms and was finding it hard now to shake off the lethargy. I didn’t even remember him cleaning me up when clearly he must have. I frowned. I’d have to have words with my lover about that.

  There was a soft knock on the bedroom door as I sat up, and Kayla spoke. “You decent in there?”