He kissed her like the precious thing she was, speaking adoration with his lips. He’d said he wasn’t in love with her, and that was true, but he knew it wouldn’t be for long. Knew he was already falling hard for this beautiful, fierce and fragile woman. He wanted to kiss away her pains, her fears, to promise her that she’d never have to worry about anything again.
Asha made a low sound in the back of her throat and Cael’s thoughts abruptly shifted. A primal need to hear her taking pleasure in his attentions filled him, and he kissed her harder, sweeping his tongue across her bottom lip, seeking entrance. She granted it with enthusiasm, their kiss a battle, a quest for dominance as each of them sought to take what they wanted, needed, from the other. He tangled one hand in her hair, the other sliding beneath her top, exploring the skin of her back, then round to her front, sliding up to cup her breast, thumb grazing across her nipple, prompting her to moan against his mouth.
Cael found enough restraint to draw back, breaking the kiss. They were both breathing hard, bodies tensed with unfulfilled need. His fingers were gripping her hair, her side a little too tight, his subconscious not ready to let her go just yet. But he forced himself to take a breath, even as she tipped her head back, arching her body towards his, the curve of her neck just begging to be kissed…
“Asha,” he said, his voice rasping. “I want you, but if we sleep together, the Imorna will pass to you and you’ll be as tied to me as I am to you. I don’t think you are ready for that sort of commitment.”
It physically hurt to say it. Denying himself a taste of her now was an almost unbearable torture. But he wouldn’t push her into anything she wasn’t ready for. He cared about her far too much to risk causing her any sort of pain.
Asha drew back from him just a little, her hands going to his face and guiding his gaze to hers. Her pupils were wide with lust, grey eyes dark and fathomless. Her kiss swollen lips were parted just a little, and it took everything Cael had not to claim them again.
“What if there is something we can do about that?” she said.
Chapter 13
ASHA’S HEART POUNDED AS SHE LEAD Cael through the motorhome to her bedroom, her skin burning from their fiery kiss. The cooling night whispered over her body, every sensation heightened as she knelt beside her bed, pulling out the drawer beneath it, rummaging through it.
“Would this work?” she asked, handing him a condom.
Dear God, let it work. If they couldn’t finish what they’d started, Asha thought her heart might implode. She needed him. Needed his touch, his kiss. Needed him in a way she’d never needed anyone else. No one else had ever intoxicated her quite like him.
He answered by kissing her, another scorching tangle of lips and tongues. She pulled him down to the bed, sinking with him into the mattress, his body over hers, his weight a delicious pressure. He kissed her like he’d been starving, like her lips breathed new life into him. And maybe she’d have been scared by that intensity if her own body hadn’t responded in kind. She wanted to touch him everywhere, kiss him everywhere, drink him in until this thirst she’d never known she had was quenched.
His hands burrowed beneath her top, seeking out her flesh. She tugged at his top, trying to find buttons or hooks, or some sort of catch that would release the material and reveal her quarry. A growl of frustration escaped her as she failed to find anything. Cael stopped kissing her, laughing, his head nestling against her neck.
“Why are your clothes so complicated?” she demanded.
“They’re formal wear,” he said, propping himself up on his elbow so he could look down at her. “Although you’d probably find my regular clothes as much of a challenge.”
He pushed himself upright, hands going to the side of his top. Asha grabbed him by the wrist, stilling him.
“Show me,” she said.
The fire simmering in his eyes flared at her request. He guided her fingers to the hidden seams, teaching her how to undress him. And nothing had ever felt quite so intimate to Asha.
As she pushed the material off his shoulders, his fingers found the hem of her own top, lifting it up. She raised her arms above her head, helping him along. As he threw the top aside, he turned his gaze on her, eyes taking in every inch of her skin. It should have been uncomfortable, should have left her feeling exposed, vulnerable. But the obvious desire in his eyes only made her feel wanted, the building heat between her legs demanding that he touch her with more than just his gaze, and soon.
Then he was kissing her again, hands sweeping from her hips to her shoulders, shivering sensations following in the wake of his touch. He kissed from her mouth to her jaw, feathering a trail down her neck to her collarbone as he lowered her back to the bed. He continued his path down, lips reaching the swell of her breasts, then drawing her nipple in with a gentle suck.
Asha moaned as his tongue swirled around the sensitive bud, her breath growing ragged with desire. He took his time, dividing his attentions between both breasts, until she was writhing with need beneath him.
“Cael, please,” she gasped. “I need you.”
His fingers went to the waistband of her trousers, slowly drawing them down. She arched her hips to help him, watching as he fumbled with the catch of his own trousers, revealing at last his fully naked form. She devoured the sight of his lean, athletic body, the way his shoulders tapered down to a narrow waist, the delicious way the lines of his abs pointed down and down.
He pulled out the condom, rolling it down the length of his erection. As he settled himself over her, Asha wrapped her legs round him, encouraging him onwards. His cock probed at her entrance, making her whimper.
“Asha,” he breathed her name into her ear, then pressed himself in to her.
Asha groaned, pleasure rippling through her at the delicious sensation of him moving inside her. He drew back before surging forwards again, burying himself in her, their bodies fully joined. A sweet ache began to build between her legs, a pressure that needed to be released.
He started moving, slow at first, exquisitely so. He watched her as he did, learning which motions pleased her, which made her gasp and cry out, then repeated them in different combinations, faster, harder, then slow, gentle, building her up until she was riding close to the edge of release.
Then he kissed her, plundering her body for his own pleasure, hands greedy for her skin, stroking, squeezing. Asha cried out again and again as he worked her body, keeping her on the precipice, never quite letting her tumble over the edge. How long he held her there, Asha wasn’t sure. Delirious with pleasure, she lost herself in the way his body moved against hers, forgetting about everything except the touch of his sweat slicked skin, and the fire he was stoking between her legs. Until, finally, her orgasm started to build, wave upon wave of pleasure pushing her higher and higher. Throwing her head back, she let out a cry, body convulsing. Cael followed close behind her, thrusting his hips hard against hers as he found his own release.
It took a long time for Asha to relocate her voice.
“Teach me to say something in Allortasian,” she said, tracing a pattern across his chest with the tips of her fingers. “How do you say ‘hello’?”
“It’s not as easy a question to answer as you might think,” he said, voice delightfully gruff. “Allortasian is a language that’s varied according to relationships. So how you would say ‘hello’ depends entirely on who you were saying ‘hello’ to.”
“What, like we’d say ‘hello’ or ‘hi’ or ‘good morning’ in English?”
“No.” His hand traced the curve of her spine, her nerve endings alight to his touch. “It’s easier to explain with verbs. English has lots of different words for what is essentially the same action, but the words convey a different style of doing that action. Talking, for instance. You would use the verb ‘to talk’ to describe the act of exchanging conversation with your boss, or your sister, or some random person you only just met. You could use ‘chat’ to change the meaning slightly, but you’d st
ill chat with your boss, your sister, etc.
“In Allortasian, the root word for ‘talk’ is evor, but the ending changes depending on the relationship of the person you’re talking with. So, if I was to talk with a politician, for example, it would be evoralda, ‘alda’ denoting the formal nature of the relationship.”
Asha tried to concentrate, tried not to be distracted by the gentle sway of his hair, or the points where their bodies were intertwined. “I think I get it. What would it be if you were talking with your sister?”
“Evoraleth, ‘aleth’ is for familial relationships.”
“Evor…aleth,” Asha sounded out the syllables. “How many different relationships are there?”
“Thirteen,” Cael said.
“This sounds horribly complicated,” Asha said.
Cael laughed. “Exacerbated by the fact that multiple different formations could be used in the same relationship context. A teacher might use the familial formation if they’re trying to be kind to their student, even though they aren’t related. What formation you use tells people a lot about the relationship you’re discussing, and if you use, for example, the friendship formation to talk about someone and they use the acquaintance formation to talk about you, well…”
“Burn,” Asha said.
“Precisely.”
“So when I asked ‘how do you say hello’…”
“It’s normally only verbs that change, but because ‘hello’ is a greeting, rather than having lots of different words for different contexts, we just use the formations. The root word for ‘hello’ is aldorn…”
“So when you’re doing your political meet and greets, you’d say aldornalda?”
Cael grinned. “You’ll be fluent in no time.”
“How would you say ‘hello’ to me?”
Her voice and her gaze were soft as she said it. Cael leaned forwards, capturing her lips in another sweet kiss.
“Aldornaiva,” he said, his voice low, slightly husky. “‘Aiva’ denotes a romantic relationship.”
“Aldornaiva,” she repeated.
They talked about nothing and everything. She asked about his childhood, his home, his family. He told her about the purple grasslands he and his sister had played hide and seek in, how much Allendi had indulged him, despite the age gap between them. How she’d struggled so much with the burden of royalty.
“She abdicated the throne when she came of age,” Cael said. “I know she felt bad about landing the responsibility on my shoulders, but anyone who knew her well could have seen it coming.”
“Oh,” Asha said. “I assumed you were first in line because you’re a guy.”
“Most advanced civilisation in the universe,” he said. “We’ve long put the practice of preferencing by gender behind us.”
“Alright, just because Humanity are savages compared to you…”
He kissed her nose. “You are savages,” he said, teasing, “but you’re delightful all the same. Most of the time.”
“I’m delightful all the time,” Asha said, pouting, “it’s just other idiots letting the side down.”
Cael fixed her a disbelieving look that made her laugh so much, her ribs hurt.
At some point, the topic of conversation landed on her own family.
“It’s not a happy story,” she said. “I was Mikey’s age when our mother died. I barely remember her. Nell is two years older than me, she remembers fragments of things here and there. She was sick for a long time. I think I’m lucky not to remember it so well.”
Cael caught her hand in his, bringing her knuckles to his lips.
“You don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to,” he said.
Asha shrugged. “It happened a long time ago. It’s sad, but... distant. I don’t mind.”
Truth was, she’d never spoken about it much, but it felt right to tell him. He was trusting her, giving her everything and letting her hold back. She wanted him to understand where she was coming from, why giving of herself was so hard for her. Things she was only just starting to understand herself.
“Our father died in an accident four years later,” she said. “He was a drunk. Not a horrible one, just a sad one. He used to be a mechanic, too, that’s how he knew Mal. But after our mother died… He was never the same. Just sunk deeper and deeper into drink until it was the only thing he cared about. The morning he died, he’d started making some porridge. I always wondered about that. He never made us breakfast. Nell always took care of all that. But there it was, on the hob - burning by the time Nell and I woke up and came downstairs. Sometimes, when I’m feeling more charitable towards him, I like to think that part of him had decided that morning he was going to turn his life around, actually look after his kids. He just had to step out into the garage and get something down from the high shelves… Doctors said it was unlucky, falling like that. Any other day he’d have been bruised, maybe at worst fractured something. But it wasn’t his lucky day.”
Cael’s fingers brushed over her hair, tucking it behind her ear. “Where did you and Nell go after that?”
“Care,” Asha said. “Mal wanted to take us on, but social services were of the opinion that we’d have a better chance in the system than with an ex-con with no family of his own to speak of. He did his best by us, but there wasn’t much he could do. We bounced through a few foster families before landing in a care home. That’s where I met Marta. We were both ten, proper little tearaways, always getting into trouble.”
“I can imagine,” Cael said, amusement flashing through his eyes.
Asha took a steadying breath.
“Those years… Losing Dad, then being pushed from one home to another. I guess I started thinking that I couldn’t trust anyone but Nell and Marta. Everyone always left us - our parents, our foster parents, the staff at the care homes... it was like the only permanent fixtures in my life were those two. Then Nell met Ricky and he left, too. I think that was the worst, in a way, because if someone could leave Nell like that - my beautiful, amazing sister - then what chance did I have?” She looked at him, forcing the words out. “So this isn’t easy for me. I don’t do being open and emotionally vulnerable. My ex called me an iceberg because I was so cold and closed off with him...”
“Asha, you don’t...”
She pressed a finger to his lips, cutting him off.
“Please,” she said, “let me say this.”
A glimmer of amusement appeared in his eyes, perhaps recalling this moment in reverse not so many hours before. She’d listened to him then, and he’d listen to her now.
“I don’t want to be that person who’s too scared to truly give of herself any more. I don’t want to destroy another relationship because I figure if I break it first, then it can’t break me. I’m going to try, really, really try to be less like that. You make me want to try.”
He caught her lips with his, kissing her slowly, thoroughly, until she thought she’d melt if he carried on.
“As long as you keep trying,” he said, “I’ll keep doing everything I can to make it easy for you.”
“Kissing me like that definitely makes it easier.”
Cael chuckled. “Then I’ll be sure to kiss you like that often.”
He kissed her forehead. Her eyes were heavy, her body and mind relaxed enough to drift away if only she closed her eyes.
“Sleep,” he said, murmuring the word softly into her ear. “There will be plenty of time for kissing in the morning.”
Chapter 14
ASHA DIDN’T STIR TIL MIDDAY THE next morning, her exhaustion apparently overcoming her. Cael took the opportunity to relax, reading a book he picked from her shelf, enjoying the fact that he had nowhere to be, nothing to do, nothing urgently needing his attention. The gentle rise and fall of Asha’s breathing was the most comforting white noise, the simple fact of her presence beside him filling him with contentment.
He knew when she woke up, for the Imorna woke up, too, the rush of his blood not quite so urgent,
so intense as the night before, but still there.
“What time is it?” she asked, voice groggy.
“Almost lunchtime,” he answered, putting the book down and turning to her. “I didn’t want to wake you, I thought you probably needed the sleep.”
“Definitely,” she said, rolling on to her back, stretching her arms out in front of her. “I’ve slept like a log.”
“Do logs sleep?” Cael asked, keeping his tone and expression serious, even as she glanced up at him, rolling her eyes.
“No, they just lie there, very still. It’s kind of a stupid thing to say, I know. It just means you slept really deeply. Really well.”
“Well, you definitely did that,” he said, brushing a tangled lock of hair out of her face. “I hope you’re feeling better for it?”
“Mm, I feel better,” she said. “Not sure if it’s for the sleep or the mind blowing orgasm.”
Heat shot straight to Cael’s groin at her words, the husky tone of her voice. He lay down fully, nestling himself against her side.
“We could conduct an experiment,” he suggested, nipping at her earlobe. “See whether another mind-blowing orgasm has any impact on your feeling of wellbeing.”
“That sounds like a fun experiment,” she said, turning to face him, biting at her bottom lip in an incredibly sexy way.
“I’m glad you think so,” he said, pressing his lips to hers.
They indulged in each other for a long time, until their bodies were sweaty, spent, boneless relaxation rendering them lethargic, almost sleepy again.
“If it weren’t for my nephew, my sister, Crastor, and, well, everything,” Asha said, as they lay intwined with each other, “I wouldn’t mind these riots continuing for another few days. Staying out here.”
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