A Touch of Lilly

by Nina Pierce

  “If you stop…I’ll kill you,” she whispered.

  Dallas inhaled a shaky breath and gently pressed his lips to hers.

  Oh hell no. “Don’t go easy on my account,” she said against his mouth. “In the state I’m in, fast and hard works just fine for me.”

  He tipped his head back, his smile slow and reckless—as if a plan was formulating. “Far be it for me to ignore a lady’s request.” The words were low and deadly, promising all the wickedness glinting in his eyes. “Hang on tight, Lilly. You’re in for one hell of a ride.”

  His mouth came down on hers, devouring her in its breathless path to possess. Lilly’s head fell back against the chair as his lips broke from hers, raking a path of moist heat and raw lust along her jaw and down her neck. While his teeth scraped over her pulse points, his hands swept across her shoulders, peeling his shirt away as they went.

  Dallas let it slide seductively over her breasts until it lay in a pile in her lap. When the broad heat of his palms slid over her achy mounds and squeezed, she couldn’t hold back the moan of need keening from her lips.

  Dallas chuckled. “I’ve only just begun.” He bit playfully at her neck then licked the spot his teeth had grazed. He rolled the hard peaks of her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers at the same time, sending sparks straight down her center. His mouth kissed a hot path to her breast. The damp curls of his hair tickled along her heated skin, a wonderful contrast to the nip of pain he inflicted with his love bites to her nipples. Her back arched, pressing her heated flesh harder against his talented hands and greedy mouth. Dallas pressed her breasts close together with his hands and flicked his tongue from one aching nipple to the other. Pleasure careened along her nerves, shooting straight to her clitoris, her body trembling against the assault.

  As much as she wanted to dig her fingers through the thick curls of his hair and pull Dallas close, being bound to the chair lent another level of eroticism to his touches. She could neither fight the onslaught of sensations nor change his course. Not that she wanted to do either. The man certainly had moves that required no assistance or instruction.

  With one hand still on her breast, the other tripped down her rib cage and gathered a corner of the shirt still covering her lap. With slow deliberation, Dallas dragged the material over her thighs and she canted her hips, loving the feeling of the soft material over her naked flesh. The erotic scent of her arousal hung in the air.

  Dallas filled his lungs. “That’s a heady perfume, Lilly. It’s enough to drive a man insane with need.”

  She wasn’t sure if he had intended them to, but his words stiffened her back and knotted her stomach. With just one sentence Dallas had slammed the door on her fantasy that being with him would be different. For once she’d wanted to believe this union was more than just a mindless rutting brought on by the lustful odor of her body. Like bees to honey, men just couldn’t resist the attraction.

  Lilly had let herself believe that Dallas was somehow different.

  Dallas hesitated. Leaning back, he studied her. “Did I say something wrong?”

  Yes. “No.” She shook her head to emphasize the word she didn’t feel. Now she was more interested in finishing what had begun and powering down her energy. How Dallas chose to get them both off and break the bond, didn’t matter anymore. Lilly just wasn’t sure how he’d complete the task with her tied to the confining chair. “Wouldn’t you be more comfortable doing this over there on the bed?” She tipped her chin toward the large sleeping pallet in the corner piled with decorative pillows.

  He frowned with confusion. “I don’t intend this to be about me, Lilly.” Dallas planted a tender kiss on her inner thigh. “This is about what I’m going to do for you.” His hands squeezed her calves, and she swore she felt the heat of them even through the leather of her boots. “I rather like having you at my mercy. And from my perspective…” his teeth dug into the tender skin just above her birthmark and Lilly bit her cheek to hold back her cry, “it’s rather obvious you’re enjoying it too.” His palms skimmed up the outside of her legs as his teeth nipped a path to her most sensitive flesh. “And I intend to take full advantage.”

  Dallas’ actions made no sense. The man urging her thighs wider seemed willing to delay his own gratification to satisfy her needs first. Even as confusion clouded her thoughts, Lilly lifted her hips, exposing her weeping cleft and allowing his thumbs access to spread her swollen lower lips.

  “That’s right, Lilly, open for me.” He filled his lungs with her scent. “I have no intention of untying you until I have you begging.” Dallas blew up her slit and she writhed at the thrill of the chilled air. “And even then I might keep you there just to hear you continue to scream for me.”

  Two fingers spread her lips, exposing the aching bud of her clitoris. When Dallas put his mouth on her slick flesh, the silken touch of his tongue was like a flame licking over the pearled nub. He sucked her clit into his mouth and tortured it with hot little flicks. The pleasure blazed over her nerves, spreading out to scorch a path to the tips of her fingers and toes. Dallas’ other hand slid along her inner thigh, swirling two thick fingers in her cream before pressing them into her clenching channel, drawing a moan of bliss from her throat.

  She couldn’t believe this was happening. Like their encounter in the alley, he was willing to satisfy her needs first. Lilly wanted to contemplate his motives, but the carnal sensations he was creating in her body made all logical thought impossible.

  The sexy slurping noises of Dallas finger-fucking her, the sight of his head in her lap and the electrical currents radiating out from her core brought on a climax so hard and so fast, Lilly was bucking against the ropes and screaming his name before she had time to process what was happening. Because her energy level was so high for so long, the explosion of rapture burst over every nerve and trembled through every muscle of her body. With no way to move, her nails bit deeply into her palms and her toes curled in her boots. The sexual energy ebbed even as her body quaked and shattered in ecstasy.

  Despite the erotic current pulsing out from her, Dallas seemed content to focus solely on her. When she looked down in wonder, the last shudders of her orgasm clenching her belly, she found him staring at her. He smiled and laved up her slit as if he couldn’t get enough of her slick honey.

  “Like what you see?” she asked.

  “A beautiful woman reaching orgasm while she screams my name? What’s not to enjoy?” His triumphant grin warmed her heart.

  He held her gaze as his caresses became gentle nibbles on her sex and thighs. Pulling his fingers from her channel, Dallas sucked off her juices and groaned with pleasure.

  “That’s a smug look of satisfaction you’re wearing.” she said, breathless. Without the energy snapping over her nerves, her body melted into the chair. She swore the heat that had coursed through her had liquefied her bones.

  Dallas trailed kisses up her hip and stomach as he rose on his knees. “After a woman’s screamed your name in the throes of a rather thunderous orgasm,” his teeth grazed her nipple, “why shouldn’t a man be pleased?”

  He laughed and captured her mouth with his.

  The taste of her honey burst on her tongue as Dallas kissed her with a rapacious hunger that sparked her barely cooled ardor. His hand slid up her belly to cup the weighty flesh of her breast and she arched into his touch, surprised her muscles could respond.

  Breaking the kiss, Dallas laid his forehead against hers, his thumb brushing her sensitive nipple. “If I untie you, will you run?”

  Her head shook even before she thought about the question. Only an hour ago she thought this man intended to kill her. Thirty minutes ago she believed he would ship her to the outer reaches of Krystallos Three to be enslaved. Now, despite the looming threat of an interrogation, she just wanted to curl up in Dallas’ arms and steal a few minutes of security in his embrace.

  Dallas carefully picked up the dagger and cut through the bindings at her ankles. He stood, walk
ed around the chair and sliced the bindings at her wrists.

  Lilly hugged herself, stretching the tight muscles of her shoulders. Rubbing her hands together, she worked blood back into her tingling hands. In the thrill of being bound and at Dallas’ mercy, she hadn’t realized just how sore they’d become.

  He stood beside the chair and pulled her to her feet. His hands massaged her shoulders, concern lining his face. “You should’ve said something if they were too tight.”

  She smiled and nipped his chin. “I had other things on my mind and didn’t notice.”

  He laughed and pulled her against him, his arms anchoring her to his hard body. The heat of his skin against her torso shot a burst of longing down her core. She thought the amount of energy that had been released had drained her. But standing this close to him, her breasts pressed against the warm skin of his chest and his erection rubbing her belly, Lilly’s body once again thrummed with need.

  “I believe you have entirely too many clothes on, Dallas.” She tipped her hips and ground her pubic bone against his fly.

  “Do you have something in mind?”

  She undid his buckle and unsnapped his jeans. “Well, if Thaegan’s going to take all night, I’d like to repeat the performance in the alley a few more times.” Lilly really wanted to ask how Dallas had managed to control himself when her energy had been pulsing and driving the Ka’al mad with need. But having sex with her wasn’t really a choice any male made, just the result of her gift. She’d tried to accept that fact years ago. Veering the conversation in that direction wouldn’t accomplish anything except making her feel small and insignificant.

  “Maybe we could take advantage of the comfortable bed in the corner.” She nodded once again to the functional pallet that passed for sleeping space in the one-room cabin.

  “That could be arranged.” His dimple deepened around the smile curving his lips.

  She couldn’t tear her gaze from the unfathomable depths of his soulful eyes. Eyes that raked her face with the desperation of man in the desert seeking water. Eyes hooded with sexual hunger. Eyes filled with a compassion she could almost believe in.

  But reality was a bitch. None of that was real and Lilly chose to ignore that fact and lose herself once again in the fantasy of Dallas’ desire. She maneuvered the jeans off his hips, releasing the velvet heat of his erection to brush against her hip. Trapping his penis between their bodies, she rolled her hips, pressing her belly against his cock. She tipped up on her toes, catching his groans of pleasure in her mouth as she kissed him long and hard, the taste of her still on his tongue.

  Dallas’ arms slid around her back, his fingers digging into her ass, holding her tight to him. The soft fur of his chest teased her nipples into tight points. His muscles trembled with the need he’d worked so hard to control. Lilly pulled him closer, letting herself imagine his desire was about her.

  Dallas had given her so much pleasure and as much as she wanted to feel him buried in her, stretching and filling her, Lilly wanted to offer him something in return. Breaking from his kiss, she trailed love bites along his chin and down the taut cords of his neck. She slid down his stomach, intent on tasting his hot cock in her mouth. She pushed the jeans down his thighs and the dagger fell from his waistband to the floor with a heavy thud.

  Lilly reached for it as the door slammed open.

  Chapter Seven

  “What the fuck…” Thaegan’s heavy steps pounded across the floor. “Watch out, Sawyer, she’s got the dagger!”

  In the split second it took Dallas’ lust-fogged mind to register Thaegan’s sudden appearance, he interpreted exactly what the Ka’al saw—the mess scattered on the floor behind them, Lilly’s unbound naked form bending seductively in front of him and the Seraphelium taking control with the deadly Ba’alkin dagger sliding toward his vital organs. With the jeans tangled around his ankles, there wasn’t much Dallas could do to protect either of them from the oncoming freight train that was his partner. He curled his body over in hopes of shielding Lilly from the blow, but survival instincts had her moving like a shot.

  With the agility and confidence of one of Chicago’s finest, Lilly charged, the knife extended. Thaegan let out a war cry as he reached out to disarm Lilly. What happened next may have appeared in slow motion, but Dallas would never be sure how the petite woman had managed it. There was a tangling of arms, a juggling of the dagger and Lilly’s booted foot shot out and up. Somehow she managed to use Thaegan’s momentum against him. The large alien lost his balance, sprawled on his back and slid along the floor, smashing into the chair near Dallas. It was a wonder he hadn’t been taken down as well.

  Silence pinged off the walls of the tiny cabin as the three of them assimilated the events of the last minute.

  Dallas retrieved his jeans and pulled himself back together. Lilly bounced on the balls of her feet, the dagger still in her hand and extended, prepared for another attack. Thaegan slowly sat up, his fingers probing his scalp for damages. Dallas wanted to laugh at his partner’s pinched expression. He’d never seen the large alien bested by anyone in hand-to-hand combat, let alone a small woman.

  “Enough is enough, asshole.” Lilly’s angry words brought him up short.

  Dallas stepped toward her, his hand extended. But the warning look she shot stopped him cold. “Lilly, put down the dagger. You’ve got to see how this looked to Thaegan.”

  “What I see, Dallas, is a couple of government idiots who overpowered an innocent woman doing her job. I think it’s me who should be pissed at you for costing me a bounty. Not the other way around.”

  The woman had morphed from wanton seductress to pissed-off woman in two seconds flat. Not that he blamed her. They’d kidnapped her, tied her up and now Thaegan had tried to attack her a second time in less than two hours. She had every right to resent them. But, shit, she did look sexy as hell with that dangerous mien of female indignation sparking in her eyes. Her breasts bounced enticingly with her anger, her hair disheveled from the altercation with Thaegan. And that mouth spewing fury was still swollen from his kisses. Jesus, the blood rushing to his groin was making it hard to focus.

  “Lilly, we—”

  “I told you not to untie her.” Thaegan shifted and began to stand.

  “Stay down, Ka’al,” Lilly commanded. “I like you right there.”

  Thaegan acted as if she’d said nothing and stood next to Dallas, disgust deepening the ridges on his nose.

  “I’m warning you, Ka’al. One move and I will gut you with this dagger. I’ve got enough negative energy pulsing around me, that the dagger will do most of the work.”

  His partner quirked an eyebrow. Lilly may have caught him off guard once, but Dallas had no doubt the alien wouldn’t let it happen a second time.

  Again Thaegan ignored her. “This certainly does complicate things.” The Ka’al sniffed the air then Dallas. “By the Gods, you didn’t.”

  Dallas shrugged.

  “She got to you too? Obviously, even that artificial shit flowing through your veins doesn’t stop her witchery. Is that why you untied her?”

  He turned to face his partner. Dallas wasn’t sure what was irritating him more, the fact his partner was questioning his motives or the fact he hadn’t bothered to resist his own selfish needs. “I untied her because she’s no threat to me.”

  “She controls you whether you feel it or not.”

  “Is she controlling you right now? Is that why you’re being such an asshole?” Dallas asked.

  Thaegan paused. He inhaled deeply and turned to stare at Lilly.

  “I’m not doing shit to you, Ka’al,” Lilly said.

  “Indeed you’re not,” Thaegan responded.

  Dallas bent, picked up his shirt and tossed it to Lilly. Her nudity didn’t seem to be bothering anyone but him. The sight of her pendulous breasts and miles of alabaster skin made it hard for him to think with the head on his shoulders.

  “So where does that leave us?” he asked.

&nbs
p; But his partner ignored him and focused on Lilly. “How the hell did you stop the magic?”

  “It’s not magic, idiot. I control the flow of energy.” She spoke as she worked the last few buttons of Dallas’ shirt, the dagger held loose in her hand. “I can ratchet it up or power it down. Simple.”

  It was true. Current didn’t seem to be humming over her trembling muscles the way it had when she was tied to the chair. Dallas would like to think it had more to do with his sexual prowess in bringing her to orgasm than her ability to manipulate her own energy levels.

  Thaegan slapped his hands together. “Well, then it seems she’s safe to transport to headquarters. No sense waiting until morning. We might as well roll.”

  “I’m not going to your headquarters now or in the morning.”

  “Yeah, the more I’ve been thinking about this the more I’m thinking that’s not a good idea,”

  “What the hell, man?” asked Thaegan.

  “Just hear me out. We suspect the Znedu’s boss has something to do with…” Dallas paused, he definitely wasn’t thinking straight. That was QAL information. He had no illusion that a former detective didn’t pick up on his slip, but he continued as if he hadn’t just passed on sensitive information. “Since Lilly has a connection now to Grebetz, I’m thinking it’s probably not safe for her at headquarters.”

  He absently fingered the scar running down his face, the only part of his near-death experience he refused to let the doctors on Canus Delta heal. “There’s no one at headquarters who can interrogate her better than you and me.” It had nothing to do with interrogation techniques and everything to do with the suspicion that there was someone in QAL playing both sides. In the last few months, as Hij’Rozhod continued to evade detection, he’d come to believe it might even be someone on his own team. Dallas wasn’t willing to risk his mission or Lilly’s life trying to confirm that suspicion. “It’s not just about Grebetz, if you get my drift.”