“Don’t get out on my account.” He smiled in his all too familiar way. The sarcasm was there, pushing away whatever else he might be feeling after our tiring day. It relaxed me, had me smiling back at him.
I lowered myself into the tub once more, letting my limbs stretch out in front of me. I watched through half-lidded eyes as Lex kneeled before the end of the tub, his chest pressing up against the rim of it. His eyes dipped into the water, to gaze heavily at my body.
The side of my lip twitched into a small smile and I decided it wouldn’t hurt to tease him, if only slightly. I let my knees come up and part, giving him a full view of my center. The look in his eyes, the sudden flaring to life had me wet instantly. Lex took his bottom lip between his teeth and I felt emboldened by the gesture.
“Care to join me?” I offered with a smile.
Lex whooshed out a breath then smiled widely at me. “I’d rather watch, if that’s alright with you?”
I felt my cheeks flame at that suggestion. But the teasing glint in his dark eyes had me facing the challenge. Slowly, leisurely, I reached for the bar of soap. He watched my every move, my careful and precise moves. Everything I did was deliberate then. I ran the bar of soap across my chest, letting it slide down the valley between my breasts.
I kept my eyes on him as I moved. It was sensual. It was empowering. The flare in his eyes, the hitching of his breath seemed to bring me to life. It made me brave.
I took the soap and rubbed it slowly across my breast, imagining it was him who was touching me instead. The thought had me gasping, my lips parting to form an erotic sound, my head leaning back against the rim of the tub. I stared at him as I let my finger flick over my pebbling nipple.
The feeling was ecstacy.
“Enjoying yourself, red?” He rasped.
I smirked, enjoying the slow workings of his throat as he swallowed. “Immensely,” I replied.
Lex gifted me with a full toothed smile that had my heart beating faster, that had my knees shaking. It was a lazy sarcasm laced with just the right amount of seduction. For a moment I forgot that I was supposed to be the seducer. That I was supposed to be the one tantalizing him.
I regained control by widening my knees apart. His eyes darted down briefly before looking back up at me. I let the soap slide down my body, let it trail a path down my chest and dip into the water, down my stomach and just below my navel. I paused there, smirking at him again.
“You’re sure you don’t want to join? Don’t want to help?”
“Positive,” he breathed heavily. “Continue, red.”
I smiled and dipped the soap lower. Giving up the pretense that I was washing myself, I let it sink to the bottom of the tub but my hand didn’t rush to pick it up. I kept my hand there, just over my femininity. And then I let my finger run down my clit and I gasped, arching back in the water.
His breath hitched, and I could make out the frantic pulse of his heartbeat at his neck. His tongue darted out to lick his lips as he kept his gaze on my face. And the heat in his eyes spurred me on. Vivid images of his body covering my own assaulted my every waking sense. I dipped a finger between my folds slowly, lifting my hips and gasping at the very movement. I inserted another finger and began moving my hand, imagining it was him. Imagining it was his own fingers teasing me, driving me over that edge.
The heat swirled around my mind in a drunken haze. I gasped and writhed against myself, using one hand to pleasure me and the other to slide up my side and up to grip my breast in my own hand.
“Lex,” I whispered, my voice a breathy rasp.
“Red,” his voice mirrored my own, his eyelids lowered as he looked at my face, at the obvious passion I was gifting him with. One arm was leisurely resting along the rim of the tub and the other was blocked from my view but what I saw and heard had my entire body shaking, my every nerve wired high, desperate for release. I heard the sliding of a zipper, the rustling of clothes and then the erotic sound of slapping flesh. His arm was moving back and forth as watched me, his movements perfectly in sync with my own rhythm.
I gasped as I thrust my hips higher, dug my fingers in deeper. Lex’s fingers gripped the edge of the tub tighter, he leaned forward, quickening his movements, a fire burning deep in his eyes.
“Lex,” I was breathless now. Desperate, hanging on by a simple thread.
“Red,” he groaned, pressing himself tighter against the porcelain bath. “Come for me, little red,” he pleaded desperately.
The tone of his voice sent me spiralling.
I ran my hand over my clit, teasing it just before the sensation hit me with full force. I fell out of control, screaming out his name as the orgasm shook through me. My entire body trembled but before I could regain control of my senses, before I could wrap my head around anything, I felt Lex’s arms around me.
“I need you, red.” He pulled me from the the water, holding me against his chest with surprising strength. I barely had time to gasp at the sudden cold or at his sudden moves because between one second and the next, he was kissing me.
His lips were desperate and demanding, mouth opening against my own. His tongue invaded my every sense, making my head reel. And then he was moving and I was clinging to him as if to avoid drowning. He walked us out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.
He didn’t break our kiss as he laid me across the silk sheets, leaning me over so he could delve deeper into my mouth. And I wanted every bit of him. My heart was thundering as I gripped the lapels of his jacket, pulling him closer. The roughness of his clothes pressed against my sensitive core and I was desperate for there to be nothing between us at all.
I broke apart long enough to push the jacket from his shoulders. He helped, his movements quick as he tossed it aside. I reached for the hem of his shirt, lifting it over his head and tossing that to the side as well. His chest was bared before me and I took a heartbeat to admire him, to admire his lithe form. He was different than the others, waist slim and there was no shadowing of muscle rippling down his abdomen but that didn’t matter. It didn’t make him any less beautiful. It didn’t make me want him any less.
Besides, the real prize were his arms. Strong, perfectly formed.
His hands were suddenly gripping my wrists, bringing them high above my head. “Hang on, red.” He whispered, letting me go so I could grasp the headboard myself. “And don’t let go.”
I had no time to reply because just like that, his lips were on my own again, tongue diving into to tease and torture the inside of my mouth. I could scarcely breathe, but who needed air anyway? I didn’t need it when I was burning from the inside out, when he was making me feel such delightful agony. And I never wanted it to stop.
He tore his mouth from mine to suck in a breath. And then he was landing open mouthed kisses to the side of my mouth, trailing a pathway of them along my jaw. His tongue seemed to connect the spaces between my freckles with such desperation, it was as if he’d waited his whole life to do it. I shivered at the sensation, gripping the headboard tighter the further down he traveled. My neck became victim to his ministrations, his tongue hot and wet against every area of sensitive flesh. He nipped and kissed his way down to my collarbone, down the valley between my breasts.
His hands didn’t spare me, either. His calluses were rough against the soft skin at my sides, thumbs stopping just beneath my breasts. My breath hitched at the movement, at the anticipation. And when I felt the hot rasp of his tongue against my nipple, I buckled, my hips rising up to bump into his firm body.
My core grazed against the rough material of jeans and I groaned in frustration. Didn’t he know how much I needed him? I rubbed myself against him, hips grinding. He tore his mouth from my pink nub to chuckle against my skin.
“Impatient little thing,” he muttered.
I groaned in response. Damn straight. I wanted him. I wanted to feel him inside me, to feel the delicious movements he had to offer that would send me falling straight into an abyss. I needed him.
“Lex,” my voice, strangely, sounded like a plea. And I was sure he was relishing in the sound.
“Is this what you want?”
I cried out when the heel of his hand pressed tightly against my mound, the sensation that followed rocketed through every inch of me.
“Yes, Lex,” I panted.
“It’s what I want, too.” His fingers teased me, parted my folds to run the tip along the edge of my seam. I cried out, lifting them up for better access but as I did, he pulled away. I growled my frustration and he chuckled, dipping his fingers in again. This time, he slid them in deeper, stretching my inner walls around him. I bit my bottom lip against the movement, grinding my hips against his hand. He stilled suddenly. “Gods, red, do that again. Please.” He swirled his fingers inside me once more and I lost all thought, gave in to the feeling. My hands gripped tightly at the headboard as he moved against me, I threw my head back, giving him a perfect glimpse of the arc of my slender throat. “Yes,” he hissed and I bit down on my lip once more. The action seemed to spur him on, leading him towards a different direction rather than my immediate release. He was trying to drag this on longer, to tease and leave me panting. He removed his fingers from me and I cried my protest.
“Don’t worry, little red,” he reassured, pressing a kiss to my stomach, his lips moving lower and lower still. “I’ll make it all better, I promise.”
My reply was lost within my cries as he placed his lips right into my center. My hips came up but he held me steady at the hips as his tongue laved me up. His warmth was inside me, moving in delicious torture that had me thrusting my hips harder against his mouth. His lips and tongue were experts, pleasuring me with every lick and rasp of his tongue. And then his mouth closed around that little nub and he suckled…
“Lex!” I shouted his name out to the ceiling as my orgasm crashed down on me like a powerful wave. My knuckles were white, the palms of my hand in pain as I held onto the headboard for dear life as he drove me over that peak.
I shuddered in the aftermath of it, my every nerve more sensitive than before. He removed his mouth from me and leaned up to look into my eyes. A teasing smile glinted on his lips and his eyes seemed to dance with sarcasm. I wasn’t sure I myself had the energy for a clever retort, not with what he’d just done, not with how quickly and expertly he’d managed that.
“I need you now,” he whispered, gliding up my body. One hand went to the waistband of his jeans to pull them down his thighs. He didn’t give me a chance to look, to observe because he was positioning himself at my entrance. I felt the warmth of his tip nudge my entrance. I lifted my hips, feeling him slide into me a fraction.
“What are you waiting for?” I smirked, breathless.
And then he thrust to the hilt inside of me, causing the sarcastic look to fly from my face entirely and be replaced by a much more pleasurable one.
“Gods, red,” he rocked his hips against mine. “Make that face again.” He thrust and I gasped at the sensation. How was this possible? How was I still feeling the pleasure of every inch of him inside me? He kept thrusting, his fingers digging into the skin at my waist. I met him thrust for thrust, crying out everytime our skin slapped together. Each cry and gasp had him moving faster, harder against me until I felt myself reach that edge once more. I clung to him, crying out as another oragasm came over me. I went slack, sighing as the sensation faded. Lex thrust and then tensed. He let out a fierce cry as he pulled out of me, his hand gripping his erection to slide up and down it just before the warmth of his cum spilt onto the inside of my thigh.
He fell away from me to lay on his back at my side. Our breathing rose together, heavy and hitching until falling into the steadiest of rhythms. I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed that distraction. How much I’d needed to forget about the pain if only momentarily.
Lex stirred and stood up. I watched with lazy eyes as he adjusted his pants and mumbled a quick “be right back” and rushed to the bathroom only to emerge moments later with a wet wash rag. He came up beside me again and gently began washing away the mess at my thighs. When he finished, he went to dispose of the rag and then came back to lay beside me.
His arms opened and I snuggled into him. Just a moment. Just a moment of relaxation before I had to go back. I wanted to bathe in this bliss, in the aftermath of our lovemaking.
“What was that all about?” I asked quietly.
Lex kissed the top of my head. “What?”
I elbowed him and he hissed. “You know what.”
He chuckled and pulled me tighter against him. “I just thought you wouldn’t want me to come inside of you.”
I twisted so I was looking up in his face. “Why would you think that?”
He shrugged a shoulder, pushing away a stray strand of hair from my cheek. “Because, well, I just assumed—and please don’t hurt me for it—that would be an honor reserved for Akir only.”
I furrowed my brows. “Why?”
He sighed loudly. “Because, red, you’re the princess and he’s the king. He’s your fiancée. You’ll need an heir, right?”
I tensed a fraction. An heir. I hadn’t really given it much thought. I’d been too carried away by passion, too reckless. But of course, Lex was right. As his queen, it’d be expected of me to give the Ruined City as well as my own kingdom an heir. If I didn’t, then Braxtyn would inherit the throne.
“I wouldn’t want to risk your reign by being reckless.”
I snorted. “You? Reckless? Never!”
“I’ve been known to do a reckless thing or two…”
I laughed and relished in it because that feeling, I knew, wouldn’t last long.
Chapter Five
My head lolled with the heavy weight of sleep threatening to pull me into darkness. I fought it as hard as I could but my eyelids protested, slamming closed. I felt as though I hadn’t gotten a decent night’s sleep in so long. And my brain was still trying to fight it but my body was shutting down on its own, River’s steady breathing the lullaby that eventually pulled me under…
Then a crash woke me up.
I jolted up in my chair, hands reaching for my bow and arrow on instinct before I was even fully awake. When the fog lifted from my vision, I looked to the source of the noise and dropped my weapons instantly.
River was sprawled across the floor, his every breath hitching painfully. He was groaning, struggling to get up alone. I was at his side in an instant, silent as I pulled him up. With a bit of a struggle, I helped him to the bed again and took a step back. He dropped the back of his head to the mounds of pillows. My breath halted in my lungs as I observed him.
His face was pale and covered with fat drops of precipitation. Shadows darkened in circles around his eyes like markings of ash, and the whites of his eyes were burning red. His dark hair was a tangled mess and his clothes were covered in his own dried blood. One leg was sprawled out before him, the other was merely a stump, covered in gauze.
“Keanna.” I heard his audible gulp. My gaze softened and my heart fragmented into a million pieces when he turned to look at me.
Broken.
It’s the word I’d use to describe his expression.
“I’m here.” My voice cracked and I cleared my throat. I had to be strong for him.
He looked down at his missing leg. “I didn’t—” he choked off, swallowed and went again. “I felt it.”
“Felt what?” I asked softly.
His fingers waved through the empty space where his leg should be. And I knew what he meant.
“It felt so real, I thought that the pain had been just a dream.”
I wish I had the words to reassure him. I didn’t.
“River,”
He jerked his gaze to me and I faltered. He smiled, a cold dead twist of his lips. “Are you going to tell me that I’ll be okay? That it’ll be fine?” He asked bitterly.
It’s exactly what I’d intended on saying but after he repeated my thoughts, I realized how infinitely silly that
sounded. So instead, I opted for sarcasm. “I was going to tell you that you stink, actually.”
He blinked at my words and I offered him a wide smile.
“Take your shirt off and I’ll help you get cleaned up.”
He paused a long moment before letting out a sigh and pulled his shirt over his shoulders.
I kept myself busy so it wouldn’t give me time to feel sorry for him. He’d read it in my eyes in an instant and I didn’t want that broken expression to tain his face again.
So I filled up a bucket with warm water from a nearby sink and tossed in a rag. When I turned to take it back to his bedside, his shirt was already off and he was pulling his pants from his hips slowly, hissing when the cut off material passed over his knee.
I tried not to stare.
I set the bucket down on the floor. “Ready, then?” I asked as I twisted the water from the rag. River nodded tightly and I got to work, wiping the blood from his body as if that could erase the traces of pain.
I worked in silence for a long while, letting River absorb his situation, letting him think. Finally, he broke it. “I remember the pain.” I stilled a brief moment before I began wiping him down again. “I remember feeling its teeth sinking into my skin.” I pushed aside the image that surfaced of him shoving me away only to be caught in the hybrid’s grip. “I remember my last thought, before darkness took over, was of you. I remember thinking that if I died saving your life then I had lived the life I was meant to live.”
I dropped the rag. “River…”
“Get out, Keanna.” His voice cracked. And when he turned to look at me, my heart rebuilt its shattered pieces only to implode once more.
“River…”
“I said get out!” He shouted. His eyes filled with tears the free fell down his cheeks. “Get out!”
My throat tightened but I swallowed it down. Guilt was a heavy thing in the center of my chest. Before he could demand it of me again, I turned and fled.
***
My eyes were burning, my throat felt constricted as if it wouldn’t allow any more air into my lungs. I gasped, a sound that was more like a sob as I blindly ran through the hallways Akir’s home.
Freeing the Beasts (The Hybrid Trilogy Book 3) Page 4
