Triumph blazed in her eyes, and her red, red lips curled in a sensual smile. “That’s all I’m asking for. For now.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
SHAYE LOUNGED at the edge of the bathing pool. Hot water lapped at her ultrasensitized skin. The scent of orchids filled the room, sweetly perfuming the air with sultry ambiance. She inhaled deeply and savored. Her body was sore, but her spirit was invigorated.
Valerian sat behind her, massaging her shoulders. His magical fingers worked her muscles expertly. He knew exactly where to rub, the precise amount of pressure to apply for optimum enjoyment. Her head lolled back, resting on his shoulder. Steam coated them both.
“Have I thanked you for gifting me with your virginity?” he asked.
“Only a thousand times.” She should probably be the one thanking him. She’d never enjoyed herself more. Had never thought losing all control, all sense of her cool facade, could be so blissful.
In the pleasure-filled hours they’d just spent together, she’d realized a few things. She’d given Valerian more than her body; she’d given him pieces of her heart, just as she’d feared. She hadn’t meant to, and had tried to guard against it, but it happened regardless.
No matter. Everything would be okay.
He was a nymph, and nymphs liked sex. Lots of it. She would be the one he came to, always; she was going to trust him. Not love him, she assured herself, still distrustful of the emotion itself—but trusting him.
It would be hard, she didn’t doubt that, but all the best things were. To keep him in her life she was willing to try anything.
“This means you’ve forgiven me,” he said. A statement not a question.
She gave a mock pout. “I guess it does.”
He banged his chest like a gorilla, making her giggle like a girl. “Me man. You woman.”
“And that’s why I couldn’t maintain my mad,” she said, glancing over her shoulder. “I’m a sucker for caveman theatrics.”
A glint in his eye…
She laughed. “I was kidding, only kidding! Do not turn into a caveman in an effort to please me.”
“But I want to please you. I like to please you.”
Uh-oh. His voice had lowered. She had better change the subject before he seduced her again.
“I’m too sore,” she told him. “But at least your wounds finally healed.”
“I believe I mentioned they would heal the moment you surrendered to me.”
Lookie there. The nymph version of I told you so. “In romance novels, the heroines always have magic vaginas. I guess with nymphos, it’s actually true.”
He snorted. “I insist we read these romance novels together.”
“Maybe I’ll let you read mine. I’ve already written the opening.”
“Well, I just figured out what I want you to give me for my five hundred and second birthday. Your first romance novel.”
She nearly choked on her tongue. “You’re five hundred and one? Years old?” Just to be clear.
Mind…can’t…handle…
She backed away from that subject. For now. “Never mind. My head my exploded if we discuss our age difference. You have the strength to tell me the secret spot on a woman’s body,” she pointed out. “The place that brings maximum pleasure. So tell!”
“I’ll tell you—” he nuzzled the side of her cheek “—for a kiss.”
Ah, she loved his bargaining. “Only one,” she said throatily, grinding against the erection pressed against her lower back.
He hissed in a breath. “Keep doing that, and I’ll tell you anything you want to know. Even my deep, dark secrets.”
Up, down she moved. “Start with the pleasure spot.”
His hands tightened on her waist. “Close your eyes,” he commanded softly.
They’d made love only an hour ago, but it felt like an eternity. She needed him inside her again. Addicting…that’s what he was.
“Shaye.” He tsk-tsked. “Close. Your. Eyes.”
Her eyelids fluttered shut. Darkness blanketed her mind. His hands glided over her shoulders, caressed her neck, then dipped to her breasts, kneading.
“Picture what I’m doing to you.”
“I thought—”
“This is how I’m going to tell you, promise.”
Picture it, he’d said, so she did. In her mind, she could see the thickness of his hands covering the pale mounds of her breasts. Her nipples, pink and pearled, peaked through the crevices of his fingers. Pleasure spiraled through her, hot and needy. Seemingly unquenchable.
Unbidden, her legs spread, silently begging for his attention. A single touch, a pinch, something. Anything. She ached, oh, she ached.
One of Valerian’s hands glided down her stomach. She felt it, yes, just the way she’d wanted it, but more than that she continued to see it in her mind. Another picture of them. Valerian behind her, this time with his hand between her legs, parting her wet folds. But he didn’t touch her where she needed him most. Not yet. He stayed poised, inches above her entrance.
“What do you picture?” His voice was strained, as if he required all his strength to remain still.
“You. Me.”
“Do you see me licking you here or sliding my fingers into you?”
“F-fingers,” she managed.
“Are they moving slowly, savoring or pounding in and out?”
As he spoke, images flooded her. Yet he didn’t do anything, didn’t do what she needed. Her hips moved forward, seeking. Back, seeking. Forward, back. Writhing and arching.
“Touch me, Valerian. Please.”
“I thought you were too sore.”
“But now I’m dying for you.”
His warm breath fanned her skin. “Tell me. What do you see right this second? Are my fingers moving slowly or quickly?”
“Quickly. Hard.” Her breath caught. Water sloshed over the pool’s rim. “So hard.”
He pinched her nipple, and a lance of desire hit directly between her legs. She cried out, loving the amazing torment.
“Shaye. Moon. Your mind shows you the things your body needs before you actually know you need them.”
No more talking, she wanted to shout. Make love to me. But still she said, “I don’t understand.”
“The most erotic place on a woman’s body is her mind. By giving her the right images, a man can increase her pleasure a hundred times over.” He bit her ear. “Lean forward for me, Moon. I’ll give you fast and hard.”
She did, and even that served as a stimulant. The water stroked between her legs, making her shiver.
“Hold on to the ledge,” Valerian said.
Angling forward a few more inches, she curled her hands as instructed. Her breasts and hips were out of the water now, granting Valerian a full view of her from behind.
A long while passed in silence. She stayed where she was, anticipating the first touch. Wet hair tumbled down her back and shoulders. Some of the ends trod the water’s surface.
When would he caress her? She needed him to caress her. “Valerian?”
“You are magnificent,” he said, his voice heavy with awe. He traced the tattoo on her lower back.
A shiver danced through her.
“I like this,” he said. “A skull with a pretty bow on top. It’s a mark that says you are both warrior and woman.” His lips brushed the tattoo; the hot wetness of his tongue traced it. He kissed his way up her spine and grazed the back of her neck, smoothing her hair aside to get to her.
“The first time I saw you,” she said, “I thought you were a god, rising from the sea.”
“And I thought you were the thing I needed most in my life.”
His words acted with the heady intoxication of a caress. She licked her lips, then bit into them to tamp down a loud, long scream of pleasure when his shaft pressed into her opening.
“So tight,” he praised.
“More. Hard and fast, like you promised.”
He gave her another inch. “Is this enough?”
&n
bsp; “No! Give me more.”
Another inch, but it still wasn’t enough. “And now?”
“More, more, more.”
With a roar, he pounded all the way in. She gasped. He groaned. But he didn’t move, just left them both at the edge.
“Hard! Fast!”
He ignored her, saying, “Do you know the most erotic place on a man’s body, Moon? His heart,” Valerian said.
His heart…
She had an orgasm in that moment, exploding, throbbing, throbbing so hard. Screaming and sobbing. The force of it raked her, causing bone to vibrate and hum against muscle, every part of her affected.
Valerian slid out and pounded forward. Over and over, driving hard and deep, just as she’d commanded.
He rode her until another orgasm caused her spirit to leave her body. An out of body experience. She was raw sensation. A phantom forever climaxing.
“Shaye,” he roared, shuddering into her a final time. “Love. You.” His hands dug into her hips. Gripping, bruising deliciously. “Love you so much.”
* * *
“TALK TO ME,” Valerian said a long while later. He lay on the bed, Shaye had wiggled out from under him a few minutes ago and though she hadn’t gotten up, she maintained stiff and distanced on the bed. “Tell me what’s wrong.”
“You said…never mind.”
What? “That I love you?”
She nodded but didn’t look his way.
And the emotion bothered her? “I vowed to always be honest with you.”
“Yes, but… I feel like I need to protect you from yourself. Love feeds your soul to someone else.”
“You’re wrong. Love feeds your soul. Period.”
A tremor swept through her, and he pulled her against him. After a minute, she sighed and cuddled against him.
Much better. They were both naked, and he was tempted to remain that way for the rest of eternity.
He loved her, and he loved the way her curves fit against him. As if she were the last piece of a puzzle, and they were perfectly matched.
“I’m being rude to my guests,” he said a little while later.
She yawned. “What guests?” she asked, her breath fanning his chest.
“Vampires. They helped us with the dragons and bought us a bit of a reprieve.”
“Vampires.” She shuddered. “I should run screaming from this room, but I’m too tired to be afraid of bloodsuckers.”
“No one will be sucking your blood but me.”
She chuckled. “Do you regret being rude to them?” Her fingertip slid along the ridges of his stomach.
“I’m with you. I regret nothing,” he said roughly, aroused by her touch and her words. She was adapting to life here. Maybe even coming to love it as he’d always craved.
Her finger looped through his nipple ring, and she chuckled again. “Such a naughty boy. The bad boy mommas warn their daughters about.”
He liked the sound of her laughter and realized he’d never really heard her amusement before. “How old are you?” he asked, wanting to know everything about her.
“Twenty-five. Way too young for you.”
He frowned.
“Are you going to live forever? Do you never age?”
“I age, just slower than humans.”
Her entire body tensed. “Wait, wait, wait. I just had a thought. I’m going to grow old while you continue to look like that. No! Absolutely not!”
“You are in Atlantis now, love. Your aging process will slow, as well.”
“Oh.” Little by little, she relaxed. “That’s okay, then. Unless I still end up aging faster than you. The moment, the very second, I can pass as your mother, I’m out of here.”
Too bad, so sad. I’m never letting you go. “Do you miss your surface life as intensely as you did before?”
She released another sigh. “That’s a tough question to answer.”
“Quite easy, actually. A yes or no is all that’s required.” He didn’t want her to miss her old life. He wanted her happy, completely, with him. If she did miss it…
What would he do? His two greatest desires would be at war with each other—the desire to keep her with him and the desire to see to her happiness, always, no matter the cost to himself.
“I’m not sure if I miss it or not. I mean, I’m not close to my family. I never have been, really, but closure would have been nice.”
“Why exactly were you not close with them?” He couldn’t imagine such a thing with his brother if Verryn had lived.
“They wanted me to be something I wasn’t,” she said.
“What?”
“Sweet.”
He snorted. “You are sweet. You like to pretend otherwise, but you are most definitely the sweetest morsel I’ve ever sampled.”
Shaye bit him on the shoulder and licked away the sting. “I think you see into my soul—the one you’re feeding whether you realize it or not. I think you see the woman I’ve always secretly wanted to be. Something my own mother hadn’t been able to do.”
“How can your family not see how sweet you are? Well, it’s their shame, not yours.”
She raised her head and cupped his cheeks with her palms. “Thank you for that.”
Valerian’s chest tightened. This woman possessed his heart, and he wanted hers. He would fight for it. The greatest battle of his life. “Have you been able to make your anti-cards here?”
“Yes.”
“If you were to make one for me right now, what would it say?”
“Well…let’s see.” She rested her head on his shoulder. A minute ticked by, then another. “Are you sure you want to know?”
Yes. No. “Yes.”
“If I were going to make and send you a card, it would say…” She paused, frowning as she drummed her fingers against his chest. “I’m trusting you not to break my heart. If it gets even a little scratch, I’ll break your face.”
His lips twitched. “Break my face?”
“That’s right. You heard me.”
Break his face if he broke her heart… Her heart. Valerian stilled, the significance of what she’d said finally registering. Even his blood ceased flowing and breath froze in his lungs. A wave of dizziness hit him as one emotion after another crashed through him.
“You are trusting me with your heart?” He was almost afraid to ask, and prayed he hadn’t misunderstood.
He, a warrior who had laughed at danger his entire life, was afraid this tiny, pale woman wouldn’t love him the way he loved her.
“Kind of,” she said. “I’m giving you a piece of it. Just a little piece. I mean, I’m not saying I’m head over heels in love with you or anything like that. You’re the only one who’s fallen into the deep end. Okay?” A layer of panic coated her words. “But I’m trusting you not to be with anyone else while we’re together. In case I wasn’t clear, that means no other women.”
“Moon, I desire no other save you.”
“Now you don’t. But what about later, when the novelty of me wears off?”
As she spoke, he heard her vulnerability, and it unmanned him. He rolled her to her back to stare down at her. “You are my mate. I’ve told you that, but I don’t think you understand what it means. None arouse me anymore but you. None tempt me. None appeal to me. Only you. When a nymph takes a mate, that’s the way of it. Always. For the rest of his existence.”
Her gaze softened, and he knew she wanted to believe him. “Yeah, well,” she said, putting on a brave face. “We’ll see what happens in the coming days.”
“So you want to stay with me?”
Radiating vulnerability, she whispered, “Yes.”
Joy burst through him, full but not complete. Not yet. “You want to stay with me, but you don’t want to love me?”
“Right. Love is complicated and messy.”
“Is it? I love the way your nipples are pushing into my chest. That isn’t complicated.”
Her lips pursed. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it
. Loving someone gives them permission to do bad things to you because they know you’ll forgive them.”
A pinprick of anger. “What kind of bad things have been done to you by those you loved?” The question emerged quietly, lethally.
He would slay anyone, man or woman, who had dared hurt this woman.
“I’ve been abandoned, rejected, dismissed and forgotten,” she said, and he tensed. “Plus, I saw the way you pushed aside the women who came before me.”
“I didn’t expect you, Moon. You were a surprise. I cannot undo what I’ve done in the past. But you have my vow of honor that I’ll never tire of you. In time, you’ll realize this for yourself.” He paused, intent. “I know you said you would stay, but I’d like your vow. Promise me you will give me time to prove myself and my intentions toward you.”
Her eyes searched his face, probing. Whatever she saw in his expression must have comforted her because she gave him a slow smile and nodded. “You have my vow.”
He breathed a sigh of relief, his joy renewed.
Then she added, “If we’re going to do this—”
“We are.”
“You can’t watch me sleep.” She shuddered.
“Why? You’re beautiful when you sleep. Or so I assume,” he hastily added.
She rolled her eyes. “You’ve already done it, haven’t you?”
“Only twelve times.”
Only. “I’ve been here, what? Eight days. So you suck at math, but that’s hardly your fault. A man as gorgeous as you are can’t have brains, too.”
He snorted.
“Also,” she continued, “you can’t obsess over me. You can’t make all my troubles go away. You’ve got to let me get myself out of my own messes. You can’t throw jealous fits of rage, and you can’t ever, under any circumstances, call me your old lady, your ball and chain, or your property. I belong to myself. I’m loaning you my time.”
“You. Are. Wonderful. Never change.” Leaning down, he brushed his lips over hers. His hands found hers, and he intertwined their fingers before anchoring them above her head. The action lifted her chest and pressed her breasts deeper into him. She licked her lips as her eyelids lowered.
“While you’ve seen only the bad side of love, I have seen the best. My mother and father were mated and completely devoted to each other.”
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