Jac refused to meet his gaze. Her eyes were focused on the ceiling and her body appeared relaxed in its naked splendor. Ares knew better. She bided her time, waiting for the right moment and then she would attack. He was sure of it. Tied or not, his fierce warrior woman was nothing if not predictable. She may claim to not care for him, but her mind and body told a different story. One Ares hoped to get her to recognize before the challenge ended.
She kept her eyes off Ares. She’d tried everything she could think of to escape while he’d been off visiting that bitch of a Seer. Her heart seized at the thought of what they’d been doing in Ariel’s hut. Well, if he thought he would be able to waltz right in here and climb between her legs now, he was certifiable. She didn’t know how she’d stop him, but she’d come up with something.
“Jac,” he murmured, “look at me.”
“Fuck off.” She shifted her head until she faced the opposite wall.
“I told you I would return quickly and I have,” he said softly.
“I don’t know why you bothered.” Jac tried to shrug, but it was hard with her arms staked out. “I want you to untie me, so I can leave.”
“I cannot. Are you going to behave like this for the rest of the night?” he probed. “I can think of many other far more pleasurable ways to pass the evening.”
She glared at him. “I guess you didn’t hear me. I said fuck off.” Jac turned back toward the wall.
“I’d rather be fucking you.” His voice slid over her like melting butter, pure temptation for even the most hardened heart.
Somehow, in the short time she’d known this man he’d attuned himself so closely with her body, mind, and soul that Jac had a difficulty distinguishing between the two of them. It wasn’t fair. Why him? Why now? After all the years she’d spent footloose and fancy free in New York, why did she have to find the one man she could call her equal in the middle of a suck ass jungle? And of course her main competition would just happen to turn out to be a walking, talking blow up doll. It had to be some kind of cosmic joke. That was the only logical explanation.
Jac could hear Ares moving around the hut. He’d set something down on the table and then he’d walked to the water container in the corner to drink. In her mind she could almost see the long columns of his throat work as he swallowed the cool liquid. His bicep would be curled as he tipped a cup to his firm, sensuous lips. When he inhaled to catch a breath between sips, his stomach would contract, sending the washboard rippling beneath tanned skin. The flat discs of his nipples would be dark against the wall of his chest. She wondered if his legs would be slightly spread, the muscles splitting, even in his relaxed state.
She bit her lip. Would a drop of moisture slip past his mouth and trail down the side of his strong, arrogant jaw, perhaps tangle in his midnight black hair? Or would it slide all the way over his shoulder, down his strong back, slinking beneath his loincloth to curve around his tight ass? Jac swallowed hard, trying to fight the visions swimming in her head. She was hot, needy, and damn it, she wanted Ares anyway she could get him. If that meant sharing him with a live Barbie while she was here, then so be it. It wouldn’t be for very long.
She turned her head to find him staring at her from across the room, glass frozen in his hand. His loincloth tented from his massive erection and his eyes were pure fire. He put down the glass he’d been drinking from and stalked toward the furs. His gaze never wavered as he approached her side.
“You should guard your thoughts, my fierceness,” he warned, his voice gravelly with desire.
“Why?”
He ran a finger along her side, causing her to flinch when it tickled. “Because you may get what you so wish for.”
His words were like throwing gasoline on a blaze. Her clit throbbed and her nipples quivered. All she could think about was uncovering his massive cock and guiding it inside her moist entrance. Her gaze darted to the front of his loincloth. The bulge behind it seemed to grow under her perusal. Jac’s lids dropped. “Are you going to just stand there or are you going to join me?” a loaded question she knew. This by no means changed her feelings about what had occurred between him and Ariel, but she was desperate.
Ares groaned and began untying the straps about his waist, freeing the loincloth from his trim hips. His cock shot up, curving under the weight of his erection. He slipped the hide down his legs and stepped over the material. He grasped the plum-sized head and began to slowly stroke himself. Jac followed his movements as if in a trance. His shaft continued to lengthen and thicken under her gaze.
“Is this what you want?” he growled.
She swallowed hard, her eyes glued to his cock.
Ares groaned. “You must tell me.”
“I want—” She choked, cutting off her words.
He continued to stroke his thick length.
“You,” she uttered, barely above a whisper.
Ares took a ragged breath. “’Tis all you needed to say.”
He moved to the end of the bed and slipped to his knees. Ares quickly unlaced her boots and slipped them from her feet, taking her socks with them. Once her feet were bare, he stretched forward and ran his fingers down her long legs, settling his hands upon her heels. He lifted one leg as far as the bonds would allow, and slipped her big toe inside his mouth. His tongue swirled, then he slowly pulled it from his mouth.
Jac’s eyes widened in surprise. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice breathless.
“Savoring every inch of what is mine,” he rasped and then slipped her toe back into his mouth. He sucked on it in the same motion as when he drove inside her. In and out. In and out.
She gasped, shocked by the erotic tension strumming through her. She’d never considered toes particularly sexy until now. Jac couldn’t seem to catch her breath as Ares increased his speed. An answering pull started at the juncture of her thighs and drove right to the center of her being. If he kept this up she would come as if reading her thoughts, he added pressure, dipping his tongue between her toes at the same time as he sucked. Jac felt the familiar tension build. Heat spread throughout her body. In one swift move Ares slipped her toe from his mouth and licked the underside of her foot from her heel to the top of her arch.
Jac screamed, shattering the silence of the hut as the orgasm broke over her, sending her body spasming in sheer delight. Her womb contracted. It felt as if all her nerve endings had burst at the same time. Never in all her years, had she ever experienced anything like what he’d just done and he’d barely touched her. The blood pounded so loud in her ears, she almost missed Ares’s grumble of satisfaction.
“That was incredible,” she panted, unable to move. “How did you do that?”
“It was so in my time, as ‘tis today. Every man knows the way to a woman’s heart is through her feet.” He smiled and wiped the side of his mouth, but he didn’t stand, instead he began to massage the bottom of Jac’s left foot.
She closed her eyes for a moment and groaned. Jac felt like a satisfied cat, right after a big meal. If she didn’t watch it, she’d actually fall asleep. She lost all track of time as Ares finished with one foot, then moved to the other. His hands were gentle but firm as he worked all the kinks out of her tired muscles. She relaxed under his soothing touch, giving into the sensation, enjoying the pampering.
Ares was a strange man, one second acting like a wild animal in rut, ready to capture and seize, the next caring, almost loving in the way he tended to her needs. Seeing to her comfort and soothing her. Jac didn’t want to think about how easy it would be to get used to this kind of treatment. His palm slid up to encircle her calf, kneading and calming her frayed nerves. She hadn’t forgotten the fact that he’d kissed her and then left to join Ariel.
“Shhh-quiet your mind and enjoy my touch,” he said.
It came out as a command, but Jac sensed an unspoken plea behind his words. She wanted to ask what Ariel meant to him, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. The implication would be obvious, even to Ares
, and she wasn’t ready to make that kind of declaration. His hand slipped further up her leg encompassing her thigh. All thoughts of the Seer left her mind as his fingers teased, reaching out, yet not touching the place she longed for him to massage. Jac groaned and glanced down, her eyes locking on his handsome face.
“I want only you,” he murmured.
Ares seemed not to notice that she was urging him to go higher. She would’ve thought him completely oblivious if she hadn’t caught the smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He was teasing her, drawing out the sensations until all sanity slipped from her mind. Well two could play that game. Jac began to sway her hips, rocking them seductively from side to side. Ares’s gaze strayed from her face, locking onto the thin strip of hair covering her sex. She could feel her body’s juices begin to flow and knew that by now she’d be glistening. She tilted her pelvis up slightly, exposing her entrance.
The air left Ares’s lungs in a whoosh. The hut smelled musky and thick, as if they’d been fucking for hours. He couldn’t seem to wrench his gaze away from the tiny pink opening swaying before his eyes. Waiting was torture. Jac knew exactly what she was doing to him.
Ares shuddered, fighting for control. She continued to undulate, the rhythm mesmerizing. He had to taste her, touch her, slide his cock inside of her. The temptation grew too great. Ares leaned forward and inhaled, her scent surrounded him, shattering his will. He rose up and knelt between her spread thighs and stroked his cock one more time, then positioned the head of his shaft at her entrance.
“You are a sorceress. There can be no other explanation for why I am bespelled.” With that said, he slid inside, inch by tantalizing inch. Her vise-like walls gripped him, urging him deeper until he was buried to the hilt. He swallowed, his muscles clenching as he tried not to move. “I will never tire of the feel of you. Entering your body is like coming home.”
Ares closed his eyes against the sensation, satin and heat, fire and ice, she burned him from the inside out. He thrust forward and her breath caught. When he did it again, Jac met him halfway. Rocking her slender hips, she slid him impossibly deeper, her channel swallowing him whole. She held him in tight. Their connection was perfect. She was perfect. They were perfect together. Ares’s eyes flew open, his system and emotions in overload. Something snapped inside him. The beast emerged, free for the first time. It shredded his humanity, leaving him to exist in a primal state.
“This time will be raw, forgive me,” he rasped.
Jac’s eyes sparked, urging him on. “That’s okay. I like it rough.”
Ares surged forward, driving into her molten core. She’d given him permission to unleash a demon. He couldn’t control his hunger, his need. Ares thrust, giving free rein to his desires. He drove her to the edge of release, but refused to let her slide over. He rode hard, unforgiving in his claiming. His grunts were animalistic, inhuman. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. She was his. Only his. And if joining with her again and again was what it took to convince her, then he was prepared to do just that.
“Your channel was made for my cock and my cock alone.”
He gripped the furs at the side of Jac’s head and dug in. Ares ground into Jac’s clit with each upward thrust, taking them higher and higher toward that elusive zenith. She burned like fire beneath him, around him. Her nipples stroked his chest with every thrust, searing his skin, branding him. Their bodies dripped with sweat, but he raged on, shafting her, battering her senseless.
By the time Ares reached his point of release, Jac had screamed herself hoarse. Her body lay limp beneath his, spent and utterly exhausted. Ares grunted one final time, then let go, his seed coating her womb. He kept moving, grinding his hips until he collapsed. He managed to keep the bulk of his weight off of her, but just barely. Their ragged breathing filled the silent room. The temperature in the room had risen due to their lovemaking, but Ares refused to move. He longed to stay this way forever. He closed his eyes and inhaled, hoping to store this memory for all time.
Ares wanted nothing more than to plant his seed deep within her and bring forth offspring. Spend the rest of his days battling with her for dominance in their relationship. But without the tribal energy from the mating ceremony and Jac’s acceptance of him as her true mate, there would be no children for him…ever. She held his future, his very life in the palm of her hands, and she didn’t even know it—nor would she if he had any control over the fates.
* * * * *
Chapter Ten
Professor Donald Rumsinger was sitting in his tent peering over maps when his scouts returned battered and bruised. He’d been triangulating the most likely location of the lost tribe and had finally narrowed it down to two distinct quadrants. The men stood, waiting for him to acknowledge them. Rumsinger took his time. After all, they’d kept him waiting for days. He slowly straightened, but didn’t say a word.
Jose broke the silence. “We found a trail. It’s a two to three day journey from here,” he said.
Michael jumped in. “We would’ve found the village, if we hadn’t run into that blonde perra.”
The Professor blinked. He should’ve known Jaclyn Ward wouldn’t go down without a fight. “Did you injure her?”
The men looked at each other and shifted their weight.
“If you didn’t injure her, then how did you get those bruises?” Rumsinger asked.
Jose gulped. “We were jumped.”
“By who?” he asked.
The men looked at each other again, then Michael spoke. “We don’t know how many there were, but the blonde was leading the attack. She swung down from the trees like a chimp with a taste for blood. Once the ghost arrived, we didn’t have a chance.”
Donald blinked. “Ghost?”
Jose rubbed his scraped hands on his pants. “Si, senior. The man, he was from the ghost tribe. He appeared like a ghost and left like one.” He made a poof sound for emphasis.
“Did they leave together?” Rumsinger asked.
Michael said no at the same time Jose said yes.
Donald paused, leveling his brown gaze on the men. “Well, which is it?”
The scouts glanced at each other, then Michael spoke. “They were traveling in the same direction, but we did not see them leave together.”
“Were they heading to the village?” Donald asked.
“We think so,” Michael said.
Donald’s glare turned frosty. “This is no time to guess. I only have enough supplies to last another week. After that, I’ll have to return to New York to get more funding.” There was no way the museum would front him any more cash. He’d already gone over budget as it was and they were starting to doubt his story about Rachel’s disappearance. It would’ve been so much easier if he’d been able to photograph her dead body. Donald’s temper flared. He would not lose this find just because he’d hired incompetent scouts. This was his chance to make a name for himself in the scientific community. No way would he give it up.
“You have two more days to find the village. After that, I’ll find the village myself. And don’t think I’m going to pay you for your failure. I’ve accepted your excuses this time. There will not be another. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind.”
The scouts left. Donald sat back down and marked where they’d traveled on the map. The village had to be somewhere in this area. He drew a circle on the map and grinned. Soon he’d have everything he’d ever dreamed of.
* * * * *
It had been three days since Jac had been brought to Ares’s hut. After day two she’d promised him she wouldn’t try to escape without clothes and convinced him to untie her. He’d loved her so thoroughly that she didn’t think she had a solid bone left in her body. She’d grown accustomed to Ares’s touch over the past few days and didn’t think she’d be able to ever sleep with another man, which created a problem for when she returned to New York, since she truly enjoyed sex. Of course what she was sharing with Ares had stopped feeling like ‘just sex’ to her.
And that had been the case for a while now. How had that happened? How had she let it happen?
Jac fell face down on the bed of furs. She’d been thinking a lot, while she waited for Ares to return and report his progress in the challenge. He’d informed her there would be nothing to see, since the warriors had to go off into the jungle on their own. Today could make or break Ares’s chances. Part of her hoped he got his ass kicked, while the other half worried that he would. Her nerves had been so on edge that she’d tidied the hut earlier, not that it had been dirty, and rearranged the sparse furniture to a more workable layout.
So far, Ares seemed to be doing okay in the competition, but Coridan still led due to the amount of gold he’d managed to find. She didn’t want to think about what would happen if Coridan actually won the silly contest. Jac turned over, placing her hands behind her head. She’d been unclothed for three days now, and although she’d never had a problem with nudity, she found the whole experience rather perplexing. On the one hand, she didn’t have to worry about laundry, detergent, things wearing out, or dry cleaning bills. But on the other, she hadn’t been out of the hut other than to relieve herself.
Jac glanced around the hut. Its walls seemed to close in. Waiting was making her go stir-crazy. She’d never been good at waiting. She needed to pound the pavement, look at some skyscrapers. She was not cut out to be Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. She hadn’t been allowed to see any of the tribal members, including Rachel for days. Jac hadn’t come all this way to find Rachel and then not get to see her. When Ares returned she would demand he take her to see her friend.
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