by Anna Hackett
Nero stared at that bare shoulder, couldn’t take his gaze off it. He wondered if her skin was as pale all over. He’d tasted her and given her pleasure, but he wanted her naked.
She looked up, and saw that he was watching her.
“I have some snacks as well.” She shot to her feet, and came back with a plate of small, sweet desserts. She grabbed one petite delicacy. “Here.” She pressed it to his mouth.
Her fingers brushed against his lips. He felt the small touch like electricity skating through him. His gaze flicked up to meet hers.
Her chest was rising and falling faster than it should be. With a groan, Nero gave in to the hard longing inside him. He flicked his tongue out and licked her fingers. Her breath caught.
Drak it. Nero decided to stop thinking for once. To let his instincts take over, and take what he wanted. What they both wanted.
He tossed his empty cup aside and yanked Winter into his lap.
She gasped and he covered her mouth with his. He pillaged her mouth, but she didn’t shy away. Instead, Winter moaned and slicked her tongue against his. Desire was an insistent roar in his head, and was spreading through his body.
He drank her in, and she kissed him back hungrily, her hands sinking into his hair, pulling roughly. She made husky little sounds that drove him crazy.
Nero had never needed a woman as much as he needed Winter. This wasn’t desire, it was something hotter, harder, and hungrier.
Letting instinct drive him, he pushed her back on the pillows and covered her body with his.
Chapter Eleven
Desire was a hot, delicious rush through Winter. She nipped at Nero’s lips. “I need you to touch me. I need you inside me.”
His hands clenched on her skin. He looked down at her, so big and intimidating, and she wished she could see the color of his eyes.
“You’re only using me for bedsport?” He shifted, caging her between his arms.
Her heart skipped a beat. She wanted to touch him so badly. “Yes. And I’m planning to do it a lot. Are you okay with that?”
One of his rare smiles broke out. “Yes, I think I am.”
He leaned down and kissed her. Winter moaned against his lips and gave herself up to the kiss. His tongue delved into her mouth and she wound her arms around him, kissing him back desperately. She felt big hands slide down her body, cupping her breasts. Seconds later, he was pushing her sleep shirt up and off.
“You are so slight, delicate—”
A sour feeling tried to push through her desire. “I know I’m not a warrior woman.”
“Shh.” One of his hands moved over her breast, plucking at her nipple. “You’re so pretty, Winter. I’ve been imagining what you look like naked for a very long time.”
“Really?” She arched into his touch.
“I’ve tasted you, watched you come on my mouth, but I haven’t had the pleasure of you naked beneath me.” With a growl, he leaned down and sucked her nipple into his mouth. He took his time, seeming to enjoy wringing husky cries out of her. The stubble on his jaw scraped her sensitive skin, and his mouth and tongue…oh, boy.
When he took his mouth away, she reached for him. He leaned back, hooking his fingers in her underwear. Seconds later, he pulled them down her legs.
He paused, just looking at her. He ran a hand down her leg, like he was mesmerized by her skin. Like she was something he needed to be careful with.
She grabbed his wrist. “Don’t treat me like I’m delicate or breakable.”
His burning gaze met hers. “I have no intention of doing that.”
He leaned back down, pressing kisses across her belly. Desire flared, pooling between her legs. She moved restlessly on the cushions, and when he nudged her legs apart, anticipation almost sent her jumping out of her skin.
“I need to know,” Nero said, voice low.
“Know what?” she panted.
“How much you want me.”
“So much.” Couldn’t he tell?
“I need to see for myself.” His fingers stroked through the curls between her legs. Then he ran them through her slick heat.
Winter bit down on her lip, shifting her hips.
“You’re so wet for me, Winter. And I know how sweet you taste.” One thick finger pushed inside her.
She moaned, trying to hold on to her sanity, as he thrust his finger in and out.
“Drak, you’re tight. You’ll squeeze my cock so hard when I slide inside you.”
She was panting hard, and when his thumb worked through her folds and found her clit, her cry echoed around the tent. She drew in a breath. “Heard you guys have been talking about the differences with human women.”
Nero made a sound that was part rumble, part laugh. “Lore has mentioned his fascination with this little nub.” He slid a second finger inside her, his thumb working her clit.
Winter tossed her head back and closed her eyes. There was so much sensation crashing down on her: the heavy heat of Nero, the smell of her arousal in the air, the slick fabric beneath her bare skin, the pleasure-pain stretch of his big fingers inside her.
“Need to taste your sweetness again.” He withdrew his fingers and lifted them to his mouth.
She watched as he licked them clean, her eyes widening and her belly contracting. She’d suspected Nero wouldn’t be a nice, circumspect lover. He’d be bold and do exactly as he pleased.
He moved backward. “I need more.”
Before she could prepare herself, his mouth was on her thigh, teeth scraping over her skin.
Oh, God.
“Going to eat all that sweetness of yours. I think eating you could become an addiction.”
His tongue speared through her folds. Winter cried out, and then he was lapping at her. He kept at it with bold strokes of his tongue. His hands slid beneath her to cup her bottom, lifting her to his mouth. She helped him, raising her hips up.
When his lips closed over her clit and he sucked, she screamed.
He groaned against her and she felt the vibration through her most sensitive parts. Her orgasm crashed over her with the force of a vicious, unforgiving storm. She screamed again…this time Nero’s name.
He lifted his head, his face filled with satisfaction. “Again.”
What? “Nero, I—”
His mouth closed over her again. She sank her hands into his hair and held on. He didn’t stop until she came again.
Winter flopped back on the cushions, limp, her heartbeat a rapid thunder in her ears.
Suddenly, Nero stood, and started stripping his shirt off with jerky movements. She watched him and her mouth dropped open.
She was a doctor, she’d seen naked men before. And gladiators didn’t wear a lot of clothes, so she’d eyed some pretty impressive specimens lately. But she hadn’t been this close to masculine perfection…ever.
She wished desperately to see him in color, but the vision device did allow her to see all the ropes of hard muscle, and the tightly-packed abdomen.
Not to mention, the long, thick bulge pushing against the leather of his trousers. She licked her lips. He moved back to the cushions and she rose up on her knees.
“Stop,” she whispered before he sat down. “Let me…study you.”
She pressed her hands against the ridges of his stomach, tracing the dips. She stroked across his sides and all the hard muscles there. She traced over the fascinating and sexy tattoos down his left arm and side. She wasn’t surprised to see they were all of wild beasts and weapons. She heard his breath catch, and she liked that.
“You’re…not real,” she said.
“I’m real.” His voice was so deep, she could barely make out the words.
“You’re perfect. No fat on you, just big, with all these muscles.” She kept exploring him, scraping her nails down his muscled thighs. She felt him tense.
She looked up at him. “Take off your trousers.”
He didn’t move, so she grabbed the fastening herself.
Nero’s
hands closed over hers. “Winter. My control is…far lower than usual.”
His words sent a thrill through her. She, tiny, blind Winter from Earth, was driving this big barbarian gladiator beyond his iron-hard control.
“Don’t worry,” she murmured. “I’ll be gentle with you.”
He made a growling sound, and she wrenched open the fastenings. He helped her shove his trousers down.
A long, large cock sprang free, right in front of her. Oh, Jesus.
Eagerly, she wrapped her fingers around him, stroking him. She wondered how something could be so hard and so soft at the same time. As she kept tugging on him, he groaned.
Curious, she leaned forward, licking the swollen mushroom head of him. She tasted musk and man, and her desire flared again.
He made a snarling sound and it excited her.
“Take me, Winter. Suck my cock into your mouth.”
Her belly clenched and she opened her mouth around him. His hand slid into her hair and she let him guide her. She ran her tongue along his length, opening her mouth wider to take more of him. Her eyes watered as she adjusted to the size of him, but as she sucked harder, he groaned.
Winter felt like a temptress. She, Winter Ashworth, was driving big Nero Krahn out of his mind.
“Grip me harder, Winter.” His words were guttural. “Take me deeper.”
She followed his directions and looked up at him. His big body was trembling, perspiration sheening his skin. She bobbed her head, sucking him harder. She moaned around him and felt his fingers tighten in her hair.
Suddenly, she found herself pulled off him and shoved back onto the pillows.
She looked up as her big barbarian loomed over her, his big body pinning hers to the cushions.
***
Nero was on the edge.
He wasn’t used to desire like this. So all-consuming and battering against his control.
He liked to tussle with a woman when it suited him. But it was usually fast and to the point. Not all this slow exploration, this driving need inside him that was louder than his heartbeat.
Defend. Protect. Claim. He wanted to stamp his claim on Winter, so everyone, including her, would know who she belonged to.
But she didn’t want or need that. She was a woman still finding her feet in this new world that was now her home. She’d asked for friendship and sex. That was all.
Still, barbarian blood ran in his veins.
“Mine.” He settled between her slim legs. “You’re all mine tonight.”
She arched up into him. “Yes.”
“I want to make you scream, Winter.”
“Please.”
He shoved her thighs apart, running his fingers over her. She was so soft and wet for him, the slickness of her juices coating her, preparing her for him. The scent of her arousal was lodged deep in his senses. “I can’t wait to feel you squeeze around me.”
Nero pulled back just enough and circled his cock. He rubbed the head of it against her, running it against her slick folds. It looked so big and brutish against her smooth skin and pretty curls.
He notched his cock against her, then lifted his gaze to her face. He wished he could see what the real color of her eyes was, but that milky white had become so familiar to him. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t read anything from her eyes, because her pretty face was so expressive. Everything she felt skittered across her features and, right now, the hungry, flushed look on her face said it all.
He pushed inside her. As her warmth closed around him, he gritted his teeth. He wanted to slam inside her, but he knew he was too big. He had to take care of her. Protect her. Even from himself.
“Oh… So big.” Her moan was long and loud.
“You can take me.” He kept pushing inside her. He needed to bottom out in her warm depths.
She reached up, her hands gripping his shoulders. Then her nails scratched down his back. She whimpered.
“Relax,” he said. “Take me.” He felt a primal hunger in him, beating against his control. Take. Go deep. Brand her.
“I am.” She moved under him, trying to shift her hips up to meet him. “Move, Nero.”
He shifted, rolling them so he was on his back and her on top. She moaned, resettling astride him. She lifted her hips, then sank down on his cock. She moaned.
“I like this,” she said huskily.
He liked it, too. There wasn’t a prettier sight than Winter’s sweet breasts jiggling as she moved above him. “Ride me, Winter.”
She circled her hips, then moved. Up and down, she pressed her hands against his chest, driving her hips down on him.
“Take all of me.”
“There is so much of you,” she said with another moan.
By the blade, he loved watching his cock slide inside her tight, hot body. He reached out and found her clit, rubbing it hard. “That’s it, Winter. You’re so sweet and hot.”
She moved faster, her pale skin flushed. “I’m going to come,” she cried.
“Come.”
And suddenly her body started shaking and she squeezed down on his cock.
Drak. His control broke. Nero reared up and pushed her back into the cushions. He spread her legs, shoving her knees up to her chest, and slammed back into her.
She let out a long moan. “Yes! Move, Nero.”
He obeyed, and started thrusting into her. Hard and unforgiving. He tilted her hips to a better angle, his cock sliding deep. “You crashed into my life, Winter. It was just how I liked it, but you turned everything upside-down. I feel like I’ve wanted you forever.”
She was making small, husky noises beneath him. As lost in the desire as he was.
Nero reached down and found her hands. He pressed them above her head, interlocking their fingers. His gaze was locked on her face, watching every emotion. He kept thrusting into her and her hips arched up to meet his. She took everything he gave her and wanted more.
When she came again, it was his name torn from her lips. Brutal sensations slammed into Nero. His thrusts lost any sense of rhythm, and he felt his own release sliding up his spine. It exploded and he came with a roar, spilling himself inside Winter.
He collapsed beside her, and pressed his face against her neck, drawing in the scent of her. “Mine.”
Chapter Twelve
Winter woke to the sounds of people moving outside her tent, and with her cheek pressed to warm skin. She blinked and realized she was wound around Nero.
Nero. Oh, God.
She blinked again and remembered all the things they’d done to each other. She bit down on her lip. So many dirty, sexy things. He shifted beneath her, one big hand clenching on her thigh. He slid her leg up and she felt the press of a hard cock against her skin.
“Awake?” His voice was a sleepy rumble. He turned his head, pressing a kiss to her shoulder.
“Yes,” she answered.
“Good.” He rolled her off him, until she was pressed facedown on the cushions. Before she could say anything, he was behind her, his hands clamping on her hips and raising them.
His thighs brushed the back of hers, and then she felt the prod of his cock between her legs. She bit back a cry, and then he slid inside her.
A moan was ripped from her throat. She was a little tender from their night of lovemaking, and he felt huge.
He thrust into her, finding a steady rhythm. One big hand slid over her hip and down her belly. A second later, his finger found her clit.
“You’re…obsessed,” she managed to get out. He’d spent a lot of time playing with the tiny nub.
“So fascinating.” He rolled it between his fingers, making sensations arrow through her. She jerked against him. “Such a small thing that’s capable of great things.”
Winter managed a strangled laugh.
“It’s a bit like you,” he added.
His thrusts increased, and she felt twinges of sensation spill through her. She pushed back against him, meeting each thrust, hearing the slap of flesh. Oh,
God.
“So tight. You love having me deep in your body, don’t you, Winter?”
“Yes.”
“You love being stretched around me.” His fingers moved, touching where he was spearing into her.
“Yes!”
Everything blurred. Nero was fucking her hard, harsh breaths escaping his chest. His finger came back to her slick clit, and, on the next thrust, her orgasm hit her so hard, she wasn’t sure she was going to stay conscious. She turned her head and bit into the cushion beneath her.
When Nero’s groan echoed above her, Winter felt a strong sense of rightness wash over her. His weight came down on her, pinning her to the pillows, and she’d never felt so good.
They lay there on the pillows, both of them breathing heavily. She rolled into him, pressing her face against his hard chest. She breathed in the woodsy scent of his skin.
“The camp’s waking up,” she said quietly.
“We should get ready.” His hand stroked down her back. “Galen will come looking for us if we’re late.”
“And the sooner we get moving, the sooner we find Dayna and Mia.” Reluctance making her move slowly, Winter rolled out of the cushions and away from his warmth. She missed it instantly.
Strong fingers wrapped around her wrist. “Winter.”
She looked back. He lay there on the pillows, looking nothing like a desert king or sultan. He was a warrior to the bone. A conquering warrior claiming his spoils of war.
His hand slid up to her cheek, pushing her hair back over her shoulder. “I don’t have the words to describe last night.”
She flushed. “I know what you mean. All I can manage is…wow.”
A crooked smile. “Wow works.”
Keep it cool, Winter. “Right. Well, you need to get your lazy barbarian butt out of bed.” She stood up and tried to ignore the fact that he’d be looking at her bare ass. She headed over to the cordoned off area to wash and dress.
She ran some water in the small tub, and quickly stepped in and washed up. As she dragged the cloth between her thighs, she felt sore and swollen.
“We can eat here. There are a few snacks.” She arched her neck and raised her voice. “Do you want something to drink?”
