“Bastard.” I laughed. “See, that’s the thing,” I commented while pouring myself a glass of wine. “I could never understand casual sex. Even if I’m not deeply in love with someone, I have to at least care for them if we’re going to sleep together.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“I’m serious. So, I suppose that ups my chances of experiencing some kind of connection or osmosis or whatever the hell you want to call it, because I have cared for everyone I’ve ever been with.” I took a sip of the dark red wine before adding more softly, “I’ve never used anybody.”
“And that’s what makes you a good person in spite of yourself.” Alfred tilted my chin so that I looked at him again. “Don’t think about him now. I’m here, not that asshole Bradley, or the one before him.” He kissed my forehead. “And I will not use you.”
“Besides,” he continued, “you and I have lived together for so long, we’ve already picked up bits and pieces of each other’s personality just out of habit.”
“True, but how did you know I was thinking about Bradley?”
“Besides the fact that you mentioned him a few minutes ago? I don’t need to gain any of your ability to read your mind, I know you too well.” He sighed. “I suppose it really doesn’t matter. Not for you and I.”
“How so?”
“You were already a part of me,” he said softly.
“You’re just saying that because you’ve seen me naked,” I managed to say with a straight face.
He smiled and turned back to the salmon as he commented over his shoulder, “No. I’m saying that so I can see you naked again.”
I watched as he added some red peppers and olive oil to the pasta he’d started to cook and my stomach lurched. I was hungrier than I’d thought.
“How is it Mathias Alexander is warning you about choosing your sexual partners carefully if all the rumors about him were true?”
I laughed. “That’s what I asked him. But, Mathias did choose his lovers very carefully. He didn’t go for the cold or conceited women, but ‘the soft of heart.’ He was with some of the most ravishing and heart wrenchingly beautiful women the world has ever known, and they helped to make him into the seductive wizard of legend.”
“Damn, that’s sexy when you say it,” he said, smiling.
“How much did you manage to drink while I was in the bathroom?”
“This is only my second glass,” he said indignantly. But the half smirk gave him away. “My second glass, after I drank from the bottle while you were in the bathroom.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said with a laugh. “Does the sight of me naked drive you to drink?”
“Of course not.” He put the glass on the counter. “I’m just glad to be back.” He pinched my ass and winked as he said, “And I’m glad to see you.”
*****
After dinner all I wanted to do was snuggle up and go to sleep. And after Alfred finished off an expensive bottle of Pinot Noir, that’s all he was able to do.
“Italian men are so much more fun when they’re drunk,” I said on our way back to his bedroom.
“Is that so? Are you saying I’m not any fun sober?”
“No, but you’re more difficult to take advantage of,” I purred.
“Ah,” he sighed. “If only you knew how many years I’ve waited for you to take advantage of me.”
“Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
Alfred looked down his nose at me as if that were the stupidest question in the world.
“Because you just don’t do things like that.”
“You mean you don’t do things like that. I on the other hand have no problem telling someone I’d like to be taken advantage of.”
“Really? I may just be drunk, but didn’t I hear you say earlier that you’d loved me too long to let go without a fight?”
“Something like that, yes. But that’s not the same thing.”
“Oh yes it is. If you’ve cared for me for as long as you say, you haven’t bothered to tell me either.” He pointed to his eyes and then at me as if he was going to do The Three Stooges eye poke and said, “But, I’ve been giving you the eye.”
“My God, you’re drunk,” I laughed.
“Do you really love me?” he asked seriously as we reached the bedroom door.
We went inside and I watched Alfred sit on the side of the bed, facing me expectantly. I walked up to him and separated his knees so that I could stand between his legs. As I brushed my fingers through his dark silken hair I replied, “I have always loved you, I just didn’t realize it before.” I sighed. “And I always will, even if you turn out to be a complete scoundrel and ruin my life.”
Alfred placed his hand on the back of my neck and pulled me toward him. His lips were warm and soft with the faint kiss of wine. “I’m not a scoundrel,” he whispered as he kissed along my cheek.
“Maybe not,” I teased. “But I am.”
His skin was warm beneath my touch as I slipped both my hands inside his robe. I let my fingertips play along his arms, reveling in the feel of every nuance and curve of muscle. I was exhausted. It had been nearly twenty four hours before I had any sleep, and the few hours I had passed out in the early afternoon were not enough. But as I looked at Alfred, drunk and as helpless as I was ever likely to find him, I couldn’t seem to help myself. There was a hunger inside of me that would not rest, a desire that would not be silenced, and an ember that was once again becoming a flame.
I ran my hands up to his shoulders and slid the soft robe down his back. Faint red claw marks tarnished the perfect bronze of his skin. I kissed the marks as I whispered against his skin, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “I didn’t even feel them.”
I licked across the red mark on one tanned shoulder and he gasped.
“I’ll make it up to you,” I promised.
I untied his robe and revealed his gorgeous body to my hungry eyes. Hungry is the only word to describe the way I looked at him, for I was ravenous with my wicked desires. There were things I wanted to do to Alfred that had no name, ways I wanted to touch him that had no description.
“Lie back,” I said silkily as I placed one hand on his chest and pushed gently.
The soft black robe fell to the floor as Alfred slid back across the sheets naked until he reached the middle of the bed. He reclined back against the pillows and crossed his hands behind his head as he watched me.
I took the belt from his robe and walked into the bathroom. Alfred’s closet, like mine upstairs, adjoined his bathroom, and there I found what I needed. I reemerged shortly with the belts from two more of Alfred’s robes.
Like a cat, I crawled toward him, took one foot and tied one of the belts around his ankle. Alfred’s gaze never wavered from mine as I tied both his feet securely to the bed posts. I crawled over his body and Alfred watched me take his left wrist from behind his head and secure it with the last belt.
“You forgot my right hand,” he said, wiggling his fingers.
With a dramatic flair that I could not have pulled off better with practice, I snatched off the belt of the robe I was wearing and tied his right hand up with a smile.
“What are you planning to do?” he asked.
I threw back my head and laughed. It was a deep, velvet, throaty sound. Alfred replied softly, “That sounded like a threat.”
“No darling, that was a promise,” I purred.
I opened Alfred’s long robe that I still wore, and straddled his upper thighs. As I leaned forward, I began to rub my face across his stomach like an animal. I think I was trying to scent mark Alfred’s body as my territory. His skin felt so warm against my face. My voice was practically a moan as I said, “So many nights I’ve laid awake,” I breathed along his skin, “just thinking of the things I’d like to do to you.”
His shocked intake of breath thrilled me, and it was all I could do to control myself.
“I was just downstairs, you know?”
&n
bsp; “But over the past three months, you were on another planet,” I purred. “And my lustful gaze has been deprived of the sight of you.”
“Ah,” he panted. “Do you always talk like this when you’re aroused? I mean, is it a poet thing, or what?”
“Are you complaining?”
“No, God no.”
“I believe it to be the unfortunate side effect of a horny poet inheriting the powers of a horny old wizard.”
He laughed and I slid farther up his body. I stretched myself across him so that the front of our bodies pressed together as my lips hovered above his left nipple. I breathed along his skin and watched him shiver. Without warning I closed my mouth over his flesh, flicking across the taut skin with my tongue.
“Are you planning to torture me like this all night?” he moaned.
“You haven’t seen torture yet.”
For nearly an hour I let my mouth and hands roam over Alfred’s body. I touched the places I had only touched before in my mind, and I committed the feel of his body to memory.
As I kissed along the curve of his hip I could contain myself no longer. All of this time I had deliberately avoided touching certain parts of him. The fine shimmer of sweat across his forehead made it clear that I was in fact torturing Alfred.
I straddled his legs again as I leaned forward and took the part of him I had avoided between my hands. I brushed the sides of my face up and down the length of his cock and Alfred fought against the restraints. But I was good at tying knots and I dared not set him free.
I released him abruptly and his look of disappointment almost made me laugh. I retrieved the bowl of leftover cherries from the table by the bed and I could have sworn Alfred whimpered.
After I placed the bowl beside him, I slipped out of the robe and scooted it underneath his hips. I reached into the bowl as I once again straddled his legs. With my right hand I crushed the ripe cherries and watched in fascination as the juice poured over the honeyed bronze of his skin, leaving faintly pink trails.
I placed both my hands firmly on the bed beside his hips and leaned forward to lick the juice from his body. He cried out as I took part of him into my mouth, only to release him seconds later in order to better lick the juices from his writhing flesh. I slid my hands underneath him and squeezed the firm muscles of his backside as I continued to clean the juice from his body with my mouth.
When the torture became too great, even for me ... I took him. I took him like a wild ravening beast claims its mate in the wild. I straddled his waist and stuffed his big cock inside me. Alfred was mine, and every inch of him would remember that in the morning. But for now, I wanted to hear it.
“Tell me you’re mine,” I breathed against his throat. “Let me hear you say it.”
“Sono tuo,” he moaned repeatedly.
Even though he spoke Italian I understood him, and it was what I needed to hear. Like a raging storm my passion rolled over us, sweeping away our minds in a tide of desire. His words had brought me such release that I nearly passed out as I rested my face against his chest.
“Oh, my God,” he panted. For the next several minutes Alfred alternated between mumbling, “Oh, my God,” and something indiscernible in Italian. But I suddenly felt very weak and very sick.
“I don’t feel good,” I mumbled as I rolled over Alfred and off the bed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure, but I really don’t feel good.”
“Untie me,” he said.
I sort of staggered to each bedpost and with one tug the knots were undone. I left Alfred to untie the belts from his wrists and ankles while I stumbled into the bathroom. When he found me just a few minutes later, I was sitting on the cold tile in the bottom of the shower with my face pressed against the wall.
Alfred swept me onto his lap and held me against him as he asked, “Lilith, what’s wrong?”
“I feel sick,” I mumbled as I wrapped my arms around him.
“Describe it to me. Are you nauseous?”
“Not really. I feel weak ... not just the weakness after really good sex.” I laughed softly.
“What sort of weakness?”
“I think I’m going to faint,” I whispered against his chest.
He held me in silence for a moment before asking, “What time did you say Richard called you the other night?”
“It was late, near midnight. I couldn’t sleep, so I’d decided to go down to the training room.”
“And you were out all night fighting werewolves and in fear for the life of your friend?”
“Yes.” I tried to nod and my head fell limply forward.
“And then you came home to me, and we slept this afternoon for what, three and a half, maybe four hours?”
“Mmhm.”
“Considering the lack of sleep, and the fact that you’ve not eaten nearly enough to heal your wounds so dramatically, I think we’ve discovered the reason for your weakness. That’s not even taking into account the way you just worked me over.”
I smiled and it took effort. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure,” he said as he tiled my head back and looked at my eyes. “You just look exhausted to me.”
“Are you sure? I feel really bad,” I grumbled.
“I am a doctor, remember? Take my word for it.”
My eyelashes fluttered and I started to see spots.
“Come on,” he said, scooping me up again like I weighed nothing.
Alfred sat on the side of the tub with me still on his lap and I listened to the sounds of him adjusting the water temperature. Opening my eyes would have taken too much effort.
I must have dozed off or passed out because the next thing I knew, he was easing me down into the warm water. However, unlike the last time we’d been in the tub together, he didn’t have to put me in first in order to get undressed. Fortunately, Alfred was already naked. He just stepped into the tub and carried me with him.
“You didn’t want to go to bed sticky?” I asked once he’d gotten us both settled.
“I have nothing against cherries,” he said, “but yes. I didn’t want to be sticky.”
As I snuggled against his chest he added, “You should appreciate that because I would have just spooned up against you and then you’d wake up to a sticky ass.”
I laughed and it made me feel nauseated, so I took a few minutes to just lie there and let my stomach settle. Alfred wrapped his arms around me and held me tight against his chest. The warm bath water heated his skin to the point of feeling almost feverish, but I took comfort in the warmth.
He began to massage the back of my neck with the hand that had been cradling my head and I moaned. “This feels familiar,” I said sleepily.
“Yes, it does.”
“Will you molest me this time?” I teased.
“I don’t think I have the strength,” he said and I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Speaking of which, won’t Marcy be angry that you didn’t have the strength to go out with her?”
“Not likely.”
I pulled back to look at him and asked, “You lied about the date?”
“No. But I’d already called her and cancelled before you came down to the lab.” He smiled. “I had the strength; I just didn’t have the heart.”
His dark eyes sparkled alluringly and I stretched upward to kiss him. Alfred has such nice lips, so soft, perfect for kissing. The touch of his warmth seemed to revive something within me and desires that should have long been sated were awakened once again. It was not sex that I craved, but the press of his warm flesh against me. I hungered for the taste of his lips and the feel of his strong embrace. I moved so that my face rested against the curve of his neck and sighed contentedly.
I fell asleep while Alfred washed my hair. There was something about his long fingers running across my scalp that relaxed me completely. When I woke up, Alfred had just stood, lifting us both from the water. I was so tired. I kept taking deep breaths as if I could ne
ver get enough oxygen.
Instead of trying to dry me, Alfred just wrapped me in a large cream colored towel and laid me at the foot of the bed while he dried off. My eyes would not seem to stay open, but I heard him toweling his hair and turning down the covers.
When he came back a few minutes later he started drying my hair and I fell asleep again as soon as I heard the sound of the blow dryer. I vaguely remembered wondering if I’d gotten any of the cherry juice on the covers.
*****
The next thing I knew, it was morning. Alfred’s big warm body was wrapped around me like a blanket and I snuggled back against him. But what had woken me? The sun was just rising and the bay window in Alfred’s room that overlooked the rose garden was directly in front of my face. Even though the window was all the way across the large bedroom, the light managed to cascade directly onto the point of my nose. No wonder Alfred slept on the other side.
The minute I slid off the bed Alfred grumbled and flung one arm across his eyes. “What are you doing?” he mumbled.
“I’m going to the bathroom, is that all right with you?”
“Hmm,” he groaned.
When I came back I took a moment to appreciate how good he looked lying there. His ebony hair shined in the early morning sun like a dark gem, and the bronze of his skin looked magnificent next to the golden sheets. He looked like some sort of Greek god, come to Earth. And he was mine. Every inch and sinew of that gorgeous body was mine.
I smiled to myself as I closed the bed curtains and slipped back between the satin sheets. I ran my hand over the soft hair on his chest and sighed. “I love a man with a hairy chest.”
He laughed. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, I can cancel my appointment to be waxed.”
“I’m serious.”
“Me too.”
I lifted my head enough to look at him and he smirked. “Okay, so I wasn’t going to be waxed. But that’s really something you don’t hear every day.”
“I think you’re confused,” I said as I snuggled back against him. “It’s hairy backs and butts that women don’t like, but a hairy chest is fine.”
Lilith Mercury, Werewolf Hunter Series (Boxed Set, Books 1-3) Page 48
