Unending Desire: Outlawed Realm, Book 1

by Tina Donahue

  She wanted to follow him, to force the issue, but decided against it. In silence, she watched Nikoli cook their meal. Having a task to complete and with his emotions buried for the moment, he moved fluidly, his large body at ease in the kitchen.

  It reminded Regina of the morning she’d laid her mother to rest. Well before dawn, she’d cooked feverishly, preparing for the gathering after the wake, eager to do anything to keep her mind off her loss. To escape the emptiness the next hours and days would bring.

  To lose Nikoli now that she’d found him was more than Regina could bear. Heat prickled her skin. She tried to swallow but couldn’t.

  Gripping the edges of her chair, she lowered her head. Stop it, she ordered herself. They weren’t defeated. They wouldn’t be. Her plan would work.

  With great effort, she focused on the moment, determined to make the most of their time together, to convince Nikoli of what he didn’t yet believe or trust. Pulling his sweater up her torso and off, she flung the garment to a side chair.

  It missed, hitting a wooden rooster on the counter. The ornament rattled in place.

  At the sound, Nikoli glanced over, staring at her tightened nipples and her reddish bush.

  Surprise and immediate lust registered on his face.

  Stoking it, Regina draped her arm over the back of her chair. Legs spread, she planted one foot on the furniture’s horizontal bar to display herself.

  Nikoli’s chest rose and fell with his heightened breathing. Tossing the spatula on the counter, he moved toward her.

  The oven’s timer dinged.

  He started at the sound, his steps halting, his attention returning to the appliance.

  Regina spoke on a silky purr. “Go on, finish up. I’ll still be here.” No matter what you say or try to do, I won’t desert you.

  Staring at her fingers dipping over her mound and touching her clit, Nikoli withdrew the same amount of steps he’d advanced. His arm hit the counter. A plate clattered.

  He ignored the sound. Repeatedly, his focus jerked from his meal preparations to what she was doing.

  Regina loved seeing him like this. He was so flustered and wanting of her, he dropped the spatula twice, a fork once. The plates kept getting in his way. He cursed one in his language and hers.

  Giving him no relief, continuing with her show, Regina stroked her nub, then brought her finger to her lips and licked its length, surprised at her boldness.

  She was no beauty, but Nikoli wanted her.

  Hurriedly, he cooked the eggs, scooping them onto their plates, followed by bacon and the cinnamon rolls. With the tube of frosting between his teeth and a plate in each hand, he approached, setting the dishes on the table, still watching her.

  Regina lowered her foot, touching his. Nikoli looked down. A smile spread across his face. She guessed he liked her polished toenails. The women on his realm probably didn’t indulge in such frivolity. Bringing her arm from the back of the chair, she pushed to her feet and slipped her hands beneath his robe, fingers brushing his hot skin. In a murmur, she asked, “Will you be cold without this?”

  He stared at her, then shook his head, sending several locks of hair tumbling over his forehead. Between his teeth, the tube of frosting wiggled.

  Smiling at how human he looked, how very male, she eased the robe from his arms, letting it drop to the floor.

  Before she could make another move, he pulled her aside and sank to the chair. Taking the tube from his mouth and tossing it on the table, he offered Regina his free hand. With her fingers curled around his, she straddled his body.

  “I want you inside of me,” she murmured. “Do you want that too, Nikoli, or are you too sore from last night?”

  “Are you?”

  “I’ll work through the discomfort.”

  “And I won’t?”

  Pleased at his macho response and the intensity, the vulnerability she saw on his face, Regina released his hand and wound her fingers around his rigid cock.

  He whispered something she didn’t hear.

  Her hand caressed his weighty organ, directing the head to her lips, slick with arousal. Piercing them, she slithered down, taking his full length slowly, giving herself and him time to adjust to the slight sting.

  It passed quickly even as his rod widened her channel, straining against her tight inner muscles.

  At the delicious friction, his breath caught and so did hers. Regina gulped air and tried to quiet the intense pounding of her heart.

  Nikoli set it to an even faster pace. Jerking his hips, he drove his shaft more deeply inside, their groins and curls touching.

  Weak with arousal, the feeling of being filled completely, Regina slipped her arm around his shoulders, leaned down to his ear and whispered, “Comfortable?”

  He grunted, one hand cupping her ass, the other on her breast, his thumb dragging over her nipple.

  Her lids sagged down. She inhaled deeply, filling herself with his scent. Masculine. Musky. “Ready to eat?”

  He made another sound, this one impassioned, just short of uncivilized. Lifting his hand from her ass and his other from her breast, he wrapped his arm around her waist, then leaned toward the table as though reaching for something.

  With their bodies listing to the side, Regina murmured, “What are you doing?” She kissed his throat and purred, “What are you looking for?”

  “This.”

  Nikoli used his teeth to open the packet of frosting. A smile tugged at her mouth. “And what’s that for?”

  “I’m not certain. I’ve never seen anything quite like it before.” Studying the container, he continued, “However, there does seem to be only one use for it.” He leaned back in his chair to separate their bodies, then squirted the sugary white glaze on her nipple.

  Oh, he was getting used to the way things worked on this plane. “Bad boy,” she breathed, driving her fingers through his hair. “Look at the mess you’ve made. You’re going to have to clean that up.”

  “And if I don’t?” he challenged.

  She tightened her muscles around his cock. “I won’t give you any more of what I’m doing right now.”

  He struggled not to smile. “Then I better be good.” Giving her his full attention, he flung the tube over his shoulder.

  It landed on one of the eggs, breaking the yoke.

  Prepared to point that out and tease a bit more, Regina managed no more than a gasp at Nikoli latching his mouth onto her icing-covered nipple, drawing it into his mouth.

  At its heat, Regina’s head fell back on her shoulders. She pressed her fingertips against his scalp to keep him close.

  He suckled hard, then groaned crudely—so humanly—before again flicking his tongue over her erect tip.

  Not only did the man know what she liked, he was already hard, or still hard, having the stamina of a Spartan warrior. With his continued suckling, a deluge of sensations swirled through Regina. Locking her heels on the chair’s horizontal bars, she squirmed in place, deliberately rubbing her clit against the base of his thick, hard rod.

  On a pleasured gasp, he released her nipple, his shallow pants skipping over her skin. With his forehead against her breast, he murmured, “Yes.”

  Regina caught enough air to speak. “Yes, what?”

  “I’m ready to eat.”

  She laughed, the sound reckless, joyous, the kind one hears from the young who haven’t yet faced the tragedies of life. In hers, there had been too many. With Nikoli, she would allow only good. Easing his hair behind his ears, she said, “I’ll feed you.”

  “We’ll feed each other.” He grabbed a piece of bacon, slipping one end between her lips, then took the other into his mouth.

  Each chew and swallow brought them closer. Relinquishing the last bite to him, Regina licked stray bits of the food from his lips. He touched his tongue to hers, then slipped it inside her mouth, delivering the bacon’s saltiness and his signature excitement that couldn’t be denied.

  Like teenagers, they necked,
making noisy, sloppy, happy sounds, their breakfast forgotten already, their desires all that mattered.

  Deepening his kiss, Nikoli tightened his arm around her waist and pushed to his feet. Instinctively, Regina wreathed her arms over his shoulders. She wrapped her legs around his lean hips, hooking one ankle on the other.

  Inches from their abandoned meal, he lowered her to the table, directing her to remove her arms and legs from him, to lie back. Once Regina had, Nikoli curled his fingers around her wrists, holding them to each side of her.

  Confined and filled, she regarded him, seeing herself and their future in his eyes.

  “Comfortable?” he asked, mimicking her earlier question.

  She grunted as he had.

  He laughed.

  The sound was so uninhibited, so delighted, tenderness rushed through her. For the first time in her presence, he’d allowed himself complete abandon and happiness. Wanting to prolong it, she tightened her muscles around his shaft.

  He sobered quickly and arched one dark brow. “I thought you weren’t going to do that again.”

  “Only if you weren’t a good boy.” Wriggling one hand free of his grasp, she brought it down to his thick pubic hair, running her fingers through it. “I’m happy to say, you’re being very good.” She dipped her fingers between their bodies to touch his balls.

  He pushed to his toes, his weight rocking into her.

  “But I think you can be better,” she goaded, bringing back her hand.

  On a hard swallow, he dropped to his heels and planted his hands on her knees, pushing her legs toward her chest, driving his cock even deeper into her sheath, taking her without question or regret.

  Regina moaned lewdly.

  “Better?” he asked.

  “Don’t stop,” she begged.

  His fingers slid down her inner thigh to her clit. She inhaled sharply at his quick strokes on her nub, the mounting pleasure they generated, an exquisite heaviness Regina could scarcely withstand.

  Her cunt tightened around his rod, and he responded with one, two, three quick thrusts, full and hard, sending Regina over the edge. She cried out, not recognizing the sounds as her own. Heat and a sensation she found impossible to describe whisked through her.

  Giving her no chance to recover from the intense pleasure he’d generated, Nikoli continued to pump, far more slowly this time, while his fingers circled her nub, taunting and teasing it beyond her endurance.

  A protest rose in Regina’s throat. Only a whimper escaped. She thrashed her head from side to side. Her fingers curled into fists.

  Nikoli ignored her silent complaint, pumping and stroking, his stamina beyond a Spartan’s. Hell, he was freaking Superman. With each new thrust, their surroundings retreated a bit more for Regina. Sounds, smells, colors no longer existed. Nikoli had reduced her world to his cock sliding in and out of her damp channel, his thumb rubbing her clit.

  Gulping air, she loosened her fists and yielded.

  It made no difference in his slow, steady pace as he inched her toward the next orgasm. The promise of it—the momentary denial—sapped all the strength from her legs and arms. In contrast, her sheath continued to tense. With an expert touch, Nikoli fueled her passion, seeming to know what she needed better than Regina did, proving it as jolt after jolt of new pleasure hit. Mouth hanging open, she cried out, the earthy sounds ringing through the room.

  Within seconds, Nikoli’s bellow joined them, low-pitched and thunderous, his thrusts coming to a halt.

  Regina clutched his muscular biceps. Sweaty and spent, she fought to pull in enough air, her chest heaving with her efforts. “You okay?”

  Damp hair clung to his forehead and temples. He stroked her clit.

  She choked on a swallow.

  “I’m fine,” he said, his baritone gritty with lingering lust. “You?”

  “I want more.” She wanted it all. Guiding him down to her, Regina wrapped one arm around his shoulders and settled her other hand on the side of his face. “I want to go home, Nikoli. I want to show you what life should be like…what it will be like as long as we’re together.”

  They had only today. Less than twelve hours.

  At the brutal reality, Nikoli squeezed his lids, ordering himself to pull away, to find a means to leave her so he could fight the vampires alone. So she could continue with her life once they and he were gone.

  As though Regina heard his thoughts or sensed the tension in his body, she kissed his temple, her cushiony lips brushing his skin.

  Her tender caress weakened his best intentions, keeping him close, a response he couldn’t fight or deny. Starved for her warmth, hungry for what little time they surely had, Nikoli allowed himself to consider that her plan would work.

  Just as quickly, his mind warned that it wouldn’t change anything. Should he survive, he’d be no more than a traitor, facing execution on E2. Here, he was an aberration without a future. If her government learned of his presence, they’d confine and study him, forcing him to reveal secrets about his dimension. Even if he escaped notice, he had no work, no means of taking care of her.

  Regina’s breath warmed his ear. She whispered, “We need to clean up and go home.”

  He had none.

  “I’ll take care of you,” she promised, addressing his unspoken concerns. “We’ll take care of each other. Together, we can do this, Nikoli.”

  She made it sound so easy. She made him want.

  Images flashed in his mind of the times he’d observed her from E2, watching as she shopped for food or walked down the street, glancing into windows at the goods offered for sale. Simple, routine tasks he imagined sharing with her as they held hands, discussing nothing more pressing than what they’d do that night, enjoying each other’s company. Content in the fact that they weren’t alone. They had each other. But for how long? Days? Months? Years?

  Would she eventually tire of him? Would she come to regret her decision to keep him in her life?

  His chest ached with uncertainty.

  Sliding her palms up his back, Regina ran her fingers over his ribs. “Nikoli?”

  He didn’t dare speak, unable to trust what he might say. Curbing his emotions, he pushed away from Regina, releasing himself from her body.

  She regarded him, then extended her hand. “Help me up?”

  Once he had, she placed her fingers on his chest. “Everything will be all right.” Her promise held softness and strength. “We’ll make it that way.”

  “You can’t know that,” he blurted. “There are no guarantees.”

  Worry flickered across her face, replaced quickly with determination. “I never said there were. But I don’t want to go back to a world without you. I’m willing to accept whatever happens as long as you’re at my side.” Curling her fingers on his pec, she murmured, “Can you accept the same?”

  He lowered his face.

  A long moment passed, their silence filled with the rush of heated air pouring from the vents and the oven pinging as it cooled. At last, Regina asked, “Is that a no?”

  It should have been, but Nikoli couldn’t get the word out. Hating himself for his weakness when what he needed was resolve and strength, he placed his hand on hers and said the only thing he could. “I never meant for matters to get this far, Regina. I planned to do no more than protect you. I have nothing to offer but uncertainty. In your realm, I have no means to work, no way to provide for you.”

  “Nikoli, look at me. Please.”

  When he did, she spoke softly. “What you just said, what you’re thinking, isn’t true. You’re an expert in psychics and technology. Your knowledge is far more advanced than anything on this side. With what you know, you could be an inventor, the same as the man who owned this estate. You could bring things to this world we’d never dreamed of.

  “Not to harm anyone on E2,” she added quickly, “or to lead them to its existence, but to enrich the lives of those who live here, to possibly bring them something good in terms of peace and secu
rity. And you wouldn’t have to interact with the public. You could work on your prototypes and patents from home. It’s done all the time.”

  His heart wanted to believe. His mind wouldn’t allow it. “You’re trying to make it sound so easy, so possible.”

  “It won’t be easy. However, it is doable. We’ll make it that way. We’ll get the patents under an assumed name or mine, whatever it takes to keep your identity a secret. All you have to do is trust me. I wouldn’t lead you to harm.”

  “I’m not worried about myself.”

  She searched his face, then spoke quietly. “I know what I’m doing.” With a look of conviction, she glanced at the clock on the wall. “After we clean up, we can leave for my place. It shouldn’t take us more than an hour to remove all traces of our having been here.”

  Nikoli didn’t understand. “What do you mean by removing all traces?”

  “Wiping off my fingerprints and yours. Eventually, someone will come here looking for the man who owned this estate. When they report him as missing to the police or should someone find his body, the authorities will search these premises and might dust for prints. They’ll run whatever they find through their database. Mine will lead them back to me, while yours…” She didn’t finish.

  He said what she would not. “Will identify me as something not quite human. Someone whose identity needs to be kept secret.” He spoke as harshly as he could. “And this is what you want for yourself, Regina? This is what you want your life to be?”

  “Yes. If you were taking me to E2, would you worry for yourself or for me?”

  “How can you ask such a thing?”

  “How could you?”

  Nikoli didn’t know how to reason with her.

  Again, she touched his pec, making it dance. “Come on,” she murmured, “we’ll clean up and then we’ll go to my place. There, we’ll make our plans. We’ll spend the rest of the day together.” She ran her fingertips down his torso to his navel, then beneath it to his groin and cock. “Until night falls, I’ll make you forget everything bad. I’ll take care of you.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Beneath the sink, Regina found several packages of rubber gloves along with dozens of cleansers and disinfectants. Handing Nikoli a set of the gloves, she donned another to avoid leaving any more prints. As they worked, they cut off forkfuls of the cinnamon rolls, scooping them up with bites of bacon and egg. Chewing slowly, Regina made certain to leave Nikoli the bulk of the food, convinced it wouldn’t harm him.