by Koko Brown
He buried his head between her thighs, and Reese whimpered. He licked and sucked, giving her the most intimate of kisses. “Oh...Viking. You. Are. Dangerous.”
Reese wasn’t quite sure what had awakened her. It could’ve been the shouts of children playing outside or the large Viking softly snoring beside her. Whatever the provocation, she was up. Moving slowly, so as not to arouse him, she edged off the mattress. With little effort, she found her gown and chemise on the floor.
Although she was tempted to get back into bed, Reese lifted the linen chemise over her head.
“Umm...no,” she whispered. After a twenty-four hour sex marathon, she was rather ripe.
Going off only her memory, Reese walked over to a wooden table in the corner. She poured water in a carved wooden bowl, and then dropped in a clean strip of linen. She picked up a grayish bar of soapstone, and was immediately reminded of the day Eirik and Bjarni found them at the hot springs. When that cock-blocker Leika had her tentacles all over Eirik, and she’d been so choked up with jealousy she wanted to snatch the other woman bald. Even now, the memory of that day threatened her good mood. That’s why getting out of this room, and putting some distance between them was imperative. Stat!
In quick order, Reese soaped the rag and proceeded to give herself a bird bath. Of course, it couldn’t compare to the hot springs, but at least by the time she set the soap and rag aside, she felt refreshed. Whistling softly and thinking herself home free, Reese tossed her chemise over her head, followed by her gown. She turned toward the door and froze.
“I would pay anything to see you do that again.” Eirik, in all his naked glory and the sexiest head of bed hair she’d ever seen, straightened from the wall. He stood between her and the exit. “Going somewhere?”
“Ah...yeah...it’s almost dinner time...aren’t you hungry?”
“Not for food.” He caught her around the waist and hauled her back to bed.
“Aren’t you exhausted?” she threw out the lame excuse, which didn’t prevent him from throwing her onto the bed.
“Nay.” Chuckling, he straddled her. “I am a Norseman.” He reached out, gripped the collar of her gown. “We are not like the men where you come from. We have a fortitude, an inner will that exhausts others.” With a slight tug, he ripped her garment from top to bottom.
Mouth agape, Reese stared down at the frayed edges of her ruined gown. “Y-y-you just ruined the only garment I own,” she sputtered.
“No clothes, you will be less likely to leave.”
Seeing red, and not considering the consequences, Reese’s fist connected with his jaw.
‘Ow’, she mouthed, recoiling in pain. His jaw had to be made of steel! While she cradled her hand, he stared down at her with a quizzical arch of his pale eyebrows.
“If you wanted me to stay, all you had to do was ask.”
“Norsemen do not ask, we take.” He slid a hand behind each knee, hauled her legs into the air and then pressed forward, sinking balls deep.
Reese groaned as he took her, his weight pinning her to the bed, his cock hammering away inside her.
Brutal? Check.
Out of Control? Check.
And yet, her world was spinning out of control.
Damn.
Eirik was going to give Reese some respite. He’d even sworn to lay off after the last time. But when she rolled over, a sigh on her luscious lips, and snuggled her pert little backside against him, he couldn’t control the raging heat shooting to his cock.
Unbelievably rock hard and aching for her, Eirik pushed her onto her back and settled between her legs.
“Nooo,” she moaned. Her voice sounded raw and husky from sleep and sex. “I want to sleep.”
Not the least bit deterred by her rejection, he anchored himself inside her. “And I want you,” he rasped, and not quite understanding this insatiable lust gripping his soul. Little else other than an all-out invasion could pull him from this room, from her.
Her lashes lifted and her eyes met his. The same driving need was reflected in their brown depths. Or was he simply wishing?
Feeling like the wind had been knocked out of him, Eirik struggled for breath, desperate for a conclusion. And yet, he did not stop. Bucking his hips, his head dropped to her breast, and he licked a brown nipple. Hard strokes. A suckle that had her arching into him and whimpering his name.
By Odin, she was beautiful with her thick hair wild and untamed. Lips swollen from his kisses. Her dark skinned sporting bruises from his love bites. If he had his way, she would always look this way.
The woman had him by the ballsac and didn’t even know it. Or probably didn’t even care since he’d caught her trying to get away from him not once but twice. Eirik gritted his teeth. Damn woman! He wanted her wild and desperate for him—the way he was for her. And if he had to keep her in this room and in his bed until spring then he’d do it.
Determined to have his way, his thrusts became more dogged, relentless. There were no soft caresses, no gentle kisses. Only lust, all-encompassing and out of control. His cock was so swollen it hurt. And the only thing that seemed to assuage the pain was burying inside her sweet quim.
“Fuck me, Viking...” she panted in his ear. Her nails digging into his shoulders, scoring the flesh, adding fuel to the fire raging through his blood. Fisting his hand in her hair, Eirik lifted her up against him. The bed shifted as he dug in his feet, his hips powering into her. He tunneled into her so fast and deep, she unraveled after only a few strokes—her body shaking beneath him, trembling lips crying out his name.
Eirik fought through the clasp of her quim, desperate contractions that sought to hold him in place. Her tight channel gripping him as he thrust deeper.
The tingling came first. Deep in his balls, then ripped up his spine, exploding through him like a wave. His body trembling, face buried in the side of her neck and holding her so tightly one would be hard pressed to tell where one began and the other ended, he found Valhalla.
Breathing heavily, body slick with sweat, Eirik lifted himself away and sprawled face down next to her.
“That was...epic,” Reese panted, still somewhat breathless.
He turned his head the minimum distance and then smoothed his pale blond hair away from his sweaty brow. Reese sighed. He was masculine sensuality personified.
“Does epic mean good?”
“Epic is beyond good. More like awesome.”
“And this ah-some...,” smiling, he reached out and knuckled a nipple, “...is that good?”
Reese’s eyelids fluttered. His hand triggered susceptible emotions. Flesh still raw, and the muscles between her legs screaming Out of Commission, she wanted him again. Feeling bold, she tiptoed her fingers up his forearm.
“Awesome means magnificent”— she reached his elbow—“borders on extraordinary” — her fingertips scaled a hard bicep — “and stops shy of being miraculous.”
In a flashing movement, he rolled onto his back, taking her with him. He wrapped a thigh around hers. The warm brush of his skin, the rub of the hairs on his legs struck a match against her already rising libido. “So have I crawled under your skin? Stolen your heart?”
“What makes you think I’ve gone soft for you?”
His palm slid downward over the curve of her ass and cupped her sperm-wet backside. “You took my seed. Begged for it.” He rolled with her again, and landed on top. Entwining their fingers, he positioned himself between her legs and pushed upward, wedging the head of his cock between her pussy lips. Reese gasped.
“Are you trying to trap me?” his voice dipped to a rasp. “Bind me to you?”
She was trying to trap himjust not for the reason he was suggesting. If circumstances were different, and this thing between them not a complete dead end, Reese would’ve entertained the idea. Held her breath and dived in headfirst.
Despite being more than a thousand years old and slightly chauvinistic, Eirik was a great catch. Well off, he owned a large keep, several hun
dred acres and a small fleet of long ships. He managed to keep a couple hundred villagers safe in a lawless land. And he had a good head on his shoulders. On more than one occasion, she’d witnessed him settling petty disputes, and he was always fair. He might own slaves, but deep down Reese knew with a little prodding his mind could be changed on that front as well.
Lump all of that with being back-breaking brilliant in bed, and she had a keeper on her hands. A complete three hundred and sixty degree turn from the other clowns she’d dated. Like Clyde T. and his bright idea to invent chewless gum. Or, Thomas C.’s rabid devotion to conspiracy theories and his plan to prove aliens had a hand in assassinating John F. Kennedy. Irate over the president’s launching of the space program, and discovering their mine on the moon, they’d framed Lee Harvey Oswald.
She’d met the man of her dreams, and finally possessed the cajones to step up to the plate, and they didn’t have a future. She couldn’t win for losing.
Her vision suddenly blurry, Reese blinked. Those were so not tears!
I am so not Laura and he’s not Luke. She was made of stiffer stuff. Like Storm and Jane Grey, she couldn’t forsake her mission for a thick dick and unbelievable sex. There was a bigger picture at stake. More than her life was on the line. And a fairytale ending, no matter how appealing, couldn’t get in the way of that.
“You are taking too long to answer, woman,” he growled, and then bit her shoulder. Like before, his aggressive form of foreplay made her clit throb.
“I could ask the same of you, Viking. You are bigger and stronger than me.” Reese planted her feet on the back of his legs and ran them down and then back up. She smiled when he gathered her closer and pressed his lips against the sensitive hollow in her neck. “You could’ve resisted my passionate pleas and pulled out. Are you trying to trap me? Bind me to you?”
A beat passed, and then he said, “You are mine and I will never let you go.”
Stated with such conviction, his tone should have rubbed Reese the wrong way; instead, Reese experienced an odd flutter in her stomach. Not liking this one way street, she countered, “Is that the Viking way of saying you love and cherish me?”
He ran his calloused hands over her forearms in a light caress, and Reese shuddered. “What a good warrior you are. How easily you turn the tables on your enemies. Have them question their defenses.”
Only a few words and the air around them became charged. The pendulum swing of emotions, she’d just caged, broke free. Sure, she warred with her common sense, any kind of romantic entanglement could cloud her judgment, and still she hurtled down that path.
Heart pounding, Reese slid her hands into his hair. “What does a mighty warrior like you have to protect?” she asked softly, willing her voice into a calmness she didn’t feel.
With a defeated groan, Eirik flopped onto his back. Like a magnet drawn to metal, and seeing a victory she shouldn’t want in sight, Reese followed. She was actually trembling as she waited for him to say something. Her emotions pitched and rolled, until she decided she had to have more sense than to actually be dying to hear what he had to say.
“I keep underestimating you.” He lifted his head and smiled at her and it was so warm and intimate, he made her feel like he’d never smiled at anyone like this before. Or at least she wished it were so.
“Me?” She widened her eyes with feigned innocence, and experienced a confidence she’d never felt in her life. “I’m a mere woman...a slave.”
“With a deadly arsenal at your disposal,” he whispered. “One that kept me walking the floors at night. You belong to me, so it should not matter if you are willing to spread your legs for me or not, but it does.” His hand drifted down her spine, and Reese instantly excused his crudeness as desire shot through her. “I want more. I want—”
“You want everything,” she finished for him. Her toes curling as he squeezed a butt cheek. “Sooo like a Viking.”
“It’s in my nature to take all. Vanquish our enemies until they are cowed, obedient. Leave our mark on them. That is how we became legend. Most of our enemies are already vanquished before we even reach their shores.”
All this talk of crushing enemies and the stuff of legend had Reese so turned on she swung her left leg over him, so she straddled him, her thighs resting against his. His cock nudged hotly against her lower back. His gaze traveled over her in the most licentious way, she felt singed from the roots of hair to the tips of her toes.
Slowly rocking her hips back and forth, Reese placed her hands on his chest for balance. “Did you know where I come from geek girls are legendary?”
“Geek girls?”
Blood rushing to her head, slightly out of breath she nodded her head. “Kick-ass females with an uncanny ability to steer clear of Twilight and Justin Beiber. We possess a superhuman knowledge only gained through our insatiable lust for books. When we indulge in cosplay, we bring nerds to their knees.”
Eirik’s eyes narrowed as he wrapped his hands around her forearms. The touch of his warm fingers sent her libido into overdrive. “Who are these nurdahs?”
He sounded jealous! “It’s pronounced nerds and they are geek girls’ counterparts. Our mates,” she added for clarification when he frowned.
He remained silent for a beat, and then he said, “What makes a man...a nerd?”
His question was so engendering, a warm ball of the fuzzies unfurled in her belly and expanded outward. Smiling, she said, “Nerds are extremely clever.”
“I am cunning. I have never been defeated in battle.”
“Did you win with this,” Reese touched his arm and then his head, “or this?”
“Brawn serves one well,” he sniffed, “but no one wants to follow a fool into battle.”
“Nerds usually are obsessed with outside the mainstream like technology, history, astronomy comic books and board games.”
“Board games you say?”
Reese nodded.
“I like to play runes and I’m quite good at kvatrutafl. I’m sure I could best you.” He suddenly gripped her hips and sat up. His cock bobbed between them. “I guess I’m a nerd.”
“Mayhap, but most nerds also like to role play...we call it cosplay.”
“And how do you do this cawzplay?”
“Cosplay is role-playing in costume. I’ve made all of my costumes for the annual Space Coast Con. Last year, I dressed up as the original BatGirl, the Betty Kane version. I won the Silver Age category.”
“Dress up is for children and I am a man.” His gaze narrowed. “Are you trying to make a cuckold of me?”
“Never! All the nerds I know dress up.” Reese almost retracted the lie, but she wanted to see how far he would go to prove himself to her. If he stepped out of his boundaries, dressed up for her he might abolish slavery. It was a stretch, but anything was worth a try.
“How does one choose a costume?”
“Costumes are based on our favorite super heroes, people we admire.”
“My father was my hero and I already dress like him. This cosplay will be easy.”
Reese didn’t let him off the hook. “What about the god Thor?”
He appeared to contemplate her suggestion and then said, “I have always idolized Thor’s mettle in battle. I always offer a sacrifice and pay homage after a successful campaign.”
Turned on by the thought of seeing him in costume, Reese felt her nipples harden. “If I wear this costume, will I be a nurdah?”
“The sexiest I’ve ever seen.” Unable to keep her hands to herself, she ran them over his pelvis.
“I’ll be the sexiest in this costume?” he asked innocently, but watching her through lowered eyelids. Bedroom eyes, and extremely potent.
As if any could after meeting him! He also didn’t need the help of a costume to earn to be the sexiest man she’d ever seen. Still, he didn’t need to know that since she’d discovered a crack in his armor.
Staring up at the ceiling’s wood beams, Eirik thumped his fingers on his c
hest. From the way he hedged, she could tell he didn’t quite like the idea. So she decided to play dirty.
“You’ll be the object of my deepest desire.” Reese palmed his cock. “No other man could compare.” She twisted her wrists as she lifted her hands and then slowly slid them down his length.
Reese watched his expression change, captivated not only by his masculine beauty but his visible response to her strokes. Her increasing rhythm had him arching into her hands. His lashes fluttered, fanning against his flushed cheeks.
“You are going to make me come,” he choked out.
Literally having the upper hand, Reese rested her hands at the base of his shaft. “Not until you give me your answer. I can have our costumes made up before the end of the week. I know just the place where we can enact our adventure.”
To her consternation, he started chuckling. “I am a warlord,” he admonished, “dress up is for children.”
She felt the heat of embarrassment all the way to her toenails. “No one would have to know,” she said tightly.
“I would know.”
Wheels spinning in her head, Reese recalled overhearing Gilda and Brita discussing the preparations for vetrnætr or the winter night’s festival. What she could glean from their conversation, the celebration lasted three or more days. Pagan in nature, there would be an animal sacrifice as protection against a long, harsh winter followed by several days of food and drink. So much ale and mead, each farmer had been required to donate three bundles of barley to the festivities. Add this to Eirik’s harvest, and three dozen gunny sacks already lined one of the storerooms floors. Drunk, people were liable to do anything. Loaded on too much bubbly, she sang I’ll Always Love You on a baby grand at Disney’s Swan and Dolphin on New Year’s Eve.
“What if...your people, your men were also in costume?”
He snorted, “I would throw them out on their arses.” Sitting up, he gripped her waist. “No more talk of costumes or nurdahs.” He lifted her up then slammed her onto his erection. No foreplay. No kisses, no caresses. He didn’t need to. Once seated, her motivation switched gears and centered in the vicinity of her groin.
