Undercover(22)
“Don’t fight me, Freka.” He didn’t bother with the link; he spoke aloud, his voice frustrated and rough against her ear as she pushed against his chest.
“Let me go. I want to rest. I’ve had quite enough this evening.”
“I know you have. Let’s go inside. You can’t roam freely here. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
His arm around her waist, he allowed her to turn and then propelled them to the guesthouse and through the door.
“Where’s Brandt?” She tossed her bag and wrap on a nearby chair and kicked her shoes off. She wanted to throw them at his head but refrained.
“I know that look on your face, Sera. You’re furious. I didn’t plan to have her come here. Why are you angry with me?”
“You, you . . . There aren’t even words!”
Sera stomped out of the room, wanting to throw something but knowing they were at least monitored on some level.
“Brandt is having a late drink with his sister.” Ash followed her into the bedroom before she could close the door on him.
“How nice for him. I assume her venom only kills those foreign to her instead of family.”
Ash’s lips trembled a bit, and he shook his head. “I’d love for you to rub my neck. It’s very sore.” He unbuttoned his shirt, and her traitorous hormones shot to attention at the sight of his naked upper body when he took it off. He did have the good sense not to hand it to her, though.
“Hmpf.” Ignoring him, she glided into the bathroom and removed her gown before turning on the water for a nice, long soak. She may not be able to yell at him, but all women, even concubines, were allowed fits of temper, and she was going to have one.
Chapter 13
She’d just stepped into the large soaking tub when Ash strode in, naked, erect and bearing glasses of wine. She slid under the water so her nipples wouldn’t show.
“I take it you’re upset with the presence of my ex-wife. You have nothing to be jealous over.” He placed a goblet of wine at her hand and stepped into the water, hissing a moment. “You like the water too damned hot.”
“You’re a baby. Feel free to get out, and you won’t have to deal with the water temperature.”
“You know you’re going to pay for this, don’t you? I’m going to enjoy it, too.”
He sat, back to her, and leaned into her body. Without thinking, her hands went to his neck and shoulders. She kneaded the knotted muscles there until he groaned softly.
“Your ex-wife is a beast, Ash.”
“A spoiled, horrible woman. Yes.” He sighed. “And nothing like you. I’m sorry. I’m sorry she acted that way, but that’s who she is.”
“I can’t believe you married her. You walked away from me for that?”
“You walked away. We’ve been through this. Sera, I had no choice. I did what I had to do, and I hated it, but I had people depending on me. I don’t now, not in the same way. I did my duty, and I won’t put anyone before you, not ever again.”
Despite knowing he spoke the truth, her feelings were still bruised. Her rational self understood his actions before, but the hurt made it hard to let go of the fear. She decided to be irrational for the time being until she could process everything better.
She leaned in and bit his earlobe hard enough to make him sit up with a yelp. Water splashed everywhere. He turned, eyes flashing, and she knew she was in for it. He stood, water sluicing down ridge after ridge of well-defined muscle, and hauled her up.
One-handed, he pulled her hair from the neat nest on top of her head and stepped out of the water, carrying her like a sack of goods.
“I’m very tired, Ash.” She kept her voice bored even as she was slightly upside down as he carried her.
“I don’t care, Sela.”
The nerve of that man! And Brandt? Where the hell was he? There, apologizing to her for his sister’s horrid behavior? No, having a drink with the poisonous creature. Probably apologizing to her for Sera!
Ash tossed her on the bed, but she scrambled up. He anticipated her direction and met her.
“I’m wet. The bed will be ruined. Let me get dry.”
“No.”
“No? I’m a concubine, Ash Walker, not a slave.”
“You’re mine, Freka. That’s what you are. You’re angry with me, and we’re going to work this out with some flesh and some sweat. When you’ve come a few times, your opinion will soften.” His grin was arrogant, self-assured.
“You’re a pig. An ass. A man. That’s what you are. A man.”
“I am. I’m your man. Now get on that bed before I make you.”
Her head swiveled a bit at his audacity. “You think you’re going to master me after your bitch of an ex-wife treats me like scum on a public street, and your friend goes off to drink with her? Oh, how they must laugh. Poor Brandt and Ash, stuck with the low-class whore.”
His eyes narrowed, and in two steps he’d closed the distance. She found herself on her back as he loomed over her on all fours.
“I’m going to be there in a very short time, Sera. And then we’ll talk about your low opinion of me.” Brandt’s voice whispered over the link.
“He’s with her so you and I could talk alone.”
“There is no alone! I’m being watched every minute of the day by the Nondalese. You and your friend bust into my head at will. I have no defenses against you, and you’re using that against me! I can’t take it. I gave you everything, and then you left me with nothing. I can’t do that again. I don’t have anything left.” She put an arm over her face.
“Freka, I love you.” He kissed her wrist where it covered her eyes. He said it out loud, and the words, familiar and beautiful, cracked her facade until she had nothing to fend him off with. The tears flowed, and he gently moved her arm, kissing her cheeks and eyelids.
“You can’t love me, Ash. You aren’t meant for me,” she mumbled through her tears. The inability to react completely honestly only frustrated her more.
“Don’t tell me what I can’t do. No one but me is meant for you. And Brandt, I suppose.”
Sera opened her eyes, met his, and fell in. Deep. Still, that woman galled her. “She’s very skinny. And her nose is reconstructed. She looks like a bird. How could you fuck a woman who looks like she’d break, Ash?”
He grinned. “Not everyone is high capacity, Freka. Although I have to admit I like when you’re jealous and petty. It’s attractive, I don’t know why.”
She laughed. “Such a way with words when you think you might be climbing between my thighs.”
He pressed up, his cock sliding between her now slick and ready labia. “Looks like I’m already there.”
She watched his face change, watched as he went from her lover concerned for her emotions to the man who needed to top her. A shiver rolled through her at the transformation.
“Sera, I never dominated her. No one has worn a collar for me since you. No one has been worth it to me.”
His lips met hers, and there was no gentleness, only possession and heat. She managed to gasp, “Please, Ash, please fuck me,” between kisses.
“Roll over,” he ordered and sat up so she could obey him. He moved off the bed, and she heard him rifle through a bag and come back.
Cool, soft fabric covered her eyes. One of her scarves that masqueraded as a blouse. Darkness settled in as the bed moved and he straddled her back, tying her wrists together and then securing them over her head, most likely to the posts on the bed.
Electric jolts of red lit the back of her eyelids when his fingernails scored down her back from shoulders to the curves of her ass.
She gasped and arched into his touch. He scooted down her body, and his nails followed down the back of her thighs to her ankles.
He picked one foot up, and his teeth found her instep, so sensitive the sensation shot straight up her legs to her pussy.
In the dark behind the blindfold, her hands held captive, she waited to feel what he’d do next. A warm, wet swirl of his tongue at the back of each knee. The edge of his teeth nipped the backs of her thighs, the meat of her ass cheeks. The tip of his tongue trailed up her spine.
Each touch sent her deeper into herself, each sound of his appreciation made her pride swell. She was his, on display for his eyes, for his pleasure. A beautiful vision made for him.
“Lift your ass for me. I want you on your knees so I can touch every bit of your pussy while my cock is buried deep inside you.”
Levering one and then the other knee up to keep her balance, she kept her ass up and her head down, her hands still stretched before her.
“Your pussy is so wet, your honey is on your thighs. You don’t know what it does to me to see the effect I have on you.” As he spoke, he drew his fingertips through the furls of her sex, drawing the slickness up and over her clit, making her gasp.
“Tell me, do you want me to eat your pussy? Or fuck it?”
She moaned at the words as heat flushed through her system, setting her skin aflame with desire for him.
He moved back, the warmth of his body fading as he did. She whimpered in response. She didn’t know which she wanted. She wanted to come, yes. But his body was a feast for the senses; no matter what he did to her, he’d please her. It was hard to think with her clit throbbing in time with her nipples and pounding heart.