Bound by Sin (12 page)

She came to him, reaching out for his hands and pulling him up from the bed. She turned him and gave him a little push until he was at what she deemed was an optimal distance, then threw herself down onto the bed with a flounce of long limbs and ripe breasts. She leaned back on her elbows and raised an expectant brow.

Feeling suddenly on display, he felt awkward again. He shouldn't. He was a man with a destiny, a warrior through and through who had no one to answer to save an all-powerful goddess. He had just cut a swath through an army of men and had seized hold of a foreign city. These were not the actions of a weak or awkward man.

Frustrated with himself, he shrugged out of the vest he was wearing with some measure of violence. Then, with equal temper, he stripped his shirt from his back, leaving himself bare chested before her.

“Very nice,” she said lasciviously, her mouth curving into a devilish smile.

Now he was determined to teach the saucy wench a lesson or two, so there was impetus to his actions as he kicked off his boots and stripped away his leggings. He was naked then and he paused to display his fine masculine muscles before stepping forward to reach for her. But she held up a staying hand.

“Not yet,” she commanded. “I want only to look at you for a moment. You…you are so fine, you see,” she explained with a smile. “The men where I come from are so slight. They are sleek and nimble and fast, but none are as big as you are. Nor do they have so many muscles. None so well developed, anyway. I find I like to look at you. I never thought I would like such a big man, but I find myself thoroughly fascinated…and thoroughly delighted.”

“So I am just to stand here while you look your fill?”

“Well, you could sing if you like.”

“Sing? I do not sing.”

“Why not? Your voice is so deep and rich. You must make an excellent singer. We have a great deal of singing where I am from. Everyone sings. Although, it is probably not the same kind of singing you might engage in. There has been no music here so far that I have experienced. I would like to hear some.”

“Then tomorrow I will hire a minstrel to sing at the late day meal. I will not be singing for you.”

“What about dancing? Surely you dance. All men dance.”

“I do
not
dance!”

“Why not?” she asked again.

“Warriors fight; they do not dance.”

“No warriors dance?”

His jaw clenched. “Not all. Some do. I do not.”

“That is so sad.”

“How so?” he asked irritably.

“You do not sing. You do not dance. You fight and kill and suffer a terrible torment night after night…It seems there is no joy in you to bring you balance. Song and dance are expressions of joy. If you do not express joy in these ways, I am forced to wonder in what ways you do express joy…or if there is even any joy to express at all.”

He was silent a long moment. He looked away from her. She was so fresh and innocent, so eager to see the beauty in the world. He longed for the days of romanticism and naïveté he had once enjoyed, but they were long gone, torn away by the bitter truths of life.

“The moments I spend in your body are the closest thing I have to joy,” he said, his tone hard and factual. There was no danger of her romanticizing the words.

Just the same, she smiled at him, pleased in some way with him. She shifted, rising up onto her knees on the bed and holding out her arms to him. Glad to stop being on display, he stepped toward her, let her arms wrap around his back, and reveled in the feel of her bare body pressing against his chest and belly.

She touched her mouth to his in the gentlest and barest of kisses before pulling back to engage his eyes with her own. “If this is how you feel and express joy, Jaykun, then I am glad to give it to you. I will gladly give you joy at every possible moment. Of course I will try not to interfere in your day too much, but whenever you would like to have sex, you merely need to ask and I will be delighted to oblige you.”

Jaykun couldn't help but chuckle at her. “Are you certain about that? What if I decided to lock you away with me for the next two days, coming out only to suffer my penance each night?”

“Oh, could we?” she asked, lighting up and suddenly eager. “Wouldn't your brothers disapprove?”

“Who gives a damn what my brothers approve of?” he bit out. “If I want to indulge myself in you, then I will damn well do so.”

“And so you should. Life cannot be all about war and killing and moving from city to city, bringing death and destruction. There must be time, however brief, to indulge in pleasures or passions. Surely your goddess would agree with that.”

“You know something, she probably would. She is the goddess of conflict, but she is known for her passionate ways. Perhaps it is the nature of her highly volatile temperament, but in tales she is fierce and demanding of her bed partners. She knows her mind and her desires and does whatever she must to see them satisfied.”

“There, now…you see? She would understand such passion in you so long as it did not interfere with her need of you. But from what you've told me, as I understand it, you are done campaigning for the winter. You will not be moving on until spring. There is time for you to breathe a little. To look on joy and feel it and express it in kind.”

She reached to engage his mouth with her own, wrapping him up in a drugging series of kisses until his head was spinning and heat was blooming all throughout his body.

When he was next able to, he said, “It would be unfair. My brothers cannot go home to their wives until matters in this city are settled, and those matters will not be settled if I am in my bedchamber with you.”

“But your brothers will be going home to spend months finding joy with their wives and families. All you are asking for is two days.”

He drew back a little and looked at her, looked at the sweet, pretty shape of her face and features as he digested her practical observations. He tried to see ulterior motives in her, tried to figure out why she would push him into this for her own gain, but he simply couldn't figure it out. It made no logical sense for her to want to lock herself away with him. Not unless she was some kind of agent for his enemies, looking to distract him from something important. But that idea also made no sense and could not hold up under scrutiny. If she were there to deter him in some way, she would have let that assassin kill him that morning and be done with him. No. It seemed there were no ulterior motives here that he could see.

“What do you want of me?” he asked her in a sudden, fierce whisper. “What is it that you hope to achieve here? Tell me the truth!”

“Of course I will tell you the truth. I do not lie.”

“And if you did lie you would tell me so?” he asked with amusement.

She laughed at herself. “True. It is a claim that can only be proved with actions or inactions. So let me say this: I merely seek enjoyment. My own and now yours as well. That was my whole purpose in coming here. To enjoy myself. I had no idea what form this enjoyment would take, but I see now that it is you. You are the key to my pleasure. I will take advantage of you for it.”

He reached to stroke his knuckles down the right side of her face, letting them follow the shape and curve of it. Her skin was so soft. And he knew it tasted sweet.

“Then I shall let you do so,” he said after a moment.

She tilted her head, her eyes widening slightly with surprise. “Do you mean that? Do you mean…?”

“That I will lock you away with me for the next two days? Yes. Yes, I will. I will get much aggravation for it from my brothers, but as it stands right now, I would like to drown myself within you. It will end and you will leave in two days, but until then…”

“Oh, Jaykun!” she said with delight shining from every inch of her. “Thank you! Thank you so much!”

He grabbed her then and threw her down onto her back on the bed, following to land on top of her.

“You may not be thanking me come this time tomorrow,” he growled at her. “You may be begging for a reprieve!”

“If I had money, I would bet against you.”

“I will stake you. One Krizan gold sovereign. If you win, you get two gold sovereigns. If I win…”

“I will be in your debt. I think that would be a clever bet for you…if you were going to win. But you are not. I will enjoy my gold sovereigns.”

“Then I have some work to do if I am going to win my bet!”

She squealed with delight when he moved down her body with a suddenly voracious mouth. He went straight down her breastbone, paused to maul a nipple with his lips and tongue, then moved down to her belly, where he kissed and licked and kissed and licked her. As his mouth traveled down, his hands paved the way before him, stroking and petting her, lifting her up to his mouth, pushing her thighs apart so he could settle between them. His broad shoulders brushed the insides of her knees even as his lips brushed down below her navel.

Dizzy from his attack and at a loss as to what else to do with her fingers—since he was, for the most part, presently out of her reach—she buried them in his hair. As though she were the one guiding him rather than she being at his mercy. She was still laughing and gasping at every touch of his mouth and hands, unable to contain the sheer delight she experienced at finding him being playful with her.

Then delight turned to blinding and absolute pleasure as his mouth slid downward, his tongue plowing through the wet feminine folds of the most intimate location on her body. Having him there swept all of her emotions into a maelstrom of delight. His tongue darted and swirled, sought to give her the best of pleasures. She found if she made the slightest encouraging sound, he hummed with answering pleasure. Soon she was throwing her head back and moaning, fierce waves of heated pleasure rolling through her body until she was dizzy with it. How had they gone from simple conversation to this amount of blinding gratification so quickly? she wondered. Had there ever been anything so delightful ever conceived? She thought not.

She burst into orgasm a moment later, her whole body locking up with the sheer force of her pleasure.

“Again,” he growled against her. And he repeated his symphony of torturous delight until she called out a second time, every muscle in her body tightening with climax. Then she relaxed with a gusting exhalation, her limbs heavy and unable to move. She was afraid he would once more say “again,” but he moved up her body and kissed her with deep, feverish need. All the while, her fingers still gripped his hair and she wondered if she had tried to rip it from his head at one point. She couldn't recall.

“I would like to do that to you,” she murmured. But it was clear she wasn't ready to do anything of the sort right then.

“You will be more than welcome. But right now I think I'm going to take my time exploring you. I seemed to have rushed past it all.”

“Oh, but I can't move,” she said.

“I'll move you if you need to be moved,” he said with amusement.

“Oh. Well, thank you very much.”

“You're welcome,” he said on a chuckle.

He then did as promised, took his time exploring what had to be every inch of her body. He spent, it seemed, an inordinate amount of time on her breasts alone…teasing them, toying with them, fondling and sucking and teething until she was hypersensitive to even the slightest touch of his breath upon her. Then he examined each of her limbs with equal care and fascination, his tongue, teeth, and lips tasting every inch of her as he turned her body to and fro as his desires demanded.

Eventually his ministrations had so aroused her that she was chafing with need and energy, all languor forgotten. She pushed at him, rolling him onto his back. She threw a leg astride him, her hot core pressed against him, open and waiting to be plundered by him…or so he thought. She moved away almost as quickly as she had arrived, much to his momentary consternation. But then she was kissing her way down his body, exploring every nook and cranny there was to be found, all the while working her way down and down and down. By the time her breath fell against his raging hard shaft he was all but begging for it. He longed for her, longed to be inside her, but he was also feeling far too much enjoyment simply watching her have her way to want to rush it all to an end. Then her tongue darted out and laved the head of his cock boldly and an explosion of brilliant pleasure sang through him. His left hand reached into the thick mass of her dark hair and he found himself guiding her, holding her to him as if she were planning to escape. But nothing could have been further from her mind. She took him in hand, guided him into her waiting and willing mouth. With a single strong suck of sensation, she took him in deep.

Blinded by lust and need, he thrust up against her palate, letting her take as much as she could manage. He tried to be gentle, but it was impossible with the way she was making him feel. Jileana seemed to savor the taste of him, as she toyed with him inside her mouth, her hand stroked the remaining length of him right to the root. Her fingers crawled through the curling hairs she found there, and then she molded and cupped the pliable sac below that root. Jaykun moaned loudly, his fingers crushing her hair violently as molten heat and ready need took hold of him.

“Come here!” he commanded as he dragged her from her torturing ministrations. “I will have you this very instant!”

“You are very pushy,” she remarked with a laugh. But she settled astride him once more and took hold of him to guide him up and into her body in a single mutual thrust. She rode him like that in a steady series of sways and thrusts, her proud young body rising up from him so gloriously it took his breath away. He could hardly bear to look at her—that was how beautiful she was. It was almost frightening…certainly humbling.

She was extraordinary—there was no doubt about that—and he still hadn't fathomed why she had chosen to enjoy herself with him. It wasn't that he thought so little of himself; it was that he was thinking so much of her. He should have been frightened by that. If he had any sense in his head, he would thrust her away right that very instant and protect himself from any further influence she might have over him. But he did not do that. Instead he let her ride him until he was unable to see straight, until the curls of desire wending through him lashed tightly around him, holding him fast and hard to her. When he came it was with astounding violence, his pleasure torn up from the deepest part of him. She tensed hard around him, her orgasm just as violent and just as deep. She then fell onto him, a boneless, gasping weight, a weight he enjoyed far too much.