My Spartan Hellion (11 page)

As he drew near, she forced herself to school her features into a blank mask, hoping that her irritation didn’t show on her face. But she needn’t have bothered because he busied himself with packing the food and checking on the condition of both horses, barely sparing her a glance.

Once he was done, he once again lifted himself atop his mount, but this time she did not wrap her arms around his waist. Instead she crossed her arms beneath her breasts and rested the side of her body against his chest. She knew she was being childish, but she could not help it.

He’d flirted with that girl although he’d known she was watching. Despite all of his flowery words and his displays of tenderness, he was still a man no different from any other. For just a moment, she’d allowed herself to believe his words, that she could be the woman he desired, that she
wanted
to be the woman he desired. But Thanos was a virile man, and far too handsome to ever be satisfied with just one woman. And, if his flirting was any evidence, she certainly wasn’t the woman who could satisfy him if she couldn’t even hold his attention for more than a single sun rising.

* * * *

After leaving Sellasie, Thanos followed the main trail that ran along the northern edge of the Laconian plain until it was almost dusk. He knew he was pushing the pace a little hard, but he was trying to make up for the time he’d lost by going after Lamia and then stopping for food.

By the time he found a suitable area to make camp, they were both exhausted. Tossing several more small branches of wood onto the fire so that it would burn through the eve, he looked up when Lamia returned from relieving herself. She didn’t meet his gaze as she sulked all the way to their bed mat and lay down with her back to him.

He frowned at her rigid back. She had been sullen and distant from the moment they’d ridden out of Sellasie. At the time he hadn’t questioned her, thinking that she was simply weary from their journey, but now he knew it to be more than that.

He stood to remove his
curiass
and crossed the short distance to where she lay pretending to be asleep. He slipped beneath the heavy woollen blanket and snaked his arm out to wrap around her waist, pulling her soft body flush against his. At the first touch of his hand she stiffened and she remained tense as he held her to him.

Thanos released a long, weary sigh. He was exhausted and had no desire to fight with her, but he could no longer ignore her surly disposition.

“Would you care to tell me what is wrong?”

Her breathing was measured, but not even, so he knew she was not asleep even though she remained silent. He sighed again, the gesture more exaggerated this time.

“I know you are awake.”

Several moments passed until he became certain she would continue to ignore him when finally she said in a small voice, “What makes you think something is wrong?”

“You’ve been silent from the moment we left Sellasie. Did something happen while we were there?”

There was a pregnant pause, and Thanos held his breath, waiting
.

“Actually, something did happen while we were there and I am surprised you do not remember.”

He wrinkled his forehead as he searched his memories, recounting the brief trip to the city. He hadn’t spoken to anyone except the Thespian girl at the market. He drew up short when he recalled his hurried exchange with the merchant.
She could not possibly be upset over that?

A small smile tugged at the edges of his mouth at the notion that Lamia was angry because he’d shared a joke with a girl who was young enough to be his daughter.

Lamia? Jealous?
His smile hitched higher.

“If you’re referring to the time when I bought food from the girl in the market, then yes, I remember.” He pressed his open palm firmly against her abdomen and drew her deeper into his embrace when she stiffened and tried to pull away. “I remember because she was the only person I spoke to while there, so I am assuming she must be the source of your anger.”

“
She
is not the source of my anger. And I am not angry. Just—just—”

She stumbled over her words and he knew she was either having trouble voicing her feelings or she didn’t yet realise what it was she was feeling, so he finished for her.

“Jealous?”

She shook her head, launching into a litany of protests.

“I am
not
jealous. That is ridiculous. You flirted with the girl right before me and it was simply rude—”

She stopped in mid-tirade when, without warning, he rolled her over onto her back and covered her with his frame. Holding himself still above her, he settled his weight on one side of his body and used his free hand to cup her cheek, dragging her gaze to his face.

“I did not flirt with that girl. I admit that I joked with her but I was simply being polite. If you saw it as flirting then I apologise. It was not my intention to upset you.”

She nibbled on her bottom lip, her expression full of scepticism.

“I did not flirt with that girl,” he repeated, his voice firmer. He
hadn’t
flirted with the girl. The young merchant had been pretty enough, but he was a man of single-minded focus. He’d focused all of his attention on one woman and that woman was Lamia, and
only
her.

“I believe you,” she whispered after a long silence.

He quirked his lips into a grin. “I’m flattered to discover that you are jealous—”

“I am
not
jealous.”

“Yes, you are,” he remarked quietly before dipping his head to capture her sputtering mouth with his lips. He slowly ran the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips, gently teasing her, before plunging inside.

The kiss was unexpected so she gasped softly when he slipped his tongue between her lips to taste her. He knew the moment her surprise gave way to her own desires, because she arched into him and lifted one hand to tangle in his hair, causing her breasts to jut out and press against his bare chest.

He groaned at the feel of her hardened nipples stabbing into his torso. Grasping the back of his head, she held him locked to her and he deepened the kiss as he intertwined his tongue with hers.

Thanos rocked his hips in a gentle rhythm, the evidence of his arousal pressing into her belly. Skimming his hands down the length of her body, he teased her honey-smooth skin with his fingertips as he pushed her
chamlys
upward until he’d released her breasts from the loose confines of the garment. Cupping the soft weight of her fullness in his hand, Thanos gently rolled her stiffened peaks between his fingers only to pluck at them when they were fully erect, eliciting a sharp gasp from her lips.

She writhed beneath him, her hands roaming over his back as she twisted her legs apart and he easily settled beneath her spread thighs.

“Thanos.” She rasped out his name on a hoarse sob when he rocked against her again, grinding the bulge in his
pyterges
into the moist heat of her feminine mound.

Wrenching his lips from hers, he trailed his tongue down the column of her throat until he reached the soft spot where her neck and shoulder met then nipped and sucked at the sensitive flesh, dragging another moan from her pretty lips.

She clung to him, her nails digging deep into his back as she locked her ankles at his waist, desperately meeting the thrusting of his hips with wild, jerky movements.

“Make love to me, Thanos. Please,” she begged.

He stilled, lifting his head to meet her lust-drunk gaze. “Are you still sore?”

Sable lashes brushed her cheeks, shielding her eyes, and he had his answer. He ached to sink into her body, knowing that her dewy sheath would grip him as tightly as a wet fist. But to take her again would only cause her pain. He berated himself for making love to her as often as he had the eve before. Even though he’d been gentle the second and third times, he knew it would be a few dawns before her body became accustomed to the act. He should have stopped after they’d first made love, but she was an erotic temptation, and when she’d begged him to take her again, and then again in that soft, sensual voice of her hers, he was powerless to resist her siren’s call.

His gaze roamed her lovely face, drinking her in. Her lips were puffy from his kisses, while her cheeks were tinged scarlet with the rush of pleasure stealing through her body, but it was her eyes that felled him. Her glittering eyes were glazed with wanton desire and a burning need that scorched him to the core of his soul. She was exquisite. Even now, despite her soreness, she begged for him, but this time his restraint and good sense kept him from giving in to her husky pleas.

Placing a gentle peck against her lips, he murmured, “To make love to you now would only bring you pain and not pleasure. Your body needs time to recover—”

She groaned in protest and he smiled down at her. His little wanton was insatiable. He lowered his head again to kiss a pathway along the length of her body, determined to give Lamia the release she craved, knowing he would probably wind up in a painful state of arousal for the rest of the eve. He stifled a wry smile. Watching her face as she climaxed would be worth the slight discomfort.

He showered her breasts with kisses, moving lower to sweep his tongue across her bare belly. He dipped the tip into her navel and she nearly shot up off the bed mat, her fingers clenching the back of his head tighter. He didn’t linger at her belly. Instead he continued on his languorous journey down her body until he reached the mound of her womanhood.

He darted out his tongue to slide between the slick folds, tasting her arousal.

“Thanos…” she hissed, clamping her knees against his head. He chuckled at the catch in her voice, letting his warm breath glide across her feverish skin.

He teased her again with the slow slide of his tongue through her tender, pink flesh before he devoured her completely. Parting her outer lips with one hand, Thanos stroked his tongue inside her at the same time that he seized her tiny nubbin with his other hand, rotating it gently between his fingers.

She thrashed wildly beneath him, his name tearing past her lips on a sharp cry. Her body pulsed and vibrated around him as he fucked her with his tongue. Increasing the pressure along her tiny nub, he dragged hoarse sobs of pleasure from her lips until she was panting wildly, her body trembling as she neared her release.

He made love to her with his mouth, his hands, until he joined her in the spiralling cyclone that threatened to obliterate his control. He’d never found release from pleasuring a woman in this manner but the urge to spurt was so strong that he found himself undoing the laces of his
pyterges
to pull out his aching shaft.

Returning his hand to her cunt, Thanos shoved two long fingers inside her, coating them with her juices. She responded instantly to the probing of his fingers by arching against his hand, but he was eager to taste her juices on his lips, so reluctantly he withdrew his fingers from the hot, tight centre of her body only to replace them with his questing tongue.

Her sticky liquid glistened on his fingers and he snaked his hand down his body to rub her essence over his cock until it was coated with her arousal. With his hard length slick and wet, Thanos pumped his hand along his shaft, keeping rhythm with the thrusting of his tongue inside her clenching hole.

He rotated his thumb against her stiff bud harder and faster while he shoved his tongue into her core with deep, stabbing strokes.

Her thighs clenched tighter around his head and more of her essence trickled from inside her, warning him of her impending release. Thanos pinched her nub hard and curled his tongue against the roof of her sheath.

She exploded around him as she screamed out his name on a long, hoarse cry, her juices flooding his mouth. At the same time he felt his heavy sacs draw tight against his body. He fisted his cock with one last hard stroke and then he, too, exploded. A harsh roar slipped from his mouth as he poured his warm seed onto the bed mat in long, thick spurts.

Lapping up her essence, he savoured her sweet taste, her musky scent, as the last tremors of both their climaxes meshed together and rocked their bodies. When finally she relaxed her thighs from around his head, he eased away from her.

With deft movements he quickly tucked himself back inside his
pyterges
and redid the laces. He then rolled over to grab a cloth from his sack and wiped his seed from the bed mat. When he was done, he set the rag aside to lie down beside Lamia.

Rolling her to her side, he hooked his arm around her waist and settled her into the crook of his body, with her back pressed to his chest. She sighed, burrowing deeper into his embrace, causing a curious ache to settle in his chest. Refusing to examine the unfamiliar feeling, he closed his eyes and relaxed against her.

Exhausted from the long dawn and satiated from their lovemaking, they soon drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Nine

Lamia stifled a groan when her body jerked against the horse. Her muscles ached and several beads of sweat gathered along her brow. She was beyond weary from the many long dawns of travel.

She glanced over her shoulder at the crystalline blue water of the Gulf of Argolis, the choppy white waves hurling towards the sand. She couldn’t stop the sigh from escaping her lips as she stared longingly out over the water, wishing she could ease her stiff and sore body into the churning water as she’d done once before—though she doubted Thanos would let her do it again, after her antics the last time she’d been allowed to bathe alone.

“We shall stop here.”

She started at the husky timbre of Thanos’ voice and whipped her head around to face him. “Why? We’re only a dawn away, and you told me you wanted to arrive as soon as possible.”

“I do,” he said, jumping off his horse to tether the reins to a nearby tree. “But you are tired, so we shall camp here for the eve and rest, and then ride in early on the morrow’s dawn.”

“You do not need to make exceptions for me,” she insisted as she slid from her mount. “I am well enough to ride into Sparta this dawn.”