Vampire Assassin League Bundle 4 - Eternity (16 page)

She’d locked her legs about his hips and slammed down, sending him right into depths of constrictive pleasure while a long, throat-tearing cry emitted from her throat. Her body encased him in tight sensation, wrapping him in walls that enclosed and kneaded. Taking him so near climax, he had to call on every reserve to halt it. He grabbed her waist and pinned her in place, shaking so badly, the chair beneath them rattled. Hell. He’d thought he shook earlier. No. That was but a prelude. This was such intense amazement, he started laughing through it.

Oh man. And he’d
fought
this?

She’d finished her cry and peered back at him, her face and upper body silhouetted by the dim cabin lighting behind her, while the waterfall curtain of her hair shielded them. Stan had been totally right. Len was one lucky guy. It was even hard to breathe, as if he’d been benching 300 lbs, and let the bar rest atop his chest. He’d never felt anything like any of this.

She wasn’t exactly obeying, either. She might be just sitting atop him, watching him, but her nether regions were working and milking and driving him mildly crazy. But he had it controlled. And that was what mattered. Len grinned and then he reached up and stroked a stray lock of hair of her shoulder.

“I’m so sorry, babe. Is it bad?” he asked.

“What?”

“Uh...the pain.”

“Oh. I expected that. They tell me it eases...but. Um. You’re so big, Leonard.”

Well. Hell. With words like that she should have expected the reaction as it felt like he swelled, and that got him clamped even tighter, while her eyes went even wider, matching her mouth.

“Oh...Tassanee. Babe. Damn. I’m not sure I can hold...much longer.”

“Hold what?”

She didn’t know. Oh...
baby
! The emotion hit his head. Stung his eyes. And sent a riot of something effervescent bubbling through him. That sensation got him chuckling again. Which just had her clenching him deep within her again, and that just got him in gear.

 “Okay, babe. I hope you’re ready.”

“For what?”

He was really getting fond of her confused look. Hell. He was already half in love with everything about her.

“This.”

He put both hands about her waist and lifted her, shoving his ass down into the seat to pull out at the same time. But he went back in with a slow, easy motion, giving her time to acclimate to his size. Length. Circumference. And giving him time to ease his way back into his own personal heaven. Oh man. This felt good. Soft and yet solid. Taut and moist. Tense and yet flexible. Nirvana. Paradise.

He repeated the move. Exactly. Again. And again. While the drone of the engine vibrated through the cabin, and the chair started squeaking in accompaniment. Again. Over. Pulling out of her haven only to shove back in. Again. And again. Until the rhythm was about as inevitable as breathing.

Her gasps had accompanied the first strokes, and then her little mews of delight. And by the time he was working her up and down like a piston, she was sending lengthy cries that gave him shivers. And that was all a prelude to when she jerked backward, yanking against his hold while she shrieked something that should have shattered the windows in this plane. Oh baby. This was incredible. Awe-inspiring. Heart-stopping.

Len slowed his movements to a lulling sensation, waiting. Watching. And just experiencing exactly what it felt like to know it was his efforts behind her ecstatic cries. And then things went even higher as she brought her head back down and looked down at him with those dark eyes of hers. And he could have sworn there were tears glistening in them.

“You okay?” he asked softly.

She nodded and the move brushed strands of her hair across his torso. So he started again, only this time, she was doing the driving. Len ran his hands along toned legs, reaching her ankles in order to reposition her feet, bracing her against the chair arms. That was so he could push her backward, pulling out and down as he did so. The return move had her sliding forward while he shoved back up, rejoining them. And it didn’t take twice.

And...oh hell.

She was a master in a beginner’s body. A siren. A seductress. A sex goddess. And every other creature guaranteed to take a man and sap him dry. Len had to grab her waist to hold her in place as her rhythm kept increasing along with the cries she gave, until she was screaming with enjoyment again. The sound filled the room, reverberating off the walls, and then it was impossible to stop one damn thing. Or even slow it. His body went crazy, bucking ceaselessly into her. Deeper. Harder. Her gyrations drove him crazy, until he was slamming into place again and again while the seat beneath them took the brunt of it. Squeaking and creaking as if they worked bolts loose.

Nothing ever matched this. The scope. The power. The absolute encapsulation of spine-cracking bliss. Len arched right off the seat, heaving in non-rhythmic spurts that finished pulling the right side of the seat free. Reality shattered. Warped. Everything he’d come to believe about vampires went with it. He was sobbing before he finished, his body completely drained. Emptied. Replete.

He dropped back into place. The seat lurched to one side before righting once more. And Tassanee was there. Waiting. Her dark eyes delving into his for the longest time while his ears resounded with heavy, thick pulse beats. And then a smile tipped her mouth as if she’d seen what she searched for. He didn’t imagine the patina of tears atop her eyes this time. Hell. He had to blink around his own emotion. And that’s when he decided that it didn’t matter when this ended, or if she yelled hate-filled words at him. Hell. He didn’t even care if she killed him. Because, right now...this feeling was worth whatever he had to pay.

Now or forever.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Tassanee had been six when her parents decided she was pretty enough to offer to the king. Since she was their only child, they had the highest hopes for her. She couldn’t remember much before that time, but before her seventh birthday, she was on one path. Given instruction on dancing. Elegant gestures. Trained in musical instruments like the stringed
khim,
and the finger chimes. She’d been released from any sweat-inducing chores and pampered, her skin kept pristine soft and white, her hair oiled and perfumed, her body carefully scraped of any hair. And all for the
Preah Reach Pithi Chrot Preah Neangkol.
The Royal Ploughing Ceremony that was held each year to mark the beginnings of the rice planting season. Sacred cows would be sent across the fields, and just before dusk, the populace would have the chance to present their daughters before the king’s advisors. And if they passed inspection, they were taken before the king himself. All of it set up so if the girls were selected, they’d join the royal harem, gain immense honor for their family, and with that came financial gain.

Tassanee was twelve before it happened. She’d been brought to the ceremony since she was nine but failed to catch attention. Her father grew more and more disgruntled over it, despite her mother’s assurances. But all that changed in 1140. She was one of forty girls selected that year, and she’d been so pleased! It was the twenty-seventh year in the reign of King Suryavarman II. She didn’t realize that meant the king was an old man. And that he already had close to a thousand women in his harem. Or that all of them vied for musical and dancing talent, while each face seemed more beautiful than the last. What started as an excitement beyond belief turned quickly into an existence of never-ending tedium punctuated with evil-natured jealousy, gossip-mongering, and nefarious plots. And always there was instruction. How best to approach the king. How to move the body in order to incite sensual interest. How to prolong the bliss. How a man’s pleasure was to be achieved. Should she ever be lucky enough to be favored by his attention.

But then the king was killed, and it got worse every time a usurper came to the throne. Word would rush through the harem rooms to prepare. Dress in their finery. Work their hair into elaborate arrangements. Put on their arm bands and ankle charms. Display themselves. All so a stranger could walk through their ranks, pointing every so often. Pleasurable sounds and cries accompanied some of his selections, but sometimes they were screams of horror. Because he wasn’t just picking favorites. He was selecting the women to be put to the sword, as well.

Tassanee was glad to be overlooked and passed over. And then even that changed. She’d been twenty-four; old by any standard of the day when it happened. She’d been in shock. Rooted in place. Her eyes locked to his. He was slightly taller than her. Stocky. Unattractive. And unbathed. She was actually surprised the man wanted her in his bed, and not beneath his sword. Her unabashed look must have been what caught his attention and stopped him. That was when she’d discovered that she really wasn’t afraid of death.

Life in the harem was no honor. It was imprisonment in a silken prison. That’s why she knew, even as the poison had taken effect, it had actually been a release. She’d had to be convinced to accept this eternity that Akron offered. She wanted nothing to do with the Vampire Assassin League, or killing for profit. It was difficult enough at first just to kill. Akron had contacted her occasionally over the centuries. Always asking. About her condition. Her frame her mind. Her readiness to join VAL. His words would just be there. In her head. And he spoke Khmer. She never questioned it.

But she mustn’t forget how much she owed the eunuch, Hashovarn. He was the only thing that had made life in the harem bearable. He was assigned to her in her third year. And every night, Tassanee would sneak from her luxurious prison cell to join Hashovarn in the gardens, learning not only the basics of the Cambodian martial art of
Bokator
, but also the skills behind communicating. How a word or two could convey feeling. Generate emotion. A gesture could mean a thousand things. A lingering glance even more.

But nowhere in her twelve years in there had she realized what was meant by real, physical mating. She hadn’t heard one thing about how pleasurable it was for the woman. The heights of joy her spirit soared to. The thrum of ecstasy her body experienced. The absolute wonder that had been making love to her mate.

Leonard.

Tassanee leaned a little closer to study him, smiling slightly at how he sprawled in his chair, taking up the entire thing with his length. He had his head pillowed on an upraised arm, while his legs overhung the bottom by a good foot. Maybe more. The man was truly immense. It couldn’t just be her perception. He’d been taller than his partner, Stan, hadn’t he? And he was very fit. He hadn’t fastened his jacket and where she’d ripped his shirt apart, she could see all sorts of valleys and shadows that seemed to draw the eye. As did the little line of hair he had leading straight down to...

Oh my.

He was very sizeable there, too.

Tassanee hadn’t much comparison, other than the drawings and sculptures she’d been trained on, but those pictures and objects weren’t any kind of preparation for what a man’s body really looked like. Or the artists hadn’t ever seen anything like Leonard. She looked down, twisted her lips, and actually blushed. And then her eyes went wide. She didn’t remember ever blushing. And yet, it still happened. Because she’d found the one man destined for her. For all time. She didn’t have to be told.

She knew.

She was very lucky, too. Not only was Leonard large and manly, but he was handsome as well. He had a full head of hair, in a medium-brown shade. It was a riot about his head at the moment. She could see a curl peeking from behind the ear on this side. He also had a dark growth of whiskers on his cheeks, chin, and upper lip. None of the eunuchs in the harem had facial hair. Now that she thought of it, none of her victims over the centuries had sported any, either. Very intriguing. Interesting. It actually added to the passion-filled kisses they’d exchanged. Her lips still felt a bit sore from where she’d scraped them.

“Penny for your thoughts, babe.”

He cracked open the eye closest to her. He had very clear, blue-shaded eyes. She gasped and pulled back slightly.

“My...thoughts?”

“Yeah. As in – what are you thinking?”

“Oh. I’ve just been...um...watching you.”

“Seriously? Did you get any...uh, rest? Or whatever you undead call it?”

She shook her head.

“No? You’ve spent all this time watching me?”

“You’re very handsome,” she replied.

“Well. Hell. For that sort of remark, you can have a quarter.”

“What?”

“A penny for your thoughts, remember? That is a cliché for asking what someone is thinking, and offering to pay to hear them. And you told me, so I’m saying those kinds of thoughts are worth a bit more.”

“Oh. You’re speaking of monetary remuneration in American coinage.”

“Holy smack. Where did you learn English again?”

“Hong-Ye. And his cell phone.”

“Oh yeah. That’s right. You just randomly called numbers, and the best party you could reach was an economics professor with a minor degree in snooty-sounding English?”

“I’ve been watching movies, too.” Her tone was defensive.

“You have?”

“On the laptop.”

“What kind of movies can you get in this part of the world anyway?”

“Mostly black and white. But I put them in English and read the subtitles, so I learned even faster that way. I also know some Spanish.”

“Let me get this straight. You took out an archeologist team for a blood fix, stole a laptop that was probably monitored, and used it to stream a bunch of dusty, old movies. You’re really cute. You know that?”

“And you’re handsome.”

His eyebrows lifted. “I really hate to disillusion you, Hon, but I’m pretty much average.”

“No.”

“Oh yeah. Average build. A bit tall, maybe, depends on the hemisphere I’m in. If I get sent to any Scandinavian country, I’m actually a tad short. But there you have it. Average is my middle name.”

“No.” This time she shook her head.

“Tassanee. I really like the way you think, but I have to be average. That’s how covert operations work. You blend in. You don’t stand out. Nobody really notices you. That way nobody can do much of a recollection later. But I do like the way you think.”