She had dropped it. He stepped back to retrieve it, then stopped as she raised her arms to push her wet hair back from her face.
“Stay like that for a minute.”
“Why?” she asked, puzzled.
“It’s a picture I’ve had in my mind since the first time I heard you take a shower. Your hands pushing back that wonderful hair of yours and your breasts lifted like that.”
His palms slid beneath the soft weight of her breasts, cradling them. Bending, he sucked one into his mouth as far as it would go. His tongue rasped across her nipple, pressed it to the roof of his mouth, teeth scraping lightly on her flesh. Her breath left her in a little hiss and her knees melted.
“I’m suddenly realizing what’s so good about showering together,” she murmured against the wet light-gold strands of his hair.
He raised his head and looked down at her, laughing. That vivid enjoyment was back in his eyes and she caught her breath in delight, seeing it.
“I’m glad you’re seeing its advantages now.”
“Pass me that soap,” she said severely. “It’s taken this long for me to lose my inhibitions and I haven’t gotten to wash anything but your back yet.”
“Oh, no, no,” he purred. “I get to wash you first.”
“I wish I’d lost my inhibitions long ago.” She sighed as his hands and the bar of soap ran over every inch of her.
“Didn’t I say it would be fun?”
He turned her to lean back against him as he soaped her breasts and her belly and between her legs, his hands sliding over her, sensuous and enticing. She let her head fall back against his shoulder. Between the heat of the water and the heat his touch was generating within her, her whole body was turning limp and languorous, her bones liquefying.
“Before I got to know you, I would have thought this immoral,” she murmured.
“What? This?” he asked incredulously.
“To be enjoying myself this much. I would have thought it wicked and wanton and depraved.”
He laughed deep in his throat. “Were you that uptight?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Says the one who nearly burned me to the bone the first time we kissed. You were never uptight with me.”
“This is true.” She grinned. “All you have to do is to touch me and I turn into a freaking nympho.”
His arms tightened about her and he bent to suck softly at the junction of her neck and shoulder. “I’ve corrupted you.”
“You sure have.” She shivered and turned in his arms. “My turn. Give me that bar.”
She soaped him down with as much care as he had taken with her, chest, abs, hips, thighs, every inch, her palms caressing him. She felt him shiver, his stomach muscles flexing under her hands. Her hands slid between his legs and he caught his breath as she played with his balls.
“If you keep that up, this will all be over too soon.”
He was massively erect. Her hand slid up and down his hard shaft.
“Well then, we’ll just have to start from the beginning, won’t we?”
He groaned, then gave a breathless chuckle and stopped her.
“Want to be in you when I come.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then give me that soap back.”
They traded it back and forth, laughing and playing with each other, using it as an excuse to touch and caress every inch. They had both been thoroughly washed a long time ago.
“I think we’ve been in here too long,” she said, noticing that the water was starting to cool from hot to warm.
“We’ve timed that pretty well, then.” He smiled up at her from where he was down on one knee, rinsing off her calves, then reached out to turn the heat higher. “It should hold out just a little longer.”
His open mouth sucked its way up her inner thigh. She shivered and leaned weakly back against the tiles.
“Put your leg over my shoulder.”
“Like that? Why…? Ian!”
His lips and tongue had found her clit, were sucking and pulling at it. Her legs nearly buckled and her hips bucked involuntarily. She looked down, gasping, while that raspy tongue flicked and probed. His eyes were dancing with laughter.
Two long fingers slid into her, slightly curled, searching for then finding that one spot of sensitive, faintly rougher tissue inside her.
“Oh God!”
Between his lips sucking her clit and his fingers rubbing her G-spot, she just about came apart. He caught her as she folded down on top of him, his arms the only thing keeping her from becoming a boneless heap on the tiled floor.
“Ian, Ian…” She held him tight, her arms clenched around his neck, whispering his name over and over again. His eyes were soft with pleasure at her pleasure and he was laughing as he rose to his feet, lifting her up with him. “Oh, but you…”
“We’re not done yet. Not by a long shot.”
He scooped her up, right off her feet, wrapping her thighs around his hips. She found her back pressed against the tiled wall with the heat and hardness of his rigid cock rubbing demandingly into the folds of her pussy.
It was mad. It was crazy. She had just come so violently that she had nearly blacked out and she still wanted more, couldn’t get enough of him. She hadn’t believed in multiple orgasms until Ian had demonstrated so completely that she was capable of them.
He rocked against her core, then drove hard into her. She gasped in delight. That first thrust was always an excruciating rapture, he was so big and she so tight. And yet it was so utterly perfect. Arms fierce about his neck, she clenched upon his cock within her, legs gripping his waist and her ankles locking in the small of his back.
He caught his breath then withdrew and thrust again, then again, his hips angled so his pubic bone struck her clit on every thrust, the swollen thickness of his cock never missing her G-spot on every recoil and return, driving her mindless with pleasure. Driving them both into that maddening, relentless, accelerating rhythm where the world spun away and time was gone and there was nothing but his body and this frenzy of devastating delight that was shorting out her brain.
The crisis struck them like a tsunami, stripping away all barriers, making them one being. She cried out as everything stopped—mind, body, heart, breath—all lost in that one annihilating moment of ecstatic euphoria, heard him snarl as his body too seized up and he spurted violently into her.
“Can’t do without you,” she whispered.
He completed her. She knew that now. She would never again feel truly complete if he wasn’t with her. She didn’t know how it had happened, when she had lost all her defenses. But she was way past the point where it mattered.
Chapter Ten
“Again?” Sierra laughed as he flipped the bed sheet off and bent to suckle her nipples. It was nearly morning and she had lost track of how many times they had made love already that night. “Don’t you ever get tired?”
“Just have to look at you and guess what? Suddenly not tired.”
“I read somewhere that jaguars can make love a hundred times a day. I never thought that was true or that leopards were the same.”
“Well, it’s just a little exaggerated.”
She gave him a wary look. “What do you mean—
just
a little?”
“Maybe not that often in human form.”
“Maybe? Oh my God! I didn’t take it seriously, but it’s true, isn’t it? Jeez, what have I let myself in for?”
He chuckled and rolled over onto his back, pulling her with him until she was sitting straddling his stomach, her bent knees on either side of him. He ran his hands pleasurably up and down her thighs.
“You seem to be keeping up without any difficulty.”
“And I’m shocked—
shocked—
at myself!”
They were both laughing. She had never realized that making love could be fun as well, could be laughter and teasing and play.
“It’s amazing what the human body is capable of, isn’t it?”
“It really is.” She grinned down at him. “But then I’ve got the right incentive.”
“Do you?”
“Oh, yeah. You’re beautiful, Ian.”
His eyes went soft. “That’s you, not me.”
She bent and kissed him, ran her hands caressingly over his shoulders and chest and stomach, felt the deep tremor run through his body beneath her. “I was never beautiful. But you always were.”
“Sierra, you keep casting yourself as some sort of ugly duckling just because you were a skinny little kid as a teen. But you never were that duckling. Not then and not now. There isn’t a person in Wade County who doesn’t think you’re gorgeous, sweet. You’re a swan.”
“And you’re a liar. But I love it.”
“I’ve never lied to you, Sierra. Ever.”
They were both suddenly still, staring at each other. He raised his hands to slide his fingers through her hair, cup her face in his palms.
“Have you never looked at yourself in the mirror without superimposing your teenage self onto what you see?” He ran his hands delicately downward over her from her shoulders to her knees, then stroked back up her thighs and stomach to cover and caress her breasts. “I really wish you could see what I see, Sierra.”
“What do you see?” she whispered.
“Everything I want.”
She bent and kissed him fiercely. It scared her how badly she wanted to believe him.
“It’s kinda fun being on top,” she murmured to distract him. She wanted to change the subject, think about it all later. “Can I try a couple of things?”
“You really are branching out,” he teased. “Not exactly vanilla anymore.”
“I’ve been reading up on it.”
He stared. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope. It’s amazing, the things you can find when you start looking for them.”
“You’re starting to scare me, lady.”
She ran her hands down his torso, kneading and caressing the strong, resilient muscles, tongued the flat coin of his nipple and felt his stomach jolt under her. His hands were on the front of her thighs, pressing lightly, moving her slightly backward with every push. She laughed softly and let him, feeling his cock hardening behind, then under her. They both caught their breaths sharply when he had her exactly where he wanted her, astride his groin. She gave a throaty little growl, deliberately clawed his stomach with her nails in retaliation and heard him groan as she rubbed her wet pussy over his cock. Then she lifted herself up and took him into her.
His hips came off the bed, thrusting his cock deep even as she sank down upon him, sheathing him tightly within her.
“No.” She caught his hands as they clenched on her hips, pulled them away and pressed them to the bed, their fingers interlinked. “I’m experimenting.”
He laughed breathlessly. “I really love it when you start to experiment.” Then he let out a hiss of surprise. “What are you
doing
?”
She wasn’t moving her hips, was just sitting perfectly still on him, her eyes narrow with concentration and her lips smiling. But her internal muscles had started a ripple effect, her sheath tightening on the length of his cock from tip to base, releasing, then tightening again. He was so thick within her, stretched her so completely that every squeeze was felt and intensified for both of them.
“You got this from a
book
?” he gasped.
“Kinda adapted it.”
His eyes had glazed over and his lips were parted, tongue curled and pressed hard to the back of his teeth. His hips started to quiver under her, then lifted helplessly off the bed as he strained to get deeper into her. She pressed her weight onto him and held him where he was.
“Hold off a little longer.” She kissed his open mouth where the breath was starting to shudder and hitch. “Wanna try one more thing.”
“Mmm.” It was an inarticulate sound deep in his throat.
She raised herself ’til only the head of his cock remained within her, clenched all her inner muscles ’til her sheath was closed tight, then bore down on him. The action forced his cock to have to pry her flesh apart to enter her.
“
Holy…
!”
“Like it?”
“Mother of…!”
His hands tore free from her grip and closed bruisingly hard on her hips, pulling her down fiercely on him as he thrust up into her. She laughed and repeated the process over and over.
“Can do different speeds too.”
She rode him faster and faster ’til his throat arched back and his hips bucked helplessly against her, the two of them slamming into each other, the world spinning away and nothing left but sensation. She felt his cock pulse within her just as her own orgasm hit with stunning force. She fell forever, fireworks going off in every inch of her body.
“Definitely not vanilla,” he gasped. “I don’t think I’ve got a brain cell left.”
They clung to each other, laughing helplessly.
* * * * *
Sierra rested her chin on her folded arms on the top rail of the corral and watched Ian talking to Gregor over beside the barn. The man made her pulse race when she was looking at nothing more than the curve of his neck. It was ridiculous really, but she didn’t care. He was in her heart and that was all there was to it.
He turned his head and saw her watching him. His eyes crinkled up at the corners with swift, warm laughter. Then his look went soft and silken, his eyes dark with tenderness and heat. Her bones melted and she lost herself in that gaze.
She didn’t know how long they stared at each other. She wasn’t aware of anything but his caressing, focused look. Time simply stopped. Then she realized Kihain was standing beside her, patiently waiting for her to answer something he had said. She jumped and flushed.
“I’m sorry. What did you say?”
“It is not important,” said Kihain, amused.
She saw that Gregor was also grinning. There was a slight stain of color over Ian’s high cheekbones. It had happened to him as well, that momentary loss of time and place. He slanted her a rueful grin that said, “See what you do to me.” She laughed in delight, loving that she could affect him as much as he affected her.
“It is pleasant here,” Kihain said under his breath as Ian and Gregor went off into the barn. “This is a good place.”
She glanced at him as he leaned against the fence beside her, looking about, his arms, like hers, folded on the top rail. They had become friendly over the last week. He was very formal and respectful with Ian, whom he seemed to consider the pride-lord even though the Raeders were leopards rather than lions, and he was still ill at ease with Gregor and everyone else. But he always came over to talk if Sierra left the house to move about the grounds.
“If the Lowes don’t take you in once all of this is over, you might consider sticking around here,” Sierra murmured. “Ian would let you stay.”
His face tensed a little. “I…would like that. But…”
“You’d be welcome.”
He gave her a troubled, wistful glance, doubting that. But Ian wouldn’t refuse to take him in. Sierra was certain of that. His hand came up to finger the golden ball of the pendant hanging at his breastbone, a habitual gesture when he was nervous.
“What is that?” she asked. “Is it a lucky charm?”
He looked down in surprise, then released the pendant hurriedly, embarrassed. “It is not a luck piece. Just a gift.”
From someone important to him, she guessed. She looked at him with sympathy.
“What was your home like?” Then she caught herself. “I’m sorry. Maybe it would upset you to talk about it.”
“It would not…upset me.” He smiled a little hesitantly. “You humans use terms that are strange, but accurate. Yes, it used to unbalance me to think of my home. I have not seen it in a long time.”
“Was it nice?”
“It was beautiful. But then the places of one’s childhood are always beautiful in one’s memory.”
“Yes.” She understood. It wasn’t really the place, but the feeling of love and security that was bound up with it. “You miss it.”
“I try not to think about it.” His lips compressed. “There is no going back.”
“Even if you returned to the other world?”
“Even then.” He turned his face away. “I am an outcast. I would not be permitted to go back to my home.”
Right. She had forgotten that aspect. He wasn’t just any nomad male in that other world. He had been cast out.
“Was it very different from here?” she asked quickly to distract him.
“Not that different in its essentials. There is the hunting range that here is used for cattle. There is the house like this one. But ours was much bigger because our pride is large and all of us lived there. It was made of stone with many, many rooms. It was a good house and there was very fine hunting and much land in which my brother and I could run free. Our father was the pride-lord. Had it not been for that—”
He stopped abruptly, wincing. Sierra wished she had never brought up the subject.
“You don’t have to talk about it, Kihain.”
“You are easy to talk to.” He gave her a wry glance. “Perhaps because you are human. All that happened has happened and cannot be changed. Therefore, why shrink from speaking of it? You want to know why I am an outcast.”
“No, Kihain! I was only asking about your home.”
“It is all the same thing,” he said with pain. “It is natural that you wonder. Perhaps you should know. Also he, the Raeder pride-lord, before he permits me to stay.”
“I’ll tell Ian if you want me to, but that is not why I asked.”
He nodded brusquely, acknowledging that. She could see him searching for words. It was clear that it was hard for him to speak about it.
“You do not have challenges here or else why would the Lowe pride refuse to allow Arrhan’s challenge? In our world, the lordship is determined by challenge and battle.”
She thought she could see where this was going. “Did you challenge your father?”
“No. I might have in the end, but it never came to that point.” He looked around at her suddenly. “Do not mistake. Challenge is natural. It is the Way, not something for which one is cast out.”
“Then…?”
“Sons battle for the right to challenge. My brother and I fought. Sometimes one would win, sometimes the other. That is the Way. One grows and fights, until a true dominance is established among siblings. The losers submit and the winner may then challenge if he chooses.”
“I understand.”
“I did not wish to be pride-lord and I would not have challenged my father. But it was understood that when the day came that he was old and chose to relinquish his rule, I would have been the one to become lord since I was stronger and quicker than my brother and the one who won most of our contests.”
“I’m guessing your brother didn’t like that.”
“He resented it. Unlike me, he was greatly ambitious and wanted most powerfully to rule the pride. So one day he attacked me upon a cliff top, meaning to fling me over it. But I resisted and he fell instead. He…died.”
“He meant to fling you over? To kill you?”
His young face looked even younger, strained to gauntness as it was now. “He…he was angry.”
“I see.” She also saw the way he was unthinkingly defending the brother who had tried to kill him. “Is that usual? To fight to the death?”
“No. It is forbidden, except during a lordship challenge or a mating fight, and even then it is rare. When the winner becomes apparent, the loser is permitted to leave. Some challenges or mating fights do result in death, but the intention is not to kill but to win. You understand the difference?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“War is the only reason to kill.”
She thought it over, seeing the shape of what had happened, the tragedy of it. “So they cast you out because your brother died.”