Redemption (Red Dragon Book 1) (9 page)

“Please.” Her lips slid across his stubbled cheek. “Valto please don’t turn me away.”

“What do you need me to do?”

She shook her head quickly as she started to fumble with his pants, Valto’s breath hissing out between his teeth as she eased him out into the cool air of the living room. Then her hand disappeared up her skirt for a moment, and before he knew what was happening she had moved up onto her knees. There was momentary resistance as Cat got the angle to her liking, and then Valto couldn’t help but keen as she slowly lowered herself onto him.  She was tight and velvety, strong muscles clenching and relaxing around him every time she moved, however it was the furnace like heat and the slipperiness that had his stomach muscles tightening.

There was something about losing his virginity like this; an urgent rut while they were still fully dressed on an antique armchair was heady and incredibly exciting. Part of him wished that there weren’t still mascara marks on her cheeks, and a redness to her eyes, but despite that fact she was still heart wrenchingly gorgeous. “Oh sweetheart.” He reached up with one hand to cup her cheek as she finally bottomed out, her mouth parted on her gasping breaths and her hair falling over her eyes.  It was then in that moment as she remained in his lap trembling slightly in his arms that the curtain of bitterness seemed to have lifted from her. There was a gentle expression to her face that had been missing these past few weeks, and a clarity in her eyes that he hadn’t seen since the early days of their initial courtship.

Love. It shone from her like a beacon, as though the fog of her hatred had lifted and beneath it was the amazingly sweet and passionate woman that he remembered from before he had fucked everything up. With a soft moan she turned her head to mouth at the palm of his hand, as at the same time her hips started a slow grinding motion against him. Valto found the hand that wasn’t pressed against her cheek had fallen to her hip and he held on to her, wanting to feel her movement but not wanting to hinder what she was doing. In this particular act she was the master, and he could do nothing more than hang on for the ride and hope that he could keep both his head and his stamina. Cat’s previous lovers were all experienced enough to give her the kind of pleasure that she was used to. Meanwhile all he was doing was gritting his teeth and trying not to give into the heat in his belly.

“Fuck.” Cat’s thighs tightened and a shudder went through her. “Valto you feel good.”

Good wasn’t exactly the word that he would use for this, as she clenched around him again in a way that had him grunting in response. It was fantastic; the most amazing experience he had ever had and he felt like he was floating above his own body, looking down at what was happening. “Cat.” He pressed his face into her throat with a moan, unable to stop the way that his hips pushed upwards into her heat. It felt like every part of his body was on fire, but it was a sweet kind of fire that he could tell would be easy to become addictive. Then again he also knew that it wouldn’t be anything like this if he had been here with anyone else; that without the smell of her perfume around them like a fragrant cloud, the feel of her skin against his fingers, he wouldn’t feel this way.

No. It was always going to be Cat for him; no other woman would have ever have been enough for his wayward heart and even if she was to throw him aside after today, then at least he would have had this. At that point his mind seemed to stop working entirely and instead he found himself gripping her hips tightly, leaning back against the seat and gasping for breath as she moved above him. Her eyes were heavy lidded, head thrown back, and her hands were gripping his shoulders tightly for balance. “I need …” Cat shook her head before lifting herself off of him. In response he found himself grabbing at her while making loud protesting noises. Leaning down Cat kissed him lightly and then she slowly stood up.

Valto couldn’t believe that she would leave him like this, his cock standing up from the open zip of his pants, wet with her fluids and throbbing in time with the beat of his heart. “Cat …” His voice came out as nothing more than a whine, and he couldn’t help the way that his right hand went down to circle his own arousal. The sensation of his own palm was nothing compared to what he had just been indulging in, but the pressure was enough to give him some semblance of relief.

“No no.” She grabbed his wrist and pulled his hand away. “I need that.”

With that she started pulling off her clothes with a desperation he had never seen from her before, and he felt a lump form in his throat at the idea that his usually prim and proper Cat wanted him so much that she couldn’t wait another minute. “Fuck. Can I touch you?” His hands were reaching out for her again, itching to touch the creamy skin that she was revealing.

“I need you above me, on top of me.” He watched as she got slowly to her knees, turning her back to him and resting her arms on the low coffee table. This position made her back arch and her hips rise up so that he could see directly between her legs. “Come on.”

Valto didn’t need to be told twice, and he quickly kicked his way out of his pants as he fell to his knees behind her and slid his hands over the roundness of her buttocks. There was something electrifying and wanton about her being naked in front of him whilst he still wore his button up shirt. All he could hope was that he wasn’t going to disappoint her.

Chapter Eleven.

Cat felt like she was hyperventilating. Her breath was coming in such quick gasps that her head was light and her chest aching. Never before in her life had she been more aroused than she was in this instant. Valto’s hands on the bare skin of her hips were surprisingly gentle, though there was a definite tremble to them that betrayed his inexperience in this act.

“Cat.” His voice was broken, not that she could answer him as those agile fingers slid across her core before delving into where she was hot and aching for him. “Can I ...?

She had no idea how to answer that simple question, her own words had completely abandoned her at this point, however if he didn’t start fucking her in the next few minutes she felt like she was going to explode. Valto’s fingers were moving in a sensual slide, but it just wasn’t enough to ease the pressure that was slowly building up inside of her. Finally after what felt like a lifetime of being teased to within an inch of her life, she let out a hoarse yell of frustration, a noise that made Valto chuckle darkly from behind her.

“Yeah.” He pressed a soft kiss to the small of her back. “I get the idea.”

Cat really hoped that he did indeed get the idea because she was in absolutely no position to try and explain it to him right now. Thankfully it didn’t seem to take him long to figure out the logistics, and soon she felt the blunt head of his cock prodding against her core before it slowly started to ease in.

And oh didn’t that feel amazing? When she had been in his lap just a few minutes before she had got a general feel for how fantastically he could stretch her out, could make her feel every incredible inch that he possessed. In this position she felt like he was going to keep going forever, that her body just wasn’t going to accommodate him, and the little thrill of fear that caused was enough to ramp her arousal up to all new heights. When he eventually did bottom out deep inside of her Cat found that she couldn’t do anything other than rest her forehead against the rosewood table and gasp for breath.

His teeth grazed her shoulder and his hands ran feverishly down her sides, as with a grunt Valto pulled his hips back and every single incredible inch of him pressed against her internal walls. The slow push back inside left her thighs shaking and her hips pressing back in her eagerness to take all of him in. “Don’t.” Valto’s hand rested on her tailbone, but it was so huge that the weight of it alone was enough to push her down, and she released a moan at the sensation of being so completely dominated. “Cat I’ll lose it if you don’t keep still.”

She suddenly had a desire to see him lose himself in the act, to be the wild and wanton creature that Cat had always known that he was capable of being rather than this repressed overly polite man that had been delivered to her door. “Do it.” Her voice was nothing more than a low groan. “Fuck Valto make me feel it.”

Even though she couldn’t see him, Cat felt a shudder go through Valto’s body and his hands momentarily tightened against her skin. He didn’t speak again but the deep and broken noises coming from his throat as he started moving in earnest were enough for her. Soon it seemed like he was lost in the very feel of her body as their skin slapped against each other’s, and his hands gripped her hips so tightly that she knew there would be bruises there the next morning. That was about as far as her comprehension went, as soon she was muffling her own cries of ecstasy into her arm while a thin sheen of sweat covered her skin.

Cat couldn’t exactly pinpoint the moment that she climaxed, rather one moment her every muscle was clenching and there were tears pinpricking her eyes again, and the next it was like a bomb had gone off. She was floating in a haze of bright lights and noise, lost to everything except the feel of Valto’s hands on her skin. The next thing she knew she was on her knees, Valto’s left hand clutching her breast gently as she rested her head back on his shoulder and they kissed slowly and intimately. He was slowly softening inside her, and Cat was powerless to do anything except wind her arms around his neck and hold on.

***

The chill of the night was starting to prickle against Cat’s skin as she knelt on the barrow; the dampness from the grass slicking her knees and shins. She had known that sitting out here in the middle of nowhere completely naked and on top of the remains of her long dead ancestors was going to be uncomfortable. However she had thought it would be more embarrassment or humiliation, not physical discomfort. Then again, she should have really have known better. After all this was Wales and even in summer the weather conditions weren’t exactly the best.

“Are you ok?” Valto’s voice broke through her musing, and she turned to glare at where he was sitting a handful of feet away by the fire pit. He had insisted on coming with her despite the fact that it was tradition for the future monarch to commune with the spirits of the ancestors alone. For some reason he seemed to think that she was going to be attacked out here. It was sweet in a way, but also it felt strange that the man that she was having sex with not four hours ago was sitting there watching her while she was completely in the nude. “You look uncomfortable.”

Cat couldn’t help the way she rolled her eyes at that, and he must have seen it because he gave a soft chuckle. “Of course I’m uncomfortable.” She dug her knees even deeper into the earth and tried desperately not to think about the remains that were only a few metres beneath her. “Next time it can be you up here.”

“With pleasure.” His words were accompanied by a wide smile that she couldn’t help but return.

“Then it’s a deal,” said Cat, settling back on her haunches.

The ache between her legs from earlier that afternoon was strangely comforting, though she was beginning to wish that she hadn’t urged him to be quite so rough. She hadn’t had a strain in her upper thighs nor the slightly burning sensation in her pelvic region since her days in Alex’s bed, and it made her even more aware about the size and power differentials between herself and Valto. Hopefully it was just that he was untested at this point. With time and practice he should be able to reign in his own strength and leave them both satisfied without any lasting damage. Well, maybe every once and a while it would be nice to have him completely lose control of himself the way he had this first time. The pleasure alone had been completely overwhelming.

“You look beautiful.” There was a hushed tone to Valto’s voice, almost like he hadn’t planned on saying the words out loud and annoyingly Cat felt herself blushing in response. It was stupid really to be reacting to him in this manner, certainly given her current predicament, but something had changed this afternoon. It was almost like she felt that she was beginning to heal the deep wounds that had formed six years ago, that being in Valto’s arms while she cried had soothed some of that hurt.

“I’m freezing cold, naked, and covered in body paint.” At that she scowled down at the intricate tribal patterns that had been applied to her skin. Intellectually she knew that they were absolutely necessary for this tradition, and without performing it she wouldn’t be allowed to be Queen, yet she hated the cold tacky paint on her body. “And you’re distracting me.”

“Is that necessarily a bad thing?”

Glancing up at him through her lashes she found herself looking at his profile, once again taken aback at how handsome he was. His hair seemed even blonder in the ever-changing light of the flames, a sparkle to his grey eyes that he always seemed to have when he found a situation amusing. There was something lighter about him as well, as though some great weight had been lifted from him, something that Cat was beginning to feel herself. Their relationship had changed dramatically that afternoon; something had clicked and Cat was starting to feel that maybe there was some hope for them after all. Maybe they would never be able to get back what they had before, but they may yet be able to salvage their friendship and at least it was clear that they were sexually compatible. “No, not necessarily a bad thing,” said Cat.

The blinding smile on his face at that could was beautiful, and in that moment Cat wanted nothing more than to get up off of the barrow and go to him. Wrap herself around him and pull him down onto the grass with her until it would be difficult to tell where one of them began and the other ended. Just that thought alone was enough to make her breathing quicken and her chest ache.

They lapsed into silence then, and Cat quickly lost track of time as the sky became darker and the stars more prominent. She found herself staring up at them until they all blurred across her vision, wondering what the former Kings and Queens of Wales had thought when they had sat here communing with the spirits. What had been going through her father’s mind when he had looked up at the stars as a young man? Had he known what the future had held for him and his country, or had he been as arrogant then as he had when he was older and simply thought that he could bend everyone to his iron will?

It was in that moment that she knew that she wasn’t going to be anything like him. That she didn’t want her people revering her as a god whilst her family feared her, cowered in her presence, and became so twisted that they no longer had any dreams or aspirations that he hadn’t pushed upon them. The idea that any children of hers could end up like Myf was enough to bring tears to her eyes. Forcing them to marry someone that would treat them like utter dirt for nothing more than a political alliance was utterly disgusting.

By the time that the dawn was just coming up over the horizon, Valto seemed to have fallen asleep beside the dying embers of the fire with his head pillowed on his folded arms and his knees tucked against his belly. Her heart melted as she looked at him, in this moment he looked so completely vulnerable and sweet that he reminded her of the boy that she had fallen in love with all those years ago.

“Oh Valto.” She knelt beside him, reaching out to push some loose strands of tousled blonde hair out of his face she thought that he was desperately in need of a haircut, especially since Lowri would be looking at announcing their engagement soon.

For the first time since she had received that text message while in Hans’s bed she was able to think of the words Valto and engagement together without a feeling of panic and dread welling up inside of her. Instead now there was just a subtle warmth radiating from the depth of her stomach; not quite happiness but possibly contentment at what the future was to bring at least in relation to her marriage. Exhaustion suddenly came crashing down over her, and with a yawn she settled herself on the ground beside him, resting  her head on his strong chest as she felt his free arm wrapping tightly around her and pulling her back into his bulk. “Are you done?” His words rumbled gently into her ear, and she simply nodded her head in response. At that he half sat up and grabbed the fleece blanket which was laying a short distance away and pulled it over the both of them. “Here or you’ll get cold.”

With a soft noise, Cat looped one arm around his neck and nuzzled her face into his neck as she felt herself drift off into obscurity.