Chapter Nine
I could see the confusion flicker across his eyes, but the intense feelings were still radiating toward me as I walked slowly toward Bannack. His gaze traveled along me, exploring the curves and planes of my face and the dips of my body, but I could still sense the internal struggle that was keeping him from admitting what was coursing through his mind and his veins.
"Fighting what?" he finally asked me, his voice strained slightly.
"What you are feeling right now."
I was only two steps away from him now, close enough that I could feel intense, powerful heat pulsing off of his body and see the swell in the front of his loose-fitting pants.
"Can you read my thoughts?" he asked defensively, obviously uncomfortable with not only the concept that I would be able to get into his mind and read what was there, but what the implications of that ability would be if I was to be able to do it.
Still staring at the front of his pants, I bit my bottom lip and shook my head slowly, finally lifting my eyes to his.
"No," I said, "but I can sense what you're feeling. I can look into you and see and feel what is inside you. I know what you're thinking about right now, and I want to know why you are fighting it."
He didn't respond and I lifted my hands to the ties at the front of my dress. I released them slowly and carefully, deliberately looking into his eyes as I did. The ties stretched from my neckline down to the center of my stomach and I loosened them all the way down. Once the ties had fallen loose, the bodice of my dress slipped down, revealing my breasts. Bannack cleared his throat and looked away, but I didn't stop. I could feel my hair sweep across my bare back as I carefully pushed the dress down over my hips and let it pool at my feet. I was barefoot as I always was, so when I stepped out of the soft white fabric and gently kicked it aside, I was standing in front of Bannack in only a pair of thin, finely woven panties that tied at either hip.
"Why do you keep fighting?" I asked again, taking another step toward him so that only one more step separated us.
Bannack shifted where he stood, looking around as if he couldn't find something to rest his eyes on so that he didn't look at me.
"I can't feel this way about you," he finally said and I felt a little flicker in my belly.
"Feel what way about me?" I asked.
He looked at me and the confusion in his eyes had turned dark and mixed with the desire coursing through his body.
"You know exactly what way," he nearly snarled.
"Of course you can feel that way," I said.
"And why is it so easy for you to just say that?" he asked.
The tension in his voice said that he was being sarcastic, but at the same time he was truly asking me.
"Because," I said, taking hold of the strings on either side of my panties, "you already do."
I pulled the strings, releasing the ties and letting my panties fall free away from my body. I could feel what was inside him more intensely in that moment than I had in any other except for the very first moment when I saw him in the cavern. I had known immediately and the feeling building inside me was something that I had never experienced. The longer I looked at him, the more I realized that what I was feeling was not a matter of a simple reflection. I had fallen completely under his spell and I was helpless to resist him, even if he was trying to resist what he was feeling himself.
Bannack's eyes shifted briefly into a dark orange and I saw his hands clench, tightening into fists as if he was fighting to control his body as much as his mind. I closed the space between us with a final step, bringing us close enough that my breasts brushed against him and I could feel his erection straining toward me. I reached up and touched his cheek, guiding his face so that he looked down into my eyes. The pad of my thumb stroked over his lips and Bannack's eyes drifted closed. I could feel the breath stream from his lungs and ripple from the inside of my wrist down my arm. The warm feeling made my nipples tighten and I felt a tingle slip down between my thighs.
I walked around Bannack further into the house, making my way toward the furniture arranged in the middle of the main room. After a few steps, Bannack followed me. We didn't speak, but our hands expressed more than words could have in that moment. He approached me and I took the end of the tie that closed his pants in one hand. As I loosened it, my warrior cupped one of his hands around my breast and ran his thumb across my nipple, making it ache. His pants slipped down his hips to his feet and he stepped out of them and his soft boots at the same time. As he pulled his shirt off over his head, I rested my palm against his long, hard shaft and wrapped my fingers around it. I stroked him carefully but insistently, watching my hand in awe as it moved across his erection.
I felt his finger tuck under my chin and lift my face up to his. There was a still, quiet moment, and then he leaned forward to touch his lips to mine. The kiss filled me as if it gave me breath, satisfying something deep within me that I hadn't even known needed fulfillment until I saw him for the first time. Our mouths moved across each other languidly, tenderly and carefully discovering the feeling and taste of each other's lips and welcoming each other's tongues to slip between, tangling and exploring.
Bannack stepped forward, pushing me back so that he could turn and sit down in the large chair I had been standing beside. Our mouths parted and I could hear our heavy breaths filling the space around us, accentuating the silence we had maintained. Bannack's strong hands turned me and eased me back so that I sat on his lap, moving my hair aside so that it cascaded down his thing and along the front of the chair. His body cradled me, surrounding me in his warmth and the strength of his presence. He wrapped his arms around me and I let my head rest back against his shoulder.
We remained still for several long seconds, our breaths synchronizing as his heartbeat created an enticing yet comforting rhythm against my back. His hand flattened in the middle of my chest and smoothed its way down my body, pausing in the dip between my hipbones. I could feel myself trembling and my breath caught in my throat as he applied gentle pressure. No one's hands had ever touched me and I found myself overwhelmed with the sensation of his body so close to mine and his hand easing down between my thighs.
Bannack's other hand carefully parted my legs to give himself better access, keeping his grip on my thigh as if providing stability. The first touch of his fingers in the warmth of my body sent shockwaves through me and I cried out, arching off of him so that he took his hand way from my thigh and rested it on my belly, easing me back down into his lap. I let the strength of his hand on stomach relax and reassure me, and my body rested down against him. Releasing the tension in my thighs, I allowed my knees to fall open further and welcomed his touch. Bannack's fingers explored my hot, wet folds, building dizzying sensations and tension throughout my hips, thighs, and lower belly.
Suddenly the feelings shattered within me and a cascade of intense tremors rippled through my body. My hips lifted up out of his lap and I felt his strong, powerful erection slip from behind my back to in front of me. I tucked my hand around it, pressing it against my body so that he could feel the warm wetness that he created. Acting purely on instinct, I rolled my hips, letting my core run along his length until I could hear him groaning behind me. I wanted him inside me in a way that I had never wanted anything. I lifted my hips, readying myself to guide him to my entrance, when I felt Bannack's hands suddenly tighten on my hips.
"Stop."