Chapter 27

When Zenon had woken to the devastating agony coming from Nickie, his first thought had been that the enemy had found them. Her pain poured into him like acid eating at his soul. It wasn’t until he’d bolted from the bed and heard her quiet sobbing that he truly understood the magnitude of what he had done. Her pain was not physical, but it was no less real. He’d glimpsed it as he’d flown away from her the day before and again in the truck as they’d driven to the hotel, but he hadn’t skimmed the surface of its depth.

He kissed her again, needing the physical connection with her as much as the soul touch. With gentle hands, he brought her under the spray and ran his fingers through her beautiful hair, wetting it. The sweet-smelling shampoo the hotel provided was nothing compared to her own scent, but it would do. Massaging her scalp, he gently released every snag and knot. After all the soap had run down the drain, he applied the conditioner and once again, set to relaxing both her body and her mind.

Turning her so that her back was to him, he leaned her against his chest. If he could hold her while doing it so that she need not stand on her own two feet, he would, but that was impossible. Starting at her shoulders, he stroked down each of her arms, caressing every inch of skin before coming up to her neck once more. He squeezed and kneaded the tight muscles until she went limp against him before soaping up again and slicking his hands down her chest.

The act was not meant to be sexual—had not been intended that way—but the moment his palms grazed her breasts, her nipples pebbled, and her breath caught in her throat. When he would have continued to bathe her, she arched her back, thrusting more fully into his hands.

“Tell me what you desire, and I will do it,” he whispered into her ear. “I will do anything you want.”

She brought her small hands up to cover his. She kept one to her left breast and led the other lower. “You. I want you, Zenon.”

“You have me, mate.”

He didn’t try to rush her as she brought his hand down her belly to the juncture between her thighs. When she paused there and took a deep breath, he waited for her to be ready, allowing her to guide their movements. She rested her head against his shoulder as she led his fingers between her lips, stroking her sensitive flesh.

She circled her flesh with their interlaced fingers. Never had an act felt more intimate.

“Just like that. Soft, little circles right there,” she said. Her husky whisper, as much as the words she’d spoken, curled around him, making his blood rush to his shaft, hardening it in seconds. She tightened her grip on his other hand, showing him what she wanted. When he complied, massaging her breast and teasing her pert, little nipple, she released him and reached behind her, grabbing hold of his shaft, stroking him from root to tip.

Her small fist didn’t quite fit around his girth, but the pressure she applied was enough to make his knees weak. He brought his lips to her shoulder, kissing her soft skin to keep from moaning as pleasure streaked through him.

“I want you to make me come like this, and then I want you to fuck me all the way into tomorrow,” she said.

Smiling against her skin, he continued to stroke her, relishing the slight tremble of her body. “It will give me great pleasure to do so, my Nickie.”

Already, her breaths came in short, little pants, and her sighs filled the bathroom. But the water was cooling. As much as he wanted to luxuriate in the moment and draw out her climax, he could not.

With firmer and tighter circles around her swollen bud, he brought out heavier sighs and moans. As though of their own volition, her hips pulsed forward, meeting his little strokes. “Yes, like that,” she said, encouraging him to continue, but he needed no such inspiration. More than his next breath, he wanted her climax. Needed it.

Teeth grazing at her shoulder, he sent all the pleasure he derived from their lovemaking back into her. Her fingers around his shaft tightened, and this time, he could not contain the moan as it slipped past his lips. Her own breathy sigh echoed his as he stroked around and over her, letting his fingers dip only low enough to tease at her entrance before finding her clitoris once more. That treasure would be his soon enough. She wanted his hand—his fingers—and he gave them to her.

He did not stop until her body went rigid in his arms and a scream tore from her lips, and even then, it was only enough to keep it from being unbearable. He could no more stop touching her than he could stop taking air into his lungs.

***

As soon as her legs had enough power to hold her up, Nickie turned in Zenon’s arms. She hadn’t been kidding. She’d wanted the orgasm to take the edge off, but now, she wanted his cock. In her hand, in her mouth, but mostly, in her pussy.

“I will not be able to stop from plunging into you if you keep having those thoughts, mate,” he warned, his voice tight even if it was tinged with laughter.

Leaning back, she turned the water off, before going into his arms again. “It’s what I want, so tell me, why should I stop?” she asked as she swayed, rubbing her body against him. His cock jerked at the small contact.

Lifting her in his arms, he took her from the shower. The vanity in the bathroom was clean but tiny. It would have been a perfect place to sit while he pounded into her. She sent the image into his mind, then grinned when his steps faltered on the way to the bed.

“Nickie,” he warned again with that warbly sound that meant his phoenix was near.

“Zenon,” she growled back, her version much more feminine. She spotted the long mirror across from the bed and sent him a different image. One of her leaning toward it with her legs parted wide, and him filling her from behind.

His fingers dug into her hip, but he didn’t say a word. For a second, she thought he wouldn’t respond at all, but then he positioned her on her hands and knees on the mattress, facing the mirror. He stroked a hand down her spine and over the curve of her ass. “You’ll be more comfortable this way,” he said, then, positioning himself at her entrance, he held her as he filled her with one long glide.

Nickie’s back arched as her pussy clamped around his invasion. His gaze met hers in the mirror, then, as though finding something he’d been looking for, he pulled back and thrust inside her again.

On the third stroke, she pushed back as he drove himself inside her, making them both moan. “Faster,” she demanded. After the emotional highs and lows of the past few days, she needed more. She had to feel him. To be taken. Owned. At the same time, she was staking her claim in return.

Zenon brought his hand up the back of her neck, holding her in place as he fucked her with long, hard thrusts. She rode the line between pleasure and pain, and all through it, Zenon watched and adjusted his strokes, always giving her the best of what she demanded. Each time he shoved his cock inside her, the head bumped at her cervix as he bottomed out, filling her completely.

“That’s so good,” she said, pushing back, forcing him to take just a little bit more.

Pleasure speared through her. She couldn’t catch her breath. Every time he entered her, his cock rubbed against her g-spot, making dots of light dance before her eyes. The muscles in her pussy quivered with each thrust.

Just when she didn’t think she could take anything else, he adjusted the angle and gave her more. A cry ripped from her lips as pleasure cascaded over her. She was so close. Her nipples ached they were so tight. Reaching under her, she pinched one, then rolled it between her fingers before doing the same to the other. She would have repeated it, but the pleasure was too much.

Nickie watched in the mirror as Zenon brought his free hand to her hip, then circled her waist. Even before he reached her clit, it was throbbing in anticipation of his touch. With his cock pounding into her and his finger sliding over her clit, she couldn’t stop.

Her scream tore from her as she exploded. The spasms of her pussy walls around Zenon’s cock sent her flying harder and higher as the muscles clenched and released.

His answering moan and the repeated jerks of his cock sent another shockwave through her. He stilled, holding her there, his cock buried as deep as he could have it while he came, filling her. Even after he was done, and she had gone boneless, he held her that way for a few moments as though, even then, he couldn’t make himself leave her.

“I love you, my Nickie,” he said before finally positioning her on the bed and taking her in his arms.

“I love you, too.” She kissed his chest just above his heart and settled in. “Tomorrow’s going to be another big day. We should get more sleep.”

Zenon rested a hand on her ass and the other in her hair, holding her close, then sighed and closed his eyes. “Rest well, mate.”