Chapter 23
Lea dragged a comb through her hair, eyeing the darkening shadows at her window. She’d excused herself from the after-dinner dice game Ferox, Velia, and Jason were engaged in, claiming she had a headache. But really, she just wanted to wait in her room for Kallias.
The sun had already set. It was later than she’d hoped he’d arrive. What if he didn’t come? What if he’d been waylaid on his way here? It wasn’t far, but all manner of dangers appeared as night fell.
Nerves twisted in her stomach. She should have done a better job of keeping her distance from him—in her mind, if not her body. Then she wouldn’t be consumed with worry when he was a quarter of an hour later than she anticipated.
A knock came at her door, and she jumped to her feet. “Who is it?”
“Me.” Kallias’s voice.
A jolt of relief went through her. “One moment.” Her surge of happiness at his arrival emboldened her, and she decided not to waste any time. She stripped off her dress and tossed it into the corner.
“Please hurry,” Kallias called through the door. “This cat is looking at me as if he wants to eat me.”
Lea laughed. Nyx did have a habit of skulking outside her room if she didn’t let him in. The cat delighted in knocking any item he could reach onto the floor, so she tried to keep him out when she could.
She opened the door.
“Lea,” Kallias said in a strangled voice. His eyes feasted on her bare body.
Nyx tried to dart through, but she fended him off with a gentle foot, and he fell back, growling in displeasure.
She stepped back from the doorway. “Come in before he does,” she said, gesturing at the affronted feline.
He hastened inside, and she shut the door behind him, earning an offended hiss from Nyx.
Kallias stalked toward her, his stride a slow, deliberate prowl. She shifted her weight to one leg, allowing her hip to cant in a posture she hoped was alluring.
“You might be pleased to know,” she said, “you’re the only handsome physician who has found his way to my room this evening.”
His arms slid around her. The feel of his linen tunic against her bare skin made desire bloom in her core.
“Good,” he growled. “Because tonight, you’re all mine.” His mouth came down on hers in a hard, demanding kiss. She stretched her arms over his shoulders, allowing her body to mold to his.
The undercurrent of possessiveness in his voice, even though it was only a jest, sent a thrill down her spine. She loved when his air of easy poise fell away, revealing something darker, hungrier. Knowing she was the one to lay him bare like this.
He broke the kiss, breathing hard, and walked her backward toward an empty span of wall next to her chest of drawers. “Turn around.”
She swiveled to face the wall. Somehow, it was so easy to do as he asked, even though she had no idea where this was going. But with him, there was such relief in letting go.
He took her hands and placed them flat against the wall next to her head. “Leave your hands just here for me, sweetheart.”
He ran his hands down her spine, which made her shiver, back arching toward him. Then he swept his hands around to her front, raising them to palm her breasts. “This is all mine?” he said in a low, rough voice.
She nodded, her mouth dry, unable to form words.
“Tell me,” he insisted.
She cleared her throat. “All yours, Kallias,” she breathed.
One hand stayed on her breast, teasing her nipple in a way that made her twitch and gasp. His other hand traveled lower, brushing the thatch of curls between her legs. She bit her lip.
“And this?” he murmured, just barely skimming his fingers over the place she throbbed and ached.
She pressed her hands even flatter against the wall, clinging to every thread of restraint to stop herself from grabbing his hand and shoving it where she most needed his touch. “Definitely yours,” she managed.
He rewarded her with a luxurious stroke of her sex. “Soaked already,” he murmured with a dark chuckle in her ear. “And I’ve barely touched you.”
Her cheeks heated. She didn’t think this qualified as barely touching, but she kept her dissent to herself.
She pressed her forehead against the wall, grateful she wasn’t facing him.
It was embarrassing to have the evidence of her desire on full display, unable to hide her body’s primal need.
From him, she could hide nothing, not even the most intimate functions of her body.
“Why are you so wet, Lea?” he asked.
Her nails dug into the whitewashed wall. “I’ve been wanting you all day,” she confessed, her voice high and needy.
This version of Kallias—greedy, covetous, wickedly imaginative—seemed to latch onto something within her. It drew her to him with the pull of sunlight to a spring blossom, coaxing her to open, to reveal all her secrets.
“I like the sound of that.” He stroked her again, his fingers becoming more purposeful.
Her inner muscles clenched, and her hips flexed, offering more of herself to his touch.
A moan slipped from her lips. He was going to make her come right here, wasn’t he?
He’d just gotten here and she was already shuddering, gasping, on the brink.
He withdrew his hand, and the sudden loss of stimulation made her gasp. “Can I bind your wrists again?”
She nodded; at that moment, she likely would have granted him anything he wanted. He removed her hands from their position on the wall and bound them behind her.
“You came prepared,” she said, realizing he’d brought the same cord they’d used last time. “Some might say that was rather presumptuous.”
“I don’t think so,” he said as he wrapped the cord around her wrists in several passes, making it tight but not constricting. “I’m open to being proven wrong, but I don’t think there’s much you wouldn’t do for me, is there?”
His certainty of her near-complete surrender made her flush. He turned her around to face him and ran a finger over her heated cheek. “You look so beautiful when you’re blushing for me.”
That only made it worse, and now she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Tell me what you want,” he said. “Do you want me to put you on your knees and make you come, like last time?”
The prospect of that shot a bolt of molten heat straight to her core. For a moment, she considered nodding. That would be very pleasurable indeed.
But this time, she wanted more. Of course, he’d make her say it. She debated trying to be coy, but she sensed he wouldn’t let her get away with that. She closed her eyes and steeled herself. “I want to take you inside me.” The words tumbled out in a rush.
She opened her eyes in time to catch the tense, hungry flicker of lust that moved across his face, darkening his eyes. But then he frowned, the desire replaced by pensive consideration. “Are you sure? The risks…”
“I have herbs. Jason gets them from a friend who works at a brothel.” In her prior liaisons with Hector, they’d been careful to take precautions.
If she became pregnant, she’d be of no use to Lucullus, as a pregnant gladiator couldn’t train, couldn’t fight.
He’d get rid of her, and she’d likely be thrust back into the same sort of slavery she’d grown up in, this time with a child to look after.
She couldn’t afford to even consider the idea of becoming a mother until she secured her freedom.
“A friend,” Kallias said dubiously. “What’s in these herbs?”
She shrugged as well as she could manage with her wrists bound behind her back. “Don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” he repeated, scandalized. “You’re taking something and you don’t even know what it is?”
“They seem to work just fine,” she said defensively. “If anyone knows how to prevent pregnancy, I wager it’s a woman at a brothel.”
He scowled at her. “Let me see them.”
She sighed and gestured with her chin at her chest of drawers. “They’re in the top drawer, toward the back.” She hadn’t had occasion to use them since Hector’s death, but thankfully she hadn’t thrown them out.
He rummaged through her things, coming up with a small linen bag of dried and crushed herbs. He spilled some into his palm, examining the mixture and raising it to his nose to sniff.
“Well?” she asked. “Has it been poisonous this whole time?”
“No,” he admitted. “It appears to be pennyroyal and rue, with a bit of spearmint. It should do the job as well as anything.” He tipped the crushed herbs back into the bag and stowed it in her drawer. “Are your courses regular?”
“Not particularly, if you must know.”
“I suppose that’s for the best. You may be less likely to conceive,” he explained when she gave him a questioning look.
“Good. So…” She eyed the bed significantly. She wasn’t entirely sure how this would be managed with her hands still bound, but she trusted Kallias would have some inventive ideas.
“Not yet, sweetheart.” He tossed her a grin. “I don’t think this is going to last very long, so I might as well make the best of it.” He pointed to the floor. “Kneel.”
As she carefully lowered herself to the ground, his hands hovered near her shoulders, as if to catch her if she lost her balance. But even with hands bound, she didn’t waver as she sank to her knees.
His hand slid into her hair, gently pulling. “You know what I was thinking the first time I held you like this?”
She had a fairly good idea, and she met his gaze with a smile. “You want me to take you in my mouth, don’t you?”
He shucked his tunic, tossing it onto a stool. Her eyes roved over his bare body, skimming the lean planes of his chest and stomach before coming to rest on the stiffness between his hips. “Yes, Lea. That’s what I want.”
A sudden surge of insecurity overcame her, and her shoulders tensed. “I’ve only done this once or twice,” she confessed. “I’m not very good at it.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Did Hector tell you that?”
“Of course not.” Hector never would have said something so discourteous; he simply hadn’t preferred this particular act. “I just haven’t had much practice.”
“We can fix that.” He replaced his hand in her hair and gently pulled her toward him.