Chapter 18 #3
Without breaking their kiss, he backed her toward the bed then sat down, pulling her into his lap.
She jerked away from their kiss instantly. “Careful, X. You’ll hurt yourself.”
“I don’t care,” he breathed, pulling her lips back to his so that he could ravage her senses.
Gisela’s heart leapt at his words and at the feel of his tongue sweeping against hers. The warm manly scent of him filled her head as she brushed her hands over his steely biceps that flexed and beckoned her with his power.
What was it about this troll that made her feel like this? Shivery hot and needful. Ever longing to be close to him when she knew deep in her heart that he posed the biggest danger to her life. To what she was supposed to do for her mother.
But she was lost now. Lost to the heat of his touch as she pulled his leather jerkin off before he removed his tunic.
She ran her hand over the muscles of his chest, feeling the way his flesh rippled and flexed under her palm. And she wanted more.
Leaning him back, she quickly removed his boots and pants, then returned to his lips.
Xaydin took her hand into his and led it down the length of his body until she touched his rigid shaft.
“Every time I’m near you, Gisela, all I can think about is being inside you again,” he breathed raggedly in her ear. “Of you touching me until I’m drunk from it.”
Gisela savored the sound of his voice in her ear and the feel of him in her hand. She ran her fingers to the tip of him where he was already wet. A shiver went through him that she felt with the whole of her body.
She found it hard to believe that this giant troll who could kill with a single blow could be so tender with her. That he could hold her like this and make her entire body burn for him.
Yet he did. He made her breathless and weak. And at the same time, he made her feel as if she could fly. No one had ever made her feel the things he did.
“I’m so glad you weren’t killed, X.”
“Are you?”
She nodded as she stared into those feral dark eyes. “Had you not survived, I would have used one of Candara’s potions to bring Garyn back to life so that I could club him for eternity.”
That brought an adorable smile to his lips before he nibbled her chin with his teeth as he slid his hands down her back to her hips.
Gisela sucked her breath in sharply as he lifted the hem of her chemise and bared her bottom to his questing hands. She growled deep in her throat as his hand found the part of her that throbbed for him.
Xaydin clenched his teeth at her sweet moisture coating his fingers. How he wished he could push her away...
But he couldn’t resist her. He was addicted in a way he’d never imagined, and he needed to be inside her right now.
More than that, he had to have her, and he would kill anyone who tried to interrupt them.
She was the air he breathed.
Ignoring the pain of his wounds, he pulled her gently onto his lap and slid himself deep inside her waiting warmth. He closed his eyes and just savored the feeling of her surrounding him.
He could stay inside this woman forever. There was some foreign, inner calm he felt whenever she was near him. It was as if he could find no fault with the world.
No fault with himself.
It was a tranquility he’d never imagined could exist. And all from an assassin. It made no sense whatsoever, but then feelings seldom did.
Gisela gasped at the fullness of Xaydin inside her body. What she felt for him terrified her. What they were doing was madness given who and what they were.
She was an assassin. He was a bounty hunter.
And yet she was helpless against her body’s desire for him. Her heart’s desire to be near him. To soothe this man whose eyes were always tormented, like a stormy sea forever bereft of sunshine.
He guided her with his hands, showing her how to make love to him from above. She watched his face closely and wondered if her own features mirrored the pleasure he gave her.
His breathing was rapid as he bit his lip and growled while his hands urged her to move faster.
“That’s it, love,” he whispered as she found a rhythm that pleased them both.
Xaydin cupped her face in his hands while he let her thrust for both of them. Let her sate the longing he had to just stare at her beautiful body until he was drunk from it.
However, the last thing he wanted was for her to be embarrassed should someone interrupt them.
Closing his eyes, he shielded the room, hoping Candara wouldn’t be rude enough to break his wards and enter. Masakage would know better.
His sister…
Gisela turned her face in his hands and kissed the inside of his wrist. His heart quickened at the gesture.
She was marvelous. Truly, an unexpected treasure.
He felt her body tightening against his shaft as she quickened her strokes. A smile played at the edges of his mouth as she came for him.
It was the most beautiful sight he’d ever seen. Her cries of pleasure filled his ears and warmed him through and through.
Pulling her down to his lips, he swallowed those cries before anyone else heard them and lifted his hips, driving himself even deeper into her body.
He could feel her heart pounding against his chest as he held her and thrust faster until he found his own release while she kissed him deeply and fully.
Hissing in pleasure, he savored the sensation of her wet heat until his body was completely drained and sated. There was nothing in all the kingdoms like his precious assassin.
No one could ever compare to her. Nor could they give him a more wonderful moment.
Gisela rested herself on her elbows so that she could stare down at Xaydin. She kissed her way along the edge of his whiskered jaw and just inhaled the warm, masculine scent of him.
She quickly checked the bandages over his stab wounds to make sure he hadn’t started bleeding again. The last thing she wanted was to cause him any more pain. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, love. It’d take a lot more than your mere weight to harm me.”
Good. Gisela lay herself over his chest and pressed her cheek to his heart that pounded and soothed her while he toyed with her hair that was fanned out over him. While he did that, he moved his other hand so that he could stroke her cheek.
“You are so soft.”
She placed a kiss over his heart, then moved so that she could look up at him. “You’re not, my monster troll.”
He smiled down at her, his eyes hot and searing. “Tell me why I can’t resist you, Gisela. Why I desire you when all my reason tells me I shouldn’t?”
“If I knew the answer to that, X, then I’d understand why I’m here with you when I shouldn’t be.” Biting her lip, she pulled back from him. “What are we doing, Xaydin? Seriously?”
“I think we’re falling in love.”
Silence hung between the two of them as those words echoed in the quiet stillness.
He was right. Gisela knew the truth of it. She felt it with every part of her, and it made her want to run away in terror.
A tic started in his cheek as he continued to brush his fingers against her cheek. He let out a long, tired sigh. “The worst part is I can’t afford to love you.”
“I know. And I don’t want to keep you away from your oath to hunt down the ataswere. I would never take you from your vengeance.”
He winced at her words. “You’re right. I can never lay aside my sword.
Not so long as children are out there being hurt because they’ve lost the parents who love and protect them.
And it’s not just the ataswere who harm them.
It’s why my sword is pledged to Dash and to his war against your mother.
I’ve no choice other than to do everything I can to help those who are targeted by his enemies. ”
“You can’t save the world, X.”
“If I save one person, then I’ve saved their world and the worlds of those who love and depend on them.
Homes aren’t made up of one single slab.
They’re the product of thousands of stones.
If one storm damages a single one, then the entire house is compromised, if not destroyed.
I might not save them all, but I have to save as many as I can. ”
And that was what she loved most about him. He thought of others and took nothing for himself. Just like what he’d told the ataswere when they were making their contract. He wanted nothing.
“I would never take you from your fight, X.”
Xaydin kissed her lips, then withdrew from inside her. He moved to the side so that she lay beside him. He cuddled her tenderly as he covered them with the blanket.
“I wish I could give you what you want, Gisela. But I can’t let Meara have an advantage over Dash. Not when so many lives would be destroyed.”
Gisela glanced down to the nastiest wound in his side. She ached for him. Just as she ached for herself. “So what are we to do?”
“I don’t know. Just savor the time we have and let it get us through the rest of our lives as sweet memories of what could have been had we been born someone else.”
Tears welled in her eyes as she noted the deadness of his own. The last thing she wanted was to not see him.
Heartbroken, she swallowed hard against the sudden lump in her throat. If she had a choice, he would be it.
But that was a whimsical dream and she knew it. Prince Xaydin of Vaskalia was beyond the reach of anyone. So long as his need to kill his enemies remained, he’d never settle down.
“Very well.” Gisela forced herself to get up and retrieve her clothes. If they couldn’t be together, then there was no need in her torturing either one of them further.
It was best to leave now while she could almost bear the thought.
Although to be honest, the pain in her chest wasn’t really bearable. It hurt and it cut. She didn’t want to leave him, but just as he had said, she understood why it was necessary.
She only hoped the agony inside her ebbed eventually. Perhaps she might even one day find a way to smile again.
But some things weren’t meant to be, and their relationship was one of them.
Leaning over the bed, she kissed his cheek and dressed.