Chapter Fourteen
Jarok
The rest of the afternoon and evening passed uneventfully for Jarok, which he appreciated. The attack, followed by all those emotional hits, had taken a toll on his patience, which he prized. Not surprising, when he considered how often Piris and issues swirling around her put him at the end of his rope. By the gods, she was infuriating and fiery and fierce and… lovely. Worthy. Honorable. A true warrior tested and not bested, by him or anyone else, time and time again.
He was lying in his tastefully appointed guest room, with its dark-cherrywood furniture and gold accents, staring up at the large canopy structure covering the massive bed, thinking these thoughts. Jarok had never brooded before. That was his brother’s domain. Now he found himself doing it more and more. Once again, because of Piris.
A small knock sounded at the door, and Jarok jumped from his bed in a flash as someone slipped right into his room. His hand was going toward his falchion on the nightstand, placed within close reach for any possibility, when the dim light revealed a nightgown-clad Piris.
His hand pulled back from his blade, hesitant and slow, not because he was wary of her but because he was mesmerized by what he saw. He’d seen her in day dresses, ballgowns, traveling dresses, and fighting leathers. She looked good in all. At the moment, she wore a nightdress of shimmering bronze, the same color of her eyes. The material was gauzy, almost translucent when she passed direct light. His fist clenched at the idea someone else may have seen her in the thing out in the hallway. He shook the thought free, literally, taking his eyes from her to get a grip on himself.
He scanned the floor, another lush rug cushioning his bare feet. Piris’s feet, which he’d never seen, edged into his vision. They were perfectly formed, slim and long, her toes flexing into the rug as he stared. He’d never thought of feet before, of the delicacy and intimacy of seeing them, and now it crowded his mind. Until she broke the silence.
“I thought you might want some company.” Her tone came off as coy, though an edge hovered there, a question she needed to have answered even if she didn’t directly ask. Damn it, he was more than willing to give her the answers she wanted to hear. Jarok thought he could be all her answers, but pushed the idea away as soon as he had it.
He continued staring at her perfectly formed toes, knowing once he looked into her face, he’d be lost. “Your company is most welcome.”
She stepped closer, her gown shimmering as it moved around her strong, shapely legs, and he took the chance. His face met hers, and he gasped at the hunger he found in her broad-cheeked, marble-pale face. Piris’s eyes blazed in contrast, and Jarok was dumbstruck for a moment, his heart and head stopped for long seconds as he took her in.
Piris had no hesitation. She stepped closer, her chest brushing against his because of their similar heights. Jarok stuttered out a breath, but something drove him on, pushed him to action. His hand, almost of its own accord, came up and hooked around the small of her back to pull her even closer. The entire front of her body fell, heated and flush, against his. A smug smile stretched across his lips when her breath hitched at the sudden contact.
His other hand came up and twisted a piece of her free-flowing auburn hair around a forefinger. Staring there instead of directly at her, he muttered, “Is there something else you wanted, my lady?”
She squirmed then, her legs shifting so hard, he heard the slide of smooth, naked skin on skin and his blood pumped harder and fiercer. When she didn’t answer after several stretched seconds, his deep voice broke their silence. “Tell me what you want,” he demanded. He needed the words, needed to know she burned for him as he did her.
He met her eye to eye then, urging her on, and saw the moment her delicious, combative nature clicked back into place. “I want you, you arrogant—”
Jarok didn’t let her finish. He gripped her hard by the waist and tossed her to the bed with force, her gasp echoing through the room as she bounced on the soft mattress. Piris caught her breath, but Jarok gave her no time to scramble about or take a dominant position. He was on top of her, crawling up her body and pulling the barely there nightdress up her form as he did. Every so often he’d pause to give her a swift, sucking kiss: on her calf, the back of her knee, high on her thigh…
Piris struggled at first, but the more kisses he placed, the more she moved in need rather than defense. Her breath quickened as her body writhed after each hard suck of his lips.
Jarok nipped at her lower abdomen, and she froze. He looked up her body, past the peaks of her breasts, and at her expression now hazy with lust. He paused, taking a moment to nuzzle, fascinated by the small swell of her belly above the triangle of auburn hair between her legs. Her abs were flexed, but a bit of softness remained, and he was drawn to the contrast. Might even love it, though he dismissed the word as soon as it flitted across his mind. To drive it further from his thoughts, he focused on moving his tongue solidly upward and over her clenching stomach, falling to her side as he slid the sheer fabric to her neck, revealing her breasts.
He’d felt them, tasted them, and seen the outline of them in the dark woods the one time they’d had together. Now, in the low light of this room, he looked his fill. Jarok moved his nose across her dark nipples, teasing her as he teased himself with deep inhales of her cold steel scent. She sucked in a breath, waiting, but he continued to explore and nudge with his nose. Not giving her exactly what she wanted. Not yet.
“Jarok,” she said, a note of urgency, maybe exasperation, sounding there, and he immediately rose up and away from her body, taking her wrists in his hands and pushing himself up to loom over her.
“That’s not how this goes, Piris. You want me, you take me.”
She swallowed hard before her head bobbed in agreement. After, her body relaxed. She gave herself over to him. Gods, it made his cock even harder seeing her submit in this way.
“Stay right here,” he growled, the lust roaring in him making his voice gruffer.
He moved from the bed to his weapon belt on the bedside, grabbing the bit of woven cord he always kept on him.
He climbed back on the bed, on his knees, and commanded her, “Up.” She complied, heat in her gaze as she looked from him to the cord he clutched in his hand. When she was on her knees, her nightdress tumbled back down her body. He couldn’t have that, so he ripped it off and flung it to the floor as soon as it cleared her head and arms. A soft growl left his lips as he stared at her naked form, ripe and ready for him to do what he wished.
“Arms up,” he said, coming flush with her as he studied the canopy structure above them. It wasn’t as secure as embedded hooks or metal rings, but it would do if he was careful in the way he tied her.
Without a word, he started working, weaving the cord so it pinned her, stretched up, and encircled her arms from wrists to elbows, pulling her arms and torso tight so she had little room to move. Delicious and safe, given where he tied her.
Still, he asked, “How do you feel?” He tugged the cord, and she shuddered at the movement.
“I’m fine.”
“Fine?” he asked, an eyebrow quirked in question. He needed more from her.
“I don’t hurt. I-I like it.”
His heart pounded at the words, and he felt his cock weep in his sleep pants. Jarok managed to grumble out a “good” as he double-checked the binds, the wrapping, and the point where the cord was secured to the canopy.
“If you feel numbness in your hands or pain in your shoulders, tell me. Immediately.”
Piris nodded, her eyes hooded, her sweet scent filling every space around him, and he knew, without checking, she dripped for him. Gods, he wanted to take her hard and fast. A part of him needed to. But she’d come to him, and he wanted her to come to him again. Needed it more than he needed to rut into her.
Instead of falling on her, he climbed off the bed, leaving her alone there in the middle, pulled tight for his gaze. He devoured her with his eyes as he slowly undressed, first removing the large nightshirt he wore, revealing the golden-brown expanse of his skin, his smooth, mostly hairless chest and abdomen glowing even richer in the low light of the room. He unlaced his sleep pants, letting them fall loose on his hips, then slowly bent down as they moved off his body, not exposing his nakedness until he stood again. By the time he finished his little show, Piris panted and strained against her bonds. Jarok didn’t go to her then. He stood before her, keeping his distance. Then he took his cock in his hand and stroked it up and down at a languid pace. Waiting.
She twisted where she could, and he worried for her restraints, but she gave him what he wanted after a long minute. “Please,” she whispered, the sound like sweet sugar to his ears.
He crawled on the bed, came chest to chest with her, and took her mouth in a harsh, hungry kiss. They pulsed against one another, devouring. Jarok pulled back enough to watch his hand move down her body, take her pussy in a firm grip, and test how ready she was. He brought his wet finger up between them and stared at her as he sucked her sweet juices off his finger.
“So sweet. So slick. All for me.”
She didn’t reply, so he dipped his hand down again and slowly circled her clit. He gave solid pressure until her body started to shake, then he backed off to a teasing, barely there touch. She whined but he didn’t say anything, focused solely on her pussy at his fingertips. When her breathing evened out more, he started the cycle again. Then again. Three times bringing her to the edge of release before he pulled back.
“All for me?” he asked after her shaking stopped, a solid sheen of sweat glistening on her pale skin.
She nodded, but he again needed more. “Words,” he growled, moving to cup her between her legs, holding her in a possessive grip. Even if it was only for one night. Even if he never had her like this again, he wanted to have this one shining moment in his memory.
“Yes. Gods save me. Yes, Jarok. All for you. Only for you.”
Piris sagged at the confession, her eyes fluttering as if she couldn’t take more. He hadn’t even started, but she needed her release. He’d give it to her. Give her everything she wanted. Gods save him too. He’d give her anything she wanted.
Moving around her body, he positioned himself behind her, taking her hips in his hands to tilt her ass back. Jarok took her weight in his hands, both to ease the ache he knew she had to feel in her arms and position her to take all of him.
“Ready?” he asked, waiting for her.
She took a beat but moaned out a hoarse “yes.” At the sound, he notched his cock to her entrance and pushed forward, slow and steady, despite the rigid gasp they both gave at the feel of him filling her. He moved inch by inch until they sat flush together, ass to groin. He felt somehow whole but pushed the feeling aside, lust overriding all else. Jarok pulled back, then slammed forward, hitting her limit with a hard bump. Piris cried out in pleasure, which spurred him on, so much so he was pounding into her in seconds, his original intention to be slow and teasing lost in his own frenzied need and the sound of her moans. The clench of her wet, sweet core made him mindless. Feral even. Until her body caused him to return to his mind. Focus on her.
He felt her tremble around him and he slowed, almost stopped. Gave her another command. “Not yet. Not until I say you can.” He wanted her to come around his cock, but not until he was ready to come as well. Good thing he wasn’t too far off.
He switched the angle of her hips and his pace so he felt the snug push and pull of her on him, driving him closer and closer. With her body sweat-slicked and shuddering in his hands, she strived to give him what he demanded, pushing herself to the brink to hold back when all signs said all she wanted was to let go.
He gritted his teeth, feeling the tingle at the base of his spine. A strangled cry ripped out of him. “Now, Piris.”
She gave a hard shout as she spiraled, her pussy convulsing hard. He let go as well, driving a few final stuttering pumps into her as he came.
They both panted for several seconds, the bliss overwhelming everything else, but Jarok managed to come to his senses soon enough. He ached when he pulled out of her, but ignored the reaction and went to work untying her. When she was finally free, she sagged in his arms. Piris tried to right herself, but he held her tight to him as he stroked her arms up and down. When he finally let her move back, he did so to inspect at her arms, her wrists, make sure there was no damage or bruising.
“I’m fine,” she said, easing herself from his grip.
He gave her his signature insolent look and said, “Fine tells me nothing.”
“Fine. I mean, okay. My arms don’t feel hurt in any way. Happy?”
“Very,” he said with a sly smile as he hooked his arms around her again and brought them to lay side by side on the bed.
“I should return to my room,” Piris said, attempting to move away from him, but he snagged her back.
“No. You should stay here.” Jarok expected her to argue, but she moved closer, even if she did turn away from him so her back was to his chest. “Covers?” he asked and she nodded, not saying a word. He gave her that, even if he couldn’t give her physical space for some reason. He’d never actually slept next to a woman, so it would be a novel experience.
As he drifted off to sleep, his naked body cupping hers from behind, he felt content. Happy, just as she’d asked.
He slept well, soundly, until icy dawn creeped into his room. When he woke, his bed was cold and empty. Jarok lay there, feeling the same.