Chapter 24 Relax
~ DIADRE ~
Neither of us moved, staring at that door.
What had she heard? Why was she listening? How long had he known she was there? Was that why Jann had said those terrifying things—just so she’d hear them? Did he suspect Caelan was betraying us? He hadn’t warned me not to say anything delicate, but…
I stared at Jann, whose shoulders were tense, his hands opening and closing at his sides while he stared at the door, the tension vibrating in him.
‘Did you know she was there that whole time?’
‘Not initially, but when I realized I hadn’t heard the door into the corridor creak, I wondered.’
I took a breath. ‘Is she… betraying you?’
He shrugged, but the lines in his face deepened. ‘The truth is, I don’t know. But I’m not taking any chances. I feel eyes on my back with every step, from every side. I don’t know who to trust anymore.’ Then he turned and looked at me. ‘Except you.’
Relief flooded my veins. ‘You can trust Melek, and Yilan is—’
‘Yilan’s opinion of me changes by the moment. Melek trusts me, but his soul is braided with hers. If she grows too wary, he’ll step carefully with me.’
I frowned, simultaneously aching for his pain and the feeling of isolation I could sense in him. I was also worried about the words he’d spoken and what they meant for what was going on in his head.
“Jann—”
‘From now on, assume every word spoken aloud in this chamber is overheard. Just to be safe.’
I sighed, but nodded. Jann raked a hand through his hair, then crossed the floor towards the bed, quickly unstrapping his weapons, unbuttoning his shirt, and tugging it out of his leathers.
I watched him in silence. I always enjoyed watching him undress—even when he was dirty and sweaty. There was something about seeing the pieces of him slowly revealed, until finally he was naked and…
He’d just toed off his boots and yanked off his leathers, when he straightened quickly and turned to look at me, an expression of amused surprise on his haggard face.
“I thought you were tired, and sick?”
I bit my lip and considered my body. I had been feeling very unwell before he arrived, and so tired. Maybe it was the adrenaline rush. Or maybe just having him close… but I felt much better now. Still tired, but not nauseous. I smiled and shook my head.
Now naked, Jann pulled back the sheets and blankets and slid into bed, urging me to do the same, because he’d laid me on top of them when he caught me.
Moments later, we were both under the sheets. He put a hand to my lower back, and pulled me across the bed to his side. Then he leaned over me. I thought he’d kiss me, but instead he held the sheets and blankets high, and scanned my body, his gaze warming in a way I adored.
Then, as if that gaze were a candle snuffed out, his eyes shuttered and he shook his head. “You need to rest,” he murmured. “Roll onto your stomach. I’ll help you relax.”
I grinned at him, but he ignored me, and when I didn’t roll fast enough, he pushed up to kneel, grasped my hips, and flipped me onto my stomach.
I squawked, but he was already moving down my body, shifting under the blankets until he knelt at my feet, the bedcovers draping off his massive form like a cloak.
Sliding one hand under my ankle, he lifted my foot and began a long, squeezing press up my calf all the way to my knee, kneading with the heel of his hand as he went.
It felt so delicious, I groaned and let my head drop to the pillow. “God, Jann. That’s heavenly.”
“Do the Fetch soldiers not train in massage to loosen muscles?”
“Yes, but… well, you can imagine, it’s a little more awkward for me as a woman—and their superior.”
Jann growled and moved to my other leg, then pulled my feet together, straddled my legs and began to massage my thighs and backside.
I kept groaning, and slowly his breath grew heavier.
I smiled, closed my eyes, and waited to see what he’d do as he moved up my body, his long limbs and strength making easy work of kneading sore muscles and releasing tense knots.
Every touch was a strange mix of weary release, and sexual tension.
My skin began to pebble, waves of goosebumps washing down my body from wherever he touched—and when he leaned the heels of both hands on my spine and slid all the way up, his body dragged against mine—and I felt him, thick and hard, though he tried to keep space between us.
I couldn’t resist, and on the next pass when he pressed his hands from the hollow of my back, up my spine, I lifted my hips so he slid against my ass.
His breath rushed out of him. “I think you need to rest,” he said in a thick, deep voice that hummed in my belly.
“This is the best kind of rest, Jann.”
He rumbled, leaning down heavily so more of his weight pressed me into the mattress.
“Do you feel sick?” The words were broken and charged, barely more than a whisper, fluttering in my hair and sending a new wave of goosebumps down my neck.
“No. I feel… needy.”
He rumbled again, but still didn’t move. With me pinned on my stomach on the mattress, he dragged fingers up the back of my neck and into my hair, spreading them as he went, so that delicious tingling radiated out.
Then he grasped my hair and pulled, slowly.
I gasped with delight as my head was levered up and back, opening my eyes to find him braced over me. He released my hair, but only to claw his fingers back down my scalp to my neck, then start all over again.
I didn’t breathe the second time, and when he tugged my head back, he was watching me, eyes dark and avid.
I met that gaze, and prayed he felt the pulse of need that sang through me when our eyes met.
To my joy, he shifted his weight to my side, rolling me onto my back, and leaned over me on one elbow, his eyes still fixed on mine.
He no longer kneaded and pressed, now his fingers trailed from my side, down my thigh, then back up to my breast.
“Jann—”
“You’re exhausted and it’s already morning. We don’t have many hours to sleep—”
“I don’t care.”
Arching into his touch, so those teasing fingers were filled with my breast, I reached for him—delighted to find him so thick and ready—and began to stroke with one hand.
His breath shuddered, and for a moment his touch ceased as he planted his hand on the quilts and groaned, thrusting into my hand. The tendon on his neck, tightening, standing proud as his mind fought his body.
I rolled onto my side to face him and took him in both hands, leaning forward to kiss his chest as I stroked and circled him slowly.
His head dropped, his lips brushing the side of my neck. Still leaning over me on his elbow, he planted the other hand on my hip, his fingers digging into the soft flesh and muscle. I could feel him arguing with himself—wanting me, but also worried for me.
I opened my mouth on his throat and sucked, tightening my grip on him.
Jann groaned, a sound that vibrated in my belly and made me smile—and fueled the needy fire in me.
“Dee—”
“I want you, Jann.”
He grunted and grabbed my hands, pulling them up and pinning them to the pillow above my head, bridging himself over me.
My mate was a stunning sight—thick chest and rippling shoulders, tight with tension as he manacled my wrists, and held himself over me. But his eyes… his eyes were soft and full of love—yet blazing with fire too.
I tried to lift my head to kiss him, but he held me too tightly. We struggled, but he won—as he always would—and with his knees straddling me, I couldn’t get a leg loose to hook around him.
He still pinned my hands, so I couldn’t tempt him with touches. Instead, I locked eyes with him and made my expression pleading.
“You said it yourself, we don’t know how much time we have. Shouldn’t we take advantage of every opportunity? Just in case?” I murmured, then arched my back, teasing my nipples against his chest.
He looked down at me and trembled. Fought with me for a moment, then when he lifted his head again, his eyes were hooded with need, and I smiled, because I knew. I won this time.
Lifting his knee to slide between mine, he finally leaned down to kiss me, sipping at my lips in a way that promised so much more. I sighed happily, opening my knees and welcoming him, but still frustrated because he wouldn’t release my hands.
“Let me touch you,” I whispered against his lips.
He gave a deep chuckle, but did as I asked—just as he finally drew himself up hard against me, almost taking me.
I gasped and clawed at his back, pulling him harder against me. When he eased away, I growled too, grabbing for him and pulling him close.
To my relief, Jann didn’t fight this time. His head dropped back and he gave in, sighing heavily as he rolled his hips and pressed against me in a long, slow slide that had me opening my knees, trembling and bucking, trying desperately to reach him.
Letting his weight pin me down, he pressed me into the mattress, and kissed me with all the heat and force that he embodied. Both of us trembled, and writhed.
However, just as I was sure he’d take me, he pushed up to kneel again, hands playing down my body, and his lips curled in a smug smile.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I gasped, reaching for him, trying to pull him back down. But he fended me off, still grinning.
“Just get comfortable,” he insisted.
“Comfortable for what? I’m already comfortable. Jann, what are you going to do?”
His lips curled higher on one side, and his eyes flashed. “Just play. I want you to relax.”
“Then stop toying with me.”
He gave one of those low, puttering growls that rolled in his chest and leaned down over me again, his hand cupping the top of my head as he kissed me.
Then, he dragged the kiss down—his tongue teasing the seam of my mouth, then nipping at my chin, then my jaw, then my neck…
His hands were everywhere, sliding up and down my body in long strokes that sparked more fire, but also showered me in tingling pleasure, as my skin pebbled and nipples tightened under his touch.
When he sucked on my breast, I whimpered and plunged my hands into his hair.
Then he kissed his way down my body. All the way down.
My sternum. My navel. The round of my belly.
The seam of my thigh and the sensitive skin inside it.
My knee. His hands slid up and down the backs of my legs as he drew himself down, then, just as I was arching again and gasping his name, he laid both hands on the insides of my knees, and pressed them wider.
Then he spread me, and dove to kiss me where I wanted him most.
I arched, groaning and gasping as his tongue danced and flicked, and my body spasmed in response.
“God, I love the noises you make,” he whispered against damp skin and I trembled.
“Keep doing that and you’ll hear a lot more of them,” I gasped.
He chuckled, and did as I asked until my breath was beginning to catch, and my body twitching.
“Jann… please!”
He lifted his head, then… nothing.
I opened my eyes with a jerk—to find him staring at me, a knowing smile on his face.
I deflated. “Jann—”
“I’ve always loved that about you,” he rumbled.
I blinked, my mind blank. “Loved… what?”
“How open you are. How you share your body with me. You don’t hide. You don’t cover yourself. You don’t freeze up, or stifle yourself. You let me know what you want—and what you enjoy.”
I wasn’t really sure how to respond to that, but it didn’t matter. As soon as he’d said the words, he pinned me to the mattress again, taking my mouth as he cupped the back of my knee and lifted it, then took me in a single thrust.