CHAPTER SIX #2
He'd never met a woman like her before. At times, she seemed lost and afraid, and the urge to protect her, care for her, surged through him. But when she showed her fiery temper, she set him alight. He sensed she'd been quite troublesome as a child. Clearly much of that still guided her actions.
The image of her dark eyes, wide in passionate wonderment as he'd brought her to climax left him breathless and aching to have her now. She waited for him, had she obeyed his instruction? A smile pulled at his mouth. Probably not. Good.
He tugged his trousers on but didn't bother with the tunic, needing the cool evening air on his skin. With his pack slung over his shoulder, he turned toward the camp.
As he'd suspected, she lay on a fur near her wolves, still fully clothed.
He grinned. Stepping slowly and quietly toward her, he studied her supposedly sleeping form, her back to him.
Her long dark hair cascaded across the fur and he fought the urge to bend and gather the tresses in his fingers. Not yet.
Instead, he dropped his pack noisily near her head. She jerked, but didn't rise.
"I know you are awake. And you disobeyed my order."
Her shoulders went rigid and he almost laughed imagining how hard it was for her to restrain her response.
He crouched behind her. Reining in the impulse to haul her up and against him took a few moments.
He leaned in close to her ear, taking another couple of seconds to linger, savoring her sweet and musky scent.
The slightest tremor passed over her and he smiled. He kept his voice low.
"We had an agreement and you keep trying to break it. I won't allow it."
She moved so fast, he had to jerk out of the way to avoid being bashed in the head.
"Who in Odin's name do you think you are? You cannot allow or disallow me anything!"
He laughed, knowing the coming hours would be even more powerful than last night.
"You owe me." Another laugh punctuated his taunt.
"You oafish bastard!" She punctuated each word with another jab of her finger into his chest. "Yes, I do owe you. However, I have already given you what you want."
"Again, you seek to twist the terms. There is much more that I want from you."
Her lips pressed together and he fought the need to kiss her into compliance.
"Why must you torment me so?"
The softening of her voice, the hint of desperation, startled him. Again, the contradictions that made up Thora left his head spinning.
"You enjoyed it. I know you did."
She lowered her head. "It's... very intense."
"Yes, I agree."
She lifted her head, her dark eyes holding myriad emotions, many of which he found himself unable to name.
"What we... when you... it frightens me."
With a groan, he pulled her close. The impulse to protect her, take care of her, overwhelmed him. The feel of her trembling form in his arms roused a maelstrom of
feelings he didn't recognize, or perhaps he didn't want to. A twinge of anger lingered as well, for his own weakness. If he continued to put her needs before his, the goals he'd set for himself might never be accomplished.
After several minutes, her trembling eased and Ari reluctantly released her. The crackling of the fire filled the heavy silence with an intensity that spurred his hunger for her.
"Come." He took her hand and pulled her to the other side of the fire, where he'd earlier arranged the furs.
He paused and indicated she should remove her dress.
She hesitated but a moment before obeying.
He folded his arms while she removed the smokkr then slid the undershift down, baring her delicious body.
She held her head high, but the sight of her lower lip caught between her teeth revealed her anxiety.
"Turn," he said.
Her brow furrowed, confusion creeping into her eyes. "Why?"
"You have a beautiful body, Thora. I simply wish to look upon it."
Pink crept up her chest to her neck and into her cheeks before she slowly obeyed.
The line of her back, the flare of her hips and the enticing swell of her buttocks had him once more near the breaking point.
Without any word to indicate his actions, he stepped closer, nearly touching her back and resting his hands on her hips.
A sharply inhaled breath shuddered through her when he curled his fingers tighter and drew her against him.
He caught one hand in her hair, pulling her head back toward him. The curve of her neck drew his focus and he skimmed his mouth along the tender skin. A low moan escaped her when he grazed her with his teeth, his tongue soothing the sharpness while allowing him to savor her tantalizing sweet taste.
The hand remaining on her hip slid around to her belly and the muscles there twitched.
He smiled. She was ticklish. He would find ways to exploit that.
Not yet. Now he wanted to be inside her, his cock near splitting his pants open.
He released her just long enough to strip out of his clothes, ignoring her frustrated whimper.
He resumed his former position, guiding them both to their knees, bracing her against his chest.
"I can't wait to hear you beg."
Her sudden stiffening encouraged him to tighten his embrace. As an added restraint, he slid one hand to her pussy, fingers giving teasing strokes that soon had her trembling and languid in his arms once more.
His mouth found her ear and he breathed heavily. "I want to hear you tell me exactly what you want."
She struggled in his embrace, tilting her head to the side to look at him.
"Why must you torment me so?"
"It gives me pleasure. As it does you."
Again, that enchanting blush crept into her cheeks. Her contradictory reactions thickened the haze of lust surrounding him. He kept his fingers gently moving along her sweet cleft, once more drawing those soft hoarse cries from her throat.
When he stopped, she gave a slight whine of frustration. He ignored it, taking her hands and guiding them to the ground, so she knelt on hands and knees before him. She tried to straighten, but he held her there, pressing against her back to keep her in his chosen position.
"Don't move. That is an order."
Her only response was a sharp inhalation. He leaned back. Her skin gleamed in the firelight and each breath brought a quiver to her body. Her bountiful breasts hung enticingly and he reached under her to cup them. Thora turned to face him, a hint of bewilderment dancing in her eyes.
"You are cruel, putting me in such a degrading position."
He shook his head. "I think you will like this very much."
He barely forced the words from his parched throat.
He moved behind her once more, grabbing her hips and pulling her towards him.
His cock slid against her pussy, wet and inviting, tempting him to drive right into her waiting body.
But he held himself back. Sliding one hand under her once more, he caressed her breast, even as the tip of his cock nudged against her sex.
"Oh! What... Oh!"
He chuckled at the garbled words escaping her, continuing his dual torment, his cock pausing every so often as if he might enter her. The way her body jerked toward his at those moments nearly had him exploding. He tightened one hand on her hip, stilling her.
"You will wait until I am ready." Forcing command into his voice nearly used all of his control. He rolled his shoulders and gritted his teeth, forcing his release back until it no longer threatened.
Thora gave a jumbled slew of words, but Ari barely understood any of them.
But the frantic frustration in her tone told him all he needed.
He grinned, his cock once more nudging at the entrance to her body.
A tightening swept over her, clearly part of her struggle to obey his order.
He wondered at her acquiescence, half-expecting her to resist again.
Was he disappointed when she didn't? The urge to compel her to do so gave him the strength and control he needed to continue tormenting her.
Rolling her pebbled nipple in his fingers, he gave a gentle squeeze and a low, keening wail erupted. He slid his hand from her hip to her pussy, his fingers moving in rhythm with his cock along her slick flesh.
"Ari!"
He smiled at the note of frustration engulfing his name.
With continued deliberate movements, he teased and caressed her, noting the way her arms and legs trembled while she fought to remain in position.
The tempo of his fingers and cock kept her quivering and gasping, half-uttered protests echoing around him.
The scent of her desire grew ever stronger, surrounded him, spurring his need. He had to have her. Now.
He paused in his movements, smiling at her unfulfilled growl.
Using his hand to hold her sex open, he slowly eased the tip of his dick into her.
Her protests turned to soft mutterings of thanks, but he remained motionless, barely breaching her sheath.
Grumbling replaced her appreciation. He lifted his hand and gave her a sharp slap to the ass.
Her entire body stiffened and she turned to face him, eyes blazing with seething anger that might have reduced him to ash had there been real flames.
"Bastard! Why must you tease this way?"
"Because I know you like it, despite what you say."
Her eyes narrowed then, her lips pressed together in a tight line. "If I had my axe –"
"You don't. So stop complaining and heed my orders."
"I am, you oafish ass!"
She near snarled the words and he rewarded her with another strike to her bottom.
"Insulting me will not work in your favor," he warned with another blow.
Her body jerked under him, nearly dislodging him before he pulled her further onto his cock.
Yet again, her words and tone changed and he slowly inched into her, landing another slap on her pinkened flesh.
This time, her need-filled cry exploded around them, sending any remaining birds in the surrounding trees into flight.
Finally, with his cock seated fully inside her, Ari stilled again.
Beneath his hands, Thora quivered and shook, nearly undoing his hard-fought control.
He slid his fingers around the soft flesh of her pussy, loving the way she clenched on him with each light caress.
Finding her clit, he slowly circled it, and she tightened again.
How did he resist the urge to plunge into her hard and fast?
"Ari, please!"
"What is it, Thora? What do you want?"
She hesitated, her heavy breathing rasping through her. "I... I want you to move!"
He smiled. "Did I not promise you would tell me all you wanted?"
"Bastard!"
"I think you screamed my name before as well."
What she said after that, he wasn't quite sure, but he did recognize a threat to unman him. He laughed and slowly slid inside her, reducing her warning to babbling moans and cries of delight.
The feel of her hot wet flesh surrounding him, tightening fiercely on him with each glide in and out of her body, drove him beyond the boundaries of pleasure.
When he flicked at her clit, her entire body jolted, nearly sending him into his release.
He wasn't quite ready yet, clenching his jaw in the effort to hold back.
Her skin shone bright in the firelight, a tempting lure he had no power to resist. He lowered his mouth to her back, trailing a line of kisses along her spine, using his teeth to scrape her skin and draw the most enticing moans and wails.
When he latched onto the back of her neck, she tossed her head back, her sharp cries filling the glen.
He couldn't wait any longer and finally loosed the reins of the command over his body, his cock erupting with such force, it near blinded him.
He gave Thora's clit a squeeze and she screamed his name, or at least he thought that was what he heard.
Her body rocked under his as if she sought to draw him still deeper inside.
The feel of her pussy tightening around him drew out his own release and he rode the tide with her, the bucks of her body corresponding with each pulse of bliss racing through him.
The tumult seemed to last hours before finally quieting, Thora's warm body now trembling continuously. With a heavy regret, he pulled his softening cock from her pussy, holding back a chuckle at the moan she gave, laced heavily with disappointment.
Slow movements eased her up and he turned her to face him, pulling her close to nestle her against his chest. The urge to hold her like this all night overcame him.
He gently lowered them both to the furs, spreading her now-drowsy body across him.
Taking up the other fur, he pulled it over them and tucked it around Thora's shoulders. She snuggled closer.
"I think you liked that." His voice was heavy with satiation and weariness. Thora said nothing, her only response a brief tightening of her shoulders. He chuckled.
Sliding his fingers along her back, he pressed a kiss to her forehead. How odd that he should feel so content. Every now and then, a tremor swept over Thora. An echo of the pleasure they'd just shared? Ari wondered how long it would take the ferocity to fade for both of them.