36. Clash of Stone and Steel
Clash of Stone and Steel
Talyn
Talyn woke to the smell of leather and earth in her nostrils the next morning. She was also pressed up against something very large and solid.
With a sinking feeling, she forced her eyes to flutter open and confirm her worst fear.
Sometime during the night, she had indeed rolled over to Samhail’s side of the bed and nestled up against him.
Her hand now rested on his chest as it rose and fell with his deep breaths.
Her head also lay on his shoulder and…fuck. Yes, that was her knee on his thigh.
He was also still naked, she remembered belatedly.
Nemesis take her. She needed to move back to her side of the bed without waking him, but the chances of being able to do that seemed remote. She’d just decided to chance it when Samhail’s deep voice rumbled against her ear.
“Still trying to figure out how to get back to your side of the bed without waking me?” he asked.
Talyn pinched her eyes shut and exhaled deeply. “Yes. Any ideas?”
“Well, I wouldn’t advise moving your knee any higher. That’s not going to help anything.”
Talyn groaned. “I assumed that for myself. Anything else?”
“Let me think,” Samhail said as his free hand came up to brush along the arm she’d slung across his chest. Gooseflesh rose there as he tickled the skin with his feathery touch.
Sensing this would only lead to a place she didn’t want to go, Talyn started to pull her limbs back from him, but he caught her hand before she could retreat.
“Just give me a minute,” he said. “We’ll figure this out.”
She grunted and pulled her hand free so she could roll back to her side of the bed. She threw off the covers and slipped out, then dipped to pick her clothes up off the floor. She quickly donned her blood-spattered shirt before she turned around to find him on his side watching her.
“What?” she asked. “Why are you watching me get dressed?”
He gave a shrug of one shoulder. “I’d prefer to watch you get undressed, but I’ll take what I can get for now.”
She rolled her eyes. “Two days ago you were ready to kill me. Now you want to fuck me. Are all gargoyles like this, or did I just get lucky?”
He shrugged again. “All gargoyles are lusty by nature. We have a lot of sex, but I’ll admit I want you more than I want most women I’ve met.”
She willed the flutter in her stomach to settle down at that admission. “And why is that?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.
His eyes ran up and down her body as she pulled her pants on, and she felt her face heat. A blush? Seriously? She never blushed.
“I have my reasons,” he said. He wasn’t smiling, but the quirk of his lips held the potential for one.
“You only want me because you can’t have me,” she said.
He arched an eyebrow. “That sounds like a challenge.”
Talyn huffed a laugh. “Save your energy. I’m unseducible.”
“That definitely sounds like a challenge.”
“It’s not. It’s a statement of fact. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go get a change of clothes out of my saddle bags and see if there’s a possibility of getting a bath here.”
“Can I trust you not to ride off without me?”
She looked at him like he’d said something ridiculous. “I had a several-hour head start last time, and you still caught up to me. I’d be stupid to think I might get far enough this time before you found me again, and then we’d be heading back to Solandis.”
“Smart woman,” he said.
Talyn shot him an annoyed look and slipped out the door.
Samhail
Samhail took a deep breath as the door clicked shut, and he tried to will the throbbing in his cock to stop.
He didn’t have time to pleasure himself before Talyn returned, so the only other option was to calm himself enough that he didn’t explode.
He’d thought briefly this morning about trying to coax her into letting him between her legs when he’d found her pressed up against him, but he thought better of it.
He knew Talyn wanted him as much as he wanted her, but pushing her before she was ready to admit her desire would be counterproductive.
He wasn’t sure why she was denying the attraction now after she’d been ready to swallow him whole and probably more just a few days ago, but he was willing to give her more time to figure things out, even if it made things very – very – uncomfortable for him until then.
It had been a pleasant surprise to find her curled up against him when he woke, but it was a frustrating one as well.
He’d hardened almost instantly when he realized half her body was thrown over his, and he’d laid there as still as stone for at least fifteen minutes savoring the feel of her until he felt her eyelashes flutter open against his shoulder.
Her body stiffened when she realized what she’d done, and he gave her another couple minutes to decide how to escape before he dashed her hopes of getting away without him noticing.
He’d been surprised she hadn’t pulled away immediately when he spoke to her, but she’d let him tease her another few seconds before she finally retreated. Then he’d hardened more when she got out of bed.
He’d seen her fully naked before when she boldly changed in front of him in that jail cell, but he’d still been too angry with her at the time to appreciate how stunning her body was. When she’d gotten out of bed, though, his mouth had practically watered, even half-clothed as she was.
Talyn was tall and leanly muscled, yet the flare of her hips and the promise of the breasts beneath her chest wrap gave her body curves that made him grit his teeth with longing.
He imagined his hands gripping those hips, his mouth on her breasts, and her legs…
Gods above, the Creator had achieved perfection with those long shapely legs that he ached to have wrapped around him.
Samhail mentally kicked himself for thinking about her like that. It only brought on a fresh wave of desire, and he needed to start calming himself all over again.
The door swung open, and Talyn re-entered. She tossed Samhail’s spare pants and shirt next to him on the bed, her own change of clothes in her hand.
“The innkeeper is filling the tub down the hall for a bath if you want one,” she said.
“A bath sounds wonderful.”
“Take yours first if you want.”
“No, you go first.”
He wasn’t sure he’d be able to walk if he tried to get out of bed now, and having her bathe first might give him enough time to take care of his situation. Picturing her in the bath might even help.
Talyn shrugged and started for the door, but she stopped with her hand on the knob and looked at him.
“Why are you still in bed?” she asked. “You’re not the type to lie around.”
“I’m just resting. My strength is still drained from yesterday.”
Talyn narrowed her eyes, and her gaze dipped to his groin. He was turned on his side so his cock didn’t tent the bedding, but she seemed to sense what was under the sheets. A wicked grin split across her face, and warning bells went off in his head at the look in her eyes.
“Do you have a little problem?” she cooed, crossing her arms.
“As you’ve seen, it’s really more of a big problem,” he said wryly.
Talyn rolled her eyes. “Should I call the healer back?”
Samhail rolled onto his back so his erection was indeed tenting the bedding now, and Talyn bit her lip as her eyes focused there. He enjoyed the flush of pink that rose in her cheeks.
“I don’t think it’s something the healer can take care of,” he said.
There was a long pause, then, to his immense surprise, Talyn tossed her clothes on a chair and walked slowly around the bed.
She sat down and pushed herself into the middle toward him.
Samhail’s breath caught as she took the top of the bedding that covered his waist and slowly pulled it back, exposing his body to the knees.
His breathing turned more ragged as her eyes fixed on his erection.
“That looks…uncomfortable,” she said softly.
He grunted. “You have no idea.”
Before he realized what she intended, Talyn wrapped her fingers firmly around the base of his cock and ran her hand up to the head.
Heat shot out of every pore of his body as her touch sent his blood screaming through him.
He thought he’d been hard before, but it was nothing compared to what he was now with her hand wrapped around him.
“Fuck!” Samhail ground out as his hips arched off the bed.
Talyn ran her hand firmly down his length then back up again.
Her finger ran over the drop of precum that beaded at his head before she put the finger to her mouth and licked the moisture from it.
Samhail’s breath hitched as her hand returned to his cock, and he tried to keep from spending himself like some inexperienced youth being touched by a woman for the first time.
“Talyn,” he rasped, and this time her name was a benediction on his lips. “What are you doing?”
“Taking care of your problem,” she said as she moved her hand up and down him more urgently.
Samhail pressed his head back against the pillow and groaned. “You don’t…” He tried to speak, but he couldn’t seem to get his mouth to form words. “You shouldn’t…”
Talyn’s hand slowed, and he opened his eyes to look at her. Nemesis take him, if she stopped now, he wasn’t sure he’d ever walk again.
Talyn’s eyes locked with his, and something stirred in his stomach at the gleam there. He only had time to inhale before she slipped her lips around his cock, and he came undone.
Samhail reached back to grab the bedpost, and the wood groaned ominously as a growl of pleasure ripped from his throat. He tried desperately not to buck his hips under her, but he couldn’t keep them from twitching as her lips and tongue began to work his cock while her hand stroked him at the base.
He looked down and saw her hair had fallen across her face.
He wanted to see her soft mouth wrapped around him, so he reached forward to brush her hair back, and the sight of her full lips moving up and down him almost made him come right then.
His release was building fast, and he tried to hold it back. He didn’t want this to be over so soon.
Talyn’s tongue circled around his crown before she took a long lick up the underside of his shaft. She plunged her mouth back down on top of him, and he groaned loudly. Gods, she was fucking good at that, and fire burned in his chest as he thought about her doing this to other men.
Samhail gripped the bedpost harder as she pressed her mouth down onto him hard. He felt his cock hit the back of her throat, and the muscles there contracted around him as she swallowed.
“Fuck! Talyn!” he swore again, and he threaded his hand through her hair as she moved her mouth and hand faster.
He kept his hand lightly on her head, being careful not to push down. If she felt like she was choking, he didn’t doubt she’d bite him, and somehow that knowledge pushed him over the edge. His balls tightened as the eruption built inside him.
“Talyn, I’m going to-,” he tried to warn her. He pushed back gently on her shoulder, but she only plunged her mouth down so that she was taking nearly all of him.
Samhail roared as his pleasure exploded and his seed spilled down her throat.
He felt her swallow, the muscles squeezing around him, and he let out a loud groan as his cock throbbed again and again so that he pumped even more of himself into her.
His torso jerked forward so he was half-sitting up as he tightened his fingers in her hair.
She drove her mouth over him a few more times as he shuddered beneath her. Finally, she pulled back, letting her lips slide one final time over his length, and Samhail collapsed back onto the bed, breathing harder than he could ever remember breathing before.
“Nemesis take me,” he whispered.
His eyes sought hers, and she looked up at him with a satisfied grin on her face. “I figured I owed you that one,” she said.
She started to get off the bed, but Samhail moved quickly, and a second later she was on her back beneath him. He was afraid she might port out from under him, but she just stared up at him.
“Let me return the favor,” he said, his voice still hoarse from his climax. “Let me make you scream with pleasure.”
She smiled up at him. “You seem so confident you can.”
The grin he gave her was beyond wicked. “I know I can,” he said and started to lower himself down her body.
Talyn stopped him with a light press of her hands to his chest. “Not now. We need to get going soon.”
Samhail looked down at her. He wanted so badly to bury his face between her legs and feast on her, and he didn’t know why she was stopping him. For that matter, he didn’t know how she’d gone from refusing to let him see her undress last night to swallowing his cock. He didn’t understand this woman.
Samhail wasn’t ready to let her go just yet, though. He lowered his lips to hers for a hungry kiss, and she moaned as his tongue invaded her mouth, the mouth that had just brought him such exquisite bliss.
His body started to stir again, and he pulled back reluctantly. If he kissed her any longer, he’d need another release.
“You’ll let me pay you back later,” he said.
A statement, not a question.
“Maybe,” she said.
“I don’t like leaving my debts unpaid, and now I owe you two.”
She looked at him questioningly.
“Saving me yesterday, and helping me now,” he explained.
She shook her head. “I don’t do things like that expecting repayment. You don’t owe me on either count.”
“And if I want to owe you?”
She shrugged against the mattress. “We’ll see if the opportunity presents itself for you to repay me.”
Talyn pressed again on his chest, and he leaned back, letting her slip out from under him and off the bed. She picked up her clothes from the chair and left the room to head down the hall for her bath.
Samhail stretched out on his back. His cock was hard again already, so he’d have to pleasure himself once more before she got back, but her ministrations had at least taken the sharp edge off his desire. He might almost be able to sit on his horse once he’d gotten himself off again.
One thing was for sure. He was most definitely going to make sure the opportunity did present itself for him to pay her back.
With interest.