Chapter 8 #3
So he did, easing her stiff calves and wringing little moans out of her that she did her best to quiet.
She didn’t want to give him any more encouragement.
Theron repeated his massage on her other foot, but this time she was ready.
When he gave her the feeling she’d been bracing for, she managed to stifle her gasp.
With some dignity restored, she relaxed into the calf massage.
The pillows at her back cushioned her as her lids grew heavy.
As far as ways to end the day went, this wasn’t so bad.
Then he put both his hands on her knees and pushed her nightgown up and up. She blinked in surprise, gasping. He stopped, chuckling.
“Did you think I could massage your thighs without touching you, my little fairy? I’m good, but not that good.”
Sure, that might be difficult, but he was testing her. Pushing past the lines she’d drawn in the sand. Typical.
“Only a massage,” she warned him.
He pushed up her nightgown until she was certain he could see a hint of her loincloth. Aurora refused to blink first. She wanted her massage, and he was going to give it to her. When she sent him to bed unfulfilled and unrewarded, he might just learn his lesson…she hoped.
“As you say,” he purred.
Theron removed his tunic, revealing the vast expanse of his chest and unreal width of his shoulders.
Aurora swallowed. She did her best not to let her thoughts wander into dangerous, dark alleys.
And yet, try as she might, she couldn’t help picturing him fully nude and looming over her.
She almost hated his trousers in that moment.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her question breathier than she’d meant.
“Sparing my clothes from getting oil stains on them, of course,” he said, his tone the epitome of reasonableness. And yet his golden eyes glinted with mischief as he poured more of the scented oil on his hands and placed her foot on his chest.
Her next admonishment came out on a groan as his fingers slid down her leg and pressed into the sorest part of her thigh.
“Breathe out when it hurts, not in. Relax. I’ll take care of you. Tell me if the pain is too much, and I’ll gentle my touch.”
His next touch was lighter, slowly working the aching tenderness out of her muscles.
Aurora did as he suggested, breathing out when it hurt and doing her best to relax her muscles in spite of the twinges.
This wasn’t nearly as nice and comforting as she’d thought it would be.
At least it made it easier to ignore the heated looks he was giving her.
Easier—but not completely possible.
With her feet planted on his chest, her undergarments exposed and her rear all but in his lap, she was vulnerable. Try as she might, she couldn’t help being a little thrilled by the humiliation of it, no matter that she’d decided to resist him.
When his fingers skimmed the cloth of her undergarments the first time, she nearly gasped.
He went right back to doing as he said he would, easing the ache in her hips next.
But the second time? He pressed a little harder, wringing a moan from her.
Damn him, he was making her wet. Her face flushed anew.
Triad, from his position, he would be able to see it clear as day.
By the third time he snuck in a touch, she grabbed his hand and dug her nails into him.
“You’re doing this with ulterior motives,” she accused him.
“Of course I’m doing this with ulterior motives.” His grin was wicked. Aurora released him as if stung. He was enjoying it. “If you find my touch so repulsive, then don’t look at me like that.”
“I’m not looking at you like anything.”
“Your eyes are begging me,” he said, sliding his slick fingers up her inner thighs, coming dangerously close to slipping under her undergarments, “to ease more than your sore thighs.”
Resist! Aurora turned her gaze from him and frowned. It was so much harder to resist him when he surrounded her like this, his golden gaze dripping sensuality incarnate.
“This is unnecessary. You could just heal me with your magic.”
Theron leaned over her, caging her in with his thick arms. Her feet, oiled from his ministrations, slipped to his hips.
She had no leverage to push him off, but an inadvisable part of her reminded her that all she needed to do to welcome his prodigious cock was to slip her legs around his hips.
She looked down to find him straining against his trousers.
Aurora instinctively met his gaze. A mistake.
A new ache built up as the sight of him on top of her made her heart flutter.
And he seemed to know it.
“I’ll reserve my magic for when you need it. Though I’m not opposed to using it if you’d like to earn it. Would you like to earn it?”
Yes.
“No.”
He chuckled.
“Liar.”
Aurora swallowed. This was bad. She’d let this situation get out of hand.
“You were supposed to help me with my magic. You promised.”
“I did. And I gave you the keys to access it. Embrace your greed. So what do you want now, Aurora? Do you want this to end? Or do you want something more?”
Of course she wanted something more. She’d have to be made of stone not to. Though she supposed if she were, Theron would just find a way to turn her molten.
“Maybe what I want includes punishing you for being a manipulative ass,” Aurora muttered.
“And how would you like to punish me?” he asked, smiling.
Pain. She wanted to thread her fingers in his silky hair and pull. Then she wanted to shove his impertinent smirk into the mess he’d made of her and force him to clean it up with his tongue. Her magic flared to life, like a cloud of anticipation cloaking her.
Oh fuck.
Theron had been telling the truth.
It only made her angrier.
“Hmmm, it seems like you know what you want. But are you brave enough to voice it? I promise that if I don’t like it, I’ll say as much.”
Fuck him. Fuck his thrice-damned, all-knowing smirk.
Aurora reached up to thread her fingers through the ruby red silky strands of his hair. Theron leaned down, expecting her to pull him in for a kiss. Fool. When she had what she hoped was a good grip on him, she pulled, yanking his head back. She felt the hard exhalation of his surprise on her lips.
“Did you think I was going to kiss you after you put me in this position?” she asked, deadly calm.
Aurora delighted in his hiss of pain as she pushed his head down, her magic surging as she saw his eyes go dark with desire.
Anticipation clung to her as their eyes met.
Would he protest? But his carnal grin reassured her he would not.
As he was forced to retreat on his hands and knees like a beast, it gave her new ideas.