Chapter 76 #3
It took a moment for it to register. “Oh, gods, the friend word? Still?” I pushed playfully at his face.
He shrugged one of those powerful shoulders and slid his hand down my back to pull me closer. “Call me something else.”
“Hmm. Egotistical? Self-righteous. Demanding?” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t look at me like that. Who else will keep you humble?” I smiled widely, tapping his cheek and turning from him.
I didn’t feel the air move, but I felt the sting when he popped my ass. The noise I let out wasn’t in pain. I rubbed my butt and turned around to flip him off.
He lifted a single brow as if in challenge, and I ran, nearly slipping on the floor.
I had barely cleared the bathroom door when I felt his arms go around me, lifting me off my feet.
I squealed as he tossed me onto the bed and jumped on top of me.
He gripped my hands and pulled them above my head when I tried to push him away.
He settled over me with a wide grin. I glared up at him even as bubbles of happiness burst within me. “Cheater.”
I tasted his laughter as his mouth claimed mine in a fiery kiss. I was panting when he pulled back.
“Is my kiss better now?” he asked, raising on his elbow.
“Could be better,” I said, my words belied by the shakiness of my voice and the way I writhed beneath him.
Samkiel chuckled and released my wrists. His fingers feathered across my skin as he brushed the hair from my face. He said nothing for a long moment as he just looked at me. Sometimes the way he touched and held me was more intimate than sex.
“There is something else I want to talk to you about.”
My eyes narrowed. “I know that face.”
“What face?”
“The Samkiel plotting face. It’s the deep scowl of an ancient battle-worn king, and it looks like this.
” I forced my brows together, drawing another laugh from him.
“It usually means someone said something you didn’t like.
Given the giant you visited, I assume it’s him.
You have another face where your eyes kind of gloss over, and you go off to wherever in that head of yours.
Usually, that one means I can get away with anything. ”
He chuckled. “Fair.”
“Yup, there is also your thinking face. It’s similar to the one you have now, which probably means one of two things.
Either you have a plan that will likely upset me, or you’re annoyed and want to be anywhere but here.
Given that lovely third appendage currently hard and pressed against my stomach, I will call you a liar if you tell me you don’t want to be here. ”
“You would be right. I am perfectly happy right here.” He pressed his cock against me. “You truly pay that much attention to me?”
I slid my hands over his chest. “I notice everything about you.”
Samkiel brushed a light kiss against my lips, and I felt the emotion in it. I licked at his lower lip, eager to taste it as well. I sighed and whispered against his mouth, “So, I’m not going to like this, am I?”
He shook his head. “I am afraid not, my Dianna.”
My humor died, replaced by worry. “What is it?”
“There were things that Porphyrion said in Yejedin, things I need to know the truth of. I am growing tired of hearing rumors of family secrets that I know nothing about. There is a deity related to the Formless Ones I can visit, but it is not without risk. It’s out of the physical realm, the entrance safeguarded in the council halls. ”
I tipped my head. “How can you get to them if the realms are sealed?”
“The physical ones are, but not the mental ones. This one requires extreme focus and power, a level above meditation to visit. It may take a few days or even a week. To leave is as delicate a task as it is to go in. You could rip the mind doing it improperly. I’m not sure how long it will take, but I promise to return as quickly as possible. ”
I didn’t ask why we hadn’t used this said deity before. As soon as we’d left Roccurem’s, everything had changed.
“Okay.” I sighed. “So just be careful and don’t rush. I understand if it takes a while. Just don’t overdo it and promise to come back to me.”
“Promise.” He twirled a strand of my hair between his fingers.
“That wasn’t so bad. Why were you nervous?”
“Well,” he paused, “we have agreed not to lie or keep things from one another, but I am also aware of your protectiveness of me.”
I squinted at him, my suspicions rising. “Okay…”
“There was a brief previous relation with said deity. Let’s just remember that I was a very lonely being before I met you.”
I smacked him on his shoulder. “You could have led with that.”
“Volatile.” He laughed before grabbing my face and crushing his lips against mine. The kiss was hard, demanding, and brief. He pulled back to whisper against my lips, “Why does it excite me so when you get jealous?”
“Because you’re insane, and you like pain.” I bit his bottom lip to prove my point, which made him chuckle even as his cock twitched against my stomach.
“Okay, so you’re going to see an ex-girlfriend in a mental realm where I can’t reach you. Sounds fun.”
“Not an ex-girlfriend. The deity has no sex, really. They can be any and everything you desire. Besides, it was merely one time.”
I reached between us, grabbed his cock, and squeezed. “Oh, even better.”
“Jealous.” He groaned and nipped the tip of my nose.
“Yes, but I have no right to be. I did a lot of things to make you hate me before we actually got to be together. Plus, you’re over a thousand years old, Samkiel. I can’t kill all your past lovers. Even if I want to.”
“You want to?”
I nodded. I had decided not to hide any part of myself from him. Not anymore. I stroked him, loving the feel of silk over steel, throbbing and hot. “Yes.”
His chest rumbled with a small laugh that ended in a hiss. “See what I mean? So sexy.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine. Why didn’t we use these guys before?”
He shook his head. “You’re not helping me concentrate.”
I twisted my hand on a downward stroke. “Try.”
He groaned even as his hips thrust, pushing his cock further into my hand. “Roccurem speaks in riddles half the time, and the Higher One usually asks for something in return. If I want answers, I will have to pay the price, and it varies.”
My hand stopped. “What price?”
“I don’t know.” He swallowed, taking a shuddering breath. “But if the price is too high, I’ll leave, but there are too many secrets, Dianna, too many things my father kept from me.”
“Okay. I just wish I had my powers. Maybe I could go with you and incinerate them if they try to keep you.”
Samkiel reached between us and pulled my hand away from his cock. He pressed my palm to the center of his chest. “You’re always with me.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned.
“You’re so mean to me.” He laughed.
“Call it a lesson in humility,” I said, but I kept my hand on his chest, feeling that slow rhythmic beat within my soul. I gave him a wry smile and said with all honesty, “I can’t give you pretty words. I don’t know how anymore.”
His expression softened, and he placed his hand over mine. “I know.”
“I want to be honest with you, too, because that does not mean I care any less for you.”
“I know.”
I shifted my hips and lifted a single leg, pressing my knee against his chest. He glanced down right before I pushed with enough force to flip him onto his back. A soft gasp left his lips as I straddled him. “But I can show you in my own way every day if you let me.”
“Dangerous woman.” A wicked smile curved his lips, his abs flexing as he started to sit up.
My hand splayed on his chest, stopping him, his mouth a few inches from mine. I pressed him back onto the bed.
“Stay.”
“Is that an order?”
“Yes,” I said haughtily.
His chest vibrated as he chuckled, and I knew he remembered the words he had spoken to me weeks ago. That egotistical grin didn’t leave his lips as he folded his arms behind his head, the muscles of his biceps bunched as if he had to struggle to keep himself from disobeying.
I lifted my hands to the buttons of the shirt I wore, undoing them one by one. Samkiel’s eyes followed every movement I made as if he was memorizing each inch of skin I bared. I reached the last button and let the damp shirt slip from my shoulders.
My hair fell in waves around me, covering my breasts. Samkiel reached up to move my hair out of the way, but I playfully slapped his hand.
“No. You don’t touch me until I say so.”
I watched his eyes go molten silver and his tongue shift behind his teeth as he smirked. He was new to being told what to do. I blamed it on his crown more than anything, but I was in control right now, and he seemed to enjoy it. I felt him throb and harden even more beneath me.
I reached between us, stroking at his length. He groaned as my thumb ran along the sensitive underside and swept over the head, spreading the bead of moisture that gathered at the tip. His cock jerked in my hand.
“I haven’t even really touched you yet, and you’re already throbbing for me.”
“You don’t have to touch me for that. Everything about you is enticing.”
The smile I flashed him was downright devious before I slid down his body and lowered my head. I lapped at the head of his cock, tasting the drops of moisture that gathered there, but I did not take him into my mouth.
“Fuck,” he hissed, his hips jerking and his hand fisting in the comforter. “Please, Dianna.”
I denied him, my tongue swirling over the thick crown again.
He growled and thrust against my mouth. I teased him, licking and kissing at every inch of him, up and down the heavy shaft, exploring the thick vein that pulsed against my lips while never taking him fully in my mouth.
I grew hotter and slicker with every hushed moan and curse that slipped past his lips.
His eyes fixated on me, hot and predatory, and I looked up at him through the veil of my lashes, smiling as I took another long lick from base to tip. I dipped low again, my tongue sliding over his balls in a long, slow, luxurious lick. His cock twitched in my hand.