Chapter 24 #2
You never knew when you might have to kill a demon or kick a groping guy’s ass.
Gut churning, her palms sweating, she waited for Mace to send her the room number. Five minutes later, she was standing in front of the door.
Am I really going to do this?
Her heart pounded, all fight-or-flight, and she was on the verge of choosing flight when the door swung open.
Mace stood there, barefoot and in worn jeans and a black tee, the long, ropey muscles of his arms flexing beneath the bronzed skin.
She didn’t have to wonder about his underwear. He didn’t wear them. She’d seen him undressed—or nearly so—a million times. At the time, she’d thought nothing of it. Now, it was all she could think about.
“Hey,” he said, sounding confident and sexy, and not at all like his nerves were eating him alive the way hers were.
“Hey.” Okay, she sounded cool too. Maybe she wouldn’t come across like a nervous dork. “Nice place.”
He’d gotten a suite, complete with a couch, a couple of leather chairs, and a kitchenette. A bottle of wine was chilling on the counter, along with a tray of chilled, chocolate-covered strawberries.
Wow. Something about his thoughtfulness caught her off guard. Not that he couldn’t be thoughtful, but she hadn’t expected it. Not for her. This wasn’t a date. This was just supposed to be sex. Sex to match what had happened between her and Blade.
Sure, they didn’t need to do it in a cave, but this went too far.
“It’s okay,” he said. “I mean, it’s not the floor of a cave, but…”
She laughed, somehow unsurprised that they’d both been thinking of the cave. “Okay, so how do we do this?”
He blinked. “Wow. Right to it.”
Yeah, she’d even surprised herself there. The awkwardness was making her twitchy. “Sorry. I’m just nervous, you know?”
There was a heartbeat of hesitation, and then he twitched his broad shoulder in a shrug. “I am too.”
“Really? I can’t picture you ever being nervous with a female.”
“I’m usually not,” he admitted, his cheeks going adorably pink. “But this isn’t a normal situation. It’s you.”
That, she understood. “You’d think we would both be comfortable instead of jumping out of our skin, right? I mean, we know each other so well.”
He took her hand and led her to the couch. “Were you nervous with Blade?”
She didn’t sit. Instead, she turned to face him. “Not really. It was different. He was in pain, and I just wanted to help.”
Why had she never noticed how truly magnificent Mace was?
This close, he smelled a little woodsy with a hint of rain, as if he’d been walking through a forest during a storm.
His shirt stretched across his broad chest, defining hard muscles she was dying to touch.
To explore. To commit to memory, since this would be the only time she’d have the chance.
“Maybe we should just get it over with.” All this unfamiliarity was making her mind spin out of control. She needed action, something to make her stop thinking. And wanting.
She started to lift her shirt over her head, but he seized her wrist.
“Not like that.” His voice was husky. Smooth. Intoxicating. “Undressing each other is part of the fun.”
Oh. Heat flooded her face at the way his fingers slid down her arm to grasp the hem of her sweater. He hesitated, something she rarely saw him do. His gaze met hers, his eyes glittering with gold arousal, dark hunger, and a silent question.
Are we really going to do this?
She knew the answer to that.
Very slowly, holding his gaze with hers, she nodded.
A shudder went through him, and like a wave, it passed through her too.
He lifted her shirt and tugged it over her head. He’d seen her in swimsuits a million times, but she’d never seen his gaze linger. Neither he nor Blade had ever looked at her with desire. Not that she’d noticed, anyway.
But right now, the gold in Mace’s eyes grew molten as he slipped her bra straps off her shoulders. She’d always been self-conscious about her breasts, which weren’t as voluptuous as her sister’s. Or any of her cousins.
“Beautiful,” he whispered as he deftly flicked the front catch open and let the bra fall to the floor.
Suddenly drowning in self-consciousness, she covered up with her arms. “Don’t lie.”
His dark brows snapped together. “I’m not, I swear. I’m not above throwing out flattery to get what I want, but I would never lie to you.”
“It’s just…I know you like females who are especially…endowed.”
He gave her an impish grin. “Yeah, I’m a breast guy. But,” he said, as he gently pulled her arms away from her chest, “I also like an athletic body, and yours is perfect. You wouldn’t look right in a D-cup.”
“Or a C-cup,” she muttered, and he laughed again.
“I was being generous. Because,” he said with a wink, “I’m charming like that.”
If his goal had been to put her at ease, it worked. This was so much easier than she’d imagined it would be.
Eagerly, she helped him out of his shirt, revealing his chest, layered with sinew and thick muscles she’d seen a thousand times, but in very different situations. She wanted to run her palms over his smooth skin, but she was on a mission, and she wouldn’t be deterred.
His jeans were next.
He let her unbutton them, her knuckles brushing his rock-hard abs as she worked the buttons. His cock burst free, all unabashed and “Hey, how ya doin’?”
Oh, my.
Her nipples tingled, but it was nothing compared to the delicious ache that began to pulse between her legs,
Her mouth watered, and her hand shook as she feathered her fingers across the smooth head, amazed by the silky texture. There hadn’t been time to explore with Blade, and a pang of guilt dampened her lust a bit. She was trying to make this fair for both of them, so maybe they should just get to it.
“Hey.” He caught her hand as she moved to pull away. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Not really. I was thinking that maybe we should just do it. Like with Blade. I don’t want either of you to feel cheated.”
His sensual smile took her breath away. “It’s okay, Scotty. Blade and I talked about this. He wants us to enjoy ourselves.”
Whoa. She blinked, unable to imagine that. “Really?”
“Yeah. He was concerned that you got cheated out of losing your virginity the way it should have been. He wants you to have a better experience with sex.”
Oh, gods. Blade was so sweet and considerate. It made her love him even more.
Stop! Don’t! You can’t love him. Not like that.
No, she couldn’t. Ruthlessly, she shoved those unwanted romantic feelings down.
“What else did he say?”
Mace’s fingers went to the waistband of her leggings. “He said I can’t be freaky with you.”
“Freaky?”
His smile was all kinds of naughty as he shoved her pants down. “I’m pretty open to anything when it comes to sex.”
A warm sensation curled between her legs at his words as her imagination took flight. She’d seen his sex swing and handcuffs, his assortment of crops and toys, but she’d never really thought about him using any of it. It had always been best not to think about either him or Blade in a sexual way.
Now, she was imagining all kinds of stuff.
“But what if I want to get freaky?” she asked, and he laughed, which kind of annoyed her.
“I think we should get the basics down first.”
“I did the basics with Blade—”
“Really?” He sank to his knees and tugged down her panties. “Did he do this to you?”
Leaning in, he dipped his tongue between her legs. She sucked in a harsh, startled breath as his tongue slipped deep and stroked her core.
“Mace,” she whispered. “Oh, damn.”
“So that’s a no,” he murmured against her hot flesh before spearing her with his tongue again.
Pleasure swamped her, crashing into her with so much force that her knees nearly buckled.
He massaged her thighs, his hands slowly moving upward as he kissed her deeply, his lips sucking and doing sinful things that made her arch into him.
His fingers reached the top of her thighs, and he used his thumbs to spread her wide, exposing her to his touch and his gaze.
“I could do this to you for days,” he murmured.
Oh, gods. She’d let him.
She knew about oral sex, of course. She was almost thirty years old, best friends with lust demons, and she lived on an island full of horny Ramreels.
More than one assignment had taken her to BDSM clubs, human and demon brothels, and underworld vice dens.
She’d seen everything. But seeing and experiencing were two different things.
Now, she understood what she’d been missing.
Suddenly, Mace lunged to his feet, hauled her into his arms, and carried her to the bedroom.
She barely had time to catch her breath and kick her underwear off her feet before he tossed her onto the bed.
As she bounced, her legs flopped open, and like the predator he was, he growled, dove between her thighs, and continued what he’d started.
His hot tongue pierced her, and she cried out as a rumble of ecstasy tore through her very center.
He circled her clit with his thumb as his tongue filled her, sliding in and out in a torturous, wonderful rhythm.
He built her to climax slowly, masterfully, like an artist painting a scene.
He used short strokes, long strokes, and applied different textures and pressures.
“That’s it, sweetheart,” he whispered against her clit. “That’s it…”
Yes, it was. He flicked his tongue over the tip, and she lost her mind. The orgasm took her apart at a cellular level, turning her thoughts to confetti as waves of pleasure pumped through her.
He kept licking her, long, deep laps from her core to her clit, prolonging the pleasure to the point that she nearly had to pull away just to catch her breath. But she rode the orgasm and his tongue until there was nothing left but watery muscles and straining lungs.
“I think,” she croaked, “I’m a big fan of the basics.”
Mace’s grin was heart-melting. “Good. Let’s get even more basic.”
This was the best sex of Mace’s life, and he hadn’t even come yet.