Chapter Nine #3
He poured every ounce of heat that had been simmering through him all day into the kiss.
Fingers twisting in her hair, he laved at that lower lip until she opened up with a groan.
He scored his teeth over her neck and licked a trail over the marks.
When her spine arched and she pushed into his touch he took her nipple, covered by the flimsy fabric of her top, into his mouth and sucked at it.
When she sobbed, he dragged the cup down and laved the aching bud with reverent strokes.
When she grabbed his face with shaking hands, he plunged into the warm cavern of her mouth, as if he were a parched man finally reaching home.
And to him, after everything he’d put in motion today, Nush was coming home.
With a growl that made him impossibly hard, she bit his lower lip and that in turn gentled and calmed the ravenous beast inside him.
Drawing his fingertips down the line of her spine gently, he let her claim him in return.
The twin swords of her innocence and her sensuality were like a cleansing fire that left him shaking.
Her own aggression died down in a few seconds, like his had.
Fingers clasped at the nape of his neck, she pressed her face to the hollow at his throat.
Even then, her tongue flicked out and licked him there and he let out a guttural growl.
She hid her face again and a wave of tenderness shook him. “Why haven’t you slept with me yet then?” The question came out in a soft, cloaked whisper as though it had somehow slipped out before she could intone it better.
“I sleep with you every night, Princesa,” he said, keeping his own words free of tease. “In fact, I think it should be one of the primary tenets of our marriage. We always go to bed together, no matter what.”
Looking up, she searched his gaze as though to check if he was being facetious. “That’s a good rule. But I haven’t agreed to calling this a marriage yet.”
“Why didn’t I know how stubborn you can be?”
“Why didn’t I know how manipulative you can be?” she returned on the next breath.
Caio laughed and the sound was full of a relief that filled him. Hope sprung in his chest despite the bitter ground his mother had left behind. Could Nush see him for who he was and still want him?
“On an intellectual level, I know that it’s not because you don’t want me. But on another level, I know that you’re playing a game with me. Holding out on me. I might even call it sexual blackmail because I didn’t immediately fall into line with your plans.”
He tilted her chin up to face him. “I am surprised by your resistance, yes. But you give me diabolical motives I’m not guilty of. You know I’ve been too busy to even have dinner with you. And I wanted to give you time to get used to this.”
“So no sex until I give in to your permanent partnership deal?”
Smiling, he ran his fingers over her cast. “You’ve been using that hand too much with work and now cooking. I also...” he cleared his throat, searching for words so that he didn’t embarrass her, “know that you haven’t done this before, Nush.”
“Done what?”
“Had sex.”
“Oh.” She blushed then, so prettily that he couldn’t help grinning. “Of course, you could tell with how busy your fingers have been.”
His chest shook with mirth. “I wasn’t going to be all over you, demanding my marital rights after realizing that.”
She giggled and it was the sweetest sound Caio had ever heard.
“It’s not a big deal, Caio. Yes, some of it was that I was hung up on—”
He pressed a hand to her mouth, his heart thudding as if it had been slammed hard against its cage. “You don’t have explain anything to me, querida. It just...made me put brakes on how fast I was driving this, that’s all.”
“I like fast, Caio. I love your speed very much. And you should know that if you were going too fast, I’d protest quite loudly.
” Then she rubbed the tip of her nose against his in a tender gesture that burned him.
“You have to stop making accommodations for me, Caio, as if I were not strong enough to handle you. You’ve got to trust that I know my own mind. ”
He nodded, wondering what benevolent god had dropped her into his lap. Because he sure as hell didn’t deserve her. “It might hurt, Nush. However much I try to make it better.”
“Then isn’t it better to get the first time out of the way so that we can get to the better times?”
He shook his head and pulled her up. “Wrap your legs around me.”
“Why?”
“You’re tiring, Princesa. Let’s get you into the shower.”
That she didn’t deny it told him he was right. “How’d you know?”
“The more it bothers you, the more you cradle your wrist to your chest like a shield.” He hefted her into his arms and walked through the house, her outraged giggles that they were ruining the hardwood floors by getting everything wet ringing in his ear.
Her laughter reverberated through the empty, desolate house as did her breath through him.
And that small part of him he could never quite shut up asked if she’d let him hold her like that if she knew of the destruction he was wreacking, if she knew how close to the truth she’d come when she’d called him manipulative and controlling and arrogant and how he could lose the battle to win a war.