Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Bokkan
Leda’s soft footsteps paused as she walked past my office door. The temptation to open it and see her face, touch her in a small way, was strong, but I resisted. She needed time and space away from me.
When I was sure she was upstairs, I left the office and went into the kitchen. The scent of Masu’s black noodles filled the air, and my mouth watered because it was my favorite.
Masu was rummaging around in the pantry, so I grabbed a bowl and filled it from the pot on the stove. As soon as I sat down at the table and took the first bite, the imp emerged from the pantry, several containers in her hands.
She shot me an arch look as she carried them to the counter.
“Thank you for this,” I said, gesturing to the bowl. “I needed it after today.”
“I am glad you are home,” she said, her irritable expression fading.
She could never hold on to her anger for long.
Her gaze remained on me as I ate the rest of the black noodles in my bowl. The silence stretched between us as I carried my bowl and fork to the sink and gave them a quick wash.
“Guldan lied to her,” Masu finally said.
“I know.” The admission was little more than a sigh.
“When she finds out, she may never forgive you.”
“I know.”
“What are you going to do then?”
“I told you before, I am taking your advice,” I said.
“I give you a great deal of advice,” she replied. “You’ll need to explain it to me.”
“I am going to show her who I am and what I can offer her. I will make her safe here. Since she announced that we were testing our mating compatibility, I have time with her. Not much, but maybe it will be enough.”
“It will be enough. She likes you already.”
I shrugged. “We’ll see.”
Masu patted my arm. “She went upstairs to take a bath. Go join her. You need to start convincing her now. You have no time to waste.”
Since I agreed, I went upstairs to my bedchamber and went inside. The bed was empty, and there was no fire in the hearth.
The doors to the bathing room were open, which surprised me. I expected Leda to desire privacy.
I moved to the fireplace and started a fire. The nights were getting colder as winter approached, and I wanted to be sure my female would be warm.
Once the flames caught and began to consume the logs, I walked to the open doors leading into the bathing room.
Leda was submerged up to her shoulders in the hot water of the bathing pool, her head resting on the stone lip behind her.
Her eyes were closed, but I could tell she was awake by the way her hands moved beneath the water.
I could see every inch of her naked flesh beneath the water, and the urge to touch her intensified.
Memories of the previous night had me shifting my cock in my pants as it thickened.
“Are you coming in?” she asked without opening her eyes.
“Do you want me to?”
Her lids lifted until she looked up at me through her lashes. The look was one she gave me several times last night, usually right after her pleasure peaked.
“I think I do.”
“Only think?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. My tail lashed behind me, and I hoped she would not realize it represented my internal disquiet.
Leda sat up straighter, her breasts bobbing in the water. Her eyes were locked on my bare torso and biceps. “I do want you to.”
Without hesitation, I unlaced my trousers and shoved them down my legs. I rarely wore boots but had put them on before going with the guards to the magistrate’s office. I left the shoes and clothes in a pile on the floor and stepped into the pool.
I tried to ignore the way Leda’s eyes roved over my body, lingering on my cock, but it was impossible. The weight of her gaze was like a physical touch.
I settled on the ledge next to her, keeping space between us. As much as I wanted to pull her body into my lap as I had done in the early morning hours, she was no longer under the influence of herbs and in desperate need of my touch.
It was difficult to believe that our night together was less than a day ago. It felt like another lifetime.
She shifted forward and submerged her face and head in the water. When she sat up, she reached into the recessed shelf that held bathing products.
“Which of these is for washing my hair?” she asked.
I leaned around her to pull out the bottle, but my bare chest pressed against her shoulder and side, and her breast brushed my thigh beneath the water. My half-hard cock was now fully erect and throbbed at the contact.
Her body went completely still against me.
I removed the bottle of liquid soap Masu made for my hair from the shelf and held it up. “This is for your hair.”
She studied the dark brown bottle and the Daemonic lettering etched on the front, but she didn’t reach for it.
“Would you like me to wash your hair?” I asked.
“Would you?”
My answer was to remove the stopper from the bottle and pour it into my palm. She turned her back to me, tilting her head back. I rested the back of her head on my chest and worked the soap through her long brown hair.
She sighed heavily and relaxed into me. It filled me with pride that my female asked me to care for her and trusted me enough to let me. The only shadow over the moment was that she had no idea what she was giving me.
What she was inviting.
When I was done, I pulled her across my knees, cradling her neck in the crook of my arm in order to tilt her back into the water without covering her face with water. Her eyes were closed as I dipped her head below the pool’s surface and used the fingers of my other hand to rinse the soap free.
I lifted her up, prepared for her to move back to her own side of the ledge, but she leaned against my chest, letting her head rest just below my collarbone. Her ass was now cradled between my thighs, and my cock pressed against her hip.
I reached for the conditioning oil and worked it through the strands of her hair before rinsing it again.
To my surprise and contentment, she remained in my lap, relaxed and pliant.
It stoked the fire in my belly, fueling my desire to make her mine.
My instincts screamed that she was accepting my attention because she wanted me to breed her.
Though my mind knew better, my muscles tensed with the urge to pin her to the ground, fuck her until she came on my cock, and bite her to bind her to me forever.
Her breasts bobbed above the surface of the pool, her nipples peaking. I wanted to cup them in my hands and revel in the softness of her skin.
“This is nice,” she sighed, nuzzling her cheek against my pectoral.
“Do you want me to wash you?” I asked, unsure why I whispered the question, but it seemed right in the moment.
“Would it bother you?” she asked.
My cock throbbed against her hip, but she didn’t pull away from me.
Again, my answer was to reach for the bar of soap. I lathered my hands and began to work the soap over her skin, beginning with her neck and shoulders. Her position was awkward for this, so I lifted her, turning her body until her back rested against my abdomen and her legs straddled my thighs.
My hands froze on her waist when she lifted her arms, wrapping her hands around the back of my neck. The position lifted her breasts further and left her body completely open and bare for me.
I lathered more soap and ran it down her arms, then down her underarms to her sides. Then, I focused on her belly before slipping my palms up and over her breasts. Her nipples hardened against my palms as I washed the soft curves of her breast and up over her chest.
Leda arched her back as my hands ran back down over her hard nipples to her belly.
A low rumble of approval resonated in my chest. She wasn’t just accepting my touch, she was demanding more.
I lathered my hands again and trailed them down her hips and lower belly, splitting them to run down her inner thighs.
Her breaths were coming in quiet gasps as I washed the outside of her thighs as well, trailing my fingers back up to her hips.
As I had last night, I ran my fingers down over the patch of hair covering her mound and slipped a digit down the center to clean the small bud that crowned her sex and the rest of the slippery pink flesh between her legs.
Leda’s head fell back against my chest, and she moaned, spreading her legs wider. The tip of my index finger flicked her bud again, and she lifted her hips.
“Please, Bo,” she breathed.
“Please, what?”
“Touch me. Make me come.”
I did not make her ask again. I circled her bud with my finger, adding more pressure with each pass. Her following moan was broken as her hips jerked against me. Her ass pressed against my cock, rubbing as she squirmed in my lap.
I groaned at the pressure. If she kept moving like that, I was going to shoot my release all over her back.
When I removed my hand from her cunt, she made a sound of frustration. Until I lifted her off my lap and planted her ass on the edge of the pool and pushed her legs wider apart. Leda’s eyes were half-closed and hot as she leaned back on her hands, the position thrusting her breasts forward.
Unable to help myself, I leaned forward and used the tip of my tongue to tease her beaded nipple. The forked end wrapped around the tip and squeezed as I sucked it into the cavern of my mouth. My fangs pressed against her silken flesh, and I had to remind myself not to draw her blood.
Her fingers wrapped around the base of my horns, tugging me closer. My cock jumped at the contact, and I growled against her nipple, sucking it deeper into my mouth. Leda’s answering moan was long and loud as she arched her back, pressing more of her breast into my mouth.
I released her nipple with one last lick and moved to her other breast, giving that tip the same treatment. When I lifted my mouth, her hips were moving in small circles, and I could smell her arousal heavy in the air.