Braden (10 page)

“My librarian,” he said. “You are so damn beautiful. Look
what you’ve done to your Shareem.”

Elisa looked up at him with warm brown eyes, not
understanding. It didn’t matter. The last of Braden’s come washed out of him,
but he kept on moving in her hand, more satisfied than he’d been in a long,
long time.

Elisa lay still under Braden’s body, wondering how it could
feel so good to have another person on top of her. He braced himself to keep
his weight from hurting her, but the strength in every muscle was dizzying.

Braden’s skin was slick with sweat, and sweat beaded on his
face as well. He kissed her, slow, hot, open-mouthed kisses.

No other human had ever kissed Elisa like this. One didn’t
need touches of the flesh to show affection.

So many things she’d grown up believing were being proved
wrong by a decadent, forbidden Shareem. A being who had been made for sex
alone.

Braden’s breath scalded her skin. The smile he slanted her,
the look from his half-closed eyes, told her that touches of the flesh could be
a wonderful thing.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” he said.

“It wasn’t? I thought penises did that.”

Braden’s brows flickered in surprise, and then he laughed.
“You are so damn precious. Yes, penises—
cocks
—do that. You’re not
allowed to say
penis
the rest of the time I’m here. If you refer to it,
it’s a cock. Got it?”

“Not a purple-helmeted warrior?”

He bit her chin. “Little vixen.”

Elisa touched his face, and he turned his head and kissed
her palm. “Why did you say that wasn’t supposed to happen?” she asked. “I liked
it.”

“Because I’m a level-three Shareem. Because I came here to
teach you pleasure. You touch me and all of a sudden, I’m the slave. I rolled
over and begged for you. It’s supposed to be the other way around.”

“But I hired
you
.”

“Shareem are inferior every other place in Bor Narga. But in
a woman’s bedroom, I’m the master. Don’t you forget it.”

“It was fun.”

“Fun.” Braden shook his head. “I remember Calder’s women
coming out of his place, barely able to walk. They were so sexually satisfied
and so wigged out at the same time that some of them couldn’t talk. Now
me
,
I prefer to leave a woman laughing, but at the same time, I want them tied up
in knots and begging me to be sweet to them. I want them to
want
me
spanking their beautiful asses and then thanking me for it. But you…” Braden
clasped her wrist and brought it to join the bound one. “I look at you and want
you touching me.”

“I don’t mind.”

“But I do.” Braden pressed a soft kiss to her upper lip. “We
made a mess in here. Time to get cleaned up.”

With a simple twist he unlocked the manacle, carefully
releasing her hand. Her fingers tingled a bit, but the manacle hadn’t pinched.

Braden kissed her as they sat up, his strong hand furrowing
her hair.

Then he ripped her nightgown from her shoulders.

Elisa gasped, and Braden stood up and deftly slid the gown
from her body. He wadded it in his hands and tossed it aside. “We don’t need
this anymore. Up.”

Elisa scrambled off the bed. Braden quickly stripped off the
sheets and found her laundry chute, throwing sheets and nightgown into it. Then
he lifted her nude body into his arms and carried her into the bathroom.

Elisa had a bathtub in there that she used for meditation.
Most houses had done away with water except for drinking, using the more
efficient sonic and other non-liquid methods of cleaning. Water showers were
for the lower classes.

But water was also used for calming effects and meditation.
Fountains, water gardens and bathtubs were soothing on the senses and cleansed
the emotions. Elisa often lay in her tub at night, watching the stars above the
transparent ceiling.

She had to admit that she didn’t think as much about
spirituality as she ought. Most of the time she basked in the beauty of the
night and the sensual slide of water on her body.

That sensuality couldn’t compare with the feel of Braden
sloshing them both down into the tub to set her on the bench.

“A private pool,” he said. “Gods, the rich are decadent.”

“It’s for meditation.”

“Sure it is.”

Elisa lay back, half floating, the hot water tingling on her
skin. Braden sat down next to her, his thigh firmly against hers.

“The tub really is for meditation,” Elisa said.

“Tonight, it’s for getting you clean. After that, I’m going
to feast on you.”

“Feast on me?” She wondered what he meant by that and looked
forward to finding out.

He looked so sensual with his skin slick with water,
moisture on his lashes. Braden had a
presence
, dominating everything in
the room the minute he walked into it. No meditation technique could ever blot
him out.

“That’s what I said, love. Feast on you.”

Braden moved until he straddled her on the bench, knees on
either side of her. He lowered his head and licked her neck, drawing his tongue
across her throat.

Elisa’s head went back, and he kept licking, slow, light
strokes across her skin. Braden slid his hands to her waist, lifted her a
little, and kept on licking. Down her chest until his hot, wet tongue was
between her breasts. Elisa’s hand stole to his hair, loving the heavy silk of
it.

Braden licked slowly, drawing out each stroke. He turned his
head and moved to her breast with the same leisurely care, until his tongue
flicked the point of her nipple.

Fire ripped through her body. Elisa moaned. Braden smiled as
he kept up the play, teasing and licking, circling with his tongue, until her
nipple stood up in a tight, hot peak.

“Beautiful,” Braden whispered. He closed his teeth over the
nipple, a gentle bite.

Elisa arched back, wanting him to take more of it in his
mouth.

“You have fine breasts,” he said, blowing gently on her
areola. “I’d love you to have a small ring on each.” He touched his tongue to
each point again. “A gold chain stretching between them.”

A
chain?
“What for?”

Braden looped his finger around an imaginary chain and drew
it toward him. “To keep you close.”

Her heart thundered. She imagined a fine chain, like a
necklace but dipping between her nipples, little rings through the taut peaks.
That image should bring thoughts of pain, but instead, her female places
squeezed.

Braden would tug her to him with the chain, his eyes hot,
and then he’d start licking her, as he did now.

Braden moved to the other nipple, repeating the teasing
dance with his tongue. He nibbled a little then began to suckle. His eyes
closed, black lashes wet on his skin, mouth working. The sight of him drawing
her breast into his mouth made her crazy.

When he lifted his head far too soon, Elisa groaned in
disappointment. “More?” she asked.

“Maybe later.”

She wanted to whimper. His mouth was so skilled, so fine,
and she felt so wicked and wild when he sucked her. And
free
.

Braden put hands on Elisa’s waist and scooped her farther
out of the water. Her hips rested on the lip of the sunken tub, the marble cold
on her backside.

He smiled up at her, blue eyes wicked, and then he spread
her legs.

Elisa looked down at the man between her legs, her heart
pounding until she couldn’t breathe. His eyes were so blue, the irises
betraying that he was so different from anything she’d ever known.

“Do you know what I’m going to do now?” he asked.

“No.”

“This is the feasting part.”

But he’d done it, hadn’t he? He’d certainly feasted on her
breasts. Not nearly long enough.

Braden licked her navel, and she jumped. “That tickles!”

“Good.” Braden pressed more kisses to her belly, slanted her
another wicked smile, and planted a kiss on her lower abdomen, right above her
mons. He licked, and heat streaked up Elisa’s body.

“We might have to shave you.”

“Why?” The word came out a gasp.

“Because it would be fun.” Braden brushed two fingers down
her opening. “And because I’d like to see you bare.”

She was going to die. Braden’s fingers brushed again, and
then he was lowering his head, kissing the hair he wanted to shave.

He pressed her thighs farther apart and kissed her right on
top of her clit. Elisa jumped, moaned, and then closed her eyes.

“That’s it, my love. You lie back and enjoy it.”

The marble was hard under her buttocks but Elisa barely felt
the discomfort. Her awareness was taken up with Braden, his hard hands on her
inner thighs, his sandpaper whiskers scraping her skin as he lowered his head.
Then he licked.

Feast on you.

He flicked his tongue over her clit then drew it across her
opening, his wet tongue meeting the moisture already there. He fastened his
mouth over her clit and suckled.

Goddess help me.

He was devouring her. As he had at her breasts, Braden
closed his eyes, mouth working as he drank her. He suckled and licked, nipped
and pulled, suckled some more.

She’d never felt like this in her life. When Braden had
whispered those naughty things to her in the bar, Elisa’s body had come open
and she’d lost all control. But that feeling was nothing compared to what she
felt now.

Tongue and teeth, nipping, licking, sucking, glorious
friction. His mouth was hot and dark, scraping, and she wanted more and more
and more.

Elisa opened her legs, frantic, lifted her feet and twined
them around his back. Braden’s magic tongue kept moving, licking molten heat
into her, tongue bumping the walls of her sheath. He was eating her, drinking
her, taking all that she was.

Above her the stars flowed against blackness, she and Braden
alone in this sheltered world. Her core was hot, her juices flowing into
Braden’s mouth. She wanted him to drink her dry, to take as much as he could.

Waves of giddy happiness swept her away, yet the tub’s lip
was still hard under her back. Braden held her steadily, his hands strong, his
mouth stronger.

Elisa was shouting, hips rising to his mouth, Braden fused
to her. He drank and drank, fingers hard points on her thighs. Her cries rang
to the stars, which absorbed her voice and sent it back. Happiness she’d never
known in her life streamed into her and Elisa came in an explosion of joy.

Braden drank her like a madman. She was drowning in him, and
she didn’t care. She could feel nothing but him, his mouth, his hands, his
breath and tongue inside her.

Then suddenly his beautiful mouth was gone, cold air rushing
to replace the heat. Before she could cry out in disappointment, Braden was on
top of her, his large, wet body holding her down.

Elisa’s legs were still spread, and she felt something
impossibly large, hot, blunt and beautiful slide a few inches inside her.

Chapter Nine

No. No, no, no. Not yet.

Elisa wasn’t ready for full sex. Braden wasn’t ready for her
to be ready. There was so much more she had to do first.

But his body had taken over, made him roll on top of her and
slip inside. He couldn’t believe he’d stopped himself partway instead of
shoving himself all the way in.

“Gods, you are so damn tight,” he whispered. “Beautiful
Elisa.”

Elisa gazed up at him, fully trusting, her face flushed with
her coming. She was wet and tight and,
damn
, so fucking slick.

Braden barely had to move to feel her clamping down around
him. Her fingers drifted down his back, her breath sweet on his face.

Elisa lifted her head and kissed his mouth. Braden started
to resist—
don’t kiss until the very end and then make them sorry to see you
go.
Shareem rule one hundred and twenty-seven or something.

Screw that.

Braden kissed her back, licking and nipping her lips. She
smiled, and he licked her again.

Elisa threaded hands through his hair, kissing him back
lightly, her lips closed. She had no idea how to kiss. Why did that delight
him?

He kissed her again, this time licking across her mouth,
making her lips part. Braden scraped his tongue into her mouth, tasting her,
showing her how to taste him back.

Her mouth slid hesitantly across his, tongues just touching,
Elisa catching on. She started licking inside his mouth, slowly at first, then
with bolder strokes. Braden met her tongue, tasting the sweetness of her.

Another kiss, another sweep into her mouth, and his cock
inched inside her.

Elisa was feeling it. Her eyes half closed, her lips parted
in pleasure. Braden was stretching her, widening her little by little. Her
pussy was opening for him the same as her mouth.

He didn’t want to hurt her. If Braden gave in and pumped
inside her with the intensity he wanted right now, he might hurt her. She was a
virgin, even if she’d had her hymen removed when she came of age, as all Bor
Nargan women did. But Elisa was nowhere near ready for a Shareem.

Braden’s heart hammered in excitement. He was the
first
.

He wanted to be the only.

“You are too damn sweet. I can’t do this to you.”

Elisa smiled. Her bare, wet foot traveled up his leg. “It’s
what I asked for.”

“You had no idea what you were asking. I should get out of
you, do other things, get you ready to take all I have to give you.”

“Why?” A languid stroke down his back, her fingernails just
scratching. “I like this.”

Yeah, why?
Braden was never one for following the
rules. Why the hell couldn’t he simply enjoy being inside a beautiful woman? To
make love to her and love it?

Braden let his smile go sinful. “You like it, do you?”

She nodded slowly, a woman deep in pleasure.

“Naughty librarian.”