Redemption (Red Dragon Book 1) (5 page)

She moved his hand downwards, the pads of his fingers brushing against the subtle curve of her breast before his hand closed over it. Her nipple was hard against his palm, and Cat's breathing became ragged above him. Valto found himself pressing against her eagerly, his body instinctively seeking out her warmth as his mouth took control of hers again.

It was as though after so many years being dormant his body had finally woken up. Every one of his nerves on fire where their skin touched. He let his hand tighten around her breast, his palm brushing over her pebbled nipple and a moan escaping his throat when her teeth bit down on his lower lip. That move seemed to incense something inside of him, because he wrapped one strong arm around her tiny waist and first dragged her against him and then rolled her onto her back. Their kiss grew more passionate then, her perfectly manicured fingernails dug into the skin of his back as she arched her body to get more contact in a move that had him groaning into her mouth.

“Valto.” Cat wrapped her legs around his waist, and with a rolling motion of her hips he felt her wetness slide against his abs. “Please.”

“I ...” He pressed his lips against the side of her neck. “...don't know what I'm doing.”

“I know.” She kissed him again, a quick meeting of lips. “Here roll on your back.”

Without taking his eyes off of her Valto did exactly as she asked, lying on his back with the sheets rucked around his hips. He couldn't help the blush that came to his cheeks when he noticed that his erection was still obvious beneath the heavy bedcovers. With a small laugh she placed her hand over the top of the bulge and pressed down lightly, circling her palm in a way that put the most incredible pressure on the tip of his dick. He let out a hiss between his teeth, raising his head so as to meet her kiss halfway. He couldn't help the rocking motion of his hips.

“Cat!” His hands reached for her on their own accord.

She rocked forwards then and took his mouth in a soft kiss. Valto found himself so lost in the kiss that he didn't notice that the last of the sheets had been pushed back until cool air hit him where he was hard and straining. Then as her lips moved only far enough away that they brushed his, there was the sensation of her slight and graceful hand wrapping around him.  He couldn't help the deep groan that escaped his throat at the feeling of her soft hand, completely free of callouses, against where he was most sensitive. It felt so different from his own touch that he felt like he was going to lose it at any moment. He propped himself up on his elbows to chase her mouth as she started to pull away, a teasing grin directed at him. That was when he thought to look down at himself; his erection was thick in her grasp. Almost purple in color with the veins prominent beneath the skin, he was so incredibly aroused that the foreskin was pulled back over the rather angry looking head.

“Looks like it would hurt.” Her voice was amused, and then with a twinkle in her hazel eyes she bent her head and slowly licked the rosy head.

There was something undeniably erotic about watching the way her eyes fluttered closed at the taste of him, and the way his own fluids made her bottom lip glossy in the moonlight. Resting all of his weight on his left arm he reached out with his right to rub the pad of his thumb against that glossiness. There was a tackiness to it and she moaned softly before sucking it between her lips, the feeling of it was like a bolt of lightening down his spine.

“Try not to choke me alright?”

His brain hadn't quite caught up to her words by the time she had once again lowered her head to slide his length into her mouth. It was wet and hot, an inevitable light scrape of teeth as her mouth was quite small in comparison to his dick. A high pitched keening noise rent the air, and he distantly knew that it was coming from him but at that moment all his brain power was keeping him breathing. With a bit of suction she started to pull off of him in a way that made his eyes all but roll into the back of his head.

“Cat.” He reached out again, hand hovering over the top of her thick chestnut locks eager to touch her but not knowing how he would be received. “God Cat.”

With a pop she pulled off of him completely and pushed the top of her head into his hand, before moving back down. Her eyes were wide as she continued to look up at him, and then she engulfed him again in a soft sucking sensation. He let his fingers slide through her silky hair, eyes riveted first to the way she arched her spine in a position that put her surprisingly shapely arse in the air. His mistake was to let his gaze wander to her face and in that instant he was lost, the sight of her plump glossy lips wrapped around him with her eyes closed and a blissful expression on her face made him cry out.

That was when he felt it building up from his thighs and up his spine, his impending orgasm heading over him like a wave. Valto felt his fingers tighten in her hair, his breathing becoming laboured, and every muscle in his body tightening with each stroke of her mouth.

“I'm ...” He couldn't even finish his sentence, and instead he started to pull desperately at her hair even as his own head started to fall back on a groan.

Either she didn't understand what he was trying to tell her or she simply didn't care, because her mouth started to move even faster on him. His hips started to rock in counterpoint to her, sweat breaking out on his skin, and he was wound up so tightly that he thought he would stop breathing. Suddenly with one last swipe of her tongue his climax crashed over him, and through the fog he felt her hands clutch his hips as he all but started to thrash beneath her and he knew that he was being anything but quiet.

Embarrassingly he must have passed out at some point because when he blinked his eyes open Cat was lounging on her side next to him. Her hair smelt like lavender as it fell around him to pool on his chest, and she was smiling gently down at him.

“Hey.” She gently stroked his brow, and for a moment he almost forgot that her love for him was hidden beneath a layer of bitterness. “Are you alright?”

He opened his mouth to answer but his breathing was so heavy that he found he couldn't talk, so instead he reached up and pulled her down into a crushing kiss. He could taste himself on her tongue and found himself dragging her against him desperate to give her at least some of the pleasure that she had given him.

“It's alright,” she said against his lips. “That was incredible to watch.”

Incredible wasn't exactly how Valto would describe it; he had probably been a babbling sweaty mess completely at her control. Hardly the epitome of masculinity that Johann, or Niko, or Hans were.

“You don't want …?”

She laughed gently. “You have no idea how much.” Taking his hand and guiding it between their bodies, and then pressing it against the front of those lacy black panties. She was so tiny in comparison to him that his huge fingers delved between her slender thighs almost to her arse. Damp wasn't even the word for what she was, soaking wet was more like it and on an act of instinct he curled his fingers into her heat. Immediately she let out a keening noise and arched her back, fingers clawing against his bare chest. “Fuck, Valto.” Removing his hand he watched as her head fell forwards, her breath coming in soft pants against his sweat slicked skin.

“What can I do for you?” He craned his neck so that he could whisper the words in the vulnerable flesh of her throat. “Cat tell me.”

She took several deep breaths before rolling over him so that she was beside him on the mattress, for a long moment they simply looked at each other before Valto reached over tentatively to brush aside a curl of hair that had fallen across her eyes. “I would love to have your mouth.” Cat also reached up to trace his lips with her fingers, and he couldn’t help but kiss them in response. “But I don’t have the patience right now to teach you what to do with it.” Something in Valto jumped at the idea of being taught how to pleasure a woman, this woman in particular. “I think I shall make do with your hand for now.”

With that she slipped out of the black lace panties, and Valto nearly went cross-eyed at the sight of her naked next to him. She was completely bare, like the women in the pornos he pretended he didn’t watch. Valto felt himself beginning to harden again as she slowly parted her legs, and he was confronted with soft pink flesh. “Oh my God.”

She took his hand again and moved it down between her thighs. “I’m sure you’ve watched enough porn over the years to know what to do now.”

Valto blushed but he nodded his head, and moving to rest on an elbow over her he started to move his hand back on forth over her slippery flesh. It didn’t take long before Cat’s breathing quickened and her hips rose to meet his questing fingers every time they brushed over the small bead that made her cry out. Soon her right hand came up to grip the back of his head and she dragged him into a deep kiss, as her left hand covered his and urged him to quicken the speed.

That’s all it took before her hips lifted from the mattress, wetness spilled over his fingers, and she yelled her release into his mouth. Valto found himself easing her through the aftershocks before she gently ended the kiss and pulled away from him. Despite his half hard dick and the tackiness that now coated his fingers, Valto felt exhaustion creeping back to edge of his vision and before he knew what was happening Cat was pressing a kiss to his temple and climbing off the bed.  “Where are you going?” He rolled over to watch as she stood with her back to him, and he let his eyes follow every curve of her body.  “Stay here tonight.”

Cat shook her head at his request before retrieving her dressing gown from the floor and shrugging it back on. “I can’t.” She quickly tied up the sash and then kissed him again. “As much as I don’t mind breaking protocol this might just be enough to give Lowri the heart attack she’s been threatening me with for years.” Cat shrugged her shoulders. “Plus this doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven you, it just means I wanted to give you a spin to see if I wanted to buy you.”

Though he knew that he should be offended by those words, Valto couldn’t help the sensual shiver that went through him at the sound of them. With a soft chuckle he reached up to stroke the back of his hand over the subtle curve over her breast, feeling the nipple harden at his touch beneath the soft silk. “And?”

She raised an eyebrow at his cockiness. “You’ll do …for now.” At that Cat moved to kiss him again, a violent clash of mouth and teeth that had Valto’s cock standing at attention after only a few seconds of the onslaught. Yet it was as he started to pull eagerly on the sash keeping her skin from his touch that she gave a soft chuckle and pulled again. “Now don’t go thinking I’m that easy.” Her words were harsh but her breathing had quickened again and there was a flush to her face that betrayed her.

“I wouldn’t dare,” he said, settling back on the mattress to watch as she walked towards the door with a sensual swing to her hips.

Just as she pulled open the door she turned back to look at him, and there was something about the softness that had come to her face and the satisfaction in her eyes that told him that something more important than just sex had happened here tonight. “Thank you.” Her tone was so low that he nearly missed her words, and Valto found that all he could do was nod like an idiot in response. Cat smiled at him then and left the room, the door shutting with a snap behind her.

Chapter Seven.

"You'll need to do a tour." Cat slowly lowered her teacup and stared at Lowri who was nonchalantly nibbling on a sandwich. "And as soon as possible as well."

"A tour?" Cat placed the cup on the small rosewood table that stood pride of place in the receiving room. "What kind of a tour?"

With a smile on her face Lowri leaned back against the cushions of her armchair. "A coronation tour of course, and it wouldn't hurt for us to use this for the people to get to know Valto."

That hadn't been in Cat's plans. The very idea of traveling around Wales with Valto and probably a swarm of chaperones wasn't what she had wanted to spend her last few months of freedom doing. Then again with her newfound peace and slowly repairing friendship with her soon to be husband, it might be interesting to go on a holiday.

"Very well.” She picked her cup back up and taking a sip of the lukewarm tea. "But no chaperones."

Lowri's gaze hardened then. "I didn't think you liked him?"

Cat shrugged her shoulders and turned her gaze to the huge bay window on the other side of the room, looking out over the city before finally answering. "We're attempting to reconcile, and we can't do that if we have someone meddling in our business all the time."

"Your sister is managing just fine with a chaperone," said Lowri. "And you can't get more meddlesome than Kaija."

"My sister and Johannes aren’t attempting to rebuild a broken relationship, Nanny." Cat got to her feet then and strode to the window, her heels sinking into the thick rug as she did so. "They are only just getting to know each other."

"So you think that there is hope for you and Valto?" Lowri's words made something inside her squirm.

"I believe we have the ability to become friends once more.” With a deep sigh she pressed one hand against the cool glass of the window "I shall never love him again."

"Oh Cat." Lowri let out a deep sigh. "Why have you closed your heart off?"

"Because he ripped it out of my chest and stomped on it." Cat turned violently back around to look at her step-mother. "How can you possibly ask me to risk myself again like that?"

Lowri let out another deep sigh and stood up to join her at the window. "Valto was just a boy when he said those things. He was young, and naive, and insecure. He thought that you would have fallen victim to temptation."

"Johann was never a temptation.” The very idea that Cat would have even considered sleeping with her sister's fiancé was ludicrous.

"Oh I know that," said Lowri. "But Valto had thought he was being thrown over for his much more confident and, I believe in his opinion, better looking cousin."

"Johann isn't better looking than Valto." Cat shook her head, maybe Myf thought that her soon to be husband was the best thing since sliced bread, but Cat had never been interested in his vanity or his boyish ways.

"Hmmmm." Lowri squeezed her shoulder. "Did you ever tell Valto that?"

"I would have done if he had let me." Valto's rant that fateful night hadn't allowed her to get a word in edgewise. "By that stage he didn't care what I had to say."

Lowri slowly nodded her head. "No chaperones. You will be staying with family who will keep an eye on you, but you will be allowed your privacy." That was at least something, and for the most part she loved their extended family and knew them to be less formal and traditional in their mindset than her father had been and Lowri pretended to be. It would be nice to at least have the ability to get to know Valto again, since she was certain that he had changed as much in their time apart as she had done. There may also be an opportunity to squash the romantic relationship that he seemed determined to rekindle.

Cat understood that he had been misled as to her actions all those years ago; however, that didn't take away from the fact that he hadn't even thought to ask her first. That he didn't trust her enough to think that she would have been able to keep her legs closed until he felt ready to start a physical relationship with her. Nor did it negate the fact that clearly he had had no interest in sleeping with her, though she was pleased that he appeared to have gotten over that.

"Thank you," she said.

"Whatever you're thinking, stop it." Lowri forced her to turn around so that they were facing each other. "That boy worshipped the ground you walked on, in fact with the way he's been acting since he got here it seems like he still does."

Valto's desire to reconcile was quite clear to anyone, and Cat couldn't understand why he was so insistent on it. Then again, he had always been very family orientated, and she couldn't imagine him accepting anything less than some sort of happy families with the traditional loving parents and happy children. Unfortunately she wouldn't be able to give him that.

"I can't love him." She shrugged her shoulders.

"You mean you won't love him," said Lowri.

"Either way it has the same outcome." Cat ran her fingers through her hair. "So what difference does it make?"

"A very lonely life." Lowri removed her hand from Cat's shoulder, and folded her arms across her chest. "You told me that you love him, so why don't you let yourself feel that?"

What did Lowri know about it? She had lived a happy single life until she had married Cat's father well into her fifties. She had no idea what it was like to marry a man who was bound to wreck her, to break her heart over and over again until she was nothing more than a shell. Until she was nothing more than her own father.

"Because there is no future there." She couldn't keep the frustration and anger from her voice, knowing that she shouldn't take it out on Lowri. But yelling at Valto had already proved fruitless. "Better to just remain friends than to risk everything I've gained in the last five years."

***   

Valto wasn't difficult to find in Caerdydd castle; it was clear that he didn't exactly feel comfortable in its empty halls and rooms. He was from a much larger family, and a palace that was always bustling with activity and guests. Caerdydd was a different world to the one that he had grown up in.

As per usual he was in the gardens, in one of the small walled ones surrounded by Lowri's beloved vegetables and herbs. He was sat on the small patch of grass in the centre, flipping through one of the thousands of novels in the library. She couldn't help but stand in the open gateway, leaning against the rough cut limestone and smiling at the sight that he made.

He had always been a bookworm. When Johann and Kai had been running around getting dirty and making mischief, Valto had always just been seen as 'Kai's brother'. Sweet, quiet and charming he had never really left much of an impression on anyone, until on his twelfth birthday he had started coming with Johann to Caerdydd. It was during those summers that she had fallen for him, liking that he was happy to sit by the lake and talk about Shakespeare and poetry.

"What are you reading?" She pushed away from the wall and walked into the patch of sunshine that was bathing the grass, and shining off of Valto's tousled blonde hair.

He looked up at her and smiled. "Pride and Prejudice."

She laughed and shook her head, settling beside him on the grass and stretching her legs out in front of her. "Hoping that Mr. Darcy will run away with you?"

Bumping her with his shoulder, he placed the book on the grass beside him. "Who doesn't want Mr. Darcy to run away with them?"

They both shared a soft chuckle at that, and she couldn't help the smile that came to her lips when he suddenly leaned over and kissed her cheek.

"So Lowri has decided that we need to show you off to the Welsh public," she said, folding her hands in her lap. "Which means we will be embarking on a pre-coronation tour."

He didn't look surprised in the slightest, and she was glad that he had the common sense to know that his life as Prince Consort was going to be nothing more than a string of these kind of events. It was an overwhelming fact about Royal life, especially those within the monarchy, and even though she had been groomed for this role there were times when she felt like the walls were closing in. She couldn't even imagine what it must be like for someone as far away from succession as Valto; who, for the most part, had been granted his freedom up until now.

"When do we leave?" He leaned back on his elbows, tipping his face up into the sunlight.

"In four days’ time," she said. "We need to be in Scotland for Braemar."

Braemar was on the first Saturday in September, yet between now and then not only were they going to need to do a complete tour of Wales but also their engagement party was booked. All of this meant that Cat was going to have to leave the majority of her wedding preparations in Lowri's hands. Not that this was necessarily a bad thing. Myf seemed to be leaving a large amount of her wedding in Lowri and Kasen's hands and it was undoubtedly going to be an amazing event.

"Scotland?" he said, pulling her from her thoughts. "I haven’t been there since I used to go hiking with Eilidh.”

A flash of jealousy flared up in her then, and she had to swallow it down. Eilidh had been the girl that Valto had dated on and off, from within a couple of weeks of breaking it off with her to when he had gone to Iraq. There had obviously been a large amount of affection between the two of them if he had been willing to take her back several times, yet hadn't even wanted to look at Cat again.

Valto must have sensed that her mood had changed, because he placed a hand on her arm. "Hey are you alright?"

"Yeah," she said, moving to stand up and brush the grass from her skirt. "I'm fine."

"Cat." He climbed to his feet as well. "Has something happened?”

She couldn't help but laugh at that, shaking her head as she did so. "No it's more what's happened between you and Eilidh."

She immediately regretted voicing those words. She didn't want Valto to know that she was jealous of anyone, didn't want it to appear that she was more emotionally invested in this than she pretended to be.

"Eilidh and I have been over for ages," he said. "Like years, Cat."

It was so typical that he wouldn't understand what her concerns were, that he had been seduced by her not a month after he had decided that he didn't want Cat anymore. There was the fear, as irrational as it may be, that once they got back to Scotland and he was within the other woman's presence again that he might decide to throw Cat away again.

"You went straight to her from me." She shrugged again and turned away from him. "Made me realize just how much our seven years together had actually meant to you."

"Woah." He grabbed her by the shoulders and physically turned her around to look at him. "What are you saying?"

It felt like her chest was caving in on itself, the pain of all those years ago suddenly feeling like it was being heaped up on her again.

"I'm saying that you and Eilidh were friends for a while before we broke up." She pulled away from his hands. "I have always wondered whether Johann was just a convenient excuse for you to leave me and go to her. I suppose that's how it feels to be second best."

His face fell and he reached for her again. "No Cat, you've never been second best. I was hurt and angry, and I wanted to make you see that I didn't need you and I was happy."

Those words made her gasp and draw even further away from him, her eyes focused on the ground so that she didn't have to see the pity in his.

"I see." Taking several calming breaths she squared her shoulders and looked straight ahead. "Very well."

"No." Valto moved to stand in front of her, a determined look on his face as he ducked his head to meet her eyes. "I'm not saying any of this properly."

"I think you've made yourself perfectly clear," she said.

"I wasn't happy with her." He stepped closer to her then, one hand hovering over her cheek as if he was afraid to touch her. "I don't think I could be happy with anyone except you."

"Don't be silly."

His other hand came up then so he could cup her face, tilting it up so that she looked him in the eye. "I'm serious Cat, I've loved you forever."

That love hadn't been enough though, and she knew that it wouldn't be enough now. "I'm sorry Valto, but I don't believe that."

His grey eyes searched her face as though looking for something there, before his mouth came down on hers in a soft but insistent kiss. She had never been able to deny the effect that his kisses had on her, and her arms seemed to wind around his neck on their own free will. There was the feel of his hands sliding around her waist, one coming to rest on the small of her back and the other between her shoulder blades. With his gentle urging she stood on her tiptoes, their mouths fusing together pleasurably with her movement, and there was the deep rumble of his moan where her breasts were pressed against his chest.

They pulled apart for air, lips brushing against each other as they breathed, before he slowly reclaimed her mouth again. She found herself getting lost in him, her breathing coming faster and her fingers tangling into his hair as the kiss became more passionate.

With a groan he ripped him mouth from hers, nudging her chin up with his nose as he nuzzled into the long column of her throat and pressed his lips to the sensitive skin there.