Remedy Maker (8 page)

A loud knock rapped three times on the front door, and Patience jumped, her heart in her throat.

Rhy muttered a long curse.

Melted from her orgasm, Patience lay drained beneath him. She stroked his hair and watched his mouth pull at her tingling breast. “Are you going to get that?”

“Nope.”

There was another knock, louder this time, followed by the clip-clop of pacing hooves on his porch.

“Damn! This place has become a revolving door since you showed up.” He kissed her nipple, and then her mouth, taking his time with both. “I’ll get rid of them. Don’t move.”

“Aye-aye, Capitan.”

He slid off her and stood. The hard-on he sported inside his jeans looked painful. Outlined in perfect detail, she saw an impression of the thick ridge on its head. Grinning, she flicked her eyes up to his and made to pull the t-shirt down to cover herself.

“I said to not move.” He unfolded the handmade quilt from the back of the couch and laid it over her. “I’ll be right back.”

Rhycious walked stiffly toward the door. Adjusted himself, he untucked his shirt and covered the telltale bulge. He paused and took a deep breath before pulling the door open.

“Rhycious, didn’t think you were home. I need—”

The door slammed with a resounding bang. “Damn people won’t leave me alone.”

The pounding resumed, accentuated with the occasional striking hoof. Rhy nearly tore the door off its hinges when he opened it a second time.

“What do you want, Alek?”

“Don’t you fucking do that to me. I’m here on the Queen’s business.”

Peeking over the couch, Patience ducked down when the armed Centaur guard moved with equine grace through the doorway, and into Rhycious’s home.

Six

A gorgeous dark-haired Centaur, with equally handsome dark eyes, leaned his arms on the back of the sofa, resting his chin in his palm.

“Well, hello sweet-thing. What’s your name?”

Patience gripped the edge of the blanket, its soft weave a thin barrier from prying eyes. She peered out, keeping her face half hidden.

His long fingers stroked an immaculate goatee, framing perfect white teeth when he smiled. Links of thick gold chain circled his tanned neck and swung with his movements.

“Leave her alone, Alek. She’s my . . . patient.” Rhy closed the front door harder than necessary and crossed the room in long strides. His brows pinched over his eyes, as he checked to make sure she remained fully covered. Facing the sorrel-colored Centaur, he crossed his arms and inclined his head. “Let’s talk in the kitchen.”

Alek’s smile grew, but he made no sign of straightening. Double rows of barbed-wire tattoos wound around his right bicep and jumped when he pumped the muscle. “I don’t think so.” He winked and pointed with his chin. “If he’s just your remedy maker, why’s your pretty face turning red, sweetheart?”

Cheeks burning, Patience yanked the blanket over her head with a squeak. Alek’s laughter ensued, followed by hoof beats moving toward the kitchen.

Oh gods
. Her heart-stopping moment with Rhycious must have been written all over her face. She fought the urge to jump up and check in a mirror. With the tip of her tongue, she touched her lips. They were swollen and tender. Did the Centaur notice, and guessed what happened?

“Not just, but such.” Rhy circled around the couch to where she lay.

“What does that mean?” Alex’s hooves clip-clopped farther away.

“It means you’re not just an ass, but
such
an ass. Stay there a sec. I want to help her back to bed.”

Rhycious peeled the blanket off her face, and Patience smiled into his tawny eyes. The warmth directed back at her didn’t equal the scowl on his face. Tension radiated from his body, his needs clearly unfulfilled.

Alek muttered, “You know, if you want privacy, you should take it to the next room.”

Rhycious ignored the other man and gazed into her eyes. “You okay?”

“Never better,” she answered. And that was the truth.

She bit her lip to stifle a giggle, noting Rhy’s eyes riveted to the spot. With slow deliberation, she ran her tongue along her upper lip, loving the flare of his nostrils and the way his eyes narrowed.

Aleksander chuckled. “Hey, Rhycious. Is staring a new type of remedy, or are you going to help her to bed?” Two hoof steps clopped closer. “Maybe I should do it for you.”

Rhy shook his head and snapped out of his trance. “Piss off.”

 After tucking the blanket carefully around her, he lifted her into his arms and started toward the bedroom.

“Déjà vu,” she whispered. Patience wrapped her arms around Rhy’s neck and held tight, breathing in his essence. Musk, citrus, and . . . clover? The heady scent curled a delicious knot deep in her belly. She nosed the side of his neck, rubbed her check against his shoulder.

“You never told me your name, sweet-thing.” Alek called before she disappeared from the living room.

Rhy answered over his shoulder. “Patience.”

“All right. Suppose I can wait a while longer.”

Rolling his eyes, Rhycious rounded the corner into the bedroom and set her carefully on the bed. Perched on the mattress edge, she allowed the cover to droop, teasing him with a view that proved she’d followed his orders and left the name Penn State crumpled high above her breasts.

He groaned and grabbed the shirt’s blue hem, running the backs of his hands over her nipples one agonizing knuckle at a time. He settled the rumpled tee into place.

“You’re driving me crazy, you know that?” Rhy leaned down, kissed her hard on the lips, and held her gaze. A hot flash of desire crawled up her neck. “We’ll talk later about what happened out there.”

Patience grinned like a drunken Satyr, and when she spoke, her voice was steeped in sarcasm. “Your friend has great timing.”

She stretched her arms above her head, dropped back onto the bed, and then ran a bare foot along the inside of his pant leg. The way she added to his visual discomfort with her sultry wantonness delighted her, and she reveled in her newfound talent.

“I’ll give him a laxative and send him on his way.”

Bashing cupboard doors slammed in the other room. Rhy’s facial scar twitched and his shoulders rose at the sound. He spun on his heel and marched to the door, clenching his fists.

“There are more Centaur asses than there are Centaurs.” Rhycious left the room, grumbling.

He’d left the door slightly ajar, and Patience listened to his cowboy boots thump a path across the floor. The creak of the glider rocker announced his pow-wow with Aleksander was in the next room.

She sighed softly. There was something about having Rhycious and his hard strength near that relaxed her and allowed the world, with all its troubles, to twirl away.

Patience crawled farther onto the bed and lay curled on her side, facing the door. The men’s conversation continued in low tones beyond the walls. She and Daisy used to stretch out on their backs at the creek, on top of the giant flat boulders. With their heads next to each other, they would dream about the men they’d one-day fall in love with. And laughed about wild chipmunk sex.

She rolled to her back and smiled at the ceiling.

His touch on her body was the most exciting and fearful sensation she had ever experienced in all her seventy-two years. Each glide of his calloused hand awakened a fiery need that burned in her body. She rubbed a spot below her belly button with a flat palm, feeling butterflies batting their delicate wings.

Gods, the man was sexy.

Covering herself with the blanket, she bent her knees and touched the slight ache between her legs. Damp cotton met her fingertips and she lifted her hips to take the underwear off altogether. Additional moisture flowed when her thighs parted. She wet her finger in the liquid, then brought it up to examine.

Slick, with a tinge of pink. The sheen on her digit resembled polish on her skin.

Losing her virginity on the couch wasn’t the way she had dreamed it would be. Nevertheless, Patience was pleased it had happened with Rhy. In her heart, she’d always believed the precious moment should happen with a special person.

Though they had only just met, she felt drawn to him. He didn’t treat her like a sick child. He’d wanted her . . . as a female. That made him a special person.
And it’s not like I have all the time in the world, either.

He attracted her in ways she had never known. Most of her friends had done away with their membrane by their twenty-fifth winter. She’d be classified as dried-up kindling if word had gotten out about her intact status. 

Heaving a deep sigh, Patience had no regrets. How could she?
The Centaur was positively righteous.
A giggle slipped out.

Once again, she reached her hand beneath the blanket to cover the soreness between her legs, and closed her eyes. Weariness slid in and her mind drifted away like dandelion spores on a current of air. Thoughts performed a pirouette in her head, dancing among dreams and bowing low before memories.

Unlike the other races, Nymphs had no body hair. Smooth legs and arms meant she never required the scrape of a razor. The pads of her fingers glided along the moisture generated from her first sexual encounter. Her outer labia passed soft and sleek to the touch. Sore muscles lay hidden within her body, and she could do no more than protect the area with her cupped hand.

Before her illness had worsened, she’d taken much of life for granted. Little things like running through the forest in the moonlight—and never tiring. Visiting the Willow Bay City Park after dark with Daisy had also been a sneaky treat. Magazines thrown in trashcans often contained
wonderfulicious
articles and pictures of clothing designs.

How long had it been since she had pushed herself without becoming weak and out of breath?

 Sadness and anxiety crept into her heart.
Is this sickness fatal? How long do I have to live?
She mentally shook her head.
Stop the negative thoughts
, she told herself,
and focus on the positive
.

Rhycious.

She was so caught up in the wandering of her thoughts and the texture of wetness below, she didn’t hear the Centaur’s heavy steps entering the room.

*    *    *

Oh. My. Gods.

What was she doing to herself under Granny’s blanket? Both eyes were closed and her hands were hidden beneath the cover. That perfect pouty mouth of hers relaxed open, breath coming shallow. Rhy’s grip on the door handle squeezed, the cold metal bit into his palm.

A heavy sensation grew behind his zipper, but he pushed it away. Aleksander sat in the next room, which put the hiatus on any repeat action for the next few hours. When a frown marred her brow, Rhy’s remedy maker side merged with his protective Centaur half, and both rushed to the forefront, leaving their stimulated buddy behind.

Perhaps he had damaged her more than he’d thought. What an idiot he was. Bullheaded and thoughtless.

Fury at his lack of sensitivity flared to life, and his unguarded temper rose. He had no one in his life because he deserved no one. Abruptly, he let go of the doorknob.

“Patience?” His tone was harsher than he’d meant, and her eyelids flew open. She met his stare with her startled one. “Are you all right?”

“Uh, yeah. I’m
shizzle
bad here.” A beautiful rose-color bloomed in her cheeks. The blush expanded to encompass her alluring pixie face, reached her chin, and tumbled over like a waterfall down her neck. She swallowed and licked her lips. At his raised brow, she added, “I’m fine.”

He tightened his fists until his knuckles popped, and followed her line of vision to the right, near her hip. His lips curved up as her dainty hand snaked out, snatched her pink panties off the bed, and hid them under the blanket.

Suspicion number one confirmed—but entry to his filthy imagination was denied.

At least for the time being.

As usual, his mind had jumped to Patience’s worst-case scenario without evidence to support the claims. He took a deep breath to calm his pounding libido and scraped the hair off his forehead.

Would his mental trauma ever heal and leave him in peace?

“Do you feel up to joining us in a briefing on our preliminary plans for locating the traitor faction?” Rhy asked. “You’re an important part of my investigative assignment, so I thought you should hear everything firsthand.”

Her hazel eyes stared back at him, and it was her turn to cock a brow while she looked him up and down. “Do you always talk like that?”

The question took Rhy completely by surprise, and with an emotional one-eighty, he barked out a laugh. “Me? The way
I
talk? You’re the one who speaks a bizarre dialect of English.” He crossed his arms. “I don’t understand what you’re saying half the time.”

She scooted backward to lean against the headboard, bringing the blanket with her. A loose thread entertained her busy fingers. He thought of other ways to keep them occupied.

“So I’m not perpetrating Poppins here, can I borrow some duds?”

He threw his hands up. “Thank you for proving my point.” He chuckled. “Help yourself to whatever you need. There’re clothes in the closet and some stuff in the dresser. But,” he paused, scanning the outline of her slim body, “I doubt anything will fit you.”

“Thanks, I’ll make do. I just need threads for
chillaxin
is all.” She slipped off the bed and tossed the throw blanket toward him. A scrap of pink lace fluttered to the floor mere inches from his boot.

He rubbed his neck and backed away, sexual temperature rising. When he paused at the open door, trying to puzzle out her last sentence, she let out a delightful laugh. Manipulated like a stringed marionette, he turned back.

“I’ll make a concerted effort to speak clearer to you,” she promised, and disappeared behind the closet door.

He must have been frowning when he rejoined Aleksander in the living room, because his long-time friend seemed concerned. “Is your patient all right?”