Rital of Proof (22 page)

He held out his hand. "Take it with me."

Her lips parted. The look he gave her was open and incredibly mature. It took her breath away. She placed her hand lightly in his.

As he led her to the bubble-pool, he said in a low voice, "You need not worry,
my name-giver;
I will not come to harm in this manner."

She glanced up at him through the corner of her eye. "You cannot know that for sure."

"Yes, I can."

The water gently lapped against her.

Sitting comfortably between his muscular thighs, Green closed her eyes and leaned back into Jorlan's chest. Mathers had floated scores of lillacia blooms in the pool. The eccentric old servant must have been duly impressed with the new Marqueller to do such a thing.
Now there was an unlikely friendship brewing!
She chuckled to herself. Avatar had already warned her that she had seen the two of them bantering heatedly. There was no telling what aggravation the two would cook up.

Green sighed blissfully in the water. They probably shouldn't dawdle; they needed to get to the Duchene's. Tongues would wag if they missed their postfastening dinner.

Only she felt much too good to move.

She suspected Jorlan felt the same by the low, pleasing sound that rolled from his throat every now and then. His lips nibbled the back of her neck, sending chills down her spine in a superb contrast to the hot water. She arced her neck to give him better access.

Earlier, when they had undressed, he had gathered her long, heavy hair in his hands and helped her pin it up. There was something very sensual about the feel of those capable hands sliding through the locks of her hair. The tender motions he used, his gentle touch and care, told her that Jorlan felt more for her than he wanted to admit.

Conscious of the late hour, she had helped him wash, running the cloth over his body and hair in brisk strokes. It had the opposite effect than she intended. He had dunked his head under the water, flinging his hair back when he broke the surface. Small droplets of water clung to his black lashes and dripped over his golden skin. His azure eyes sparkled, the water reflecting in his eyes. He blinked slowly as he watched her.

"Come rest against me," he had said enticingly. And so she did.

"Rrrtttrrrt."
He placed his lips against the curve at the base of her neck and playfully let the rumbling sound vibrate along her skin.

Green jumped.

He chuckled against the nape of her neck.

It always surprised her when this side of his nature came out.

"I've always loved your hair like this," he drawled as he brushed his cheek aside her throat. "It looks like it is precariously situated and unseen forces could make it fall over at any moment; yet somehow it never does." He caught a lock between his lips and playfully tugged it. "It stays firmly where it is. It reminds me of you."

Green paused. He had a remarkable sense of intuition. Without realizing it, he had sensed her stance exactly. She would never give in to any battle without the good fight. Metaphorically speaking.

"Except it was you who placed it atop my head to begin with, Jorlan. If it makes a picture you like, it is your own doing," she responded ambiguously.

"Not so." He nipped her shoulder. "We both know whose fasten holds the clasp."

A small grin curved her lips. He was clever. "Are you trying to sweeten me, wilding?"

"Me?
Now why would I do that?" His arms encircled her waist, pulling her very tightly against him under the water. His swollen member jutted against her buttocks.

"I see. Then what is it you are doing?" She raised her eyebrow and peered up at him over her shoulder.

He looked down at her through half-closed eyes. "I am simply adjusting your
attitude
so you can be more comfortable, name-giver."

"How thoughtful."

"Yes."

His hands cupped the fragrant lillacia water, letting the water and some blooms cascade from his palms over her breasts. The rivulet slid between her legs.

"Perhaps it makes you think of something?" He flexed against her. Exactly as she had taught him. Only better.

"Um, no, not really."

He exhaled heavily. "Really."

"Can't say it does."

"Hmm... "

"And so subtle." She laughed. He bit her shoulder again. "I suppose you would like to help me wash, as well?"

"Do Kloo irritate everyone?"

She thwapped the cloth back over her head into his face without releasing it.

"I suppose not everyone," he conceded under the circumstances.

"Just remember that Kibbee is very hurt that you are not paying attention to her."

Jorlan rolled his eyes.
KLOO.
They were the most difficult beasts! Who could understand them? Green, apparently.

She put the cloth in his hand and placed her hand over his. He gazed down with renewed interest.

Guiding him, she brought their wet hands over her chest, rubbing the cloth over her breasts.

He liked this already. The texture of her skin was the softest—

"Kibbee is very sensitive. She's been sulking and you haven't even noticed."

Jorlan grimaced. Why didn't she just splash him with cold water? The image of a "sulking" Kloo face was not what he wanted in his mind at the moment. Or any moment. It was the multifluttering nostrils that finished any sympathetic tendencies one might have—as far as he was concerned. "May we not speak of Kloo right now?"

"Very well." She sighed deeply, but brought their hands down along her stomach and over her taut thighs.

Much better subject,
he thought. He slid between her cheeks from behind, letting himself barely tease against the soft folds of her femininity.

So knowledgeable yet still so untutored. His Sensitive's erotic abilities were awakening. Green opened her eyes slightly and smiled knowingly.

"And what are you thinking about?" he breathed in her ear.

"You."

"What about me?" His teeth captured the small lobe, tugging on it.

"I'll tell you some other time."

"Is it good?" His foot slid along her calf under the water, back and forth, stimulating with the luxuriant sweep of skin and warm water.

"Very good." She felt the dampness of his chest above the waterline as it skimmed her back with every deep, silent breath he took.

Then
he
began to move their hands.

He brought the cloth up between her inner thighs, the light scraping motion sensitizing the tender area. "I am entranced by these tight auburn curls."

"Are you?"

"Yesss." The cloth rubbed through them, dipping between her woman's folds beneath the water. He turned their hands, letting her feel the tip of his manhood just resting at her portal.

Then he placed the cloth around his finger and stroked her there with both. It was smooth and rough at the same time.

"Jorlan
... " Green rested her head back against his chest.

His other hand cupped her chin, turning her gently so that his mouth covered hers as he continued to rub and stroke her with the cloth, his finger, and himself. The lillacia perfume wafted all around them, in steaming scent. Jorlan breathed deeply of the perfume that was mingled with their scents. That deep pleasure sound rolled in his throat again.

He dipped his tongue into her mouth as his finger dipped into her from below.

Green moaned into his lips.

Jorlan's other hand covered her breast in a massaging caress. His palm opened over her extended nipple, brushing back and forth.

"Do you like this?" he mouthed.

"Yesss, yesss!" Green kissed him deeply.

"Green... let me feel you... like before... "

"You want to come inside?" She pressed back into him, circling her hips against his groin.

"By the Founder, yes!" he hissed. For an instant she thought to prolong his heightened pleasure by making him wait but then decided against it. There was a part of her that wondered if he
would
wait any longer. She wasn't ready to confront that answer and what it would entail.

She pulled his hand away from her and swung over onto him, facing him. He leaned back against the rim of the bubble-pool. His pupils were hazy, dilated. His wet, dark hair, slicked back from his forehead. The masculinely shaped lips—that felt so perfect when kissed—parted slightly, showing the edges of white teeth.

A pulse beat heavily in the strong column of his throat.

Green placed one of her hands on his wide shoulder, the other she placed over his heart. The rhythm surged strongly, powerfully. She could feel its hammering through her fingertips. Not rapid.
Intense.

Jorlan's passionate gaze swept over her features. Moisture dotted his brow. "Come to me," he whispered hoarsely.

And she did.

She joined them, sinking down on him. Green threw back her head and bit her lip. There was an incredible sense of connectedness when he was inside! Not just to him. To all things. It made her feel things she had never felt before—elusive perceptions that mingled with her entire being.

Jorlan groaned aloud.

His arm encircled her waist, bringing her closer. He bent into her throat, trailing his lips along her hairline, holding her tightly to him as he did so.

That area was an extremely sensitive spot for Green. She was so overcome by what his mouth was doing that she stayed immobile on him, drowning in the feel of his touch.

Jorlan arched his hips, surging fully into her.

Green's eyes flew open.
"Jorlan."

She could feel his amused smile on her throat. He lifted into her again, raising her up in the water so she would come down hard on him.

"Have a care, you will injure yourself!"

His palms pressed flat to her back, causing the swollen tips of her breasts to poke into his chest. He smiled at the sensation and rubbed his water-slickened chest against the firm tips.

"Then show me how you can move on me, sweet
lexa."

The endearment (such as it was, after all, he was calling her a sweet huntress) did not go unnoticed by her. Green arced her back, her hips thrusting tight into his. Whereupon she demonstrated to him that even a person who favored Kloo could ride like the swift, untamed bolt of an arc.

Only last longer.

Soon Jorlan was lost in her lively, penetrating movements. He throbbed inside her as she slid continuously on him. Her thighs squeezed him tightly, causing him to call out. He bit her shoulder and then the side of her neck.

As she slaked their desire, he dragged his nails from the back of her neck to the base of her spine. Not enough to scratch but enough to tingle the raw nerves.

Green immediately released.

Her strong contractions flowed around the entire length of him and he felt himself thicken dangerously.

Pressing his mouth to hers, he captured her screams of pleasure. His palms slid over her rounded buttocks, pressing them taut against him as he ground into her tighter. He had never felt so good! So
alive.

Visions swam through his head. He found the exact one he wanted as he expelled his fluid into her.

Green rested her forehead on his, trying desperately to regain her breath. The time! "We must hurry or we'll be late for the postfastening meal! Anya will flay us alive if we are much later!"

"Why?" Jorlan gasped, also trying to get his breath back. "Why must we go to this dinner?"

"It is the custom. Your grandmother must see that I have been treating you well."

Jorlan laughed and groaned at the same time. "The proof will be there for all to see, I fear."

Her eyes rolled. "You can't see such things, Jorlan."

"No?"

"No."

"You think no one will notice this sated, sleepy look on my face? Or the slow, halting stride to my walk?"

She laughed. "Perhaps that, yes."

"Mmm. I thought so." He let his head bang back against the wall.

She blinked as something occurred to her. "What did you mean when you said you loved my hair this way? I never wear it like this except when I bathe."

"Did I say that?"

"Yes!"

"Hmm. Then I love to see it when you bathe."

"But you've never seen me bathe before!"

"No?" He plucked her lower lip with his teeth.

"No." She placed her hands on her hips. She was beginning to wonder just how much he was playing with her. Every time she answered his no with her no, his lips twitched slightly.

"Well, if I had done so, lexa, I imagine it would have been quite a vision... " He smiled secretly.