Rykhan (Book 1 of Mate Search Series) (13 page)

She wanted to ask him in, but since he’d turned
her down the other four times she’d offered (it was only on their
first date that she hadn’t done so), she didn’t want to feel the
pain of rejection when he declined yet again. Though she was
tempted to, just to fill the silence between them.

“Are you available on Wednesday night, Leah? I
have heard there is a place where people can play miniature golf
which sounds like something I would like to try.” His deep voice
was extremely attractive, but it was when his foreign accent
hitched on certain consonants she thought shifted his speech into
the realm of damn sexy.

“Sure,” she replied and shoved her
disappointment into a far corner of her heart. She knew, just damn
well knew the man wanted her just as much as she wanted him. Why
didn’t he make a move, for god’s sake? “Give me a call…”

He stepped forward, his broad shoulders filling
the doorway. His eyebrows drawn together as his smile faded. “What
is wrong? Did I not word that correctly?”

“Wrong?” Leah tried a small laugh that sounded
fake even to her ears. “No, you spoke perfectly.” There had been
more than a few instances where Rykhan had gotten tangled in his
English words but his speech had improved a lot. Something he told
her was a direct result of her help.

His eyes slowly roamed over her face as he
moved even closer. “You do not seem happy with my suggestion for
our next outing.”

Rykhan’s confusion seeped and coated her
insides.

A door across the hall opened and without
thinking, Leah snagged the folded cuff of his shirt, practically
dragging him the rest of the way inside before she closed the door
and twisted the dead bolt. Living in an apartment complex was like
living in a fishbowl and Leah liked to keep her private life to
herself.

Turning back to where he stood in front of the
foyer’s closet door, she inhaled deeply.

Audibly.

Maybe it was time to put it out
there.

They’d met at a singles event so they both knew
the other was looking to connect with someone. But with his lack of
moves and zero interest in engaging in anything of the physical
intimacy variety, Leah decided to put her cards on the
table.

She leaned, pressing her back against the front
door as she stared at him.

God, he was stunning.

Tall. So tall that he towered over her
five-foot, ten-inch stature. Tall enough that she could comfortably
wear heels when she was with him.

Long, sun-streaked brown hair fell in waves to
his shoulders. To his broad, muscled shoulders. Even though she’d
never actually seen his chest, she’d pressed against it enough
times in their brief hugs to know Rykhan worked out, since both it
and his abs were comprised of amazing hills and valleys.

He was going to be a hard act to follow, but
Leah was willing to cut her losses and move on.

Because everything within her wanted to be so
much more to him than just a friend.

As her mind swirled with all those thoughts as
well as the knowledge that she wasn’t what he was looking for, her
mouth blurted, “Why haven’t you ever tried to kiss me?”

She immediately clapped a hand over her
traitorous lips. He looked as shocked as she felt by her abrupt
question.

“Kiss you?” His voice only a whisper in the air
between them.

“Yeah. Sorry, that just kind of slipped out,”
Leah muttered, looking down at the floor, mortified to her core. As
if to add insult to injury, the sharp heat of a deep blush crept up
her face.

However, it was nothing compared to the flare
of desire shooting off him. The very same one coating her
insides.

There were a couple of beats of silence before
he spoke again. “You want me to put my mouth on yours,
Leah?”

She dragged her eyes back up to his because she
needed to see if his reaction to her oh-so-honest but embarrassing
gaff.

His face held a look of amazed
confusion.

Moreover, the wave of sticky honey said the
same.

‘You certainly put your foot in it this time.’
Leah thought her mind was overstating the obvious. So she simply
nodded in reply.

“I thought hu…ah, American females liked things
to go slowly when they dated.” He swallowed deeply and Leah watched
his throat as it moved through the motion. Even his damn neck was
sexy! “And a kiss, even this early in our relationship, would be
considered appropriate?”

There was that itch again. One that told her he
was nervous or upset.

She could only nod again as everything in her
body started squealing ‘yes, a thousand times yes!’ From his
question, she deduced he hadn’t regulated her to the position of
sidekick, as just someone to go out with until he found a woman
prettier and more enjoyable. Perhaps he had been taking it slowly,
unsure of her American customs—things so different from what he
knew or had experienced back in his home country.

Then the sensation she felt coming off him
changed.

With a look of quiet determination, Rykhan took
a small step forward and placed his hands on the door, a palm on
either side of Leah’s head, as he leaned in until their faces were
just inches apart. “Then I will be more than happy as well as
honored to kiss you, my Leah,” he breathed and tilted his chin
downward, their eyes caught in an unblinking stare.

The simmering desire between them flared all
along her skin and layered itself inside.

He filled her vision as she lifted her face to
his, silently offering her lips as her pounding heart resounded in
every cell of her body. The first press of his lips against hers
was simple, almost innocent as he glided his mouth over hers. It
was an inquisitive kiss yet in some way welcoming and she canted
her head to allow him better access.

His low groan, and the heat of the honey
emitting from him in waves, gave Leah the courage to move her hands
from his waist to his back in order to bring their bodies closer
together. An action he liked, if the way he shifted to pull her
away from the door and against his chest was any
indication.

Never mind the escalating heat that zinged
through her, of how very much he wanted…no, needed to touch
her.

Giving her the courage to use her tongue to
trace the seam of his mouth, which gained her another moan so deep
and so fervent, she was sure it came from his very toes. She
continued the move, adding more pressure with each moist sweep in a
silent plea for him to let her inside.

When Rykhan finally parted his lips, Leah
wasted no time darting inside, her whole body thrilling when she
felt the first touch of his tongue against hers. His body stilled
at their initial contact and she wondered if she’d gone too
far.

However, it was as if some kind of emotional
orgasm hit her as his tongue met hers. A joining that went far and
beyond a simple sampling.

‘In for a penny…’ she thought as she used her
lips to suckle his, curling around in a hot, wet caress before
moving to stroke as she tantalized and tasted. For a very few
seconds, she wondered if he would respond or would allow her to
take the lead. He hesitated, his moves a bit unsure for a moment
before he gripped her even tighter, angling his head as he joined
in with more enthusiasm than she’d ever seen him
display.

His capitulation turned into mastery by nothing
more than the moist, joyous fusing of their lips.

His mouth commanded as his tongue plundered,
causing Leah to arch her breasts against him. Her body was on fire
with the way he tormented her lips in a kiss that was no longer
simple. Just as she thought of taking him and his delicious mouth
into the bedroom, a hot sharp pain sliced against her bicep. An
agonizing band of burn wrapped itself around her arm and she yanked
herself away from him, bumping the back of her head against the
door in the process.

“Ouch!” She yelped through swollen lips as she
grabbed the area that throbbed even though the pain was quickly
ebbing.

“Did I hurt you?” Rykhan asked and she snapped
her eyes back up to his face. Of all the times for it to have
happened!

His concerned question immediately removed the
warm, honeyed stickiness and instead coated her skin in
ice.

“No, it wasn’t you. I just…it was like…” Her
mind whirled from their mouth-play and she struggled to find the
words to explain why she’d so abruptly disconnected from him. “My
arm felt like something burned me. Almost like a brand or
something.”

Using his eyes to ask permission, Rykhan pried
her hand away so he could see her skin. His fingers traced over the
same spot she’d felt the sting, even pulling her arm away from her
body to trail the underneath side. A skittering of goose bumps
followed in his touch’s wake.

She couldn’t sense anything from him then and
his lack of emotions scared her even more than the burn she’d
experienced.

“Can you see anything?” she asked, studying his
face. All that she’d seen on her skin had been the slight red mark
from where she’d grabbed at it.

His somber eyes grew thoughtful but Leah knew
he was holding both himself and his emotions in check. “Have you
ever had that kind of pain before? In any other place on your
body?” he queried, completely ignoring the question she’d asked
him.

“No,” Leah sighed. She wanted to get back to
what they’d been doing before her body interrupted them. But even
she had to admit the mood was broken. Especially since she could no
longer feel his emotions. “I’ve never had that happen.”

“Good.” His strong arms stole around her again
and maybe it was because she couldn’t see his expression or feel
his feelings, she became aware of the bemused tone in his one
worded growl. Placing a casual quick kiss on her forehead, his
hands dropped away and he stepped back. “I should be going. I will
call you tomorrow and we can arrange a time to go miniature
golfing.”

She told herself it was for the best as Leah
opened the locks. “Goodnight, Rykhan.”

With one hand on the railing, he turned back to
her with a rueful grin. She felt a small pulse of pleasure directed
at her. “Goodnight, my Leah. Sleep well.”

With that, their sixth date was
over.

*.*.*.*.*

Rykhan fought his body the entire way to his
vehicle parked in the visitor’s section of Leah’s apartment
complex. He battled against both his elation and the need to race
back to his earth-side residence so he could inform the other
warriors, to tell them of what had transpired between him and Leah
that evening.

Not that he was anxious to tell of
the kiss they had shared, although it had been more than amazing.
He had seen it performed on the vids and had even viewed other
human couples as they shared in the mouth-on-mouth movement that
somehow signified their affection for one another. In all truth,
what he had shared with Leah had been even better in the actual
experience than he had imagined. So deeply arousing Rykhan had
temporarily gotten lost in it, in the feel of her, and the
sensations that had shot wildly through him at their mouths
joining. To feel her arousal along their connection was a dream, a
fantasy which could have only come from
Tsiran’s
ether. Electrifying and
inciting him in a way that left his
tailpor
throbbing and demanding
release.

Nevertheless, it was what interrupted their
kiss that rocked him to his roots.

Once he had viewed the red streaks encircling
her arm, of the space of flesh where her bicep ended and her
shoulder began, Rykhan had been more than astounded.

Rykhan hitched himself into the car and
carefully entered his next destination into the modified and
enhanced GPS system. Arbrynt had tinkered with the vehicle until
the car operated on autopilot, guiding him to his destination
without any need for his control and within the guidelines of
Phoenix’s laws of driving. When Leah was in the car with him,
Rykhan was careful to maintain the appearance that he was guiding
the vehicle. However, it was a lie. There were simply too many
things to remember in how to operate a vehicle and with her as a
distraction, the autopilot was a gift.

As the car started and the gearshift
moved of its own accord, he felt his body jolt anew at the memory
of what had happened before he had left her company. Of how her
body had taken on and reflected his own symbol of the warrior’s
band and in the same exact spot on her body. The very place where
his
wahrom
rested,
complete in every detail, in every curve and design. In fact, the
only difference was in how it was on her left arm but contained
every measure of detail. A mark that had faded quickly under his
caressing gaze.

He was more than aware of what the lines
signified. Just as he had known the first time he had met her and
had seen the same scoring.

Leah was his one true and legitimate
mate.

The one true pair-partner of his
heart.

He had heard the tales from the priests, the
ones that told of the old days before the worst sort of sorrow had
stolen all of their joy. He already considered Leah the female he
was destined to meet. Just the fact that he could feel her emotions
and found peace in her presence was enough to convince him she
could be his only true mate.