Tales of the Djinn: The Guardian (14 page)

“Ready for the rest?” he asked.

She blushed like a summer rose, took one step
back, and nodded.

He smiled. He frightened her a little, not
because he was a monster, but because he was a man. Luckily, he
didn’t frighten her too much.

“Sure?” he asked teasingly.

She put both hands behind her back. “I’m
trying not to jump you before the show is done.”

Oh, she made him laugh—and when he least
expected it.

“I’ll give you a show,” he promised. Setting
the belt aside, he took off his shoes and socks. He possessed
enough sleight of hand to remove his knife and ankle holster
without her noticing. Best not to alarm her with that, he
thought.

Her toes curled against the tiles as his bare
feet appeared.

“Big feet,” she said when he raised one
eyebrow. “No wonder you thought mine were small.”

“They
are
small, you silly girl.”

She grinned, impish delight beaming from her
face. She brought her hands from behind her back to gesture for him
to resume. “Come on, then. Let’s see the full Monty.”

He didn’t know that term. When he plucked it
from the linguistic ethers, he huffed his breath out in mock
offense. “I’m just your toy.”

“Not yet, you’re not.”

He couldn’t recall experiencing precisely
this blend of lust and humor while undressing for a woman. It felt
good, like light was filling him up inside. He undid the tabs on
the waist of his trousers and drew the stretched out zipper
carefully down.

That hurdle cleared, he dropped trou with a
whoosh of fine tailored wool. Elyse laid one slim finger beside her
mouth. “That settles that question. Boxer briefs. I would have
guessed commando.”

“The weather is too cold for that.”

“So it is. And the red and yellow horizontal
stripes?”

“Are festive!” He crossed his arms at her
amused tone. “The clothing store offered ship’s anchor patterns
too. And ducks.”

“Ducks.” The corners of Elyse’s mouth
twitched deeper into her cheeks. Her green eyes sparkled. “Are you
saving them for a special occasion?”

“Maybe,” he said, pretending to be
grumpy.

She stepped closer, laid her hands on his
folded forearms, and went on tiptoe to kiss his chin. “They’re
beautiful. You’re beautiful. Every . . . delicious . . . inch of
you.”

Her fingertips skated across his forearms,
stroking the dark fine hair that grew there. To his elbows her
caress went, over his hipbones and the apparently too-festive
underwear. Skirting around his bulge, she smoothed a path to their
hem and back. His skin tingled underneath.

He couldn’t forget she was already naked. He
enjoyed looking down her too much.

“May I?” she asked, her body almost touching
his.

“May you what?” His voice was thick, his arms
seeming to unfold by themselves. Mesmerized by her shining eyes, he
laid his hands lightly on her hips. When he rubbed his thumbs
there—noting she wasn’t chilled anymore—her skin was velvety.

“May I remove your beautiful boxer briefs?”
she asked.

“I thought you wanted me to strip for
you.”

“Now that I’ve seen you in these, I’ve
changed my mind.” Her thumbs moved too, feathering the stretched
cloth to either side of his erection. His body shuddered with pent
desire, his testicles drawing up.

“That is a woman’s prerogative,” he
admitted.

She grinned, cupping one hand directly over
his straining cock. Arcadius’s libido went haywire, liquid
excitement squeezing from the slit at his tip. Elyse stretched up
his front with the clear intention to kiss his mouth. Arcadius
caught her firm upper arms.

“Don’t,” he said, though the very tips of her
breasts trembled in his chest hair.

“Don’t?”

“If you kiss me, I’ll forget to be a
gentleman. You won’t have any more say in what happens.”

Elyse dropped back to her bare heels. “Good
to know,” she said teasingly.

He almost lost it at her joke. He wanted to
maraud her, to conquer and command and drive himself deep inside
her softness until they both broke into pieces. Instead, he stood
respectful and unmoving as she pulled the boxer briefs down his
braced legs.

She bent to complete the task, her
unintentional genuflection doing bizarrely powerful things to his
arousal. He couldn’t doubt he liked the thought of her on her
knees, servicing his raging cock with the soft pink mouth that had
earned his appreciation from the start.

When she straightened, her brows went up at
his expression. “Are you all right? You look thunderous.”

“I desire you very much. It is hard to
wait.”

“Oh.” She smiled beatifically. “Will you wait
long enough for me to explore you?”

“Yes.”

He probably sounded as thunderous as he
looked, but she displayed no fear as she pushed spread fingertips
up his chest and across his shoulders. Her fingernails scratched
gently, not leaving marks but only warm pleasure trails. Sensing
she preferred him not to interfere, his dropped his arms to his
sides.

“You’re big,” she said, her eyes seeming to
touch him too. “Not just your . . . cock but all of you.”

He liked that she said the word—and that she
was a little shy of it. “I am proportional.”

He
thought
this was true. He hadn’t
really overdone his copy by that much.

Elyse circled around to his back, her softly
scoring nails doing deliriously nice things to his muscles there.
She laughed at his comment. “You’re more than proportional. You’re
massive.”

He wanted to turn and look at her. “I’ll be
careful with you.”

“I’m not worried that you won’t.”

She kissed him between his shoulder blades,
her hands sliding down to cup his gluteus maximi. She squeezed the
muscles with surprising strength. “Nice butt, by the way, big guy.
Very bitable.”

That image lashed him, a perfect storm of
lust whipping through his veins. Apparently, he liked the idea of
her nipping him as much as vice versa.

“Touch my cock if you’re going to,” he
warned.

This time she didn’t laugh. She slid her
slender arms around him, hugging him from behind. The unthinking
tenderness of her embrace made his ribcage contract. Had she held
her husband this way? He pushed the question determinedly from his
mind. Her cheek pressed his upper back, her soft breasts his mid,
and her satiny belly his clenched rear. Her fingernails combed the
hair on his thighs. Then her thumbs and fingers enclosed his
thudding shaft.

“Is this good?” she whispered, tightening the
wrap as she pulled upward.

Arcadius’s entire body tensed with delight.
He felt as if he’d never been touched before. Hot chills chased
along and inside his cock, causing the tip to pulse and leak more
excitement.

He put one hand over both of hers, stopping
their motion. “That’s
too
good, sweetheart.”

He turned to her, his shift forcing her to
release his erection. Their gazes met like laser beams in the
steamy room.

“If you kiss me . . .” she said.

“If I kiss you.”

Her tongue curled over her upper lip. “I’m on
birth control.”

His mind sorted through the implications of
the phrase. “My body is as clean as a virgin’s,” he responded
honestly.

Her laugh was partially a snort. She knew he
was experienced. He sucked his breath in sharply as she took him in
hand again. Eyes locked on his, her thumb pushed up the side of his
shaft to circle the swollen head. Round and round she went, each
pass intensifying his sensations. He couldn’t imagine what she saw
in his expression. She switched from circling to a crosswise rub.
Pre-come made her thumb pad slide. A low moan broke in his throat
as pleasure blurred his vision.

“I love the way your skin feels here,” she
said throatily. “So smooth. So hot. I’d love to feel it inside of
me.”

“Then you will. And soon, if God allows.”

She shivered at the deepness of his
voice.

He dropped his head and kissed her.

This was no teasing brush of lip on lip. This
was the slow deep burn of passion. He pushed his tongue inside her
mouth, sucking, drawing, sliding his arms around her back and
lifting her to him. Her naked body felt amazing plastered tight to
his. Conveniently, he could cover her rounded bottom with just one
hand. Since this was the case, he used his second to tilt and
support her head.

“Mm,” she hummed, her tongue stroking
alongside his. Her hands clutched his shoulders from behind.
“Arcadius.”

He kissed her graceful neck and then her
mouth again. She had no coyness. She was responsive and sleek and
utterly delicious. He could have kissed her all night.

Of course, he needed to fuck her too.

“Elyse.”

The shower door opened on a curved track. He
slid it aside and stepped into the spray carrying her.

“Oh, that’s good,” she moaned, her head
dropping back at the water’s heat. It
was
good, nearly as
steamy as a Turkish
hammam
. Water ran down her breasts,
enticingly skirting her flushed nipples.

Arcadius smiled at her sensual reaction. “Let
me help warm you.”

Her head came up. She framed his face in her
hands, kissing him just as intimately as he’d kissed her. Oddly,
her boldness had the same power as her kneeling.

He didn’t know if he could stand wanting her
this much. His body felt so good, so ready to plunge into hers and
pump. He pushed her into the thick glass wall, careful not to use
all his strength on her. Controlling himself was an increasing
challenge. Every time he thought he couldn’t get more excited,
another wave of arousal washed through him. Unable to resist, he
ducked his head to her breasts. The beads that tipped them were as
smooth as butter, as sweet to his suckling mouth as strawberries.
She liked him pulling on them. She made little pleasured noises and
wriggled in his arms, obliging him to grip her rear tighter.

That was no hardship. Her curves there were a
delight to squeeze.

When she lifted her legs around him, crossing
her ankles behind his hips, he couldn’t contain a groan. The
muscles of her calves were as firm as apples.

“Please,” she said, her hand traveling down
his front to find his erection. “Warm me from the inside now.”

~

Elyse had never had her hands on a man as
hard and perfect as Arcadius. His muscles were hot marble, every
part of him a joy to touch. His back called to her, his arms, the
taut rounds of his buttocks.

The part her fingers curled around next was
especially rewarding.

She pushed aside her niggle of intimidation
over how large he was. He knew what he was doing. The confident way
he held her left no doubt of that. He’d know how to bring her
pleasure with this too.

She placed his erection’s silky pulsing head
at her gate. Arousal welled from her at the contact, the ache in
her increasing. How much she wanted him was ridiculous. Since he
was where she wished, she let go to grip his shoulders.

The shower pounding on them felt good
too.

“Elyse,” he said in his seductive voice. He
brushed her wet hair back with one hand. Though his body vibrated
with desire, he didn’t press inward. Maybe he wasn’t sure he
should?

“I trust you,” she said.

Something flickered behind his eyes. He put
his second hand underneath her bottom. The feel of his big warm
palms was sexy.

“Just relax,” he said, purring the
instruction. “I have you. You don’t have to hold your weight.
Feel
me push into you. I’ll take my time. You can just enjoy
it.”

“I’m not supposed to do anything?”

“Later,” he growled, his hypnotizing eyes
glowing. “When I’m all the way in you.”

His hips gave a slow firm push. The pressure
of his cock on her entrance increased, the effect so pleasurable
she gasped. The flare of the head squeezed in, stretching her
passage without the least discomfort, no doubt because she was so
wet. The muscles of Arcadius’s face tightened—at how good the entry
felt, she supposed, and maybe from curbing his natural male urge to
go faster.

He pushed again, still slowly, and slid
deeper. He tensed more, but Elyse’s spine lost its last iota of
stiffness. His heat and thickness felt so good. This was primal.
Being taken. Being owned. She was ready to surrender. Or certainly
her pussy was.

“Oh, my God,” she breathed as he forged in to
his last inch.

Her pussy was in love. His huge hot cock had
conquered it. She knew she’d never forget the sensation of him
throbbing and alive inside of her.

“Okay?” he asked breathlessly.

His heart was pounding in his big chest.
Elyse had locked her arms around him without thinking. She bit her
lip and grinned.

“Much better than okay,” she said.

He rubbed their noses together, his smile a
subtler curve than hers. “All right. I’m going to move now. Don’t
do anything until I get the feel of you.”

She got the impression he liked that: him
acting, her accepting what he did. For the moment, she didn’t mind.
Him pulling gently back and forging in again felt incredible.

The growl of enjoyment that rumbled from his
chest wasn’t bad either.

She twined her fingers in his thick
below-the-collar hair. The next time he pushed, she met him with
her own forward tilt.

“You want to help me,” he observed.

“I do. I’m a fan of a good team effort.”

He blinked before letting out a low male
laugh. “All right. See if you can keep up.”

The steam shower was spacious—or so she’d
thought before he got into it. He braced the sole of one foot on
the curved wall behind him. Evidently, one leg was all he needed
for balancing. He nuzzled her neck, somehow finding just the right
spot to make her melt. Only when he had her trembling did he begin
moving.