Bonded Read online

  He kept his voice calm. “Something wrong, Taimi?”

  She shook her head.

  He repeated the gesture. “Not ticklish, are we?”

  “No…”

  “Are you sure?” He moved his hand up her ribs to an even more sensitive spot, and she jumped.

  A reluctant laugh escaped.

  That first giggle seemed to break her resolve, and more laughter tumbled out. She writhed and bucked beneath him as he continued to tickle her. Tears streamed down her face, and she gasped for breath. “Jaren! Please!”

  “More?

  “No!” She bucked harder, nearly unseating him.

  Jaren laughed. Stilled his fingers but let the tips linger against her skin. “Is there something else you’d rather do?”

  “You’re not playing fair again.”

  “Never said I would.”

  “Are you ticklish?”

  “Now why would I tell you such a thing?”

  “Because you trust me.”

  That hit a little too close to home. He wasn’t sure he wanted to trust any woman, ever again, though Taimi had never given him reason to doubt her. Just the opposite, in fact.

  Before his thoughts could continue down that dark and dismal path, she took advantage of his momentary distraction and twisted her body beneath his. Her slender form contorted into a nearly impossible position: her breasts pressed into the mattress while her legs remained trapped on either side of his hips, her toes still pointed toward the ceiling.

  Taimi didn’t seem to know her limits. She was going to hurt herself if he wasn’t careful. He released her hands, and she tucked them under her body.

  Jaren pushed off the bed. The room had grown hot during their play, and his shirt clung in a particularly uncomfortable way. He lifted it up over his head and tossed it aside.

  She rose up on all fours and crawled toward the far edge of the mattress. Glanced over her shoulder.

  He let her think she could escape. For a moment. Then he lunged forward and caught her around the waist.

  Taimi let out another squeal as his body knocked into her from behind, pushing her face-first into the mattress. “What are you doing?”

  “What does it feel like?” He was grinning like a fool, he knew, but at the moment, he didn’t care. He slid one hand up along her stomach, drawing her back onto all fours. Knelt between her legs and arched his body over hers. “Let’s see.” He stroked the undersides of her breasts, just a featherlight touch but enough to make her squirm again. “Are you ticklish here?”

  “N-no.”

  He stroked her again. “Are you sure?”

  She glanced back at him, her face half-hidden by the tousled mass of her black hair. Pursed her lips. He felt her breasts quiver as he slowly moved his hand more fully over them, then cupped her in his palm. Rubbed his thumb over the tip of her hardened nipple. He forced his voice to a calm he didn’t feel as pure need tightened his throat. “How about here?”

  She gave a quick jerk of her hips and rubbed her bottom against the front of his pants.

  His cock surged. She took a quick, sharp breath and pressed back into him again. “Jaren,” she whispered huskily. “Please.”

  His heart beat in time with the heavy pulsing of his aching cock, and he moved his hand lower. Past her flat belly, with her delicate dimple of a belly button, to the soft black hair curling at the apex of her thighs.

  And lower.

  She was hot and slick. Ready for him.

  He loved how responsive she was.

  Jaren ran a single finger along the lips of her pussy. Taimi let out a strained moan, squirming and writhing against his touch. “Missed a spot,” he said and moved his fingers to her clit. “What about here?”

  She let out a soft whimper.

  “That sounds like a ‘yes.’”

  She twisted to look at him and stretched out one arm. The tips of her fingers brushed the side of his waist. She strained back, but he angled their bodies so she could reach no farther. “Let me touch you.”

  “I will. Later.” He clamped one hand on her hip. Held her tight against him. Only his trousers separated his cock from her opening, and Jaren was no longer sure if he was teasing her or himself. Feeling her move, feeling her juices soak the fabric over his crotch, nearly made his head spin. The ache in his balls intensified, and his cock swelled even harder than he’d thought possible.

  He dipped his fingers into her pussy, drawing on the moisture there to lubricate his touch when he returned to her clit. He circled the taut nub, not touching her directly. “Come for me first.”

  Taimi cried out, the jerking of her slender hips growing more and more erratic as her climax neared. “You said once…this i-isn’t a race.”

  “I know. But I want you to.”

  “Jaren!” His name turned into a wordless scream, and she came hard. She collapsed forward, but he caught her before she hit the mattress. Drew her up so she knelt before him, her back still pressed into his front. The new position made it easier to slide his fingers into her pussy.

  The last tremors of her climax made her muscles clutch at his flesh. He began to thrust his fingers. In. And out. Slow and easy. Teasing her again.

  Taimi whimpered. “More. Please.”

  He pulled away.

  She made a harsh, wordless cry. “What are you doing?”

  He silenced her protests with his mouth. Her lips were soft, and he plunged his tongue to tangle with hers. The kiss was hot and wet and carnal.

  It wasn’t enough.

  Jaren caught one of her hands in his and guided it between her legs. Felt her tense. “Touch yourself,” he whispered. He guided her slim fingers over her clit. “That’s it.”

  “I-I like when you touch me.”

  “I will.” He flattened his palm over her hand so she couldn’t pull it away. “I didn’t say you could stop.”

  Slowly, she began to move her fingers. Her touch was tentative at first but grew bolder as her pleasure intensified. She was exquisitely sexy, her gentle submission sending a fresh jolt to his cock.

  It surprised him. He’d never wanted to dominate any of his previous partners, not even in the slightest sense, but with her, it was different. He was different.

  Jaren curled one arm around her waist, felt her soft shudders and the quick, sharp jerks of her hips as she came again. Quick and hot and hard, her entire body shuddering violently before she sagged back against him.

  He pushed her flat onto her stomach. Her scent filled his nostrils, and her harsh breathing dominated the room.

  Jaren kicked off his boots and shed his trousers. He lay beside her, with his hips near her head, and hers near his. Taimi lifted her head and looked at him. “You can touch me now,” he said. The ache in his balls intensified, as though they’d been tied into excruciatingly tight knots. “I want to feel your mouth on my cock.”

  She glanced at his crotch, then back at his face. Shifted toward his feet. He stopped her with a touch on her hip. “Not like that.” He tapped the mattress. “Put one knee on each side of my head.”

  “Then you’ll be looking right at my—”

  “That’s the idea.”

  Her eyes widened, but she quickly obeyed, straddling him the way he wanted. He clamped his hands on her thighs to hold her in place. She fisted her small hand around the base of his shaft, and the warmth of her breath puffed against his engorged flesh. She flicked out her tongue to catch the bead of precum on the head.

  Jaren let out a low growl. If she even thought about teasing him now… “Suck me.”

  She closed her mouth over the head of his cock and slid down the length. Jaren closed his eyes, unable to watch any longer, fighting for control as she began to slide her lips and tongue along his shaft, the way she already knew he liked.

  Her soft moan vibrated against his flesh. The muscles of her thighs tensed under his hands, and he inhaled deeply, catching the musky scent of her arousal.

  Jaren forced his eyes open. He
used his fingers to part her slick folds. Her opening clenched, and her flesh glistened with a surge of wetness, as if sucking him turned her on as much as it did him.

  He had to taste her.

  Taimi cried out and stopped, midstroke. The motions of her hips grew more erratic.

  “Don’t stop.” He lapped at her with his tongue. Damn, she tasted good. He arched his hips, pushed his cock deep into her mouth. “Keep going.”

  He plunged his tongue into her folds, mimicking what his cock would do to her pussy. He moved his fingers to tease at her clit. Taimi let out another moan, harsher than before, and lifted her head. “Jaren. I…I can’t concentrate.”

  “You can.” He continued tasting her, laving her folds with his tongue. “Put your mouth back on me.”

  “I…”

  He jerked his hips, needing the warmth of her mouth. “I want to come inside your mouth while you’re coming on top of mine. At least, that’s the plan. Let’s try it and see how you like it.”

  She moaned again and lowered her head, taking him back inside. He thrust up, hard, and flicked his tongue against her pussy. Felt her clit swell. Slid his fingers inside her slit, fucking her that way while he licked her closer to the edge.

  She wriggled against his mouth and bobbed her head faster and faster. Her mouth tightened. Her soft moan vibrated against his flesh.

  Jaren could hold back no longer.

  He thrust his cock deep, the head pushing against the back of her throat. His balls tightened, and he cried out, pulsing and pouring into her mouth as her pussy clenched and tightened in rhythmic waves around his fingers.

  She swallowed his seed, all of it, and let his cock slip from her lips. Rested her cheek against his hip as they both gasped for air.

  The thundering beat of his heart slowed somewhat, and he lifted her off him, his arms—no, his entire body—shaking from the intensity of his release. Taimi curled against his side and buried her face against his neck.

  He wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss against the top of her head. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded but didn’t lift her head. “I didn’t know…” She gulped for breath, her body growing heavy against his. “You’re amazing.”

  Pride surged through his heart at her words, but he pushed the emotion away. His ego wanted to take that as a compliment, but Taimi had no one to compare him to. No set standard. He was the only man to touch her like this. To taste her. To fuck her.

  A surge of possessiveness swamped his senses. He didn’t want her to have anyone else. No matter how many times he told himself he needed to let her go, deep down, he thought of her as his. He didn’t want to think of any other man touching her. Not now. Not ever.

  Jaren tensed.

  The last time he’d felt this strongly was for his ex-wife. He’d vowed no woman would ever have such power over him again. But somehow, in her sweet, innocent way, Taimi had managed to slip under his skin. Beneath the chains locked around his heart.

  That was the last thing he wanted.

  She stirred against him, probably sensing his tension. Lifted her hand, still trembling, to rest against his cheek. A touch meant to soothe rather than arouse. “Something wrong?”

  “No.” This was their last night together. He’d already told her so, and he meant to stick to the plan. “Go to sleep…”

  Chapter Eight

  The big man swaggered through the crowd with the kind of confidence only a man his size could justify. A slight smirk played on his lips, and the gleam in his dark eyes made it clear he was looking for trouble. A very specific sort of trouble. The kind every man looked for during the festival.

  Several women eyed him with obvious interest. He wasn’t at all handsome by any stretch of the imagination, but his size sparked a certain kind of feminine curiosity, and they soon flocked about him, flitting about like tiny birds around a massive oak tree. The same curiosity had occurred to her a few times, though the role she’d been playing had rendered it impossible for her to discover if all of him was large.

  Ethlinda stepped back into the shadows. Though confident in her disguise, she wasn’t ready for him to see her.

  His presence confirmed she was in the right place. Wherever Dev Geithin loitered, Jaren Caradoc would not be far behind. How convenient for her.

  She waved her hand, dispersing magic. Changed her disguise a little here and a little there. Enhanced parts of her body in a way she was certain her former husband would find irresistible.

  Once, her only motivation to bind Jaren to her had been money. Pure and simple. Now it didn’t matter if she could touch his finances.

  She wanted revenge.

  No man had ever left her before. She always left—or rather, helped them on their way when she tired of them. Ensuring she would get what she needed as reward for her efforts in enduring the tediousness of marriage, time after time.

  She didn’t like being left behind. It made her feel weak.

  Another target added motivation, though of a different kind.

  Ethlinda wanted her former slave to see how easily she could have Jaren back in her bed. Such an innocent girl would be heartbroken to lose her first lover.

  Nothing would stop her. Nothing.

  She followed the first mate through the crowd. Though he flirted and teased with the women surrounding him, he did not appear to favor any one in particular. In the festival, the dances would decide the final pairings. The women used the music to seduce their choice, left to have sex with them, then returned to entice another. Repeating the process for as long as their energy and their interest held out.

  Dev joined a group of off-world men, but there was still no sign of Jaren or the former slave. A sliver of doubt crept into Ethlinda’s head. She never imagined the little girl could bind the space captain to her exclusively, when so many other women were readily available. Perhaps the slave was still a novelty for him. She certainly had nothing else in her favor.

  It appeared the plan would need a small amendment.

  Ethlinda continued watching. Thinking.

  She briefly considered taking the first mate instead. She was sure she could have him if she wanted, and he could get her on the ship.

  But no.

  That would not work.

  Jaren was rather odd about those things. She might be able to get him to overlook another, but there was no way she would get back in his bed if she fucked his friend.

  Too bad.

  It would have been interesting to learn that man’s true size.

  Two of his companions showed promise. Both treated the first mate with a certain degree of respect, suggesting they were likely crew members on the Marama. They were much younger than Dev, young enough for this trip to be their first working space voyage.

  Youth would make them ignorant. Reckless. Lusty. Ruled by their cocks rather than their heads. They gorged themselves on the traditional punch, seemingly unaware of what the mixture would do to them. If they continued to imbibe at that pace, they would find their cocks would not soften again for many days.

  Close to the bonfires, the deep drums began to sound.

  As one, the women moved toward the flames, the flickering light playing with the lightweight fabric of their clothing. Giving glimpses of firm, tanned skin beneath the cover. Though their skirts were composed of many layers, the cloth used in festival wear was thin and translucent, revealing more than it concealed.

  Ethlinda kept an eye on her quarry. Made one final alteration to her magicked disguise, adding a layer of the sort of flagrant sexuality the younger men would find particularly appealing.

  She was pleasantly surprised when she got a closer view. Fair-haired men normally did not appeal to her, but these two were quite attractive. Not tall, but not too short either, with lean, compact muscles.

  The taller of the two elbowed his companion. Whispered and gestured in her direction. She definitely had their attention.

  Excellent.

  The deep drumbeats vi
brated under her skin, setting the rhythm of her heartbeat. Primal tones. Ethlinda began to undulate in time with the music, never taking her gaze from her prey. She raised her arms over her head so her breasts lifted high against her tunic, her hard nipples poking against the sheer fabric. Rocked her hips, showing the men just how she would move with a cock inside her.

  It was easy. Almost too easy.

  They moved forward in unison, drawing as close to the circle of dancing women as was allowed. She favored them with her best smile, making a special point to look at each in turn, to ensure they knew she wanted both of them.

  Ethlinda whirled.

  Her skirt rose high, flaring out to expose her legs. She’d been especially careful to use magic there, knowing it was needed. They had never been one of her best features. But now, they were perfect for show. Longer than she was used to. Fortunately, she also knew just the right spells to keep her from being clumsy.

  The drums grew louder, driving the women into more and more frenzied motions. Tunics were discarded, almost in unison, though unrehearsed. Ethlinda added a series of small jumps into her rotations, setting her breasts bouncing in a way sure to captivate the young men.

  It was time.

  Other women moved to their chosen partners, though none appeared to have set their sights on hers. For the moment.

  Jaren’s first mate had already disappeared into the darkness; the low, distinctive rumble of his voice punctuated by a high-pitched, feminine squeal. Perfect. He was well occupied, out of the way and unable to interfere.

  She sashayed toward the two young crew members, flaring her hips with exaggerated care. Reached the taller one first.

  He opened his mouth as if to greet her normally. How sweet. She curled her arms around his neck and pulled his head down to hers. Pressed every inch of her curves into his hard young body. There was a very nice cock under his trousers, a trifle thin but impressively long. She kissed him, sweeping her tongue into his mouth almost before he knew what she was doing. He let out a groan and wound his lean arms around her.