Bonded (2 page)

“What do you mean?”

“I desire you, Captain.” She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest. To shield her hard nipples, the most obvious sign of her desire for him. Acknowledging her attraction made her feel even more exposed than her lack of clothing did.

He hesitated, then crossed to her side with quick, decisive strides. Jaren reached out and traced the track of tears flowing from her drugged eyes, his touch surprisingly gentle for all the size of his hand. “You’re still crying.”

Taimi shook her head. “Belladonna eyedrops. It’s an old trick of the sex-slave trade, or so I was told. It dilates the pupils to mimic desire but also blurs my vision, and light is painful.” He slipped his fingers under her chin, tilting her head back. She partly closed her eyes to block out the increased brilliance. If only she could look at him… “That’s why I—”

“I see.” He dropped his hand and walked away. She heard the door open, and he called for a servant.

“They can’t hear you.”

“Why not?”

“They would have vacated the area, to give you some privacy to claim your purchase. Unless, of course, you requested otherwise.” The stone floor made it easy to track his movements by the changing sound of his footsteps. She opened her eyes and could just make out Jaren’s blurry form as he stood directly under the light cauldron.

“Maybe I could—”

“Please do not trouble yourself, Captain.”

“But you’re hurting.”

The worry in his deep voice made her wince. Taimi wished she had never mentioned such a minor discomfort, but she had not anticipated he would respond like this. No one had ever shown concern for her before. “It is of no consequence and will wear off soon.” She held out her hand. “Please.”

He returned to her side. “So you can’t see what I look like?”

“I still remember.”

He chuckled. “I could have changed since we last saw each other. Turned old and hideous.”

“I doubt that.” She reached up and touched his cheek. Felt the roughness of his whiskers against her palm, easily over a day’s growth. Surprising. The Captain Caradoc she remembered had always been carefully clean-shaven.

He covered her hand with his. “This still doesn’t feel right.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve never owned anyone before, for one thing. I don’t like it.”

Strange. Lorus marital laws granted him rights over Lady Ethlinda’s estate—including her slaves. “But you have.”

Perhaps he could read what she was thinking. “Not directly. Not like this.”

“This is the way the law works on Lorus, Captain,” she said gently. “You have the right to take your pleasure with my body. I accept that.”

“You should have more of a choice. Especially since it’s your first time.”

“It doesn’t matter. I would have chosen you if I could.” Desire strummed through her veins, giving her the strength she needed to be bold. “I have been taught how to please a man.” She let her fingers slide away from his face and slowly knelt before him, seeking the front of his trousers and the confirmation of his desire for her in the hard shape concealed beneath the cloth. A faint, musky scent reached her: the scent of his lust. Her body clenched and grew moist in response. “Let me give you pleasure, Captain…”

Chapter Two

“You don’t need to do this.” Jaren’s breath caught as Taimi slid her slender fingers down the fly of his trousers, tracing the outline of his swollen cock. She knelt before his feet, looking up at him with eyes that couldn’t see. Nearly pure black, with the irises reduced to the finest slivers.

“I wish to please you.” Her sweet voice sounded perfectly unruffled by the situation. Docile and accepting. Jaren had never felt the need to dominate the women who shared his bed, but her submissiveness touched something, some primitive part deep inside him, and increased his arousal to the point he felt his cock might burst from the internal pressure. “Order me to stop if you do not like what I do, and I shall obey.”

The words stuck in his throat.

He should not let her do this.

They had no choice. Not if he wanted to free her.

Taimi worked at the buttons of his trousers and released his cock. She traced the length and shape of him, using touch to examine him since she couldn’t use her eyes. “You’re very hard. And very large.”

He had no answer. He couldn’t think. He felt almost light-headed. All blood had rushed from his brain to flood his cock, causing it to further expand and throb. Jaren closed his eyes, breathing hard and fast.

She tightened her grip and pumped her hand along his length. Precum pearled on the head of his shaft, and she used it to add a certain slickness to the motion, the sensation becoming mind-blowingly intense.

It had been a long time since he’d been with a woman, and his body was taking full advantage of the opportunity. Jaren groaned. “Don’t stop. Keep going. Just. Like. That.”

She squeezed and released his cock as she moved along the length, like the way her pussy would pulse around him when he was inside her. Later.

It was hard to concentrate on later. Jaren thrust his hips forward, fucking her hand, the pleasure obliterating his every last objection.

She paused, her hand locked around the base, then leaned forward and touched her lips to the swollen head. His breath hissed out in a rush, and he nearly shouted.

Heat and wetness scalded him. Taimi used her hands in concert with the motions of her lips to keep every inch of his cock a part of this party. She drew back and ran her tongue around the head. Repeated the process with a moan vibrating against his flesh.

Hot lust threatened to shut down his brain, making him ignore everything but the slick, hot feel of her mouth. He threaded his fingers through her silky hair and thrust harder, gritting his teeth.

He thought he’d known something about control, but this was different. Maybe it was because he hadn’t lain with a woman since Ethlinda’s betrayal. Maybe it was the sweet willingness of the sexy woman kneeling between his legs, showing him everything she would do to cater to his lust.

He’d never expected a virgin could make him feel like this.
Those must have been some lessons…

He was way too close to coming, and without resolving their situation.

She must have known somehow just how close he was. Taimi drew back one last time and stood, a small smile playing on her slightly swollen lips. She took him by the hand and led him toward the bed. With his pants pooled around his ankles, his steps were embarrassingly awkward, but he couldn’t remove them without stopping to take off his boots.

And he didn’t want to stop.

Not yet.

She lay back on the surprisingly lush bed. The sheets were pure white beneath her golden skin—all the better to capture the evidence of her virginity. She spread her slender legs wide and held up her arms in open invitation.

Jaren hesitated. Guilt warred with lust, the sense of taking advantage of her undiminished.

He looked at her face, flushed a deep red beneath her tanned skin. Her eyes remained dark, with the pupils dilated, minus the unnatural appearance from before. Perhaps the belladonna was wearing off.

The temptation to simply mount her and plunge deep into her slender body was strong, and he forced himself to continue standing. Settling for simply looking his fill while marshalling his self-control. He couldn’t change the mandate given by the laws, but she deserved more than a hard and hasty coupling.

Her expression wavered, and for a moment she looked uncertain. And very, very young. Much more innocent than her years, and not just in sex. “Captain? Is something wrong?”

Jaren sat on the edge of the bed. It was more than large enough for him to continue keeping his distance, and he kicked off his boots before stripping off his pants. “You don’t have to call me that.”

Uncertainty turned into full-blown confusion. “What should I call you?”

“My first name is Jaren.”

“I can’t—”

He tried to smile. “It seems more appropriate under the circumstances.” He reached out and rested his hand on one delicate ankle. Heard her sharp intake of breath. “Captain sounds too formal. There’s nothing formal about this night, is there?”

“No.” She breathed harder, her small breasts rising and falling with every harsh pant. Her skin was incredibly sensitive to his touch and as soft as silk. He vaguely remembered whispers about an aphrodisiac native to the Lorus system; he’d always dismissed the rumors as idle gossip.

Now he wasn’t so sure.

Had the slave masters given her something to heighten her desire? They’d clearly wanted her to
look
aroused. What was to stop them from further enhancing this with their potions and herbal wizardry?

Jaren found the notion distasteful.

He wanted her natural reactions. Wanted to know her desire was real and not manipulated by the auction house.

He looked into her eyes.

Despite the drugs, her expression was clear. Shyness, as expected from a virgin, but also need. She stared at his cock, as if fascinated, and gave a little shimmy of her hips, spreading her legs wider.

It was enough. For now.

He yielded to her silent plea, and their legs entwined as he settled against her, but he kept his cock pressed into the mattress between her legs, instead of up against her sweet cleft.

He knew he didn’t have the control for that. Not if he wanted to take this slow. To give her pleasure.

He lowered his head. Closed his lips around her tight little nipple and began to suckle on her.

Taimi gave another small cry, plunging her fingers into his hair. Oh yes, she was sensitive. Exquisitely responsive. She writhed beneath him and arched up into his mouth. “Jaren!”

“I like the way my name sounds on your lips.” He blew lightly on her moist skin. Felt her shiver. “Do you like that? Be honest with me, Taimi.”

“I’ve never been anything else.”

True. He lapped at her breast, teasing her nipple with the tip of his tongue. “Tell me.” He switched to her other breast.

“Yes!” She arched and squirmed again.

He rose up and caught her mouth with his. Her taste was sweet, and the movements of her lips against his were tentative. Jaren drew back slightly. “Let me guess. They didn’t teach you about kissing.”

She shook her head. “They said it wasn’t important.”

“Fools.” He wasn’t really upset. He liked the idea of teaching her how to kiss. “I’ll show you.”

“But…”

“Shhhh. Just follow my lead.” Jaren slipped his fingers under her chin, lifting her mouth to his once more. He started with a simple brush of his lips against hers, back and forth, until hers slowly relaxed and parted and heated.

Desire was still there, need still rushed through his veins, but it was easier to control now. The simple pleasure of kissing her, just kissing her, was amazing. It banked the heat in his body and let him relish the feel and touch and taste of her. He swept his tongue along her bottom lip before dipping into her mouth.

So hot.

She tasted amazing. His cock gave another hard jerk against the mattress, and his balls ached with the need for release. She let her tongue meet his, her motions hesitant.

Jaren couldn’t help it. He smiled against her lips.

She drew back. “Are you laughing at me?”

“Not at all. Why would I?”

“I thought… I don’t think I’m very good at this.” The color in her tanned cheeks intensified, and she refused to meet his gaze.

“I’m not judging you, Taimi. But if you’d like to keep practicing…”

She laughed softly and looked up at him through the fan of her thick black lashes. “I think I’d like that. If…if that’s what you want.”

Jaren shook his head. “No matter what the law says, you have a choice. You’ll always have a choice with me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I told you I came here to free you.” He caressed her flushed cheek. “Even if the law makes the final outcome mandatory, I want you to start having choices in everything else we do tonight.”

“You’re very different, Captain. I’ve never met anyone quite like you before.”

“Captain?”

“Jaren,” she corrected with another soft laugh. She curled her soft fingers around the back of his neck, drawing him to her. “I’d like to kiss you again.”

It was a small step. A small assertion. He wondered what she would be like when she stopped restraining herself, when she gave full freedom to all her thoughts and desires.

She kissed him. Opened her mouth to his, exploring his mouth with her lips and tongue.

Her eagerness renewed the intensity of his arousal.

Jaren’s cock throbbed, aching for him to finally put an end to this amorous play, but he wasn’t ready for that step, the last momentous step of claiming her innocence. Not quite yet.

He moved his mouth away, trailing his lips down her slender throat. Returning to lavish attention to her breasts. She arched into his mouth, silently urging him on. He continued lower, pausing to swirl his tongue around the delicate dip of her navel, and a soft giggle quivered through her.

He slid his hand up between her legs. She was slick and hot, and he let his fingers glide along the inside lips of her pussy before finding and toying with her clit. Taimi gasped, rocking her hips hard. He feathered light touches on the sensitive nub of flesh and moved his mouth down her flat belly, past the curling black hair, and meeting his fingers at her clit.

She tugged at his hair. “What are you…?”

He didn’t answer. He had a better use for his mouth right now.

Jaren teased her clit with the tip of his tongue. Taimi jumped. He repeated the motion and slowly slid one finger inside her. She was dripping wet but so very tight.

Taimi made a sound of both pleasure and fear. Her muscles clenched around the invading digit. She tried to thrust her hips, but he flattened his other hand against her stomach to keep her still. “Jaren, please.”

“Not yet. I want you to come for me first.” He withdrew his finger. Replaced his hands with his mouth, taking a long, slow lick of her folds, savoring his first intimate taste of her. “You taste so good.”

He lifted her legs over his shoulders, opening her wider to reveal every secret and untouched inch of her.