Forsaken (The Djinn Wars Book 5) (17 page)

His hair brushed against her face, smelling of clove and cinnamon. Madison inhaled, wanting to breathe him in, to take him into every pore, every part of her. Their eyes met, and she saw a naked wonder in his. Why? He was no inexperienced boy. He obviously knew what he was doing. And yet —

His movements sped up, and all thought fled. The world became this fire-lit room, the heat of his body against hers, the throbbing need in every cell of her body. She was about to come again.

He must have felt it, too, because he moved with her, his fingers tangled in her hair, his skin warm and damp. And then a convulsive thrust, as she locked her legs around him and drew him in just that much deeper, needing just that much more before another cry forced itself from her throat, all the loneliness and the hurt and the want bursting from her in that moment of climax.

His arms were around her. He held her as she came, as she shuddered and came apart in his embrace. He said her name, the deep rumble of his voice bringing her back to herself.

“Madison.”

She clung to him, wanting to remain locked together like this forever. Because once she let go, she’d have to face what she’d just done.

He was a djinn. What that meant, she still didn’t know.

T
hey lay there
for a long while. At last, though, Madison murmured, “I need to get cleaned up,” and slipped off the bed, then went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Qadim watched her go, and made no protest. He sensed that she needed some time to be alone with her thoughts. Indeed, he thought he could use some time himself.

He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, bathed in the flickering light from the fire in the hearth. It had not been so very long for him — his last liaison had been a few months ago, over the summer — and yet it seemed to him in that moment that he’d been waiting years, or decades…or centuries…for a woman who could satisfy him the way being with Madison had.

Perhaps it was merely that she was a mortal, and not djinn. In appearance, the two races were not so very different, but her reactions, the sweet taste of her — those were all Madison, and Madison alone. Djinn women tended to be accomplished lovers, true. How could they not be, with so many years of practice? But they had none of Madison’s fire, her pure need.

She came out of the bathroom then, face glowing and slightly damp. It appeared she’d splashed some water on her skin. But she hadn’t taken the robe that hung from the hook on the door, and neither had she wrapped a towel around herself. She strode toward the bed, proudly naked, and a wave of arousal washed over him, hot and hungry and needful. It didn’t matter that they’d climaxed together less than a quarter-hour before. He wanted her all over again.

“Come here,” he growled, and a slow smile spread over her full lips.

“What, that wasn’t enough to satisfy you?”

“Was it enough to satisfy you?”

Her smile widened. “I thought it was, but….”

Without finishing the sentence, she slipped under the covers and pressed her naked body up against his. He didn’t know for sure what inner battles she’d fought during those few moments she’d spent in the bathroom, but clearly she did not seem to have any problems with continuing to explore their intimacy.

His hands moved down to cup her breasts, so heavy and full and soft, even though the rest of her body was almost too slender. Before Madison, he would have said he preferred his women more rounded, but he loved every inch of her form, including her long, lean legs and the very subtle curve of her hips.

And that hair. It brushed against him, warm and tantalizing, every fine strand seeming to awaken a new nerve ending. A soft moan sounded low in her throat as he took her nipple into his mouth and suckled, even as he reached down to touch the delicious wetness between her legs. Yes, she was so very ready.

He wanted to see all of her as they joined again. Without giving her any warning, he took her by the slender waist and lifted her so she could settle down on top of him. She gasped, and then her eyes shut in obvious pleasure as he filled her and they began to move together, finding their rhythm once again. Qadim reached up to caress her breasts, and her head tilted backward, those long, luscious curls brushing against his thighs.

By God, it took all his effort to keep himself from climaxing then and there. But he pulled in a breath, knowing that he wanted this to continue for as long as possible, for him to feel her tight and warm around him, to slip his fingers over the sweet buds of her breasts and listen as her moans grew louder and louder. He’d always enjoyed women who were vocal, and clearly Madison had no problem with letting him know how much she enjoyed his touch.

But her breathing began to accelerate, and he saw a glow of perspiration on her forehead, and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer now. Good; he could have held off a little longer, but he wanted that release as well, wanted to spill inside her and listen to her cry out in pleasure.

Which she did as she fell forward, her hair brushing against his face. She gave quick, panting gasps, her entire body trembling around him. Just a second or two later, he let the orgasm rush through him, dark and shuddering and so very, very good.

He put his arms around her and held her while she lay against his chest, her breathing still rapid, her heart pounding against him. Then, very gently, he kissed her on the temple and breathed in the sweet scent that clung to her heavy hair.

At last she pushed herself off him and collapsed on her back. For a long moment, she didn’t say anything, only breathed in and out, clearly trying to gather herself. Eventually she rolled over onto her side so she could look at him. Obliging her, he moved as well so they were face to face.

Some kind of worry flickered in her eyes, and he immediately reached out to brush a stray strand of hair away from her lovely, lovely face. “My dear, what is it?”

“Can djinn and humans — I mean, do I have to worry about getting pregnant? It’s been a long time since I was last on the pill.”

He didn’t know precisely what this “pill” was but guessed it must be some kind of contraceptive. Since humans couldn’t control their reproductive cycles internally, they had no choice but to resort to external means to prevent pregnancy. “Djinn and humans can reproduce,” he began, then continued before that trace of fear in her eyes could flare into anything worse, “but only if they choose to do so.”

“If they choose — ” She stopped there, gold-flecked green eyes narrowing. “What do you mean?”

“I mean that a djinn has to consciously decide that he or she wants to be fertile for a pregnancy to occur. I certainly would not make such a decision without you agreeing to it, and so these two times we were intimate, I made sure that I would not be fathering any children.”

The worry in her face disappeared, to be replaced by a certain amusement. “So you were shooting blanks?”

He wasn’t sure if he understood the idiom. “Shooting…what?”

A flash of a grin, and she moved forward so she could kiss him on the cheek. “Just an expression. So I really don’t have to worry about getting pregnant, no matter how many times we have sex?”

“No, there is no need to worry.” Qadim stopped there, wondering if he should be offended by her very obvious relief. Not that he wanted to have children any time in the near future — he’d certainly avoided fatherhood so far, had ended several relationships because the women involved did wish to begin families — but he didn’t know if he quite liked Madison being so overjoyed by the prospect of
not
bearing his children.

“Good.” Then she gave a very small shake of her head before reaching out to run a hand over his hair. “That’s not an insult, Qadim. I’m sure we’d make very pretty babies together. But things are complicated enough right now that it’s probably a good idea to avoid the whole reproduction thing for a while.”

He had to agree with that. After all, he had no real plans for any of this to be permanent. Right now everything was new and fresh and wonderful, but in his experience, that state of affairs never lasted. Still, he wanted to enjoy it while he could, and the prospects for doing so seemed infinitely better without bringing the messiness of children and pregnancy into the equation.

“Very sensible,” he said then, since she was obviously waiting for a reply. “In the meantime, how about some dessert?”

“Dessert?”

“I made that thing your people referred to as ‘flan.’ I have never had it before, but the components promised something delicious.”

“It is.” Madison paused then, an expression of dismay going over her face. “But oh — we left all that lovely food out. We need to go downstairs and pack it all up and put it in the refrigerator.”

“No need,” he told her, somewhat amused by her concern over wasting the remainder of their dinner. “It has already been packaged and put away. So I suppose in the next day or so I will be able to experience that human custom known as ‘eating leftovers.’”

She flashed him another smile and then snuggled closer, laying her head on his chest. For the moment, he was sated, and so he could simply enjoy the feeling of her warm, soft hair against his skin and the exquisite brush of her breasts on his stomach. “That’s good. And dessert sounds lovely, but….” She yawned. “Is the flan in the refrigerator, too?”

“It is.”

“Then let’s save that for tomorrow. I don’t want to move.”

“You don’t have to,” he replied softly, because he could tell from a slight shift in her breathing that she was so very close to falling asleep. He wanted her to go to sleep in his arms, wanted to hold her forever like this.

The problem was, nothing lasted forever. Not even for a djinn.

* * *

M
adison couldn’t recall
when she’d fallen asleep, but clearly that second round had knocked her out, because she didn’t wake up until sunlight was peeking through the gaps in the curtains that hid the tall windows on the other side of the room. Next to her, Qadim seemed to still be sleeping, eyes shut and his chest rising and falling with regular, deep breaths.

So djinn did sleep. She’d wondered about that, wondered if he would just pretend to be asleep so as not to make things seem too strange to her, but clearly the djinn weren’t so different from humans in that respect. As for herself, well, it had been a long day, and having a heavy meal and several spectacular rounds of sex just guaranteed that she would pretty much pass out.

It seemed that Qadim wasn’t too worried about the time of day, since the clock on the nightstand said it was three twenty-two, and she doubted they’d slept that long. Her mouth felt gummy, though, and she needed to use the bathroom. Moving as quietly as she could, she slipped out from under the covers and went into the bath, then took care of business and stopped to rinse her mouth out. Before leaving the bathroom, she took the robe off the hook behind the door and slipped it on. As she approached the bed, Qadim’s eyes flickered open.

“I didn’t mean to wake you — ” she began, but he only shook his head.

“No, it was time for me to be awake. Usually I’m up before the sun.”

“Did I wear you out?”

He shot her a look from under his eyelashes, the kind of glance that sent the blood, pulsing and warm, between her legs. But his tone was mild enough as he replied, “Hardly. Although now that we’re both awake, perhaps it would be wise to have some sort of breakfast in order to replenish our…reserves.”

“You’re probably right.” Would she have been up for round three? Her body seemed to be saying yes. Then again, some coffee would be good. And some of Qadim’s amazing scrambled eggs. Neither of them was going anywhere, so why not have a leisurely breakfast and see what happened from there?

He watched her as she reclaimed her panties from where they’d been lying discarded on the floor. The lovely blush-colored silk outfit was also on the floor next to the bed, and she couldn’t help making a sound of dismay as she lifted it and saw that the tunic appeared to be shredded beyond repair.

“I told you not to worry about that,” he said, then pushed himself to an upright position in the bed, although the sheets and duvet covered everything below the waist.

“I know. But it’s still sad to see something so beautiful get ruined.”

His expression softened. “Bring it here.”

Mystified, she leaned across the bed so she could hand the tunic to him. Luckily, the trousers seemed to have survived unscathed, so after Qadim had taken the tunic from her, she bent to retrieve the pants and drape them over a nearby chair.

The djinn moved a hand over the tunic and then shook it out. Madison’s eyes widened. The neckline had been ripped, and most of the buttons down the front torn out. Now, however, the garment appeared good as new, with no sign of the damage Qadim had inflicted on it the night before.

“How…?”

He smiled, then extended the tunic toward her. She took it from him with fingers that shook slightly. “We djinn have our elemental powers, the ones that allow us to control earth and air, fire and water. But we also possess other powers, the sorts of things that allow us to keep the electricity going, or the water flowing — or to make sure the leftovers from a dinner make it safely into a refrigerator.”

“And to repair clothing, apparently.”

“Precisely.”

“Well, that’s handy.” Madison wasn’t sure if being flip was exactly the right response, but she needed a few seconds to absorb that information. Clearly, she had a lot to learn about the djinn.

“It can be helpful, true.” Qadim pushed aside the bedclothes and got up.

Good lord, but that man had an amazing body. Madison tried her best not to stare at his sculpted backside, at the long, hard muscles of his thighs, but it was difficult. Never in her life had she been this close to a man built like that. But then he bent and retrieved his own discarded clothing, slipping on first the trousers, and then the loose robe.

Show’s over,
she told herself, fighting back a pang of disappointment. In the past, she’d never been the type to obsess over a man’s appearance, but it was awfully hard with Qadim. He was so eminently stare-able.

“Are you ready to go downstairs?” he asked her, and she nodded.

“But can we go down the old-fashioned way?” she replied. “All that blinking in and out can be a little disconcerting.”