Hers to Choose (28 page)

“Vixen,” Eric cursed
and returned to her breasts with a renewed sense of urgency. With her head thrown back and hands resting on his shoulders, Sophi undulated beneath the strokes of his tongue. Mercifully, she held her lower body away from contact. Even so, her low purrs of pleasure tightened his balls and sent surges of electric excitement through his groin. He didn’t need to look down to know a small circle of wetness stained his front.

“Finally!” He took a moment to appreciate the beauty of her full, white breasts topped with soft pink, fully erect nipples,
then slipped the bodice of Sophi’s dress off her shoulders.

With a deep inhale and a purely feminine wriggle,
Sophi sent the entire garment to the floor in a liquid glide of golden cloth. Gossamer white panties hugged her flesh—and nothing else. His deep groan was entirely involuntary. “By the gods, woman. I thought I could go slowly. I was wrong. Get on that bed, and if you care about those panties, take them off.”

Never taking his eyes from Sophi,
Eric began the difficult task of getting out of his skin-tight breeches without leaving himself unable to perform. Wearing a mysterious smile, Sophi crawled onto the bed. She lay on her back, spread-eagled, and ran a finger delicately between her legs, stroking slowly. Another hand gently rolled a nipple between her fingers. Her moan of gratification filled the room

“I’ll tear them off you. Be warned,” he
snarled. But Sophi just lay there, teasing him with the sight of her pleasuring herself.

“Hell’s breath.” Stripping the last resisting bit off his leg, Eric threw his breeches over his shoulder and advanced on his bride. “Last warning. Take them off.”

She watched him approach, her eyes half-lidded and sultry. “I can’t.”

He stopped, immediately suspicious. “
Why?”

“More glue.”

A few vulgar oaths more appropriate for a battlefield than a bridal bower left his mouth. “You are going to be very, very sorry, madam.”

Sophi pushed up to a sitting position against the headboard and spread her legs even wider.
Tossing her head back, she beckoning to him with a ‘come-hither’ finger. “Prove it.”

A delicious frisson of fear lanced through Sophi a
t the look on Eric’s face. He slowly crawled onto the bed and knelt between her outstretched legs.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that.
He looks positively dangerous. How delightful.
The small scrap of cloth concealing the flesh between her legs was sodden with her excitement. Its constant rubbing against her swelling folds had done nothing but torture her to greater arousal. The insides of her thighs glistened with her slick moisture.

“So
,” he said tightly, running gentle probing fingers along the inside of her thighs and buttocks, then across her belly where the gossamer cloth stuck to her flesh, “where shall I start?”

She ached to have the stretching slide of Eric’s cock filling her.
But the damnable panties have to come off first.
For the first time, Sophi considered that, perhaps, this hadn’t been such a good idea. Mother Lyre had said this tradition was better for the woman, the
incollare
ensured more foreplay. But what if the woman didn’t
want
more foreplay? What if she wanted to go straight to the fucking!
I should have thought this through.

“Umm, across my belly would . . .” she began.

“No. You mistake me, sweetling.” His smile was almost unfriendly. “Rhetorical question. You don’t have a say.”

He ran his hands up her legs to her knees. He spread her wide
, pushing her knees upward until the limits of her body stopped him. “Put your hands where mine are and hold yourself open,” he snapped.

“What do you mean I don’t have a say?” She was slow to obey him.

“Afraid you’re not up to it,
Flight Leader
? Do it or I’ll tie you open.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”
Her eyes narrowed at his arrogant threat. “I’m up to anything you can hand out, Commander.” She slapped his hands away and pulled her legs open. “Happy?”

His eyes held hers with a dangerous glint. “Not yet, but I will be.”

Eric flattened himself on the bed, his shoulders helping to support her outstretched legs, his long arms stretched forward, sending a blaze of stimulation direct to her clit with his constant plucking and rolling of her nipples. Stacked on top of that sensation, her most sensitive skin bathed in warm wetness while he sucked and lathed her inner thighs, swiping his tongue under until the material floated free of her skin.

The Great Mother as her witness, she tried to be
stoic, but the task she had set herself was impossible. How was she to know that her clit was wired to her nipples? How was she to know the diabolical man would leave the waistband glued securely then root the loosened crotch into the center of her folds to press maddeningly on either side of her clit? When Eric used his thumbs to hold open the slick petals of her channel and then tickled the insides of them with his tongue, she moaned in desperation, dropped her legs and gripped his hair, holding him to the task. He stopped and raised his head, pinning her with a steely glare.

“Please, Eric
…”

“Put your hands back on your knees and hold yourself open
.” With a small sob, she obeyed, and he went back to finding creative ways to torture her.

As time progressed, her wanton moans became keening cries of abject begging. Finally, finally, he moved his attentions to the small amount of
incollare
still adhering the waistband to her belly.

“Drop your legs and lift your hips.” Now
that
was a command she obeyed with alacrity. The slide of material down her limbs had never been more welcome. Kneeling upright between her legs, he dropped the now-loathed apparel on her stomach like a conqueror planting a flag. Her fist closed around them and she threw them across the room.
This was a terrible idea.

Eric kneed her legs open.
“Now, my lady. I am going to fuck you.”

“Yes, please, yes,” she
begged.

Her eyes flew to the blood-
engorged staff rising erect from between his legs. A large, clear drop of fluid crowned the broad head. As she watched, it slid down, leaving a glistening trail, merely to be replaced with another. She wanted to feel him, that unique satin over steel experience. Nothing else in the universe felt like an aroused male. She reached toward him.

“Don’t touch me,” he growled. She pulled back
, trying to hide her hurt at his rebuff.

A warm hand turned her face toward him. “
My love. I’m too aroused. I’d like to be
inside
you when I come. It’s a matter of male pride.” A rueful smile crossed his face and his voice softened to a verbal caress.
“So...don’t touch me. Don’t
breathe
on me. Okay?”

Love for this man flooded her heart. “Okay,” she whispered as he leaned
forward and kissed her.

“Alright, sweetling, scoot
down.” Grinning, she wiggled down until she was flat on the bed. With a sighing groan, Eric lay between her legs, supporting himself on his elbows. Catching her gaze, he ordered, “Don’t move a muscle. Don’t breathe. Don’t
blink
.”

She rolled her eyes in amusement. “Male pride thing?”

Eric nodded, grinning. “Yeah. Male pride thing.”

The hard length of him probed at her slick folds, centered on her and pressed in slowly.
Don’t move? Great Mother, it’s impossible!
She tried her best to ignore the welcome stretch of the outrageously sensitive tissue lining her channel as it gloved Eric’s hard shaft. She tried her best to ignore the intensely gratifying pressure as his pubic bone pressed firmly against her clit. He hit a place deep inside her that was, almost, her undoing.
A choked sob escaped her.

“Okay?”

His voice was of a stranger being tortured.

She exhaled slowly through her mouth. “
I left okay behind several hours ago. You feel incredible. I’m so close. It won’t take much.”

“Hmm.”

His forehead dropped on her chest. She supposed he concentrated on controlling the long, glorious, outward slide of his cock. He pulled out almost all the way then pulsed in small bumps, his cockhead never entering more than an inch. Rolling his hips, he entered her fully, sliding across that insanely sensitive spot again. Continuing as he started, Sophi counted ten, eleven maybe, deep thrusts before she gasped aloud. “I can’t hold it. I’m coming, I’m coming.” And her world shattered.

Eric straightened on his arms, threw one of her knees over his shoulder
and pumped into her three times before shouting his release. Straining into her, he held them locked impossibly tight. She could feel the throb of his cock and the flooding warmth of his cum. It was almost enough to send her over again.
Once isn’t nearly enough.
He remained like that for long moments.

Finally, Eric dropped his shoulder and her leg slipped down. Collapsing next to her, his warm arms gathered her to him and he murmured, “Once won’t be nearly enough.”

Smiling, Sophi answered. “My thoughts, exactly.” She looked forward eagerly to the remainder of the night.

“So
...
what sadist thought up the
incollare
?” Eric’s low rumble roused Sophi from the dazed relaxation her mind had wandered into. “I could definitely make use of it to repair some broken harness.”

Laughter bubbled up and Sophi snuggled further into Eric’s warmth. “I know. Colossally bad idea. But you got your revenge.”

She felt his chuckle under her cheek. “No. Not necessarily a bad idea. Just bad for us, tonight. I can definitely see some, ah, creative uses for such a torturous substance.”

A thrill streaked up her spine at his suggestive tone.
“Speaking of creative uses.” Sophi pushed up and examined his face. “We will save quite a bit on candles.”

“Hmm, how’s that?” Eric’s eyes had closed and he lay relaxed.

Sophi fought to keep her voice nonchalant. “Well, if you glow this brightly every time we make love, I won’t bother with candles.”

He cracked one, baleful eyeball open and regarded her. “You know it bothers
…”

“Yes.”
She solemnly nodded. Well, she attempted solemn. Hiding her hilarity resulted in some unusual facial distortions. “I know.”

“And you can’t just ignore
…”

“Oh, no.” She shook her head
, interrupting him again. Her eyes twinkled but her voice remained deadly serious. “It is
very
mystical. I am in complete awe.”

With an outraged roar, he
grabbed her and rolled over on top of her. The devilish look in his eyes scared her a little.
Ooh. How...fun.
He winked at her, then laughed. “So, you incorrigible tease, ready for round two?”

* * *

The warm morning sun filled the villa’s bathing room and Sophi climbed awkwardly into the large tub. A hot soak would do her tenderized feminine places good. Her dear husband, responsible for that tenderness, sprawled face down in the pillows, dead to the world.
It had been quite a night.

She gently passed a soapy sponge over her shoulders and neck as her thoughts turned to the days ahead.
Later that day, she and Eric would accompany the queen to Sylvan Mintoth. There they would plan a route of villages, cities and towns throughout Verdantia. She and Eric, with a traveling guard, would spend time at each place and renew the spent
diamantorre
. By doing so, they would restore conveniences and necessities the decimated population had struggled without since the end of the Haarb war
.
The ability to use her birthright in service to her people satisfied Sophi on an elemental level.

Forced to have
sex with Eric. What a hardship.
A low, throaty chuckle accompanied her thought.

“Well, that is a laugh that bodes no good.” Eric stood
naked in the doorway, a slight smile tipping his lips. “You don’t happen to know where my clothes are?”

Smiling inwardly
, she assumed a prim demeanor. “Yes, your tunic lay in the hall five steps from the entry door and your shirt was five steps beyond that. Your right boot leaned against a chair in the main room and one sock hung from the fireplace grate. Your left boot was on the bed in the east bedroom along with your other sock. Your breeches were on the floor of our bedroom.”

He shook his head
, amused at her detailed recital. “I looked. They aren’t there anymore.”

“
No. They are neatly hanging in our closet—where clothes belong.” She held her left leg up to soap it, struggling to keep a straight face.

He snorted. “
Goddess help me. You are one of those.” He scrubbed his face, gave a long suffering sigh and made to leave.