Marked (23 page)

I love him for saying that.

Zane lies back on the bed.  “Why did you have to show up on this doorstep?”

“Because your sister brought me here.”

“That’s right.  Remind me to kill her in the morning.”

Good thing I know he doesn’t mean that.  “She didn’t know.”

Zane moves up the bed and leans back on the pillows he had tossed back on it.  “I think this earns me the right to sleep on the bed instead of the floor.”

I’m not so sure it does, but since he’s so calm about the situation, I’m not going to argue.  “Okay.”

I hear the zipper of his jeans and feel the bed move as he shimmies out of his pants and then removes his shirt.  I crawl back under the covers and hope that he didn’t go commando today.  That would be a bit much.

On the other hand, maybe the way to get one man out of my head is to replace him with another.  My attraction to Zane may not be quite as strong as my attraction to Roman, but it’s pretty damn close.  He’s sexy, funny, and smart.  He’s also willing to put his life on the line for me and he was the first one to stick up for me when it was discovered that Roman and I are djinn. 

Why do I have to talk myself into this?  Before my car accident, I would have drooled all over Zane.  Well, when I took my nose out of one of my medical books, anyway.  This might not be the best time in the world to start a relationship, but I’m going into a battle that I may not survive.  Do I want to die never having loved someone?  Even though I’ve only known him a short time, I have a feeling that if I open myself up to Zane, I could easily fall in love with him.  Even if I don’t, I bet I’d still be sexually satisfied, and it has been a very long time since that happened.  I think it’s time to enjoy some things that I put on hold in my previous life.

Zane rolls onto his side away from me.  “Goodnight, Skye,” he says, settling himself in.

I roll towards him and press my body against his.  He is wearing boxers.  I run my hand up and down his arm as I curl into him.

“What are you doing?” he asks cautiously.

“Make me forget.”

“Come again?”

“Make me not want anyone but you,” I purr in his ear.  My hand moves to his hip and I feel him tense.

“I don’t compete for women and I certainly won’t be second best,” he says, ice coating his words. 

“It’s not a competition.  I don’t want to be ruled by this mark, which I think was what happened earlier with Roman.  I was drunk and I let my guard down.  But that’s not what I want.  I’ve wanted you since you almost shot Brielle on the front porch.”  That’s mostly true even if I hadn’t admitted it to myself before now.  To make my words more meaningful, I move my hand to his thigh and his breath catches.  “And I’m counting on you being the best, not second best.”  To emphasize my words even more, my hand moves to where his boxers are now straining to hold him in place.

Zane groans and rolls onto his back.  “This is a terrible idea,” he says with absolutely no conviction in his voice.  My hand continues to explore and I free him from the boxers.  I grasp him firmly and move my hand up and down his shaft.   I think he’s done arguing.

He slips his arm under me and pulls me on top of him, claiming my mouth and pressing my satin clad hips against him.  Not able to keep my hips still, I slide across him rhythmically and he growls deep in his throat.  Leaving his lips, I kiss my way down his chest, licking and nipping until I reach his boxers.  He is rock hard when my mouth reaches him and I run my tongue along his shaft slowly, teasing him until he’s panting.  When my lips finally wrap around him and I take him deep into my mouth, his entire body is quivering. 

“Oh god, Skye,” he groans.  In one smooth move, I am suddenly on my back with him above me.  “You’re driving me fucking crazy.”  His mouth is back on mine and his fingers feverishly work at getting the buttons on my pajama top undone.  He practically tears them off in his rush to get it open. 

When his lips find my bare breast, it’s me panting.  His mouth is masterful as his lips pull and tease and his tongue glides across my hard nipple.  When I am just starting to feel that he’s neglecting the other breast, his mouth kisses a trail to it.  My hand is in his hair, pressing him firmly against me as I wrap my legs around his waist. 

I want to feel him inside me, not just pressed against me.  My hands fumble as I rid him of his boxers and he does the same with my pajama bottoms.  But he’s not done teasing me yet.  His hands are everywhere now, touching and teasing, and his mouth goes along for the ride.  My body is on fire and I buck against him, raising my hips when his mouth finally goes where I need it.  Considering it’s been a while since I had sex, I expected it to take a while until I climaxed, but I’m almost there already.  My breathing is fast and shallow and my body is tensing, waiting for sweet release.  I cry out in frustration when Zane lifts his head.

I’m pacified when his mouth finds mine again and he shifts his body so he can finally join with mine.  I’m more than ready.  I pull him to me, wanting to finish the journey he started with his tongue and lips.

He stops just before he enters me and drags his lips from mine.  “Fuck,” he says harshly.

“That’s the idea,” I say, trying to pull him back to me.

He resists, moving his body away from me and pressing his forehead against mine.  “We can’t,” he breathes, “I don’t have any condoms.”

Oh hell, I was so wrapped up in what we were doing that birth control or protection never crossed my mind.  Now that he’s reminded me, it’s my turn to groan in frustration.  That makes him laugh and he kisses the tip of my nose.

I’m not ready to give up yet.  “Do you have any in your room?”

He laughs again.  “If I do they’re too old to use.”

“I use the depo shot every three months, so pregnancy isn’t an issue.  Is anything else?” I ask tentatively.

I feel him smile.  “I have a clean bill of health.”  I probably shouldn’t, but I believe him.

“Zane…”

“Mmm?”

“Fuck me.”

I don’t have to ask twice.  In one glorious thrust, he is deep inside me, filling me, buried in my warmth and wetness and I rise up to meet him.  Oh god, he feels so good.  His cock is thick and long and I cry out as he stretches me; as he slides back until he’s almost out and then buries himself again.  I want to scream, I want to cry out his name over and over, but his mouth wisely covers mine, my cries muffled as his tongue matches his cock in rhythm, bringing me to heights I’ve never reached before. 

Just as I’m ready to come, Zane moves his lips to the mark on my neck and I clamp around him, drowning in pleasure.  I think I scream.  I most definitely come and I bring him with me, the spasms within me milking every last drop of his orgasm.  His cries are buried in my hair, and his thrusts are hard and deep as he does the same for me.  My orgasm keeps going and I beg him not to stop.   He doesn’t.  His cock is still hard inside me and he doesn’t stop fucking me until we both come again.

Completely out of breath, Zane rolls onto his back, bringing me with him, tucked in at his side with my head on his chest that’s slick with sweat.  I run my tongue along his salty skin and he shudders in pleasure.  “Fuck, you are fucking amazing,” he pants.  “Screw the djinn, you’re never leaving this bed again.”

I laugh.  “I think your family may have something to say about that.”

“I don’t care.”  He pulls me on top of him again and I squeal in surprise.  “I don’t fucking care.”  Then his mouth is back on mine and thoughts of anyone else flee both of our minds.

I wake to find that I am alone in my bed but I have a smile on my face.  I was worried that I’d feel differently this morning than I did last night, but the smile spreads wider over my lips as I think of the night’s activities with Zane.  I have absolutely no regrets.

The shower is going in my bathroom.  It’s nice to know he didn’t go far.  Retrieving my pajama top from the floor, I slip my arms in and hold it closed in front me.  The bathroom door is open, so I don’t think Zane was looking for privacy.  I peek my head around the door and marvel at his naked glory through the shower door.  His chest and abs might as well have been chiseled from stone.  His ass is tight and round.  His entire body is gorgeous.  I allow my pajama top slide to the floor and decide to join him in the shower. 

He’s not even startled when I open the stall door.  He slips his arms around me and pulls me close so the hot water can warm me.  “It’s about time,” he says.  “I thought you were never going to wake up.”

I laugh.  It’s not even eight o’clock yet.  “Someone kept me up all night.”

He feigns surprise.  “Really?  How?”

I stand on my tippy toes so I can kiss him.  “Like this,” I say against his lips as I kiss him good morning.

“Hmm,” he says when I release his lips.  “Now that you mention it, I seem to recall something like that.  Was there any of this?”  He picks me up and scoots forward so my back is against the cold shower wall.  I wrap my legs around his waist and he presses his body to mine.  He can easily slip inside of me, but he doesn’t yet.

I shake my head.  “No, none of that.  But there was some of this…”  I slide my body down so just the tip of him is inside of me and he does the rest. 

It’s definitely not the quietest shower I’ve ever taken, but it is the best.  We make love in the shower until the last drop of hot water is gone and that’s still not enough.  Zane carries me out to the bed and we make love again.  Maybe he’s right; maybe we will never leave this bed again.

A knock at the door interrupts us.  Zane says a nasty word before rolling onto his back.  “What?” he growls.

“You know, it’s a damn good thing Grams and Hank sleep in the other wing because they wouldn’t have gotten any sleep in this one,” Brielle says dryly.

Color rushes to my cheeks.  I didn’t even think about how loud we were last night.  Or this morning.  Brielle’s room is several doors down, which means if she heard us, Roman definitely heard us.  Oh god, how embarrassing.  I kiss him and practically have sex with him, and then he gets to spend the rest of the night listening to me having sex with someone else.  I’m feeling pretty trampy now.

“Hey,” Zane says, leaning over and kissing my cheek.  “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

I forgot that he can feel everything that I’m feeling.  That’s one of the reasons we have such mind blowing sex; he knows exactly when he’s driving me crazy and he loves that as much as I do.  He’s now become the perfect lover – at least with me he has.  And we seem to fit together perfectly.  I’m glad there’s a positive in this whole binding debacle.

Brielle knocks again.  “Zane, get your ass up.  We have work to do.”

“Who made you my personal alarm clock,” Zane asks, mostly to annoy her.

“Grams did, you asshole.”

“What a filthy mouth you have,” he teases, but gives me a final kiss and climbs off of the bed to retrieve his clothes.

I guess I have to do the same.  I get up and go through the pile of new things he bought for me and pick out a pair of black lace panties and a black bra.  I raise my brows in his direction.  I think he had every intention of seeing me in these.  His smug grin confirms it. 

When I have them on, he whistles a quiet cat call.  He comes over and pulls me close and kisses me as his hand cups my breast that is barely covered with lace, his thumb sliding across my nipple.  I wrap my arms around his neck and press against him.

A loud knocking on the door drags us apart again.  “We’re coming,” Zane says.  In just his jeans, he strides to the door and slips out.  I hear him and Brielle argue briefly and then he goes to his room for clean clothes.

I grab some jeans and a t-shirt from the pile.  I should probably put the remainder of them in the empty dresser, but I want to get downstairs.  When I’m dressed and my hair is combed and pulled back into a bun, I open the door and head to the stairs. 

I stop short when I find Roman sitting in one of the chairs in the sitting area, his jaw set tightly and his lips in a grim line.  He looks at me from head to toe and then back up again.  “Fun night?” he drawls.

I have no idea what to say to him.  “Roman, I’m sorry…”

He rises to his feet with a sigh.  “Don’t bother apologizing.  You’ve clearly made your choice and it wasn’t me.  I understand.  Apparently, I did some terrible things in that other life of ours; things that we don’t understand yet, and I can’t expect you to trust me simply because I want you to trust me.  I need to earn that trust,” he takes my hands in his, “and I will.  I will prove to you that anything I did, I did out of love.  I know in my heart that it was all for love.”  He leans down and kisses my cheek.  “Just be careful,” he whispers in my ear, causing my stomach to flutter.  “Just as my mark may affect your judgment, the fact that you are bound to your new lover may be affecting it as well.”  Then he turns and walks down the stairs.

“Hey,” Zane says behind me and I jump.  “Everything okay?”

No.  “Yes.” 

I’m sure he can feel that I’m lying, but he grabs my hand and says, “Let’s go get some breakfast then.”