Kadeesha quickly rifled through her mind, recalling the faces of the high-ranking archnobles she knew of within the Hyperion Court and the lesser elemental courts. When his face didn’t jiggle free anyone familiar, Kadeesha smiled, sly as a pantheress. She was near certain he was merely a wealthy merchant passing through Cinta, the Aether Kingdom’s bustling capital and trading port. Perfect. This was the cock she’d ride tonight before she had to climb off it and drag herself back to the palace to be shackled to Rishaud. She placed her goblet aside and walked to where the man stood. He sighted her crossing the room to him immediately, his searing gaze—a prepossessing blend of dark brown with subtle gold flecks—locking on her, dipping down her body, then skimming back up to meet her eyes once more. She passed him a sultry grin and added a sexy sway of her hips as she neared him to make this extra fun.
“Tonight is your lucky night,” she told the male when she reached him. “I want to fuck your brains out until the sun rises. Are you interested in that?”
The male grinned, eyes dragging over her body once again, eliciting a shiver when he did it up close in a way she didn’t expect. It took a lot for her to be truly affected by a man, even when she was the one soliciting him for sex. Usually, she compartmentalized; she got off, hard, but didn’t allow for anything more intense. Given who she was and what she was meant for, emotions never seemed worth the effort. That path would only lead to heartbreak, either for one or both parties. But this man …
She clamped down on a second shudder that tried to race through her as the male’s gaze bore straight into her eyes with an intensity that left her unsettled.
Who is he, precisely?a cautioning voice asked, born of her shock.
And as much as she wanted him, she heeded her gut, always. So, she rechecked each and every face of the high-ranking archnobles who belonged to any of the Six Kingdoms that she’d stored in her mind over the years. Then, she combed over the many lower-ranking nobles of mild significance. Like before, she came up with nothing. Satisfied, she shook the caution off, attributed it to her distaste at being so ruffled by a male. She scowled, realizing the man hadn’t spoken yet. He only continued to peer at her in that unnerving, too-intense way. She arched an eyebrow. “Is that a yes or a no?” His extended silence was bordering on supreme arrogance, and she wasn’t too keen on men of that manner, no matter what they looked like.
Finally, some type of emotion flitted across his face. His lips curved ever so slightly in a smile. “Do I get your name?”
“No, because I’m not offering it,” Kadeesha said plainly. She needed to regain her senses, her even footing, and the snark helped with that.
The male’s smile widened into a genuine, unrestrained grin.The effect was … arresting. “Whispers of the legendary Oleander House have spread far and wide. Clearly, they don’t do this establishment justice.” He reached out and swept her hair that she wore in a waist-length braid hanging over one shoulder behind her back. The callused pads of his index and middle fingers skimmed along her bare collarbone and up the column of her throat; he stilled them on her pulse that wretchedly fluttered. Seriously? Why the hell was she reacting like this?
It beat even faster when he said, “I accept.”
Like the other time he’d spoken, his voice was a rumble, an outpouring of authority and arrogance and power. She made a mental note to possibly reconsider disliking an excessive ego on men. Because on this man, she couldn’t deny its draw. He removed his hand from her throat and held it outward, palm up. “I’m a first-time visitor, and you seem pretty comfortable, love, in this club. Therefore, I’ll let you lead the way.”
A thrill rushed through her and ended in a pulsing between her legs. That inner caution rose. It sent a clear message:This man is dangerous.
Kadeesha ignored it. Or rather, she relished it. That warning was a given, and she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t part of the thrall.
She forwent grabbing the male’s hand. Forwent touching him at all. She wasn’t ready for that yet, not after what the first small moment of contact elicited. An innate knowing told her that once they connected skin-to-skin for any significant length of time, it’d be like standing at the epicenter of an aether bomb, but in the most delicious of ways. “Follow me,” Kadeesha told the male, then turned on her heels to take him to her private rooms among the upper floors. She looked over her shoulder. “Your friends can come—or stay. Whatever you prefer.”
Chapter Four
HIS FRIENDS STAYED BEHIND.
They entered her room at the club, and Kadeesha crossed straight to the polished koppa bed, which was wrapped in bronze silk sheets and took up most of the floor space. Silently, she dropped onto the mattress, sitting so she faced the handsome stranger. She held his gaze as she reached for the hem of her dress. She pulled the sheath over her head and tossed it to the floor. She hadn’t bothered with any undergarments knowing what she intended tonight, and she hadn’t seen the sense in swathing herself in additional articles of clothing only to remove them soon. The air inside the room, kept comfortably cool by a climate rune drawn on the ceiling, kissed her naked skin. It made her nipples immediately harden. The male’s gaze dipped, the deep brown hue of his eyes darkening with appreciation. Kadeesha smirked; she knew she had a fantastic pair of tits. There likely wasn’t a soul alive who enjoyed tits who wouldn’t find hers glorious. As she kicked off her heeled shoes, the male closed the few feet between him and the bed. He moved in a way that was too intense to be called a stride. No, what he did wasstalktoward Kadeesha, and the unnerving, delirioussense hit her that he resembled one of the panthers that dwelled in Koppawald Forest on the prowl.
She blinked, disoriented. What was going on with her? She wasn’t some meek thing and had never been. In no scenario would she ever be considered the party that was prey in an interaction. That ludicrous thought had to be due to the male’s mind-boggling bulk. Seriously, the man was as broad as the day was long, as tall as a koppa tree, and as solidly built as the Yunna Mountains, the mammoth range that separated the Six Kingdoms from the Apollyon Court. And now he had reached her and planted his huge hands on her bare thighs.
“Lay back.”
His voice was thunder. An order. She’d normally bristle at being spoken to in such a way, but the stranger’s pitch quaked through her and her only thought was that she wanted more of that. She lay on her back and waited, looking up at him. He looked back at her for a long time, drinking her in, and she couldn’t help but bite her lip. That seemed to be what he was waiting for, because he dropped to his knees in front of the bed, gripped the backs of her knees, and dragged her to the bed’s edge. He drew a wanton gasp out of her when he licked and bit at the inside of her right thigh. He moved on to the left, then paid the same attention to her calves. When he planted a kiss between her legs, full lips closing over her core, it felt so good that Kadeesha almost moaned out loud. She didn’t, however. Her head was foggy with lust, but she retained the clarity to recognize she was entirely naked and he was fully clothed. It felt too one-sided. It left her feeling too vulnerable and too exposed while he was neither of those things. This washertime, and she would not be dictated to.
Dicked down, eventually, yes …
She pushed his head away from her center, sat up, and reached for the waist of his pants to even things out. Yet one of his hands gathered both her wrists in an iron grip before she could do anything and raised them above her head. His other hand curled around her neck, applying a careful yet thorough pressure. She was about to push him away again when she stopped. Kadeesha had never been into dominance games where she wasn’t leading the dance. But something about this male, and the way he handled her, made her suddenly decide she relished the position she found herself in. Perhaps the culprit was the searing heat he emanated up close, or maybe it was his heady scent—a mixture that brought to mind the crisp air that howled at higher altitudes, evergreen pines, and, oddly, spiced cognac.
Or maybe it was his rough hands and the way his lips had sucked on her pussy like he’d had every intent to suck her soul out of her.
The male grinned a smile that couldn’t be mistaken as anything except carnal when a moan slipped out of Kadeesha at the recollection. “Good girl,” he murmured, tracing a line down the right side of her neck with his index finger. “Don’t fight it next time.” His touch ignited the same effect as his voice; more shivers raced through her, which she found herself hating and loving in equal measure. As if sensing that, he continued speaking against the shell of her ear: “You propositioned me; I consented. I am going to relish fucking you. But my ego can’t handle my lovers holding anything back when I’m touching them, tasting them, or buried inside them. So, if this proceeds, you’re going to have to humor me. Are you up for that?”
He pulled away from her ear so he could stare straight ather in plain challenge. A knowing smirk curved his lips as if he dared her to say yes and instead knew she’d likely tell him she’d changed her mind about their activities. Kadeesha gnashed her teeth. Who did he think he was? Who did he thinkshewas? Whatever he’d surmised of her nature, he was about to discover something severely different. She didn’t back down from a challenge. Ever. And she certainly had an ego to rival that of any male affected by the most staggering amount of hubris.
She switched tactics, needing to reassert who actually was in control of this dance. She snatched her hands out his grip and scooted back farther on the bed. She opened her legs wide, leaving her sex on full display. Her fingers parted her folds slowly and she seductively slid two inside herself. She was already dripping wet, the effect having happened the moment she laid eyes on the stranger. Although she refused to dwell too much on any deeper significance that might imply; she was only concerned with the physical pleasure she knew he would bring her. She pumped in and out of herself, working her clit with her thumb. She moaned, giving him a taste of what he wanted to hear to screw with him well and good.
“You said your piece, so I’ll say mine: I don’t like my lovers staying clothed for too long when I’m naked,” she said breathily, then massaged her clit in just the right manner, applying the precise pressure to make her toes curl. “My ego can’t handle that,” she said when she was able to speak again. “So either lose the clothes, immediately—because I’m tired of looking at them—or you can leave. Clearly I can take care of myself if you’re going to be a dick.” And to prove her point, she increased her thrusts, pressed down on her clit harder, felt the convulsions coming on. She had come here to get off, so she didn’ttry to curb the tide. She let it hit her and sweep her away, let the pleasure tear through her and rode it for a good long while until she naturally started coming down off the high.
After the orgasm, she propped herself up on her elbows. It was her turn to stare at the male in challenge. “I see you’re still standing there, yet you haven’t followed my order. I don’t see nearly enough skin.” She raised an eyebrow and waited.
One … two …
She got to five. She’d give him credit for holding out that long while her legs were spread and her core was glistening, inviting him to play.
