Chapter 15
What is he waiting for? And why is he looking at me like that?
Mayra saw the hesitation enter his brown eyes. She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. After convincing herself to allow him access to his body, she had expected things to move along quickly. After all, they only had about an hour.
Why isn’t he ravishing me?
The decision had come suddenly, after he’d revealed that they were being pursued by someone trained to track his prey and take it down. Nojan had pulled her into his lap and she’d come up with her plan.
Let him take you, she’d thought,and hopefully, he will unlock the power within you. Then you’ll be able to see the future and can avoid your pursuers. And once you have your powers, you’ll no longer have to stick by his side. You can free yourself in truth, belonging to no one but yourself.
It wouldn’t be a hardship to surrender herself to the handsome Vartik male. So long as he was able to work past her unattractiveness to do the deed himself, all she had to do was hold still and let it happen.
In fact, it will probably be me who has problems detaching. He can get any girl he wants, and once he’s broken me in as the oracle, his interest is likely to dry up. After all, he had to know what kicked in her powers. It seemed at times as if he knew her better than she did herself.
His large hand lifted itself from her chest to cup her cheek. “No need to be shy, angel. I only want to bring you pleasure.”
Bring me pleasure or bring my powers out?
It was hard to relax when she couldn’t trust his motives. Was he really into her, or did he just want to use her? The longer he held her and the more she surrendered to him, the more terrible it would be if it all turned out to be an act.
The Vartik stared deeply into her eyes, and once again, she was struck by the feeling of being naked in front of him. Not her body, but her soul. It was almost as if he could see her thoughts.
Suddenly, she was being lifted into the air. Nojan had stood, carrying her in his arms like she weighed no more than a child would. “What are you doing?”
“Something is obviously bothering you, angel. And since you won’t tell me what it is, I’ll have to guess. I’m thinking maybe you need a shower to warm you up a little. We can get you out of these soiled clothes and under the hot water.”
Mayra frowned. Apparently, her plan of holding still for long enough to lose her virginity wasn’t working for her captor. He carried her with ease into the bathroom off the small sleeping chamber and didn’t set her down until they were in front of the white-tiled shower.
He looked at her, his gaze steady, and began peeling off his shirt.
“What are you doing?” she asked, her voice shaky.
“Getting ready to shower,” he replied. “Or did you expect me to shower with my clothes on?”
“I thought you said I was showering,” she mumbled, slapping away his hand when he began to tug at her dress.
Nojan laughed, then unbuttoned his pants. Mayra couldn’t help but watch as he opened them, revealing a line of dark hair that circled his navel and went lower. More was revealed as he started to tug his pants down, and she closed her eyes tightly, despite wanting badly to see what was hidden.
You’ve got to keep it together, girl, she told herself, breathing deeply.It’s just a shower. You’ll have to do this and much more if you want to become the oracle.
Cracking an eye open to sneak a peek, she was disappointed to see that he’d turned around. Still, his back was smooth and handsome, rippling with muscles that would put any of the biggest field slaves to shame back on Vanfia. Her disappointment disappeared when she caught sight of his gently rounded bottom. It looked good enough to bite.
Her thoughts made her blush, and when Nojan turned again, she spun around herself.
“Come on, angel,” he murmured, hands on her shoulders. “You’ve got to get out of these ruined clothes if we’re going to get you clean.”
Mayra’s hands were shaking when they moved down to clutch the hem of her dress. Slowly, she pulled it up until it was over her head. Nojan took it from her hands and flung it into a corner. She could feel his eyes travel over her body, seeming to ignite a trail of fire as they went.
“Now the panties,” he whispered, his hands sliding slowly down her torso.
Mayra shivered, feeling exposed. Only her white cotton panties remained to uphold her dignity. With a deep breath, she pushed them down and stepped out of them.
“Good,” he said, his voice deep and soothing. Then he was leaning past her to turn on the shower. Once the water was hot, he stepped inside and grabbed her hand to pull her in with him.
The water felt good, relaxing some of the tension the situation was generating. Eyes closed, she turned her face up to the shower and tried to make the stiffness in her melt away.
“Mayra.” His voice was little more than a whisper, but it caused more heat to flood her body than the shower ever could have. Then his hands were on her, moving over her body in a way that was causing sparks to ignite inside her.
