This time I didn’t leave when Sagam and Asahi did, waiting for the door to click shut before spinning to face Tallu. He slumped back, covering his face with one hand, his fingers rubbing at his temples.
“Are you well enough to do this?” I demanded.
“Don’tyouquestion me,” Tallu said.
“Don’tIquestion you?” I felt a growling in my throat, the anger rising intensely. “Here are some things that aren’t questions: I’m not sure you’re even well enough to stand at this moment. Empress Koque is challenging you, which means she must be suspicious ofsomething. We have dozens of soldiers coming with us and no clear way to slip away from them.”
And we still had to find Spider.
“You were right,” Tallu’s lips twisted up. “None of those were questions.”
“Stay here on the ship,” I said. “Be safe.”
“I wasn’t telling a falsehood when I told General Saxu that it would be too dangerous to stay here,” Tallu said. “There is a reason it is dangerous to put your camp in a location where there is no escape.”
“Tallu—” I knelt down in front of him, putting both of my hands on his strong thighs. His gorgeous bronze skin had gonematte, blanching from exhaustion, and his unhappy expression stayed put even as he shook his head sharply.
“You believe House Chaliko would know where Spider is,” Tallu said.
“They are much better situated to find something in these swamps than we are.” I rubbed my hands across his heavy thighs, and he reached down, cupping my face in one hand.
Despite the pallor of his skin, his palm was warm, and I leaned heavily against it, relaxing into the touch. His thumb rubbed back and forth across my cheek, and he smiled down at me fondly.
“This will be our last chance to be alone before we are, once again, traveling. And it’s unlikely that we’ll find enough dry land in the swamp to put up the tents we’re used to.” Tallu’s words grew heavy with desire.
“Oh?” I grinned up at him, and his thumb traced my cheek, dragging across my bottom lip. “Are you suggesting something, Dragon Chosen Emperor? Are you suggesting you are well enough for some morevigorousactivities?”
“I do not think I am suggesting anything,” Tallu said. “Merely stating, as you said, facts.”
I laughed, the sound real this time rather than a ploy to draw attention. Tallu grinned back at me, and then he pushed forward, crowding against me, the chair shoving backward as he landed on the ground next to me. His lips were on mine, and his hand moved from my cheek to the back of my head, positioning my mouth so it could fit perfectly against his. I moaned.
Scrabbling at his shoulders, I pulled myself into his lap, my knees grinding into the wooden deck as he pulled my hair again, his mouth falling away from mine as he exposed my neck, pressing kisses down my throat and then up the side of my face.
“Facts.” I grinned as he kissed me again, his lips finding mine and then I was moaning into his mouth, unable to resist pushing my tongue in and feeling his meet mine.
His hands were efficiently finding the ties and snaps and claspsthat drove me mad while wearing imperial clothing. Somehow he got a hand underneath all the layers and pressed a palm flat against my back.
I moaned, that single touch of flesh on flesh enough to make me desperately hard. With a whimper, I grabbed at his head, my fingers finding his soft hair and the warm skin of his neck, my lips on his.
He grinned again, his thumb rubbing slow circles into my lower back and I thrust up, my hard cock trapped by my clothing and his solid body.
“Is there something you need?” he teased.
I desperately whined, my voice hoarse when I growled, “Tallu.”
But that was all I could think to say. He seemed to know what I meant and pushed me off his lap gently. Standing, he reached out his hand and I took it, letting him draw me into the small bed that fit in his cabin.
We barely wasted time undressing, just loosening our clothing enough to release our cocks. He hovered over me, his expression delighted as he thrust into my hand where I gripped both of us firmly. But I needed more, Iwantedmore.
Pushing at his shoulder, I rolled him onto his back and then moved down until I was framed between his thighs. I put my mouth on his cock, swallowing it down, choking before I pulled back and tried again.
He fisted one hand on his thigh, the expression on his face painfully open as he gazed down at me. I closed my eyes, unwilling to see more, unable to handle that gentle expression on his face, the desire written into it.
“You are so beautiful.” He murmured the words, but I needed more than that. I worked him with my mouth, his thick length bumping the back of my throat and making me choke, but I didn’t let up, forcing myself to take it, forcing myself to takehimdown.
The fingers of his other hand trailed over my jaw gently and I squeezed my eyes shut harder. I couldn’t handle gentle. I didn’tneed gentle. I needed him to take hold of my hair and force himself down my throat.
Instead, he continued caressing my face, brushing fingertips over my eyelids, stroking my hair, murmuring encouragement and praise.
