They stared at each other for a long moment, and she realized he expected her to move across the expanse of bed to join him.He wasn’t going to pounce.He wasn’t going to force her.He wasn’t giving her the opportunity to accuse him of rape.
After a brief hesitation, longing and loneliness, the desire to have something for herself, drove her to close the distance between them.She pressed against his chest, and his body heat seared into her green robe.His masculine scent, familiar yet new, filled each breath.
“I think we’ll lose the robe,” he said.
“All right.”Was that her?She sounded uncertain and shy yet she was a grown female with a child.“Yes,” she stated with more assurance.
Leo chuckled, the noise sudden, a little rusty, a little surprising.He helped her disrobe and tossed the garment on the floor.Then they were chest to chest, skin to skin.
Betrys sighed as her breasts flattened against his pectoral muscles.Sharing the dreamscape with Leo had been one thing, but this…this was something extra.
The room smelled of fragrant spices and flowers.A touch of herbs emanated from Leo, and the scent of the sleep-bed coverings brought to mind solar shine and fine days.Not a trace of the pungent market smoke.Leo’s touch seared her skin, leaving a wake of tingles as his hand drifted down her spine to settle on her bottom.
His casual exploration of her breasts and hips made her bold, and she started an investigation of her own.She ran her fingers over his biceps and gloried in his swift intake when she pinched his nipple.
“The men on Petros don’t have nipples.I’ve been wanting to touch them,” she confessed.
He cocked his head, curiosity blooming for her to see.“Are there any other differences between Earth males and those from Petros?”
“Our men aren’t as big here.”She ran light fingers across his muscled chest.“The Petros race are not warriors, which is why our neighbors defeated us with little effort.”
“The Petros men are scrawny?”
“They are slight of frame,” Betrys corrected with a frown.“Not weak.We are—were—a nation of inventors, and the dreamscape aided us in our field of expertise.”
Ricci was already showing signs of following in the footsteps of his father in this respect.He pulled apart everything to see how it worked.
“What is the purpose of nipples on a male?”
Leo chuckled, his expression becoming more open.“They have no purpose.On some men, they’re an erogenous zone.On me, for example.”He grinned to display a set of sharp, white teeth.“I enjoy a woman touching me there.”He guided her fingers to one flat disc, his green eyes offering a silent dare.
She stared, then blinked at his laugh.Who was this playful man?Emboldened by the lurking humor, she began to explore, paying attention to detail—his sculpted muscles, strong legs, broad shoulders, beautiful face.At every part she touched, she watched and learned him from his responses.
A quick pinch, a drift of fingers, a firm press—he savored them all.She graduated to kisses and nibbles, and his breathing deepened.She pushed him onto his back and straddled his hips for better access.
“Ride me,” he said.“You want me.I can smell your need.”
Betrys stilled.
“Is that another difference between me and the men you used to know, Betrys?You only had sex in one position?”
The sound of her name on his lips did something to her, caused waves of longing for a future she could never have.She’d loved Corrin with all her heart, and they’d experienced a good marriage by Petros standards.Yet she was discovering cultural differences that made her marriage seem lacking.
The teasing, the smiles, the talking, and now Leo was asking—no, telling—her to take what she needed, to take charge of their lovemaking.
“Do you want me to tell you what to do?Or I could take over.Make you participate.”His silky voice held a distinct air of mockery.
“I know the mechanics.”
“So put them into practice, Betrys.”
Each time he said her name he gave it two defined syllables, and he delivered it in a derisive tone.Half of her wanted to run while the other part of her wanted to stand up to his challenge in a very unPetros-like way.
A capture fantasy, he’d suggested.
Fine.Her turn to taunt and tease and deliver what he thought impossible.No restraints.No, that would remind him too much of Iseult—the last thing either of them needed.A reminder of the enemy who hovered in the room.
Betrys took a deep breath, part of her noticing Leo’s avid gaze on her breasts as they rose and fell.She centered her mind and locked away the garbage from her past.Then she built a mental shield to imprison her fears of the future, and once this barrier was complete, she turned her attention to Leo.Such a pretty man, his exceptional looks highlighted whenever he smiled.The curve of his mouth lightened the green of his eyes and invited her to share in an answering grin.
