Page 22 of Betrothed

“Wait,” she said.

Zax turned around. His tail was swishing worriedly, and for once, his focus was not entirely on her. He was looking around the house, lost in thought. What was in that skull-crusted head of his, Fawn wondered. Was he thinking about tracking Errol and Chastity down while she was in the bathtub?

Fawn forced those thoughts away and toyed with the neckline of her dress. This, finally, dragged Zax’s attention back to her.

“You keep asking if you can bathe me,” Fawn said. “What do you mean?”

“I—” Zax frowned. “I want to wash you. To touch you.”

Anticipation pooled in Fawn’s stomach. She told herself it was fear, but she knew the truth. And so did Zax, his remaining eye flaring with light as she pulled her dress over her head and dropped it at her feet.

“You can touch me,” she said.

Then she turned and climbed into the bathtub, her back to him. She lay her head against the lip of the tub, waiting, heart pounding as she settled into the warm water.

Sure enough, Zax came up behind her and sat down beside the bath. He was holding a bar of soap, which shouldn’t have surprised her. She had been expecting him to go right for the goods. But of course, he meant it when he said he wanted to wash her. Her strange, vicious, gentle monster.

Zax plucked her arm from the water and slid the soap over her skin. He seemed uncertain about how much pressure to apply, but soon settled into a pressure which was almost too soft. He ran the soap over her hands, rubbing the suds on the webbing between her fingers. Then he smoothed the bar of soap over her face, brushing through her brows.

He washed her hair next. Rubbing soap through the strands and pouring water over her with cupped hands. He even held his hand over her forehead so that soapy water would not run into her eyes.

It was so tender that Fawn had to close her eyes and not think about it, or she would get angry again. If he were someone else… If he hadn’t killed Renly… Gods, the life this man could have given her.

She almost forgot she was meant to be seducing him. Then he ran the soap over her breasts, and she remembered, desire sparking through her as her nipples peaked under his touch.

Zax’s movements slowed, the soap pausing over her chest. His eye shifted up to meet hers, and Fawn felt herself flush.

“You said you wanted to touch me,” she said. “So, touch me.”

She took his hand and guided it under the water. Zax groaned as he sank his claws through the coarse hair over her mound. His claws retracted, and Fawn let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

He found her clit easily, rubbing with that same lightness he always used. It was harder to get the right amount of slide in the water, but soon her clit was stiff and pink under his big fingers.

Fawn sighed, canting her hips. “Put one inside.”

Zax didn’t hesitate. He simply shifted one finger down to her opening and pressed inside. He started fast and shallow, like he used his tongue. Then he slowed, staring down at her with that gleaming purple eye.

“You are so tight,” he said wondrously. “Even more so around my finger than my tongue. I cannot wait until we travel to my Anderfel brother and you receive the spell which will allow you to take my cocks.”

Fawn knew she should be disgusted at the idea. But the image of her stretched wide around him—both of him—made her hole clench in anticipation. She hooked her injured leg over the side of the bath, telling herself she was doing it to elevate her ankle. But they both knew the truth: she was giving him better access.

Zax pressed his finger deeper, curling it against the spot that made her gasp and writhe against him. Then he added another. Then another. The stretch was not impossible, but Fawn couldn’t stop thinking about her body adjusting, giving way, making room for those cocks he had hidden behind his loincloth.

She gripped his arm and came, trembling. Water sloshed out of the bathtub, and even in her throes of ecstasy, she found herself thinking that she would have to clean that up before they went to bed.

Zax stood and reached for his loincloth, undoing the knot with lust-clumsy fingers. It fell to the floor, and Fawn’s mouth watered at the sight of those two big cocks bouncing up against each other.

He wrapped his hands around them and started pumping.

“Wait,” Fawn said. “Let me.”

Eight

There was a moment when Zax didn’t seem to know what to do, standing awkwardly next to the bath. Then he stepped closer, offering his cocks to her.

“Please,” he said hoarsely.

Fawn’s mouth filled with saliva. She swallowed it back, berating herself silently. She wasn’t going to suck them; she would never fit them in her mouth. She was just going to jerk him, as he had done to himself. To please him, she told herself. But even she knew this was a lie. She took him in her hands because she wanted to.