Wicked Beloved Read online

  He rose up on his elbows, the sheet sliding down to his waist. He didn’t wear nightclothes. But she had come to discuss carnality, so his bare skin shouldn’t unsettle her. “Do you wish an honest answer?”

  In one smooth swivel, she turned, bringing her legs up onto the mattress, and started crawling up the bed to him.

  CHAPTER TEN

  This was unexpected. Unmoving, he watched as she prowled over his body to sit straddling his hips. She wasn’t wearing anything under the nightshirt. His blood burned in response to the hot, damp heat of her. Then, her eyes never leaving his, she undulated her hips ever so slowly, making him feel each small, sinuous movement along his rapidly hardening erection.

  Every cell of his body gave her its full, undivided attention, despite the sheet separating them. He wanted that sheet gone. He licked his lips, mouth suddenly dry.

  “I… don’t think you realize… what you’re doing to me.” He could have winced with embarrassment at the husky desperation in his tone. If she hadn’t known, his voice would have informed her, loud and clear.

  She looked so beautiful, gazing down at him with smoldering eyes half-closed. Never breaking her rhythm against his aching length, she leaned forward and smoothed her hands up and down the skin of his torso. Her fingers traced the delineations of his muscles. The contact was excruciatingly delicate and it wasn’t enough. He needed more.

  Almost convulsively, he sat up, wrapping his arms around her, and captured her mouth with his. The kiss was messy and too forceful. He knew he was bruising her lips but he couldn’t stop.

  Losing control like this was strange to him. He should suppress these feelings or harness them or something. But instead he was yielding to the unbelievable sensations she provoked inside his body.

  She was kissing him back with equal fervor. Her fingers carded through his hair. Her touch was so wild and yet so gentle. He was accustomed to pain and passion but this… this was unique. He had no name for it. If this was love, enjoying it so was wrong, but he did. He couldn’t imagine losing this, losing her.

  He broke the kiss, moaning softly, wanting to plunge inside her and claim her fully. Claim her. Yes, she was his.

  He wanted to feel himself thrusting deep inside her, feel her hot, slick flesh gripping him tight. He wanted his name on her lips when she cried out with pleasure. Not his title. Not “master.” He wanted her calling his name.

  A spike of pure lust convulsed him. The yearning that coiled deep in his groin acquired a painful edge. Broken, hitching breaths and little guttural moans struggled out of his open mouth. His body was going to shudder itself apart.

  His lips found the mark on her throat he’d made earlier, at the club, and he bit down, reopening the wound, surrendering to the urge to once again mark his ownership upon her. She was his. Only his. He’d kill anyone who so much as tried to touch her. The world should know.

  A soft whine of pain escaped her before she choked it back. But he heard and it was enough. He had injured her. She didn’t like to be hurt. This was wrong.

  “No,” he groaned and gently but deliberately pushed her off. He fell back against his pillow, flinging his arm across his face, his eyes hidden by the crook of his elbow. Her previous master had inflicted much pain upon her, both physical and mental. He did not want to be that man.

  “Please.” She had returned to his side. “I can make it good for you. I can. Please. Let me try.”

  She pulled down the sheet. The air was cool against his heated skin. He could feel himself, so full he hurt, arced up and leaking excitement against his belly. His fists clenched as he tried desperately not to touch her.

  “You shouldn’t,” he managed to growl. “Go. Now.” He ought to push her away, save her from this course of action, but he couldn’t.

  She straddled him again. Then her hand angled him up. He groaned, knowing what was coming, knowing he should stop her, and knowing he wasn’t going to.

  She lowered herself onto him, using gravity to aid his penetration. She was so tight. He could feel himself forcing apart her hot, slick channel, making her body accept his intrusion, slowly pushing inside her until he was completely seated and she clung to his entire length. She felt incredible.

  Her muscles rippled and squeezed around him. Responding on instinct, his hips bucked, erratic and reckless with need. Her gentle stroking wasn’t enough. He wanted to roll her over and pound her into the mattress. He wanted to thrust deep inside her while biting and kissing his possession of her into the skin of her throat. He might have said these things aloud.

  When she started to ride him, truly ride him, hard and fast, the sensation melted his brain. He heard the urgent, guttural moans before he realized they were his and then he knew it was too late. She owned him. His body was going to give itself up to her and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Nothing he would do to stop it. He wanted this release like he needed it to live.

  His hands clutched her thighs as the pressure inside him soared. His hips rocked into her, fast, stuttering, rutting like some raw novice, but he couldn’t help it. She looked so beautiful above him, a slight sheen of sweat glowing on her skin, her hair disheveled and her cheeks flushed a fetching pink.

  He wanted to do something for her, wanted her to share in this unbelievable pleasure but he no longer had any control of himself. His orgasm was coming, flooding every nerve with fire and suddenly his body seized and throbbed and he couldn’t breathe and pain swirled with rapture as his body strained in ecstasy.

  He came down slow, cocooned in blissful exhaustion, and didn’t immediately realize she was cleaning him. Gradually his mind recognized the continuing tender sensations as her caressing his skin with a warm, damp towel. With a contented sigh, he stretched and blinked and looked up at her.

  A silly grin stretched his face, he knew it, but he couldn’t stop smiling. She had made him feel fantastic. He reached out and touched her nose, caressed the rosy color along her cheek. “What’s your name?”

  “Slave.”

  “No, it’s not a test. What’s your true name? The one they call you on your home world?”

  “That’s… another life, Master. It’s not who I am now.”

  She didn’t sound sad, more, sort of, detached. He recognized that coping mechanism. Suddenly he felt… yes, guilt again. He hated how it chafed his happy mood.

  “Is your life that different?” he asked, his voice subdued.

  “Yes,” she answered firmly. A long pause crouched between them before she added, “And I don’t wish to remember.”

  He nodded. He could respect that. “My intimate name is Dzer-Jin. You may call me that when we’re not in public.”

  “I hadn’t better… I don’t want to forget myself, Master.”

  “I tell you what. When I’m Dzer-Jin to you, you can tell me to go chase myself. You can say no to me, all right? But only in private, when you’re calling me by my true name.”

  She nodded and swallowed. “Thank you. Jhzair… Dzer-Jin.”

  He sat up, intending to take the towel back to the washroom for her. “And I’m going to call you… Ahno’ee.”

  * * *

  She had a name. He wasn’t going to toss her away any time soon if he’d gone to the trouble of giving her an actual name.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “Thank you. It sounds nice. What’s it mean?”

  His mouth opened, then he paused. His right hand went to the back of his neck and slowly rubbed. For a moment she thought he was blushing, but that was just silly.

  “Uh… it means… beloved.” He glanced at her, up from under his brows, his eyes wider than normal, as if he were nervous or something. Then his gaze darted away. “But I just like the sound of it,” he added so fast that the words jumbled together.

  “I like the sound of it, too. No, I’ve got it.” She took the towel and climbed off the mattress. It didn’t take too long to hang it up, wash herself, and prepare for bed, but nonetheless, he was already asleep when she ret
urned.

  He looked so open and unguarded sleeping. Awake there was always a dangerous edge to his mouth and a hard darkness in the depths of his eyes, even when he tried to hide it from her. Gazing at him asleep, she felt rather protective toward him.

  She wondered what his life was like. What had happened to him that made him different from the others? Did he have friends besides that horrible Lagi? Probably. She hadn’t known he had a girlfriend until she showed up, which reminded her he seemed singularly indifferent to their breakup. So in some ways he was cruel-normal for this planet.

  But he possessed the ability to be kind. He saw compassion as a viable behavioral choice when others couldn’t. Maybe it was a mental illness thing and he was his planet’s version of a psycho. That would be kinda ironic, actually.

  She continued to watch him sleep. He was more attractive than a mortal had any right to be and damn when they had been…

  Warmth surged through her at the memory. She hadn’t figured on enjoying anything when she entered his bedroom. Just wanted to make sure he did. If he took pleasure in her, he’d want to keep her, and that was her main objective.

  It hadn’t struck her that, as an alien, he might be… differently constructed until she’d started to crawl up the bed toward him. The bottom dropped out of her stomach as fear of the unknown overwhelmed her. What if he had some crazy, alien…like tentacles or something? But she’d already committed herself to this. She could make it work. She had to. And he alone of all the men on this planet was worth it.

  Luckily, when she climbed on top of him, he’d felt normal and when she’d pulled down the sheet… Oh, yes, definitely familiar—although on the ohmygodhuge side of human.

  She had concentrated on watching his face, monitoring his reactions, so she’d know what he liked and what she needed to do more. For that reason she had ridden him staring into his eyes. And the way he’d looked up at her… her insides fluttered and constricted. His pupils had been wide open, black swallowing the olive green of his irises, and his expression pulled at something inside her like nothing she had ever witnessed.

  He gazed at her like he was seeing the soul inside her, like she was the only female in the universe, and his eyes held an oddly tender mix of lust and wonder. A little vertical crease had cut between his furrowed brows and when her pace quickened his lips parted, showing a glint of white front teeth.

  When the intensity grew, that little furrow deepened and his eyes rolled back as his lids slid closed. His hips thrust with unrelenting force while his iron grip on her thighs felt like it would bruise. He was mumbling things, endearments, desires; her collar couldn’t follow it all but the timbre of his voice made her melt.

  Moving with him, harder and faster, that tingling itch started within her. And when he let go, when he abandoned his control and wholeheartedly gave up his release to her, the strenuous ecstasy written on his face… She sighed happily, the memory of her orgasm zinging exquisite quivers through her.

  If she had to be here indefinitely, well, there were definitely worse places to be. Wait, no, she mustn’t think like that. Even on Earth some people didn’t understand that pets were for life. What if it was worse here? He might enjoy her for a few years and then dump her in an alley. She couldn’t allow herself the luxury of liking him. The sinking feeling that overwhelmed her at those thoughts was too much to bear.

  Swiping at her eyes before the first stinging tears could wholly form, she chastised herself for allowing her emotions to run rampant. All these ridiculous highs and lows—since when had she become a schoolgirl in love? On a planet that didn’t seem to recognize—let alone value—love, she’d never survive if she kept acting this way.

  She turned and tiptoed to the doorway. Time for her to retire to her cushioned closet. Technically, she supposed she should wake him and ask his permission to leave the room. But he seemed so comfortable. And his face was bordering on angelic.

  She looked out into the dark, toward the closet. That would be a long, unlit stumble. She glanced back at the bed. It was a cozy bed.

  Returning, she trailed her fingers over the mattress. The sheets felt crisp and clean. And there was room enough for two. If she stuck to the edge of her side… Her side? What was she thinking? The other side. If she stuck to the edge of the other side, he’d never know she was there, not the way he was sleeping.

  She eased herself onto the mattress and crawled under the sheet. Holding her body stiff, afraid she might awaken him, she listened to his steady, regular breathing and thought about the way he had smiled when he asked her name. He’d never smiled like that before. A surge of warm pride filled her at the thought. She’d put that expression on his face.

  Then worry—what if it was a one-off, what if she couldn’t repeat her performance—wriggled in the back of her brain. She shoved the troubling notion aside and tried to focus on sleep. Sweet, elusive sleep.

  * * *

  She woke up with her cheek pillowed on his bare arm. And she had drooled on him.

  Bolting upright and wiping her mouth with her hand, she looked to see if he was awake. He was. He lay on his back watching her, the corners of his eyes crinkled as a grin played on his lips.

  Embarrassment burned her cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Master. I didn’t mean to…”

  “You stayed.” His low voice rumbled like a purr.

  “Yeah. Was that okay? I didn’t know…”

  “Certainly. I’ve never slept so well.” His eyebrows twitched in a frown and for a moment he seemed disconcerted. “I ordinarily cannot sleep with…” He trailed off, lost in his thoughts.

  After a minute or two, she figured his continuing silence meant she was dismissed. Time to start the bala-maker. That stuff was as easy to get addicted to as coffee. She began to climb off the mattress, but he grabbed her arm.

  “I did nothing for you last night.”

  She giggled, her cheeks getting hot. “Yes, actually, you did.”

  Never releasing her arm, he sat up. His eyes were hard now, piercing, but not in a way that frightened her. He tilted his head, his mouth slanting down to hers, and kissed her. Despite the ferocity in his eyes, his lips caressed hers softly, gently, his kiss almost chaste.

  It reduced her insides to pudding nonetheless. Clutching her knees for support, she leaned into him, inexorably drawn as if trapped by magnetism. Varying his subtle kisses with delicate nips and licks, he gradually sought entrance to her mouth.

  Just as she opened to him, he broke the kiss and pulled back. She failed to stop her whimper of dismay. An odd light sparkled in his eyes as his gaze roamed her face. Uncertain what to make of his intense perusal, she looked down at the sheets.

  His hand ran up her arm, over her shoulder, to her neck and slowly stroked her throat, encouraging her to tilt her head back. Knowing men on this planet liked gestures of submission, she obeyed, closing her eyes and stretching the line of her neck to expose her vulnerable throat to him. His hand closed about her neck. She swallowed, feeling the firm pressure of his palm against her collar.

  She had no doubt he could crush her windpipe if he so chose. She also had no doubt that he never would. His other hand buried itself in her hair, grasping a tight fistful that caused her to yelp before rapidly relaxing his grip.

  He nuzzled her temple. “You’re so deliciously fragile.”

  “Am not. Well, I could be delicious. But I’m not fragile.”

  He kissed her nose. “My mistake.” He kissed her chin. “The things I want to do to you…”

  A growl rumbled deep in his throat and suddenly she was on her back on the bed with him on top of her, lying between her parted legs. His weight landing on her punched the air out of her lungs. She gasped and his mouth seized her parted lips, his tongue delving inside.

  It was less a kiss than a claiming. He barely let her breathe and just when the pressure started to overcome her, he broke the kiss, his breath whistling through gritted teeth.

  Her lips tingled. She was beginning to
rethink the whole fragile thing. Not that she would have admitted it.

  A thin ring of glowing olive green circled his wide, dark pupils before he lowered his head and nipped her neck, again and again. Sudden sharp suction on the front of her throat heralded another mark. She whimpered as the pangs intensified but stayed as still as possible, unresisting.

  He grabbed her hips, his movements rough with arousal. Next he was hitching up her nightshirt. She arched, trying to help him. Then she was lost in the flurry of sensations as his hands slid down her back, his strong fingers dug into her flesh and squeezed her bottom.

  “Legs apart.”

  She obeyed and he positioned himself on his knees between her thighs. She giggled as he kissed circles around her ticklish navel, but a twinge of embarrassment hit her when his head dipped lower.

  “I’m sorry. My belly fat never, ever goes away.”

  “I like your belly,” he murmured, kissing the curve of her stomach. “It’s soft.” Another kiss. “And it jiggles.” He tried to kiss her belly again but she was already twisting, attempting to extricate herself. Grabbing her hips, he kept her in place. “What have I done?”

  He sounded genuinely perplexed. Too humiliated to meet his gaze, she cleared her throat. “Aren’t you making fun of me?”

  “No. Why? Was that not a proper compliment?” Before she could answer, he kissed one closed eyelid, then the other, with such gentle pressure she might have been formed from the thinnest glass. “I shall endeavor to improve, Ahno’ee.”

  His lips returned to her belly, trailing kisses to the top of her hip, then down to the curve of her leg. He kissed the tender inside of her thigh and she shivered. She was particularly sensitive there, and her sensitivity only increased at the thought of how vulnerable she was right now, splayed open before him.

  This wasn’t something she’d done a whole lot. She’d never had a serious, long-term boyfriend. In fact… it struck her that she was the perfect target for slaving aliens. No family. No boyfriend. Her closest friends were on the Internet, not down the street. Currently no pets. And no dependents. Only her library job to miss her, and even if they called for an investigation, aliens had nothing to fear from Earth police.