He thrust against her hips in a slow, steady rhythm that sent waves of pleasure through her. “Do you want me to stop?”
“Hardly.” She bit her lip as she met him stroke for stroke. “No wonder Andarions keep such a tight leash on themselves. Otherwise you’d never leave your bedrooms.”
He laughed harder at that than what was warranted.
“What’s that about?”
He cupped her chin and kissed her. “Last year, when Darling had himself wired with explosives, and was ready to blow himself and half his capital city to hell, Caillen and Nyk said that all we needed to do to redirect him from vengeance was get him laid. I scoffed at them for the suggestion, and they laughed at my stupidity. As much as I hate to admit those bastards were right. They’re right. I understand completely now. There is nothing sweeter than being inside you, mu tara. I would gladly give up any quest to stay here with you, like this.”
She ran her hand over his prickly cheek as he thrust faster against her hips. “I meant what I said, Dancer. I would gladly carry your lineage forward.”
“As would I with you. But the gods won’t grant us that and we both know it.”
Tears choked her as she wrapped her legs around his hips and wished she’d met him in a different time and place. If Fain was half the male and lover Dancer was, how could Omira have ever betrayed him with another? How could her sister have held so much in her hand and then callously thrown it all away?
Was she out of her mind?
“Mia?” He paused to wipe the tears from her cheeks. “Am I hurting you?”
She shook her head. “It’s the future that hurts me.”
“Don’t think about it. Just look into my eyes and know that you hold a place inside me no one else has ever touched. It’s reserved solely for you.”
That made her cry harder.
Hauk let out a breath of heart-wrenching frustration.
She buried her hands in his hair and held him against her. “It’s not you, baby. I’m a woman. Not an Andarion female. I have a hard time keeping tender emotions bottled inside me sometimes. The mere thought of losing you now…” She teased his lips with hers as she rolled him over so that she straddled him. “It’s not fair that I’ve waited my whole life for you and now that I’ve finally found you, I have to let you go.”
Hauk growled as she took control of their pleasure. If he could, he would stop time so that they’d never have to leave this place. How ironic really that in this desert that had destroyed his life when it’d taken Keris’s, it had given him a new one with Sumi.
Only this one couldn’t last and he knew it. All too soon, he’d have to let her go and return for a death sentence.
How can I let her go?
But like he’d told Sumi, he didn’t want to think about the future. He only wanted to live right here and now where it was just the two of them.
Two souls bound by something far deeper than just the physical.
She tensed ever so slightly. Smiling, he knew she was on the brink of coming for him. An instant later, she threw her head back and cried out.
Grateful he pleased her, Hauk ran his hands over her breasts as he watched the ecstasy play across her face. He loved the sight of her doing that. Of her finding pleasure in his touch and body. It made him insanely possessive of her. Protective. He never wanted her to look like this for any other male. Never wanted anyone to have this part of her.
She was his.
Grinding his teeth, he lifted his hips and buried himself deep inside her as he joined her release.
Like a seductive lorina, she draped herself over his chest and sighed contentedly while she ran her hand over the scars his mother had given him so long ago. Strange how they no longer mattered to him. Unlike an Andarion female, Sumi didn’t mind his scars.
Only his fresh wounds and bruises. She’d spent hours last night, kissing and bandaging them. And he’d done the same for hers.
He closed his eyes and savored the warmth of her flesh against his. “We should probably wash and head for the base.”
“Mmm.”
“Sumi?”
“I heard you. I just want a minute more alone with you, like this.”
He wanted a lot more than a mere minute. What he craved was a lifetime spent in her arms.
But that could never be and he knew it. So he held her for as long as he dared, then he picked her up and carried her to the small stream so that they could bathe.
When he went to dress, Sumi’s light laughter made him pause. “What?”
She pressed her lips together into an adorable expression. “Since the moment I woke up in your tent, I’ve wanted to climb up that long, hard body of yours and do a pole dance. I was just thinking how glad I am that I finally had the chance to do it.”
He blushed. “I don’t know about that. You looked pretty scared to me when you woke up in my tent.”
“Oh, I was a lot scared.” She left the water to approach him slowly.
His breath caught at the sight of her naked body glistening in the morning light as she neared him. She was lithe and well muscled. Sculpted and sweet. And his mouth watered to taste more of her. But the sight of her battle scars and injuries made him want to hunt Kyr down, and beat him until he was hoarse from begging for mercy.
She raked a hungry smile over him. “Not quite as scared as I was last night when I saw the look on your face, but —”
“I’m sorry about that.”
She shook her head. “Don’t be. You had every right to want me dead. I should never have agreed to come here to hurt you.”
“You weren’t exactly given a choice. I know Kyr. The words if it please Your Majesty never leave his lips. Even when he’s addressing royalty.”
“Still —”
He stopped her words with a kiss. “Fain taught me early in my life to listen with my eyes and not my ears.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Lips and tongues lie. But actions never do. No matter what words are spoken, actions betray the truth of everyone’s heart. And your actions gave me no reason to doubt you. You’ve been honorable since I met you. That’s what I should have put my faith in.”
Sumi stared up at him in wonder. He was so gorgeous, even with those strange eyes that were fast becoming normal to her. She fingered his goatee, then mustache. “It’s amazing to me how a race that is known for its rowdy brutality can hold such poetry and beauty.”
That handsome lopsided grin of his made her stomach flutter. “We are a fierce breed.”
“And the Warring Blood Clan of Hauk are the fiercest of all.”
“That we are, mu mia.” He let go of her to finish dressing.
Sumi bit her lip as he bent over to retrieve his pants. That male had the nicest butt she’d ever seen on any being. And all that lush, rippling flesh…
Damn.
Just damn. Sighing, she turned to dress and tried not to think about how much she wanted to go take another bite out of him.
Hauk paused with a frown as he pulled his shirt on. There was such a strange serenity to him now. For the first time in his life, he was at peace and he didn’t know why. He was absolutely calm.
The bitter rage that had lived inside him and driven him to war for so long was quelled and silent. Sumi had lit a joy within him the likes of which he’d never known. His heart was light and all he wanted to do was make her smile. To give her the same happiness she gave him.
She hesitated as she caught him staring at her. “What?”
He grinned. “What, what?”
A thousand expressions, all adorable, played across her beautiful face. “Why are you staring at me like that?”