The growl he let out was loud enough to shake the mirror by the door, and he fell to the side. “Careful … oh, God…”
He was going to come, especially as she stroked—
“Oh, Jesus,” he said on a hiss before he bit down on his lower lip.
Selena got on her knees, her heavy breasts swaying, her hair uncoiling from its chignon. Two-handing him, she found a steady motion, going up and down, up and down, popping over the top of his head and then finding his shaft again. And as she worked him, his hips countered her, the rhythm getting faster and faster.
With a sudden jerk, he pushed her onto her back and took her hands away from his body.
“But I want to—”
He cut her off with his mouth, licking his way past her lips. “I want to come inside of you.”
Her smile was sexy as hell, her eyes sparkling. “And then I get to explore?”
“You are going to kill me, female.”
As he mounted her, she parted her legs to make room. “You’re the only one I’m thinking of,” he heard himself say.
And what do you know, this time the past stayed away—probably because he’d spent the hours they’d been apart thinking of her on the floor of that bathroom, writhing under his mouth, wanting more. Yeah, the desperation to get into her, have her, orgasm in her, was stronger than all the things he hated about himself. Nothing was going to stop this now.
Especially as, during the time they’d been separated, he’d pointed one salient fact out to himself:
She had been with a lot of males, too.
That was part of her job—even though he hated to think of it. As a Chosen who served the blood needs of others, she had been trained sexually and been with the males she had served. It was the way things worked.
And as much as it depressed him, he supposed it put them on an equal footing—although the sex she’d been having had been part of a sacred role that saved lives. His had just been an addiction.
Past tense there, he thought. Nice.
Gripping himself, he angled his cock and closed the distance, pressing into her, finding the right spot. With a groan, he brought both arms up so that he cradled her head—and as their eyes met, he could tell she’d stopped breathing, as if bracing herself for his size.
“I’ll go slow,” he murmured, kissing her gently.
Her voice was a mere whisper: “Thank you.”
As he inched into her, she was curiously still, her eyes closed, her fangs descending. And all he could do was stare at how beautiful she was against the bloodred velvet duvet, her black hair tangling on the pillow, her cheeks flushed.
“You’re tight,” he gritted out. “Dear God.”
“Don’t stop.”
“I won’t—”
“Do it, just do it.”
Trez frowned, thinking that was an odd way—
It happened so fast that he didn’t have a chance to stop it—Selena gripped his hips, locked him in place, and thrust herself forward, driving him past a barrier … that should not have been there.
As she let out a gasp of pain, nothing computed. “What the…”
He didn’t finish the sentence. Couldn’t finish the thought. The tight grip of her all around him was too much, and the orgasm that had been brewing kicked out of him, flowing into her body.
In response, Selena linked her legs around his ass, a sigh rippling out of her as he tried to keep any thrusting to a minimum. Virgin? Virgin …
And then he remembered, back in the bathroom … Take me, teach me.
Virgin.
Trez withdrew so fast, she winced—and he nearly ended up not just off the bed, but out of the room.
The blood on his deflating erection made his gut fist up. “Selena … Christ, why didn’t you say something?”
Her eyes dropped from his as she pulled her robe together. She even redid the cloth belt before sitting up on the pillows. “I wanted you. I still do. It’s as simple as that.”
He reached up to loosen the necktie that was constricting his breathing—and remembered he was buck-ass naked.
“Not simple,” he said hoarsely. “That is not simple.”
The last thing he needed was another female he was obligated to wed: If Phury as Primale wanted him to follow through on this? What the hell was he going to do?
Especially because … he was falling in love with Selena.
As Trez stood naked on the far side of the room, Selena thought, Hmm, not what she’d been going for.
But she’d been right to keep quiet. At the last minute, she’d made a conscious decision not to tell him—for precisely this reason.
“How is— how— why…” The stuttering was not a good sign. “I thought you were an ehros.”
“I am.”
“So how are you a virgin?”
“I was not used in that manner.”
He threw his hands up in frustration. “Why me?” Abruptly, he cursed. “I mean…”
“As I said, I wanted to be with you. I still do.” After the strike of pain, she’d only gotten a hint of the pleasure—she wanted to know what else there was to making love.
Putting his head in his hands, he just stood there. “Christ.”
“Just so that we understand each other,” she said crisply, “I’m not expecting anything from you. If that’s what you’re worried about. There shall be no mating.”
Not with her future. Although with the way Trez was looking, that wouldn’t have been in the cards anyway—
“You sure your Primale will think like that?”
She kicked her chin up. “Who’s going to tell him.” When that seemed to stop him, she shrugged. “It shan’t be me. And no one else is in this house with us. So if you do not, he will never know.”
In truth, she wasn’t sure what Phury would do if he found out—technically, now that she’d had sex with someone other than the Primale or a Brother, she was fallen. But it was hard to know in these new times how much of the old ways survived.
Not that it mattered. Her time was coming due.
Which was why, when Trez had paused after noting her sex was tight, she’d taken matters into her own hands. She’d been determined to not lose her chance, especially not after that episode downstairs at the kitchen table.
Abruptly, she thought of the one he was bound to—and felt a lance of pain through her chest.
“Worry not,” she said with exhaustion. “There is nothing to be done.”
“I do have honor, you know,” he snapped.
“I mean no offense.”
He closed his eyes and muttered, “You shouldn’t be apologizing.”
“I fail to see the problem. My body is mine to give and I chose you—and you wanted me.”
At that, his lids rose. “I hurt you.”
“What was painful was that you stopped.”
Trez shook his head. “This is a mess.”
“According to whom?”
“You don’t know the half of it.” But at least he came over and sat on the bed. Putting his head back into his hands, he exhaled hard. “I shouldn’t have been the one, Selena. Anybody but me.”
“Again, don’t you think that’s a judgment only I can make?”
“But you don’t know me.”
“I know enough.” After all, he’d told her about the human women. His parents. His being tied to another. What else could there be?
“Nope. You don’t—”
A sound cut through the room, and it took a moment for her to realize it was a portable phone ringing.
“Are you fucking me,” he groused as he reached past her to the pillow. On it, a cellular device was sitting with its screen facing up, having clearly slid out of his pants pocket when they ended up on the headboard.
He checked the number—and then looked over to the clock. “What time is it—oh, shit.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I’ve got to take this.” He glanced around as if looking for some privacy. “I’ll be right back.”
As she watched him go out into the hall, his naked body was resplendent—and just the sight of his backside was enough to get her assessing whether or not she’d ever get the chance to be with him again.
Closing her eyes, she stretched herself and found an ache in her pelvis that had never been there before.
Yes, it had hurt some. But not enough to make her regret anything—or not want to do it again.
Something told her it wasn’t in her future, however.
She should have said something to him.
But there was no taking that decision back.