Annie Nicholas: Koishi

They both stared at it.

The symbol of their separation.

It didn’t matter. Her reason for leaving was honorable. He could wait. He picked it up, set the spoon on the bedside table. “It’ll be safe here.”

She ran her hand over his forearm, leaving a trail of heat on his skin. “I know it will be.” Squeezing her hand, she drew closer until she pressed against his side. “I’m sorry. I do trust you.”

He met her wide-eyed stare and raised his eyebrow. “Prove it.”

How? What could she possibly do to make him understand she’d seen the error of her ways? Sandra trusted him with her sister’s life, and her own. She had to work past her first impressions, but he’d left a memorable mark with his tomfoolery. “Will you swear, no more pranks?”

His frown grew deeper. “They were only in fun. None of them hurt you.”

She laughed at his defensive tone. “No, only my pride took damage.” She took the saji and placed it in his hand. “Give it to me when I leave.” Before she left, she needed to find the guts to tell him her true feelings for him, but courage was fleeting in the wake of her emotional storm.

He twirled the old, tarnished spoon along his fingers, possibly capable of destroying it with a single fist. “Okay.” With a flip of his wrist, he sent it flying in the air.

She gasped. Her heart fainted dead in her chest.

He caught the precious artifact before it hit the table and then gently set it on the surface.

For a moment, the muscles in her neck wouldn’t relax, seizing at a vision of the saji shattering. He wasn’t human. She couldn’t expect him to have slow reflexes like one, so there was never any chance of him really dropping it, right? She took a deep, calming breath and met his gaze before punching his arm, again.

“Ow, stop that.”

“You want me to react this way, or you wouldn’t keep teasing me.”

Scooping her in his arms, he grinned. “You’re right. It’s too much fun otherwise.” He set her on the bed. “Let’s see what other reactions I can coax from you.”

He undressed, tossing his clothes in whatever direction, all the while pinning her with one of his extremities or another. “Do you want things hard or gentle?”

“Does it matter? I think whatever I answer, you’ll do the opposite.”

“Or I could do what you want just to surprise you.” A touch of playful evil tugged at the corners of his lips.

Her traitorous body responded, all shivery with wanton desire. It liked the macho, alpha stud act. Damn, he made her feel alive and potent, beautiful and dynamic. The Sandra from the Midwest who’d arrived on this island had been a gray blob of boring until she met Ishi. Now, she was colored with passion, anger, and joy.

For the first time in her life she realized her full potential.

He straddled her hips and gripped the front of her bra with both hands. With a sharp tug, he ripped it apart.

She gasped at the sheer power and hunger that radiated from his body. His cock stood erect from his body, hard and thick. Very ready to take her in any way he wanted.

He fell upon her breasts. Sucking, tugging at her nipples, fondling her flesh as if in carnal worship. His groans and thrusts against her thigh were his prayers.

Her cries joined in. She spread her legs so she could draw him closer in her embrace, to give herself over to him completely.

Guiding her hands, he set them on the handgrips at the bottom of the headboard. “Don’t let go.”

Someone set loose a bunch of squirrels in her stomach when she clutched those wooden handles as if her life depended on it. She’d been fantasizing about this headboard ever since she’d seen it, and wanted to watch him unleash his draconic passion.

Heat radiated from Ishi’s body in waves as he hovered so close the small hairs on her skin rose as if aching for his touch.

Sweat beaded her skin, and he licked at the small drops pooling along her collarbone as if savoring her taste. The delicate caress conflicted with the hard need he ground against her core. His hand traveled over her abdomen. Anticipation tingled ahead of his fingers until they slipped inside her panties and cupped her mound.

He ran the rough tip of his tongue over her jaw line and as he reached her ear he whispered, “I took you like a man yesterday. Now I want you with a dragon’s appetite.”

Her hips jerked when he tore her panties off, leaving a burn around her thighs.

Before she could gasp, he entered her with a hard stroke until his balls pressed against her ass.

She arched her back, never letting go of the headboard, at the combination of bliss and sting. A moan crept from her throat as she tried to remember how to breathe. He filled her. Oh God. It burned, yet stretched in such a good way.

He built his rhythm from a letting-her-warm-up pace to I’m-going-to-fuck-your-brains-out pounding.

Things she’d never thought she would say came out of her mouth in a flood of fuck me’s and oh yeah baby’s .

His mouth found hers, sending the room into silence.

Closing her eyes, her world went fuzzy, the pleasure so intense she bucked and thrashed against the onslaught of sensory overload. She gave him everything she had as he thrust and teased and penetrated.

Except release escaped through her grasp and she couldn’t fall over the cliff’s edge into orgasmic heaven. Desperation made her yank from his kiss with a sob.

He must have sensed her frustration, since he surged against her, spreading her legs wider and bending them to his chest, cranking her into a tight ball. His hands landed over hers, gripping the handholds. He drove deeper inside her, harder, faster.

Pinned in this position left her completely in his control. She didn’t want him to slow, but it forced her to trust him completely.

She watched his powerful body work above her, his abs undulating as he took her with a primal hunger.

His grunts began to sound more like growls as he arched over her, sweat streaming down the length of his chest. The headboard banged the wall with a tribal beat. Heavy breathing sawed in their throats. She rode his desire, taking him. With a roar, he orgasmed, his cock kicking violently, and took her along for the ride.

The blinding bliss of her climax was interrupted by someone screaming.

Her.

Something crashed.

Maybe one of the bedside tables?

When he slowed and partially collapsed on her, she finally pried her fingers from her hold. She was soaked and her limbs made of noodles.

The nightstand on the other side of the bed had fallen. Ishi lifted his head and met her blurry gaze. “Ready for round two?”

His question sent dragon coils of hunger twisting through her exhausted body. “Damn straight I am,” she answered between gasps for oxygen.

Next morning, Sandra collapsed on the bed, sweat trickling over her skin. Her lungs heaved with the need for cool air. The more her dragon exerted himself, the hotter the air grew in the chamber.

Ishi lay next to her, staring at the ceiling. He’d been so attentive to her needs during the night. Coaxing her confessions of her darkest fantasies, then satisfying them. Did he really care about her? It was hard to imagine.

She wasn’t a fairy princess or anything special. Why had he pursued her? Did he really want to her to come back? If she returned and he shunned her, it would tear her to shreds. He was asking for so much trust. To peel open her heart and soul to him, a creature who ate those things for breakfast on regular basis. What if this was all a cruel dragon game?

“You’re far away, what are you thinking about?” He had rolled over, with his hand supporting his head, as she had spaced out.