Annie Nicholas - Bait

Crap. I twisted the top then dabbed a drop on my tongue. To err with less sounded safe.

The shower noise stopped. I stuck the vial into my pant pocket and closed the chest lid. My knees wobbled as I stood, probably from squatting too long.

Rurik came out with a towel wrapped low around his hips drying his hair with another one. “We will introduce you to my people so there are no misunderstandings.” He approached me, beads of water sat on the skin of his chest. “You’ll have full access-”

I licked at one of beads.

His head came up like I’d staked him.

My head fuzzed a bit, my mental shields still held but barely, and my inhibitions apparently flew out the window. I stepped closer to fulfill one of my bathhouse fantasies and sipped the water from his skin. It tasted warm and clean. No doubt about it, that vial contained the drug Rurik used on me, and I didn’t give a damn.

He dropped the towel he used to dry his hair but still didn’t touch me.

I glanced at his eyes to see them full of fervent fire. His mouth parted a fraction while his hands hovered by my shoulders. I licked a solid line to the hollow of his throat.

As if coming to a decision he grasped my shoulders and lifted me to within an inch of his face. “No teasing this time.” He glared into my eyes. “You need to say the word ‘yes ’ or this won’t go any further. Once we start I won’t stop. Not this time.”

I stepped back and his fingers trailed down my arms.

A hurt narrowed his eyes until he realized why I pulled away.

I undid the buttons on my blouse one at a time and watched as his eyes widened and were drawn to what I revealed. He picked out the undergarments I wore but they were empty and lifeless when he did it. Now, I filled every lacy tidbit. As the last button came undone I whispered, “Yes,” and allowed the blouse to slip off my shoulders to the floor.

His eyes drank me in.

I yearned for his touch again. For that wicked desire he awakened in me. I slid one red heel off.

“Leave the shoes on,” he ordered, his voice deep with passion.

I slipped the red heel back on.

Rurik crossed his arms over his chest with a crooked smile on his face. “Please, don’t let me interrupt.”

A nervous laugh escaped me. My mental shields no longer protected me but I didn’t need them with him. He wouldn’t hurt me. After all the opportunities he’d had to harm me, he never did. Why would he start now? I felt wild and free, like a huge weight lifted from my heart. Rurik did this to me, not the drug. It may have affected my defenses but not my soul.

I undid my pants and let them pool around my ankles. The cuffs were wide enough I needed only to step out of them. I shook my head to send my bouncy, blond curls to fly wild around my face and turned in a lazy circle. His gaze never left mine. It waited for me as we lost contact for a moment when I completed the turn. Full of hunger, he absorbed my presence, but his eyes never wandered lower.

Mine did though.

His body’s reaction under the towel told me he liked what he saw. The crooked smile on his face turned salacious as I advanced toward him.

I ran my fingernails down the sculpted ridges of his chest muscles until they reached the towel and gave a tug so it fell from his hips. It was hard to believe someone so sensuous could be real. That he wanted me.

His hands caressed my shoulders and he pulled me against him. I felt a potent snap of sensual awareness at the feel of his hard length along my stomach. Drips fell from the tips of his wet hair and rolled over his chest to rest on his hardened nipples. They summoned my lips.

I knew of the darkness in Rurik and his potential for ... evil, but I trusted he wouldn’t do it. Use me, feed from me, and kill me even though I stood before him helpless. It was a lot of trust to have. More than I’d ever thought possible.

His chest rose with heavy breaths as my mouth moved lower. I kissed the smooth pale skin to his navel then nipped at the short hairs that grew in a line to more delicate bits.

He nudged my chin with his tip, asking for more attention. Fingers brushed through my hair before I blew a gentle breeze over his hot and needy end. He clenched his hands, entwining my curls in his fingers. I slid my mouth over him. A moan echoed in the silent room. Hard and stiff, I fought to take in as much of him as I could and swallowed him. My instincts cried out something this big shouldn’t be coming down my throat whole but I found if I didn’t struggle I could still breathe.

When my lips felt the solid touch of his base, I knelt lower to change the angle so he could watch as he slid from my mouth. Breathless, I was pleased with the results.

Rurik stared at me with carnal urgency. Maybe I wasn’t as rusty at this as I’d worried. Almost a year and a half had passed since I’d been with a man, almost two since I had a wild one. I bent my face back over him. It was easier to take him in, harder, faster.

His short gasps filled the room and he gave gentle thrusts, trying to hold back so as not to hurt me, while griping my hair. It felt good to have him in my mouth, ripe and firm, to hear him make all those enticing sounds. The skin was so soft and silky as it rolled over my tongue. I took him deeper and concentrated on relaxing my throat so not to choke but it convulsed around him as I reflexively swallowed my saliva.

His breaths were frantic now, making everything from his abdomen to his shoulders move. He stumbled back. “Enough. I don’t want to come this way. Not our first time together.”

On tiptoe, I stretched my body along his torso to come eye to eye with him.

“Connie.” A bare whisper fluttered from his mouth before he crushed his lips to mine. The kiss woke a fierce yearning and sent a shiver of anticipation down my spine.

His hands slid around to my back and with an expert’s grasp he unclasped my bra. The butterflies in my stomach took wing. I gave up to his kiss in sweet surrender and opened my mouth to invite him in. His tongue swiped a sure stroke inside, he left no spot unexplored.

I felt him graze the underside of my breasts as he slid his hands under my bra to cup them. My nipples hardened when his palms brushed over them, he then pinched them between two fingers to twist and pull. A flood of reckless desire flowed from me. I returned his kiss with as much fervor as he gave. I grasped his broad, strong shoulders and jumped to wrap him in my legs. I wanted to be part of him, to be as close as possible, to feel every inch of him.

My action broke our kiss as he caught me. He gave me a shameless grin before he pressed me to the bed and removed my bra, tossing it over his head.

There was no way to describe the intense effect he had on me. He shouldn’t have felt so familiar, as if I’d known him all my life instead of just a few days. I wanted so much for things to work out for us but our worlds fought against each other.

He pushed himself against the thin lace of my panties to remind me only this separated us.

I laughed at the hint and scooted out from under him to crawl further onto the bed.

He chased and trapped me on the pillows. One hand pinned both of mine above my head and the other teased along the edge of my underwear. “I’m not usually a gentle lover, Connie.” His husky voice whispered in my ear. “If I get too rough stop me.”

For a fraction of a second, it seemed as if my heart stopped beating. At the bathhouse he was far from gentle but it had excited me. I stared into his clear honest eyes, with my mental shields useless, I never once felt him reach out to influence my mind. It supported my confidence in him. I knew with an unknown surety he wouldn’t hurt me. Not unless I let him. I nodded. I belonged to him.