ThirteenNights Page 3

  “So, my Amazon princess, you are concerned for me.” He liked that. A lot. “My coding talent has no equal so the only way they’ll catch me is if you get pregnant. And that isn’t likely to happen.”

  “Why not?”

  “Hidden in the warriors’ database, which I regularly hack, is a study by an Amazon researcher on the fertility rates of the warrior races. The Elders banned it but the research findings were irrefutable. We’re dying out. Only a few children are born every year. Sterility is rampant among many of our kind.”

  Annie’s mouth fell open. “The deities are losing their power but the pantheon mortals are losing their existence?”

  “It seems so.” He paused. “Love me tonight, Annie. Maybe we can’t save the pantheons, but we can save each other.”

  Turning around in his arms, she captured his face between her hands. Soft lips pressed against his. Teeth nipped gently along his bottom lip, coaxed him to open to her. Her tongue swept in his mouth with sexy flicks and lingering swirls. Her kiss captured him with the demand of a warrior and the need of a woman.

  Inflamed by her fervor, he let her lead. He’d been aching to kiss her since she first smiled at him. That she took the initiative to break the rules had him hot, heaving and ready to just take her on this couch.

  “I booked a room here,” he said against her mouth. “I’m not sure putting on a show is in our best interests, no matter how tempting the idea might be.”

  Scrambled as his brains and body were from her nearness, he didn’t know how they got to the room. When he woke up in the morning alone, he knew the night would be forever stamped in his memory. The wickedness in her eyes, gentle caresses interspersed with the hard bite of nails against his skin, and oh the pounding—that hot, damp velvet glove that grabbed, held him, pulsed against him as she came.

  Thirteen Nights would never be enough. He wanted a lifetime.

  But she had left sometime after midnight, unwilling to sleep next to him though he’d asked, coaxed, even demanded. How much could he really push her? Were stolen kisses and whispered secrets as far as his Amazon would go?

  Fifth Night

  Tai woke up early, intending to use his day to organize the perfect evening. Most warriors took the two weeks surrounding the Thirteen Night ritual off from regular duties to focus their energy on the task at hand. The unspoken truth, as Tai had relayed to Annie last night, is that the fertility of warrior races, not historically high, was deteriorating Even worse, the data showed that mixing up the gene pool beyond the warrior races and allowing children to be raised in family structures would not only reinvigorate their fertility, but develop stronger, more flexible warriors.

  Like me.

  Rather than using knowledge to address the problems, the warriors did what they always did and just threw more muscle into it. And they were muscling themselves out of existence. Maybe he was wrong last night. Maybe he could save the pantheons, show them another way. And he would start with one beautiful, brunette Amazon.

  He picked up Annie and brought her to the outdoor skating rink at the National Gallery of Art. Her face puckered up like a fish. “A date at a hotel, I got. But this is a real human date, isn’t it?”

  “I’m half human.”

  Her eyes still bulging out, she nodded and a hint of a smile tugged at lips he couldn’t resist kissing. Since she broke the kissing taboo, he figured he could now do it as often as he liked.

  “I loved skating as a child,” she murmured as if to herself. Skating for warriors, he knew, was a full-contact sport that made NFL hockey look like a teddy bear tea party.

  While they waited in line to rent skates, he held her close, glad she allowed him to touch and stroke, act as if they were indeed lovers, not temporary breed partners.

  “You skate as if you were born to do it,” Annie said after he circled around her several times and took her hand. Tai gracefully led her through the labyrinth of human skaters without losing speed or brushing up against any of them.

  “I feel at home here. Growing up, I first discovered how to use my size and speed as an asset on the ice. My first victories were here. Let me show you what else I can do.” Enfolding her into a kiss to end all kisses, he kept them spinning in the corner of the rink. When he reluctantly broke contact, the flush on her cheeks had nothing to do with the cold air.

  “Take me somewhere, Tai.” Her warm breath stroked his cheek, the huskiness in her voice an intoxicant in his bloodstream.

  But he wanted more from her. “Come.”

  After they returned their skates, he took her hand and led her along the path of the outdoor sculpture garden adjacent to the rink.

  That fish face again. “You want to do it here?”

  “No, baby, I want to continue our date.”

  “Why?” Curiosity and more than a little frustration tinged her voice, but not anger.

  “There are things I want to share with you.”

  “Art?”

  “Yeah.” Heat touched his cheeks. Had he pushed her too far?

  Shaking her head, she laughed. The low, mellow tones a cool, soothing caress against the warmth of his skin. “So explain this to me.” She pointed to a giant concrete and metal sculpture with a red circular bottom, long blue fringe and a metal center that joined the two.

  “It’s a different lens to look at the past. A typewriter eraser holds little value now, but was once in daily use. Turning such a small thing into art forces us to ask if an attachment to the past holds us back, limits us.” He had to make her see, make her question. The crease along her brow suggested she was thinking about it. “Let me show you my favorite.”

  They arrived at a one-dimensional house—a yellow front, red shutters and chimney, one white wall. “Now watch. Keep pace with me and turn your head to one side.” Taking her hand, he walked her along the arc that ran in front of the sculpture.

  “My goodness, it’s spinning.”

  “It’s playing with your perspective. It’s an optical illusion.”

  “It’s more than that. When you look at the ordinary through a new lens, with added color and bold new lines, you realize how extraordinary the everyday truly is.”

  His heart filled with love for this astonishing Amazon who saw the world with her eyes wide open, whose bravery shone as much in the steps she was willing to take every day—not just her list of great feats. Hand in hand, they wandered from one sculpture to another.

  “I think this is my favorite,” she said in front of a structure made of stacked metal chairs that formed a ladder to the sky. “Using commonplace things to create something remarkable—new, larger than life.”

  He just had to kiss her for that, drink her into him, brand her, love her. “I need you naked,” he spoke against her lips when he broke the kiss an eternity later.

  Hustling her to his bike, he had her home and in his bedroom in warrior time. As she started to unfasten her sweater, his hands covered hers. “I want to do it.”

  His gaze locked to hers, he gently opened the top button. His finger traced along the silk of her skin until he hit the next one. One by one, his fingers worked their way down, lingering longer each time against her flesh. When the cardigan was fully open, he peeled it off her shoulders, down her arms, over her wrists and hands until it dropped on the floor. Underneath, a black-lace bra offered up her breasts, nipples peaked in invitation. He unhooked the clasp and slowly pulled it down her arms to the floor. With one finger, he stroked across her collarbone, circled one breast, then the other. “So beautiful,” he murmured. His thumbs flicked those hardened peaks until he heard her breath catch, felt her body shudder under his relentless touches.

  Her hand covered his cock tenting his jeans, already rigid and throbbing, the heat a brand that made him jump even under the heavy denim. Swiping her hand away, he tugged the button on her jeans open. The slow rustle of her zipper being opened tooth by tooth disturbed the silence of the room. Lifting her chin with one hand, he walked kisses down her throat, t
o each nipple.

  She held his head to one. “More,” she demanded, her breathlessness at odds with the command in her voice.

  Her wish, his desire. His tongue swirled around and across the peak, the laps firm and persistent until her nails dug deep into his scalp, her back arching into him. She rewarded the scrape of his teeth with a low moan. Craving more, he kissed his way down her abdomen, nuzzling her bellybutton, nipping at the soft flesh of her inner thighs, the bend of her knee. Tasting and touching every inch—the musky smell, the firm satin of her skin a drug in his bloodstream as he stripped the jeans and panties to the ground. At her ankles, he gently raised one leg to remove shoes and clothes, and then the other until she was naked.

  When he looked up, smelled the power of her desire, he couldn’t resist a long, juicy taste. He suckled her nub until her groans were loud and needy. Her thighs clenched under his hands. He lapped at her and loved her until she came on his tongue. Both satisfied, it was his turn. “Undress me.”

  Whereas Tai had been slow, wanting to savor and tempt, Annie ripped his sweater over his head, her nails dragging across his chest in the most exquisite pleasure-pain. He toed off his boots, making it easy for her to yank his pants and socks off. Her eyes lasered onto his cock, which banged hard and proud against his abdomen. She licked her lips and he understood. “You’ve never tasted me.” He pumped himself slowly. “I can see you want to.”

  “It’ll waste your seed. We need it to conceive.” Her voice wavered, husky with appetite.

  “I won’t tell. Baby, you know I rebound quickly. You’ll leave here full of my seed.”

  A small, sexy smile. “Yes, you do.”

  “Indulge, Annie.” Break another rule. He wanted this with a hunger bordering on madness—not just for the pleasure of her mouth, but so that she’d take him on a whole other, intimate level. Tapping into the precision-tuned control that allowed him to survive in the Gargarean camp, he held his raging lust in check and let her make the next move.

  “Sit down. I prefer to do it that way.” The Amazon taking control.

  “Make me.” Amazons needed to be challenged.

  One hand on his chest, the other gloved tight around his length, she nipped at his lips while walking ahead, forcing him to edge backward to the couch several steps behind him. When the back of his knees hit, she gripped his shoulders and pressed down until he fell on the seat. Kneeling in front of him, she pushed his thighs wide open and ran one red nail along the prize.

  “You’re going to tease, aren’t you?” he asked even though he knew the answer.

  A lick across the tip. “Yep.”

  Her tongue traced the vein that throbbed just below the crest to his balls, her hands massaged. A gentle nip of his sac with teeth followed by the swirl of her tongue around his erection had him groaning in anticipation. Electric pulses exploded under his flesh. “You’re just being mean.”

  Rich brown hair swept his thighs when she nodded, a silken promise of the sensuality to come. “Now,” he growled, his patience at a breaking point.

  She bit his thigh as a reprimand and then took him fully in her warm, tight mouth. Fire raged down his spine, the heat magnifying in his lower back. His whole body throbbed as her mouth fucked him. Her tongue twined around him and he detonated into a gigantic blaze. The mewls that emerged from the back of her throat, the pure focus of her mouth and hands, all signaled her pleasure in the act.

  “So good,” he rasped. A small part of his brain not fevered by lust smiled in pride. Amazons were not known for their expertise in this particular act or for their interest in it. Their reputation was of demanding, not giving to their male lovers.

  His hands threaded the velvety curls caressing his thighs. Her mouth kept to a relentless rhythm, hungry, demanding. While one hand stroked his sac, the other gripped his thigh, the bite of her nails driving him until he poured inside her. Love wove through the pleasure that cascaded through him. A smile in his heart, he watched her swallow all of him, reveling in his taste as she broke the cardinal rule of the Thirteen Nights—all resources toward procreation. What she had done was for mutual enjoyment, to strengthen their growing bond. And he was going to shower her in the same. After the dizziness of the orgasm passed, he carried her to his bedroom. The comforter had already been pulled back to reveal silk sheets covered in rose petals. One rose had been glorious. She deserved a bed full of roses to satisfy the sensual, gentle nature she’d had to keep hidden beneath her warrior face. By nurturing her secret desires, he hoped to entice her to stay in his bed long after the ritual ended.

  Her mahogany hair gleamed against white pillow cases, her strong, lush body open and waiting for him.

  His hands full of petals, he glided up her calf, along the inner thigh, her abdomen to capture her breasts in a cloud of blossoms.

  “I shouldn’t like this so much,” she said. Her hands covered his and guided his caresses.

  He showered her in the petals, cloaking her in the subtle scents and soft caress of love’s flower, keeping only one to whisper sensual promises across her lips before he took them in a kiss. All tongue and intent, the kiss meant to brand, to drug, to seduce her to stay with him, always.

  A kiss couldn’t sate the hunger riding him. He wanted to drown in her taste. He used petals to open her and licked around her clit in a sensual tease that had her arching toward him in supplication. A lap straight up the center drew a deep, ravenous groan. He settled down there for the evening. Long, lingering licks up and down had her squirming, grabbing his head until he suckled her, fierce and unrelenting.

  “Finger me too.” Inserting two, he pumped her hard and gorged until she released the Amazon battle cry. He smiled, knowing that to be the ultimate compliment, an indicator of sexual satiation equal to the thrill of battle—usually only shared when an Amazon shared pleasure with another Amazon. It was rarely bestowed upon a male. He wanted to hear it again when he was inside her. A few more licks, just because, and he moved over her and entered. Her orgasm throbbed around him, demanded he plunge in deeper. Annie’s legs encircled him, her pelvis shifted so her clit pushed against his pelvic bone. His empath knew what he wanted, had the same need.

  “Hard and deep,” she moaned. “Hold nothing back.”

  He didn’t. The bed shook and smashed the wall with every thrust. Plaster dust sprinkled their bodies and the bed. He slammed into her with everything he had. She bucked and reared until that battle cry echoed through his house, louder this time, drawing out the best orgasm he ever had in his life.

  Gathering her in his arms, he tucked her head under his chin. The mix of rose petals and her sweat-slickened skin felt luxurious against his flesh. He stroked down her back, light squeezes of her butt, enjoying holding her close. “Has anyone ever drawn the cry from you?” he asked, needing to be the one who pleasured her beyond all others.

  She shook her head under his chin. “That was the first time,” she said and snuggled closer. “The training never really stuck with you. Why?”

  The grin hit his cheekbones and he just had to stroke her some more, using the rose petals along her back this time. “Because if I had followed the rules, I wouldn’t have survived. I’m not Gargarean by blood. I’m smaller, weaker—the camp runt, so I relied on speed, agility and just plain brain power. I could out think and outmaneuver them, but it meant thinking outside the rule box, and that’s where I feel most at home.”

  “How did you come to be born?” It was not a cruel question, but an honest one, asked from a woman who knew that few Amazons took human lovers and even fewer would dare to bear a half-human child.

  “I don’t really know. I was left with the Gargareans when I was about a year old. I tried hacking, found nothing. Most likely, the records were destroyed.”

  “One year? That’s on the older side. Male children are usually delivered at six months. Do you know your mother?”

  “Her name’s Phoebe. I have her family history of deeds and kills. It was required for the Garga
reans to accept me. I’ve never met her, but sometimes I’ve felt eyes at my back, and I’ve always wondered…”

  Her eyes widened. “Hmm…I think I’ve heard of her.” She pressed soft kisses at the base of his throat, her hands explored the lines of his shoulder blades, traced each vertebra of his spine.

  Tangled together, they slept and she stayed until morning. Another rule broken.

  Sixth Night

  Tai arrived at Rock Creek Park Horse Center at twilight, pleased as punch to find Annie holding two horses saddled and ready to ride. By this point, they should be doing nothing except bonking each other’s brains out in an all-out attempt to conceive a child. That she’d willingly accepted his transgression from the breeding rituals was one thing. Now she initiated them herself and it sent jet streams of warmth flowing through his bloodstream.

  “Meet Frick and Frack. I rescued them with others from a carriage company. One horse was dead from starvation, the rest emaciated from malnutrition with severe dental problems. It took me months to calm them enough to allow human riders. Pick one.”

  He hopped on Frack, a black stallion that stank of power and arrogance, and sped off, knowing she’d follow. The warrior races learned to ride as soon as they could walk. The night wind against his face, the scent of pine in his nose, calmed his soul. And the woman catching up to him was becoming his heartbeat.

  The dull whoosh of a branch ticked his ear up, the only clue that Annie passed him. “Follow me,” she yelled.

  Anywhere. He couldn’t tell her that, yet.

  Going as deep into the woods as possible within a city park, she stopped near a small clearing. After tethering Frick to a tree, she pulled out a picnic basket and a blanket from behind it that she had to have hidden earlier. Tai followed suit, hooking Frack to a neighboring branch, then joined her on the blanket to a feast of baguettes, several fruits, sliced cheeses and red wine.