25

Holly shot up in bed with a cry, clutching shredded sheets to her chest. She gazed around the room in confusion, surprised to discover what she'd just experienced was a dream.

The most erotic one she'd ever had. And yet it hadn't sent her over the edge.

She'd dreamed that the sword fight had ended with Cadeon tossing her to the bed and stripping off her clothes, then his own. Like the man in the film, he'd guided his erection between her legs, then held himself above her on straightened arms with his muscles bulging.

Once he'd entered her, he'd worked his hips, slow at first, but gradually building speed and power, until he was plunging inside her like a piston. She'd grown closer and closer under the onslaught of his teeth-clattering thrusts....

Then she'd awakened.

Need to go swimming. Must find a pool. But she was in the north, in winter!

Here she was in this vulnerable state, and a pornophile demon lay in wait in the next room. She clambered to her feet, snatching up the ruined sheets to stuff them under the bed with the rest of the items she'd destroyed.

After making up the coverlet, she hurried to the bathroom to take a freezing shower. Yet even after she was dressed, she was still shaking, her hand tremulous as she tried to brush her hair. She repeatedly attempted to effect her perfect chignon. And failed.

She couldn't control her hair, her body, or her thoughts.

And the lightning firing outside seemed to mock her efforts.

Cade had woken, thrusting against the sheets, hard as rock for her.

The halfling's going to be the death of me....

With a groan, he rose, staggering to the bathroom for a steaming shower. Under the water, he recalled her reactions last night as she'd observed people having sex for the first time.

As her eyes had gradually grown wider, her breaths had shallowed, making her breasts rise and fall until his hands itched to knead them.

Leaning his head to rest on his forearm against the tile, he gripped himself and began to stroke.

Her nipples had jutted so temptingly beneath her sweater, begging for him to suck -

A clap of thunder boomed outside. He shot upright when the lights surged on and off. His skin pricked, as if from electrical energy. Holly...

Dashing from the shower, he shook out his hair as he hauled on jeans. He stumbled toward the door between their rooms, barely able to fasten his fly over his shaft. After breaking the lock and entering, he found her dressed, sitting on the side of the made-up bed.

She seemed dazed, staring at nothing. Had she had one of those dreams? Where she woke up coming?

From her shaky breaths, it seemed his female hadn't got all the way there....

He stifled a groan. She was in discomfort, aching for what he would easily kill to give her.

He moved in front of her and helped her to her feet. "You're trembling." He grazed the backs of his fingers over her cheekbone. Her breaths quickened from just that touch. "Ah, pet, you're about to go off just standing here."

She shook her head hard, eyes wide and flickering from violet to silver. Her tongue rubbed over one of her tiny fangs.

"Lie to me, but don't lie to yourself."

"This is why I need my pills, Cadeon!"

"That's not what you need." His instinctive drive was to use his body to pleasure hers, but he couldn't. As if she'd ever allow him to, anyway.

What would she allow?

"You're attracted to me, and you know I sure as hell am attracted to you. So I suggest we help each other out."

"What do you mean by help?"

Cadeon answered, "Not having sex, just giving each other a hand when one or the other needs it."

"Y-you're assuming a lot. I don't need release multiple times a day," she said, lifting her chin. "I'll be fine."

"Bullshite. You need it as bad as I do."

"That's simply not true. I don't even like you."

"You don't have to like me."

True. It's because he's such a cad that I can enjoy him. Holly already knew better than to feel more for him. She could just use him as he'd proposed that first night.

He began to maneuver her against the wall. And she let him.

No, this is madness. I would never think this way.... "It'd be wrong. I'd betray my boyfriend."

Cadeon laid his hand on the wall beside her head, leaning in. "Look at it this way. We can both release some pressure or we'll blow." At her ear, he murmured, "And when that happens, I'll be fucking you so hard to put out the fire. And you'll be loving it. When you moan my name, then you'll be betraying him." He pulled back, leaving her breathless - and dying of curiosity.

"Exactly how would we...do this?"

"You could stroke me off, and I could finger you."

She stifled a gasp at his coarse language, reminding herself that this was a very old demon.

If they did what he'd suggested, then he would see her naked, would touch her sex. A first.

Am I ready for this? No! No matter how much she might want to be ready. "You act as if we don't have control of ourselves."

He grazed one of her throbbing nipples, and she cried out.

"Does that sound like a female in control of her body? You need it so bad I could bring you off in three minutes."

She gave a shaky laugh at the absurdity of that. Then, of course, her mind seized on it. He was saying he could make her orgasm in one hundred and eighty seconds.

What if he...could? What would it be like to be brought to climax by another?

But if he did it to her, she'd only want it from him again and again. It was simple human nature.

I'm not quite human.

"Got you thinking about it, didn't I?" So smug.

"You know full well that you can't do it in three minutes. You're just saying that to initiate the contact and seduce me to do more."

"Then bet me. What do you want to win? Risk the touching. Get the reward."

Reward? Coincidentally, she needed something very badly. She hesitated, then said, "You let me refill my meds."

"Holly, you don't still want the pills - "

"And you have to go a week without cursing. Those are my terms. Take them or leave them."

"Fine. And when you lose, you have to go a week without panties. And you have to use your hands on me till I come, too."

The thought of fondling him till his big body shuddered and his semen released made her shiver.

No, that's not why she would do this - she would do it for her medicine. With a swallow, she said, "Would I have to be naked?"

He leaned in over her, surrounding her with his heat. "Not completely. Just enough that I could suckle your breasts and get my hand between your legs."

His mere words excited her. "I'll take the bet." Wait... "How will we know how much time has passed?"

He removed his dive watch. "It's got an alarm." He fiddled with it. "There. It's set to count down. You can start it," he said, handing it to her. "But we don't start counting till I have you in position."

"Position?"

Without warning, he lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bed, following her down.

"Lie back," he murmured as he lay beside her. Just his nearness on the bed was already arousing her - so she hit the timer.

Taking the watch from her, he tossed it to the bedside table. Then he grasped her wrists.

"Cadeon?"

"I'm going to hold your hands behind your back." He pinned them there.

"Why?"

"So you don't worry about hurting me. Try to get free."

Feeling a jolt of panic, she did, using all her strength to break his hold.

And she didn't gain an inch. She might as well have been held by steel.

"You can't overpower me. You can't hurt me."

Then this wouldn't be like the other times. He was an immortal warrior - not a human freshman. Holly found herself relaxing in his grip.

As soon as he felt her go soft, his free hand tugged her skirt up past the tops of her stockings until her panties were exposed. She started to tremble as he eased them down to her knees.

"Part those pretty thighs for me."

As she hesitantly did, he drew her sweater and bra up, completely exposing her breasts.

"Wait...I think I've changed my - Oh!" she cried when he fastened his lips around one of her nipples.

He sucked the peak inside his mouth, licking it there, making her moan, "Oh, my lord."

She thought he might make her climax just from his insistent suckling. She was still reeling from the delicious heat of his mouth when he ran his fingertip along her sex. She gasped a shocked breath.

"So hot and slick." His voice sounded pained. "Even more than I imagined." Using her own moisture, he began to rub his forefinger over her sensitive clitoris.

Holly had never been touched like this, had never imagined...

She struggled to hold on, to think of other things, but she yearned for release, getting closer with each clever caress of his finger and firm tug on her nipple. She dimly realized her hips were arching wantonly to his finger, but she couldn't stop them.

"Spread your legs more."

Every second of every day in the past, she'd fought not to think about the needs of her body. Now it seemed there was no fight, there could be no fight.

Her knees fell open wide.

He groaned around her swollen nipple. "That's it."

Losing control...those impulses arose.

Yet she was helpless to act on them. He'd seen to that. "Cadeon..."

Faster, faster, he rubbed his finger over her now throbbing clitoris, dipping it to her sex to rewet it. "I'm going to put it inside you, okay?" he said against her breast, beginning to delve that finger.

With a moan, she accepted defeat. This was too delicious, too overwhelming for her to resist. "Don't stop..."

Inch by inch, he filled her until it was all the way in. At the same time he stirred that finger deep inside her, he began slowly circling his thumb over her clitoris. He rasped, "Does that feel good, baby?"

Mindless, she thrashed her head on the pillow. "Yes, yes!" He was going to do it, would make her climax. The first man ever to. "Just don't stop, please..."

"Not until you've come for me."

"Oh, God," she cried. "Oh, yes!"

"That's it, Holly. I've wanted to see this for so long...."

Her climax overtook her. Her eyes flashed open in shock at the almost frightening intensity - stronger than anything she'd ever felt before. Wet, clenching, going on and on, until she arched her back and screamed with pleasure....

Seeing her coming was the hottest thing he'd ever witnessed, making him so hard he feared he'd join her before he even got his cock out.

As he wrung every ounce of pleasure from her, her tight sheath squeezed his finger, milking it so hungrily over and over again.

Lightning flared outside, the thunder shaking the room.

Finally, she whimpered, "No more," and pushed his hand away - just as his watch alarm went off.

Leaning up over her, he snatched it from the bedside table, crushing it in his fist to silence it.

When he turned back to her, he saw that she hadn't rushed to cover herself as he'd expected. Her hair had come loose. Her sweater, skirt, and panties remained where he'd left them.

She was beyond caring. This was how he'd always wanted to see her - unlaced, drugged with passion until her prim façade shattered. She was panting with heavy-lidded eyes, her swollen nipples wetted from his mouth.

Those blond curls between her legs were damp from her orgasm, and his cock strained for them. He ran the heel of his palm along his shaft, asking, "Will you ease me, Holly?" His voice was hoarse.

When she bit her lip and nodded, he yanked open the button fly of his jeans, shoving them to his knees. His cock sprang free, pulsing between them.

Eyes riveted, she sat up, murmuring, "But I don't know how. I don't want to hurt you."

"You can't hurt me more than I do right now. Just touch it."

Holly tentatively raised her hands to his shaft. At the first contract, he hissed in a breath, and involuntarily bucked. All he could think over and over was, My female has her hands on my cock.

She began to run her soft, soft hands over his heated flesh. When his cockhead grew slick like it had last night, he groaned in bliss. Using her forefinger, she daubed the moisture, spreading it in circles on the crown. "That's so good, baby," he rasped. "Now, just stroke it for me."

She didn't, instead continuing to explore with whispery touches when he needed fast friction. When she dipped her other hand to cup him, hefting the weight of his ballocks, he yelled out in fresh agony, hips rocking uncontrollably.

"Wrap your fingers around it! I'll do the rest." He attempted to calm his tone. "If you understood the pain..."

Taking her hand, he had her grip his shaft. "Ah! Better..." he groaned once he could grind into her fist for relief.

He reached down to rub her tight little clitoris. With his other hand, he kneaded her breasts, one then the other.

She ran her face against his torso, moaning as she kissed him there. She had the sexiest moans - short, sharp, each one laden with need, making him crazed to sate her.

I could take her... He could be fucking her in seconds. She'd let me. Though he desperately wanted inside her, he couldn't do it. He would change, going fully demonic.

And then he would know for certain that she was his.

So he bucked harder, reaching farther down to cup her sex, fondling her with his whole hand. She squeezed his shaft, beginning to pump it until his hips stilled, and she took over.

Stroking his female while being stroked. Nothing has ever been this good....

Her eyes slid shut as she started coming again, giving him more of those maddening moans.

His demon instinct recognized her as his own, roaring within him to claim her. As she quivered on his palm, he began to turn but fought it.

"Holly, you're going to make me come so hard...keep going." His breaths heaved, his body tightening like a coil. "Keep - ah, fuck!"

Release... He roared to the ceiling in a blinding surge of pleasure. Though he didn't ejaculate, the orgasm continued on and on, relentless, until he had to shudder away from her grip. Falling back on the bed beside her, he stared at the ceiling in amazement. For nine hundred years, he'd been waiting to pleasure his female.

And then to be the first to show her this...? He felt a pure masculine thrill recalling how her silvered eyes had gone wide with surprise right before she'd gone over the edge.

At last, to have this shared experience between them - it felt destined, momentous.

When he faced her, she said, "Cadeon, you didn't...?"

"Rage demons don't ejaculate, not until we claim our fated female."

"So that's what you meant by how you would know." When he nodded, she said, "I didn't do anything wrong?"

"No, love." He leaned over to nuzzle her ear. Even after his mind-numbing release, her scent had him stiffening again, his cock distending against her pale thigh. "Of course not."

"Very good, then." She pulled her clothes into place, then rose with a firm nod. "That was pleasant, Cadeon." She might as well have dusted off her hands. "I'll just freshen up, and then we can get on the road."

As she sauntered into the bathroom, all he could do was blink in disbelief, lying on the bed with his damned pants at his knees. He felt...used, finally understanding how he'd made nine hundred years' worth of females feel before.

This feeling sucks. He snatched his jeans up. Hell, he had been used. And worse, he'd gained no overall ground with her, which angered him.

When she returned, he tossed her back to the bed.

"What are you - Stop this!" she cried.

"Looks like I won the bet, poppet." Taking her slaps, he shoved up her skirt, then yanked off her panties, stuffing them into his pocket. "I'll be taking my prize."

26

"Can't get my mind off earlier," Cadeon murmured, his knuckles white on the steering wheel.

No kidding, she thought. For the last two hours, she'd kept reliving the things he'd made her feel - and made her do.

Twice.

And she kept seeing the pained look on his beautiful face before he came and the way his thick flesh had pulsed as she'd stroked him. His brutal yell had given her shivers.

Going without her panties wasn't helping. Knowing they were in the demon's pocket was surprisingly erotic to her. "Well, you're going to have to try harder."

Just as she would. If only she weren't so aware of him. She definitely had hypersensitivity. His scent was mouthwatering to her, lulling her to get closer to him whenever they sat near each other, which incidentally was every minute in the car.

Like a man's voice, a man's scent had never been particularly noticeable to her, unless, of course, it was unpleasant.

But Cadeon's scent made her claws curl for him, for his body heavy and hot atop hers.

"If I had my way," he continued, "I'd hole up somewhere with you for a couple of weeks and do nothing but - "

"Give me a good seeing to?"

"Yeah."

"Well, that's not a possibility. You need your sword, and I fear every day I'm getting closer to the point of no return with my transition."

"I know, I know."

"We're just going to ignore this."

Until now, she'd never truly comprehended the term sexual awakening. Now she did. He'd done things to her that she could never forget. Holly would never be the same again - because a line had been crossed. She'd had a taste of something, and she wanted more of it.

Which wasn't possible. So how did she get everything to go back to sleep?

"Ignore? Yeah, let me know how that works out for you," he said as he turned into the entrance of an exclusive-looking shopping plaza, what appeared to be one of those ��ber luxury malls. "We're here."

"This is where you're getting gear?"

"Where we're getting gear. You need some warmer clothes. Things you can move in."

Actually, she wouldn't mind a new turtleneck or two. Maybe a heavier jacket.

Once he'd parked in front of an upscale department store, she got out, absently shutting her door behind her. Again, her mind was a tangle of thoughts....

For so long, any arousal she experienced had always been accompanied by the fear of hurting another.

Earlier, the fear had vanished - because she'd been unable to hurt him, helpless to do anything more than have her body expertly petted to orgasm. She felt a flutter in her belly at the memory, but then frowned. Expertly.

He was, after all, a ladies' man. Had he brought Imatra the same kind of pleasure...?

"Hey, you forgot your computer," he said, negligently waving it at her.

Her eyes went wide as she hastened to him. She'd almost left behind her laptop? It was the one thing that was absolutely indispensable in her life, so critical to her she'd often wished she could have a hard drive implanted in her hip.

"Your mind's occupied, then?" he asked in that arrogant tone. "So much for ignoring what we did."

"I was thinking about something else." When she reached for it, he held it over his head. "Give it back! You might drop it!"

"I'll give it back, if you admit that you were thinking about me."

"Fine. I was. All about you. Now give it!"

He eventually did, looking surprised by how easily she'd capitulated. But this was her computer, the source of all that was right and good in the world.

Once she'd looped the strap of the case over her shoulder, he placed his big hand on her lower back. She gave him a pointed glare, which he ignored, whisking her inside. In the ladies' department, he even held up jeans to her hips, eyeing them for size. Highhanded male!

Through gritted teeth, she asked, "Exactly how do you expect me to try on jeans without underwear?"

He patted his pocket. "You want them back? We might be able to work something out." He shoved a few pairs of jeans into her arms, snagged some cashmere turtlenecks, then marched her to the dressing room.

She'd thought he'd wait in the sitting area outside. No such luck. "Cadeon!" she snapped when he followed her in, shutting the door. "You can't come in here!"

He planted a hand on the wall behind her and leaned in. "I need to be in here. Because you're about to kiss me."

"Is that so?" She'd tried for an arch tone, yet only sounded intrigued.

"Uh-huh. If you want your panties back for tonight."

"Fine. I'll go without jeans."

"Going to get chilly running around in skirts with nothing on but thigh-highs."