Squealing when the rough breadth of his hand scored the softness of her hip, his thickness driving forward too hard, too fast. Lost the sound in another primal groan that stuttered when his seeking fingers found the tender nub of flesh. The pad of his thumb mashed it, rubbing in coarse circles that shoved a scream from the depths of her soul as he unleashed the tempest roiling within her.
It wasn’t just warmth. The burn of the sun was nothing compared to the scorching heat rushing through her veins. Crashing waves pounding her against the sturdy, blistering ferocity of the man at her back, the swift motions of his thumb sending surge after surge erupting into the night. Pushing her further, higher with every grinding rut and rough caress.
Her scream was savage as he pushed her from a too high precipice, down into the chaotic depths of molten sensation. Plunging her deep into the scorching bliss of it as he continued to snarl and curse in a ragged song against her skin. Soul a wildfire raging within the too tight confines of precious skin, she answered him with yet more ravenous murmurings. Throat raw with the guttural noises, she bucked. Hips rocking in time as her body fluttered and contracted around the pulsing girth once again.
Rich and thick, heady in itself, an inferno erupted inside of her. The male’s groans echoing through the very marrow of her bones, the sound almost pained as he rutted against her with heavy slaps of his hips. Pushing and pulling that impossible thickness within the tight grip. Making her shriek in denial and pleasure both as he threatened to pull it free with each stuttering lunge.
“So tight,” he rasped against her shoulder, digging his teeth into the soft flesh. Leaving a mark before he licked at the shell of her ear. “Strangle my knot, princess. Make me earn it as you take my seed.”
Cruel to the end, he plucked that raw nub of flesh. Pinching it between finger and thumb, rolling the aching bundle back and forth as she kicked and shrieked. Sending her soaring through a sky alight with liquid fire, trails of it snapping over her skin. Flaying her with exquisite sensation, leaving her naked and open to the explosion of fiery hues that blotted out everything but the man growling against her throat.
Endless bliss. Perfect and complete while she heard her feral noises from far away. Body shuddering, twitching to a rhythm all its own as darkness engulfed her. Swallowing her vision as she sank into the downy softness of the bed with his midnight groan following her.
Aida woke to the sweltering afternoon sun baking into her flesh. Sprawled naked and face down upon the bed, sheets crusted to her skin along with flaky white patches that reeked of musk and cedar. All of it smelled of him and of something with the faintest hint of sweetness. A scent that she’d long known as hers, yet strange and different. Fuller, richer.
The first twitch of her thighs had the pain returning in full force. Throbbing agony between her legs, centered in that place she’d become far too aware of. Learning more about the delicate, ruffled folds of flesh in the hours of the night than she’d known in all her life. Touched by him and her own hand, guided by his as he spat curses and vicious obscenities that made her moan and clench.
Burying her face in the thick drift of sheets crumpled into a loose bolster before her, Aida turned on her side. Beyond tender, every move making her gasp, she tugged a blanket free to drag over her miserable body. Not before she saw the raw, red marks. Bites and scrapes. Dusky blue-green bands and rounds peppering her arms and legs. Fingers ghosting over the aching line of her throat, a hiss slipped through clenched teeth as she felt the deep marks there. Sure to be worse long before it got better.
She didn’t care that she roasted under the heavy blanket as the sun poured through the thick panes. Cold down to the very marrow of her bones, every moment replaying in her mind’s eye, she knew herself for the awful words Otaso called her. Cocooned in piles of bedding, she let the silent tears flow. Who knew when her new master would return, when he’d take his violence out on her person again? Aida would take this time to mourn everything she’d been or ever dreamed to be, for he was sure not to let such moments last.
For she was a slave now. Whatever she’d been to Otaso, he had treated her with some respect all these years. He had not belittled and demeaned her at every turn. Kept her a prisoner, yes, but until that night under the stone arches, he’d treated her with some form of kindness. One she still did not wish to repay with what this unfamiliar man had taken with such pain and ferocity. If Otaso had planned even a portion of this, she would never have given herself over without a struggle.
Though she had struggled little against this one. Not the first time he’d taken her, the second, third, or even the last time as the sun brightened the sky and she was so weary even his raking teeth had failed to pull more than low sighs and whimpers from her.
“Get up.”
A swift smack to her backside followed on the heels of his command. Pain ricocheting up her spine, she clenched her teeth around the shriek as she leapt from the bed. Aida fell in a tangle of blankets and limbs, blinking up at the man whose name she could scarce remember. Daring to clutch the thick folds to her naked breasts, hiding away the lurid marks, she cringed when he snapped his fingers in her face. Whimpered as he grabbed her arm and tugged her along like a rag doll when she didn’t move fast enough for his liking.
Swung into the side of the bath, Aida grabbed hold of the edge before she could tumble over into the steaming water. A near miss that became pointless when his hand slapped between her shoulders and shoved her in. Surfacing with a sputtering cough, Aida swiped at her face and dug her heels into the floor. Sluicing through the scalding water until her back braced against the side, as far away from her tormentor as she could achieve.
He laughed at her. A great, deep laugh that came from the belly and all at her expense. Full of mirth while he shed his strange clothes, tossing them away as if they were nothing but cheap muslin. Climbing in after her, he circled her ankle in his grip. Tugging her to where he wanted her, pushing and pulling at her body until she sat spread upon his thighs. Back molded to his chest, he cupped Aida’s chin and craned her neck back. Fingers holding that vulnerable column firm as he set her head against his shoulder and nipped at her ear.
“You did well last night, princess,” he murmured against her damp skin, tongue leaving a burning trail as he licked at her cheek. “For that, I have decided to grant you a measure of mercy. You have much to do, and I do not have time to take my full pleasure from you.”
“Thank you, sir,” Aida murmured to the ceiling. Eyes gone cloudy, filmed over with a sheen of despair, she gave the response she hoped he wished.
He grunted, stiff at her back with a tension that she could feel sizzling through the air and crackling along her skin. Perhaps it hadn’t been the correct response. In a flurry of motion, sloshing water sent all over the place, he rearranged Aida so she faced him. Made to straddle his thighs, her averted gaze landed on the very thing that made her lower body throb still. Much to her dismay, it was in far more than pain.
“Now, some rules,” he said, voice gone husky as roughened palms skimmed over her shoulders to her back. “You’ll not be sleeping all day any longer.”
“Yes, sir.” Aida bit her tongue, hoping it wiser not to mention that Otaso kept her to a far more rigorous schedule, though he’d never once kept her awake until the roosters crowed.
“You’ll tend my every need.”
Aida bit the side of her lip hard, uncertain where his anger came from as his voice grew harsh. Certain she’d given the proper response, remaining calm as his touch became rougher, more demanding, she found herself fumbling in a way she hadn’t in a very long time. Otaso’s rule had been complete, set in place long before she could even think of acting against it.
“I’ll not go around with your slick tainting me. You will wash me every morning. Understood?”
“Yes, sir.” Teeth sinking further her lip to worry at the tender flesh, she kept her thoughts quiet. Didn’t mention he’d dressed before he woke her, though her gaze skittered in the abandoned pile’s direction. Hoping to hide the act, she spotted the waxy bar of soap perched on the ledge. Leaning over, she picked it up, dunking it into the water to slick its surface. Clenching fingers fumbling their grip half a dozen times as her hand moved from the water to the wide expanse of his chest, she kept her focus centered on the heavy medallion settled in the center of the sparse curling hairs there.
Intricate for such a small piece, the deep bronzed hues shimmered and glinted with a light all their own. A single, multifaceted red stone sat proud in the center with a dusting of chips in various other colors following a strange twisting sweep of a half circle. Fascinating as it was, as much as she tried to explore each curve of metal, Aida found her gaze drifting to the firm skin beneath it.
She’d never examined the male form unburdened by robes and armor. The breadth of his shoulders, the rolling hills and valleys of stern muscle all gliding under the soap as her touch grew less timid, her scrutiny bolder. The rich golden brown of his skin was not a mere product of the sun’s kiss, the deep coloring flowing down his chest and over the curve of hip and thigh, her hands following the thinning trail of hair centered there.
Shimmying back on his thighs, her head ducked at his warning. Trembling hand aloft, gripping the soap so tight she worried it might shoot out from between her fingers, she gestured at the length of his legs. Aida regretted it in an instant.
Shoving her off his lap, he stood before her. Leaving her kneeling in the water, now eye level with the jutting length of flesh that tormented her as much as the man himself. Blinking hard, she tried to ignore the warmth in her cheeks that prickled over her ears and down onto her chest. Setting soap to skin she swept the frothy mass of bubbles over his hips and thighs. Avoiding the thing that twitched and throbbed before her, she washed every other inch of him.
