“Goddess, Tygerians can be so arrogant,” Taran whispered to me. I turned back to him.
“It’s not arrogance; it’s just the way it is. I’m stating a fact. Our Imperial training is to never question the royals or their decisions and simply do as they say.”
“If you say so.”
“I just did.”
He rolled his eyes at me in that irritating way he had. I wanted to kiss him right there in Prince Mikos’s quarters until he was swooning at my feet. I wanted to wrap him in my arms and never let anything hurt him again. I had to make myself turn away.
“So, we have a plan,” Prince Mikos said. “Everyone will stay in their quarters and allow no visitors and eat nothing that isn’t given to you by a list of people I’ll be sending over on your communicators. Don’t worry. It will be a very short list. Meanwhile, Kirstos will arrange a trap for the ones involved in this to allow them to ‘reveal’ themselves.”
People were getting to their feet and moving toward the door, so I stood up as well, and bowed to the prince. “I’ll come to see you at first meal and tell you which men I want to speak to first.”
He nodded, and I took Taran’s arm to lead him from the room. My quarters were close by, and we headed there right away.
Taran pulled back a little. “Wait, I need to go by my quarters and pick up a few things.”
“Like what?”
“Clothes, for one thing.”
“You don’t need any for tonight and I’ll bring you some things in the morning.”
“I’ll need my soaps and my razor. And something to sleep in.”
“You can use my soaps, and you have no need for a razor, as you have no beard.”
He tried to jerk away, but I held on tightly and led him to my quarters. He turned to face me when we got inside. “Well, what am I supposed to sleep in?”
“My arms. And nothing else.”
He gasped and stepped forward quickly to throw his arms around my neck. “Why do you say these things to me if you don’t want me?”
“I never said I didn’t want you. That’s all in your head, nobyo. I told you, you belonged to me, and I meant that. Let’s have no more foolishness between us. There’s too much going on right now for us to be at odds.”
I could feel his mind racing. His thoughts, like vines, often seemed to twirl and intertwine with his feelings, making a terrible tangle. “I’m so tired of fighting with you,” he sighed.
“Then stop, nobyo. Come to bed with me.”
I reached for him then and pulled him closer with a hand curving around the nape of his neck. My mouth descended in a kiss so full of heat and passion that my lips tingled. Gods, what was he doing to me? His mouth that tasted so sweet opened a little, and he let me delve inside with my tongue. Heat was building inside me, and I made myself slow down, so as not to scare him, because I was pretty sure he wasn’t nearly as experienced as he’d tried to make me believe.
I kissed him the way I’d been dreaming of, though—delicately, sweetly, trailing my lips across his soft, fragrant skin and not rushing as I nuzzled my face against his throat. My kisses aroused shivers and sweet moans from him. A possessive heat flooded over me, and I could feel a prickling low in my belly. I needed to make love to him…I couldn’t resist it.
I pulled him closer and brushed away the dark hair falling across his ear to nuzzle him again. It didn’t surprise me when he suddenly wrapped his arms around my neck and kissed me back. He kissed like a virgin, and I had to admit that idea greatlyappealed to me. I couldn’t even think about any other man holding him and kissing him like this.
I began to move us inside and back toward the bed, both of us pulling at our clothes along the way and only when I picked him up to put him on the mattress, did I become fully aware of all that bare, golden skin exposed beneath me. I heard him suck in a sharp breath as he touched me, his careful, hesitant fingers reaching out to stroke me. I was hard and ready to make love to him. I fell on top of him, gathering the come leaking from me on my fingertips to push it inside him and get him ready. I covered his mouth with my own and then moved my body over his, grinding myself against him. My skin felt hot all over, and his legs fell open to me of their own accord. I pulled his ankles up over my shoulders and gently eased inside him. I heard myself whispering words that I’d never said to anyone before and stopped moving so he could adjust to me, simply letting him get used to being filled up. As he began to calm down, I caressed his cock with my hand, moving it up and down slowly and tenderly. I’d never loved Merik like this, I suddenly realized. Not with this same urgency and passion. This feeling that I might die if I didn’t make love to him soon, though it hurt me to even think those words. They felt so disloyal, but I’d never felt this way about anyone before. Not even my sweet Merik.
I kissed him gently and began to move again urgently, until he began to move with me, matching his rhythm to mine. Time seemed to pass slowly, and Taran turned his mouth up to mine, begging me to kiss him again and again as I thrust against him over and over.
I groaned and whispered love words in his ear and bent over to suck at his skin. I kissed and bit his neck as I did. He suddenly went rigid as wave after wave of pleasure seemed to engulf him. He cried out and clung me tightly, riding the wave of his passion. With one long, hard, final thrust, I came too, and then it was myturn to cling to him, not wanting to ever let him go. We both collapsed, still woven tightly in each other's arms.
For a long time, we just lay there, and I thought his breathing had evened out and he’d maybe gone to sleep. Then I heard his voice, murmuring softly in my ear.
“Maybe you don’t love me now, but if I’m really your nobyo…that is, if you really want me to be…then maybe one day you really will change your mind about loving me. If you’re don’t take too long, I’ll wait for you to do that.”
“Oh really?” I said, feeling a little amused by him. “And how long would you be willing to wait for me?”
He replied so softly I had to strain to hear him. “Oh, not long. Just for the rest of my life,” he said. “But not a moment longer.”
