AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I walk farther and my heart jumps when I notice Xerxes. He’s in a cave beneath the waterfalls, exercising but it looks more like he’s fighting an invisible enemy. He’s only wearing pants, his chest bare and he has a lean muscularity with broad shoulders. Tight as a whip, he swings and swirls his dagger around like there’s no tomorrow. His eyes are focused and he doesn’t realize I’m watching and my gaze follows his every move. Not that this man moves like other men. He has a graceful laziness as if he’s the kind who prefers not to attack but is always ready if he needs to. I feel naughty watching him, thinking I should probably turn away but his trunk is too good not to ogle. I gasp when I notice something glimmering on his chest and at first I thought it was just the sun but it’s not... it’s his nipples that are pierced!
They’re accessories adorning him and I want to be his sexy accessory too. I want to adorn him. A pool of excitement erupts in me and I squirm, doing my best not to pant.
“See anything that tickles your fancy?” a dry voice rasps behind me. I jerk and turn around, locking eyes with one of the thieves. He’s one of the oldest ones and yesterday it seemed like he was Xerxes closest confidant. A smile that doesn’t reach his eyes crosses his face. “Already up so early and wearing only a sheet.” He lifts his chin, condescendingly looking down at me. “You must be desperate for Xerxes’s attention.”
My brows frown because I don’t like his tone. “Have we met?” I ask and I hold my hand out. “Kensington Lane. Heiress to the Mapother fortune and journalist extraordinaire.”
The man lets out a snort and he refuses to take my hand, looking at it like he’d rather just chop it off. “Whoever you are, you won’t be here for long.” A grimace crosses his face before he tries a smile as if he’s making a calculated attempt to be friendly. “I’ll offer you my help. Come with me now and I’ll show you the way back to civilization.”
Staring at him, I shake my head. I’m not going anywhere with this dude and I’m definitely not tempted to get back out into the desert. “I’ll have to decline,” I murmur and his eyes flash with anger. “Xerxes wouldn’t want me going anywhere without telling him.”
“Foolish. I’m doing this for your sake,” the man grits between his teeth. “You wouldn’t want to stay with Xerxes if you knew what he’s like. He worships violence, he’ll ruin you, ruthlesslymatewith you and...”
“Excuse you!” I snap, uncomfortable talking about these things with this man but he only gives me a cold glance.
“Once he’s done with you, you’ll be crying bitter tears in regret. You’re not Xerxes’s equal, never will be.” Something envious flares in his eyes. “Suit yourself. Maybe a part of you wants to beused.” He gives me a long glance dripping with disgust before he leaves and I’m glad he’s gone.
I have no idea what that was about or why he made Xerxes sound like some kind of savage. My eyes go to Xerxes again and he’s stopped exercising, breathing raggedly and I feel a flutter in my chest. He steps out from the falls, pouring with both sweat and water and he stretches his neck before stepping over rocks and then he goes for the back of his tent. Biting my lip, I follow and I’m wondering whether I should make my presence known like a normal person when Xerxes stops in front of a small stream. With no warning, he yanks his pants down and I choke on a whimper.
I’ve never seen a man’s naked buttocks before, other than in movies of course and that time when I caught our pool boy jumping into the family pool when he thought nobody was home, but that doesn’t count. Breathing heavily, I stay hidden behind a tree, watching him sink his large body into the water and when he comes up again, he powerfully shakes his head side to side.
Prowling over to the edge of the stream, he puts his arms up and leans his head back. It feels strangely intimate watching him relaxing like this. As if this is something that would only be privy to a wife of his and suddenly I’m struck by the unexplainable urge to cater to him. I mean reallycater. Make sure he always has everything he needs, that he’s always content and happy.
Suddenly I want to be the only one touching his things, the only one allowed into his personal space. He glistens in the sunlight like he’s covered with diamonds and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more beautiful man. I’m surprised he doesn’t have a whole harem of women. But maybe he does and maybe they’re just hiding behind those large cliffs. I throw a glance at the rocks. Nah, maybe not...
“Join me,” Xerxes rasps between half open lips, his lids still close and I jerk. Is he talking to me? Is he aware I’m spying on him? I blush like I’ve been trapped in a sauna and I frantically look around. I need to tiptoe out of here, pretend I didn’t hear that and pretend he never caught me but then Xerxes moves his face upright and his eyes flash open.
Gasping, I duck behind the tree, flooding with mortification. He knows I’m here!
Xerxes lets out a low laugh. “It’s difficult to sneak up on someone like me, Kenna. I know you’re hiding back there. Get out before I come and get you.”
Chewing on my lip, I figure I can’t keep acting as if I’m just an illusion. I step out, facing him firmly and he seems to like that. He tilts his head to the side, watching me with curiosity before he beckons at me to come closer.
“Closer,” he insists when I fumble and I stop right in front of the stream. His eyes roam up the sheet that covers me like a tent before moving up to my face. “Still dizzy?” he asks with concern.
Yes, but not from the scorpion. “I am good, thank you.” Wow, that was pretty formal. Why did I just sound like I was at an audience with a king? Wait, I guess he is a king...
“Get into the water,” he says in that low, persuasive voice of his that makes me feel like I’d gladly let myself be tied to a railway if he asked me. But I can’t get in. I’m practically in only lingerie and they’ll get transparent. I shake my head. He swirls his hand in the water. “You need to clean yourself. You’re dirty.”
Boiling on the inside at the way he said the d-word, I squirm. Though, he is right. I amdirty. “Will you look away?” I ask but he shakes his head, gently like I shouldn’t be asking this of him and I let the sheet drop. He hisses at the sight of me in only lace and frills and his hand disappears below the surface. I gawk when I catch the ripples on the water, just above his groin before he puts his arms up again and rests them on the edge.
I ease into the stream, not coming too close but the distance between us isn’t that big. If I reached out with my foot I’d be able to touch him. And if I did maybe I’d touch something hard. Hard as in a pole and I squirm.
What would everyone back home say if they knew I was cozying up to a thief in the middle of the desert? They’d be horrified and gossip about me for weeks and write articles about me in The Social. Ugh, the dread...and suddenly I don’t miss that life at all. Life around here has its perks.
And the biggest perk is sitting right across me, looking at me like he wants to hold me in the entire in between dusk and dawn.
He watches me with intent, onyx eyes swirling with need that make me hot. “How are you feeling?” he says, confusing me because I just told him...”Describe it to me,” he insists.
Not sure why he’s so eager for a description but I blurt, “I feel completely fine. Great.” When he doesn’t seem satisfied, I go in with the details. “A little sensitive maybe...” Around my swells and between my legs. And last night I was crazily attracted to the smell of Xerxes. Those pheromones he exuded made me want to bury my face in him and use him as a gas mask until I’d get high on euphoria.
“And what else?” he asks, his tone eager as if he knows I’ll give him the right answer and I breathe.
“Ripe.” I can’t really believe I said that, making myself sound like a peach ready for plucking or something, but it’s the truth. “I feel ripe.”
And there’s that look in his eyes again. The look of awe and it makes me feel like the temperature is if possible rising even more.
“Ripe for me,” he says with a curve to his mouth that spells deep satisfaction and he rises. I yelp, squeezing my eyes but I only have myself to blame for this. I’m the one who spied on him in the first place. I both hear and feel him, moving in the water and then he clasps my chin, lifting my face and my eyes flare.Don’t look down, don’t look down...lest I’ll turn into liquid myself.
