He even taught her to battle with a sword by streaming his memories because she was powerful enough to receive the information from him.
“Amazing, huh?” she responded. She extended her hand toward him and with the backs of her fingers touched his cheek.
He drew in a quick breath. “With a capital A.” As his cardamom scent once more rolled in a powerful wave over her, he frowned and shook his head. “We should get back to work.” His deep voice sounded rough, even hoarse.
He started to get up. Alison quickly slid an arm around his neck. “Stay just a second.” She leaned up on her elbow now, and her arm tingled where it lay over the thick muscles of his shoulder. “I just want you to know that I’m really grateful you’re here with me, that you’re training me and taking care of me. Thank you.” She rose up a little more and planted a kiss on his lips then drew back, but only an inch or so. She kept breathing in his wonderful scent.
His gaze dropped to her lips. “We should keep working,” he muttered, more quietly this time. “We really should.”
She leaned in again and drifted her lips over his cheek. She licked his salty sweat. He growled softly. More cardamom broke over her senses. She closed her eyes and moved back to his lips. She kissed him again, her tongue rimming his lips. Her hand drifted over his powerful pecs. Her fingertips tingled this time even through his soft, damp T-shirt. His chest rose and fell rapidly. As she worked his lips, she sent, You took care of me. Now how about we take good care of you.
A heavy growl left his throat. Even so, he drew back and looked down at her. “This isn’t a good idea for so many reasons.”
“Then stop with the spice.”
He closed his eyes and drew in a ragged breath. “Lavender,” he murmured.
* * *
Kerrick tried to shut down his olfactory system but all the hard training of the past several hours had every part of his body humming. His nostrils flared and he drank in Alison’s heady scent like he was dying of thirst. His groin ached. No, it burned.
Her hand climbed his chest, drifted up his throat, then slid over his cheek.
He turned and caught a finger in his mouth. He suckled the lavender flavor off her skin. The moans, which drifted toward him, carried on her equally lavender-scented breath, brought him shifting toward her. She drew the finger out of his mouth, and the sensual slide made him hard as a rock.
He slid his hand up her arm. “You work out,” he said. He arched his body over her. He could feel a possessive need building in him. He should stop this right now. He should take every second possible just to train her.
Still, he didn’t move except to rub his hand up and down her arm.
“Yes. Every day because when I don’t, I go crazy.”
“I know what you mean.”
He thought of his basement, of the tight isolated nature of his life on Second, of how he punished his muscles every afternoon just for a little relief. He pushed her thick, damp blond hair away from her face.
The battle training had pinked up her complexion and turned her lips a dark rose. Or maybe it was because she’d just been kissing him. Her blue eyes gazed at him as though she didn’t believe he was real.
She slid her fingers into his damp hair. She didn’t seem to mind he was slick with sweat. She rolled ever so slightly onto her back and tugged at the back of his neck, drawing him in her direction.
The invitation did him in.
He followed as though connected to her by a short heavy leading rope. He slung a leg over her hips. He planted a hand on the floor beside her head. God, she was beneath him, just where he’d wanted her from the moment he first caught her scent, the moment at the medical complex when she had folded in front of him.
Her lips parted.
Now would be the time to pull back, to remember the futility of what he was doing, but what harm could there be if he got inside her? Sex alone wouldn’t complete the breh-hedden.
She leaned up and caught his lips, her tongue dipping inside. The kiss settled everything.
He crashed down on her hard, kissing her fiercely, letting the roar of the breh-hedden flood his veins.
He lost track of his actions. He stripped her shirt and pants off her then kissed her, or maybe it was the other way around. He got rid of her bra, somehow, although it involved a lot of giggling on her part. He palmed her br**sts yet managed to work himself out of his jeans. He groaned as she stroked the length of his cock.
Things evened out when she was perfectly naked and his clothes were piled … somewhere. The full wet length of her body, her fingers intertwined with both his hands, her legs spread and wrapped around his hips, his c**k poised at her core came into sharp erotic focus.
He kissed her again and began to push inside. She let out one long deep moan and stroked him with tight internal muscles. He groaned and dammit, almost came. He’d been so ready for this from the second her trail of lavender had assaulted him, all those painful hours ago at the medical complex. Too ready. He suckled her neck and rubbed the thick base of his fangs over her skin, avoiding puncture at the tips.
“Hey,” she murmured hoarsely, panting. “If you snack on me while we’re doing this and you’ve already been in my head, won’t that cause a big problem—you know the breh thing you talked about?”
“We’re good,” he said, struggling to breathe. “It all has to happen at the same time. Separate events don’t count. But don’t worry.” He pushed at her neck with the sides of his fangs. “I won’t be drinking your blood.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will in a minute.” He thrust into her hard.
She arched against him. She threw her head back, moaned, and cried out, “You’re so perfect. Oh, God. And you’re sure I won’t hurt you if we’re joined like this?”
He laughed. “Not a chance.”
He was deep inside now, his c**k surging and pulling back, driving in and out, teasing all the sensitive nerves. He was where he belonged. She made delicate mewling sounds and panted in between. Her muscles clenched around him. He was so damn hard and she was a fist pulling at him.
He shuddered with the effort it took to keep from spilling inside her. He wanted to wait. He wanted to wring every drop of pleasure from this time with her. He wanted to watch her come at least half a dozen times before he spent himself.
He drifted his lips down her chest and kissed the swell of her br**sts, his fangs thick in his mouth. He knew what he wanted to do but he didn’t want to lose contact.