His mouth closed over her left nipple in a startling erotic assault that tore a gasp from her mouth. Alerio rumbled in satisfaction and suckled her lazily, simultaneously scraping his teeth across the furled bud. Sparks blazed up her spine in pulses with each teasing bite.
By the time he lifted his head again, she was squirming helplessly in her bonds. “You taste delicious.” He transferred his mouth to the other breast as he cupped and squeezed the first, rolling the nipple with lazy fingers. “How do you like that, hmmm?”
“You know exactly how much I like it . . .” Dona had to stop to pant.
He laughed. “Well, yes, actually I do.” She couldn’t see a damned thing when he lowered his head again, though she caught one last triumphant flash of red.
Then he closed his eyes and seemed to vanish.
Darkness surrounded her, thick as tar and smelling of aroused male. Dona wanted to run her fingers through the rough silk of his hair, but her cabled hands refused to obey. The sense of helplessness heated her simmering arousal until it seemed to smoke through her like hot oil.
Desperate to touch him, she lowered her head until her lips found the thick cords of his neck. She feasted there, running her tongue over his skin, gorging her senses on the taste of him, drinking in his Vardonese musk. Masculinity and raw sex made her head spin. She buried her nose in the thick fall of his hair and closed her eyes. His mouth did wicked, delicious things to her breasts, pointed tongue flicking her erect nipples, each pass making her body ring in sweet reverberations. Ping ping ping. Crystalline shivers of delight.
He began to bite her, careful teeth pressing delicate skin, sending erotic shivers rolling over Dona in sweet waves. She found his ear and bit him back.
To her satisfaction, he growled, so she caught his lobe and bit him again—slowly raking her teeth across that soft bit of flesh, then flicking her tongue into the sensitive channel of his ear.
“Pushing it,” he rumbled.
“I like pushing it,” she breathed.
“I noticed.” He wrapped one powerful arm around her and flipped them both, grabbing the hoop with his free hand to stop their rotation.
Silk lashing her thighs as he caught her knees, spread them wide, and nudged his face between them. Red eyes flashed at her up the length of her body. She felt his fingers part her wet, soft lips.
Sensation stormed her, so fierce she shivered. His tongue traced a burning path from her clit to her hot cream core. His stiffened tongue stabbed into her depths, then softened to explore and lick. Pleasure flared through her body, jolting, electric shocks of delight. His fingers teased her sex, strumming her clit, thrusting deep into her core.
Orgasm flashed through her like lightning in dark clouds, blazing across her senses. The hot power of the climax was so intense, she didn’t even feel him let her go, leaving her floating helpless and stunned. She only became aware again when he drew her close, one hand catching her ass, his narrow hips settling between her legs.
Aiming his cock for her opening, he thrust deep, all the power of his brawn behind it.
Dona threw her head back, moaning at the stark erotic power of the pleasure.
The lights came back on, obeying some soundless order of Alerio’s. She stiffened, blinded by the blaze of light beyond his broad shoulders. She clenched her eyes shut as her comp implant worked to compensate. By the time she opened her eyes again, she could see Alerio’s fiery eyes gazing down into hers from the elegant planes of his face.
I forgot how damned handsome he is.
“Goddess,” he murmured as if somehow reading her mind. “You’re so beautiful.” He sounded almost . . . awed.
She found herself believing him. “Gods, Alerio,” she burst out, “so are you!”
Laughing in genuine amusement, Alerio began to thrust, slowly, carefully, without his usual hammering power. His glowing gaze never wavered from hers. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pressing up to meet his thrusts.
Making love in zero gravity meant they couldn’t use body weight to pump to climax. They had to rely on muscle power.
Dona tightened the grip of her thighs as he cupped her butt and shoulders, pumping lazily at first, gaining speed gradually as the pleasure overcame his control. She watched his face in absorbed fascination as he threw his head back, clenching his teeth, fighting not to come. Fighting to wait for her.
Meanwhile she could feel the strong throbbing pleasure building in her sex, gripping and releasing over and over . . .
“Come,” he growled at last, as if unable to wait anymore. “Come for me now!”
That feral growl triggered the storm that had been building in her. Her climax seemed to detonate, a ferocious explosion, fierce and hot.
Dona convulsed in Alerio’s arms, her back arching hard as she shouted in triumph and delight. Alerio echoed her with a primal male roar.
They floated, wrapped in each other, basking in the lazy aftermath. Alerio reached beneath her and freed her wrists. She gave him an approving purr and curled her arms around his neck, snuggling closer against him.
He felt delightful wrapped around her, hard muscle gleaming with sweat, his hair floating to tangle with her own. Dark chest hair teased her nipples. She sighed into his shoulder, on the verge of drifting to sleep.
“I love you.” He said the words the way he’d comment on the strength of gravity, as if the astonishing comment was nothing more than simple fact. Undeniable.
Dona froze, her eyes flaring wide, her breath catching.
His eyes searched hers, irises still blazing with the strength of his emotion. “Marry me.”
She swallowed, a lump of raw emotion choking her. Astonishment? Pain? She didn’t even know herself. “But I’ve got psychological scars that go all the way to the bone.”
“And it’s time you healed them.” He stroked one hand up and down her back. “I can help you with that.” He began to float downward as he gradually cut power to his belt. Automatically, she followed suit, frantically trying to think.
“But . . .” She was having so much trouble processing the idea of Alerio loving her, she couldn’t put together a coherent argument. “You . . .”
“Not that you need much help,” he told her calmly. “You’re the strongest woman I’ve ever known.”
“You . . . want me?” There was more wonder in the question than she knew there should be. It made her feel naked—more than she had when they’d made love—so she made it a sentence, trying to sound certain. “You want me.”
He smiled down on her. Somehow those flaming eyes of his looked kind, warm as a campfire on a cold night. “I don’t just want you, Dona Astryr. I love you. And that will never change.”
There was such certainty in that last sentence, she found herself grinning back at him. “I love you.” God, it felt good to finally say it. To finally admit it, both to him and to herself. “I love you!” She threw her arms around him, a bubble of laughter spilling from her. “I love you, love you, love you!”
He laughed. Her back touched the floor as full gravity kicked in. Alerio’s big body came to rest on hers. “So you’ll marry me?” he asked, his gaze searching hers with a trace of worry.
“What a question.” Dona grinned, happy tears stinging her eyes. “How could I do anything else?”