He relaxed some. “How can I get to one hundred?”
Letting all of her heartbreak glimmer in her eyes, she smiled sadly. “You do better next time. One minute, you claimed to want me, the next you cast me aside. You abandoned me, exactly as you abandoned these lands. You were my dream, until you became my nightmare.”
He opened and closed his fists, determination hardening his muscles. “I will do better, I swear it. You are my most precious treasure, and I’ll never abandon you again.”
The headiness of his promise took her breath away. “Fine. You’re at ninety-five percent.” Most precious treasure? How could she deny this man anything? “Do you ever tire of the constant war? Or long to be free of your tie to the king?”
“Never.” His vehemence...hurt.
With their relationship hanging in the balance, she might as well be brutally honest with him. “I won’t ever be satisfied in second place. I’m not wired that way. When I play, I go for gold, always. That’s what I want with you. To give you my best. But I expect your best, too. I won’t accept a repeat of my childhood. Waiting and waiting for my turn to matter.”
“You matter,” he burst out, taking a step toward her. “More than anyone else in the world, you matter to me.”
Cookie pushed the hurt aside. “I’ll give you a chance to prove your feelings for me...while I try to prove my feelings to you.” She toyed with the sash of her robe, his hot gaze tracking every movement, driving her need for him higher. When her nipples drew tight, he sucked in air. Even that turned her on. “Would you like that?”
“Would love that.”
His intensity lured her closer...
“Did you think of me while you hunted your foes?” Already humming with desire, she molded her body to his.
“I thought of you constantly.” He gripped her waist, shackling her in place, then parted her legs with an insistent knee, ensuring her aching, empty core balanced on his thigh. He smoldered at her. “The moon rose and set, and I thought of your eyes. Every pink flower reminded me of your hair. The scent of poisonvine drove me mad.”
Her pulse raced, the confession heady. She traced her nails over his stubbled jawline. When she reached a spot near his ear, she grew thorns and pierced his skin ever so slightly. Her eyes narrowed to slits. “You will not leave me so abruptly again.”
His pupils exploded over his irises, lust sizzling in their depths. “I will not.”
The fervent vow pleased her, the next stroke tapering into the gentlest caress. “I think you just topped ninety-eight percent.”
His nostrils flared. Cupping her nape with a trembling hand, he bent his head and pressed his forehead to hers. “I pleasured myself to thoughts of you. Did you pleasure yourself?”
“I did,” she replied with a smile. “I thought of you almost every time.”
“Minx,” he said, and nipped at her bottom lip. “I want inside you. Tell me you’re ready.”
Their problems hadn’t been fully solved, but she couldn’t deny him the truth. “I’m ready, Kaysar.” She’d decided to win him. So Cookie would have him. All of him. “I want to take you deep.”
“Yes,” he hissed. “I will pour myself into you, and you will love it.” His fingers closed in her hair as he backed her into the nearest wall, where he ground against her. “Does my sweetling want to come all over me?” he asked, grinding harder. Faster.
“Kaysar,” Cookie rasped, hit by a lightning bolt of lust. She clutched his shoulders to remain upright. “Yes, I want to come.” Every night without him, she’d tossed and turned, angry and aroused and nearing desperation. “Want to come so bad.”
A harsh sound left him as he smashed his lips against hers.
She met his tongue with a hard thrust, his ferocity kindling her own. In mere seconds, he worked her to a fever pitch.
Cookie kissed and clawed at him, ripping at his pants. Need him naked.
Before she succeeded, Kaysar tossed her onto the mattress. As she bounced, he undressed, watching her. A powerful tower of strength and desire. Aggressive, his every motion a marvel of soft, violent seduction.
He flittered on top of her, his naked body ruthlessly pinning her down. His gaze made demands. “You are mine. My one and only.”
Heat spread low in her belly, and she groaned. “Yes.”
“I am yours.” Kaysar’s face hovered over hers, candlelight dancing with shadows over an expression etched with pure menace. Danger emanated from him, yet she’d never felt safer.
“You are, you are. Kiss me.”
He brushed the tip of his nose against the tip of hers instead. “Do you want to know how I would murder the goblin leader, were he still alive?”
Shivers rocked her against him. “I do,” she told him with another moan, the excitement of his words leaving her breathless. “He dared to hurt your woman. How did you hope to repay the insult?”
“I had a particularly gruesome end in mind,” he replied with an evil smile, easing to the side to open her robe’s sash the rest of the way. He ran her bottom lip between his teeth. “After I sliced him open from nose to navel and emptied out his entrails, I would have donned his body as a coat. A mantle of victory.”
“That is so...hot.” She panted as he dragged a claw along the left edge of the robe, parting the material, baring her breast. Her nipple beaded tight, the ache almost unbearable. “Did you enjoy watching me skewer him with a vine?”
“I nearly came from the sight.” He kneaded her plump mound and licked his lips. “Are you hungry for me, Chantel?” Growling again.
The truth spilled from her. “I’m starved for you, Kaysar. And I’m going to have every bit of you.”
* * *
KAYSAR BLINKED AND found himself flat on his back, Chantel a grinning, confident queen above him. Had she flittered them into a different position?
He knew the ability should bother him. At the moment, he couldn’t rationalize why. “Your power grows.”
“It does. Daily.” On her knees, situated between his legs, she pushed the robe from her shoulders. The material whooshed away, fully baring those plump breasts topped by their coral-pink nipples. She might as well have a tattoo saying Kiss Here. “I learned during yesterday’s lesson. I have to concentrate and really, really want to relocate, but I can do it.”
And he’d missed the excitement of a new accomplishment. Kaysar nearly howled.
“Shall I tell you more about what I learned,” she purred, “or shall I continue?”