He started to laugh.
Oh, for fuck’s sake, he had no idea why—there was nothing funny about anything, but suddenly he was laughing like a lunatic.
“Sorry,” he managed. “I don’t know what the problem is.”
“I don’t care.” She beamed at him, showing her delicate fangs and her even, white teeth. “It’s the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard.”
Caught up in an impulse he didn’t understand, he let out a whoop and took a lunge in the direction of the pool, throwing out a long stride, then another, then a third. With a mighty leap, he sent them both flying into the still, aquamarine light source.
They landed in the warm water as one, soft, invisible arms gathering them into a temperate cushion, and insulating them from gravity’s heavy-handed pull, sparing them both any kind of hard landing.
As his head went under, he found her mouth and claimed it, kissing her under the surface as he planted his feet and pushed up so that they found the air.…
In the process, his cock found her core again.
She was right there with him, linking those legs of hers around his hips once more, echoing his rhythm, kissing him back. And it was good. It was… right.
Sometime later, No’One found herself naked, wet, and stretched out on the side of the pool on a bed of towels Tohrment had arranged for her.
He was kneeling next to her, his wet clothes clinging to his muscles, his hair glistening, his eyes intense as he stared at her body.
A sudden insecurity struck, chilling her.
Sitting up, she covered herself—
Tohrment captured her hands and gently put them at her sides. “You’re spoiling my view.”
“You like…?”
“Oh, yeah. I like.” He leaned over and kissed her deeply, slipping his tongue inside of her, easing her back down so that she was prone once more. “Mmmm, that’s what I’m talking about.”
When he eased back a little, No’One smiled up at him. “You make me feel…”
“What.” He dipped his head and brushed his lips over her throat, her collarbone… the tip of her breast. “Beautiful?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what you are.” He kissed her other nipple and sucked it into his mouth. “Beautiful. And I think you should ditch that damn robe for good.”
“What will I wear?”
“I’ll get you clothes. All the clothes you want. Or you could just go naked.”
“In front of the others—” The hiss that curled out of him was pretty much the best compliment she had ever been given. “No?”
“No.”
“Then mayhap in your room.”
“Now, that I can get behind.”
His lips drifted downward and to the side, until he ran a fang over her ribs. Then he was going across her belly, the kisses soft and lazy. It wasn’t until he went even farther, lingering on her hip and then brushing very close to her sex, that she realized he had a purpose.
“Spread your legs for me,” he urged in a deep voice. “Let me see the most beautiful part of you. Let me kiss you where I want to be.”
She wasn’t completely sure what he was suggesting, but she was powerless to deny him anything when he used that tone with her. In a haze, she brought up one knee, parting her thighs… and she knew when he looked at her, because he growled in satisfaction.
Tohrment moved around between her legs and stretched out, palming either side of her and widening her further. And then his lips were upon her, warm and silky and wet. The sensation of soft on soft kicked off yet another orgasm, and he took advantage of it, entering her with his tongue, sucking at her, finding her rhythm and taking her further.
Her hands dug into his dark hair as she rolled her hips.
And to think she had liked the sex.…
Little had she known that there was so much more to discover.
He was mind-shatteringly attentive and painstakingly thorough in his explorations, taking his time unless he was taking her to the height of pleasure. And when he eventually lifted his mouth, his lips were slick and reddened, and he ran his tongue over them as he stared at her from under his lids.
Then he rose up and gripped her hips, tilting them up.
His erection was impossibly thick and long, but she already knew he fit her perfectly.
And he did again.
This time she paid more attention to the sight of him than the feel of him. Rising above her, he moved in that powerful, potent way of his, pleasuring them both as he curled his hips up and back, moving himself in and out of her.
His smile was dark. Erotic. “You like to watch me?”
“Yes. Oh, yes…”
That was as far as she got as another wave of release crested and assumed control of her thoughts, her speech, her body… her soul, wiping everything clean.
When she finally quieted and was again able to focus, she recognized the strain in Tohrment’s face, the tightness around his jaw and his eyes, the pumping of his chest. He had not found his release yet.
“Do you want to watch,” he gritted out.
“Oh, yes…”
Withdrawing from her body, his arousal was as his lips had been, glossy and swollen.
With one big hand he gripped himself, and with the other he braced his weight against the floor so that he could stretch out over her lax, open body. Twisting his shoulders, he provided her with plenty of view as he stroked up and down, that blunt head of his appearing and disappearing in and out of his fist.
His breath grew louder and harsher as he showed her just how it happened for him.
When the time came, his shout rang out in her ears and his head shot back, his chin punching forward as he bared his fangs and hissed. Then with rhythmic pulses, jets sprayed out of him, hitting her sex and her lower belly, making her arch sure as if the satisfaction had been her own.
As he finally sagged, she extended her arms. “Come here.”
There was no hesitation as he complied, bringing his chest to her own before he turned on his side to cushion her weight.
“Are you warm enough,” he murmured. “Your hair is wet.”
“I do not care.” She snuggled into his body. “I’m just… perfect.”
A rumble of approval came up his throat. “That you are… Rosalhynda.”
At the sound of her former name, she jerked back, but he held her tight. “I can’t keep calling you No’One. Not after… this.”
“I don’t like that name.”
“Then another.”
Staring into his face, she had the distinct notion that he was not going to budge on this. And he was also not going to refer to her as she had so chosen long, long ago… when that word was what she had felt she was.
Mayhap he was right, however. She suddenly didn’t feel like no one.
“You need a name.”
“I cannot choose,” she replied, aware of a stout pain in her heart.
He looked up to the ceiling. Wound some of her hair around one of his fingers. Made a clicking sound with his tongue.
“Autumn is my favorite season of the year,” he said after a time. “It’s not that I’m chicking out or anything… but I like the leaves when they turn red and orange. They’re beautiful in the moonlight, but more to the point, it’s an
