Warlord and the Waif by Chloe Parker

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

ELLA

CALDER PULLS ME down the corridors, playing the part perfectly, until we reach the big wooden door at the end of the hall. He yanks it open and drags me in after him, releasing me only when he turns to latch it shut with a heavy iron lock behind us.

My core tightens at the sound of the lock clicking into place and I step forward—

But he raises a hand to stop me.

“You continue to raise problems with our guests,” he murmurs, crossing his arms over his chest.

He’s making this about me?

“I’m only here because you asked me.”

He shakes his head.

“You must learn discipline.”

He steps slowly toward me, coming within striking distance. I reach for him, but he grabs my wrist as he did at dinner.

“Stand still.”

Oh.

This is all part of our game.

I could fight him on it. But I want this just as much as he does, and I get the feeling he knows what he’s doing.

I lower my hands to my sides as Calder sheds his cloak, letting it pool at his feet. The big warrior is clad in soft, drifting black pants that leaves little to the imagination.

He stands over me, steps closer, edges me backward. It’s cold in the castle, but I’m impossibly hot, aching for him. I want to leap into his arms and make him as crazy as he’s making me.

But Calder likes to be in control.

And, surprising myself, I like it too.

I gasp when I feel the backs of my knees against the big bed in the corner of the room, the edge cushioned with soft furs.

“I want you,” I breathe.

I reach for him again, but Calder steps just an inch further until I fall backward, bouncing on the plush bedding. The furs are soft under my fingers, and I scramble to get my hands under me.

When I go to sit up he’s already on top of me, his thighs locked around mine, keeping me still. I can feel the bulge in his pants already coming to attention, pressing against my belly.

His hands clamp my wrists over my head, and he leans down to graze his teeth over my neck, leaving me trembling. His breath is hot at the hinge of my jaw when he speaks.

“You will wait,” he says, “For I haven’t yet gotten the chance to undress you.”

He pulls his head up to gaze into my eyes. His hair is down and brushes against my cheek, the golden locks softer than I remembered from tangling my fingers in them earlier.

“I wore it for you,” I whisper, biting my lip.

His lips curve in maybe the second time I’ve ever seen him smile.

The last time was when I gave him permission to make love to me with his mouth.

“On your knees,” he orders.

I get up, under his spell once again. Kneeling across from me, he puts one hand on the laces of my bodice to untie the bow with shocking precision. I feel the pop of the release almost like he’s already touching my skin, and I gasp. Calder’s mouth opens just slightly as he pulls the laces free of the first row. I watch as his tongue flicks across his lips, as his blue eyes narrow in concentration, staring at me like I’m the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen.

I’m already so wet.

He drags his eyes across my décolletage and up to my eyes, and as he does so he brings his left hand to my lips. I feel the pop of another lace coming undone, and then Calder’s hand is back on my breast, feeling like it should have been there this whole time. I take a staggered breath, and as I open my mouth to gulp down air, Calder presses his index finger inside my mouth.

I didn’t realize how much I wanted something in my mouth until now.

I suck on the digit, loving the taste of him on my tongue, and I bite down a little when he pinches my nipple. I whimper under his touch, wanting to have all of him at once and relishing the delicious agony of waiting.

“I wish to undress you, but you look so lush with your pretty breasts pushed up for me like this,” he purrs, and I groan when he squeezes my other nipple. I writhe against him, then his hand leaves me again.

Pop goes the next row of laces.

I suck his finger deeper, wanting to have his cock in my mouth. The impulse comes over me like I’m possessed, and I reach for the waistline of his trousers only to be thwarted when he snatches my hand away again. I groan in frustration as he pulls his other hand out of my mouth to grab my hands and pull them up over my head once again. A puff of air escapes my lips and he pulls his hand away as he pushes me to the bed.

He transfers both my wrists to his left hand and goes back to what he was doing.

Pop.

Pop.

I strain against him, inhaling deeply when I’m finally released from the restrictive bodice.

And then his hands are on me, his head ducking under the skirt of my chemise. All I can see is the shape of him at my center, and then I feel his hands crawling up my stomach and settling on my breasts, flicking, twirling, teasing. I throw my head back, burrowing into the covers when his tongue finds my clitoris and he clamps his mouth over my sex, sucking at the most sensitive spots, his tongue hitting the perfect points. My back arches off the bed and I groan his name from between my teeth. The noise only seems to urge him on, and he grips my hips to pull my sex to his face. The rumble of his growl travels up my clitoris, and I thrust my hips into him as he dips his tongue inside me.

He pulls away all too fast, then peels my gown up over my head, tossing the garment to the ground. He’s already touching me there again, leaning over me and gazing into my eyes. He watches me, as always, when he dips his finger inside.

“I wanted to taste you again,” he rumbles. “So sweet…like the nectar of the gods.”

His thumb strokes my clitoris while he fingers me, and I writhe helplessly against the furs. The fingers of his other hand find my open mouth once again. I suck at him greedily, wanting so much more.

He leans over me, watching the way I wrap my lips around his fingers with interest.

“You want to taste me, too?” he rasps.

I nod, unable to speak as he presses his digits against my tongue.

And then he withdraws, his hands leaving a profound absence, and I look up with a disgruntled sigh.

Calder is stepping out of his loose pants, tossing them to the side, returning to kneel on the bed. I push myself to a seat, gazing at him, able to study him now after the urgency of our first time in the kitchen.

His cock is curved and rust-colored like his skin, interspersed with swells of bronze that give him a somewhat alien shape. The head is darker than the rest, swollen with lust, a bead of wetness at the tip.

It would be daunting if I didn’t already know how good it felt.

I crawl forward, my eyes locked on the appendage, glancing up one last time as I get close enough to put my mouth over him.

His hips sway toward me and I bite my lip with a smile.

“You hesitate,” he says. “Why?”

A million reasons. Because I don’t normally feel this kind of overwhelming lust? Because he’s an alien?

No. Because this whole time, he’s been in control, and now I have the opportunity to hold his most delicate pieces and show him what he’s shown me, and it’s exhilarating.

I don’t answer. Instead, I take hold of him, wrapping my hand around his length and pressing a wet kiss to the head of his dick, tasting the hint of soap, salt, copper, cinnamon.

Calder shudders and his hips sway again, but I keep my distance, teasing him with my lips and tongue as I taste him for the first time. He’s big, but not as big as I originally thought; the ridges give the illusion of greater girth, and I’m able to take him in slowly, until he’s against my tongue, my teeth, and finally my throat. Calder groans and I glance up to see him watching me with bated breath, his eyes flickering shut when I move my tongue.

I’ve never liked doing this until now. But having this power over him excites me.

I roll my tongue across his length, the ridges stimulating my swollen lips. Closing my eyes again, I work him slowly, my hand meeting my mouth in a steady rhythm. His hips sway with me, and when I feel his hand on the crown of my head I quicken my pace. Calder releases a growl of satisfaction that rumbles through him, all the way to the back of my throat and down into my chest, and my body pulses with need for him. I suck harder, faster, and he tangles his fingers in my hair.

He groans loudly, and my body spasms for want of him. I’ve only seen him out of control when he was angry, and having him here like this, unable to quell the sounds of pleasure slipping from his throat, leaves me hungry with need. My hand leaves his dick so I can touch myself, and I sigh at the intense pleasure that comes with the pressure of my finger against my sex.

Calder takes a handful of my hair, thrusting into me. I take him as far as I can, my hand at the juncture of my thighs and his dick at the back of my throat making me moan.

I need him now.

I pull away, sucking on him until he comes free, and then I’m kissing him on the mouth, desperate to connect with him. Calder pulls me close and I feel him start to assert control and slow down, so I grasp his dick again, stroking him.

He pushes me backward into the furs, climbs over me, still kissing me and kissing me and kissing me. My hands scramble for his hips, for his gluts, drawing him in, and then he enters me with a hard thrust.

Constellations spin behind my eyelids.

He withdraws, pushes back in.

I claw at his back, my mind numb to everything but the sheer pleasure. Calder is so warm, his mouth on my pulse, his hands on my breasts, in my hair. We remain still for an infinite second, connected, pulsing.

Then he rocks against me, setting a pace, the delicious ridges on his dick making sparks. I wrap my legs around him, wanting him as close as possible, and I cry out. His sounds match mine, deep rumbles of bliss, and I vaguely wonder if anyone can hear us.

It’s clear that this is no punishment.

My hands find purchase on his antlers once again, the best way to leverage myself against him, to control the pace he sets. Calder murmurs sweet nothings into the crook of my neck, and I catch snippets of “gods,” “blessed,” and “mine.”

Right now, at least, I am.

We reach a frenzied pace, and before I know it I’m calling out his name, pressing divots into the flesh of his back, out of my mind as my orgasm takes over. Calder races to meet me in ecstasy, biting down on my neck, and the pain adds to the pleasure. Our limbs tie us in a knot, an infinite loop of euphoria.

His pace slows, and he thrusts into me delicately, gently. Calder withdraws his face to look at me and to stroke my hair, pressing a kiss to my lips even as I tire and somehow ache for more. We’re both spent, but I roll my hips against him, loving the feeling of him inside me and not wanting to let him go.

I don’t know what’s happening between us, but it’s more than just physical.

Calder finally withdraws to roll off of me, sighing deeply. I suddenly feel the cold of the room, the castle’s climate control set low for our guests. A shiver rolls over me, my flesh rising in goosebumps, my nipples hardening.

My lover throws one of the furs over me, pulling me into his embrace. I nestle against him, drawing a shuddering breath when he rolls one of my nipples between his fingers, like he can’t resist even after we’ve already had sex twice this evening.

“I like what our lovemaking does to you,” he murmurs, playing with my breasts. I sigh, sleep tugging at my mind as his ministrations draw me back in. “Blushing and luscious in my bed.” His hand trails down to my stomach, his fingers grazing my ribs, and I shiver. His hand nestles against my sex, and he drags a finger against the spot where I’m still so, so sensitive.

I’m so tired, but I want him.

“Keep making love to me,” I murmur in a haze, pressing my lips to his neck and stretching across him.

“I told you that you’d beg for more,” he teases, then brushes his lips across my forehead. “Sleep now, beauty. You’ll need your rest if I’m to have my way with you again.”