Kraving Dravka by Zoey Draven

Chapter Nineteen

Though she knew she shouldn’t, Valerie took the staircase up to the Cluster that night.

It was a quiet night in the brothel since Valerie had cancelled all the clients once again. Tomorrow she was planning to inform all of them about the brothel’s closing.

The chandelier made the staircase glimmer as she slid her hand over the solid bannister. She was nervous, she found. Her belly was curling and fluttering with anticipation, just at the thought of seeing him again after last night.

Things were falling into place. A weight had been lifted off her shoulders after she was lucky enough to make contact with Eve on Dumera. The Keriv’is would have a home, a place to belong once they left Everton. They would have jobs. They would work with Khiva on these firestones she’d heard about. Eve had promised her that.

Even still, there was a profound sadness in her that night, mingling with the sweet anticipation and nerves and excitement she felt.

When Valerie reached the Cluster, the sitting room was dark and quiet. Tavak and Ravu were nowhere to be seen, but Dravka…

He was standing at the window in the Cluster, his strong, bare back to her. The scars that adorned his flesh there were light in color, slightly raised. When Valerie had first come to the brothel, her aunt had liked to take Dravka down to the basement level the most, as if she’d known even then that Valerie cared for him.

The thought sobered her and she approached him quietly.

He regarded her over his shoulder, those eyes tracking her in the dark. When she reached him, she leaned her forehead on his back. When her arms came around his front, he gripped her wrists.

She inhaled his warm scent. Memorizing it, though she’d had it committed to her mind years ago.

“Where have you been all day?” he asked quietly in the darkness, stroking his long fingers over her forearm.

She shivered and couldn’t resist pressing small kisses to the scars on his back. Some of them had been because of her, after all. Because she’d loved him and Madame Allegria had known that.

Dravka’s breath hitched when he felt her kiss.

“Val?” he asked, before turning, cupping her cheek and turning her so she could see him.

“I’ll tell you,” she said, licking her lips, still nervous. “After,” she added.

His eyes darkened as a lengthy silence drew out between them. His voice was dark and husky when he asked, “After what?”

“I need to wash,” she whispered, her heart hammering in her chest. “Will you join me?”

Valerie heard his audible, thick swallow.

He told her last night that he wouldn’t have sex with her on Everton. But maybe they could…do other things. Last night, Valerie had realized that she might not ever get to explore him otherwise.

And she thought she might scream if she never touched him the way she wanted. After last night, she couldn’t stay away. She didn’t want to anymore. She didn’t have the willpower to stay away.

Not now.

Her heart was a thundering mess as she waited for him to reply.

In the end, he didn’t say anything. He only led her to the washing room, closing and locking the door behind him, and then they were encased in that cool, dark, small space.

This bathroom was like most in the brothel. The bricks were painted a matte black. The sink and washing tub—Keriv’i sized—were gold. The floor was marble, though an Old Earth rug adorned it to keep the chill out. A round gilded mirror sat above the sink counter and in it, in the dim light from the single sconce on the wall, Valerie saw her eyes were wide and her cheeks were flushed.

In the darkness, it felt intimate. It felt like just the two of them…and it was a place in the brothel that they’d never been together before. It felt new.

Dravka was next to her. He came behind her, running a hand through her hair. He turned them so they were looking in the mirror and the sight stunned her. Because she’d never seen them standing together, side by side.

He was so much taller than her. So much larger. His skin looked bluer against her flesh.

And for the first time, she saw the way she looked at him. Wide-eyed, a little dazed, but happy. She looked at him like they shared some great secret, just the two of them.

She supposed they did.

In the mirror, Valerie saw—and felt—his hands trail down her front, the sides of his palms skimming over her breasts, just barely, just enough to make her breath hitch, before coming to rest on her hips.

“Look how beautiful you are,” he rasped in her ear, crouching down so their faces were next to one another’s. “Vauk, I’ve loved you since I first saw you.”

Valerie’s lips parted, her heart freezing in her chest at his sublime words. He’d never said them before, though it had always been unspoken. Of course, she knew that he loved her in some capacity.

But up until this last week, she hadn’t known for certain it was like the way she loved him.

“Tell me what you’re thinking, mellkia,” he murmured.

Valerie didn’t think she could make her tongue work if she wanted to. His eyes were burning into her through the mirror, dark and teasing and wanting.

Last night, he’d pointed out just how silly her fears were about intimacy with him. Though he might not want sex now, she still wanted to show him how much she desired him, no doubt the cause for her nerves that night. She feared she was running out of time to show him.

And she wanted these memories to last her a lifetime. Because they would need to.

Valerie turned her face, saw a flash of those dark eyes, and then she was kissing him. Fiercely. Possessively. She wanted to show him what she was thinking because she didn’t think she was capable of words.

Dravka growled, his hands squeezing around her hips, and his tongue flicked out, darting between her parted lips. A sharp intake of breath whistled between them when she sucked on his tongue. Opening her eyes, she met his and saw they were narrowed. The wicked promise that gleamed in them was enough to make her whimper.

Suddenly, she was up on the counter, her back pressing into the mirror. Dravka stepped between her thighs and her legs wrapped around his waist. Sometimes, Valerie forgot just how strong Keriv’i males were. How quick. He’d flipped and lifted her up like it was nothing.

Valerie’s hands squeezed into his shoulders, dragging him closer as their mouths connected again. Dravka bit at her bottom lip, sucking and nibbling, as he pressed closer, until she could feel the way his cock fit perfectly against the junction of her thighs.

Valerie did whimper that time, rocking her hips ever so slightly against him.

“Vauk,” he hissed out, tearing his mouth away. Then he was licking and sucking at her neck, steadily making his way to her ear. “The moment we’re off Everton, mellkia, I’ll give you everything you want. I promise.”

Desperation made her hands slide to the waistband of his pants. Hot desire curled in her belly. This had taken too long. Why had they waited so long to do this?

“I’ll give you everything,” he rasped in her ear, making her moan. “I’ll give you my cock and my teela until you can’t take it any longer. And then I’ll give you more. If you’ll wait, I’ll make it so good for you, I promise.”

Valerie swallowed.

He didn’t want to have sex, she knew. He’d told her as much last night. She could respect that, even though it made her want to cry in need and frustration.

“No sex then,” she whispered into the darkness, feeling him kiss the sensitive lobe of her ear. Her scalp felt tingly and she felt a shiver run all the way down to her tailbone as he kissed her there. “But I can still touch you tonight.”

Dravka stilled, his palms splayed flat on the counter on both sides of her thighs. As if he didn’t trust himself to touch her?

The thought made her wiggle on the cold marble, trying to get closer.

“How about I touch you tonight?” Dravka whispered, his breath threading through her hair.

“I want to touch you too,” Valerie said, pulling back to look at him. His expression was almost…apprehensive. Conflicted. She leaned forward, brushing her lips over his own, and she felt his cock throb against her. “Won’t you let me?”

A strained laugh tore from his throat. “If you touch me, mellkia, I might lose control when you’re already making me lose my vauking mind.”

His words gave her a flush of pleasure. His hand came up to cup her cheek, his thumb brushing her lips. He groaned when she caught the tip of it between her teeth, when her tongue flicked against it.

A flood of wetness rushed between her thighs.

“You’re going to make me come in my pants again, mellkia,” Dravka growled, a warning.

A smile crossed her lips when he abruptly pulled his thumb away.

“Veki,” he murmured, seeming to make up his mind about something. “The moment you touch me, you’ll end me. I’ll touch you tonight only.”

Disappointment almost made her pout but she would do everything she could to change his mind.

A gasp tore from her throat as he tugged her thin dress off—one of her nicer ones, made of a silky, light material, one she’d worn just for him—and dropped it to the floor of the bathroom.

Her breasts were bare, her nipples pebbled and tight. She only wore underwear, if it could even be considered that, considering it was barely more than an inch of material that covered her there.

“My mouth has been watering for these for years,” he voiced, dropping his head. “I won’t wait any longer.”

And Valerie was wholly unprepared for his mouth and his tongue on her breasts, flicking one of her nipples before drawing the tight peak between his lips and sucking. She cried out, her hips bucking against him.

He growled, pressing closer, releasing her breast with a wet pop before turning his attention to the other. Her hands clutched at his back, wanting to keep him in place, as her sex throbbed between her thighs. It was almost as if she could feel his kiss on her breasts everywhere. That wicked, flicking, wet, hot tongue. The gentle scrape of his sharp teeth. The way he soothed his little bites with his kiss.

“Dravka,” she whimpered, heat shooting through her blood, making her feel restless.

When her hands dropped to the waistband of his pants, he growled, pushing her hands away and dropping to his knees in front of her.

His eyes burned into hers when he wrapped his arms around her thighs, pulling her to the very edge of the bathroom counter. In another moment, he snapped the tiny string holding her underwear together and tossed it away near her dress.

Oh!

Then he held her gaze as he dove forward, as his tongue pressed against her sex, as he gave one long, deliberately slow, and wicked lick.

A ragged gasp echoed in the small bathroom. Dravka’s own eyes shut briefly, a shudder racking his body.

When his eyes opened again, those twin opals were on fire. “Vauk, your taste, Val.”

Her lips parted, suddenly worried. “Is…is it bad?”

A strained laugh came next.

“I’ll never get enough of it,” he said. His voice sounded different. Deeper. Rougher. Darker. “I’ll need this every night to be satisfied.”

“Oh,” she whispered, her fears assuaged. Then a strangled groan tore from her as he lowered his head again, this time sucking.

Wet, obscene, delicious sounds echoed in her ears, mingling with her ragged gasps and desperate moans.

“Oh god,” she whispered, her hands coming to the back of his smooth head, holding him there, fearing he’d leave. Then her hands trailed to his jaw, feeling the way it flexed as he ate her out. Feeling it move as he laved and licked her clit. Feeling his cheeks hollow ever so slightly as he sucked. “Dravka!”

And his eyes never left her. He watched everything from between her thighs, those eyes gleaming with need and arousal. No, she needed to touch him tonight too. She needed to.

When she felt him dip his head slightly, a new sensation bombarded her as he snaked his tongue up her tight sex. She felt the very tip smooth and flick against her inner walls, wiggling to get deeper.

Dravka groaned when he felt her clench down.

“Come on my tongue, mellkia,” he rasped before delving back inside.

Valerie watched him in a daze, her lips parted, her legs tightening in his grip.

He was watching her and she sensed just how much he loved to watch her. Like this. At his mercy with his head buried between her thighs, doing naughty things to her with his tongue and those eyes.

Dravka didn’t even need to touch her clit because she was coming around his tongue a moment later, the orgasm taking her by surprise. Her brows drew together, her abdomen tightening, as she exploded around him, her body breaking down into millions and millions of pieces. Shivers raced up her spine. Through it all, she still felt that hot, seeking, greedy tongue, lapping up everything she gave him.

When it was finished, she came down from that high, panting and gasping and flushed. She stared down at him in surprise. When he pulled back, he flashed her a feral-looking grin and then rose, prowling up her body, pressing her back against the mirror.

And when he kissed her? He devoured her.

Tasting herself on his tongue, Val felt her belly begin to heat all over again.

“Now, let’s get you cleaned up,” he growled against her lips, picking her up from the counter in one swift movement, his palms clasped in a possessive grip on her ass.

Then he moved towards the bath.