“Don’t touch me!” I snapped and jumped out, then grabbed the silk bedsheet he was covered with and pulled it over my naked body. I couldn’t start a battle with my breasts on display, could I?
Dahr’s head snapped to the side, and he moved groggily for a few seconds, probably as caught in the after-sex haze as I had been. The man frowned, his charcoal-stained eyes blinking confusion away.
“What happened, little flame? Did I ignite you too many times last night?” Dahr tilted his head to me in challenge. “Or did I not ignite you enough?”
“You will not touch me ever again, so you can say goodbye to that,” I retorted and moved towards the table, where my clothes from the other day waited for me, discarded on the floor.
“Are you alright, Nora?” Dahr frowned, his ebony eyebrows shining with the light of the new day, making the still-sleepylook on his face too delicious to resist. But I was determined. Determined not to fall into temptation ever again.
“NO! I am not alright,” I fumbled around inside the bed sheet I had stolen, trying to put my clothes back on without letting him see my naked body. Not that it mattered, since Dahr’s tongue had licked every single curve and opening, and he wouldn’t be any more of a stranger to my own body than the clothes I was trying to put back on were.
My hands shook as I pulled the skirt on and tried to tie the knot around my hips, leaving my naked back on display. It must have been a few seconds of struggle, barely enough for a full breath, but somehow, the warrior moved across the tent during that time and grabbed my waist to pull me back into him.
He was naked, of course, so I felt every single lingering caress and the new pumps of desire that spread onto his midsection, which he did not shy away from letting me feel. His other hand climbed up to my neck to wrap around my jaw and keep my head steady in place. A deep breath followed, dropping down to my earlobe to raise sprinkles of temptation.
“What happened, little flame?” he murmured into my ear, and I had to hold on for dear life not to melt into his embrace.
My god, this man would be the death of me.
Wave after wave of need pushed into my body, raising all kinds of sensation. I throbbed for him; I needed him with a passion that obsession itself would be scared of. I wanted to devour him. And be devoured by him.
I needed to melt away and extinguish into his arms.
I had enough strength left to send a command of clarity towards my mind, that acted more on impulse than will, at this point, forcing my body to shimmy away from his embrace. As soon as I did so, strength pushed into me and made me take a step forward, to put more distance in between him and my scorching need.
As soon as I did so, I felt relief. Loss, but also relief.
So I took another step back.
And one more. Before I forced myself to turn to Dahr, not caring that I was still half naked and fully displaying my pebbled nipples.
“Stop calling me that,” I demanded, my bouncy breasts wiggling in the air. I did not actually feel ashamed to position myself in front of him like this, but rather empowered. After all, why should the man have all the strength? Why should his body demand respect while mine should be hidden?
And seeing how Dahr’s erection did not falter one bit and continued to pole up from between his legs, I doubted my medium-sized breasts would be the showstopper in this particular painting.
I drew fresh air into my lungs and urged the words to come out, using my teacher’s voice. I had to be calm and collected, explain the situation in a clear manner, while keeping firm enough to be taken seriously. I had performed this exact speech too many times to lose its effectiveness. Well, not to the man I had just had sex with for the entire day and most of the night, but still. The tone was the same.
“Waking up, I realised that last night was a big mistake. I let myself be caught in the poetry of your body rather than realise the situation I am in and allowed one or two kind gestures to persuade me to participate in sexual acts with yourself. Which, I will not deny, were pleasant, but they must stop now. Same as this supposed connection and the way you are addressing me. I do not believe you and I have much in common, so I would like to suggest that we continue to keep it that way.” There. I said it.
While I uttered my stance, Dahr’s brows performed a dance of emotions, going from a sharp arch, into a frown, into a lift of a single brow, going back into a deeper frown, which had remained long after I had finished. The warrior kept quiet for asecond, his night-sky black eyes taking me in with dilated pupils, as though trying to discern if the description of our activities and my request were worthy of consideration.
“Participate in sexual acts with me…” he repeated, visibly bothered by my description. “Is that what I am to you, Nora? Last night’s fuck?” Fury pierced the room, which started to get hotter, the air becoming steam in contact with my skin.
“I would like to ask you to calm down, first of all,” I dipped my chin slowly to him and let an audible breath in to urge him to do the same. Of course, Dahr did not listen.
“Is that what last night meant to you, little flame? You had your way, you came on my dick and now you want to be what…” he halted to finally take that breath in, his lungs not having enough air to continue. “Friends? You want to enjoy being part of the camp after fucking Grannicus? Are you one ofthemtoo?” Hurt bloomed in his voice, but Dahr immediately cleared his throat to hide the feeling.
“One of whom, Dahr?” I snapped back, not letting myself feel anything but rage for this man. “May I remind you that you are the one who started all this? You are the one who started being kind to me, who called me in your bed for cuddling sessions, who took me to the beach and spent the day with me. So don’t be surprised when your plan works, and I fall prey to your charms. You obviously know you are the most attractive man in camp. You are the most attractive man in a thousand-mile radius, probably. So don’t blame it on me, since you are the one wandering around camp calling me your ‘woman’.”
Dahr clenched his jaw so hard that, for a moment, I was afraid his teeth might snap off. His lips were so pressed together that they formed a thin white line where his mouth used to be.
“What do you want, Nora?” he threw the words at me, making them fall like a sharp cut across my being.
“I want to be treated like any other woman in this camp,” I had my reply ready. “Any of those you already fucked,” I added, reiterating my stance.
I didn’t expect Dahr’s pleased smirk when he dignified his reply with both a dip of his chin and some words. “Very well.”
I didn’t have time to react before Dahr closed the distance between us and grabbed my hand, locking me into a tight grip. When I started struggling to get myself free, he circled around me and pressed himself into my back, then used his body to push me forward. Luckily, we were close enough to my bed that the mattress reduced the fall, making me bounce into softness. But just when I thought I escaped, Dahr’s body pressed on top of me.
