I only needed to spot the sight of Dahr, however, to completely change my mind. The warrior was seated on the side of the mattress, in his large carved wooden bed, covered in blood and leaning into himself, his dark locks sweaty and filled with sand.
“Dahr,” I immediately ran to him and caressed the loose hair to the side to allow me to see his face. He turned to me then, with a pleased smile that did not do much to hide his tired features. “You are exhausted,” I noted and slowly stretched my fingers across the side of his face to attempt a slow caress. His stubble tickled my fingers as I did so, making me smile. “You need to go to bed. Was the training really hard?”
I didn’t want to think about Markos and how he was interfering in mine and Dahr’s relationship. I scoffed at my own thoughts. I could hardly call it that. Having sex with the man who had ordered my kidnapping and deeply enjoying it was more like it.
“Markos wanted to recover the lost time,” Dahr pressed his chin into the palm of my hand and moved slowly to place the side of his face closer to my touch. Just like a puppy in search of cuddles.
Needless to say, my heart melted, and I moved closer to him to wrap my arms around his shoulders and offer him a more comfortable spot to lean into. We stayed like that for long minutes, until Dahr’s agitation faded away, the connection our touch was forging having a positive effect on both our spirits.
“Come, I’ll help you clean yourself up,” I offered after our breathing relaxed to the extent of synchronising.
Dahr nodded without protest, probably too exhausted to argue with the fact that he indeed needed to get cleaned up before throwing himself into bed.
By the state of this man, who could barely stand after the strenuous eighteen-hour training session, I knew that the dreams of my inner thighs had to be put on hold. And surprisingly, that did not affect me one bit. I was more than happy to trace his taut muscles with the wet cloth and apply the cream Mira had brought for my face injury, which had miraculously recovered, across his wounds until his skin was fresh and clean again, that bronze tan of his ready for kissing.
I wanted to do so much, I wanted to lick and taste every side of his body, to trace my mouth across his every curve and study his entire body with everything I had. Instead, I moved him back into the bed and wrapped him in one of the fur-lined blankets which had appeared again. I hadn’t seen someone enter this tent to clean it, but it must have been happening, since there was aconstant flow of fresh water, food, clean bedding and emptying of the necessities pot.
“You do not have to baby me, little flame,” Dahr protested just as he did the opposite and let himself fall into the bed and shimmied into the blanket where I tucked him tightly in. I knew pressure created blood stimulation and offered his muscles relaxation, so I made his little nest as comfortable and tight as possible. I then grabbed a towel and placed a strand of his hair in between my palms to form small circles with my towel-covered hands to remove the wetness from his hair.
“I don’t think anyone has ever babied you in your entire life. You might as well sit back and enjoy the experience,” I chuckled while turning his head slowly to the side to give my towel better access to his hair.
Dahr breathed in deeply, as if to let himself enjoy the warmth of my caresses and the care he had received for the past hour, before he let himself snap out of it, not losing his always-on warrior guard.
“Is this how your parents brought you up?” his adamant shining eyes pressed the question, his attention fully focused on my lips as I started speaking.
“Not at all. I don’t remember much of my parents and my aunt only took me in for a few months before she got married and followed her husband to the new continent. It would be bad of me to say that the school for girls didn’t do their best to take care of us. But they had limited resources and whenever we got something, we had to share it amongst ourselves and… as you can imagine, it wasn’t the easiest thing. I suppose this is how I would have liked to be treated,” I finally answered his question.
I already anticipated his instant need to touch me and probably do the same as I had done just a few minutes before and hug the pain away, but I pressed my hands on both sides of the blanket to keep him locked in. “Don’t you dare, it took meforever to wrap that tightly around you. You will not piss on my work, great warrior,” I pressed my lips together and made sure to furrow my brows threateningly.
He laughed and nodded, heeding my command.
“Do you think me a great warrior?” he smiled then, pleased with my choice of words.
I did my best to avoid a blush from overpowering the colour of my cheeks, but I did not know if I succeeded. I felt my cheeks heat, so I started speaking quickly. It was better to admit my feelings than linger in them and make this situation more embarrassing than it already was.
“Aren’t you supposed to be the greatest warrior in the camp?”
Dahr chuckled and took pity on me, theatrically letting out a small grimace as he shifted slowly to the side to gain a better view of me and making a mess of my hard work wrapping him in.
“Not after Markos had my balls all through the night. I swear, if he weren’t my cousin, I would have killed him just to pay him back for all the pain he caused me through the years,” he laughed, more to himself because I did not find a joke about killing funny. He must have realised, because Dahr immediately changed the subject.
“I apologise for the night away, my cousin and I needed to clarify some things.”
“Not at all,” It was my turn to shake his concern away. “Karisha and I had a blast. And I will embrace any opportunity to use that mighty bathtub of hers.”
Dahr’s features changed then, and I watched to see how his entire face shifted. He looked as uncomfortable as a nun in a strip club.
“What?” I pushed. I thought that we were past embarrassing at this point. The man had been inside me for hours, for god’s sake. It wasn’t like we were strangers anymore.
“It is not my intention for this question to come as an insult to you…” Dahr said, trying to appease the moment. Of course, it had the opposite effect and made me more anxious.
“What?” I asked again, the vein in my throat starting to pump more vigorously.
“It is only, I am not familiar with human customs and your way of life, which is why—”
“Dahr, just spill it already,” I said, stopping my circular movement from drying his hair, too filled with anticipation to be able to focus.
“I can speak to Karisha about contraception if the conversation hasn’t happened yet,” Dahr released the words and closed his eyes tightly for a few seconds, like someone who expected a good beating.
