He didn’t think. He reacted. Ayron pulled her close, slid his finger in deeper. His mouth covered hers.
It wasn’t so much a kiss as a capture. He grabbed a fistful of her hair with his other hand, tilted her head back, and crushed her lips.
She moaned again. The sound drove him wild. He coaxed her lips open with his tongue. Her body writhed against his. The silky soft curls on her mound teased his cock as he fingered her ass. In and out, deeper each time. Her tight passage squeezed his finger in rhythmic pulses.
Lexi’s body tensed. Quivered. And then she exploded.
Ayron held her close while the tremors rocked her body. When she went limp in his arms, he slid his finger out gently and drew her head down to rest on his chest. She sighed and snuggled against him.
He could tell the instant full consciousness returned. She froze then gasped and struggled, pulling away.
“Shhh. It’s all right.”
“You…I never…What did you do to me? ”
Her eyes were wide with shock and fear, leaving him certain the female had little experience with the ways of a man with a woman.
“Did you like it?”
His frank question stopped her cold.
“I…I reached gratification.” She sounded surprised.
“That’s the point, isn’t it?”
She wrapped her arms around her chest, as though suddenly aware of her nakedness. “But I’ve never…I mean I didn’t know I could…”
“No man has brought you pleasure that way.” It wasn’t a question. But her response shocked him.
“No man has brought me pleasure inanyway.”
He took a step back. Her eyes traveled down his naked body to the erection jutting out, stiff and swollen. She flushed, turned away, and scooped up a handful of leaves.
“Let me see to your back.”
He turned around, happy to have a moment to regain his composure. She patted wet leaves across his shoulders and down his back, careful to touch him as little as possible.
The female was full of surprises. He still didn’t know where she’d come from. There were other cities on Iridia. But they were so far from his that only the hardiest souls made the long journey, and then only during the season when nights were longest.
There was something odd about the way she spoke. He couldn’t put his finger on it. He would have sworn she didn’t understand a word he said when he first found her. Despite her claim, he didn’t believe she’d learned their language in a day. No legend told of a fair-skinned Tryb hidden away on Iridia. So, who was she, and how had she come to be wandering alone in the Outlands?
Then there was the bombshell she’d laid on him, about never being with a man before. He’d told Eva she wasn’t experienced, even though Eva’s examination showed she wasn’t a virgin. What then? Did she prefer women? She hadn’t shied away from him a few minutes ago, but she seemed so uncomfortable now. Maybe she had a partner, another female, and she felt guilty about what she’d done — throwing her arms around him, wiggling her hips to take his finger deeper into her ass.
The thought of guilt brought his own bubbling to the surface. Ayron tried to reason it away. She’d caught him by surprise. Flooded with testosterone after the battle, he’d reacted instinctively. Her soft warm body quivering in his arms, the velvet heat of her pussy, her tight ass clenching around his finger, those purrs of arousal that awoke his manhood. If she hadn’t rejected him so abruptly after she came, he’d have tossed her down in the shallows and rammed his cock into her. Forgetting Naia. Forgetting his vow to be done with women. Forgetting his grief.
Reality hit him like an icy wind. Until he learned more about her, he needed to stay on guard. The woman might be an enemy.
As he came to that decision, the last of the adrenaline that had kept him going pumped through his veins. The salisis she’d rubbed all over him took effect, and he shivered as fire surged through his veins, followed by a river of ice. His legs turned to rubber.
Weakened by the loss of blood, trembling with fatigue, darkness closed in, and he collapsed.
Chapter Twelve
Stunned, Lexi watched the huge warrior fall facedown into the water. Smothering her panic, she rolled him over and dragged him into the shallows. His breathing was labored, his body racked with tremors. She hoped it was because of the salisis leaves. When she’d started shaking the other night, he said her reaction was normal. He’d held her in his arms until it stopped.
She looked him over. The leaves seemed to have other healing properties. They’d staunched the flow of blood from his wounds. But large patches of his body hadn’t been treated. No wonder, since he’d seen to it she was cared for first.
Lexi waded out deeper, gathering the remaining leaves floating on the surface. Then, arms laden with the gooey mess, she dropped to her knees by his body and applied a thick coat of it over the bare spots.
