Free The Bloodgate Warrior by Joely Sue Burkhart Page B

an invitation no sane woman would refuse. My confidence returned enough for me to tease him back. “Are you sure? Maybe I should tie you up.”
    “If that’s your wish, but I think you’d rather have my hands at your beck and call, would you not?”
    Oh, definitely. Along with that wicked mouth and most insanely thick and long erection. He didn’t appear stressed, as though his control might be at its limits, not like he’d been at the fountain. Remembering how he’d held me so tightly brought my desire roaring back full force. “This time I want more than your finger filling me.”
    “As my lady wishes.” As I crawled up his legs, his voice thickened but he didn’t grab me and haul me where he wanted me. So I decided the least I could do was torment him a little. I wanted to see how far he’d let me go.
    I hovered over him, staring down at his cock, letting my breath flutter over him. A tremor shook his thighs but he kept his hands away.
    But that wasn’t what I wanted at all.
    Delay. Drive him insane. He’ll break soon enough.
    I turned my face aside and pressed soft, light kisses against his thigh. Deliberately, I trailed my hair across his groin. I loved my long hair, even though taking care of it was a pain in the ass. All the brushing and conditioning it required was suddenly worth it so I could wrap my hair around his cock and make him beg for mercy.
    No begging yet.
    So it was obviously time to take him into my mouth. First I played, flicking my tongue on his tip, trailing my lips in soft butterfly kisses down the shaft. Other than the faint trembling in his thighs, he didn’t move a muscle.
    Meanwhile, I was going up in smoke. All that broad expanse of muscle and strength spread out before me like a feast made me pant. He had the ability to flatten me with a flick of his wrist. Thrust into me so hard I’d swear he was tearing me apart. Slam me up against a wall. Yet all he did was lie there.
    Hell, he didn’t even groan with appreciation.
    So I took him into my mouth. I tightened my lips as much as possible, held him hard and deep and tight. His back arched, tremors shaking that big frame, yet he didn’t make a peep. He didn’t grab my head, fist his hands in my hair and thrust deep.
    Like I wanted.
    Now I was really starting to get pissed off—at myself. I shouldn’t have started this game because now I didn’t want to finish it. I’d backed myself into a corner, waging a sexual battle that I no longer even wanted to win. Frustration grated my nerves, twisting my stomach into knots, until I finally released him.
    Determined to find a way to drive him over the edge, I sank my teeth into his thigh.
    His breath exhaled sharply and his hands fisted at his sides, the first hint that he was starting to fight himself. Encouraged, I bit him again, trailing my teeth down his thigh to his knee. The harder I sank my teeth into him, the more his breathing rasped in his throat, and the more I had to fight myself.
    I didn’t want to hurt him, not really, but I kept remembering how hard he’d bitten me in the dream. He’d broken the skin beneath the strange tattoo, so he’d drawn blood. Thinking of the mark sent the quetzal in my skin humming. Feathers rustled and stirred, making my skin crawl.
    Pulling back to sit on my heels, I glared down at him. “Is that thing you put in my shoulder alive?”
    “Not exactly.” I was pleased to note how low and rough his voice had gone. “It doesn’t need air or food, but it’s alive with magic. Don’t be surprised if it changes location as your need demands.”
    I craned my head around suspiciously to see if the tattoo had moved. “What the hell does that mean?”
    “It’s a manifestation of my magic in you. If you have great need of me or my magic, the quetzal will respond. Right now, you’re not very happy with me, so it digs claws into me, demanding my attention. Yet I must resist.”
    Narrowing my gaze, I tried to calm my breathing and my body down,