Free Tales of the Djinn: The Double by Emma Holly Page B

the tips of her breasts brushed him. She was where he wanted . . . or nearly. He slid his palms down the curvature of her spine to palm her bottom. The flesh there was so resilient he had to squeeze.
    The pressure brought her satiny belly against his pounding prick.
    “Well,” she said, breathless and amused as he pulled her onto her toes. “I can tell which part of you woke up first.”
    She moved her hands, rubbing his back up and down before squeezing his butt like he was squeezing hers. Nerves jumped to life all over him, as if her touch turned his entire body into a sexual receptor.
    The only thing more surprising was when her arms circled his torso. She pressed her cheek to his chest and hugged him.
    “You are gorgeous,” she praised. “And wonderful to see first thing in the morning.”
    She pulled back far enough to look into his eyes. Hers were warm, fondness and something deeper shining up at him. Evidently, she couldn’t tell the difference between him and his copy. Arcadius’s chest constricted. What would it be like to have her look at him with that expression?
    “Elyse,” he said, his hold shifting from her butt to her upper arms.
    She laughed. “That’s your work voice. And your work face. I assume you’re going to tell me we don’t have time to play around.”
    “I—” His vision flickered, disorienting him. For a split second, he felt her and simultaneously saw the sparse white walls of his dining room. Those walls weren’t usually empty. Joseph had shrunk his favorite Sindbad tapestry to take to Elyse’s world.
    “Elyse,” he repeated, but he and she were no longer together.
    He was back in his proper body, in the dining room of his own residence. He wore a brown silk robe he couldn’t remember pulling on. His very large, very stubborn hard-on made it impossible not to notice he wore nothing under it.
    He wasn’t quite standing straight. His left hand braced his weight on the long table. His right held a quill with which he’d been scribbling a note.
    You and I need to talk, the angry letters said. The final word was underlined, not once but three times.
    Maybe he shouldn’t have, but Arcadius smiled. It seemed his copy was a tad dramatic.
    ~
    Elyse had figured out how to turn down the djinn-appropriate temperature in the soaking tub. She’d resigned herself to enjoying the jets alone when Arcadius slid into the seething water. His chalcedony eyes were lit from within by intensity, definitely not smiling. Covered to the waist by the churning waves, he stalked to her.
    She wanted to ask if everything was okay, but her breath had caught in her throat. When he looked at her like that—so possessive and serious—she remembered he wasn’t the same kind of being as her.
    He gripped her under the arms and heaved her dripping up his big torso.
    “Cade,” she gasped. His hard-on pressed her right thigh. Her body went wet in a new way.
    “That’s right,” he said, low and rough. “I’m the one you belong to.”
    She didn’t know why he felt a need to say this but didn’t get a chance to ask. Her weight went backward, her back lowered carefully to the tub’s marble edge. Her thighs were already open around his legs. Sensing she’d better brace, she planted the sole of one foot on the side. Water droplets fell from him to her.
    “Say my name again,” Cade ordered, his eyes boring into hers.
    “Cade,” she repeated.
    He fit his hips to the right position and plunged all the way into her.
    She cried out. His entry was overwhelming but very good.
    “Yes,” she said, clutching his broad shoulders.
    He didn’t wait. He cradled her head with one hand, gripped her buttock securely with the other, and commenced pumping. She loved when he took control of her that way. In seconds, they were both groaning, his urgent movements exciting. She could tell this wasn’t going to last long for either one of them. Their breath was choppy, their hold on each other tight. Cade shifted angles