"I love your body," she admitted, bold because he couldn't hear her. "Did you know that? Everything about you seems custom-made for me. I mean, it's almost like I ordered you from a catalog. And I wouldn't change anything about you.

You'l probably never believe that, but it's the truth."

One day, she hoped he would feel the same about her.

After she shampooed his hair, breathing in the scent of sandalwood, she tilted him backward and rinsed every strand. When she finished with him, she gently shook him awake. Or maybe he'd been awake the entire time. His eyes were no longer gla.s.sy; they were blazing.

Her cheeks flushed. "Can you get out on your own?"

Yes. He climbed out and settled back on the floor, lying on his side to peer over at her. Your turn to scrub up.

The flush spread as she washed herself from top to bottom.

Despite her embarra.s.sment, the water soothed the little aches and pains that continuous walking and sporadic fighting-and nearly being eaten alive-had left.

Haidee? Amun said after she'd rinsed her hair.

The water splashed as she straightened. She leaned over the edge and stared down at her mighty warrior. His eyes were closed again, lines of tension branching from them.

"Yes?"

Come here and hold me.

For a heartbeat of time, she could only gape at him. He had just requested her touch? No, not requested. Demanded.

Such sweet progress already, and his true seduction hadn't even begun.

"Anything you want," she rushed out before he could change his mind. Naked and dripping, she moved out of the water.

She didn't bother drying off but curled into his side, spooning him, resting her cheek on his outstretched arm.

He didn't draw her closer.

She didn't let that irk her. Much. She linked their fingers, and though the action wasn't meant to arouse either of them, it did exactly that. His p.e.n.i.s grew and hardened against the crease of her bottom, and liquid need pooled between her legs. G.o.d, she wanted to arch back, grind into him, beg him to grind into her, but she didn't. Not even when his heat wrapped around her, far headier than it had been in the water, the force of it causing her to tremble.

Not yet, girl. Not yet. He wasn't ready for her seduction to begin. That tension... Soon, though. Please, G.o.d, soon.

"You're not mad at me for bashing your skul in, are you?"

She didn't expect an answer, but a soft chuckle wafted through her mind. I'm grateful. I'm just too weak to show you how much.

Show her, he'd said. How? "I'm glad," she said, suddenly breathless. "Now go to sleep and rebuild your strength."

You're going to need it. She kissed the inside of his wrist.

"I'l be here when you wake up." And by that time, she would be doing things to his body that he would never be able to forget-things he wouldn't want her to stop doing.

Unaware of the sensual a.s.sault he would soon experience, he obeyed her, his breathing evening out as he drifted back to sleep.

AMUN'S MIND JOLTED into sudden awareness, three things instantly, absolutely certain to him. His body was on fire, his c.o.c.k was being iced and he was loving the hel out of both. He jerked upright, panting, wondering if he'd had an erotic dream and embarra.s.sed himself.

When he saw a lusciously naked Haidee planted between his legs, licking his hardened shaft from root to tip, then swirling her tongue over the slit, then moaning as if she'd tasted something sweet, he realized he hadn't been dreaming. He hadn't embarra.s.sed himself, either, but was probably going to.

He wanted to come. Desperately.

Secrets was eerily silent, and hiding in the back of his mind. The other demons were silent and hiding, as wel .

Again. That icy chil of hers must truly scare them. That, or they feared she'd start doing that tugging thing and they were trying not to draw her notice.

Sweetheart?

Haidee paused, lifting her head away from him, and every cel he possessed screamed in protest. Cool breath tickled his skin as she offered him a wicked smile, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s firm and taunting, her nipples hard and pouting, almost close enough to rub against his thighs.

"Yes, baby?" she asked throatily.

I-I-s.h.i.t! He didn't know what to say to her. Except, maybe, continue. But he couldn't al ow her to do this. She would regret it, and he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"You're awake, right? You're not in danger of fal ing back asleep?"

I'm only in danger of dying.

"Too weak, then?"

No.

The huskiness of her laugh echoed between them. "Do you want me to stop?"

Yes.

"Real y?"

She gave him another lick and he was rushing out, No. No, I don't want you to stop. Oh, G.o.ds, he thought. Yes, you have to stop.

She blew on the weeping tip of his shaft. "What if I don't want to stop?"

Oh, G.o.ds, he thought again. The torture...the pleasure...the possible repercussions...he'd never been this torn.

"Amun, darling, say the word and I'l suck you so deep you'l feel my throat closed around you for days."

Another chil y breath coasted over his slit. "I've been thinking about this, needing it. Craving it. Let me have it."

His resistance shattered. Do it. Please, do it. You can blame me later. Hate me later, but please don't stop. He didn't care about later, didn't care that he was begging. He had to have this, couldn't exist another moment without it.

"I wil , I'l do it," she said, fingers tracing up one side of his shaft, then down the other. "And I promise I'l blame you later."

He knew he should be concerned but couldn't manage the emotion. Sweat beaded over him in an effort to purge the intensity of his hunger. She hadn't fit her mouth back over his length, but her breath stil stroked him. So good, felt so good. And then that was the only word he could say. Good.

He was trembling, aching, desperate. Good, good, good.

Her voice lowered. "I'l blame you because you're too beautiful to resist. Because you think of my wel -being even when you're in danger yourself. Because you're mine. My warrior. My...demon."

The admission affected him as potently as her actions, and he found new words to give her. You're kil ing me, sweetheart. You're kil ing me, yes, yes, yes, please kil me.

Any moment and he would start arching his hips, thrusting up, unable to stop himself.

Her wicked grin returned. "Lie back and conserve your strength, baby. Sweet little Haidee's gonna do al the work."

He didn't lie back. He'd been yearning for this forever.

Yearning for her forever. He wanted to see every move she made. Like this. Just like this.

"Whatever my warrior desires..." Lips of scarlet at last closed over the tip of him. She moaned in delight.

His back bowed. Her cold little tongue flicked the slit it had suckled only moments before, and he had to brace his arms behind him to remain upright. Down, down she sucked him, taking every inch, just as she'd promised, not backing off even when he hit deeper than she'd probably wanted him to go.

No, not true. His little Haidee hummed in satisfaction, in more of that delight, and he felt the vibrations in his bones.

He had to grit his teeth to prevent himself from exploding then and there. Then she began to move, up and down, slowly at first, tormenting him, laving him with sensation, sensitizing his skin.

The ice of her touch should have numbed him, but combined with the heat his body exuded, he was kept in a continual state of need, ready to beg for one or the other to final y push him over the edge. And soon he was crying out in his mind, trying not to pump into her mouth.

That blond-and-pink hair bobbed, and with every upward glide, he saw slim, elegant fingers playing at his base. He started thinking about what he wanted to do with his own fingers. Glide them down the b.u.mps of her spine, cup that trim little a.s.s, spread each digit until he hit the warm, wet center of her. Sink deep with one, retreat, go back in with two, retreat, then go back in with three, until he stretched her.

Until she squirmed and rode him and gasped and cried.

Haidee groaned, her body trembling, her teeth sc.r.a.ping up his shaft. "Yes," she rasped. "Yes. Fingers, deep. So deep."

Amun's heart thundered against his ribs. Was he pushing the images inside her head? He must be, he thought. Was glad. He wanted her to see, to know.

Al the while she licked at him, she nibbled, her hips undulating over his legs, searching for something to fil her.

He cupped her nape and ma.s.saged the muscles knotted underneath. When she began to relax against his hold, he tried to spin her around so that he could please her as she was pleasing him. She resisted.

"No. You first."

Haidee.

"No. Just...need a moment...control...slipping..."

He wasn't sure if she meant control of her body or control of the ice, but either way, he didn't care. She wanted him. She needed him. And he wanted to taste her. Needed to taste her, too.

As those tormenting lol ipop licks continued, he tossed another image into her mind. One of his head buried between her thighs, sampling al the sweetness waiting there. Sucking her c.l.i.toris, flicking with his eager tongue, his fingers pinching her nipples into hard little pearls.

He'd shove her legs as far apart as they would go, burrow as deep as possible, and make her feel more vulnerable than she'd ever been. She would be helpless, his to control, command...his to own. He would take everything, swal ow her up, devour her completely, then rear up and slam home.

He wouldn't be gentle. But then, she wouldn't want gentleness. She would want a hard pounding, a punishing ride onto oblivion. She would scream and she would cry out. She would clutch at him and leave b.l.o.o.d.y trails on his back, her nails like talons as her legs wrapped around him, ankles locking.

He would make her forget her husband, forget every man she'd ever been with. Only Amun would matter. Only Amun would have rights to her. Anyone who tried to reach her, who wanted to see her like that, taste and touch her like that, would die. He would murder them.

She. Belonged. To. Him. Not even Haidee would be able to doubt that afterward.

"Oh, G.o.d," she moaned, then lapped at his pre-come. Her trembling intensified.

I told myself to stay away from you, he said into her mind. I told myself to leave you alone.

"No," she cried. "Don't."

But I can't, he continued. Let me taste you.

"No," she repeated. Less savagely, yes, but not completely broken. "Let me finish you. Because I swear to G.o.d, baby, you're going to have this memory if it kil s me. And it just might. You taste so d.a.m.n good." With that, her mouth plunged, once again taking his entire length.

Amun final y let go of the gossamer threads of his control.

He fel back, hips thrusting up, fingers tangling in her hair.

She claimed him wildly, wantonly, as if she couldn't live another moment without his seed; soon he was helpless to do anything but let her have every drop.

Fire rushed through his veins, burning them to ash, al owing the inferno to spread, consume him, burst from him. He bucked up as she slammed down, and that seed rose up his length and exploded from him.

Her cheeks hol owed as she swal owed, taking everything he had to give and stil demanding more.

She wrung him dry, reduced him to a shel of himself, and he sagged against the ground. She didn't pul from him right away, but licked and purred as if unwil ing to give him up even then. His muscles continued to spasm with aftershocks of sensation, pleasure humming through him as potently as she had hummed on him.

He would have recovered-eventual y-and could have final y possessed her completely. But she wanted to cal Micah before they took that step, and Amun wouldn't force that issue now. Not after what she'd just done for him. So he somehow found the strength to sit up, clasp her under the arms and lift her until she straddled his chest.

Her eyes were glazed with pa.s.sion, her cheeks flushed a deep rose. Those beautiful locks of hair hung in rapturous tangles around her shoulders. Never had a woman looked more mussed, more ready for loving-or better loved.

"What are you-?"

He slid one of his hands between their bodies and thrust a finger deep. Immediately her head fel back and a cry parted her lips.

"Yes! Yes, please, yes."

Just as he'd imagined, he used two fingers on the inward glide. She was so wet she drenched his hand, so needy her inner wal s clung to him, trying to hold him captive. This was how a woman should always feel. Ready. On the next inward glide, he used three, just as he'd craved. His thumb rubbed at her c.l.i.toris, never ceasing the pressure.

So desperate was her need, she erupted quickly and violently. Her scream echoed from the wal s, her knees squeezed his sides so tightly he knew his ribs would crack, and her nails raked his pecs, leaving welts. And when the last tremor left her, she col apsed on top of him, panting, eyes closed, skin sheened by a delicate layer of ice.

Amun was panting just as forceful y. What had just happened...he'd never experienced anything like it.

That hadn't been the simple fulfil ment of a need. That had been the birthing of an addiction. An obsession. He had to have more. Had to have everything. Now, always.

Haidee's lack of inhibition, her wil ingness to please him, her absolute claiming of him-for that's what she'd done- had utterly changed him. In an instant, the old Amun had been burned to ash, and a new Amun had risen up.

Haidee's man.

He'd been stupid to try and push her away, he realized now.

Stupid to try to ignore the attraction between them. He'd only hurt and frustrated them both. Here, they could be together.