Forsaken (The Djinn Wars Book 5) Page 15

  “Come here,” he growled, and a slow smile spread over her full lips.

  “What, that wasn’t enough to satisfy you?”

  “Was it enough to satisfy you?”

  Her smile widened. “I thought it was, but….”

  Without finishing the sentence, she slipped under the covers and pressed her naked body up against his. He didn’t know for sure what inner battles she’d fought during those few moments she’d spent in the bathroom, but clearly she did not seem to have any problems with continuing to explore their intimacy.

  His hands moved down to cup her breasts, so heavy and full and soft, even though the rest of her body was almost too slender. Before Madison, he would have said he preferred his women more rounded, but he loved every inch of her form, including her long, lean legs and the very subtle curve of her hips.

  And that hair. It brushed against him, warm and tantalizing, every fine strand seeming to awaken a new nerve ending. A soft moan sounded low in her throat as he took her nipple into his mouth and suckled, even as he reached down to touch the delicious wetness between her legs. Yes, she was so very ready.

  He wanted to see all of her as they joined again. Without giving her any warning, he took her by the slender waist and lifted her so she could settle down on top of him. She gasped, and then her eyes shut in obvious pleasure as he filled her and they began to move together, finding their rhythm once again. Qadim reached up to caress her breasts, and her head tilted backward, those long, luscious curls brushing against his thighs.

  By God, it took all his effort to keep himself from climaxing then and there. But he pulled in a breath, knowing that he wanted this to continue for as long as possible, for him to feel her tight and warm around him, to slip his fingers over the sweet buds of her breasts and listen as her moans grew louder and louder. He’d always enjoyed women who were vocal, and clearly Madison had no problem with letting him know how much she enjoyed his touch.

  But her breathing began to accelerate, and he saw a glow of perspiration on her forehead, and he knew it wouldn’t be much longer now. Good; he could have held off a little longer, but he wanted that release as well, wanted to spill inside her and listen to her cry out in pleasure.

  Which she did as she fell forward, her hair brushing against his face. She gave quick, panting gasps, her entire body trembling around him. Just a second or two later, he let the orgasm rush through him, dark and shuddering and so very, very good.

  He put his arms around her and held her while she lay against his chest, her breathing still rapid, her heart pounding against him. Then, very gently, he kissed her on the temple and breathed in the sweet scent that clung to her heavy hair.

  At last she pushed herself off him and collapsed on her back. For a long moment, she didn’t say anything, only breathed in and out, clearly trying to gather herself. Eventually she rolled over onto her side so she could look at him. Obliging her, he moved as well so they were face to face.

  Some kind of worry flickered in her eyes, and he immediately reached out to brush a stray strand of hair away from her lovely, lovely face. “My dear, what is it?”

  “Can djinn and humans — I mean, do I have to worry about getting pregnant? It’s been a long time since I was last on the pill.”

  He didn’t know precisely what this “pill” was but guessed it must be some kind of contraceptive. Since humans couldn’t control their reproductive cycles internally, they had no choice but to resort to external means to prevent pregnancy. “Djinn and humans can reproduce,” he began, then continued before that trace of fear in her eyes could flare into anything worse, “but only if they choose to do so.”

  “If they choose — ” She stopped there, gold-flecked green eyes narrowing. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that a djinn has to consciously decide that he or she wants to be fertile for a pregnancy to occur. I certainly would not make such a decision without you agreeing to it, and so these two times we were intimate, I made sure that I would not be fathering any children.”

  The worry in her face disappeared, to be replaced by a certain amusement. “So you were shooting blanks?”

  He wasn’t sure if he understood the idiom. “Shooting…what?”

  A flash of a grin, and she moved forward so she could kiss him on the cheek. “Just an expression. So I really don’t have to worry about getting pregnant, no matter how many times we have sex?”

  “No, there is no need to worry.” Qadim stopped there, wondering if he should be offended by her very obvious relief. Not that he wanted to have children any time in the near future — he’d certainly avoided fatherhood so far, had ended several relationships because the women involved did wish to begin families — but he didn’t know if he quite liked Madison being so overjoyed by the prospect of not bearing his children.

  “Good.” Then she gave a very small shake of her head before reaching out to run a hand over his hair. “That’s not an insult, Qadim. I’m sure we’d make very pretty babies together. But things are complicated enough right now that it’s probably a good idea to avoid the whole reproduction thing for a while.”

  He had to agree with that. After all, he had no real plans for any of this to be permanent. Right now everything was new and fresh and wonderful, but in his experience, that state of affairs never lasted. Still, he wanted to enjoy it while he could, and the prospects for doing so seemed infinitely better without bringing the messiness of children and pregnancy into the equation.

  “Very sensible,” he said then, since she was obviously waiting for a reply. “In the meantime, how about some dessert?”

  “Dessert?”

  “I made that thing your people referred to as ‘flan.’ I have never had it before, but the components promised something delicious.”

  “It is.” Madison paused then, an expression of dismay going over her face. “But oh — we left all that lovely food out. We need to go downstairs and pack it all up and put it in the refrigerator.”

  “No need,” he told her, somewhat amused by her concern over wasting the remainder of their dinner. “It has already been packaged and put away. So I suppose in the next day or so I will be able to experience that human custom known as ‘eating leftovers.’”

  She flashed him another smile and then snuggled closer, laying her head on his chest. For the moment, he was sated, and so he could simply enjoy the feeling of her warm, soft hair against his skin and the exquisite brush of her breasts on his stomach. “That’s good. And dessert sounds lovely, but….” She yawned. “Is the flan in the refrigerator, too?”

  “It is.”

  “Then let’s save that for tomorrow. I don’t want to move.”

  “You don’t have to,” he replied softly, because he could tell from a slight shift in her breathing that she was so very close to falling asleep. He wanted her to go to sleep in his arms, wanted to hold her forever like this.

  The problem was, nothing lasted forever. Not even for a djinn.

  Madison couldn’t recall when she’d fallen asleep, but clearly that second round had knocked her out, because she didn’t wake up until sunlight was peeking through the gaps in the curtains that hid the tall windows on the other side of the room. Next to her, Qadim seemed to still be sleeping, eyes shut and his chest rising and falling with regular, deep breaths.

  So djinn did sleep. She’d wondered about that, wondered if he would just pretend to be asleep so as not to make things seem too strange to her, but clearly the djinn weren’t so different from humans in that respect. As for herself, well, it had been a long day, and having a heavy meal and several spectacular rounds of sex just guaranteed that she would pretty much pass out.

  It seemed that Qadim wasn’t too worried about the time of day, since the clock on the nightstand said it was three twenty-two, and she doubted they’d slept that long. Her mouth felt gummy, though, and she needed to use the bathroom. Moving as quietly as she could, she slipped out from under the covers and went into the bath, then took car
e of business and stopped to rinse her mouth out. Before leaving the bathroom, she took the robe off the hook behind the door and slipped it on. As she approached the bed, Qadim’s eyes flickered open.

  “I didn’t mean to wake you — ” she began, but he only shook his head.

  “No, it was time for me to be awake. Usually I’m up before the sun.”

  “Did I wear you out?”

  He shot her a look from under his eyelashes, the kind of glance that sent the blood, pulsing and warm, between her legs. But his tone was mild enough as he replied, “Hardly. Although now that we’re both awake, perhaps it would be wise to have some sort of breakfast in order to replenish our…reserves.”

  “You’re probably right.” Would she have been up for round three? Her body seemed to be saying yes. Then again, some coffee would be good. And some of Qadim’s amazing scrambled eggs. Neither of them was going anywhere, so why not have a leisurely breakfast and see what happened from there?

  He watched her as she reclaimed her panties from where they’d been lying discarded on the floor. The lovely blush-colored silk outfit was also on the floor next to the bed, and she couldn’t help making a sound of dismay as she lifted it and saw that the tunic appeared to be shredded beyond repair.

  “I told you not to worry about that,” he said, then pushed himself to an upright position in the bed, although the sheets and duvet covered everything below the waist.

  “I know. But it’s still sad to see something so beautiful get ruined.”

  His expression softened. “Bring it here.”

  Mystified, she leaned across the bed so she could hand the tunic to him. Luckily, the trousers seemed to have survived unscathed, so after Qadim had taken the tunic from her, she bent to retrieve the pants and drape them over a nearby chair.

  The djinn moved a hand over the tunic and then shook it out. Madison’s eyes widened. The neckline had been ripped, and most of the buttons down the front torn out. Now, however, the garment appeared good as new, with no sign of the damage Qadim had inflicted on it the night before.

  “How…?”

  He smiled, then extended the tunic toward her. She took it from him with fingers that shook slightly. “We djinn have our elemental powers, the ones that allow us to control earth and air, fire and water. But we also possess other powers, the sorts of things that allow us to keep the electricity going, or the water flowing — or to make sure the leftovers from a dinner make it safely into a refrigerator.”

  “And to repair clothing, apparently.”

  “Precisely.”

  “Well, that’s handy.” Madison wasn’t sure if being flip was exactly the right response, but she needed a few seconds to absorb that information. Clearly, she had a lot to learn about the djinn.

  “It can be helpful, true.” Qadim pushed aside the bedclothes and got up.

  Good lord, but that man had an amazing body. Madison tried her best not to stare at his sculpted backside, at the long, hard muscles of his thighs, but it was difficult. Never in her life had she been this close to a man built like that. But then he bent and retrieved his own discarded clothing, slipping on first the trousers, and then the loose robe.

  Show’s over, she told herself, fighting back a pang of disappointment. In the past, she’d never been the type to obsess over a man’s appearance, but it was awfully hard with Qadim. He was so eminently stare-able.

  “Are you ready to go downstairs?” he asked her, and she nodded.

  “But can we go down the old-fashioned way?” she replied. “All that blinking in and out can be a little disconcerting.”

  He smiled. “If you would prefer it, of course.”

  So they went out of the suite and down the stairs — all nine flights of them. Once or twice, Qadim gave her a sidelong glance, as if to see whether she was still enjoying doing this the “old-fashioned way,” but Madison didn’t say anything. After all, they were going down, not up. Anyway, she used to hike and run and bike all the time. A few flight of stairs was no big deal. And with the way Qadim seemed prepared to feed her, she knew she’d better keep herself active or she’d start to spread out like an amoeba.

  The restaurant was spotless when they entered, with absolutely no sign of their feast from the night before. Yes, Qadim had said he’d taken care of everything, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she hadn’t been completely convinced. However, there wasn’t a single crumb left on the tabletop, and when she went to the refrigerator to take a peek, she saw that all the uneaten food really was carefully packaged in plastic containers, ready for the next go-’round.

  “You look surprised,” Qadim said as she shut the refrigerator door.

  “I do?” Madison shrugged. “As I mentioned before, this is all going to take a little getting used to. But it’s okay. I’ll get it figured out eventually.”

  In response, he came over and kissed her, proving another important point about djinn — they didn’t seem to get morning breath. He tasted warm and just the slightest bit sweet, and she knew if he kept kissing her like this, she was going to make him take her right there on the counter.

  His gaze slid over to the shining metal surface, as if he’d somehow read her thoughts. With a quirk at the corner of his mouth, he said, “It does appear to be about the right height.”

  For a normal-sized human, maybe not. For a six-foot-six specimen like Qadim….

  She didn’t say anything. She didn’t have to. In the next instant, he’d lifted her to the counter and was untying the sash on the robe. His hands closed over her bare breasts, and she shut her eyes in ecstasy. Yes, she’d always been sensitive, but there was something about the djinn’s merest touch that made her feel as if he was about to send her over the brink at any second.

  Turnabout was fair play, though. She pulled at the drawstring of his trousers, then slid them over his already impressive erection. As if by its own volition, her hand went to grasp him, to move slowly up and down as she felt the silky softness of his skin, a shocking contrast to the iron-hard flesh beneath. He made a growling sound far back in his throat, black lashes sweeping down as he shut his eyes for a moment. Then those dark eyes opened again, and Madison thought she could see a reddish, lustful flame in their depths.

  His fingers slipped into her, skillful. She was already wet, but his touch only made her that much wetter, moans coming from her throat as he caressed her. But she didn’t forget herself enough to neglect him; her hand still slid up and down his shaft, wanting to bring him to the edge — just not over it.

  It wasn’t very long before he let out a sigh, then took her hand away. And in the next second, he was grasping her by the hips and pulling her toward him. He slid into her, and she wrapped her legs around his waist to pull him in further, the angle at which he filled her almost unbearably erotic.

  God, I’m letting a djinn fuck me on a kitchen countertop, she thought, but after that she couldn’t really focus on anything except the sensation of his cock driving in and out of her, the way he leaned close so his long hair slipped over her shoulders, still covered by the borrowed bathrobe she wore. Underneath her hands, which she had planted flat to keep herself semi-upright, she could feel the cool steel of the counter, such a contrast to the heat of Qadim’s body.

  This time the orgasm was so intense that she screamed out loud, the sound echoing off the walls. Good thing there wasn’t anyone around to hear except Qadim, and, judging by the feral grin he wore, he didn’t seem to mind a bit. Just a second or two later, he let loose as well, a groan escaping his lips as he spent himself in her. Then he bent and kissed her breasts, first the left and next the right, all while she was doing her best to remain propped up instead of falling over right where she was.

  Very slowly, he drew away, and Madison tried to pull her robe closed — with limited success, since she was sitting on part of it and it really didn’t want to budge.

  Qadim took mercy on her and lifted her from the counter. “You looked rather stuck.”

  Well,
she supposed she could have jumped down. But that would have jarred a few things loose. As it was…. She went over to where a paper towel dispenser was fastened to the wall and gathered a bunch, then wiped up as best she could before pulling her underwear back on.

  Behind her, Qadim said, his tone carefully neutral, “Perhaps it is time for some coffee.”

  “That’s a great idea.”

  No messing around with a coffee pot this time — in the next instant, he held two white mugs, both of which were filled with some amazing-smelling Italian roast. He extended one to her, and she took it gratefully. At the same time, though, she lifted an eyebrow at his open robe, at the way everything was on display.

  “You going to put that away anytime soon?”

  “I wasn’t sure if you still had need of it.”

  Madison gave him a jaundiced look, then blew on her coffee. She heard Qadim chuckle, and a faint clink as he put his mug down so he could climb back into his pants.

  “Better?” he asked as she turned around.

  “I’m not sure ‘better’ is the right word,” she replied. “But definitely less distracting.”

  He grinned, a flash of white teeth against the darkness of his beard. Then he retrieved his coffee and took a sip while she blew on her coffee a few more times.

  “So, what’s on the docket for today?” she said. “More xeriscaping?”

  “Actually, my plan was to create a spur off your Rio Grande so we might have a creek running past the hotel. I thought it would be pleasant to have water flowing here — and it will help to encourage some of the larger trees.”

  By now, maybe she should have been more used to the casual way in which he announced that he planned to do seemingly impossible things. “Just like that, huh?”

  His expression grew puzzled. “How else would I do it? Yesterday I went and inspected the river due west of here to see if my plan was feasible. There are no real impediments, as far as I can see. It will take even me some time to create the channel, but after that….” He shrugged and drank some more coffee.