Can't Get Enough (Dragon Kin) - G.A. Aiken Page 0,34
had unusual…tastes.
He took a deep breath and prayed she’d believe the truth—although he couldn’t promise he would have if the roles were reversed. “Shalin, you need to believe me when I say that Arranz—”
“Because I took them out of the closet and stupidly tried them on.” She finally turned to face him, her head bowed, completely naked under the fur that she parted just enough to tease. Naked, that is, except for the metal collar locked around her throat and the chain hanging from it. “And now I can’t get them off.”
Slowly, so slowly he thought he’d explode right there, she raised her eyes to look at him. “Do you think, Ailean the Wicked, you can help me with this?”
Ailean let out a breath and walked toward her, watching as she dropped the fur covering to the floor.
“Aye, Shalin the Innocent,” he growled, reaching out and taking firm hold of the chain hanging from the metal collar. “I do believe I can help you.”
Winding the chain around his hand, he tugged her close. “But first, I need your help.”
Looking shyly up at him through her lashes, she said softly, “Anything you want, m’lord. I am yours until the chain comes off. Until then, until you release me, I am yours to do with as you will.”
“Then I need your help with this intense ache I have.” He tugged down on the chain and, with a small smile, Shalin slowly went on her knees in front of him. “I need you to give me relief, Shalin.”
Shalin gently ran her hand down the length of him, her small smile growing until she fairly leered at him. “Oh, it’ll be my great pleasure, m’lord,” she said, before she took him into her mouth with one deep swallow.
“You have to tell me,” he said softly.
Shalin, who’d found a comfortable position with her head on Ailean’s flat abdomen while his fingers combed through her hair, glanced away from the window and at him.
“Tell you what?”
“Who, Shalin?” And he smiled in disbelief. “Who in all the bloody hells named you Innocent?”
With a chuckle, Shalin kissed his stomach, loving the way the defined muscles jumped at the touch of her lips. “Adienna.” She chuckled at the surprised expression on his face. “Adienna named me Innocent.”
“Why?”
Shalin repositioned herself a bit so her chin rested high on his stomach by his ribs and her right arm wrapped tight around his waist. “Because I kept rejecting her cast-offs. She kept tossing these dragons at me with these little comments as to how they were as lovers and why I should try them out. As if she were giving them a go first for my benefit. When I rejected one of Ceanag’s sons—I forget which one—she started calling me ‘innocent.’ And I decided not to argue the point.”
Ailean ran both his hands through her hair as he so often did and gazed into her face. “But you didn’t see me as a cast-off?”
Her eyes narrowed and she saw the look of concern on his face. “I won’t say she didn’t want you from the beginning, Ailean. But I can assure you that her knowing I wanted you so badly made it extra special for her.”
When he only stared at her blankly, she admitted, “She knew I wanted you. And she made it her mission to get you. And afterward, every time she obsessed about you or talked about the night you shared, she did it to make sure she hurt me. Adienna likes to see others in pain.”
Ailean took a deep breath, let it out, and said, “I’m sorry.”
Shalin shook her head. “I don’t need you to be. I’m completely aware of how enticing she is. Of how much others desire—”
“No,” he said softly, cutting her off. “I wish I could tell you I wanted her because I had to have her. Because I desired her so much. But it was really because I couldn’t believe a princess could want me, the low-born.”
“I hate that term. It’s cruel.”
“But how we’re viewed. I went to her bed that night for every wrong reason there is and as soon as I got there I regretted it more than I thought possible. I always felt like these past years with her obsessing over me was some sort of punishment for not doing what I normally do.”
“Which is?”
“Fuck the ones I want.” He laughed, but it was bitter. “I didn’t even fuck her. I brought her pleasure but that night I found none myself. I