almost forgetting that the seduction was supposed to be phantom. There was something about a woman's voice hitting that decibel that fractured a man's reason. When she bit him, he saw stars. Her siphon dredged a deep moan up from his diaphragm and made him blanket her against the marble pool-side. He'd forgotten how good a real plunge felt. Carlos quickly glanced over his shoulder, waiting to hear the chime of a blade being unsheathed, but immediately brought his attention back to the woman writhing beneath him as he moved against her.
"As soon as we're done, you have to take me to the barrier," he said on a heavy exhale. "Your man is about two seconds from rolling in here."
"I don't care," she said, panting with her head back. "He could behead me now, and I would not care!"
Okay, somebody had to get rational. His primary question had been answered. Cain, like all men, didn't play this bullshit, no matter what their women said. That reality seriously dulled the throb in his erection. A strategic bite, a mind thrust, she released so hard she'd bitten her own tongue--he was out.
"C'mon, baby, I know you're still floating in the aftermath, but you gotta take a brother to where he can live and not die."
She pressed her face to his chest and sobbed. "I'll take you anywhere you want to go, oh, sweet Neteru."
Carlos rubbed her back, looking over his shoulder. "All right, all right, baby," he said, kissing the top of her head.
"You had not even entered me," she whispered, and began sobbing again.
"I know, I know, baby. Next time. On the other side. Let's both live so that can happen, cool?"
"You are wise," she whispered, covering his mouth with a slow deep kiss that he didn't have time for.
But he obliged, and lifted her down off his waist with care. "Okay, now, you have to pull yourself together so we can get out of here."
She nodded and wiped her glistening eyes. "But you did not have a chance to fully satisfy yourself. How could I deny you--"
"Baby, I'm cool," he said, holding her upper arms. "This time was all about you, okay? So, the door--"
"Such selfless sacrifice," she wailed, holding him around the waist. "Never in all my--"
"C'mon, girl," he said, kissing her face, her eyelids, and the bridge of her nose as the lions growled. "Holmes is about to walk in here--"
She jerked her head up, seeming totally paralyzed by fear for a moment. "Under the surface," she said quickly.
Carlos immediately obliged her, his heart pounding. What the hell could clear blue energy do to hide them? But he watched as Cain strode by, took off his blade, dropped it on a bench, and glanced around, perplexed. He heard Cain bellow his name, but the sound of Cain's voice was muffled. Zehiradangra squeezed her eyes shut and put one finger to her lips. As Cain walked back down the other side of the pool, she thrust Carlos's head deeper beneath the surface.
Electric-like sensations were making his hair stand up as though static was yanking it from the roots. She kept pointing down, as though trying to tell him to go further and follow the current. Girlfriend didn't have to tell him twice.
But he had to admit that he was a little messed up when she suddenly elongated, and opened a six-foot pair of silvery wings, and her entire form became a voluptuous, pastel, scale-plated water dragon. Damali was gonna kick his ass, for sure. The she-dragon glanced back with an apology in her jewel-green eyes, and slung her seashell-smooth tail toward him to hitch a quicker ride.
A hundred thoughts fought for dominance as he hung on, increased in speed, and finally dropped in a clearing surrounded by mountains. He stood quickly and watched her transform from the lithe creature into the dark, voluptuous beauty she'd been.
"I didn't want you to have to see that," she said quietly. "It's better than what I can turn into," he said, touching her face. She was all-right people. "I thought your man wasn't jealous, though?"
She swallowed a smile. "All right, I lied."
Carlos laughed.
"Oh, he is not that bad. We used to have regular trysts before this became a prison void of sensation." She swept her arms out and let them fall with a sigh. "Then, after trying and trying until it became too excruciating to dwell upon it, we found a comfortable compromise." "Which was?" He had to hear this one.