Drink of Me. Jacquelyn Frank

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СКАЧАТЬ in surprise as her palms rubbed over his three-day beard and her fingers curled over his ears.

      “Sánge,” she breathed, the single word full of excitement such as he’d never heard before from anyone who knew he was Sánge. Not unless they were also Sánge. It stole his breath even as he tried to convince himself it was a mistake, that she was just in some sort of shock.

      “Yes, Sánge,” he agreed, pausing to clear the hoarseness from his throat. “What, and more importantly, who are you, little kébé?” he asked as gently as he could, afraid a rough male as big as he was could be frightening for her in spite of her strangely enthusiastic greeting. After all, there was no telling who had done what to her. To suddenly wake naked in the arms of a stranger…

      She didn’t answer his query. She only studied his face with an expression of utter fascination. She reached up to map his visage with her fingers in slow, gentle strokes that sent electric pulses straight to his spine. Reule wouldn’t allow himself another opportunity to disrespect her, so he reached to cover one of her hands with his own, gripping it lightly. He had to steady her with his other arm, so that left her with a hand free, which she promptly threaded deeply into his thick hair. He could’ve grabbed hold and locked both her wrists in a single hand, but he feared upsetting her with such a maneuver. She didn’t know he wouldn’t hurt her, although her behavior indicated otherwise at the moment. He was incredibly curious. The sorrowfulness that had drawn him to her was subdued as she smiled.

      She shifted in his lap, sitting up straighter and closer until he felt both of her pointed nipples rubbing through the hair on his chest. The explosion of awareness and sexual heat was like being doused in gasoline and lit with a flame. He sucked in a hard breath as his hand slid unintentionally down the line of her back. She leaned so close that her nose nudged up against his. She touched him with quick, delighted strokes of her fingers all over his face, hair, neck, and throat; she behaved like a child after opening a splendid gift. Her eyes devoured and examined him as though he were a prized confection she coveted for her tongue.

      The imagery made him groan as sweat rolled down the back of his neck and his snug pants became brutally uncomfortable. Not to mention the fact that she was sitting right on him and couldn’t possibly be ignorant of the state of his body. Any minute she would see him for the pervert he’d never known he was, and the touching fingers and eager smile would disappear forever. The idea of it had a devastating effect on his emotional calm.

      “Shh…” This time it was she soothing him, her soft voice and fingertips stroking against his face. “Your mind struggles so, Sánge. Where is your peace?”

      Reule jerked back in shock. He looked at her with hard, mistrustful eyes and even had to fight the urge to shove her off his lap. Perhaps he was disturbed and a little off guard, but she’d spoken as if she were intimate with his mind. No one crossed his mental boundaries without his permission.

      Just as abruptly, Reule tried to rein in his temper. There was no way she could accomplish it. Perhaps…yes, perhaps he’d unwittingly emanated his emotional upheaval. It wouldn’t be the first time and unfortunately wouldn’t be the last. Still, the way she’d worded the phrase…it was something a telepath or empath might say. Reule reached out and gripped both her shoulders, giving her a little shake as he stared hard into her peculiar eyes.

      “Who are you?” he demanded.

      “No one who will harm you,” she responded, wincing.

      A sharp cut of remorse and self-disgust lanced through him, and he abruptly released her from his abusive hands. With a startled cry, she tumbled back over his knees and fell into the water. Reule grabbed past her flailing legs and had his hands around her waist in an instant, dragging her above water and back against his chest. She gasped and sputtered, her hands clutching his shoulders. Her thighs, now on either side of him, clenched his sides in a death grip. She shook in fright, her nails biting into his skin as water streamed down her disgruntled expression, which lay beneath straggles of thick hair once again. He apologetically pushed aside the tangled mess.

      “Are you all right? I’m so very sorry,” he apologized.

      Apparently, she forgave him. Reule drew that conclusion when she wrapped both her arms in a strangling hug around his neck and plastered her chest against his. There was desperation in the hold, though, and Reule cursed himself. She didn’t need him adding to her fear.

      “Easy now. I won’t let it happen again,” he promised her softly, wincing when he felt the thundering of her small heart against his own. “I take it you don’t know how to swim?” he asked.

      She snorted against his neck, a scoffing laugh that made him smile against her hair. The situation was so surreal, it didn’t even surprise him when she giggled.

      “Listen,” he said softly near her ear. “You need to bathe, eat, and rest. I’ll save my questions for later, fair enough?”

      “Yes,” she whispered against his pulse.

      “But then you’ll satisfy my curiosity?” he asked her.

      “Yes.”

      “Good. Are you injured? Were you…? Did they…? Do you need an apothecary?”

      She lifted her head, sniffling from the water that had rushed up her nose when she’d been dunked. “No,” she said. “I only need you.”

      He was so startled by the remark that his hand tensed against her bare back. It was as though everything that came out of her mouth was dragged from a dusty old place in his brain where he’d thrown away all the things he’d never expected to hear someone not of his people say to him. Questions surged through his mind, but he’d promised to save his grilling for later, and he’d adhere to that promise. However, how did one transition away from a remark like that?

      “My Prime!”

      Reule closed his eyes and sighed, remembering to be careful what he asked for in the future. He looked up at Pariedes with his best innocent smile. “Yes, Para?”

      “Release that child this instant!” she commanded imperiously, pointing at the female as if he wouldn’t know which one she meant. The “child” reacted by tightening her hold on his neck to the point of throttling him.

      “I would, Para, only she doesn’t seem intent on releasing me.” The “she” in question vigorously shook her head to confirm that fact. Knowing Para’s sense of propriety would have cast him as the villain, he could have kissed the outlander right on her bruised little cheek for it.

      “Prime Reule, this is terribly improper,” Para fussed, twisting her hands together.

      Before Reule could respond, he felt the woman in his lap react, jerking back and even releasing him slightly as she sought his eyes. He felt her fingers blending into his hair as her expression turned into pleasured wonder. She smiled and he swiftly realized he’d never seen a woman look so ethereal before. She hardly seemed real, with that expression on her face and the ever-present undercurrent of sadness still washing against him in a placid tide.

      “Reule,” she said softly, her voice musical. Reule looked into those crystal eyes and felt his chest constricting in response. “Reule,” she said again, her hand coming to stroke his face from forehead, to cheek, to jaw, and then to the tip of his chin. Her touch was tender and almost…treasuring. Reule’s heartbeat doubled in cadence, hurting in the closed confines of a chest tightened with unnamed emotion.

      She was like a bolt of СКАЧАТЬ