Chapter Six

What did he want with her? Was the woman dense? How could she not sense his feelings behind every touch, every teasing caress? But then, perhaps she didn’t sense it because she didn’t feel it herself.

A foreign sense of self-doubt filled him, one Abjon hadn’t felt in a very long time. Even when Seriana had vanished a year ago, he’d known he would find her and bring her back to him. She’d run, afraid of her feelings. Hell, Rover had insisted Seriana never had eyes for anyone other than Abjon. Abjon had felt their connection for years.

He’d never once considered the possibility she wouldn’t return his affection.

“Abjon?” she asked hesitantly.

He rolled away, his back to her, and sat at the side of the bed. Frustration and rage built inside him, that once again he might fall prey to a woman’s manipulations.

Dammit, he hadn’t imagined the way she’d looked at him for the last few years, or had he? Yes, there had always been a tinge of wariness in her gaze, but mixed with that was a wealth of admiration, of attraction. He’d been equally taken by her beauty, her intelligence, and more, her integrity. Ironically, her basic purity had drawn him like no other thing could.

Surrounded by a world of corruption, Seriana glowed with an innocence all too rare in this life. The daughter of Rover Blue, a cutthroat that made Abjon pale by comparison, she possessed a keen intelligence that should have enabled her to see beyond the superficial layers of his craftily built reputation. He’d stolen, yes, and he’d killed to defend himself, but he’d never murdered, and he’d only stolen from those as or more corrupt than himself.

That she still didn’t see the real him, after all their years together and, hell, after this morning, made him want to pound something. He didn’t dare examine the emptiness in the vicinity of his heart.

“What is it you think I want?” he asked coolly.

“I, well…” she paused, and he glanced back at her.

Unlike him, Seriana was small, feminine, and beauty personified. Her long black hair fell in waves around her face, framing the deep lavender pools of uncertainty swimming in her gaze.

“Tell, me, Seriana. We are, after all, still playing the game.”

“The game?” Confusion lined her brow before her eyes darkened to a deep indigo. “Is that all this is to you? A game?”

“I might ask you the same.”

She rose to her knees, gloriously naked but so enraged she missed the answering flame of his passion. “You’ve stalked me. You’ve haunted me for as long as I can remember. The first time in my life I tried to be free of my father’s life, you hunted me, and not just for a few days or weeks, but for an entire year. I was almost sold as a slave to filthy Melan degenerates because of you.

“And now, after a year of running, of never-ending pursuit, I turned around and made love to you. I, Seriana Blue, made love to Abjon Afier, the biggest, baddest pirate in the entire Vrail System, in the face of my self-imposed rule to avoid my father’s way of life. What the hell does that tell you?”

He could only stare at her, so enraptured by her passionate rage he wanted to lay her down and join their bodies for eternity. It was with some effort he answered. “That you were needing it, bad?”

He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but her eyes deepened to black, and then she flew at him. Startled, he caught her and tumbled to the floor, conscious to keep his weight underneath her.

Stars, but the woman had spirit in droves. She slapped, clawed, and even managed to bite him before he flipped her onto her back and straddled her, staring in puzzlement.

In all the time he’d known her, he’d seen Seriana do many things, including lose her temper. But he’d never, ever, seen her explode into violence about anything. Dare he hope this was a good sign?

“Get off me, you oaf!” She struck at his chest, and he easily caught her hands and pinned them to either side of her head. “Shit. You’re not even breathing hard.”

He wanted to smile at her pique. “Are you finished?”

“Are you?” she growled.

“Sweet, I’ve barely begun.”

Seriana couldn’t put her finger on it, but the odd flatness that had moments ago filled Abjon had vanished. Now, as she lay on her back under a mountain of Ragga, she wondered whether to view that as a good thing.

He stared down at her with a face that captivated her, as it had from the first moment she’d seen him. For years she’d regarded him from afar, afraid to get too close lest she succumb to his temptation. The last thing she’d wanted was to get involved with one of her father’s men.

Yet for all her distance, she’d noticed things. She’d never seen him act disrespectfully to a woman or to a person of advanced years. She knew Raggas had a hearty respect for traditions and the elderly, but Abjon had been raised apart from his people.

Though he’d supposedly stolen millions, he lived comfortably but not to excess in the house next to her family’s home. She’d never seen him with a woman, but his popularity with the ladies was a thing of legend among her father’s crew. Abjon, however, remained circumspect about his love life, almost like…a gentleman.

A gentleman, she thought wryly as her temper faded, didn’t sit on top of a woman. Though he kept his weight off her by resting on his knees, she didn’t like her submissive position.

Almost as if he’d read her thoughts, he cautiously rose and lifted her to her feet as if she weighed no more than a feather. “Back on the bed, Seriana,” he said in a thick voice, making her instantly aware of his large, thick cock.

She felt stupid to feel such shyness after he’d kept her naked for days and loved her so intimately, but she couldn’t help herself. She blushed under his hungry stare and reached for a sheet to wrap around herself.

Seriana cleared her throat. “I don’t think so. I want you to answer my question, Abjon.”

“Question?” he asked negligently as he leaned against a bedpost. “Which question would that be?”

She opened her mouth to blast his insolence when she realised he was enjoying their banter. He looked relaxed, almost boyish in his amusement, and he lacked the battle tension that always seemed to fill his frame.

Much as she wanted to take him to task for making light of what she’d been through, she didn’t want this new, light-hearted Abjon to disappear.

The fact that he’d pursued her since the day she’d left, that even when he’d captured her he hadn’t hurt her, but instead had gifted her with pleasure beyond imagining, had to mean something. He’d made no reference to returning her to her father, and he touched her like a man who cared. At turns possessive yet tender, he stared at her with a strange look in his eyes, one that, in her heart of hearts, she hoped to credit as love.

Narrowing her gaze, she stepped forward and poked him. “Don’t get smart with me,” she growled. Her finger made no headway against the muscled wall of his chest, so she sought an alternate means to subdue him. She dropped her sheet and saw an answering need in the tension that bracketed his hard body.

With stroking hands, she petted him, trailing over muscle and sinew, stealing around the rock-hard bulge of his biceps. His breathing quickened, and she grinned, a purely feminine power stealing through her.

“You aren’t sending me back to my father anytime soon, are you?” Her hands reached down to encircle his impressive length.

He groaned and closed his eyes, yielding to her control. She thrilled when he shook his head and brought his hands over hers.

“More, sweet.” He encouraged her to increase the friction on his cock, and when she followed his instruction she was richly rewarded with a soul-stealing kiss. Thought soon faded as feeling and sensation overtook them both.

* * * *

The next week passed all too swiftly, to Abjon’s way of thinking. He and Seriana spent time together, playing, laughing, and best of all, making love at every available opportunity. With her, he could never quite get enough, and every instance spent inside her only increased his addiction to having the sweet yet wild woman.

He tried to overlook the searching glances she sent him when she didn’t think he was looking. The time spent with her was too perfect to mar with anything negative, so he simply ignored the need to hash out their differences.

Sooner or later their idyllic vacation would end. And until that time, he planned to make the most of it. He grinned as he watched her splashing in the relaxation pool behind the house. Her full breasts swayed as she laughed, her pearlescent flesh sparkling against the pale pink water.

Her taut abdomen fairly begged to be nipped, and he grew hard thinking about what he planned to do once he joined her. Unfortunately, Morey interrupted his pleasurable thoughts with a badly timed vidcall.

Answering the screen mounted just inside the rear of the house, Abjon warned, “This had better be damned important.”

“It is,” Morey answered. “Rover Blue has been spotted circling the Colassa as we speak. Already a few of his scouts have questioned the staff.”

“By Vas’s Dagger, I told him I’d bring her back.”

“Apparently, he has as much patience as you do,” Morey muttered. “I’ll keep him distracted as best I can. But the most you can hope for is a day’s reprieve.”

“Do it. And keep him in your sights once he lands.”

“Will do.”

Abjon disconnected, his good mood shot to hell. Damn. He hadn’t had nearly enough time to connect with Seriana. They’d shared their bodies and their minds on a number of interesting topics, but had yet to share their hearts.

He knew he’d fallen in love with the woman long ago, but admitting it to her—that was something else altogether. Like it was yesterday, he could still remember the pain of his mother’s betrayal. Sold at nine years of age to a mining facility, he had watched through tears as she’d left laughing with her latest lover.

Love had almost killed him then. He could only hope he’d fare better this time around. 

Seriana called his name, and he met her drying off by the small pool. Her eyes shimmered with humour but quickly sobered when she saw him.

“What’s wrong?” She reached out a hand and cupped his chin to bring his gaze to meet hers.

Unable to stop himself, Abjon took her mouth with possession. She sighed under his touch, enhancing his need to claim her as his own. Plunging his tongue inside her mouth, he began stroking, thrusting in and out of her mouth with a need bordering on obsession. He wanted to mark her, to claim every part of her he could.

He fondled her breasts, his touch growing rougher as he noted the hardened peaks, her shivering, dampened flesh quivering with excitement. This she couldn’t hide. No matter what else was between them, this intense arousal remained strong and true.

When he found her soft and wet between her thighs, his body demanded release.

He yanked his mouth from hers and took her by the shoulders.

“What—” she asked in a daze before he turned her around and forcibly bent her over the nearest table.

Giving her no audible response, he shoved her thighs apart at the ankle, the domination of their lovemaking waking the savage within him.

“Brace yourself,” he growled while he deftly unfastened his trousers. Once he freed his cock, he stepped between her thighs and shoved himself deep inside her.

She moaned his name as he rode her hard. Gripping her hips, he pistoned in and out and came quickly, shuddering inside her.

“That’s just to take the edge off,” he whispered and nipped her neck. “Now I’m going to take what else belongs to me.”

She quivered with excitement, since he’d been teasing her all week about finishing his claiming. He’d played with her ass, stretching her, using toys, and licking her until she screamed. Now he planned to breach that small hole and fill it with the rest of him.

There would be no part of her that didn’t belong to him. Not anymore.

Lubed up with his cum, he pulled out and positioned himself at her rim. The toys he’d already used on her had stretched her, but not as much as he would. Despite the fact he’d just climaxed, he remained hard, eager to plunder her tender depths.

Abjon worked her slowly, pushing and retreating, until he’d worked his cockhead past her sphincter.

“More, Abjon. I want more,” she moaned and bucked back, seating him deeper.

He gritted his teeth, fighting the urge not to thrust harder. His arousal had returned full force and he wanted nothing more than to ram himself deep. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You hurt my by not taking all of me,” she said, her voice breathy as she moaned and squirmed in front of him.

He groaned and pushed deeper, inch by inch, until he was fully seated inside her. “Balls deep, baby. You’re all mine now.”

Abjon made love to her slowly, fingering her clit as he finally claimed her fine ass. When she broke and cried out her climax, he eased into his orgasm. Spending inside her, he revelled in the ecstasy as she clenched him tight, caught in her own throes.

The rightness, holding her, possessing her, brought tears to his eyes that he hastily blinked away. Dammit, Seriana belonged to him. She had to know that by now.

A life together, a future filled with loving, hot sex, and children. 

Though he’d never truly reflected on it, having a babe with Seriana was a foregone conclusion. Each time he spilled his seed inside her hot pussy, he brought them closer to an inseparable future. Though the child wouldn’t be Ragga, the thought of Seriana holding his son or daughter, one that looked like her, completed him. Satisfaction warmed his blood, and with regret, he finally withdrew from her ass.

“Don’t move,” he warned and left her to grab something to clean them both. He returned and quickly cleaned her, taking care to be gentle around what had to be a tender ass. Then he wiped himself down and readjusted himself in his clothing.

She watched him through it all, beautiful in her bared skin under Aflera’s pink skies. “Not that I’m complaining, but what brought that on?” She straightened and turned to face him.

He couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he noted the seed trickling down her leg. By Vas’s balls, he’d spent inside her pussy and her ass. Had he the energy, he’d have demanded she swallow him as well.

Blushing, she grabbed a nearby towel and cleaned herself. “I swear, you fill me to overflowing every time.”

“Good.” Before I’m through with you, there won’t be a spot on your entire body that isn’t marked by my scent. You’re mine.

She laughed. “Such a smooth talker. So tell me why you looked so grim only moments ago.”

His euphoria faded. “Your father has arrived.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “I suppose he knows where I am.”

“Not yet.” Abjon placed both his hands on her cheeks, loving the feel of her silken skin. “Love, it’s time we talked.”

She sighed and her eyes filled with tears, unmanning him.

“Don’t cry,” he pleaded, wiping her eyes. “Seriana, I—”

“It’s all right, Abjon. I knew it was too good to last.”