She'd fought and killed vampires who'd had a better than equal chance of killing her or worse, and yet, as she considered actually doing what she imagined, sliding from the bed to kneel between his feet, her courage failed her. But what if he ordered her? She wondered what it would be like to have him in her mind, issuing commands in that sensual rumble like a muscle car, hinting at all the power he could unleash. Would it sound like that, or be more fluid, like the command of a warrior angel? Without the hearing aids, his voice was low and steady, the syllables unbroken, a smooth and sure connection like the strength of his hands holding her.
For her to find out what he'd sound like in her mind, she would have to second mark him. Which technically would make him a second mark servant. He was no servant, but the thought of him being bound to her that intimately was too tempting.
All her worries of the previous day were hovering, and she didn't want to get lost in them. So she raised her lashes, and got lost in something else.
He was sitting in the chair, yes, watching her, fingers steepled, eyes thoughtful. And he wore nothing, every length of limb and layer of muscle visible. His erection, thick and stiff, brushed his hard belly. He didn't look concerned about his nakedness at all. He was just studying her, as he would a wild animal he was trying to tame to take food from his hand. Not so far from the truth, really. It was a titillating thought, another fantasy.
Desire shot through her, strumming through her thighs and punting all those worries over the dark edge of her mind. Especially when his gaze sharpened and he spoke in that muscle car purr.
"Sit up and let the sheet drop. I want to see you."
He'd put her to bed naked except for the collar. She could smell his scent on her skin, between her legs, and she didn't want to shower. Or wear any clothes at all that would detract from that marking. From his heated look, she wondered if he was going to let her wear any more clothes these next ten days anyway. Swirling became tight coils at the thought, centered between her legs. This was just a fantasy, one she could enjoy without repercussions or worry. Yet it felt so real to her. Too real. Regardless, she pushed herself up, her long hair falling over her right shoulder as she let the sheet crumple to her waist. His attention went to her breasts, the slope of her abdomen, her shoulders.
"Play with your nipples. I want to see them get tight and hard."
She cupped her breasts, her lips parting at the flicker in his gaze as she manipulated her nipples between her knuckles. She didn't think anything other than his intent regard was needed to get them to stiffen, but how he focused on her hands, her breasts, so exclusively, as if watching her do that was the most important thing in the universe, intensified her reaction. This was how she'd imagined it. Serving a Master, yet somehow feeling like the center of his world because her service was so essential to him.
He clasped his cock at the base, began to idly pump it, thumb rubbing the glans as he watched her. Her gaze went to it, and she licked her lips.
"Hungry this evening, are you?" His hand slid down, back up, squeezed himself, and she felt a similar sensation between her legs. He didn't seem in any hurry to order her to do anything else. He was just looking at her, using her as his personal pinup while her pussy got more slippery and the cool flesh of her breasts yearned for the heat of his hands.
"Come to me." Those dark eyes locked with hers. "The way you imagine your Master would want you to come to him."
The man apparently didn't need a second mark to hear her thoughts. Perhaps his skill as a Master had been augmented by having to watch body language so closely, read lips, do all the things someone mostly deaf had to do to comprehend the world around him. She'd always prided herself on her poker expression, knew she was good at it. He was just better. It was rare she'd met a man who could get the upper hand with her when she didn't want him to have it. It was even more rare--try never--that she'd met a man to whom she wanted to give that upper hand. With Jared it had been a natural evolution, never a conscious choice like this, a mature woman putting her soul into a man's hands.
When she hesitated, his lips firmed. "Don't refuse me, my lady. I have an alligator paddle you won't like at all."
Actually the idea of it struck her mind like a glowing brand, and she pressed her lips together. His brow raised.
"Christ, you're a temptation. Obey me and I'll reward you by blistering your ass. You won't be able to sit down until your vampire healing fixes you." His eyes glittered. "You're getting wetter. Your chin just lifted a little, jaw tightening a fraction. Shortened breath."
"It's not supposed to be this simple."
"It's not simple. It's just swift. There's a difference." He studied her. "Vardalos told me about the way vampires mark their servants. First mark, a geographical locater, so you know where I am. Second mark, you can speak in my head and I can speak in yours. Do you want me in your mind, Kaela? Unable to hide any thought from me, no need to speak aloud because I already know what you want and need, even when you can't quite tell yourself?"
Yes. But marking wasn't about that. It was what a vampire did to bind the servant to her, to make it impossible for the human to hide his or her thoughts. Fran only had access to the thoughts Kaela sent her, allowed her to hear. Yes, she could open her mind to Fran if she desired, but that wasn't the way the vampire-servant relationship worked. But Garron having full access to her mind, her body... Her pulse jumped unexpectedly, and she realized the hands he'd commanded to fondle herself were moving more sensually over her breasts, cupping, kneading, now pinching her nipples in a way that had her head dropping back on her shoulders.
"Kaela." His voice was a growl. "Get over here."
"It's not as easy as you just ordering me about." Yet her voice was thready as she brought her feverish gaze back to him, to the cock still jutting between his legs. It had grown thicker. She could almost feel the way it would stretch her, invade, pin her to the bed like a helpless butterfly.
"Nothing's easy about you, my lady. Crapping broken glass would be easier."
She blinked at the crudity, not sure if she'd just been insulted or complimented. She also wondered at the part of her that appreciated the moments when he let his own rough edges show. "So you are a masochist."
"There's not a big difference between the two sides of that coin. Otherwise they wouldn't fit together so smooth. You know...you can second mark me if you wish."
She started at the unexpected segue. He said it casually, but his direct glance said he was serious.
"We can't do that." She shook her head. "It's forbidden by the Council to second mark a human if there's no intent to bring them into our world permanently, since the mark is permanent. It's a death sentence for the human."
"It's different here." Garron gestured to the waterfall in the wall, where she could feel the remnants of the day's sunlight still fading from the rock. She'd fallen asleep looking at it, the miracle of seeing that slash of sunlight in her bedchamber. "The same magic which makes that possible allows you to second mark me, let me into your head, without it being permanent. Once you leave the island, the mark ceases to exist and the connection will disappear."
That wasn't possible. But sunlight on her skin hadn't been possible, either. "You're not a servant."
"Servant can have a lot of meanings. Or mean nothing. It's just a word."
"I won't risk your life based on the word of Theodosius Vardalos."
"You risked yours based on his. The waterfall, the things he knows... Do you think he'd tell you the mark would be eradicated when you leave if he didn't already know it would?"
"I don't want you to be a servant."
His gaze flashed like a blade unsheathed. "I'm not, Kaela. Mark me or not, it doesn't change that."
Her earlier concerns, that somehow this was all an elaborate trap, returned, but were gone just as quickly. It wouldn't make sense. If she second marked a human, the control was all hers, and she would have detected if another vampire's mark was upon him, trying to seek a way int
o her mind in an unguarded moment. But it didn't make the idea, already too tempting, any more feasible. She wouldn't let her own desires endanger him any more than they already had.
"I can't do it. It's bad enough that I've pursued this as far as I have. I should have left on the next plane."
"Not allowed. You're my vacation, remember? If you leave, I have to go back to work."