Raashh Decisions (Xxan War Book 3) (16 page)

He teased her, stroking his tongue back and forth between her breasts, tasting her nipples in turn, ranging higher and lower but never as far as her slit or her mouth. Sandy sank into the cushions, boneless in pleasure. She swore she could come from this alone.

Arren whispered into her collarbone. “The doors aren’t closed yet, Sandy. Do you want to scream for me before they are or wait for their muting properties?” He paused only a moment to let her digest that. “No one will care if you scream in pleasure. No one but me. The urge to make you scream is so tempting to me.”

He was tempting her. The question was, how bold was she?

Not that bold.
“Not yet.” She wanted to ask if they would be able to hear her scream with the doors closed.
No. If I know they can, I’m not sure I’ll be able to go through with this.

“Then you must control yourself, Sandy, because I am going to try to make you scream.”

Before her head stopped spinning from that pronouncement, Arren’s tongue was buried between her thighs, scraping pleasantly in and out of her sheath.

Oh, stars burn. Help me.
Sandy tunneled her hand in Arren’s fine hair and fisted it. She pulled him deeper, needing the climax riding her desperately.
What is it about Arren that makes me want him so intensely? I act like a wanton with him, though he treats me like a goddess.

He spread her slit and undulated his tongue. Her hip and leg muscles tightened, and she bowed up from the cushions.

A knock at the entrance startled her. Arren started to pull away, and she dragged him back with a harsh “no”. Sandy didn’t care who saw them or heard them. She needed to come.

Now.

Arren thrust his tongue in and out fiercely, driving her over with a mew of delight and a surprised little shout. In the aftermath, she lay beneath him, while Arren licked leisurely, lapping at her still-contracting body and forcing her to continuing climaxes.

He drew away slowly, pulled the cloth closed around her body, and covered her with the final piece of cloth, a silk sheet. Sandy vaguely noted that the servers would know roughly what they’d been doing moments before.

Do I care?
She didn’t, which might have bothered her a few weeks earlier, but it certainly didn’t tonight.
Like a wanton.

“Enter,” Arren called out.

The tone of warning in his voice brought a smile to her face.

****

Arren barely looked at the servers bringing the food in. The sight of Sandy, lying sated and mussed, was too appealing to ignore.

She has never known sated as she will after this meal.

Platter after platter settled on the table, some covered and some not. The servers took their leave with a muttered prayer, and the doors closed.

Arren made a show of kneeling at her side and reaching for the first of the trays.

Sandy performed a leisurely stretch and smiled. “Mmmm… Smells good. What’s for dinner?”

He couldn’t have controlled his need to leer at her if he’d wanted to.

She laughed. “I believe you’ve already had me for dinner.”

“I don’t believe I’m finished with that.”

He lifted the covers on the trays, displaying the wide array of foods he had ordered for them. There was sashimi and
z’haahn
, fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, chocolates and petit fours. To his delight, Sandy’s eyes widened and glittered in excitement.

“What would my lady like first?” he asked formally.

Her brow crinkled in confusion.

Arren bowed his head to her. “In one of these private chambers, whatever the female wishes is the command of her male.”

She shot a hungry look up and down his body. “You know the old saying.”

“Which old saying?” There were thousands of them, he knew.

“Life is short. Eat dessert first.”

He smiled. “Chocolates or petit fours?”

Sandy wrapped a hand around his neck and urged Arren into the pile of cushions over her. “Who said anything about that sort of dessert?”

He parted her lips, ravenous for whatever she would offer him.
Once we are both sated, I’ll teach her everything I can do with the foods.
He knew it wouldn’t end at once. With what he intended to do, he was laying wagers at somewhere around three times before they let themselves out of the room.

Chapter Thirteen

Sandy pulled her Identi-chips from her purse and reached for the lock. Arren’s heat against her back stopped her in mid-reach, and she was abruptly aware of every millimeter of his body touching hers, aware of his needs, needs that he rarely voiced.

“As always, it is the female’s choice.”

She could lay with him for hours and not say a word. He knew what she wanted and gave it effortlessly and selflessly. There had never been a man that put her so at ease and demanded so little from her in her life.

As if in answer, his hand cradled hers, and he guided the Identi-chip up to the lock. Her breathing hitched in her chest and escaped on a rush.

Sandy didn’t doubt that he would want to have sex in her apartment. He always did.

In every room. In countless positions.
Her exhausted body reacted as if it had been weeks since they’d had sex instead of an hour.

The door lock disengaged, and Arren raised his free hand and pushed it open. He didn’t ask to come in, but Sandy read the question in his stillness.

“Yes.”
To nearly anything he asks for.

Arren guided her inside and shut the door. He unfastened her coat and drew it off her arms. He circled her body and hung the piece of clothing on the coat rack.

Sandy’s heart hammered at her ribs. “Why…?” She gasped when he started working her suit coat open.

“Why what, Sandy?”

“What is it about my apartment that you like so much?”

He smiled faintly. “You.”

“But you can have me anywhere.” Too late, she realized what she’d admitted. Her face flamed.

Arren chuckled darkly. He sobered and met her gaze. “When I started coming here, your apartment smelled of another male.”

Her horror at that thought probably showed on her face.

“It was unacceptable. It would still be unacceptable, if the scent returned. Xxanian males are…possessive of their women. Having our mixed scent surrounding me is soothing for me. It also makes me proud to have my scent in your living space. It probably doesn’t make much sense to you.”

“No. I think I know what you mean.” How many times had she breathed in his scent on the pillow before leaving the bed? It made perfect sense to her.

He nodded, though he still seemed troubled.

“Stay the night, Arren. No early morning meetings. Or…anything.” Sandy was lightheaded. She wanted him to accept.

He’s a busy man. He’s going to refuse. He—

“Nothing is more important to me than you, Sandy. I give my vow. Nothing will make me leave you tonight. Nothing. Do you mind if I let Betty know to cancel my appointments for tomorrow?”

A giddy laugh bubbled up. Jason would never have canceled a single appointment for her, let alone a day of them. She waved him on, unable to form the words to accept the gift with decorum.

****

Arren woke with the first rays of the sun peeking around the slatted blinds that covered Sandy’s windows. He reached around for the pile of clothing littering the bedroom floor and pulled his dark glasses out.

With them in place, he watched his lover sleeping.
My mate.
If the last few weeks with her were any indication, Sandy fully intended to choose to bind to him.

It’s a permanent step. It’s not one human women take lightly.

The Xxan didn’t take it lightly either, but while Arren was certain he wanted to bind himself to Sandy, it would likely be some time before she made her decision and voiced it. Some humans dated for years before they agreed to the legal binding of marriage, let alone the physical binding the Xxan enjoyed. Humans found the concept frightening, he understood.

Years.
Seir-God
but the thought was disheartening. Arren wanted to bind Sandy to him. He wanted to share the portions of himself he’d been reluctant to rush her to, the non-human parts.

If we are still together in another week, I will broach the subject.
Even if he had to wear a condom, Arren wanted to bring his secondary into their lovemaking.

It was more than the selfish wish to feel her touching his secondary talking. If she was going to make the informed choice of him as mate, she had to accept all of him, including the fact that the two cocks Xxanian men had was no rumor.

Sandy stretched and reached for him, her mouth curving into a smile when her hand settled on his chest. “Hmmm… I wasn’t dreaming,” she purred.

His cock came to life that quickly. “Spend the weekend with me,” he blurted out.

Her eyes opened a slit. “What?”

“The weekend.”

“But you have work every—”

“I told Betty to cancel everything for the weekend.” He had. It had been a rash move, but Arren had been certain Sandy would agree to spend her free days with him.
Was I wrong?

“Here or at your apartment?” she asked.

“Your choice entirely.”
Give me this, and the weekend is yours.

Her expression was uncertain.

“If you don’t want to—”

“I do!” Her cheeks darkened in a blush, and her eyes glittered. “I—I mean—”

“But?” Whatever the problem, he would do his best to solve it.

“Well, I do have a few things I can’t cancel.”

Arren settled back to hear her out. On some level, it intrigued him that she had such pressing concerns.

“I do laundry on weekends. If I don’t, I won’t have work clothes to wear next week. It will only take a few hours. You could come to the laundry with me,” she suggested.

It warmed his heart that she wanted to include him in the mundane moments of her existence. “I have a better idea,” he offered.

Her expression crumpled. “Okay.”

She thinks I’m refusing to spend time with her while she goes about the little details of life.
It couldn’t be further from the truth. “Do you really want to do laundry?”

“Arren, you can’t just buy me clean clothing every week.”

He laughed. “I could, but I’m not suggesting it. Do you like doing laundry?”

Her expression said she didn’t understand the question. “Of course not. Does anyone? It’s a chore.”

“Which is why I have a service that does my clothing. In fact, they will be picking up a load this afternoon and returning it tomorrow afternoon.”

Her mouth opened in an O of surprise.

“I propose you pack a bag and plan to stay with me…as long as you wish to. We’ll take your laundry to my apartment. The service will be happy for the extra money, and you won’t have to do that particular chore this week. Instead, we can spend time together doing something enjoyable.”

There was a moment of silence. “That’s a deal,” she decreed. Sandy leaned toward him and planted a kiss on Arren’s lips. Then she was gone, out of the bed and across the bedroom at a run.

He smiled and pillowed his hands under his head.
This is precisely what we need. Maybe we can make this a weekly agreement and spend every weekend together.

No one else at Spice works seven days a week. Why should I?

Chapter Fourteen

Sandy set the file folders for the elder Mr. Rowe on Tasha’s desk and shouldered her purse. Though she didn’t doubt that Arren meant what he said about picking her up, if she didn’t leave for lunch with Arren while her inbox was empty, she might get cornered by someone before he arrived. It was safer to meet him in the lobby.

Tasha called her back three steps away. Sandy took a calming breath and turned toward the desk, pasting on a smile.

“You need something before I leave, Tasha?” It couldn’t hurt to remind the senior partners’ secretary that she was on her way out.
I’ll tell her I have an appointment, if I have to.

“Did I hear you say you were headed toward the Square?”

“I am, but I have an appointment I can’t miss.”

“That’s okay. It’s not urgent.” She hefted a manila envelope. “If you could drop this at the Spice Industries Building on your way back, I’d appreciate it. Jack went home sick and Stephanie is on vacation, so I don’t have an office courier in today, and I’m swamped under.”

Her heart pounding, Sandy took the envelope and glanced down at the address on it. It wasn’t for Arren. It was for someone named Daveed Raashh.
There
is
more than one Raashh at Spice Industries.
“Sure. I can handle that.” It would give her more time with Arren, since he’d probably offer to show her to Daveed’s office. Overall, this was a stroke of luck.

Her cheeks simmered at the fact that she was acting as if she hadn’t seen him for a week.
I was at his apartment this morning.

The weekend had turned into five days so far, and Sandy was in no hurry to go home for more than the things she hadn’t taken with her.
If he asked me to marry him—mate with him—I’d say yes today.
Sadly, there’d been no mention of it recently.

“Thanks, hon.”

Sandy turned toward the elevator and narrowly missed colliding with Jason. She started to round him, her heart stuttering at his glance at the envelope she was holding. Feigning preoccupation, she tipped it away and slid it into her purse. Then she made her way to the elevator.

Jason reached out and pushed the button before she could. Sandy shot him a glare, then turned on her heel and headed for the stairs. It sounded like a good idea until his steps started echoing down the cinderblock stairwell behind her.

I should have said I forgot something in my office.