ShiftingHeat (17 page)

She turned around to see him propped against the doorway, a
silver-topped cane supporting his weakened legs. He glanced at the ebony stick
with a silver dragon sitting on top, its tail wound around the wood several
times and ending in a crystal that caught the bright light. “A present from my
sister before I turned dragon. Prophetic, don’t you think?”

“Except dragons don’t usually have tails that long. But it’s
beautiful.”

“I have several. Also several pairs of decorated crutches
and a couple of wheelchairs. One is state of the art. I thought of donating it
to a worthy cause, but maybe it’s just as well I didn’t.”

He stepped forward carefully, placing his foot and then
testing it before he leaned into the step. He used the cane to support his body
weight on the other side of the foot he put his weight on. He was an expert at
this.

Using the wall to lean against, he drew the T-shirt off and
tossed it aside. She stared at him, lost in contemplation of his wonderful,
supple body. Not so supple now, but still beautiful. “Were you—I mean—”

He glanced down at his body and gave a short laugh. “I’d
like to think you meant was I always this ripped. The answer’s yes, in the
upper body. You need strength to drag the useless bits around. My legs—not so
much, but I had physiotherapy and massage to help keep them going.” He undid
his belt and unzipped his jeans, kept his attention on that. “I kept my legs as
strong as I could, and my arms. Becker’s often affects the extremities first,
so all the typing and gaming helped. And it kept my mind off things.” He lifted
his chin and stared at her. “I can manage now, if that’s what you’re waiting
for. Why don’t you make us some coffee?”

She felt dismissed. Hurt, she turned to leave, but changed
her mind. “I’ll make us coffee later. You don’t have to accept anything I offer
you, but I want this to affect as little as possible about us.”

He gave her a smile much older than his years. Weary and
knowing. She hated that he’d learned how to do that. She ached for him. “Oh,
but it does. I need help when I get up in the night to piss, or I need to
remember to have everything ready. I need ramps, elevators, a living area on
one level. People make a fuss to ensure I can access a building, rooms, and
they stare, although they try not to.”

“Mortals stare at anyone who’s different.”

He paused and gazed at her. “Fuck, I’m a whiny bitch, aren’t
I? The other side effect is feeling too sorry for yourself. Of course you know.
Did they guess you were a Talent? Other than the people your mother told?”

She shrugged. “I think Joyce Cardross told most people,
although not all of them believed her and I never let anyone see my monthly
shape-shifts. People pointed and stared. I said I didn’t care, but I was a
kid—of course I did.” She shrugged again and knelt at his feet. “I got over
it.”

She got rid of his jeans and underwear with a tug, and
dragged off his socks to join the pile of discarded clothing. Then she took his
face between her hands and planted a kiss on his mouth. “That’s for being
utterly gorgeous. Now let me help you into the shower.”

“Are you joining me? I can’t reach every part of me.”

“Now that is a come-on I can’t resist.”

She held steady when he leaned on her so he could take the
two steps into the shower. It was a walk-in shower, the only difference between
the floor of the bathroom a small drain and a change of color in the tiles. He’d
had this apartment when he was still disabled, and he could have climbed in on
his own with ease. He sat on the plastic chair and leaned back to switch on the
water. It cascaded on him from the spider showerhead above, anointing his body
with rivulets of trickling liquid that she longed to lick off him. Later. She
promised herself the treat for later.

She stripped quickly, all the time aware of his gaze warming
her body, wondering what else the drugs had affected. She turned around from
dropping her panties on the pile of discarded clothes and caught him licking his
lips. Putting one hand on her hip, she sauntered toward him. “Oh yeah? Hungry,
are we?”

The expression in his gaze told her he was. “For one thing.
For you. Come here and let me taste you before I starve to death.”

If she’d imagined that his temporary condition would have
any effect on his libido, she’d have been wrong. His cock rose, pointing at her
with the eagerness of a favorite dog needing a walk. Well as far as she was
concerned, it needed all the exercise she could give it. Of course he was still
hot. He was Andros. The only thing that surprised her was that she felt like
this for anyone at all. She’d never given herself completely in a relationship
before, never let anyone control their play as she did him. Never given anyone
her heart, and she was perilously close to doing that.

He sat back in his chair, opening his legs, tacitly inviting
her to play. She needed no other invitation. She stepped into the shower,
feeling the change in texture under her feet, from smooth tile to nubbed,
non-slip surface, and enjoyed the sensation of hot water playing on her body.

She stepped over him and straddled his thighs but took care
not to touch. He stared up at her face then took in the rest of her body, his
gaze slowly descending from her hardening nipples to her pussy, wet from more
than water. Only then did he lift one hand and touch her. The tip of her clit.
She sucked in a breath and gave a moan when he pinched it, then rubbed,
unerringly waking her body.

She bent her legs, intending to lower her body onto his, but
he placed a hand on her thigh, preventing her. “Lean over me. Let me taste you
like you promised I could.”

Oh God. Fuck, yes. She shuffled closer until she felt his
breath warm her cleft. He was looking. Knowing that, knowing he could arouse
her like nobody else ever had sent sparks through her. Steam rose from the
water but she felt as if she were making it. Her body heated from the inside
out.

He kept rubbing her clit, murmuring to her that she was
beautiful, that he could smell how aroused she was. “I’d know you from your
perfume alone. In the dark. Anywhere. Better than anything else.” He licked
her, taking her essence into his mouth, sucking it in, savoring it. “Mmm.”

Faye tipped her head back to let the water pour over her
face. And he tasted her, sucked and caressed. His mouth took over from his
fingers and the sensation was so exquisite she knew she’d never get enough. She
had to lock her knees in position or she would have fallen over him. Spreading
her hands out blindly, she felt the cool tiled wall on one side and she set her
palm against it with gratitude.

He teased her with light, fleeting kisses and laps of his
tongue, not settling on her clit or her pussy. Tasting, not drinking. “Oh God,
Andros, please, please, just do it!”

She heard his voice in her head.
And wreck a perfect end
to a shitty day? Take it, baby, and quit complaining.

The laughter in his tone warmed her more than the water. Not
as much as his tongue. And she liked him calling her “baby”. She’d always hated
that before. Oh fuck, she couldn’t think straight now.

He gripped her thigh and urged her closer. She obeyed only
too eagerly, pressing her pussy against his mouth, opening her thighs wide so
he could get to every part of her. He slipped his hand around to her buttocks,
cupped one cheek and held on. She felt his fingers pressed into the soft flesh
and wanted the imprint of his fingers on her. A reminder. One finger slipped
into the cleft between her butt cheeks and stayed there. A thrill went right up
her spine, blossoming in her mind. And when he finally opened his mouth and
sucked her clit in, his forefinger settled over her anus.

She’d never enjoyed that, either, but if she told him to
stop, she’d never know. It took a measure of trust to let anyone touch her
there, but she trusted Andros.

Swallowing, she moved closer, bending her legs a little to
push her pussy over his face, grind it into him.

He chuckled and sucked, sending waves of exquisite sensation
through her body, warming her stomach, making her lungs burn, her mind cry out
for him. She managed his name, choked it out as he worked her. He spread his
fingers, kept his forefinger on her backside, but slid his pinkie down until it
touched her wet opening. It felt wide open and she wanted him there. Wanted to
sink down on him until she engulfed his cock, give him some of the torture he
was meting out to her. Never had torture felt so good.

With a flex of his fingers, he slipped inside. Both openings
breached, with him teasing and sucking her clit, his tongue curving around the
delicate, erect flesh and loving it. She sent him all the pleasure she had,
shared the pleasure and then the torture of hovering on the brink, the
agonizing, wonderful few seconds before the inevitable happened.

He pushed in her pussy with his thumb and her anus with his
pinkie and then he sucked her clit in short, hard bursts. The devilish movements
had her gasping, and then that tiny immeasurable moment when everything came
together, just before—

“Oh fuck, oh God!”

She held herself upright by sheer will, her hand pressing
desperately against the wall as everything inside combusted, melted and eventually,
after an untold time, re-formed.

Slowly her vision returned. She blinked, focusing on her
lover. Andros stared up at her, blond hair slicked to his skull, blue eyes hot.
Waiting for her to come back to him. She put her hands on the back of his chair
and bent her knees, slowly lowering her body onto his. “Your turn.”

“Oh yeah. Do me now.”

She stopped, hovering above his cock, letting its tip graze
her pussy. For the moment she was sated, although she still wanted him inside
her, just not as desperately as she had a moment before. “Why should I?”

“Because you want me?”

“You want me more.” To prove her point, she leaned in and
kissed him, making it long, slow and wet. But not pushing down. He tried by
lifting his body, the effort straining his shoulder muscles, but sat back with
a groan. In his weakened condition, he couldn’t do it. But she could see from
his eyes that he loved it, reveled in her teasing. He released her lips
gradually, gently and leaned back. “Do it.”

“Why? Tell me.”

“Because I want you to. Because I want you so much right
now.” Not because he needed her, not because she should feel sorry for him.
This was how it should be between them, how it always would be. A smile curved
her mouth, reflecting the warmth and understanding he’d brought to her.

But warmth and understanding weren’t what she wanted right
now. She wanted what he wanted.

Without warning, careful to keep her intent out of her
thoughts, she sank down on his cock, not stopping until her ass touched his
thighs. Watching his face, she saw his pupils contract to pinpoints then
expand, swallowing the bright blue. He blinked, and then she rose and sank down
again.

They sighed in mutual pleasure. He slid one hand over her
back, up her spine, and she felt more than his hand caressing her. The poignant
scent of lavender wreathed around her. He grinned at her surprise. “When you
have showers sitting down, you need everything within reach.” He leaned forward
to kiss her, making it sweet this time, until she opened her mouth and licked
his lips. Then he growled and dragged her close, treating her to lips, tongue
and teeth, which she returned in full measure. He slid his soapy hand along her
spine, shaping her muscles, helping her rhythmic rise and fall. She leaned
back, drawing away from the kiss, and found a new spot inside her with a
different though equally delicious sensation. Every time she rose, his cock
skimmed over her sweet spot, the best part. It grew hard to concentrate so she
set the rhythm, not trying anything tricky. She left that to him.

He re-soaped his hand, transferred some of the suds to his
other hand and rubbed her, smoothing her muscles, easing the tension she hadn’t
realized she felt before he’d put his hands on her. Neither did she realize she
was making small “mmm” sounds until he echoed her and urged her upper body
closer so he could lick and suck on her nipples.

He kissed a ring around one areola, glanced up at her and
sucked it in, watching her all the time, his dark, blue-rimmed eyes missing
nothing.
You’re delicious. Come for me again, Faye. Come for yourself.

Her first spasm came out of the blue. The second convulsed
her in hard, racking contractions, violent pulses of orgasm taking over all her
senses, rocketing her to a place where he joined her. Their groans mingled,
echoing around the room, and her final cry of “Andros!” rang out.

They held each other, their bodies trembling in the
aftermath of their shared release. Faye had never felt closer to anyone before
in her life. She hadn’t known it was possible to be this close to anyone before
she’d met him.

Was she in trouble. She never, ever wanted this to end.
Already she knew she wanted him with a hopelessness she couldn’t let him know
about. Not if she wanted to retain herself, her character. Her independence.

She was still in the dreaming flow of the orgasm as he
turned off the water and grabbed a towel before rubbing them down vigorously.
“I don’t know if you realized, but the water’s going cold. We’ve been here a
long time, sweetheart.”

She gave a shaky laugh and found a towel too, scrubbing at
his hair until it stood in damp spikes. “You’re not supposed to get cold.”

“One more thing before we climb between the sheets.” When he
winced, she doubted anyone else would have known it, but she sensed it and got
to her feet. “I’m too heavy for you,” she said.

“Never.”

She helped him to his feet but with the help of his cane he
went into the bedroom on his own, a towel slung around his suddenly
slender-looking hips. The drugs seemed to have pulled flesh from his bones.
“You look thinner,” she said.