The Toll (21 page)

Blinking back at him, face purposely
impassive, I contemplated that for a moment as he watched my hands
holding the sheet to my breasts, swirling orange eyes roaming over
me freely, greedily, as if wondering what I might do.

Shifting towards him to face him
better, the sheet slid down a smidge. Eyes still trained on me, he
froze, and for a moment I thought he might have stopped breathing
all together, he was so still.

“
That dinna bother ye,
then?” he rasped quietly, voice a little hoarse.

Strangely, it didn’t. It had a
thousand questions coming to mind, naturally, but I wasn’t
necessarily put off, more intrigued, than anything.

The sheet slipped a little more as I
shifted, and he growled low, eyes brimming bright again as they
flashed, glued to my body.

It gave me an odd sort of
thrill, to rile him so easily, and with such a small thing.
He still wants me.

Emboldened, a small smile
slowly tipped my lips and I let the sheet fall. “Whoops.” A sense
of feminine triumph filled me and I shrugged inwardly.
You only live once, right?

Gersthart’s, or
Troll’s
—it’s so hard to call him by a name
now—
eyes widened and he rolled back over,
leaning closer. His wide grey hand came up to slide up my hip,
thick fingers caressingly circling my navel, slowly making their
way up my torso as he gently pressed me back and placed himself
atop me.

Cock hard as steel, digging into my
thigh, he licked his lips, deep orange eyes, lit with citrine,
blazing down at me.

“
Ready for me,
nugget?”

“
Sure, gars-cart, I’m all
yours.” Giggling on the inside, I smirked as his face scrunched up,
wrinkling into a scowl.

“
Gersthart,” he
punctuated,
“Ger-st-hart,
nugget, say it wit’ me.”

“
Gort-shart? Got-shorts?” I
queried, then burst out laughing, his pissed off growl making me
laugh harder.

“
Ye mock me, wench?”
Leaning down, he nuzzled my neck, nipping the flesh
playfully.

“
You can say my name too!”
I chortled. “So you can’t say anything.”

Baring his teeth menacingly, he pulled
back, eyes narrowed, and loomed over me. Large and in charge, he
caged me in as he glared down at me. With one of his nose wrinkling
sniffs, he scented the air, his whole body shivering as it wracked
with a harsh tremor, eyes glazing over a tiny bit.

Gaze darkening, swirling with the same
odd flashes of color the crazy fireplace emits when he chucks
something into it, he swiveled his hips, hissing as his length
nudged my entrance, hands gripping me tight, almost to the point of
pain. Yanking me towards him, smashing my breasts to his chest, he
made to turn me over, and my eyes widened, hands scrambling as I
palmed his wide torso.

“
I don’t... What are
you...?”

A savage growl ripped from
his throat and I shrank back, not quite meeting his eyes, a
smidgeon of fear coursing through me.
What
is going on?
I wondered.
What’s come over him?

With an animalistic grunt, he stopped
and shook his head a few times, as if to rid himself of whatever
demons were riding him, slowly releasing me to lay me
back.

“
Is that so?” he rumbled
out as he finally fully snapped out of it.

“
Is what so?” I mumbled
confusedly, resisting the urge to rub my arms where he’d held me so
tight.

“
Ye was thinkin’ ta tease
me, nugget,” he grumbled. “Dinna be thinkin’ on changin’ the
subject, eh.”

Oh, right, that.

Still stuck on his odd behavior, I bit
the inside of my cheek, opening and closing my mouth as I tried to
come up with something to say.

Not one for talking about such things,
Troll must have sensed my reticence, along with his own, and
thought to change the subject, and quick, giving me some much
needed motivation to get things going.

Thick fingers reaching forward, he sat
up and tenderly caressed my breasts, rolling one of my nipples
between his wide thumb and forefinger, face purposely blanked, eyes
roving over me curiously, awaiting my reaction. He kept it up,
switching breasts, building me up as he held tight, thick thighs
boxing me in, hands free to play, working me up to a moaning,
panting mess.

“
Still think to mock me
now?” he grumbled huskily, smug in the face of my squirming,
semi-desperate state.

“
Yes!” I cried defiantly,
then cried out again as he leaned forward and latched onto one of
the full, plump mounds begging his attention, suckling
hard.

“
Should teach ye a lesson.
Wha’ say ye?” he mumbled around a mouth full of pale, creamy white
flesh. Tongue easily laving me, he shifted around, his shaft
already thickening, not as long as Trystan’s had been, but much
thicker.

His hand slid down between us, guiding
him to my entrance, and he slowly pressed himself
inside.

“
Well, nugget?” he grunted
as he slowly pulled out, swiftly making his way back in.

Driving in hard and fast,
as far as he could go, he gripped my hips, settling my legs over
either side of his shoulders, gripped my ass and lifted, pulling
out swiftly to ram back in, intentionally hitting that spot that
feels so good, just that right, special spot that had me calling
out, “Yes!
Yes! Yesss!”

And it continued late into the
night.

Grey Skinned
Quandary

Shivering, I yawned and slowly opened
my eyes, finding myself lying flat on my stomach, unnamed lips,
tongue and teeth shamelessly teasing me into a wakeful
state.

Lips quirking up, I giggled and batted
a hand behind me, swatting at the intruder on my sleep, ignoring
the masculine chuckle that accompanied that talented mouth, teasing
me beyond distraction as it worked its way up my back, to my neck,
worrying my earlobe.

“
You’re scandalous,” I
mumbled, burying my face in the warmth of the furs underneath me.
“You can’t possibly be ready to... to...” I blushed hard at the
mere idea of trying to say that out loud. “To do
that
again, after last
night
,”
I finally
managed to blurt out.

“
Say it, nugget,” he
chuckled, his fingers slipping underneath the hem of my nightshirt.
“Say ‘fuck’.”

Biting my lip, I squeezed my eyes shut
and muffled a moan into the bundled up pile of furs, of which I was
attempting to suffocate myself in out of sheer embarrassment and
humiliation.

“
No,” I mumbled in a
muffled voice, red creeping up my neck and down my
chest.

“
Now, now,” Gersthart
grumbled, his fingers pushing aside my hair to trail at the base of
the top of my neck, right where my hairline ended, little curled up
short hairs sticking up at the ends. “Hmmm. What have we here? A
blush, nugget?” His fingers traced along the path again, and I
shivered, little wisps of pleasure zipping down my spine. “Ye still
havena said it.” With a tsk-tsk, he tapped the spot impatiently,
waiting.

My face got even redder, and I turned
it to the side, muttering loud and clear, making sure he could
hear, “I’m not going to say it. It’s... dirty.” It sounded dirty
enough to me, but a little silent thrill bubbled up inside me at
the thought.

Fuck. We fucked.
There. I said it, if only in my head.

“
But ye like bein’ dirty,
hmm, luv?” Large, thick fingers crept around to my front, fondling
my breasts softly, rolling my nipples gently between his thumbs and
forefingers, just the way I like it.

“
You’re horrible,” I
groaned, biting my lip to keep from calling out.

He stopped and rested his chin on my
back, warm grey hands flattening to cup my ample breasts, tugging
my back against the solid wall of his chest.

“
An’ what would ye have me
callin’ it, then, if no’ a fuck, hmm?”

Is he serious?

“
Uhm... making
love?”

Everything in him froze as soon as I’d
uttered the words, and I cringed, waiting for him to snap at me,
knowing I’d somehow just said the wrong thing.

His whole body wound tight, the
tension in him thick and tangible, as if it was a living, breathing
thing, rudely storming into the room and ruining our little private
moment, bursting the bubble we’d cocooned ourselves in.

“
Makin’ love.” The words
rolled off of his tongue awkwardly, as if the idea was truly
foreign. “Ye like that one, then?” he asked after a long
pause.

Smartly, I chose to keep silent,
preferring to try and wait this one out.

Grunting in irritation, he nudged me
when I didn’t answer.

I was still trying to figure out if he
was mad, curious, or baiting me—it was a little hard to tell—but in
the end, I went with the truth.

“
Yes. The other one sounds
vulgar, uh, when speaking of intimacies.”

“
Is... is that the way ye
see it? Wit’ us?”

Blinking, I shifted so I could look at
his face, but he made that impossible, the better part of his
weight settling on top of me to keep me face down.

“
Gersthart,” I huffed,
giving a little grumble of my own. “You’re squashing
me!”

“
Is it?”

“
Ugh,” I muttered,
defeated, “tricky troll.”
Of course I
couldn’t see—he doesn’t want me to.

“
Nugget.”

With a long, put upon sigh, I cocked
my head to the side, tempted to balk at his bossy, overbearing
tactics. It was wearing on me, even more so than usual.

“
Well, yes,” I grunted when
he kept his chin firmly in the middle of my upper back, and I soon
gave up trying to meet his gaze. “Don’t you?” Giving in completely,
I huffed and relaxed under his solid weight, admitting defeat. “You
win,” I sighed, letting my irritation known, “I wasn’t all that
keen to look at you right now, anyways. Grumpy old
troll.”

“
I release ye.” With a
garbled mutter, Troll hefted himself up and his huge hands ran
caressingly down my back, cupping my bum, sliding down farther to
pick up my hips, my knees sliding up underneath them to hold me
firmly in place.

My gown dipped down, pooling at my
head, and I wiggled around until it wasn’t smothering me, letting
it slip right off.

“
Release what?” I mumbled,
trying to get rid of those pesky sleeves that didn’t want to come
off. Grumbling at the barrier, I muttered quietly when my elbows
got stuck, flopping forward as I lost my balance, flouncing on the
bed.

Gersthart nipped one of my cheeks, my
wide blue eyes rounding as he parted them and licked along the
seam.

“
Gerstha-aargh!”
I garbled out, startled—his hot, wet tongue
having rasped across my clit, sex, and anus.

“
I release ye,” he grumbled
out, working his way up my back to nuzzle at my neck, as I finally
freed myself from my night clothes and pulled myself up.

The motion slid me forward and I felt
something cool and metal slap my chest, resting loosely around my
neck to dangle down in front of me.

Reaching up, I fingered my locket,
looking over my shoulder into a pair of deep orange eyes, watching
me curiously.

“
But... why?” Cocking my
head to the side, I stared at him searchingly, reaching up to cup
his jaw gently.

“
No deal. Canna keep it if
we dinna finish our bargain. Wouldna be right.”

Frowning, I shook my head and went to
take it back off.

Stilling my hands, he fingered the
small chain the little locket rested on, thick fingers brushing my
nape.

“
That was my fault,
though,” I insisted, “you didn’t-”

“
Doesna matter,” a quick
shake of his head, “deal’s a deal.” Pulling back a little, he
laughed at the look on my face and nipped my fingertips. Wide, flat
white teeth peeking out against his Cheshire cat grin, the sight of
it softened all of his harshness somehow.

“
What did you mean, release
me? Release what?” I changed the subject, unwilling to let myself
think I might grow romantically attached to a troll, not willing to
let my thoughts go down that tricky, twisted slope.

Haven’t you already?
I had to ask myself.
You’ve given yourself over to him, surrendered your
innocence. And just about everything else. What more could you give
him?

“
I said I release ye. Now
quit movin’. It’s bleedin’ distractin’.”

“
What?”

“
Stay still,” he ordered,
pressing me down into the bed so my ass arched up, high in the
air.

“
Did you
mean...”

“
Nugget,” he ground out,
his cock bobbing thickly between my legs, pressing determinedly
into my thigh. “Dinna want ta harm ye. Stay the bloody hell
still.”