Taking Karre Read online

  Logic and reason were very poor defenses against lust.

  “So tonight is your last night as a free man?” She licked her lips so they would glisten.

  “No, I am not to be imprisoned.” He frowned, confused.

  Karre did laugh that time. She took a bold step for him. Why not give in to her base desires—if the desires were really hers and not some residual impulse from someone else’s implanted emotion. Remembering how Brigitte wasn’t really interested in men, she pushed all echoing thoughts from her mind. Tonight was hers, no one else’s.

  Karre needed to bide her time before going back out into the hall and what better way than with a virile hunk of a man? It wasn’t like she would see him again. It wasn’t like sex with him would compromise any objective. “I meant your last night free from the bonds of an arranged marriage.”

  “Then tonight is your last night free as well,” he returned. “Your clothing indicates that you are to be a chosen bride.”

  Karre didn’t care what her outfit said. She would be no man’s bride. “Perhaps no one will choose me.”

  He laughed. His entire body shook with the force of it. “No bride has ever gone unchosen.”

  “Hm.” She kept her expression steady, not finding the same humor he did in the idea of her future as a Starian wife. “Then we should not waste our last night of freedom talking.”

  “You are part of Divinity’s trade agreement,” he said, as if suddenly understanding her strangeness. “Forgive me, I should have realized since only women from the trade agreement are going to be at this ceremony. That is why you speak so strangely. You are not from Staria.”

  “Trade agreement?” Interesting. Very interesting. Though hardly surprising. Nothing about the corporation surprised her anymore. With an actual Divinity trade agreement in place there would have to be portal travel to and from this world. Director Tomes might want her to believe she was dumped on a primitive plane to be forgotten, but where there was a portal, there was a way out.

  “Yea.” He nodded. “You are here in trade for the blue mineral water that runs in our underground springs.”

  “Am I?” She arched a brow, listening closely. Perhaps a quick romp wouldn’t be the only thing she got from his warrior man.

  “I am happy to see you do not look pale and weak like the first of your people to arrive. I have heard stories from the men who were there that day when the Divinity aliens first approached us in the midst of battle. We almost slaughtered them where they stood for being allies to the Caniba.”

  “The Caniba?” She licked her lips again, surprised by his forthcoming conversation.

  “Our enemy. They are a dishonorable, disgusting people who eat the flesh of men and think only of pleasing their overlords. The most deadly of which is Sorceress Magda. Her army drinks the poison of snakes and would follow her orders into a pit of fire to be burned alive.” His face darkened into a temperate rage and he looked past her.

  Karre grimaced. The man surely knew how to kill a seductive mood. Didn’t he realize she was flirting with him? “Surely they are not so bad as all that.”

  “And worse,” he swore. His eyes practically sparkled with the passion of his convictions. “There is no peace with the Caniba, only war. It is my self-given task to discover where the sorceress’ encampment lies and I will gladly die for that information for it will be a great victory for my people. I believe I am getting closer. We suspect she is in the Hanging Forest, very near Spearhead Fortress. That is where I live.”

  “Well,” Karre tried to sound cheerful, “good for you. It is always nice to have a purpose to fight for.”

  Crazy barbarian.

  “Thank you, Lady, ah…?”

  Karre ignored the prompt for her name and hurriedly said, “So, how did this war of yours start?”

  “It has been that way from the beginning of time and will always be so long as they live. That is the role our gods have given us.”

  Wow and the foreplay just keeps coming, she thought sarcastically. Well, I did ask.

  He crossed his arms over his chest, dominating the room with his stance. “Methinks we get on quite well, my lady.”

  “Yes.” She forced a wide smile. “Quite.”

  “This is good.” He smiled, as a tentative, searching expression crossed his features.

  Blend in, Karre. Be what he needs to see. That’s it. Smile wider. Lower your lashes.

  “What is your name, soldier?” Karre broke their eye contact, not liking his probing gaze. He looked at her as if he were trying to read her soul. She had a feeling he’d be very talented at prying secrets out of someone, should he set his mind to it.

  “Sir Vidar of Spearhead.”

  Karre tried not to chuckle. She gravitated toward him, not taking a direct path as she made her way closer to the bed. Her heart beat faster and she felt a little dizzy. Why did he have to look at her like that, like he could peel away all her armor? All her defenses?

  She touched the bed. Everything inside her told her to run. Karre normally trusted her instincts. They had served her so well in the past.

  But his smell was inside her head and his gold-flecked eyes wouldn’t stop looking at her as he if he could see inside her soul. She ran her fingers through her messily upswept hair, pulling a dark strand forward, trying to get some measure of comfort by seeing which character she was playing now. Her fingers bumped the special, hidden hairpin tangled up in the locks, only recognizing it because she knew it was there. Otherwise, it felt like real hair until twisted straight. Not even Tomes had detected it.

  It was her hair—long, brunette, wavy. No wig. No dye. No drug-altered state. She touched her face. No fake pustules. No thick foundation makeup. She bumped her fingernail against her front teeth. No blackened smudges. Maybe that was why she felt so exposed and nothing had even happened. The picture she showed him was all her.

  “Methinks your pursuers are gone. If you give me their names, I will see they are punished for scaring you. I am sure they saw your clothes and thought to press their suit should you not be chosen at the ceremony by the firsts.”

  “I don’t want to go out quite yet.” This might be her closest chance to feel normal, to see what it was like to be with a man as Karre—not James or Linnie or Sparkle or Brigitte. Then again, she could just stop making excuses for wanting Vidar and could do what her body had been urging her to do from the first moment she heard his deep, sexy voice.

  None of this matters. None of it. Reality is merely a perception. Each plane flows into another until nothing is real. Nothing is permanent. Nothing matters.

  Karre had seen many planes, many existences, and only a few things stayed the same. She could only depend on herself. No matter how noble a person appeared they would ultimately do the selfish thing and nothing ever lasted.

  “Did they injure you, my lady?” Vidar reached as if to examine her and stopped mid-motion. He furrowed his brow, doubtful. “Starian men respect women—we do not hurt them. If someone…”

  Karre looked up at him and his words trailed off. “Vidar.” She let his name roll off her tongue on a purr.

  “Y-yea?”

  “You sound like a very honorable man.” Karre lifted her hand, letting her fingers glide up the center of his chest. He stiffened beneath her touch, his piercing eyes darting down to where they touched. Animalistic fire radiated off him, jumping from his nerves to hers. She swayed toward him. “And you look like a very strong warrior.”

  Karre bit her lip, pressing her fingers more fully into him. The contours of his chest molded into her palm, unyielding and hard beneath his tunic. His heart beat a steady rhythm, urging hers to join in.

  “And this pleases you?”

  “Oh, yes, very much.” She nodded. “It pleases me very, very much.”

  —

  If ever there was a sign from the gods, this had to be it—a bride finding him the day before the ceremony, appearing meek, asking him for help so that he might protect her. She was muc
h more beautiful than he would have asked for. In his experience, women…

  Vidar tried not to let his thoughtful frown show. Well, in his experience watching other men’s experiences, beautiful women were more trouble and more demanding.

  As she took a deep breath, he found his eyes moving from the hand on his chest to where her breasts molded the white material. The generous globes would fill his hands to overflowing. His already half-interested cock twitched and he felt all logical thoughts draining with the blood from his brain to fill his member.

  Shiny, brunette waves framed her face, showcasing the brown of her eyes and the fullness of her pink lips. Perhaps a bit of beauty was not so bad—if that’s what the gods wanted for him. Who was he to question when she looked up at him like that? When she licked her mouth? When she leaned closer, knotting her fingers in his shirt? What else was this encounter if not an inspection of him as a potential husband? Could he blame a woman for campaigning beforehand? For actively searching for a man with honor and a valiant war record? In fact, Vidar respected it greatly. Decisions such as marriage should not be taken lightly. It was important to be assured that your partner was of good stock. That is why men made the final choice, because women sometimes got too emotional—at least according to his late father.

  She tugged up on his shirt playfully. “Let me see you, warrior. Let me see how strong you are.”

  Vidar did not hesitate as he pulled his shirt over his head. His kind had never been shy about sex, but still a little guilt nagged the back of his mind. He was to choose a bride and he didn’t know if it would be this woman. Though hardly unheard of, what he was doing right now, in this moment on this day, wasn’t encouraged. His stomach tightened and his cock lifted to the point it ached. The woman could belong to another on the morrow.

  But not today.

  “Mm,” she moaned low in her throat, letting her delicately long fingers trail on his chest. “You are a warrior, aren’t you? Thick, big,” her fingers skated down to his waistband, haphazardly following battle scars, “solid.” Her breathing visibly deepened and she moved around him, as if inspecting him for her own personal army. “I’ll bet you know how to move, hmm?”

  “Would my lady care to examine my weapon?” Unashamed, he reached for the laces at his hip while kicking out of his short boots. He pushed his breeches from his hips before lifting his feet out of them. Vidar kicked them aside, liking of the feel of air on his flesh as he stood naked for her. She came fully around him, pausing as she looked at his towering cock.

  “I see that it’s not just the height and breadth of your people that are big, my lord,” she said.

  “I am sir,” he corrected, “not a lord, though I do manage my own manor. It is very prosperous.”

  “Do you now?” She gave him a secretive smile.

  Before he could inquire about it, she took his cock in her hand and stroked. He inhaled sharply. The woman pressed her mouth to his chest, brushing light kisses along the contours of his muscles. Moaning lightly, she licked at his nipples.

  “You are so warm,” she said, moving up to nip at his collarbone. She tightened her fist on his shaft. “Why don’t you lie down on the bed?”

  It wasn’t a question. Like a knight untried in battle, he quickly made his way to the bed and flipped onto his back. His eyes devoured her, wondering what she would do next. He’d been with women, but they were always camp followers, respected whores who pleased the soldiers they followed. Unfortunately, their numbers were few and the soldiers many. Often, after they chose a partner for the night, they would get straight to the matter. It seemed it was the men who always wanted to take things slow, to make it last.

  She started to crawl toward him, but he stopped her before her second knee hit the bed. “Take off the gown.”

  The woman brought her foot back down to the floor and grabbed the gown. Slowly, almost teasingly, she pulled it up. Inch by glorious inch she revealed her shapely legs. Vidar gripped the fur pelt beneath him on the bed. Next came her thighs, agonizing in their leisurely reveal. Then, finally, the heart of her sex guarded by a strip of soft, dark curls. Vidar began to grab his cock only to stop. He didn’t want to come too fast. He wanted her to do it.

  Mm, hips, round and soft and unscarred. Her flesh was so smooth and tan, so perfectly shaped. His mouth became dry as he waited to see her generous breasts. Their size was unmistakable under her gown. He wanted to grab them, bury his face in them until he couldn’t breathe. He wanted to fuck her pussy while he sucked her nipples. Some of the knights talked of legs or eyes or a woman’s fine backside. Vidar had always been partial to great pair of breasts. His grip tightened on the bed.

  Oh, the bottom curves. If he could have moved, he’d have surged forward to rip the gown from her body like a madman. Then, finally, the wait was over. She tugged the gown over her head and threw it aside. The motion tousled her hair around her shoulders, but he barely noticed. His eyes were fixed on the large, dark nipples on two very round globes. They were bigger than he’d thought, if that was even possible.

  All thoughts left him as she leaned to crawl onto the bed. He watched them bounce and move, mesmerized. “You are…mm.”

  “I will take that to mean you like what you see, my sir.”

  “Oh, yea.” He didn’t correct her misuse of his title. At this moment, she could call him anything she wanted. By all the bloody swords in battle, she could demand of him anything she wanted. The woman straddled his knees, swaying gently as she reached her hands over her head to stretch. He licked his lips, hungry to test the soft texture of the globes in his mouth. “I wish for you to finish me now.”

  “You do, do you?” She gave him a slow, controlling grin. Raking her nails up his thighs, she stopped when she reached his hips. His cock stood tall and she leaned over him. Opening her mouth as she looked up at him, she stretched her neck long so he could watch as his cock was swallowed in the valley of her breasts. It was the most erotic, most arousing thing he’d ever seen. The soft mounds caressed him gently and his hips jerked. Her weighted hands pressed him down so he couldn’t thrust up.

  Vidar’s gaze narrowed in on what she was doing. He was completely captivated. His stomach tightened as he rolled forward to reach for her chest. He pushed her breast into his cock, squeezing it as he rubbed the pliable softness to his turgid length. It was unlike anything he’d ever felt—soft like a pussy, but dry and enveloping.

  “You’re a naughty warrior, aren’t you?” she whispered. He began to deny it when she shifted her weight and pressed her arms to make her breasts surround his penis. “Aren’t you a bad one? Do you like it when I do this?”

  “Yea.” He could barely speak. Vidar fell back, too immersed in sensations as she worked her pliable flesh over him. Thrusting up, he fucked her like he’d never fucked anyone else, would never have thought to try.

  “Does the bad man warrior need to be punished?” She squeezed him tighter.

  “Yea, my lady. Punish me.” He didn’t know what he was saying, only that he needed her to continue. His balls tightened and he felt like he was close to coming. Suddenly, she pulled off him and he nearly lurched off the bed at the sudden lack of contact. He’d been so close and now his cock throbbed with the need to squirt his seed all over her.

  “I agree,” she purred like some sort of feral cat. She scratched his hips, avoiding the one piece of him that desperately needed to feel her. “You do need to be punished.”

  “What is my crime?” he demanded, almost desperate.

  “Here it is the night before you’re to take a wife and you’re in here with me. I’d say that’s very bad of you, my sir.” She thrust a finger into her mouth, licking it as he watched.

  “Please…” He started to reach for her. Something about the way she spoke didn’t evoke shame, but a forbidden sense of desire.

  “Good, I like it when you beg me.” She scratched him harder. He nearly came undone.

  “Please, finish me,” he instantly begged.
<
br />   She sucked her finger, thrusting it in and out of her mouth several times.

  “Please, lean over once more,” he panted. His heart hammered in his chest.

  Releasing the finger with a loud pop, she leaned over. This time, she licked the mushroomed tip of his penis to taste him. The thought of those full lips around his shaft made him lurch up. He grabbed her head and thrust at the same time, bringing her roughly down on his cock. When he hit the back of her throat, he moaned, only half way inside.

  “Suck me like you did your finger,” he commanded. Sweat beaded his flesh and he felt as if he ran the whole of Staria.

  She began to and he loosened his hold. But the satisfied smile died on his mouth as she knocked his hands aside and pulled off. She artfully avoided his attempt to pull her mouth back down. “Tsk, tsk. Naughty, naughty, eager knight trying to bruise my delicate mouth with his big weapon.”

  “Woman,” he warned, the threatening tone ripping from his throat. He couldn’t think, couldn’t see beyond the bounce of her chest, the fullness of her lips.

  “What are you going to do, my sir? You going to pin me down and fuck me? You going to teach me a lesson? Show me just how naughty you are?”

  Before the last word left her mouth, he had her flipping through the air to land on her back. Her breath left her in a big rush of air. He fumbled between her legs, pushing her thighs open to make room for his hips as he angled his cock toward the glistening heat of her pussy.

  The second the tip of his cock felt moisture, he shoved forward. She gasped, closing her eyes as he fitted himself deep. He didn’t expect her cavern to be so tight on him, clamping him as he stormed her keep. He groaned, rocking very slightly as he felt the hard grip.

  “I have never had a woman feel so…” He moved his hips in a small circle. “It is as if you have never been stretched by a man. I find it very pleasurable.”

  She held on to his neck, kneading the muscles. He continued with his shallow thrusts, enjoying the pleasure of her body. Bracing his weight with one hand, he cupped a breast. Her eyes stayed closed, but she was panting and shivering as he moved.