WarriorsApprentice (8 page)

Then Ty slid his fingers around to stroke and part her lower
lips before pushing deep inside her. The hands on her breasts tightened and a
warm mouth settled on the cords of her neck in an exploratory kiss. She lost
herself in the delicious sensation of being stroked inside and out by her two
gorgeous lovers.

The rapid, rhythmic thrust of Ty’s tongue against the tight
knot of her clitoris sent her spiraling and convulsing into a sudden orgasm,
her buttocks clenching and lifting, grinding against his firm lips and chin,
riding his hand in uninhibited abandon.

The pulsing waves subsided, Ty raised his head. Behind her,
Huon leaned forward, stretched out over her, his hand reaching out to cup Ty’s
cheek. Ty jolted back as if scalded, his fingers pulling out of her as he
rocked back on his heels. His dark eyes lifted and he looked past Judie, his
pupils widening.

Then he looked away and the fingers that had been inside her
ripped at his clothing, tearing it off and hurling it away with a frenzy
totally at odds with his normal air of control. Naked, his cock hard and
weeping a drop of pre-cum, he clambered onto the bed, raised himself to cover
Judie’s body and drove hard and fast into her wet, welcoming channel.

His hips flexed and pounded with an intensity that looked
and felt like a desperate drive to completion. In contrast his eyes were cold
and distant. Then his gaze flicked upward and he slammed them shut, his mouth
twisted into a fierce line as air whooshed in and out of his tight nostrils.
The deep grooves that bracketed his mouth could as easily have been from pain.

He changed the angle of his hips and penetrated deeper,
finding a spot on her inner walls she hadn’t known existed. The friction
changed the pace and intensity of her rising tension. She moaned and Ty
grunted, the sound of a man acknowledging feedback on a task he had set
himself.

There was no mistaking what was happening here. They were
not making love. She was being fucked, a race to purely physical satisfaction
with no softness, no tenderness beyond what was necessary to achieve sexual
satisfaction. When it started, Ty had tried to disguise the basic nature of his
drive, but in the heat of action all pretense had dropped.

And she loved it. Hard, fast and furious it might be, but
Ty’s technique was good, his cock thick and curved, stretching and filling her.
His hot, moist breath, rushing out in rapid bursts, the feel of sweat on his
smooth skin slipping and sliding on hers like warm cream. Combined with Huon’s
rock-hard cock at her back and his hands rubbing her nipples, it tipped her
over the edge and she came with a high, keening whimper.

A few more deep thrusts and Ty’s cock pumped out his
release. His head slumped down between his shoulders but he kept his weight
supported, leaving a space between their bodies as if lying skin against skin
was more intimate than all the frenzied act that preceded it.

The tensing of his muscles warned her and she braced herself
as he withdrew, pulling back onto his haunches, swinging his legs off the bed
to stand.

“I’ll leave you and Huon alone. Boy might be a bit nervous
with me around.”

He swung away and walked out of the door, leaving her gaping
in shock. Huon stirred and slipped out from behind her to settle on the bed
next to her head. His gaze too was firmly fixed on the blank face of the door
that had just swung shut with a solid clunk.

After a moment he turned back to Judie, his blue eyes wide.
“Don’t take it personally,” he said.

“Why would I take it personally?” Judie could hear how
sarcastic and bitter she sounded but she couldn’t do anything about it, not
when embarrassment and anger heated her face and made her want to hide under
the covers. “He screwed my brains out and just got up and walked out. Of course
that’s
not personal.”

“It’s the way he is,” Huon said, gripping her hand tightly.
“When he’s got something to do he focuses on it completely, and when it’s over,
he detaches.”

“Is that what you call it? I call it downright insulting,”
she muttered and released her hand from Huon’s grip to grab the sheet out of
the tangled mess on top of the bed.

Huon put both arms around her and pulled her into a gentle
hug. “Don’t be offended. It isn’t you, it’s me.” Judie had never expected to
hear that cliché in a situation like this, but she had never
been
in a
situation like this, so she kept quiet and listened as Huon continued. “Tyb— Ty
has been my…mentor in my…um, professional capacity. He acts that way with me
all the time. I don’t want you to be upset.”

He sounded so sincere and so concerned that Judie let
herself relax. His slender but powerful body took her weight and she leaned in,
snuggling under his chin, smelling the fresh, sweet scent of him, letting the
soothing sound of his soft reassurances wash over her and take away the sting
of Ty’s abrupt departure.

Her hands slipped around to stroke down the hollow groove of
his spine, his indrawn breath encouraging her to explore lower. When had he
removed his shirt? Before she had started the wild ride with Ty? During? It
didn’t matter. What mattered was the feel of skin so warm and supple it felt
like silk stretched over the solid planes of his muscles. What mattered was the
way his lips nuzzled into her hair and slipped slowly down her face to nibble
their way hesitantly towards her mouth, stopping just before they reached their
target as if Huon were giving her the chance to turn aside, to reject his
advances before they really began.

The arms that held her trembled, just a light shiver of the
skin that could have been due to nervousness, anticipation, the fight to remain
in control or all three. Judie couldn’t tell and she didn’t care. Huon’s
intensity and the darkening of his eyes as his pupils widened and his lids grew
heavy, so different from Ty’s ruthless taking of her, stirred her to arousal
again. A different type of arousal, one that touched her emotionally and made
her crave the tender touch of emotional intimacy and connection.

The zip of his pants presented no barrier to her questing
fingers. She slid it down and slipped inside. He wore no underwear, letting her
hand wrap instantly around his hot, throbbing cock, but she kept her gaze on
his face, absorbed by the way his lips parted, his nostrils flared and twin
spots of red flared on his high, sharp cheekbones. A soft susurration of air
rushed from his lungs and his eyes closed.

“Good?” she asked.

“Oh yes,” he sighed. “Please don’t stop.”

She felt the curve of a smile forming and didn’t try to
fight it. If Huon was not a virgin, he was certainly inexperienced. How someone
who looked like he did could have reached this age without being inundated by
floods of women intent on seducing him was a question she would think about at
some other time. Right now, she was grateful. Her ego welcomed the chance to lead
him, to take him to the peak of pleasure and bring him back again, certain that
he would not get up, walk out and leave her feeling like she had been used and
discarded.

* * * * *

Huon looked at the woman sleeping soundly beside him. He’d
read about sex, practiced solo in the privacy of his own room, but nothing had
prepared him for the intensity of the hot, wet clasp of another’s body. Alone,
he knew with unerring accuracy what rhythm made him come quickly. Tonight, with
Judie, the process had been prolonged, unfamiliar yet so much more pleasurable.
Fitting his movements to another person’s, her pleasure as much sought after as
his own, a heady mixture of give and take.

But he wasn’t here for pleasure. He had to lull Judie
Scanlon into telling him what she knew, into taking him to places where he
could get the information he needed.

She snuffled slightly in her sleep and curled her hand under
her cheek. Guilt and disgust unfurled in his stomach, sending tendrils into his
brain, taking root and blossoming into conviction. Damn it, no matter what he
looked like he was Dvalinn and he would not take an innocent life if he could
avoid it. If he gained her trust, got the information he needed, he could leave
her alive.

No. Not if
he
gained her trust. If
they
did.
Tybor had to repair the damage he’d done.

Huon slid gently out of the bed, checked to see he hadn’t
woken Judie, then, grabbing his clothes and taking a quick survey of the
apartment, tiptoed out into the streets of Venice.

Ten minutes later the door of his rented room on the
Fondamenta Santa Lucia slammed shut behind him. Tybor, still fully dressed, was
stretched out on the bed, his arms folded behind his head, eyes closed,
ignoring Huon.

“What the fuck was that about, you bastard?” Huon spat at
him.

“I left you alone. You said you didn’t want me critiquing
your performance,” Tybor answered, keeping his eyes shut.

“There’s a difference between critiquing my performance and
making a woman feel like she’s been used.”

“Oh, and you’d know, would you?” Tybor’s eyes snapped open.
“You with your vast experience with women.”

“I know enough to listen to Judie. Do you care how you made
her feel when you walked out that way?” Huon fisted his hands at his sides.
“You shouldn’t have done it.”

“It’s been a long dry spell. I got carried away.” Tybor
pushed himself up into a sitting position.

“And that excuses it?” Huon asked.

“See how you feel after two hundred years.” Tybor looked him
over appraisingly. “I assume you did manage the deed.”

Huon felt his cheeks heat. “I did. We did.”

Tybor surged to his feet and slammed Huon into the wall with
a shove. “You bloody hypocrite. I fuck her and walk out and I’m to blame. You
do it and it’s okay.”

“She’s asleep,” Huon yelled. “I snuck out.”

“And that makes it somehow better?” Tybor loomed over him.

“I’m going back,” Huon insisted

“Well, don’t let me stop you. I appreciate your concern in
coming to check on me but you get your skinny ivory ass back to that
woman
.”

Once again Huon found himself confronting Tybor chest to
chest. “You’re coming with me.”

“What? Like hell.” Tybor took a step back and Huon took a
deep breath.

“You made her feel bad, you are going to fix it. I have a
job to do. You butted in on it and I am not going to let you stuff it up. I
don’t know what the hell got under your skin, but since you’re here you are
going to suck it up and do whatever is necessary to keep Judie Scanlon happy
and compliant.” Huon punctuated his sentence with a return shove on Tybor’s
chest. It didn’t achieve much but at least it seemed to focus Tybor’s
attention. “You got that?”

Tybor’s lips curved in a small, dangerous smile. “Giving me
orders, boy?”

“Yeah,” Huon replied, holding his ground. “I am. This is
my
mission. I have orders to be here. You’re AWOL, so I guess that puts me in
charge.”

Tybor shrugged. “Fair enough. What do you want me to do?”

Hoping he disguised his shock at Tybor’s compliance, Huon
replied, “Come back to Judie’s apartment with me. I’m pretty sure she’ll still
be asleep.” He felt a blush heat his cheeks again and once again cursed his
unnatural paleness. “Between us, we tired her out. I’ll pretend I never left,
and you can come back in and apologize and explain why you stormed out.” He
gave Tybor an assessing glance. “I’d like to hear the reason myself.”

“It’s personal. That’s all I’ll tell her and I’ll be damned
if I tell you any different.”

“But…” Huon protested.

“Don’t push it. I’ve made all the concessions I’m going to.”
Tybor marched out of the door, leaving Huon to follow in his wake.

At Judie’s apartment, Huon pulled a set of keys from his
pocket. “I, ah, borrowed them.”

Before he could insert them in the door Tybor’s hand closed
over his. “Did you also,
ah, borrow
the code to the alarm?”

Once more Huon felt his traitorous skin redden. “Shit.”

Tybor pulled the keys from his fist. “You’ve still got
things to learn from the master.”

He inserted the key in the lock, opened the door and leaned
over and punched a series of numbers into the key pad.

“How did you know that?” Huon gasped.

“Memorized it when we first came in.” Tybor smirked, then he
sobered. “I’ll apologize but I’m not explaining why I reacted the way I did. It
won’t happen again. I won’t jeopardize this mission.” He pulled the door shut.
“Come on. Let’s see if I can make this right.”

* * * * *

The roll of the mattress dipping under the weight of another
body snapped Judie awake. Adrenaline hit like a punch in the chest and she sat
up, a whimper of terror escaping before she could suppress it.

Instantly a hand reached to cover her mouth and a soft voice
whispered, “Shh. It’s just me.”

Through the haze of fear and darkness, a face she recognized
drifted into focus. Her panicked breathing slowed, and she whispered a name
against that hard, calloused palm.

“Huon? I fell asleep,” she said, her dazed mind slowly
remembering where she was, what she had been doing and why this beautiful stranger
was in her bed.

“It’s late. We have to go,” Huon whispered, “But we wanted
to say goodbye before we left.”

“We?” The fog of confusion dissipated a little more, leaving
behind the sour memory of Ty’s abrupt departure. “Nice of you to include Ty in the
farewell. Since he left some time ago, I doubt if he’ll care.”

From the darkness beyond her bed, she heard a deep voice
say, “I care. I offended you and I apologize.”

“Ty?”

A different kind of shock replaced her earlier fear. She
hadn’t thought she would see Ty again after his abrupt departure. Having him
here in her bedroom sent her mind skittering in a thousand directions, trying
to comprehend his motives, predict his next action, anticipate his explanation—if
he intended to offer one.