Lust Plague (Steamwork Chronicles) (10 page)

Kaysana gulped, panted. What had she lost? But all she knew was desire for the man whose knee she lay over.

Then he stood and set her on her feet, as calmly as someone rearranging a shop dummy.

“Put on the clothes.”

Numb, trembling, yet at the loss of his touch feeling the world crawl slowly back in, Kaysana raised her head and looked up at Sten.
What had happened a few seconds ago? Something…odd.

“Now.”

She focused hard on him, frowned, drew herself straighter. Her vision expanded. The colors returned to the shop around them.

Until he reached out and touched her arm. Nirvana struck. His skin on hers was like opium to an addict. She inhaled his scent, lowered her eyes.

“Now, Kaysana.”

She heaved a sigh, took the clothes and the pair of thigh-high tan boots, stripped naked, and dressed in the fawn leather microtop, did up the buckle that went under her breasts, and slipped on the little flared skirt. The thin leaves of leather barely reached midthigh. Each time she’d faltered while dressing, Sten touched her. Each time her head cleared of his influence, she figured out anew how his presence drugged her senses, and then
touch
and the thought was gone again.

No underwear?

“Um.” She shook her head, licked her lips. “Stop touching me. It’s messing with my mind.”

“I noticed.” The lines around his eyes softened, and he smiled. “I like it. Don’t you?” He ran his fingernail over the double curve where her breasts swelled above the neckline of the top.

“Yes.” She trembled again. “And no.”

“Wait.” Sten fitted the mask over her head, fishing out strands of hair from under the strap before fastening up the buckle at the back. The thin leather smelled new and pungent. “Need this.” From the counter, he picked up another leather item and brought it to her neck.

A collar and leash? What am I, a pet?
“Uh-uh.” Hurriedly she stepped away. Her back and buttocks hit the counter with a
thunk.

“Yes.” He crowded her, left her nowhere to go, slipped the collar around her neck, and closed it. With a slick winding motion, he wrapped the leather leash several times around his fist.

Trapped.

“Now, my lovely woman, you’re really mine.”

Paralyzed, panting in soft bursts, she looked out through the eyeholes as Sten bent to kiss her. She watched him approach, and those lips—full and manly, strong like the rest of him. A traitorous thought kindled.
Just how I like it
. Her lips parted, anticipating. She moaned at the first light press of his mouth.

He kissed with little teasing movements. “Beautiful. I love you like this.”

And oh how the wet, exploring lick of his tongue tip enticed her. When he slipped his arm around her, she opened her lips wider, let him use his mouth to push her back into the cradle of his arms. Her neck bowed. He grasped her hair along with the leash so she couldn’t move her head. His other hand went down to her backside and shoved the leather leaves of the skirt up between her legs.

The kiss deepened, roughened, until she sagged in his arms, giving out small moans and cries. She clawed at him, her fingernails embedding in his back. At last he stopped and turned her around, then brushed her ear with his lips. Warmth feathered to her groin. The leather top squashed in on her hard nipples.

The wolf still stood at the window. A tiny bird hovered at his shoulder. Where had she seen it before? The fog inside her head refused to let a coherent answer form.

Emily’s?

She went to point at the bird, but Sten reached from behind and captured her hand, then the other one, crossed them at her back. The hard leather of the leash wound round and round her wrists, making a firm, inescapable bond, that…she realized, connected her hands to the collar about her throat.

“Go forward.” He propelled her to an upholstered bench positioned before the window. Cadrach stared through the glass at her as she was forced to her knees by Sten’s heavy hand on her shoulder.

He was going to fuck her. The revelation pummeled logical thought into some lost realm. She wanted him so much the need thudded hard into her like a pounding hammer, hurting her, consuming her. If he stopped now, she
would
beg. Tears sprang into her eyes, though whether from lust or shame or plain frustration, she didn’t know, didn’t
want
to know.

“Head down.”

At the mere presence of his finger on her neck, she lowered her head obediently. Her forehead was cushioned on the seat. Weight balanced on knees, her ass still hurting, she poised there, waiting. The red velvet upholstery filled her vision. She heard the soft huff of her breath, the thump of her heartbeat, the
hiss
of cloth sliding down his legs and being kicked aside.

Helpless. Mmm
. Her muscles below contracted. She had to stop herself from wriggling.

His body covered hers, heavy, pushing her hands into the middle of her back, pulling the collar onto the front of her neck so she had to arch. His forearms came down on either side on the seat; then he brought them in closer, hugging her shoulders, caging her tight, ever so tight.
Yes.

“Comfy?” He nipped her ear. The little dose of pain spiked to her nipples. Kaysana shuddered. “Now. I want the truth. I think, if I read you right, that you can’t hold back. You’re wide open, aren’t you, woman? What is going on in your head?” Another nip, then a lick. She held her breath.

No. Won’t, can’t say.

He shoved her knees apart, jolting her. Then one arm lifted from her side, and she felt him part the leather skirt…and the head of his cock slipped, pushed into her wet slit enough to make her moan. Nearly…there. She squirmed to try and make him penetrate her.

“Too far gone to think?” He chuckled, hugged her again between his forearms, viselike. “I’m not moving till you answer. Do you like what I do to you?”

Ack
. Her thoughts flowed like a swamp in summer. She knew what she should answer.
No
. The truth was easier, though. Far easier, and saying it felt like the first drop of fresh rain on an upturned face. “Yes.” His vise grip on her tightened more until she could barely drag in air.
Ohh
. “I…do.”

“Good. Second question, do you want me to fuck you?”

She groaned. Her clit throbbed.
Everywhere
throbbed. How many times had she been almost brought to orgasm? Yet…would this be begging?

Say yes, stupid
. “Yes.” She shifted her legs, moved her bottom the tiny amount she could. “Please, fuck me.” And that was definitely begging. But she didn’t care anymore, not at all. She was so wet, so hot she felt a rivulet of moisture run down her inner thighs.

Sten growled and pushed into her, slow and steady. Sensations muddied, and she couldn’t tell what was where. Only that he was taking her, filling her, and she could do nothing except bear it. A spasm of her muscles brought a hiss to her lips. He stopped, waited.

“Take it, Kaysana,” he murmured. “I’m going all the way in. I’m going to screw you until there’s no way you can say you’re not mine.”

His?
Right then his words seemed so right. She groaned, pushed up her butt. His teeth latched on to her neck, and he bit his way up the side. Pleasure fired up, drowning the small pains. The wide head of his cock reached the top of her womb and seemed to keep going, stretching her an inch farther, a relentless advance. He moved one hand, tracing down her neck, across her upper arm where it was pulled back by the leather around her wrists, then onto her breast.

“You have such soft skin.” His hand slipped beneath the leather of the top and cupped her breast. “This is mine too.”

He nuzzled her neck, thrust in and out of her as he toyed with her nipple. Dazed, she concentrated on everywhere he touched her. Nipple, cunt, neck, ear, anus. How easily he played with her, sent her soaring into arousal. She whimpered, leaned into the cushion. The red material surged back and forth as her forehead slid.

“That’s my girl. Say it, Kaysana. Say you’re mine.” The little in-and-out shunting movements intensified. He thrust in farther, harder. Her cunt grew wetter. Her little whimpers turned to cries. “Say it.”

No.

His thrusts became violent slams. Unable to stop, she bowed up more, at ass and neck, craving every inch of his cock. While he pinched her nipple hard and bit her neck, his other hand shifted down, probed for her clit, and gripped it unforgivingly.

“Are you mine?”

“Yes! Ah, ah. Ah!” Each thrust worked hot magic in her, each bite and pinch amplified by the brutal squeezing on her clit. Like a storm boiling down from the heavens, roaring across the land, obliterating reality, she came, spasming. The final whack of his groin against her and the ram of his cock up inside as far as it could reach, the spurt of his cum, threw her into another bout. Pleasure ravaged through her, and she heard herself scream and scream.

And scream.

“Ohgod, ohgod.” She gasped and slumped onto the seat.

When she looked up, with a droplet of sweat sitting at the tip of her nose, Cadrach was there at the window. Emily’s multicolored bird fluttered about—repeatedly hopping from shoulder to ground, then launching into the air.

“That’s Emily’s little bird. One of my crew.”

“Oh?” Sten pulled himself from inside her.

His movement made her jump and her thoughts curl inward for a second,
feeling, remembering. When has sex ever been this good? Never. But…
“I can think again.”

“Sounds bad. Am I going to regret that?” To her surprise, she heard lightness in his words. Sten untied her hands, massaged her wrists.

The man was joking, after all he’d done to her? Yet…that pleased her, when she should be cursing him. Kaysana shook her head and set her palms on the seat. Her body, even her damn legs trembled from exhaustion—both physical and mental. The bedrock of her world lay crumbled about her.

“I should be hating you. Why don’t I?” she said miserably, not sure if she wanted him to hear how vulnerable she was. To submit physically was excusable, unavoidable maybe. But the way her feelings for him had wrenched from one direction to the other in the space of two days…devastating. “This is madness. I should be thinking of nothing but my mission.” Except now he was like a gargantuan presence on her horizon, bending all her thoughts.

He kissed the back of her neck, gently combed out her hair, and tied it back into a ponytail with some soft cord. “You’re not the only one thinking like this. We need to get things straight between us. Stay there.”

She did. Head on her forearms with them flat on the seat, her bottom still out on display, she waited for his return. The leash dangled across her back and onto the upholstery. With her eyes closed, the world was a dark, swirling mass behind her eyelids. Whether it was the euphoric haze of aftersex or this odd effect Sten had on her, she didn’t know…but she stayed there.

“Good.” Something heavy but soft landed on the floor. Then she heard him move behind her and felt a damp cloth cleaning her. How gentle he was compared with before.

Her thoughts were steadying, rearranging. Maybe she’d feel fine and normal again soon.

“Come here.” His low male rumble made her shudder as if he’d delivered a brutal kiss.
No, I’m not normal, not at all.

With his help, she lay back with him on a pile of fur coats. He’d pulled clothes on—a shirt and pants. He arranged her skirt to cover her backside, and snuggled in, spooning with her, his soft mouth at her ear, one well-muscled arm pillowing her neck, the other draped below her breasts. The soft mask sat askew on her face, and her view of the room was cut off by the lopsided positioning of the eyeholes.

“Now, dear. Let’s talk. You say you should hate me? Well, I’m not normally partial to ornery women myself. Only I want you, your body, I want everything about you to be mine.” He stated this like it was a summary of the weather, in a slow, measured way. “If this is the plague, then so be it. But I remember how I felt before the thing hit us. I lusted after you then too. Only difference now is I’m doing it.” He nibbled her earlobe, pulled her closer. “This is
right
.”

Silence stretched, ached with possibility. Her turn. How to say this? It made her feel so weak. Yet—

She sighed. “The same, in a way. Yet logically it’s wrong.” The arm under her…so close, smelling so nice. She licked out with her tongue and tasted him, took a piece of his skin in her front teeth and bit, released him, licked again. After he’d spanked her, tied her up, fucked her, she wanted to do it again. This time she groaned at the stupidity of it all and rocked her forehead against him. “I have to get my mission done. How?”

Sten kissed her neck, chuckled. “Mmm. Said I’d help you. I will. But I’m going to enjoy you at the same time. Doesn’t change things that much.”

Enjoy me?
Thank God frankenstructs were sterile and disease free. “Once everything is over, we part ways?”

“We’ll see when this is over.”

“No.” Like an old shield she’d set aside, logic returned. “When this is over. We part.” But merely
saying
, she knew in her bones, was so different from
doing
. She wriggled against him. “I’m able to think again, properly. I don’t understand why.”

“No?” She felt him smile into her hair. “It’s because you’ve had an orgasm, I reckon. Given time, my effect on you’ll come back if I’m right.”

“Oh nooo,” she said under her breath.
Damn
. He was right, though. She could feel the way he bothered her building already. How long before it was unbearable again? “Maybe…maybe we should separate now?”

“Uh-uh.” A finger hooked into the collar, tugged. “We’re together in this. I’ll come with you to this Perihelion place. You’d be darn crazy to go alone.” He growled. “Don’t even think about getting away. You gave your word.”

She rubbed her face with her hand, adjusted the mask. “But why? Don’t you hate being manipulated like this? Even if you’re feeling these strange impulses, don’t you somehow
know
you should run the other way?”