Below the Surface

Chapter Seven

“Excuse me?” Marcus stared at Tessa as if she’d lost her mind.

“What I meant was,” she paused, knowing she’d said what she meant. But as her confusion turned to understanding, panic set in. Why had Marcus referred to her as his affai—his damned bride, and why the hell had she blurted something so personal in front of his brothers and Arim, for God’s sake?

“Yes?” Cadmus asked with a wide grin.

“Please, go on,” Arim encouraged. His face bore no expression but his eyes were dancing with merriment.

“I meant to say, Marcus mentioned Darius and Samantha’s tie earlier and I had wanted to ask him what ‘affai’ actually meant.”

“So now you know,” Aerolus said plainly.

“Yep, now I know.” Her stomach grumbled, and she wished she had a piece of food stuffed in her mouth so she wouldn’t have to talk anymore.

A few seconds later a banana flew through the door nearly taking Cadmus’ ear off before landing in her hands. She flushed and hurriedly peeled the fruit, shoving it into her mouth, so as to make conversation impossible.

“If you’ll excuse us?” Marcus said to the others as he grabbed her by the arm quite forcefully. “We have some business matters to discuss.”

Tessa stared at him in confusion with a banana stuffed in her cheek, making her feel like a squirrel.

“The threat to have you fired,” Marcus reminded as she watched the others leave his room ever so slowly.

The minute the door closed, leaving the two of them alone, Marcus dropped her arm like a hot poker. He turned to her with a chilly frown. But as he stared at her, a genuine smile worked its way across his face. Then suddenly he was laughing, great loud chuckles straight from his gut.

Entranced, she soon grew annoyed as it became apparent she was the source of his amusement.

“Care to share?” she asked around the food.

“I’ve never seen a woman eat a banana with less finesse,” he paused and began laughing again. “You look like a, what do you call it? A chipmunk.”

“Oh?” she said frostily after she swallowed. “You often watch women perform with fruit?”

At her tone, his chuckles burst into greater gales.

She wanted to remain angry, but the sight of Marcus letting his reserve go made her heart leap. He seemed so approachable now, so close to touch.

Unconsciously, she neared, staring at him like he was a drink of cold water in a wasteland of desert.

He saw her look of intent and stopped laughing, his ocean blue eyes swirling into storm, mirroring her need. “We have things to talk about,” he said and took a step closer, bridging the distance between them.

“I know.”

“There’s more you should know. Things to plan.” He pulled her into his arms, his gaze locked on her mouth.

Her mouth dry, she licked her lips and heard him groan.

“Later.” He sealed her mouth with his.

As if they hadn’t come together just last night, or even this morning, Tessa’s body lit just for him. Lust surged and pooled between her thighs, and memories from their previous lovemaking peaked her desire even higher.

His hands touched her everywhere, soft and hard, urgent, yet so sensual she wanted to melt at his feet. Within moments he had her divested of all clothing, his hands stirring her arousal. His long fingers lingered over her chest, making her breasts swollen and heavy, needing more of his touch.

Lowering, he kissed her nipples, each tenderly, then more forcefully, as he suckled her, wringing from her an unwilling moan of surrender.

“Yes, sertia,” he murmured, his mouth working magic against her sensitive nipples while one hand circled lower. His fingers parted and entered her wet heat, sliding between her lips and plunging into her vagina with a suddenness that shocked her into near climax.

“No, sweet,” he breathed as he slid slowly in and out of her, adding another finger. “Let’s make it last.”

He laid her across his bed and stared down at her as he removed his clothing. She couldn’t help sighing at his perfection. Before they’d been too rushed for her to fully appreciate his physique, but now, under the light of day, she caught an eyeful.

She’d always loved a strong upper body on a man, and Marcus made her stomach do flip-flops. He had a hard eight-pack, forget the six, and the thin stream of silky black hair that lined his sculpted chest and disappeared below his jeans made her want to trail the path with her tongue.

His eyes smoldered as he watched her watching him, and knowing she could affect him with just a look had her drowning in desire.

“I’m going to take this slowly,” he promised and stepped out of his jeans.

She swallowed audibly. His erection was strong, thick and impossible to miss. He stood before her, hungry yet cool, making her itch to shake his unruffled composure.

“How do you do it, Marcus?” she asked, her voice husky. She rose to her knees and saw his eyes darken as they fell to her full breasts. She leant forward and placed a soft kiss on his chest, encouraged at the subtle breath he took. “You’re so together, when all I can think about is kissing you.”

She licked the spot and kissed him lower, just above his navel. “Tasting you.”

His hands fisted at his sides, and when she glanced up she noted his jaw was clenched. “Such composure,” she murmured with a sly grin. “How you can be so calm when I can’t stop my heart from racing. All I think about is what you’ll taste like when I kiss you there.” She looked down at his bobbing erection and thought she heard him groan. But when she looked up at him, his gaze was impassive.

“Do it,” he dared, a tight smile grazing his lips.

“Oh, I will, lover,” she replied saucily before lowering her mouth. She grasped his thighs to steady herself and immediately his stance widened, his tight muscles bunching under her hands.

She stroked his legs softly and breathed over the head of his cock, more than aware of the moisture coating his tip. Power thrived within her, a feminine energy growing with every beat of her heart.

Lowering her lips to his shaft, she sucked lightly, growing wetter as she absorbed his shattered reaction.

“Tessa, baby,” he rasped, pushing against her lips. “That feels so good. Yes, sertia, more,” he pleaded and groaned when her tongue stroked the underside of his shaft.

Tessa loved it. He was steaming, pure desire rolling off him in waves, lapping into her as if the two of them were one. She revelled in his scent and taste, and wanting to pleasure him, she took him deeper in her mouth.

With long, slow strokes, she worked him with her tongue, promising relief before easing the pressure off his shaft. She bobbed over him, letting the natural rhythm of lovemaking take over as she imagined riding him, not with her mouth, but with her body.

She was so wet, so on fire for him, her body melting at thoughts of him coming in her mouth. Just knowing she could bring him to such a state was as much a turn-on as the actual event.

He sighed her name and ran his fingers through her hair, tugging her closer when she tried to tease him again.

“Tessa, I wanted this to last.” He tried to sound stern, but the utterly enraptured look in her eyes must have been his undoing.

She withdrew from his cock and kissed the crown, making him shudder. “Oh, it’s going to last,” she promised, sliding her tongue along his pulsing flesh. “After you come in my mouth,” she whispered and breathed on him, watching him all the while, “you’re going to come inside me. We have the whole day ahead of us.”

His eyes grew steadily darker, and the room seemed to cloud, a cooling mist that both refreshed and made them slick against one another. He was rock hard against her cheek, and without another word, she engulfed him entirely.

He stilled, his body clenched tight, and when she took him in the back of her throat, working him with the passion she felt for release, she watched him uncoil, sliding into desire as hot, sexy words streamed from his mouth.

He began murmuring in that lyrical language she found so compelling. Again the word ‘affai’ sounded, but she was too caught up to press him on the issue.

“I’m going to come in your mouth, love,” he groaned and pumped, his cock so thick and hard it was a wonder he hadn’t already. “Swallow me, Tessa. Take all of me,” he said thickly as he shoved one last time through her lips.

Like a waterfall, he gushed down her throat, his hot seed like sweet cream as it cascaded past her lips. He held her head firm, still conscious to protect even as his body and mind rocketed to another plane altogether.

Giving him such pleasure, she couldn’t help feeling aroused and amazed at his constraint. When he’d brought her to climax, she’d been unable to think of anything but him and the pleasure. Yet he had the presence of mind to be gentle with her.

When he had thrust one last time, she swallowed the last bit of his essence and gradually released him, one glorious inch at a time.

His breathing heavy, he just stood there and gathered her to him. “Sertia, what you do to me,” he said and kissed her full on the mouth.

He must have tasted himself for he groaned again. “You are so giving,” he murmured and pushed her back to the bed. “Now it’s my turn.”

With every stroke of his hands and tongue, he brought her to peak but not quite over.

Her nipples grew hard and swollen as he nipped and sucked, teasing and tasting, until she wanted to cry for him to end it. And his hands. They flowed over her like water, until she understood he was using something more than the physical to bring her to ecstasy.

She watched through slitted eyes as his fingers parted her netherlips and entered her slick core, while a shimmer in the air caressed her arms, her shoulders, her thighs.

She saw nothing out of place but felt surrounded by his liquid heat, by the emotion he didn’t speak of that embraced her the more they touched.

“Please, Marcus.” She gasped as his mouth trailed the path his hands had taken, settling over her mound as he parted her folds and licked long and hard. His tongue pressed over her clitoris and she arched into him, unable to stop herself.

“That’s it, love, come all over me. I want to feel you shoot over my tongue,” he crooned and closed his mouth over her very centre.

“Marcus,” she cried as her world burst into a million fragments, like rings of pleasure flowing out from her core.

“Yes,” he groaned as he lapped her arousal, licking and sucking. “You make me so hard.”

Still enthralled in the rapture of his touch, she wasn’t prepared when he gathered himself over her and thrust deeply between her thighs.

The feel of him, so hot and pulsing within her, pushed her into another orgasm, so incredibly unexpected she felt almost faint.

He shot into her as her walls closed on him, their wet release mingling into an ocean of pleasure. “Take it,” he moaned as his seed continued to shoot. “Tessa, yes.” He pumped until he was dry, loving her body into exhaustion.

When she could catch her breath, she looked up into his face, so unguarded and true. And something within her clicked into place.

“Marcus.” She didn’t know what else to say, how to explain to him all she felt for a man she had only really just met.

“I know,” he said tiredly and leant down to kiss her softly. He withdrew from her body and pulled her into his arms, his voice husky with sleep. “We’ll talk later, love. Everything can keep. Just…later.”

She nodded, feeling tired as well. Stroking his hair and pulling him closer, she gave way to the exhaustion pulling her under.

Marcus lay back and crossed his arms behind his head, glad for the shady rilk trees protecting him from the sun. He stirred his fingers and cooling waters soothed his heated frame, a body still recuperating from Tessa’s extraordinary lovemaking.

“She’s special, that one,” King Faustus said from his left.

Startled, Marcus glanced over to see his father clad in a towel and nothing else, lying on a cushion of Tanselm’s thick grass as he gazed at the Quaren river beside his son.

“Do you have to be here, now?” Marcus asked, too sated to behave properly. In life he’d rarely talked to his father so, but Tessa had completely scrambled his brain. Besides, it was his dream, wasn’t it? Time to regain control of his subconscious.

“Now hold on a minute,” Faustus said hurriedly as an image of a very aroused and naked Tessa shimmered beside Marcus. “Let’s have a little talk before your af—friend returns.”

Marcus shrugged, and the image of Tessa faded. Why not? He could use the rest. Damned if Tessa hadn’t exhausted him. He could feel his toes tingling. His toes. He smiled and closed his eyes.

“Go ahead, Father. Say what you have to say. Nothing can ruin this moment.” He sighed in pleasure.

He heard his father chuckle and smiled. “She’s good for you, Marcus. You need to relax. About damned time.”

A ruffle of air soothed the two and a splash sounded.

Marcus opened his eyes to see his father playing in the river. He stared in surprise. “I don’t recall you ever acting so carefree before.”

Faustus grinned, his face and form so youthful it took Marcus a moment to recall his father had indeed passed into the Light. “You were always so wrapped up in the rules you missed a lot of the fun in being a prince.” A huge wave crashed over Marcus, leaving him drenched and curiously lighthearted as he watched his father splashing around.

“Your mother,” Faustus paused and his eyes twinkled, “that woman could get me to do anything she pleased. Had me wrapped around her little finger.”

Marcus nodded, happy memories chasing the sadness of his father’s passing.

“She always made me see the other side of things, brought me back when anger overcame good sense, pushed me to act when I felt indecisive.”

Marcus blinked. “Indecisive? Angry? You were perfect, Father, the epitome of the Storm Lords at their very best.” And the standard by which Marcus lived his life.

“No, son. You see through the eyes of a child.” Faustus shook his head, a spray of water refreshing nearby dragonflies. “You spent much of your boyhood with me, too much, I think. Even Aerolus lost himself in the woods rather than sit inside a stuffy court hall during penitence day. But not you.”

“I had to watch and learn,” Marcus defended himself. “So much to learn before training began.”

“You always were too serious. Now Cadmus, that boy has a sense of humour.”

Marcus rolled his eyes and watched as a screaming eagle captured a struggling eel from the water. “Cadmus is an idiot.”

“But a funny idiot.”

Marcus couldn’t help the smile curling his lips. “True. Maybe you should be having this father/son talk with Aerolus. He’s the one with all the serious issues lately.” He flicked a hand and watched as a mini-whirlpool tried to suck his father closer. “I’m fine.”

Faustus’ grey eyes sparkled as he pushed the water away with a sweep of wind. The whirlpool died, and he left the river, beads of moisture wicked away by the gentle air he commanded to dry himself.

He sat again next to Marcus, a casual purple tunic and trousers suddenly appearing over his frame. “You always seemed the most competent of your brothers,” Faustus said slowly, his tone warning Marcus to pay attention.

Sitting up off the grass, he turned to face his father, watching the sun play over his beloved face.

“Yet your mother would constantly remind me to watch out for you, that beyond your arrogance lay a well of insecurity.” His narrowed gaze burned a hole through Marcus’ defences.

“Come on, Father,” he tried to joke the matter aside. “I am the River Prince,” he said haughtily, his conceit eerily mirroring that of his father’s. “The wells of Tanselm shimmer at my call.”

“You command water. But you cannot command your heart. It commands you.” He gave his son a sly smile and shook his head. “She won’t let you rule her, Marcus. But she’ll let you rule by her.” Laughing silver eyes hardened into molten steel, and the jovial man who was his father became the stern taskmaster of the WesternKingdom once more. “And until you learn to temper your unfounded need for perfection, you will fall short when it comes to guarding that which you hold most dear.”

Marcus felt his entire being flinch, yet showed no outward reaction to his father’s words but a slight nod.

Faustus shook his head, frustrated, and Marcus wished he knew what to say to ease his father’s burden. “Heed my words, Marcus. The river flows and bends, it does not break. But pride is like ice and cannot pass obstructions, rather it shatters when it meets resistance.”

Marcus’ head began to ache. “Allegories and riddles, Father? You used to speak plainly.” When you were alive. The thought sobered him.

Faustus laughed. “Don’t I know it. Irritating as hell, eh? Sorry, but that’s the price I pay for crossing the Light to see you. Just make sure to believe in your heart, in yourself, and all will be well.”

The sun brightened and Marcus had to shield his eyes not to be blinded.

“I guess my time’s up,” Faustus murmured and stood, casting a large shadow by Marcus’ feet. “Remember, son, the surest way to a woman’s heart is truth, and the surest way to your truth is a woman’s heart.” He chuckled. “Make sure you tell that to Aerolus when his time comes. He’s become too much of a know-it-all under Arim’s influence.”

Marcus tried to see his father’s expression but couldn’t look at more than his father’s shadow, which lengthened under the brightness growing above them.

“I’m sorry to say this is the last I’ll be seeing you for a long time, Son.” Faustus blew a breath of wind over Marcus, drying him off, and in that breath was a reminder of the deep love his father felt for him.

“Remember, you are as you believe.” Faustus paused and his shadow flickered. “Tell Cadmus to look at his dreams, and Aerolus to study the spaces between,” he said quickly. “He’ll know what I mean.” His shadow vanished, then reappeared, a faint smudge upon the grass. “Damn it, see here?” he growled. “I barely said anything and I’ve said too much. Hell, just tell Arim she’s waiting—”

The light flashed, bursting like an explosion and the shock of power shook Marcus awake. He blinked and tried to make sense of his body’s odd state of awareness. Something tickled his legs, then between them, massaging his cock into a restless, aroused twitch.

“Wake up, Marcus,” Tessa teased and kissed her way up his body, throwing his dream into another corner of his mind altogether. Trying to catch his breath, he groaned her name as she slithered on top of him, lost in the heat and feel of her, his father’s words a distant memory.