Chapter 14

Stefan was nearly out of his head with need as Nicki reached down to shimmy her panties down her legs, her body everything he knew it would be—and not simply because he'd seen her with a swimsuit plastered to it a few hours before. Her muscles moved sleekly beneath her skin and practically shouted of her strength and flexibility to take on any challenge.

He wasn't sure she was ready to take on him, but he was more than willing to find out.

"I'm kind of feeling under—hey!" Nicki gasped as he bent forward and flattened her on the mattress, half tossing her toward the head of the bed where a dozen pillows waited to cushion her fall. Then he climbed after her, his hands sliding up the outside of her legs as he rose to his knees.

"You're still dressed," she protested, giggling as he leaned into her. "And maybe you've never done this before, but you definitely don't want to be dressed for the next part."

"Maybe I'll kiss you for a while first," he murmured, deepening the kiss for a long, silken moment. Strangely, however, she didn't relax. He pulled away and met her searching gaze. "You don't like to be kissed?"

Her return smile was quick, but a touch of uncertainty remained. "I really, really want to see you without your clothes on. Any of them."

He recognized the overture for what it was, and rolled with it. "Perhaps you could help me out with that."

"I definitely can." She lifted her hands to the edge of his shirt and pushed it up, the heels of her hands pressing against his abs, then his pecs as she bunched the material up in her fingers. She pushed the shirt over his head then focused on his chest, the appreciation in her eyes sending a jolt of awareness straight through him, pooling in his groin. In fact, his cock was presently the most aware part of his body, by far.

Her gaze dropped to his waist, then further down, and her smile turned satisfied. "See? I told you clothes would quickly become a liability."

He sat up, but stayed on his knees and she unbuckled his cargo pants and pushed them down over his hips, dragging his boxer briefs with them. But while his legs were trapped with his pants around his thighs she shifted her hands, reaching forward to cup his balls in one palm while the other encircled his shaft.

"I see what you mean," Stefan said as she squeezed him, but Nicki wasn't paying any attention to him anymore. She moved with surprising speed to take him deeply into her mouth, the burst of sensation so immediate and shocking that he sucked in a breath in a startled gasp—then she slid away from him.

"Like that?"

"I—" before he could complete the thought, she leaned forward again. Stefan's sight dimmed as she sucked hard, her light grasp on his balls growing more insistent. This time when she broke free, she was more intent.

"You really need to lose the pants," she muttered, shimmying out from underneath him.

"I thought I was the one giving directives." Nevertheless, he let her push him to the side onto the wide mattress, and he rolled over onto his back as she yanked what remained of his clothes free of his legs.

"Trust me, this is for the good of the mission. You'll thank me later." She positioned herself between his legs and leaned down once more.

"I think I'll be thanking you right now," he said, his words ending on a moan as she nuzzled his stiff shaft.

"Mm," Nicki responded, the vibration of the word making him shudder in response. "I think I'm going to be taking over from here, if you don't mind?"

Stefan groaned. "I want you to do whatever you want," he said, and she glanced up at him, her eyes alight at the guttural rasp of his voice.

"Really?" she asked.

"Really."

"Then I want to do this." Nicki drew her face along the side of his engorged shaft as she watched him. "I want to take you in my mouth ‘til you explode."

Stefan couldn't stop his eyes from flaring wide, but Nicki was staring at him, that curious mix of confidence and uncertainty there, hovering right below the surface. "Nicki," he warned as she dipped down between his legs again, her gaze tracking his the whole time. The sight of her burnished red hair spilling over her shoulders and onto his skin was driving him to distraction, and she hadn't put her mouth over him again. "That's not all that's happening here today."

She winked at him. "That's up to you, soldier," she said, and she sank over him again, her mouth moving slickly down his shaft.

Stefan fell back against the pillows. This absolutely wasn't how he envisioned the evening to start—or to finish. But all his plans were scrambled as Nicki tightened her hold on him as she pulled away again, her tongue flicking over his head once, twice, driving him almost mad with need before she took him deep into her mouth once more. The pressure inside him built and crested, and though he could resist the urge to finish, he definitely didn't want to resist.

He wasn't thinking especially clearly, but then Nicki watched him from between his legs, her mouth freeing him once more as she tilted her head up, her gaze pinned on his face, clearly trying to read every nuance of his expression. This mattered to her, somehow, being able to give him pleasure before she took any for herself. And while Stefan was used to running everything, from ops to diplomatic envoys to special intel missions for both gods and mortals, he got the unerring sense that this wasn't something he should run. This was something he should let go, something he wanted to let go, something his body very much was urging him to let go.

"Nicki," he growled as she dropped over him again, and the tight wet hold of her lips sank slickly down his length, then pulled up again, her fingers fanning out to flutter against the base of his ball sac. His eyes practically rolled back in his head. "Nicki, you should be very sure of what you want to have happen here."

She pulled free to speak against it, the words creating a new and opposite vibration as her breath hushed over him. "I'm sure," she murmured, circling the head of his shaft with her tongue. "I'm very sure."

She pushed down again, once, twice, and he surged up to meet her stroke for stroke, until the tide of need rose too high for him to call it back. Gasping out a warning, he grabbed the sheets into tight fistfuls as his back arched and his body surrendered to a release sharp and full enough to make him want to collapse. Nicki clamped her hands on either side of his hips, bracing herself, bracing him, as he gritted out her name in wonder and a little shock, the power of his release more than he ever expected, more than he'd experienced in longer than he could remember.

At length she pulled away and rolled off him, but when she would have left the bed, he snaked out an arm, yanking her back until she sprawled in the soft sheets.

"You stay right here," he said, with enough command in his voice that she blinked, startled. "It's time I took back control of this operation."