20. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

P yne

Adrenaline still thrums through my veins as I make my way to our room, Becca’s hand warm and solid in mine. My mind is a whirl of emotions: relief, gratitude, and a fierce, aching tenderness that threatens to overwhelm me every time I look at her.

She’s here. She’s safe. And although we have little more than a standard hour’s break before the baking challenge, I’m determined to hold her, reassure her, and reconnect.

As the door closes behind us and we’re finally, blessedly alone, the weight of what we’ve just been through hits us both at once. Becca turns to me, her eyes wide and filled with grief, I gather her in my arms, holding her so tightly I worry I’ll crush her.

“I thought I was going to lose you,” she whispers. “When Arisha said it was a fight to the death, I… couldn’t breathe.” She presses her face against my chest and heaves a sigh. “When you stood in that arena, unarmed, against that Iridian holding that deadly sword, the depth of my feelings for you became even more clear.”

As I slide my knuckles down her cheek, it strikes me how soft and vulnerable she is. “I’m here, Becca. I’m not going anywhere. Not without you.”

Cupping her face in my hands, my thumbs brush the delicate curve of her cheekbone. “I was the one standing in the arena, but knowing you were there, believing in me, counting on me… it gave me strength.”

She leans into my touch, her eyes fluttering closed for a moment. “I’ll always believe in you, Pyne. No matter what.”

Words catch in my throat, thick with emotion. “Becca, I… I know we’ve only known each other such a short time, but I can’t imagine my life without you in it. When this is over, when we’re free… I want…”

I trail off, suddenly unsure. We’ve never spoken of the future, of what will happen after the competition. But the thought of being parted from her, of returning to a life without her light, her warmth… it’s unthinkable. I’d thought what I had with the gladiators on the Playground was enough, but it was like the light of a candle compared to the sun. What I’ve found with Becca is… everything.

Becca’s eyes open, locking with mine. “I want to be with you, too, Pyne. More than anything. But…”

She can’t bring herself to say it. I guess I must.

“But if we don’t win, I’m not sure how to buy your freedom. Arisha told me I’d never be able to afford you.”

Her eyes widen in surprise. “You tried to buy me?”

“Yes. When I leave Cryosyne, I want to provide you with manumission papers, to take you with me as a free female.”

“Oh, Pyne, I want that, too.” Her expression clouding. “But if we don’t win, there’s no hope of being together after the Bake Off ends?”

I shake my head, my grip on her tightening. “We’ll find a way, Becca. I won’t rest until you’re free, until we can be together. Even if I have to spend every last credit I have, call in every favor I’m owed… I’ll make it happen. I swear it.”

She smiles. It’s a small, tremulous thing that makes my heart ache. “I believe you, Pyne. I do. But right now, in this moment… can we just be? Just you and me, and nothing else?”

I nod, drawing her back into my arms. “Yes, sugarplum. Yes.”

The mood suddenly changes. One moment, we were sharing our hopes and dreams and fears, and the next moment Becca’s expression turns heated. Her gaze rakes over my chest and then comes to rest on my lips with all the fiery focus of a predator.

“You need a shower, gladiator. And then… a reward.” The close-lipped smile she flashes me is almost feral.

She strides to the refresher as though she knows I’ll follow. She isn’t wrong. After turning on the water, she pivots toward me, her gaze blatant as she waits. When I don’t jump into action, she cocks an eyebrow and urges, “Don’t keep me waiting, gladiator.”

Although I’m filled with the urge to tease her, there’s not much to work with since I’ve already kicked off my boots and I wear nothing under my loincloth. I unwind the cloth, keeping my gaze pinned on her as it drops to the floor with barely a whisper of noise.

“Now you, baker.” It’s a challenge.

Keeping our gazes locked, her fingers fly as she unbuttons her white chef’s coat and pants, then makes quick work of her undergarments.

“First shower, Pyne, then reward.” She spares no words in telling me exactly what she wants. The way she’s staring at my pulsing cock leaves little doubt as to what reward she has in mind.

I step into the shower and waste no time lathering the soap and rubbing my torso. With a reward waiting, I have no desire to delay.

Becca steps into the shower with her head held high as a queen, then grips my wrist and orders, “Slow down. That’s my job.”

With the force she uses to press my front against the cool, blue tile, you’d think she was the gladiator and I the baker. She even dares to move my hands just where she wants them—palms at head height, pressed against the wall.

“Now, let’s get you clean, ace of the arena.”

Her small, soapy hands glide along my skin, staying within the boundaries between my shoulders and waist. My hands ball into fists as I use all my self-control not to pivot, grip her wrists, step her backward to the other side of the shower, and slide my cock into her wet heat.

Instead, I let my muscles go lax and let my baker take control. She’s being very thorough now, making sure to clean under my arms and down my hips and calves and from the base to the tip of my tail.

“Get to the good parts, Becca,” I hiss.

Before the last word is out of my mouth, she reaches around my tail and between my spread legs and soaps my balls.

“Is this a good part, Pyne?” She’s lifted onto tiptoe so she can murmur into my ear, then settles back onto her soles to wash my balls as though she’s on a mission. She rolls them in her palm, then tugs lightly until I reward her with a low moan.

“Yess. Good.”

Two can play at my female’s game. I lift my tail, which is basically one thick, tapering muscle. Pressing up between her legs, I push with just the right pressure to tease her most intimate spaces. When her hands stutter as though she forgot what she was doing to me as she presses down to ride my tail, I realize it wasn’t the right pressure. My human likes it hard.

She must realize she’s lost her focus because she steps over my tail so she’s no longer straddling it, then resumes fondling my heavy balls.

“Or maybe this is the part you were talking about?” She reaches around my hip and grips my steel-hard rod with her soapy fingers.

“ Drack! Becca that feels…” I suck air in through my teeth. “So good.”

“Oh? This? This feels good?”

Her grip is soft as she explores me, base to tip and back again. My cheek is pressed against the slippery tile and the only part of us that’s touching is her small hand on my rock-hard cock, yet her touch is so sensual I wonder if I’m going to shoot my load before I lay a hand on her.

“How about this , gladiator?”

She circles thumb and forefinger under my crown and fondles me in tiny motions, barely moving. I’m already in heaven, moaning, then clamping my teeth together to help control my urge to come.

She presses herself closer, her hard nipples sliding up and down my soapy back as she pumps my shaft.

“Stop. Before I come.”

Although I didn’t think she’d comply, her hand stops moving immediately.

“I don’t want you to come against the wall, Pyne. I want to swallow you down.”

My cock jerks at her words as every muscle in my body tightens in an effort to keep from erupting. No female has ever talked to me this way, wanted me this much. My thoughts are spinning with how heady this is.

She pulls me away from the wall and dances me under the showerhead.

“I need you in my mouth right now, Pyne.” Her voice is needy, husky.

The moment the suds sluice off my body and down the drain, she drops to her knees on the hard tile floor, grips the base of my cock, and gazes up at me through spiky lashes.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” she says.

I can’t believe those words came from her lips. Shouldn’t I be the one saying this to her?

Her gaze flicks to my stiff rod as she licks her lips. Seeing my green cock bobbing so close to her mouth, I can imagine why she’s hesitating. I’m big down there. I’m not sure she can handle me.

Her uncertainty doesn’t last long, though. She sticks out that pretty, pink tongue and licks around my rim. I grip her shoulders and hang on for the best moments of my life.

My talented baker’s gaze never leaves mine as she licks and laps and circles. Pointing her tongue, she delves into my little slit as though she’s searching for honey.

The sensation is almost too much for me to handle—but I’m selfish. I want more.

Each caress of her tongue, each gentle suck and nip, brings me closer to the edge. She discovers exactly how to please me, and I can’t help but moan and buck against her mouth.

“So good, Becca. So dracking good.”

While she fists my base, she bobs as far as she can manage, all the while keeping our connection with her eyes.

“You’re sucking my cock so well.”

My praise spurs her on, as she bobs faster, fists me harder, and moans with sheer pleasure at the act of giving me bliss.

“I’m going to—” My voice is a harsh growl as I try to pull her off me, knowing she certainly doesn’t want… but she holds on tighter and groans as though she was dying of thirst and I just provided her with life-giving water as I pump into her. Our pleasured groans mingle and rise over the sound of the shower pouring down on us.

When I grip her shoulders, wanting to pull her to stand, she fights me as she steals a few laps at my length to catch every last drop of my spend before I drag her to her feet.

We sag together as I shelter her from the spray, my arms around her as I murmur into the shell of her ear. “Your touch, Becca, so generous, so sweet.”

If I didn’t love her before she gave me such ecstasy without a thought to her own pleasure, I certainly do now.

“We need to get dressed, sugarplum. Arisha will kill us if we’re late.”

Her eyes flare wide as our glances meet. What is usually a figure of speech is now, after today’s episode in the arena, a deadly possibility.