Page 4 of War King's Treasure

She immediately froze. He lifted her enough, so his staff slipped between her thighs, then settled her back against him.

“Shh, Nori,” he soothed. “We’re just going to feel one another.”

“You said I had two days,” she whispered, her body shuddering against his.

“I’m not going to take your virginity yet.” He brushed his hand along her side, fingers grazing the side of her breast. He grinned at the whimper that spilled from her lips. “Just a little touching.”

“This isn’t appropriate.”

“There are no limits to the pleasures found between husband and wife,” he promised as he continued to run his hands up and down her sides, his fingers gliding along her breasts without actually stopping to cup and squeeze them as he wanted. Two days had never seemed so long, but Gavin was a man of his word.

“Why did you want this marriage?” she asked, relaxing slightly, though she kept one hand clenched along the edge of the wooden tub and the other over her chest.

“There are few things that give a man pleasure. A place to call home. Men who are loyal and true. And a woman to warm his bed and give him children.”

“Sounds like any woman would work,” she said.

“No,” he countered, finally sliding a palm in to cup her mound. “If that were the case, I would have already married.”

“It’s not too late to pick another.”

He brushed his thumb under her arm to rub across her nipple.

“You’re my wife. Accept it,” he ordered.

“I don’t even know you,” she muttered.

“Put your arms in the water.” He took both of her hands and guided them beneath the surface to rest on his thighs before lifting his palms to her breasts again. “Relax.” He plucked at her buds with his fingers, enjoying the view as they rose in hardened nubs at his touch. “Close your eyes and let me touch you.”

“I…I’ve never done anything like this.”

He almost laughed at her confession. Of course, she hadn’t. He’d kill the man who’d taken advantage of her if something similar had happened. Her innocence enchanted him. Knowing he’d be her first and only made him feel things he wasn’t prepared for.

“It’s okay,” he assured her, leaning down to place a soft kiss on her neck. “Remember everything is okay between us. I like touching you. Your body’s response says you enjoy it, too.”

“Mmm,” she said, making him grin again. He was supposed to be making her fall for him, not the other way around.

“My brother and I grew up here, in Phillip’s lands. Two bastard sons of a man unworthy of having anything. Instead, your grandfather gifted him a beautiful wife who was pregnant at the time. My father used and abused her until she died. He sent Theo to train under a man who was even more brutal, and I followed shortly after. When the time was right, Theo left and took me with him. We went to the Dread Lands. Conquered and claimed parts of it for ourselves.”

“And became War Kings,” she said, and he almost groaned when her fingers gently skimmed along his thighs. It took all he had not to tense at a touch she didn’t realize was tempting. His cock bobbed, rubbing along her folds, and he wondered how far he could lead her on their first sexual experience.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Emphasis on war. We fight every day to keep what we’ve built, and some of that is because of Phillip.”

“How?”

He took it as progress that she didn’t tense up again but remained softly rubbing his thighs and letting him explore her breasts with his hands.

“For years, the worst of the worst from this land have been finding their way into ours, terrorizing our people and committing the worst of crimes.”

“How is that my grandfather’s fault?”

“Don’t let him fool you when he says there’s nothing he could do to prevent it. Do you think we’ve never had bad seeds among our men? Yet not one of them has managed to get into Phillip’s land and wreak havoc. Because we punish swiftly and without mercy. It’s a harsh world, and those who rule it have to be just as harsh.”

“My grandfather isn’t harsh.”

Gavin snorted until she turned in his arms, her hard nipples grazing his chest as she straddled his thighs. Whether she meant to or not, she trapped his staff between her thighs, so that her sex sat on it. Hell, he was close to finding completion from that alone.

“He isn’t harsh. He’s kind and gentle. My mother died in childbirth, and my father was killed during a skirmish. He found my adoptive parents and gave me to them. He made sure they had everything they needed to keep me safe and happy. I wanted for nothing when I was growing up.”

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