Page 10 of Sunshine & Ink

I fought to tamp down my expectations, but my blood was pulsing hot at his words.

He’d never allowed a woman to share his bed before?

But it didn’t—surely it couldn’t mean anything. But I couldn’t tamp down that flicker of hope in my chest.

And the other word.

Freeuse

I had never heard that word before. But I knew I would give Raker anything he wanted.

He didn’t even need a special word for that.

From the first moment I heard his voice, I was his to command. Frightened, aroused, embarrassed of what he could make my body do so effortlessly.

My romantic mind began to spin all kinds of fantasies as I lay limp and boneless on the bed, the intoxicating heat of my orgasm sending a warm glow of pleasure through my body.

What if Raker fell in love with me?

What if he wanted me to stay with him always?

His hand was still under me, almost lazily stroking my pussy even as the last of my release pumped out over his wrists.

Then he patted my clit firmly and rolled off the bed.

I twisted to look at him. The sun was slanting down over the desert now, shadows falling in the room, but my eyes took in the huge bulk of his body, those enormous shoulders and the strong muscles in his back that rippled down to a narrower waist, then the muscular ass and massive thighs, that cock still hanging heavy between his legs.

I couldn’t identify all the tattoos, but a few jumped out with startling clarity at me.

Skulls, blood. Fangs and venom. And always snakes, the highly venomous desert viper dominating. The head of the viper gleamed with dark menace, narrowed eyes, vibrant midnight scales.

Goosebumps broke out over my body. Hypnotic and frightening, there was a power to Raker that meant I could barely look away from him, even though my skin crawled with awareness of his danger.

“I’ll be out in a few minutes,” Raker said, and I nodded wordlessly.

Water regulations were separated by gender in Resurrected Territory. The higher your rank, the more water you were allowed. Men showered, women bathed in the remains. Would Raker be the kind of man who cleaned himself quickly, then plugged the drain? Or would he be the kind of man who forced you to bathe in grease and oil-slick waters?

Excited heat flamed on my skin at the thought of bathing after him, and I quickly opened my backpack and put on a T-shirt and pair of leggings.

Maybe if I got my first paycheck this week I could go buy some new clothes so Raker wouldn’t realize how little I actually owned.

I heard the water start up as I ran my fingers across the smooth polished stones of the window. His room looked out pastthe town and across the hard, dry lands of the desert, the baked tan sand and high cliffs that overlooked Resurrected, and the immense, dry plain that surrounded us.

There were stories that the plain had been full of rivers long ago, but that something had happened and the land took its water back. And that the Elders had come to convince the land to give it back so people could live here.

There was a little cactus growing up through a crack on the windowsill, and I smiled to see how it was hardy and survived even with so little water.

Then I saw another quick flash of movement in the shadows and a little lizard pulled itself slowly over the ledge.

I jumped and then stilled.

Something must be wrong with the creature, it looked injured, like maybe it had been attacked by one of the sharp-eyed cruel hawks that lurked, ready to kill any little animal that crept out from the safety of a low rock or cactus.

I felt a sudden twist of my heart to see how the tiny lizard struggled to breathe. Looking at a deep gouge on its back, I wondered how it had managed to escape from a hawk.

Seeing a dead cricket lying on the ground below, I pushed the window open and picked it up, then moved it toward the lizard with encouraging pushes.

“C’mon. Just take it.”

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