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She warmed his back as she leaned against him. Her hands came under his arms and around his front to run over his chest, and her breath puffed hot and damp against his shoulder. Nero’s cock strained upward, twitching every time she touched one of those extra-sensitive areas.

“Zara?”

“Hm?” She paused, surprised. It was as if she’d forgotten he was there. She was not doing this to please him, he realized, but because she enjoyed touching him. It was all for her, not him. She’d put his body on display so that she could admire it.

“I do not want to hurt you,” she said, her voice low and smooth and sounding like dripping honey. “If you want me to stop, tell me. Or signal with your hand. Hold out two fingers.”

“I will not want you to stop,” he said, amused by the suggestion.

“But if you do.”

“Fine.”

She brushed his hair aside to kiss the back of his neck. Then she slid her hand down his stomach toward the base of his shaft. Light, clever fingers wrapped around it and stroked him so slowly that by the time she reached the tip, he felt like he was going to die. She lingered near the head, teasing him in her fist. He felt her leaning to the side to peer up at his face, to see his reaction.

“Are you going to come early again?”she said, suddenly speaking Varai. It was probably because she found it easier to speak her own language while concentrating on something else, but it made it seem as if she had become another person. A different version of herself.

“I’ll come whenever you make me.”

She seemed to take that as a challenge, as he had intended. Her hand worked over him, picking up its pace. She continued until every muscle from his toes to his head was wound up with tension. Finally, he couldn’t stay still any longer. He reached down to grasp himself, putting his hand atop hers.

Her hand abruptly stopped. “Nero,” she said sternly. Her hand slid up to his throat, her grip tightening around it just enough to be slightly worrying. A rush went through him, and he almost finished right there. With her other hand, she pulled his fist away from his cock and placed it back on his thigh, leaving him painfully unstimulated.

She was torturing him on purpose. This had been her plan all along. To make him beg for her. It was lovely. “Zara, please...”

“Please what?”

“Please let me come.”

Her fingers grazed over his inner thigh.“You said you would follow my orders.”

He winced. “Yes.” He struggled to keep his fists stationary on his thighs. He needed to fix her grip and her pace and bring himself to completion. He was almost in pain from his need to finish.

“You’re mine,”she said, running her hand over his stomach as her other hand squeezed his throat. He felt a jolt of panic and then a wave of delicious tension. His body felt like it had turned to jelly.

“Yes,” he said.

“And you’re going to do as I say if you want to come.”

“Yes, Lady.”

She paused. Nero thought perhaps the honorific had been too much, but then he thought he sensed her smiling.

“And if you do not obey, I will have to restrain you.”

“Yes…”

She wrapped her hand loosely around his cock again, gliding up his slick shaft. His hips flexed, jerking into her hand. She opened her grip slightly, reducing the pressure on him.

“Please, Zara, I can’t…” He wriggled to try to rub himself against her hand.

“Didn’t I tell you to keep still?”

“Let me fuck you. Please.” He heard her suck in a breath. When she didn’t answer, he reached down to take her hand and mold it around his cock.

Immediately she shoved him to the floor. She climbed on his back, her legs wrapping around his hips, her arm sliding around his neck. Gods, how did she get so strong? It was like she pulled this strength out of nowhere whenever she wished to put him in his place. He didn’t know how she did it.

Her arm flexed against his neck, and for a split second, fear raced through him again, and he almost considered throwing out the two-finger hand signal she’d given him.