Instead of arguing, she rose and sauntered over to him, swinging those hips. A lesser man could grow enthral ed with the movement.
"Chase?" she murmured.
He stood as well. "What?" The air around her was electric, pricking his skin, but it felt good-it felt familiar. As she drew near, it intensified until he was almost shuddering. He stared down at her silver eyes. Mesmerizing.
Thunder rumbled the walls. "Hold on tight, Magister."
Chapter SIXTEEN
Regin's legendary temper? Redlined.
Chase stared down at her in confusion. "Hold on tight? What does that mean?"
"It means that you don't touch my things!" Her leg shot up between his own, her boot connecting with his ballocks.
"Ah! You f**kin' bitch!" he yel ed, fighting to stay upright. "You're goin' to pay for that!" He lumbered forward. "You have no idea what you're rousing."
"Sure I do! A berserker." As she jogged back, she gave a single jerk on her arm, dislocating the same shoulder as yesterday. Before he could reach her, she'd hopped over her bound wrists like a jump rope.
"Because that's what you are!"
He swung a wild punch.
She leapt back, dodging his fist by mil imeters. While he reeled from the swing-and-miss, she readied for another attack, ramming her shoulder into the side of a bookcase. Her shoulder joint rocked into place with an audible pop.
Again he charged. She feinted and spun around behind him, swinging her joined fists at his kidney. But the collar made her slower, weaker. He was able to seize her arm and spin her around with one hand, his other drawn back in a fist.
She lifted her chin, and Chase hesitated-
She took advantage, snapping her head forward, knocking him in the Adam's apple. Then she swooped down, swinging her leg against his ankles, dropping him to his back.
He shot to his feet, faced off against her. "No more mercy for ye, Valkyrie." Holding nothing back, he launched a haymaker at her head.
She ducked and laughed. "That accent you work so hard to hide is coming out! Are ye feckin' Oirish this time? Eh, boyo?" She leapt atop his desk, punting the side of his head. "Those swords are mine! Touch them, and I'll use 'em to slice off your nutsack! For a coin purse!"
When she reared back for another kick, he caught her ankle, yanked. She crashed to the floor.
With a yel , Chase lunged over her, pinning her bound wrists over her head, his h*ps forcing her thighs apart.
She felt him harden in a rush, even after she'd battered his bal s. "Oh, boy! Little Declan's excited to see me! Only little Declan's not little at all . The more things change ..."
When she wriggled beneath him, his jaw slackened, his lids growing heavy. She'd merely meant to tease him, but this heated contact began to affect her as well.
The enticing ridges of his body, his clean scent, the delicious pressure of his thick shaft against her ...She gazed up at his steely-gray eyes and found them so familiar.
Then he shook his head. "Enough! Where do you think you would go if you could best me?"
"I wasn't escaping yet."
He levered himself up on his elbows. "If not an escape attempt, then what was this?"
"A warning not to hurt my swag. Or an icebreaker, considering you're on top of me and we're both hot and bothered. Now, let's kiss and make up."
The Valkyrie was panting, her br**sts pressing against his chest. Her lips were parted, ful and beckoning.
"Kiss you?" As he waited for revulsion to seize him, he found himself wondering how she would react.
Would she moan into his mouth?
"It will help you remember me. Kiss me. Come on, you know you want to so bad. You want me so bad."
"Never." Bloody get off her, get away from her. But he needed to be above her like this, to master her, overpower her.
"Never? That boner of yours just cal ed you a liar."
"You little bitch." He ground it between her legs, wanting to hurt her.
Lightning struck just outside. Her silvery eyes went wide. "Again."
Temptress, his mind screamed. She was beguiling him-
She twisted her h*ps beneath him, rubbing her sex along his length.
He hissed in a breath, rocking against her in answer. Christ, it feels so good. "You'd let me f**k you right here, wouldn't you? Take you on the floor like a common whore."
"Another couple of thrusts like that, Chase, and I'll have to demand it." She arched her back.
Her shirt was riding up, revealing the beginning swel of her br**sts. Her ni**les were still covered, but they'd puckered against the material. Want to see them.
An involuntary thrust of his h*ps made her br**sts bounce, uncovering more glowing skin. Almost to her ni**les.
His c**k was throbbing. When he rocked it between her thighs, the pressure made him grit his teeth with both pleasure and pain. With another couple of thrusts, he'd come atop her; at that moment, he wanted to.
It'd been ages since he'd looked down at a woman like this. He cast his mind back, trying to remember the last time. ...
The night of his torture.
At once, fury drowned out his lust. He shoved himself off her. "Do not touch me again, detrus. Never touch me." He ran his hand over his face, then returned to his desk to cal for Vincente. "Come remove her."
Apparently unaffected, she rose. "Yeah, you're probably right. I should be going." She feigned a yawn.
"You've gotta head back to work and I've gotta head to jail. Big night for me. I'm planning to shiv someone for a bar of soap. I think we might have enough time for a quickie, though."
He cast her a withering look.
"Nothing can stop us from sleeping together. We're like magnets pulled to each other."
That was the thing about magnets-they didn't get to choose what they were attracted to. "Valkyrie, you're never going to have sex again. Not before you're executed."
"Way to kil the mood there, Paddy." She sidled closer, gazing up at him. "Now, Chase, I hope you won't let this spat color your judgment about me. I'm usual y good times. In fact, if you keep the terms of our deal, maybe I'll tell you the dirty details of how you claimed my virginity in a berserkrage. How you tore off my dress and tossed me on a bed of furs to do things to me that I couldn't even have imagined."
"You'll tell me a story and I'll spare you? You think I don't see what you're doing? I've read Arabian Nights."
"Cal me Scheherazade, baby! Actual y, she's one tricksy bitch. Who, by the way, still owes me twenty gold pieces and a pound of sesame." The Valkyrie had inched even closer until he could perceive the heat from her body, that addictive electricity. "You know I'm giving you good information. We could continue later, and I'd promise to behave for you. Or be your common whore. Gentleman's choice."