Loving a Stranger_A Kindred Tales Novel Read online

  “It’s all right.” Nallah looked down at her hands. “A wife’s body is only for her husband’s pleasure. It’s not required or necessary that he be gentle or kind.”

  “Goddess above.” Harryx sounded genuinely upset. “Your body is your own, sweetheart! To do with as you please. It’s not for some sadistic bastard to use like some kind of fucking sex doll whenever he has an itch to scratch.”

  Nallah shook her head, uncomprehending.

  “But…but a wife must submit,” she faltered.

  Harryx sighed deeply. “I tell you what—how about if I just hold you tonight? Would that be all right?”

  “You just want to…to hold me?” The concept was a foreign one to Nallah. Harryx had never once tried to hug or hold her. When they went to bed at night, he rolled immediately onto his side and went to sleep. Not once had he shown any interest in hugging or kissing or being close. But now he was proposing to hold her in the bed without using her or accepting her submission. It seemed so strange…so out of character for her husband. But then, everything he’d done since he woke from his coma had been out of character.

  “Let me just hold you against me,” Harryx said to her, interrupting her confused thoughts. “Let me show you I can be gentle, baby. That being close doesn’t have to mean being hurt. Would that be okay?”

  “I…” Nallah looked up at him shyly. “I think I’d like that,” she said softly. “Would you like me to change into something else, oh my husband?”

  “If you want to,” Harryx told her. “Wear whatever makes you comfortable, baby.”

  As he spoke the sweet, uncharacteristic words, his eyes seemed to darken again. And again, Nallah wondered if it was a trick of the light, but she didn’t dare ask about it.

  “All right,” she said softly. “I…maybe I should keep my sex garment on. In case…in case you change your mind.” She didn’t know if she wanted him to change his mind or not. She did know, though, that for the first time in their marriage the idea of being close to her husband in bed held appeal.

  “If that’s how you want it, baby.” Coming towards her, Harryx had pulled her close so that her cheek was pressed to his muscular chest and carded his long fingers gently through her hair. “Gods, you’re gorgeous,” he murmured, tilting her chin up so he could look into her eyes. “The most beautiful female I’ve ever seen.”

  Nallah’s heart seemed to skip a beat in her chest. This was how she had dreamed things would be on her wedding night, before she was married and had learned the awful truth of a wife’s sexual submission. She had dreamed of Harryx being gentle and kind and telling her she was beautiful. Had hoped that he would find her as pleasing as she found him.

  “Thank you, oh my husband,” she whispered rather breathlessly.

  “Can I kiss you, baby?” he murmured, still looking into her eyes with his that velvety black gaze. “Would you feel comfortable letting me do that?”

  Nallah felt her breath catch in her throat. “Do you mean…on the mouth?”

  Slowly, he nodded. “Unless it makes you uncomfortable.”

  “No, I…” Nallah licked her lips. “I think it would be all right.” The very fact that her husband was asking to kiss her made her heart thump harder. Harryx had never shown interest in such things before—though he had bitten her a few times.

  No, I won’t think of that now. He’s different now—like a whole different person, she told herself sternly, pushing the bad memories away.

  “Thank you for trusting me,” Harryx murmured. Then he cupped her face in his big warm hands and lowered his mouth to hers.

  His lips were tender as they took hers—barely brushing at first, more a whisper of breath than a kiss. Then, slowly, he deepened the contact, tilting his head to fit his mouth to hers more fully. To her surprise, Nallah found she was kissing him back, standing on her tiptoes with her arms around his waist to get more of his mouth on hers.

  Harryx made a noise in his chest that was half a growl of need and half a groan of desire and then stroked the seam of her lips gently with the tip of his tongue. Understanding what he wanted, Nallah parted for him, welcoming him into her body for the first time of her own volition.

  Her heart, starved for love for so long, seemed to pound against the cage of her ribs as he stroked her tongue with his, kissing her with a passionate intensity she had only dreamed of. He invited her to taste him too, drawing her tongue into his mouth to suck it gently, letting her explore him as he explored her, all the while running his big, warm hands over her shoulders and back, causing her body to react in ways she had never felt before.

  At last Harryx broke the kiss and looked deeply into her eyes.

  “Come on, baby.” His deep voice was hoarse with need and his dark eyes smoldered. “Let’s go to bed and cuddle.”

  “Yes,” Nallah breathed, much more eagerly than she had before. “Yes, Harryx, please.”

  Reaching down, he swung her up into his strong arms, making her give a surprised little gasp. Then he took her to the bed and laid her down, tucking her under the covers before he got in beside her.

  When they were both settled comfortably, he pulled her to him and continued to stroke her back and shoulders, making her feel warm and cared for. Then he kissed her again…and again and again. Long, slow, passionate kisses so tender and sweet they took her breath away and left her aching for more.

  To Nallah it was almost unbelievable. This was what she had dreamed love-making would be like when she was still a virgin girl, before Harryx had bought her and used her so hard and remorselessly. But he was changed now—completely different from what he had been. He was sweet and considerate and compassionate now. It was as though he was looking inside her head and making her fantasies come true, one slow, tender kiss at a time.

  After a while she had become restless in his arms. The slow, hot kisses seemed to make her long for more, but she didn’t know how to ask for it. Her nipples felt tight and achy at the tips of her breasts and between her thighs she felt her sex throb with unaccustomed need and wetness.

  “Harryx,” she whispered, shifting against him. “I feel…I…I don’t know what I feel.”

  “Arousal? Desire?” he suggested in a soft, deep voice. His eyes in the dimly lit room were as black as night.

  “I…I don’t know what that feels like,” Nallah admitted.

  “Of course you don’t.” He sounded half angry although she knew instinctively the anger wasn’t directed at her. “You’ve never been allowed to know.” He stroked her hair away from her face and looked at her directly. “Tell me this, sweetheart—are your nipples feeling more sensitive? Does it feel good when I do this?”

  As he spoke, he brushed his fingertips gently over her tender peaks, drawing a little gasp of pleasure from Nallah. Why did it feel so good when he touched her so lightly like that? In the past her husband had paid no attention to her nipples except to pinch and twist them cruelly sometimes when he was taking her. Then she had felt nothing but pain and shame. But now, when he just barely touched her it was as though an electrical spark had gone through her—a line of pleasure that seemed to shoot from her tight pink peaks straight to the aching area between her thighs.

  Harryx was watching her closely, as though gauging her reaction.

  “Does that feel good, baby?” he murmured again. “Or do you want me to stop?”

  “It…it does feel good,” Nallah admitted. “Please, oh my husband, don’t stop.”

  He brushed his fingertips over her nipples, stroking them through the thin fabric of her sex garment, circling them lightly until she moaned and arched her back, not sure what else to do because the feelings inside her were growing so strong.

  “My husband,” she gasped, moving against him. “Please, I don’t…I can’t…I don’t know what to do.”

  “Why don’t you touch yourself?” The suggestion, uttered in his deep, dark voice made her tremble all over.

  “Touch…touch myself?” Nallah had an idea she knew what