“Yes. Twice.”
I spread my hands. “Aren’t you going to say you love me back?”
His brows furrow, and he tilts his head. “Is this a human custom?”
I try not to feel too indignant or wounded—this has to be a cultural sort of misunderstanding. “Yes. If I say that I love you, it’s a big deal. It means I’m giving you my heart. It means I want to stay with you forever. The least you can do is say ‘I love you’ back.”
He gives me a patient look. “Kim, have I not shown you how much I care? Do I not demonstrate it every day? Of course I love you. How can I not? You are the most perfect female I have ever seen.” He leans forward and presses a kiss to my knee, then my thigh. “You are kind, and gentle.” Another kiss, and he’s heading toward my pussy again, I just know he is. “You are brave and honest.” Another kiss, this time on my inner thigh. “You are beautiful, and smart, and resilient. You stand up for what you believe in. You make me happier than I have ever been, and I cannot wait to see our cubs grow up.”
His words make me glow inside. “If that’s how you feel, then just say it. I like hearing it.”
“I love you,” he tells me, and presses a kiss to my mound. “I love you. I love your taste. Your scent. Your softness. I love all of you.”
Okay, now I’m getting even more aroused. I squirm against his grip, sighing when his mouth settles between my legs again. “I love you too. You’re very kind and gentle.”
He lifts his head. “I should let you know…that is not what you want to tell a gladiator.”
I giggle. “Okay then. You are fierce and bloodthirsty.”
Nassakth grunts again, and he parts my folds with one finger, then gives me a slow lick that makes my toes curl. “Better.”
“You’re…unh…so strong,” I continue, my hands going to his mane as he licks me again. I rock my hips against his face as he does that tongue-curling thing, practically cupping my clit with his tongue and then begins to suck. “Oh fuck, you’re so scary. And rough. Everyone’s afraid to get into the arena with you because they know you’re going to mess their shit up. Oh god, right there, Nassakth.”
He purrs, and I swear to god, I feel it on my clit. I whimper loudly and arch, and he continues to suck and tease as I babble on incoherently about my terrifying gladiator mate and him ripping heads off or something. I have no idea what I’m saying, just that the more I say, the more he works that incredible tongue against my clit. “Fuck,” I wheeze as he pushes a finger inside me and sucks on my clit at the same time. “You’re…so…fucking…merciless.” Pleasure rolls up through my thighs and I clench as the orgasm rips through me. “Oh, Nassakth!”
I come so hard that my body bows, and I clench fistfuls of his thick mane, shuddering against his mouth until the ripples of pleasure slow and leave me panting in their wake. He lifts his head and presses a kiss to my hip, nuzzling at my skin. “Shall I say it again?” Nassakth asks. “I love you, my Kim. My pretty, perfect human mate.”
I sigh blissfully, stroking his face. “I messed up your mane,” I say drowsily.
“I like it. Let the others see that my mate has grabbed fistfuls of it,” he says in-between licks on my thigh. “They will be jealous.”
I run my fingers along his jaw, smiling when he presses a kiss into my palm. “Do you…we’re not done, are we?” I reach down and tug at his tunic. “I want you on top of me.”
But he just shakes his head and continues to kiss and lick a light pattern on my thigh. “This was for you.” He tilts his head. “And for me, if I am being honest. But mostly because there is no greater pleasure for me than making you come.”
“But you don’t want to have sex?” I sit up on my elbows, frowning.
“Oh, I do.” The look he gives me is straight up heat. His eyes are full of hunger, and when his mouth curls into a predatory smile, I shiver with a new wave of arousal. “I want it more than anything, and it will be glorious.”
This man is utterly confusing. “Then what are you waiting for?”
“I am waiting…” He shrugs. “For you to purr for me.”
“Er, what? Humans don’t purr.”
He shrugs his big shoulders again. “When we become one, truly, I will hear you purr for me. Until that moment, our pleasure will be yours alone.” Nassakth tilts his head again. “That is a lie. It is my pleasure, too. But you know what I mean.”