Ascend Read Free Page B

given him that may have changed his mind, but to tell him now would only make her seem weak and helpless. She would not end this night by begging.

Chapter Five
    C orey’s chest burned, the conflicting emotions warring inside him. Yes, he wanted Racha but that wasn’t enough to compromise his principles. In another time, perhaps he might have gone through with it but not now. Not after everything he’d been through with Jill, then the failures with women after her. He was grateful Erika had seemed to see that damaged part of him and steer clear in spite of their attraction. Hallie had tried, but both of them had known it wasn’t meant to be.
    Racha shot one last beseeching look at him, her bright green eyes brimming with tears, then nodded and turned toward the bed.
    Somehow Corey knew the tears were real, and not some ploy to manipulate him into changing his mind. Why did that understanding make him suddenly feel like crying, too? He could do this thing she asked. Bind her to her bed and try to give her some comfort through her ordeal. Company was something he could offer her, at least.
    He followed her, watching the sway of her hips and the ripple of her gauzy gown where it draped alluringly over her slight curves. Abstractly he thought a woman more perfect for him probably couldn’t exist, at least in terms of features he preferred. Petite and beautiful, with just the right amount of muscle mass relative to soft curves. He could easily picture gripping her round bottom while she rode him and those intense green eyes looking into his, her dark-lashed eyelids fluttering with pleasure while he…
    Get her out of your head, man. You don’t even know her!
    Maybe after he got her through this they could talk more. Maybe something could work out for them both. It was just way too soon for him to lose his mind over a woman because of sex. He wanted a clear head when he decided whether or not he could love her.
    Her skin seemed to pulse with a luminescent internal glow as she crawled onto the bed and lay down in the center.
    Corey had to climb on after her to reach her. He did his best not to look at her while he found the ropes that were already fastened to the green jade columns of the bedposts.
    Racha silently raised her arms. When Corey stole a glance at her face, her eyes were closed, her cheeks still streaked with tears.
    “How long will this take?” he asked in a gentle voice. The rope slid silkily through his fingers as he secured one of her wrists deftly in a sailor’s knot, then moved to tie the other.
    “I don’t know. I think it happens instantly when the sun rises, but I can feel the power pushing to get free already.”
    Corey glanced at his watch. Sunrise was only a short while off, by his calculations.
    “Should I tie your feet, too?”
    “Yes.”
    “What does it feel like?” he asked while binding her ankles to the other two bedposts.
    She let out a soft moan and shimmers of pale light traced up the skin of her feet and legs where Corey held them. The barest texture of greenish scales was visible as the light traveled up her lower legs.
    “It feels pleasurable sometimes, but others…” Racha’s words halted with a strangled cry and her back arched violently, limbs straining at her bindings. Her free foot kicked away from his grip and Corey barely managed to dodge it before it smacked into his jaw. He gripped her ankle and quickly secured it with the rope.
    Corey moved up beside her once the spasms subsided.
    Racha lay panting, her chest heaving from the exertion. Her brow shimmered with green-tinged sweat.
    “Shh,” Corey said. “I’m with you. I won’t leave you until it’s over, I promise.”
    Racha gave him a weak smile that disappeared when another ripple of light passed across her skin. Her lips parted and her brow creased as though she were bracing herself for the next painful episode.
    The spasm began and she let out a strangled cry. The sound rose in strength, becoming a deafening