Read Online The Pleasure Slave by Gena Showalter - Free Book Online Page A

distract himself, had to lose himself in a woman’s—in Julia’s—body. Sex wiped the acrid knowledge of his past, and his future, from his mind, if only for a moment, for he controlled the pleasure, therefore he controlled the woman.
    But Julia didn’t want him.
    His hands curled at his sides. Well, he would just have to use every sensual weapon at his disposal to seduce her. All the while keeping his emotions untouchable.
    Scowling, he stalked to her door and paused. Without her permission, he could not enter her room. That thought irritated him even further. By Elliea, he loathed being told what to do. He always had. He had been a soldier, leader of the Elite, and all of these years of enslavement had not destroyed his warrior instincts.
    A warrior gave orders, he did not take them.
    Body tight with frustration, he tested the handle and found the silver metal turned easily. “May I enter, Julia?” The words left his mouth quickly, for he despised the taste of them.
    “Why?” came the muffled reply. “I’ve already told you. You and I are not…we aren’t…”
    “I did not come to beg for your favors, if that is what you desire.” He’d spent too many years of his childhood on his knees, begging for clothes, food and affection, his efforts rewarded with pain and humiliation. To willingly hand that power to another…Nay, he would not. He had proven that to Zirra, and he would prove it now to Julia.
    “I don’t want anything from you,” she called. “I just want to sleep. Alone.”
    She didn’t want him to grovel, then. His muscles released their viselike grip on his bones. “I must ascertain your chamber is properly bolted against intruders.” Before I strip you naked and seduce you.
    A heavy pause thickened the air. Finally she uttered a long-suffering sigh. “All right. You may enter.”
    He pushed his way inside. Light dripped like crystal tears from an overhead source, brightly illuminating the small room. Imperian light stemmed from lamori gems, stones that were alive, yet in his otherworld travels he had seen such light sources as this before, some much more elaborate, so he paid this one no heed. Julia sat atop a sinfully decadent four-poster bed of pink silk sheets and mint-green shams. Her knees were pulled to her chest, and her long honey-colored hair cascaded like rays of sunshine around her face, shoulders and slender arms.
    For an instant, her eyes met his, but she quickly glanced away.
    After a determined inhale, exhale of breath, she once again faced him. “I haven’t meant to be so ill-tempered,” she said. “I’m just…I don’t know. Two days ago I flipped a man off, then shoved him at the flea market just to beat him past the doors. Then I yelled at a perverted killer with a sword—that’s you, though I don’t think of you as a killer anymore.”
    He arched a brow. “But you still think of me as perverted?”
    “No, of course not.” She gave a dejected sigh.“What’s wrong with me? I’m usually very reserved. I never speak out of turn. But I’ve managed to insult you over and over again, and I’m sorry. So very sorry. I don’t want to hurt you.”
    He had expected anger and resistance from her, yet she displayed repentance. She was the only woman ever to offer him such a thing. For a moment, he closed his eyes, unsure of how to respond.
    What was he going to do with this woman? Seduction somehow seemed wrong. She deserved so much more than he could give her.
    “You have nothing to apologize for, little dragon. I have enjoyed my time with you.”
    “I know you’re just saying that,” she said shyly, hopefully contemplating him, “but I thank you, anyway.”
    He opened his mouth to comment, but her next words stopped him. “I’m sorry for the kiss, too. I didn’t mean to let it get out of hand, or to lead you on.”
    She looked so earnest, so concerned for his feelings. First her apology, now this. A guan ren’ s concern…so new to him, and yet it was the