A Touch of Crimson (29 page)
“Later.” He slid down her body. His lips brushed between her cleavage; then his tongue darted into her navel. When he nuzzled between her legs, Lindsay bit her lower lip to keep from crying out. Beneath her distress at being immobilized in the dark and her worry over Adrian’s volatile mood, she was ferociously aroused. In an untenable situation. She couldn’t forget how exposed they were and how many people—
angels
—were nearby.
angels
—were nearby.
“Don’t do this. You’ll regret it.”
“I regret
not
doing it.” He held her open with his thumbs. The tip of his tongue fluttered maddeningly over her clitoris. As her sex clenched in greedy hunger, a rough noise escaped him. “I should have finished what we started in Vegas. I should have ignored the damn door and fucked you until you’d never even
think
about leaving me.”
not
doing it.” He held her open with his thumbs. The tip of his tongue fluttered maddeningly over her clitoris. As her sex clenched in greedy hunger, a rough noise escaped him. “I should have finished what we started in Vegas. I should have ignored the damn door and fucked you until you’d never even
think
about leaving me.”
His serrated voice revealed his anguish and cut her deeply. She wanted to push her fingers into his hair and hold him close. She wanted to gentle him with soft strokes of her hands down his back. She wanted to give him the freedom to put down his burdens in total safety, away from the eyes of those who needed him to be strong all the time. But doing so would make him confront what ate at him, when what he wanted now was the oblivion he could find in her body.
Oblivion she couldn’t offer him. Not at the price he would pay for it.
Adrian caught her right leg behind the knee. He lifted it over his shoulder, opening her to the sudden thrust of his tongue. Her back arched and her head hit the door, the thud reverberating through the room and surely out into the hallway as well. He either didn’t hear or didn’t care. His mouth was buried in the slick folds of her sex, his tongue shoved as deep into her as he could go. He worked her tender flesh with rapacious hunger, as if he could drink her in. Consume her. Brand her body with his scorching, intimate kiss. She trembled and gasped, her toes curling so tightly they began to cramp. She hung on to that twinge of pain, fighting the orgasm he was determined to force on her.
His abrupt, drawn-out groan brought tears to her eyes, the sound so lost and desolate.
“It’s not t-too late,” she managed through heaving breaths. Hot tears fell onto her breasts, her heart torn because she knew it
was
too late. They were both too far gone to turn back now. They’d passed the point of no return the moment she killed the dragon in front of him. She could have walked away from the kill just that once, but she hadn’t. She’d bared her most personal secret within hours of meeting him, as if she’d needed him to see her for who she really was.
was
too late. They were both too far gone to turn back now. They’d passed the point of no return the moment she killed the dragon in front of him. She could have walked away from the kill just that once, but she hadn’t. She’d bared her most personal secret within hours of meeting him, as if she’d needed him to see her for who she really was.
Still, she fought the inevitable because she cared about him. Deeply. So deeply that the thought of him suffering for her made her insane. “You can stop this, Adrian. Before it goes too far.”
He growled then, a deep rumbling sound of aggression and determination. He latched on to her clitoris and sucked in rapid, forceful rhythm. A steady, drawing tempo that kicked her into an explosive climax. Her perspiration-slick body was wrenched by brutal spasms of release, devastated by a scorching pleasure she couldn’t defend herself against.
Turning his head, Adrian wiped his wet mouth on her inner thigh. Then he shrugged out from under her leg and stood.
“What do you consider too late and too far?” he asked with dangerous softness. “I’ve already been inside you. With my fingers. My tongue. My cock.”
Her eyes squeezed shut and her head hung limply. She struggled to regulate her breathing, to regain some control over her own body. Even shrouded in darkness, Lindsay felt raw and exposed, seared by his blistering emotional turmoil. “T-technically, yes,” she managed between deep gulps of air. “But you stopped. You restrained yourself once. You can do it again.”
“Technically, you say.” His hands cupped the cheeks of her ass and squeezed roughly. His teeth nipped at the upper swell of her breast, over her heart, hard enough to hurt. The tightly leashed control she associated with him was gone. He was ruthless, predatory, single-minded in his need to dominate her from the outside in. “Neither of us came, so it doesn’t count?”
He hefted her up and yanked her legs around his hips. A heartbeat later he was penetrating her with his brutally hard erection. She shuddered and strained to accommodate him, but he took a swift step forward and drove himself in to the root.
Pinned to the door, she whimpered in exquisite agony. Although primed by a half dozen nights of tender, erotic dreams, she still needed time to adjust to his size.
“Please,” she whispered, although she didn’t know what she was asking for. To stop? To start? To never give up, even though she begged him to? She couldn’t say yes—not when she knew what he was risking. But she couldn’t stem the selfish longing that wanted him to refuse to accept no for an answer. There was nowhere else she’d rather be than right where she was, but her refusal wasn’t about her. It was about him and what was best for him.
She heard the rustle of Adrian’s wings, felt the soft breeze they created as they unfurled and moved. That telltale kiss of air betrayed the emotions he fought to hide.
“No,” she moaned, a final, futile effort to save him.
One of his hands went to her hair, lifting her head so he could take her mouth. His lips slanted across hers, his lungs inhaling her every gasping exhalation. He rolled his hips and screwed deep into her, grinding with just enough pressure to stimulate her swollen, sensitized clitoris. Lindsay’s body tensed in heated expectation, her greedy sex rippling along the length of his throbbing penis.
His breath caught. His irises flared bright enough to delineate the sclera of his eyes and the thickness of his lashes in the darkness. He exhaled into her lungs. “No more technicalities.”
Adrian came so hard she felt it like a deep, hard thrust inside her. The violent jerking of his spending cock . . . the wash of molten liquid that caused sweat to slide between her breasts . . .
Her orgasm took her by surprise.
She shook with the unexpected surge of pleasure, her blood roaring through her ears so that she barely heard him moan her name.
The need to sob and cry out welled inside her. Lindsay caught his neck in her teeth, biting down to stem the sounds she wanted no one else to hear.
“Yes,” he hissed, thrusting mindlessly. “Fuck yes.”
Her wrists were freed. Her arms fell to his shoulders, her muscles twitching and tingling from the strain of pulling for freedom.
He pivoted away from the door, carrying her unerringly in the dark—still joined, still coming. He sat, and Lindsay felt cushions beneath her knees. A love seat, maybe. Or an armless chair. Her jaw unclenched, releasing his throat, and her head lifted. Behind her, a soft glow built like a light on a dimmer switch—a barrister’s desk lamp illuminating gradually until she could see everything in the room.
She looked upon his face, her heart thudding with joy at the sight of him. He was flushed, his eyes feverishly bright, his lips swollen from the ferocity of his kisses. But what ruined her was the moisture glistening on his lashes.
Tears. From her indomitable, implacable angel.
“It’s already too late,” he said hoarsely, wiping her own tears from her cheeks with soothing strokes of his thumbs. “Do you understand?”
She nodded.
He kissed the marks on her wrists left by the bonds he’d restrained her with. “I know you wanted to protect me from this. I tried to let you, but I can’t.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry I—”
“Don’t.” His head fell back. Upholstered in black suede, the love seat they occupied framed Adrian’s dark splendor and offset his rich olive-toned skin. “Don’t apologize for caring enough to be strong when I’m weak. Don’t be sorry for being the one thing that makes me happy.”
“For how long?” she challenged.
“As long as we can beg, borrow, and steal. Don’t deny me. I need you. I need
this
—your touch, your pleasure, your love. I can’t think without you, can’t feel anything. And I need to do both of those things to get through the shit I’m wading through right now. If you want to save me, you have to be with me.”
this
—your touch, your pleasure, your love. I can’t think without you, can’t feel anything. And I need to do both of those things to get through the shit I’m wading through right now. If you want to save me, you have to be with me.”
“What about the other Sentinels?”
“What about them? There’s not a one of them out there who doesn’t know I just nailed you to my office door.”
“Oh god . . .” Embarrassment flushed her skin.
“I
wanted
them to hear,” he said vehemently. “I could have taken you miles away, but you and me . . . it needs to be out in the open. I’m not ashamed of how I feel about you. I’m not ashamed that I can’t stop wanting you. It is what it is.”
wanted
them to hear,” he said vehemently. “I could have taken you miles away, but you and me . . . it needs to be out in the open. I’m not ashamed of how I feel about you. I’m not ashamed that I can’t stop wanting you. It is what it is.”
“They already hated me.” She dreaded leaving the room and facing all those accusing cerulean eyes. “Now—”
“They heard you say no. They can’t hold this against you.”
Lindsay cupped his face in her hands. “I’m not worth all this. I’m not. I’m just a crazy mortal who has no self-preservation instincts.”
“And I’m an angel who’d die for you. See? We’re a perfect match.”
Her heart fell into her stomach.
“Adrian.”
“Adrian.”
He caught her wrists, his face revealing so much emotion she wept at the beauty of it. “Stay with me, Lindsay. Be with me.”
“How can I say yes, knowing what it’ll do to you?”
“Just say it.”
They were too stubborn, both of them. She’d gotten what she wished for. And again, she regretted it. She couldn’t say yes, and he wouldn’t hear no. “I don’t belong anywhere else, you know. I’ve never fit in with ‘normal’ people. I don’t fit in with your people. But I fit with
you
. I know it. I feel it. None of that matters, though, because it’s forbidden. I’ll be damned if I’m the reason you fall and lose your wings. I’d rather die than see you turned into a soulless, bloodsucking vampire.”
you
. I know it. I feel it. None of that matters, though, because it’s forbidden. I’ll be damned if I’m the reason you fall and lose your wings. I’d rather die than see you turned into a soulless, bloodsucking vampire.”
He nuzzled his nose against hers. “
Ani ohev otach
, Lindsay.”
Ani ohev otach
, Lindsay.”
Oh god . . . Now that she knew what that meant . . .
“Make love to me,” he whispered, pulling her mouth down to his and teasing the seam of her lips with the tip of his tongue. “Show me you want this as much as I do.”
Her hands gripped the back of the love seat.
“Take me,
neshama sheli
,” he coaxed, flexing his still hard cock inside her. Sprawled beneath her in all his gorgeous magnificence and purring an erotic invitation, he looked every inch the sinful, decadent, unabashedly wicked fallen angel. “I’m yours.”
neshama sheli
,” he coaxed, flexing his still hard cock inside her. Sprawled beneath her in all his gorgeous magnificence and purring an erotic invitation, he looked every inch the sinful, decadent, unabashedly wicked fallen angel. “I’m yours.”
Lindsay shook her head. “No.”
Adrian’s features lit with a glorious smile. He twisted swiftly and she found herself beneath him, filled with him.
“I know what it means when you say that,” he murmured, hooking his arm beneath her leg and drawing it up, opening her so completely he hit the end of her.
Panting in exquisite torture, she managed, “It means run. Save yourself.”
“All of which says, ‘I’m falling for you, Adrian.’ ”
His tongue traced leisurely along his lower lip before he caught the firm curve in his teeth. He watched her with heavy-lidded eyes, gauging her reaction as he gave a practiced roll of his hips. The thick crown of his penis rubbed against all the deliciously tender erogenous zones inside her—a deliberate sensual assault.
She whimpered as he withdrew slowly, then thrust home deeply. Smooth and easy. He’d taken the edge off and was now settling in for what she knew would be a long, unhurried ride. Her fingernails dug into his tapered hips. “Adrian.”
He bent his head and groaned into her mouth. “I’m falling for you, too, Lindsay.”
CHAPTER 18
“It has to be her.”
Syre pushed aside the slender female arms crossing his chest and slid from his bed. He exhaled harshly, fighting the growing hope that so often led to disappointment. “You’re certain?”
“I wasn’t at first,” Torque said. “Even after meeting with her, I couldn’t say absolutely. She’s different this time.”
“In what way?”
“In a lot of ways. For one, I’m pretty sure I got to her. There were a couple times when she looked at me funny, like she might know me but couldn’t quite place me.”
“That’s not proof.”
“No, but two hours after I met with her, she headed up to Angels’ Point. Adrian returned shortly afterward.”
Restless with excitement, Syre paced the length of his bedroom. “How will you get to her?”
“She has to come down into the city to go to work.” There was a smile in his son’s voice. “And she hired me, so I have an excuse to be in the hotel most nights of the week. It won’t be long before the perfect opportunity presents itself.”
“Sounds too good to be true.”
“It’s the best opportunity we’ve ever had.”
Syre rubbed at the ache in his chest. “I should come to you.”
“No.” Torque’s voice was sharp, his tone implacable. “Vash is here now, with Raze and Salem. I’ve got all the backup I need. Your coming here will only give Adrian the opportunity to take you out. You need to stay in Raceport and out of sight as much as possible for the time being.”
Other books
Ghost of a Chance by Katie MacAlister
SinfullyYours by Lisa Fox
Miss Wyoming by Douglas Coupland
Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
Defy the Stars by Sophie McKenzie
The Long Wait for Tomorrow by Joaquin Dorfman
Thin Blood by Vicki Tyley
The Wildman by Rick Hautala
Every Other Day by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
