Dalir's Salvation (6 page)

A tortured cry came from the bedroom.

Dalir phased inside. His heart pounded. Energy sparked and glowed around him as he prepared to make the first, rapid strike.

Ari cried out and thrashed around in a tangle of sheets. Ramping down his power, he hurried to the bed.

He took her by the shoulders. “Ari, wake up.”

“Let me go!” She swung at him, legs moving in a pantomime of escape.

“Stop. You’re okay. You’re having a nightmare.”

Breathing rapidly, she struggled to break free of his grasp. “I have to get out. I have to get out.”

“Look at me.” Dalir sat on the bed. He shook her firmly. “I’m here. No one will hurt you.”

She lunged at the bedside table and switched on the lamp. Shoulders tense, her gaze darted around the room. Shaky breaths rushed out of her.

“You’re all right.” His own heart raced from adrenalin.

Confusion melted from her expression. She collapsed weakly against his chest. “I thought…I thought they’d locked me in again…” Sobs replaced gasps.

He held her close as she trembled. Phase energy still fueled his strength. He forced himself to balance it against a wave of protectiveness. If he ever got is hands on whoever they were, he’d beat them into the ground. He held her away from him. “Tell me who hurt you.”

“It doesn’t matter.” She swallowed hard and glanced away. “It happened a long time ago.”

Was it her mother? Did she lock Ari someplace where she couldn’t get out? He tried to see into Ari’s mind. Once again, somehow, without even realizing it, Ari shielded her thoughts. She needed to let him in, but pushing her too hard might cause her to make him disappear. He wouldn’t leave her upset and alone.

Ari burrowed into his chest. “I haven’t had a dream like that one in a while. And this time, it was different.” She shivered. “I don’t understand why all of this bad stuff is happening to me. I thought I was past it.”

Powerlessness stabbed into him. He hated to see her hurting. If Ari would just lower the mental wall she’d put up, maybe he could help.

She laid her head on his shoulder. “How do I make it stop?”

“I wish I had an answer.” As he stroked Ari’s back, she relaxed. “But we’ll figure it out.”

“Don’t leave me again.” As she shifted in his arms, her light exhale caressed his throat. The hem of her night shirt crept up. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“I won’t leave the apartment.”

Ari gazed up at him with desire in her eyes. “No. Stay here.”

He averted his gaze. Her bra laying in the side chair reminded him of her beautiful, bare breasts. Want built inside of him. He shoved it aside. He could ease her pain with kisses and caresses over every inch of what she’d revealed in her unintentional striptease. Or he could tuck her safely underneath the covers, forget his selfish desires, and remain the protector she needed from whatever frightened her.

Her hand inched up to curve around the back of his neck. She tugged him down.

It was a summons he couldn’t refuse. Dalir lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. So soft, so wonderful. He plunged his tongue into the lushness of her mouth. Stroking. Feasting. Taking his time as he explored every texture, every curve.

Dalir cupped her breast and thumbed her nipple.

She arched her back, giving him better access. He squeezed the hardened peak, and her breathing quickened and grew shallower. Her moan hummed into him. His scalp tingled as her fingers tangled in the hair at his nape.

Ari kicked away the covers. As she climbed onto his lap, she bumped his cock.

Heartbeats filled his chest. He wanted her badly, but he needed to know if she realized what she’d asked. He didn’t want either of them facing regret.

Forcing himself to slow down, he ended the kiss. “Sex isn’t a requirement for me to stay with you tonight. I know you’re scared. I won’t leave you. I’ll stand right outside the door if it will help you feel safe.” He lifted her chin. “But I can’t be near you like this and not want more.”

Ari’s brown eyed gaze held his.

Every one of his nerve endings seemed to stand on edge through the silence.

“I understand.” The light touch of her fingertips, tracing his bottom lip held him in suspension. “I want you to stay.”

“Thank the Alandian stars.” As he captured her mouth, Dalir grazed her fingers before she got them out of the way. Her tongue glided and curled over his. He thrust farther in. The need for air finally drove him away. Shallow breaths heated the fraction of space between them.

As Ari nipped and sucked his bottom lip, she grasped the bottom of his shirt.

In between teasing, too short kisses, he helped her take it off. Separation from her mouth bred frustration. Any time with his lips not on some part of her, too long of a wait. He lifted her up so she could straddle him.

As Ari kissed his neck and shoulder, she undulated her hips.

The warmth between her thighs rubbing over him made Dalir insanely harder. Primitive need surged like thousands of tiny sparks, primed to ignite into flame. He needed more. Dalir stroked his palms up her thighs to the hem of her sleep shirt. As he glided farther upward, he encountered more of her silky-smooth skin. He gripped her ass and trailed kisses down her throat.

She eased her legs wider and hooked them around his waist. His breath caught with the slow glide of skin against skin.

Undone by need, Dalir gripped the edge of her shirt, and together they lifted it over her head. He explored more of her newly exposed skin with his hands and lips before the cloth hit the floor. The fullness of her breasts filled his hands. The hard peaks of her nipples grazed his tongue. Every firm, voluptuous curve gliding over his palms, beautiful, perfect. He couldn’t get enough.

Dalir hauled her against him. The scent of arousal mixed appealingly with her light floral perfume. He ground his hardness into her heat. His cock jerked painfully against his zipper. Too much time had passed since he’d experienced true sexual fulfillment. Just the image in his mind of sinking deep inside of Ari, made him ache. Palming her ass, he stood. Dalir sat Ari on the bed.

He couldn’t move. A strip of dark hair, ran over the seam of her bare pussy. His mouth watered in anticipation of tasting her. Making her orgasm before he thrust inside of her.

Concern broke through the haze of desire in her eyes. “Dalir?”

He unfastened his jeans. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Relief rushed through Ari. It was crazy to use a figment of her imagination to scare the past and the dream away. But she needed to forget and feel something other than the despair, threatening to pull her under. There he stood, larger than life, bronzed from the sun, muscle packed on muscle. No one, not even bullies in a nightmare, could take this Greek god of a man down. She would lose herself in mindless passion with him. Just for a night. Then, she’d get back to reality and accept that he only existed as a fantasy.

Dalir paused in the midst of unzipping his jeans. His gaze lingered between her thighs.

The carnal need in his expression emboldened Ari to lose her inhibitions and widen her legs. She tormented herself with light teasing strokes along the seam of her sex.

His nostrils flared, and his breathing sped up as he stared, transfixed by the show she offered him.

She kept going, slipping her fingers inside of herself. As she circled her clit, her legs quivered as her hips moved of their own accord. Her heart beat faster as she forced herself to hold his gaze and fought the desire to come.

Dalir hurriedly stripped off his jeans. The tip of his thick erection bumped against his taut abdomen. He crawled on top of the bed, his movements like a stalking tiger, forcing her back on the mattress.

The new sensation of his hair roughened thighs grazing hers made Ari shiver.

He braced himself on his elbows. His hardness pressed firmly to her belly as he stared into her eyes. “You won’t think about the dream. For the rest of the night, you’ll think of nothing but me.”

Anticipation fluttered through her middle. He understood exactly what she wanted.

Dalir flicked his tongue over the peak of her breast, then sucked it into his mouth. As he pulled away, he grazed her nipple with his teeth, then drew it slowly back in.

Extreme pleasure lifted her off of the sheets. Her sex clenched. She wrapped her arms around him. Delicious sensation washed over her.

He took his mouth away.

She whimpered in protest, digging her nails into his back.

“Shh. Patience, Little One.”

“Don’t call—”

He sucked her other nipple while he plucked and tweaked the one he’d just left.

Names, threats, promises drowned in overwhelming desire. She reveled in the warmth of his mouth; held back moans as his large, calloused hand skimmed over the swell of her breast and moved down her belly. He stroked and squeezed her hip drawing out torment. Dalir stroked lower and lower and she lost the ability to breathe. She hung on the edge, suffering a little, as she quivered in anticipation.

Finally, he slipped one finger inside of her.

A cry of relief escaped.

Dalir eased two fingers in, curling them, as he strummed her clit with his thumb. His gentle assault took command of her with deeper and deeper strokes.

She followed the rhythm with her hips, desperate for more. “Yes, yes.” The mantra interspersed with her pants. Tingles raced up and down her legs. She was so close. Ari bucked her hips to meet every coveted stroke. Harder. Faster. The world seemed to shatter around her with an orgasm that bowed her up from the mattress. Too much. Too good. She couldn’t take much more. Whimpering desperately, she grabbed his wrist and clamped her thighs around his hand. “Please . . . no more. Just you. I want you inside of me.”

Dalir positioned himself between Ari’s thighs. Grasping her hip, he fit his shaft to her opening, prepared to thrust forward.

“Wait! We need a condom.”

“A what?” He grew rigidly still.

They’d both gotten so caught up. She couldn’t get mad at him for not remembering protection. She’s almost forgotten, too. Ari stroked his back. “There’s a box in the bedside table.”

He rested his forehead on hers. “Condom…right. Hold on.” Dalir found the foil packets. After fumbling with the condom, he rolled one on.

Her heart fluttered against her ribcage as he came back to her.

She needed to hold him, have him inside of her now.

Dalir held her hips and surged forward.

Reality exceeded imagination as he pulled out and glided back in. He rocked his hips harder, faster.

Ari wrapped her legs around his waist, craving every thrust.

Dalir’s back muscles tensed under her palms. The headboard rattled as he powered his hips forward. He pushed her closer and closer to orgasm.

Ecstasy seized Ari. Muffling screams against his shoulder, she let sheer pleasure overtake her.

Dalir released a groan of release. He shook as he drove into her.

Her sex clenched around him. A burst of pleasing, radiant heat showered over her. Another intense climax had her gripping the sheets.

As he lifted to his elbow, Dalir’s rushed breathing caused his chest to brush hers. “Are you all right?”

More than all right. She kissed him and communicated her response in the stroke of her tongue over his. He’d just given her the best fantasy sex of her life.

* * * *

Sounds conversation and laughter floated through the kitchen window. Before Dalir stretched the slats of the blinds wider, a glimpse of the guy’s short, dark hair and her blond ponytail revealed their identities.

Reid and Lauren worked on another addition to include with the new patio furniture on the back porch. A built in barbecue.

Lauren sat on top of the deck railing. Her long, jean clad legs were stretched out with her booted feet resting on a patio chair. She adjusted her ponytail as she read aloud from the instructions.

Reid, dressed in a dark T-shirt, camouflage pants and tactical boots, had most likely stopped by after morning training at the range. He pointed to the toolbox on the wooden planks of the deck.

She sauntered to the box and bent over it, giving Reid a nice view of her ass.

Sufficiently distracted, Reid swaggered over. He kissed the exposed skin between the hem of her shirt and the waistband of her jeans.

Didn’t Reid have something more important to do than chase Lauren? And what about her? Was she going to goof off all day instead of fixing the mess she and Celine had created in the sunroom? Dalir let go and the slat of the blind rebounded into a straight line. Ari was probably at Diva Unique right now, functioning on very little sleep. During the few hours they’d spent together, it was as if he was addicted to her. When he’d awakened just before dawn, he was still so damn hard for her. With Ari spooned back against him, all he could think of was gripping the globes of her ass and surging in. Brooke, moving around in the kitchen, had deterred him along with a cold slap of reality. He didn’t belong with Ari. Unlike what Thane and Reid had done for their fiancées, he couldn’t make adjustments to accommodate Ari in his life. Even if she could see him.

Thane walked into the kitchen. From his clothing and the automatic pistol strapped to his thigh, he’d also come from the range. His brow rose at the sound of laughter outside. He chuckled. “I should have known better when Reid said Lauren just needed him for a minute.”

Dalir grabbed a mug out of the dark wood cabinet in the corner. He poured coffee from the heated carafe sitting in the coffeemaker on the marble counter. “Reid seems to be doing better.”

Thane took the makings for a sandwich out of the fridge. “Physically, he’s fully recovered. Mentally, he’s almost back. He’s just started opening up to me about what happened with Kell. If he keeps talking and doesn’t hold it in, he’ll come out the other side. Lauren is good for him, too.”

The coffee in Dalir’s mouth grew bitter. One more minute of Kell’s torture, and Reid wouldn’t have survived. Maybe he was taking the hunt for Kell too far for them. In the process, Thane and Reid’s newfound happiness could end up jeopardized. Thane had already given up the team once to save Celine. He would have lived his life out with her in peace if Kell hadn’t shown up. Instead, Thane had given up normal and rejoined the team with Celine at his side. Maybe Thane was right. The time had come for him to reevaluate how long he’d allow Kell’s actions to influence the team’s lives, even if he couldn’t get away from or forget the pain and suffering his brother caused.