Dark Peril (41 page)

She laughed. “I never considered that Carpathians might have trouble with their children. And that one sounds intelligent.”

“You would be surprised. I was a very wild boy myself. Once I almost shifted inside the middle of a huge boulder just to show off.”

Her eyebrow arched. “Wild? How wild?”

His smile bordered on a smirk. “Not as wild as I intend to be.”

Her body shuddered as he cupped her sex, one long finger stroking and caressing. His gaze had dropped to her breasts, making her very aware of her body all over again. He could do that so easily, just brush her with his gaze, and every cell responded. The blush started somewhere near her toes and crept up. She forgot what they were talking about, everything falling out of her brain to leave her wide open for him.

She took a deep breath and admitted the truth to him. “I can’t think with wanting you.”

His gaze jumped to hers. “Do you trust me enough, Solange? I do not just want your body. I want you to give yourself to me completely. Anything I ask. Anything I need. Even if it scares you a little, if you trust me, we can have everything. There is no going back once we commit. I will bind us together and there is no retreat from that position. Our souls will be bound and there is no way out for either of us. You cannot make a mistake. My needs must be yours. Every moment of your life will be dedicated to me. To my pleasure and comfort. You will be giving yourself into my care, your health and happiness, everything to me.”

She swallowed the fear that was rising. She refused to be defeated in this, her one chance at happiness. “Because your care is in my hands.” She wanted him to see that she understood what he was trying to tell her. Everything she thought, everything that mattered to her, was important to him—and he wanted to be just as important to her.

He nodded slowly. The room seemed very still and utterly silent, as if even their lair held its breath. His gaze remained steady on hers.

Solange took a breath and smiled, the pounding in her heart settling as it found the rhythm of his. She’d never felt so sure of anything. “I want you with all my heart, Dominic. I might be afraid now and then, but I trust that you’ll see me through. And I promise you, I will do everything in my power to make you happy.”

His eyes went a deep, piercing blue. His voice dropped to the low, seductive note she had become familiar with. “I have waited a long time to hear you say that.” His fingers stroked over her breast. Her nipple peaked and he leaned forward and captured her breast in the scalding cauldron of his mouth.

She cried out, arching her back, her hands coming up to cradle his head to her. His silken hair flowed over her arms and she threw her head back as the fire rushed over and into her. He had a magic mouth, burning hot and so talented.

She was a little bemused as he drew her up and out of the chair and into the middle of the chamber. A wave of his hand changed the entire room. Candles sprang to life along the walls, up high so that only a soft glow cast light across the room. The woven rug seemed thicker beneath her bare feet, but really, all she saw was the man standing in front of her.

Very gently he slipped the gossamer dragon robe from her shoulders, letting the stretchy fabric pool around her feet. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt the slide of the lace down her bare skin. He cupped her shoulders, looking down into her upturned face. Her heart thundered in her chest, almost hypnotized by his absolute control, his enormous strength, but most of all the heat in his eyes. She shivered beneath his touch, unable to look away from the gathering intensity in his eyes. He slid his hands down her arms to her wrists, watching her with his complete focus.

He stared into her eyes for a few more moments, holding her gaze captive while he gently entwined his fingers with hers and pulled her arms out away from her body. Very slowly his gaze dropped for a long inspection of her body.

She felt her color rising and her nipples peaking under his hungry gaze. Where before she might have been embarrassed, now she could see the appreciation in his eyes, the absolute desire, and she felt more sensual than ever. So much more of a woman than a warrior. She took pride in the fact that he was aroused by her.

“I love the way your body grows so wet for me,” he said, inhaling her welcoming scent.

He had told her that many times before, but this time she felt different, knowing he was telling her a simple truth. She blushed a deeper shade of pink. She was wet for him. Welcoming. He hadn’t touched her and her body had responded with an urgent need, coiling tight, her nerve endings burning and raw. She found she also took pride in how aroused he could make her body when she was close to him. He needed her to respond—and she did.

“I can’t help it,” she answered. “Looking at you makes me that way.”

He smiled down at her, a slow, sexy smile that made her heart clench hard in her chest. He pulled her naked body slowly, inexorably, into his fully clothed one.

“Undress me,
kessake
.”

There it was, everything she’d been waiting for—hoping for. His eyes had gone dark with a potent, very intense mixture of love and lust. She felt the instant response of her body, already so completely focused on him. She could count the beats of his heart. She knew the ebb and flow of the blood in his veins. She knew his mind, and his heart. At last she had the opportunity to know his body, to memorize every muscle, every erogenous zone.

She slipped the elegant jacket from his shoulders, folded it carefully and placed it almost reverently on the small bench seat beside the pool. A rush of heat colored her skin as her hands smoothed over his shirt and then went to the buttons. She could barely breathe as she slipped each one open to reveal his bare chest. Again she slid the material from his shoulders. She held the white silk shirt to her face, inhaling his scent deep into her lungs before she folded the silk and placed it neatly on the bench.

Heat exploded through her body as she ran her hands over his chest and down his flat belly before dropping to the front of his neatly creased trousers. He stood barefoot, his shoes arranged under the bench as if she’d put them there herself, allowing her to kneel in front of him as she drew the trousers down his long legs. He placed his hand gently on her shoulder as he stepped out, one leg at a time.

Solange’s breath caught in her throat as his heavy erection sprang free. He was thick and full, every bit as mesmerizing as the rest of him. She folded his trousers almost absently, her gaze focused on him. She was barely aware of the fabric leaving her hands to join the pile of clothing on the bench. She could only stare, hypnotized, irresistibly drawn by the evidence of his arousal for her.

She cupped his heavy sac in her palms and bent forward to lick almost helplessly at the small pearly drop glistening on the broad, mushroom head. His breath left his lungs in an explosive rush as his cock jerked with the fiery sensations shooting through it. She leaned forward and drew him deeper into her mouth, feeling satisfaction as his entire body shuddered with pleasure.

She loved how incredibly hot and smooth he felt against her tongue, the heavy weight of him filling her mouth, sliding oh so slow, a little farther each time. He allowed her to control everything, let her get used to the size and feel of him. Velvet over steel, filling her mouth with the heat and fire of him, with his desire for her. She took her time, wanting to know him intimately, every pulse of his hard flesh.

He groaned deep in his throat when she swiped her tongue over the broad head and proceeded to pull back to lick delicately once again. Her gaze flicked to his and satisfaction soared through her at the strained arousal etched into his face. His hand fisted in her hair, and red light flickered in the depths of his eyes as he pushed his pulsing cock against her mouth. She stroked his bare hip with one hand while the other circled the base of his heavy erection, and she deliberately curled her tongue around the base of the broad head.

He jerked against her mouth and his breath left his body in a harsh burst. A warning growl rumbled in his chest and throat. Again, satisfaction soared through her. She had always paid attention to detail. She could get this right. It wasn’t about her, it was about him and his pleasure, and she was coming to know that she could deliver pleasure to him.

She watched his eyes, watched the muscles bunch in his jaw as, with infinite slowness, she took the sensitive head of his cock into the scalding heat of her mouth. His hips jerked involuntarily, desperate for her to take him deeper. She felt the erotic bite of pain in her scalp where his fingers tightened in reflex, and she moaned. The vibration went through her mouth straight to the hard flesh and she felt the answering throb. She allowed the hard length of him to sink into her mouth and was rewarded with a jerk of his hips and the sound of his harsh breathing filling the chamber.

Candles flickered, the soft light casting shadows along the deep lines carved into his face. His chest rose and fell, gleaming bronze in the dancing light. He adjusted the angle of her head so he could slide a little deeper, using small, almost helpless thrusts. She knew he controlled his movements, but she loved the way he couldn’t stay still, needing the hot clasp of her mouth.

He pulsed against her tongue, and she loved the raw feel of him, the smooth texture and hot, sexy heat. He tasted all male, a spicy, erotic, very masculine flavor she knew she would be addicted to forever. He tasted like Dominic, passion and desire, love and acceptance. She stroked over and around, growing bolder as she felt his reaction. She kept her gaze locked with his, watching for every sign of pleasure, and when she saw his eyes glittered, the lids drooping heavy, she flattened her tongue and rubbed over the sensitive spot just underneath the crown, which she’d discovered by sheer accident.

She moved her head, a slow withdrawal, all the while watching the heat in his eyes, judging his pleasure while her tongue stroked and caressed along that sweet spot. She paused for a moment with just the tip between her lips, watching him catch his breath, his eyes go deeper blue, almost midnight black, and very slowly she took him in again. She burned with the need to please him, to give him the exquisite pleasure he’d given her, the same focused care.

To watch his body, his eyes, to feel his heightening sensation, was such an aphrodisiac to her. She felt her body’s response, the burning pressure between her legs, the ache in her breasts and the need rising so urgently for him. There was acute satisfaction in her own response, but she kept her focus solely on pleasing him.

She increased suction, slow and then fast. Hard and then soft, all the while her tongue teasing and dancing. His husky, musical voice turned guttural, thrilling her. His thrust became a little deeper as he skated the edge of his control. She took him a little deeper and sucked harder, eliciting a harsh groan.

Solange was burning alive, inside and out. Her mouth felt scorching hot, but between her legs she was on fire with urgent need. She wanted—
needed
—his body inside of hers. Her body ached for his, the craving so overwhelming that she wanted the taste of him forever in her mouth, his body imprinted on hers for all time.

His gaze locked with hers, holding her captive as he began to take over the rhythm, thrusting a little deeper. She tightened her mouth around him, increasing the suction, desperate for him. The quick, hard thrust took her breath, but as he penetrated deeper, she learned quickly how to take a breath when she could because she didn’t want to stop—not now, not ever. She loved what she was doing to him, loved that she could take his control and replace it with such mindless pleasure he couldn’t focus on anything else.

He moaned, his breathing harsh. “Stop,
kessake
, I cannot hold on.” The hand in her hair began to pull her head back, although his hips refused to cooperate, using quick, hard thrusts to push deeper into her tight mouth.

She danced her tongue over him, stroking and caressing, bringing him to the very edge of his control. He set his jaw and forced her head back further.

“This is too dangerous, Solange.”

She slowly, reluctantly relinquished him, breathing hard, confused. “I don’t understand. You wanted this. You wanted me . . .”

“
Want,
” he corrected through his clenched teeth. “I want you. But I cannot endanger you. I have parasites in my blood that I might pass to you.”

“They can’t hurt me,” she pointed out, frustrated and growing more annoyed by the moment. She sank down onto the floor and glared at him. “You started this.”

“I thought I could stay in control enough to separate the parasites and keep them from contact with you, but they go still when you are close and I cannot think straight. I am sorry, Solange. I had thought I would make love to you this rising.”

She reached up, her fingers caressing the hard, thick length of him, watching with a heated gaze the shudder that ran through his body. “Have you ever heard of a condom? Don’t Carpathians have condoms? Because I’m thinking that if you’re all that worried, a condom might be just the thing.”

His smile was slow in coming. “I had not thought of that. As a rule Carpathians do not need such things.”

17

Look at me—now see yourself through my eyes.
Look at you: the most beautiful on this earth.

DOMINIC TO SOLANGE

D
ominic reached for Solange. His body burned for her. He could barely reason with needing her touch, needing her soft skin sliding against him. Needing desperately to be inside of her. His soul raged at him to bind her to him, to claim what belonged to him. To unite them for all time. His discipline was at an end and nothing stood between him and the woman he loved.

He lifted her into his arms, cradling her to him. Beloved Solange. She looked excited, sexy and fearful all at the same time. His every protective instinct surged to the forefront. The mixture of sensual woman, as desperate for him as he was for her, combined with innocent inexperience only added to his need to be tender. He had expected, with the intensity of her cat’s heat, that she would be very experienced in her lovemaking, but it was clear that she wasn’t.