Darkling (7 page)

She bucked against him, seeking more of the blissful
torment, burying her nose in the fragrant hair at his temple and drawing great,
gulping breaths of his scent. Carnal desire roared in her veins and she gave
herself over to the intense feeling.

Each muscle beneath her hands felt as if it had been carved
by the gods. Perfection. Like smooth velvet over steel.

He slipped a finger under the strap holding up her gown and
eased it down, kissing the flesh down to her shoulder, licking and lapping at
her collarbones before diving between her breasts and tasting the channel
between them.

Through hooded eyes, she watched the blue-black lights play
in his hair. The silken waves fell over her skin, lower and lower. When he
captured one bare nipple in his teeth, she cried out in ecstasy. Her hips
rocked against him of their own volition, bringing her wet sex against the
rigid wall of his abs.

“More,” she gasped. “Don’t stop, Niles. I need you.”

He lifted his head with a groan. His gaze was primal. Raw.
And possessive as hell. “Can’t stop, baby. You’re so damn good.” As if to prove
his words, he dipped his head and, in one big bite, covered her pussy with his
mouth.

She went absolutely still, quivering on the edge of such
intense release, she thought she’d surely black out or die. Heat roiled through
her belly. Juices flooded his mouth, raising a groan that vibrated against her
sensitive flesh.

“Oh gods, yes!” She lashed his head to her, riding his
tongue as if she’d done this hundreds of times.

He slid his hands beneath her ass and lifted her,
manipulating her to fit tight against his mouth. His tongue drew maddening
curlicues around her needy nubbin, and then abruptly drove deep into her
slippery folds, stroking her heated inner walls.

She twisted his hair in her fists, forcing him harder,
faster, on the brink of combustion from the searing heat in her belly.

Suddenly she splintered. Hanging in the galaxy of ecstasy
like the brightest star, she quivered. Heavy pulsations rushed through her,
robbing her of all thought and the ability to breathe. Flashes of light burst
behind her vision like smears of stardust.

Cream flooded from her tight pussy with every contraction
and Niles lapped it up hungrily, allowing the silken threads to stretch between
his lips and her body.

She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to watch, though it was
the most erotic sight she’d ever seen. If she didn’t get air into her lungs
soon, she was going to faint, and she wouldn’t get to experience any more
pleasure.

Gulping, she dragged air through her open mouth. All of a
sudden, he broke his intimate kiss and surged upward to plunge his hot tongue
between her lips.

The flavors of her own release exploded on her tongue,
driving her wild. Frantically, she shoved his boxers off, dying for a taste of
his cock. She curled her hand around the thick shaft and he issued a harsh
growl.

“No, you can’t, baby. I’ll come in your hands, and I don’t
want that.” Quickly he dug in the drawer of his nightstand, located a condom
and rolled it over his throbbing erection.

Then he dug his fingers into her hips, nudged her legs
farther apart with his knee and poised at the quick of her. His dark gaze
bathed her in warmth as though she were slipping into a hot, steamy pool. Her
limbs grew weak and he hitched her calf around his hip.

“Beautiful woman, I can’t wait to sink into you.” His gaze a
caress, he set the head he’d quickly wrapped in a protective barrier against her
entrance. “God, you’re so hot and wet. Vega, damn, baby.” He bit off the words
as he gave one powerful thrust and fully seated himself inside her.

A sharp stab of pain ripped through her pleasant haze. She
cried out, trying to understand what was wrong.

His astonished words clued her in. “Oh my God, baby, you’re
a virgin.”

Chapter Eight

Niles’ head swam as sensation rippled over him. White heat
clasped his cock, and fuck, she was still pulsating as he plowed into her tight
little pussy.

But she wasn’t okay. Fat tears glistened in her dark eyes.
Realization whipped him.
That was a barrier, asshole, not a tight sheath.

She gaped up at him. “What does that mean?” Her throaty
whisper still held an edge of her former passion. Now if he could stop feeling
like such a damn cad, he could take the time to stoke her fires again.

Bracing his weight on his elbows, he hovered over her. He
placed a series of gentle kisses along her temple and spattered them down her
cheekbone to her lips. She turned into him eagerly, her mouth open and sweet
and flavored with her juices he’d shared.

“Are you okay, sweetheart? We don’t have to do this. I can
stop.”

Dark threads of hair clung to the white pillowcase as she
shook her head wildly. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him
tightly to her. “No, please. I’m okay. It was just a surprise, that’s all.”

Confusion and utter protectiveness warred in his chest. She
didn’t know she was a virgin? How could she be so naïve? Perhaps the language
was hindering their mutual understanding.

Emotion swept him once more. Yes, they might not be able to
communicate easily with words, but their bodies understood well enough.

She shifted her hips, and he bit off a tormented growl. Her
silken walls stroked his shaft.

“Sweet Jesus, Vega, don’t move.”

“But I want to move. The pain has passed and that knot is
forming inside me again.”

He almost came undone at her admission. Grinding his teeth
against the need to blow, he clamped his hands on her hips and held her. “Be
absolutely still. Don’t move.” His voice was ragged.

She trailed her lips back and forth over his. “Are you
okay?”

“Yes. Just. Don’t. Move.”

The delicate point of her tongue flickered over his upper
lip. And he lost it. He had to move. Now.

With one smooth stroke, he pulled out almost to the tip,
watching the pleasure flit over her stunning features. Desire clouded her gaze
again, and a light dew broke over her flesh. He dipped his head and licked a
droplet from her throat, reveling in the salty taste.

“Niles, it feels so good.” She squeezed her eyes shut and
arched beneath him.

With a groan, he thrust into her again and again, cupping
her mounds, kneading them, and twisting the dusky plum tips into stiff peaks.
Her nails crescented his back, and one slender ankle hitched around his hip,
bringing him deeper.

“Baby, I can’t get enough of you. Kissing you.” He swept her
mouth with raw possession. Before she could fully respond, he tore his lips
away. “Touching you.” He slid his fingers down the narrow valley of her waist
to the swell of her hip. “Fucking you.” To demonstrate, he reared up and pumped
into her with slow deliberation, all the while holding her tumultuous gaze.

She was on the verge again. Quaking beneath him, the sweet
walls of her sex gripping, releasing.

“Niles.” His name was a quiet moan, but a hint of
uncertainty tinged her musical voice.

He grasped her tighter and rolled with her so she was seated
atop him. His breath caught. Silhouetted by the moonlight, she seemed to
shimmer. Her raven waves tumbled over the side of her face, obscuring one eye
and sticking to the moisture on her lip.

“I’m going to come apart,” she cried. Her breasts rose and
fell with her grinding thrusts.

“Take what you need. Take every last inch of me, baby. Come
on. Come all over my cock. That’s it. I’ve got you. Just ride me until you
explode.”

Pressure built in his core with each heated word he spewed.
Her expression grew far off and he knew she was lost in her own bliss, focused
on that inner fire that would take her over the edge. He clasped her waist and
lifted her slowly, then set her down on his shaft. God, he was so close. Going
to blow.

Constant shudders ran through her. “Losing…control.”

“I’ve got you. I’ll hold on to you. Just take my cock deep
and come all over it.”

She jerked in his hold. The point of her chin rose high into
the air as enormous tremors shook her.

“Oh yeah,” he grated through clenched teeth. The tensing
walls of her cavern sent him over the edge. Great ropes of come burst from his
cock, drowning him in sensation. He drove into her madly, seeking more of that
intense pleasure.

As her last contractions ebbed away, she collapsed forward
on him. Her soft breasts crushed against his chest and were glued by a thin
layer of perspiration. Her jasmine-scented hair fell over his nose and rather
than swipe the ticklish lock away, he drew deep breaths of its scent.

Emotion welled in his chest. Something so much stronger than
protectiveness filled him. He could only examine it through a haze of passion,
as if his glasses had slid down his face and the words on the page of his soul
were blurred.

He smoothed his palm over her spine again and again, raising
shivers in her. Gripping the edge of the sheet, he flipped it over them both.
Still joined and listening to her sharp rasps calm to deep, even breathing, the
blood flow returned to his mind full force.

What had spurred her to come to him? Never in a hundred
years would he have guessed she’d climb into his bed, clad in only a sheer
slip.

Images of her belly dance rolled through his head. His body
responded instantly. Damn, he could watch those erotic movements all night.

He threw a glance at the window and saw that dawn was not
far off. A band of gray belted the distance and the stars seemed less bright,
quieter somehow.

He gazed down at the woman in his arms. He didn’t know much
about her. Not nearly enough. Determination captured him once more. Tomorrow
he’d uncover her secrets even if he had to get a translator to help her
explain. The fact that he knew so little niggled at him, but somehow she felt
so right in his bed.

He ran a fingertip down the soft curve of her belly,
recalling her seductive dance. Too easily he envisioned her at his side—the
woman of his dreams.

Damn, he had it bad. After one night of her in his arms, he
was planning a future with her. Vega, a woman he’d discovered in the park, who
would tell him almost nothing about herself. He might know how much pressure to
exert on her clit with his tongue to make her come, but he needed solid
information. Homeland, family, whether or not she had someone who loved her.

She relaxed in his hold, her cheek pillowed on his chest. He
wrapped her more securely against his side and tried to make sense of the
whirlwind events of the past week. In a very short time, she’d invaded his
world and his bed.

What he hadn’t been prepared for was her crash-landing into
his heart.

When dawn spread its slender fingers through the sky, he
eagerly awaited it. Vega was curled on one side facing him, her face angelic in
sleep. During the short hours between their lovemaking and morning, he’d
formulated a plan. He was going to slip into the office early and use every
resource he could dig up to discover more about the mysterious woman. The
city’s databases were vast. If she existed within them, he’d find her. And he
had to do it quickly, before the city people came to inspect his apartment.

Climbing carefully out of bed, he padded across the plush
carpet to the bathroom. Knowing the shower might wake her, he did a cursory
wash-up in the sink before donning a pair of gray cotton dress pants and a blue
pin-striped shirt. As he rolled the sleeves over his forearms, he found his
mind was already far away, searching whatever files he could access.

What was he going to find? The answer frightened him. His
jaw clenched on the thought and again that deep possessiveness rolled through
him, along with several flashes from their lovemaking the night before. The
dark heat in Vega’s gaze as he broke through the shield of her maidenhood. Her
seated atop him, riding him with absolute abandon. And the shape of her lips
forming a whispered word while in a dream state.

“Star.”

Quietly he opened the bathroom door to find her buried
beneath the covers. Sunlight trickled over the bed and outlined the sensuous
curve of her hip under the layers.

The smile that spread across his face warmed him. He picked
up his shoes in one hand and backed out of the room, keeping an eye on the hump
of covers for movement.

Ten minutes later, he was seated behind his desk with ten
files open and a half dozen internet searches going. He flipped open a new
window and typed in her name. Vega. His heart soared. How four little letters
could inspire such want in him, he had no idea.

Instantly, results revealed the origin of her name. In Latin
it meant falling star. A shock of inspiration struck. Last night, while he’d
lain awake, she’d whispered “star”. Certain it wasn’t a coincidence, he dug
into his research. He looked at page upon page of information on people with
the last name Star and the first name Vega.

From social media sites to police records, he found nothing.
Absolutely nothing.

Noises began to infiltrate his office as the rest of the
employees geared up for the day. Printers and copier machines hummed to life,
the faint sound of the receptionist talking on her cell reached him.

With a sigh, he leaned back in his chair and laced his hands
on top of his head. On the way out of the apartment, he’d penned Vega a note
and placed it on the counter with his work number. He prayed she could read the
language, but if not, he hoped she could recognize the numbers and call.

A frisson of unease threaded through him. That fragile woman
had no history that he could find, no existence beyond the small bits she’d
told him. And yet she was so firmly fixed in his world, he couldn’t imagine any
other place for her.

Maybe you don’t really want to know. You want to stay in
this dream a while longer.

But he couldn’t do that. Above all, he was a practical man.
He didn’t only need to know who she was for her sake. He needed to know for
his.

* * * * *

The scraping
shar
sound dug into Vega’s psyche,
yanking her from her deep sleep. Suddenly she bolted upright in bed and clapped
her hands over her ears. What was it? Where was it coming from? Where was she?

She cast a wild glance around the room, trying to gain her
senses. In a flood, it all came back to her. Plunging to Earth, finding Niles,
and spending the night being pleasured by him.

The starscale.

The noise echoed from the hard disc. It was near, and
reacting to her presence.

Leaping out of bed, she carefully swathed herself in the
down comforter from Niles’ bed. Brilliant sunlight set the room ablaze. It
pierced her eyes like shards of glass and made her skin burn. Quickly, she
grabbed the cord of the blinds and let them fall, cloaking the room in
darkness.

Able to breathe a little easier, she started to trail the
starscale. Niles’ room wasn’t very big, but he had an ample closet and a lot of
places he could hide the precious object. Last night when she’d come into his
room, the starscale had been a distant memory. She had eyes only for the
muscled hunk on the bed. In her celestial form, she never had such strong
needs. In her true body, she was a paler shade of the Earthling Vega. This
woman knew what she wanted and how to get it.

As she shifted toward the open door leading to his closet, a
pang of discomfort shot between her thighs. She was a little sore from their
lovemaking, but a pleasant ache lived in her sex too. The pain reminded her of
the ecstasy Niles had given her, and of the fact that she’d been well-loved.

The notes of the starscale sounded in her head again. She
hurled herself into the depths of his closet, searching for the object. As she
rummaged through drawers and ran her hand along the high shelves, her heartbeat
quickened. She was so close to getting the starscale back and completing her
mission. Once it was in hand, she could ascend to her rightful place. She’d be
gone before Niles got into trouble at work for having her here.

Excitement drummed her soul. She rifled through a section of
hanging jackets, then dropped to her knees and located the fossil chest nestled
between several pairs of shoes.

“Oohhh.” Her sigh was shaky. Without the threat of sunlight,
she loosened her grasp on the blanket, letting it fall to the floor in a whoosh
of fabric. Then she sank to her knees and fumbled with the brass clasp on the
wooden chest.

When she eased the metal piece over the small hook and
tipped up the lid, her breath caught. Inside the dozens of fossils lay in neat
rows. Some were dark green with imprints of plants on them, and others had the
faint outlines of insects. She saw the one he’d shown her—the miniature
footprint complete with claws.

Her gaze settled on the beloved starscale.

Plunging her hand into the trunk, she gathered the enchanted
object onto her palm. The tips of her fingers curled around the edge and she
stroked the smooth pattern with her thumb. Tears bulged against the roots of
her lashes as joy burst in her chest.

Yes, this was why she’d come to Earth, and now that it was
in her care, she could return home. The newborns would gain their precious
light. She’d once again take her place next to her twin to light the southern
sky.

Her heart surged into her throat and a choked cry escaped
her as thoughts of leaving Niles popped into her brain. A hot sob burst through
her lips. The starscale seemed to scald her hand, reminding her of where she’d
come from and why she was here. Yet the thought of leaving Niles split her in
two. In a very short time, he’d become important to her. After watching lovers
for centuries, she’d at last found passion in the arms of a man. A man who was
caring and giving, and had taken her under his roof when he didn’t know
anything about her but her name.