Enraptured (18 page)

Ian restlessly paced the floor over to the
door. He had to get out of this cabin, spend a few hours somewhere,
anywhere other than this place. Had to find a way to ease some of
the pressure building within him. The last thing he wanted was to
find another female, not with Paige here, but if he didn’t do
something he was going to tear his skin off. He’d tried jerking
off, multiple times. It helped to take the edge off about as much
as bashing his head into the wall did, which might be an option if
he didn’t do something soon.

Pulling at his stubble lined cheeks, he ran
his hands over his chin before dropping them down to his sides. An
owl hooted somewhere in the night, its lonely call mirroring the
way his soul felt. Stepping outside, he strode across the porch,
down the stairs and out into the driveway. He stood there for a
minute, torn on what to do. Something inside of him was missing,
something only one woman could ever ease in him, but she refused to
let him into her life.

Turning back around, he jogged up the porch
steps and into the cabin. Paige glanced up from where she sat on
the couch. His eyes fastened on her breasts. In the loose top he
never would have been able to tell she wasn’t wearing a bra, but
her wet hair had dampened her shirt. His dick jumped at the sight
of her partially erect nipples beneath the fabric.

Paige’s eyes widened on Ian, a savage air
surrounded him, his body radiated tension. And then his eyes
latched on her breasts. The look that came over his face made her
pulse quicken. He stared at her like a lion watched a gazelle, only
he didn’t want to eat her. At least he didn’t want to eat her
blood. He may enjoy feasting on something else as his eyes remained
locked on her breasts.

The only problem was, she didn’t think she
would mind being feasted on.

Shaking her head to clear it of the insane
notion, she folded her arms over her chest to distract him. His
eyes shot up to hers, his pupils dilated; the color of them had
deepened to a nearly navy color. “I’m going into town,” he
announced abruptly.

“What? Why?” she sputtered in confusion. She
rose to her feet, thinking perhaps something had happened.

His eyes were like daggers stopping her
movement toward him as they pinned her to the spot. “Because.”

Her mouth parted as realization settled over
her. “You’re looking to get laid.”

His nostrils flared, a muscle began to jump
in his cheek. “Who are you to judge me, Paige?” The gravelly tone
of his voice sent a shiver down her spine.

“I’m not judging you.”

“It’s all you’ve done since the second you
found out what I was. You’ve believed the worst of me in every
possible way, and I’ve taken it. I’ve accepted it because I told
myself you’ve had multiple bad experiences with our kind. I’ve
taken care of you, I saved your life, but I am not a human. I am a
man though, I have needs that animal blood won’t take care of.
You’ve told me over and over again you won’t be the one to ease
them.”

“You sound like a teenager.” The surly tone
of her voice sounded like a teenager too; she just hadn’t been able
to stop herself. She didn’t know why she was baiting him, but the
idea of him walking out that door, and going to find another woman,
made her want to scream and kick him in the crotch. “Any port in a
storm, right?”

She never saw him move, but he was suddenly
right in front of her. The abruptness of the motion, and his size,
caused her to take a step back. Her heel connected with the wall,
stopping her. She took a deep breath; her palms flattened against
the wall as he loomed over the top of her.
Gorgeous
, the
realization flitted across her mind as her vision filled with
him.

“Oh no, Paige. Believe me, there’s only one
port I want to be in right now. And even if I do find another
woman, I’m going to be picturing
you
the whole time I’m with
her.”

He grabbed hold of her hand, and before she
could stop him, he placed it against the front of his jeans.
Beneath the material, she could feel the rigid evidence of his
arousal. Despite her every intention to jerk her hand away, slap
him in the face, kick him in the nuts, and storm out of here with
her dignity intact, her hand tightened around him and slid over his
bulge.

A low groan escaped him, a groan that caused
heat to pool through her as realization sank in. This man wasn’t
one to be played with and led on, no matter how much she burned to
touch him, she couldn’t handle what he wanted from her. It was more
than his vast experience, if this continued she was certain he
would take a piece of her with him. Not a piece of her heart, but
her very
soul
. Snatching her hand away before things
spiraled out of control, she pressed herself flat against the wall
again.

“Is that supposed to be flattering?” she
demanded as a way to distract herself from the urges clamoring
through her body.

He studied her from under hooded eyes. “I
don’t believe in flattery, only the truth.”

“That’s not something… You shouldn’t say
that!” she cried.

“And why not?” She felt cornered by him,
trapped by the heat of his body. It didn’t help when he took a step
closer to her. He rested his hand on the wall beside her head. She
looked to the open front door, but she would never make it there,
and truth be told, she didn’t want to. “Why not, Paige?”

Before she could answer, he moved his hand
from the wall to rest it against her cheek. She started, but he
didn’t stop there. His hand trailed down her cheek, over her chin
and to her collarbone. Her breath froze in her lungs. She couldn’t
tear her gaze away from him as his eyes burned into hers. Air
rushed back into her when he clasped hold of her breast and cupped
it within his hand. Her knees trembled as his thumb rubbed over her
nipple, caressing it into a hardened nub.

She had to stop this, but what her brain
thought, and what her body craved were two completely different
things. She bit back a mewl of displeasure when his hand slid away
from her breast, down over her ribcage, and across her hip. Before
she knew what he intended, his hand dipped between her legs. His
palm stroked over her, causing her hips to press instinctively into
his touch.

Bending closer, his lips brushed against her
ear as his hand slid over her again. The delicious sensation the
friction of the movement caused almost made her scream out loud.
His fingers pressed against her jeans, teasing against her as
liquid heat pooled between her legs. She bit into her lip as her
body betrayed her again by pushing into him once more, seeking
more. He could ease this growing pressure building in her.

“Do you really want me to go?” he
murmured.

She had no idea what she wanted right now.
She most definitely didn’t want him to stop, but this man was
dangerous. Her mind spun as his hand continued to stroke her to
higher heights. “No,” she panted. “I mean
yes
.”

Ian stopped moving his hand immediately. He
could smell her heightened arousal and feel the heat of her against
the palm of his hand. Her eyes were smoky when they met his, her
breath coming in rapid pants. Her fingers curled into his forearm;
the nails digging into his flesh were nowhere near as uncomfortable
as the force of the erection pressing against his jeans.

“Which is it?” he inquired.

“I don’t know.”

Her broken admission, and the torn way it
slid from her lips, pulled at his heart. He was causing her this
anguish, and though she was driving him just as mad, he couldn’t
tear her apart in this way. He went to pull away, but her fingers
continued to dig into him. Her eyes were dazed when she tilted her
head back to look up at him. His fingers slid through her hair,
pushing it away from her face as he bent to press a tender kiss
against her trembling lips.

“Tell me no,” he murmured against her
lips.

“And you’ll find someone else.” She barely
spoke the words as her mouth grazed his. Her heart plummeted, he
couldn’t leave, but she didn’t know if she could be the one he
needed.

He shuddered, the idea of another woman, one
who didn’t smell of apples and sex, made his stomach turn. The
hard-on throbbing against his jeans began to shrink. “No. I need a
release, but I only want you. No one else will do.” She did a
double take as she gazed at him. “You have to tell me what you want
now.”

What did she want?
Him
, her body
screamed at her. That was what she wanted, and with an intensity
bordering on insanity. She longed to tear the clothes from his
body, from her, and press her flesh against his, feel him inside of
her and over her. Her body screamed this answer at her, but her
mind called her an idiot. There were so many other women in his
past, she’d seen part of his parade of conquests and he’d admitted
there had been countless others. She couldn’t be just another one
of the many. Her pride wouldn’t allow it. His vampire status didn’t
matter. She’d already come to realize he was no monster; no, it was
his status as a man holding her back now.

“You, I want you,” she admitted. “But I
won’t be, and I
cannot
be, like all those other women.”

“I can assure you, Paige, you are nothing
like any of the others. It’s impossible for you to be.” He bent low
and pressed a kiss against her cheek. “You’re different to me, so
different.” As he spoke the words, he knew they were true, but he
was too caught up in her heady scent to think about the
implications of what he’d said.

His hand began to rub her through her jeans
again. She’d been determined to resist him, instead her eyes
drifted closed and a small moan escaped her. The man may not be
evil, but to her, he was the devil incarnate. A temptation too
great to refuse. His hands were pure sin, and they should be with
all the practice they’d had.

That realization sobered her up, but before
she could protest his other arm slid around her waist. A gasp
escaped her when he lifted her up and spun her so she was facing
the wall in one, fluid motion. Her eyes flew open; her hands
pressed against the wall as his massive body enveloped hers from
behind. The heat of him encompassed her. His muscles bunched and
flexed as his fingers fluidly undid the button on her jeans. Her
breath shuddered out of her when his palm slipped inside of her
underwear to cup her.

“Wait!” she panted. “I can’t… I don’t know…”
Words completely failed her.

Ian felt a subtle stiffening in her body.
She couldn’t pull away, not now, not when he was so close to being
inside of her in some small way. “Let me please you,” he grated
through his teeth. “I’m not asking for sex; I only want to touch
you, to feel
your
pleasure.”

Paige shuddered, and then her thighs that
had tightened at his touch, eased. The yielding of her body against
his caused a rumble of satisfaction to escape him. A sense of
possession filled him when he pulled her flush against his
erection. Her ass fit snugly against his cock, her hands flattened
on the wall when he slid his finger into her. The tightness of her
muscles, and her heat enveloped him. His dick jumped at the thought
of those muscles clenching around it as he began to deliberately
slide his finger in and out of her.

Thinking was a thing of the past as he moved
within her, and his palm worked against her clit. She didn’t know
how she remained standing, the pleasure swamping her caused her
legs to shake. His warm breath tickled her neck and stirred her
hair when his lips slid over her neck, leaving a trail of kisses
across her flesh. His fangs scraped her skin, instead of
frightening her though, the rough sensation of them sent her lust
spiraling higher. His other hand slid up to her breast; his palm
cupping her as he kneaded her sensitive flesh.

“Do you like this?” he inquired as his
tongue ran over her ear. Was she supposed to answer that? Was she
supposed to be able to form words at all? Because right now they
completely failed her. “Imagine if it was my dick inside of you,
stretching you, filling you. Imagine how amazing it would feel to
have me sliding in and out of you, taking you,
possessing
you.”

The vivid pictures his words evoked danced
across her mind. A strangled cry escaped her when he slid another
finger into her, stretching her further. It could be him within
her; all she had to do was say yes. The word lodged in her throat.
Her breath came in rapid pants and her head bowed. The massive
length of his erection pressed against her ass; his hips set up a
rocking motion against hers. She eagerly met his movements as his
fingers slid in and out of her with the rhythm of his hips. His
heated mouth slid over her skin, down to her shoulder.

Her fingers curled into the wood of the
wall; bits of it broke away beneath her hand. His breath became
more rapid against her ear. He nipped at it before swirling his
tongue over her flesh and sucking upon it. “I’d have you begging me
to stop, and then pleading with me to continue,” he said in a
ragged voice.

She was on the verge of that now as his hand
became more incessant, and he pushed her toward the brink of
something she welcomed and feared. “Ian!”

“Fucking you, relentlessly, endlessly.” With
each word his fingers drove deeper into her, his palm rubbed more
insistently against her. A part of her tried to withdraw from the
overwhelming sensations, but the unremitting press of his body
against hers wouldn’t allow her to. “Can you imagine it, Paige? Can
you feel it?”

“Yes!” she cried.

With that word he drove his fingers into her
and rubbed her clit in such a way that she couldn’t hold back
anymore. Her hips jerked forward; her knees gave out as spams of
pleasure wracked her body. He grabbed hold of her waist, holding
her up before she collapsed in a heap on the floor. She couldn’t
think, her mind spun, it took everything she had not to sink to the
floor, but he continued to stroke her refusing to allow her to
relax. She released a guttural shout as he pushed her to higher
heights before sending her spiraling out of control again.