Faithless Angel (32 page)

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.

With the word came another wave of heat, until even the skimpy silk of her panties felt stifling against her skin. She hooked her fingers through the lace and slid the material down.

Righting herself, she stood before him, her skin bathed in moonlight, her nipples hard and throbbing, so desperate for him that it was all she could do to keep from sinking to her knees from the incredible need.

“So beautiful,” he said. “You’re so beautiful.” He stared at her, his eyes burning over her, through her. Tension held his body tight; his muscles bunched beneath his T-shirt. Taut lines carved his face, making
his features seem harsh, fierce, predatory.

The specks of gold in his eyes flared, gleamed, scorching her when fear might have cooled the desire searing her senses. He stepped closer, blocking out the play of light through her living room window.

Pale silver light shimmered around him, making him seem dark and sinister by comparison. A man of deep secrets and forbidden dreams. Yet the light didn’t just outline him; it enveloped him.

He pulled the T-shirt over his head and dropped it at his feet. Where Faith had felt his strength before, now she saw it with her own eyes. Muscles carved his torso, from his bulging biceps and shoulders to the rippled plane of his abdomen. Dark, silky hair sprinkled his chest, narrowing to a tiny whorl of silk that disappeared beneath the waistband of his jeans.

Her gaze swept down to the prominent bulge beneath his zipper, and a memory rushed at her—his arousal pressing into her buttocks, so strong and insistent. She swallowed.

He reached out and crooked a finger under her chin, forcing her attention to his face. “There’s nothing to be scared of. We’ve done this before.”

“We weren’t face-to-face then.”

“We were that day at the hospital.”

“That was different. You …” Her words tripped and she blushed.

“Don’t be embarrassed, Faith. Not with me, not ever.”

“I’ve never really seen you before.”

“But you’ve felt me.” His fingertip trailed down the column of her throat to linger at the base, where her pulse pounded a furious drumbeat against the
pad of his thumb. He caressed the spot and the tempo increased. Faster, faster …

She swallowed, gathering the remnants of control, and caught his hand. “I felt you, all right. But not all of you. You were hiding from me. Last night and today.”

“I was hilt-deep inside you.”

His gravelly voice conjured a vivid image and her insides tightened. Want speared through her and she forced a calming breath. “You were still hiding. You were surrounding me, inside of me, but you were holding back.” She touched the shadowed plane of his jaw, felt the sting of stubble and ached to rub her face against it, her body.

She stiffened, fighting the urge. “No more,” she went on. “I want all of you tonight. Everything you have to give. No hiding. Please.” The last word came out as a desperate plea, and Faith cursed herself for sounding so needy.

But God help her, she was. She needed him. All of him.

A moment of silence passed between them and she could feel his indecision, his turmoil as it raged to the surface for a frightening moment in which she feared he would refuse her.

And if he did? Would she meet him on his terms?

Before she could contemplate the answer, a single word sighed through her head….
Tonight
. Then he reached out.

He touched her nipples, just the soft rasp of his palms, and pleasure bolted through her. His strokes were featherlight, reverent as he brought the sensitive peaks to a throbbing, tingling, swollen awareness. Then he slid his hands under her breasts, grazed her rib cage as he moved to cup her buttocks.

He lifted her, sweeping her legs up on either side
of him and around, to lock her ankles at the small of his back. Then he settled her firmly against the rock-hard length barely contained within his jeans.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and lost herself to the delicious friction as he rocked her. The coarse material of his jeans rasped against her sensitive flesh, and pleasure prickled through her, igniting every nerve ending until her body fairly glowed from the feel of his.

A day’s growth of beard rubbed against the tender flesh of her neck, the slope of her breasts, chafing her in a motion that was so exquisite—a white-hot pleasure simmering with tender pain—that it brought tears to her eyes. He was so gentle, and at the same time fierce, as if she were a treasure to be protected, cherished.

He arched her backward, drew one swollen nipple into his mouth, and suckled as gently as a babe. Sensation spread through her, like thick honey pooling over a warm surface. It was just a hint of things to come, a subtle stirring of feeling that marked the beginning of a leisurely seduction, and Faith realized that he’d meant what he’d said.

Tonight. All night. He intended to take his time. To drive her to the brink, only to pull her back. Again and again and—

“Again,” he added, moving his mouth away from her pouting nipple to stare into her eyes. “We’ve had it fast and furious, and now I want it slow.”

“And sweet?” She raised an eyebrow at him, feeling wicked and wild and incredibly sexy. He made her feel that way. He shattered her inhibitions until there was nothing but the two of them. No world waiting to pass judgment. No expectations to meet. Just them. Jesse and Faith. Man and woman.

“Not exactly.” He trailed his tongue over his bottom
lip, and her nipple, still damp from the moist heat of his mouth, seemed to tingle. “More like slow and
thorough
. But since you brought it up …” His eyes gleamed brighter, a lazy grin tilting his sensuous lips. “I bet you taste every bit as sweet as you look.”

Before she could respond, he captured her lips in a kiss that sent her thoughts spinning. His tongue tangled with hers, delving and tasting until she could barely breathe. And when she did, it was his breath that filled her lungs, just as his desire flowed into her, pumped through her, mingling with her own in a storm of need that raged fiercer than the nastiest typhoon.

She didn’t feel the motion as he carried her. He could have floated into the bedroom, for all she knew. She was suddenly aware only of the soft mattress at her back, and of his body—dark and hot—towering over her.

He straddled her, his knees planted firmly on either side of hers. The faded material of his jeans hugged his hard thighs, showing every ripple of muscle. His bare torso gleamed with a fine sheen of perspiration that caught flickers of light from passing cars, like the twinkle of stars reflecting off a dark, mysterious lake. Faith couldn’t help herself. She reached up, trailed her hands along his slick muscled flesh, felt the bulge and ripple of his shoulders. She splayed her fingers in the hair covering his chest, her touch tentative, exploratory, as she followed the path of silk that narrowed as it descended his abdomen. She stopped just shy of the waistband to his jeans, suddenly wary.

His eyes burned like midnight fire, his muscles tight with raw energy. He balled his hands into fists at his sides, and she knew it took everything he had
not to cover her hand with his and urge her on.

Touch me
. His deep voice echoed through her mind, yet she couldn’t seem to make herself follow the command.

She’d felt his body’s strength, but this was different. This was …
looking
, and for all her determination and bravado, heat crept up her neck. Her fingers trembled.

He leaned down, his tongue flicking a ripe nipple, and she gasped. His mouth was hot and wet, his tongue tormenting the stiff peak until she arched against him.

“Unzip me,” he finally said, his voice ragged, and there was no hesitation in her movements this time.

The zipper hissed and he sprang hot and eager into her hands. He pulled away from her then and stared down as she held him. Her attention riveted on his hot, pulsing flesh. She’d known he was huge. She’d felt him, glimpsed him, but the reality was more than she’d bargained for. Bigger. More beautiful.

He was smooth as satin and as hard as an iron spike, she realized as she trailed her fingers over him, touching the ripe head of his desire. He jumped in her hands and she smiled, feeling a surge of feminine power she’d never experienced before.

But then she’d never touched a man like this. Never held him in her hands and stroked him the way she now stroked Jesse.

In a way, just this—this holding and stroking and exploring—seemed more intimate than anything she’d experienced in her past. Her encounters with her college boyfriend had been hollow. There had been a couple of tender kisses, some groping in the dark to remove boxers and panties, a few moments of heavy panting; then it had been over.

But this … This was surely the way it was meant to be between a man and a woman.

“Between us,” he said. He stilled her movements then and placed her arms above her head. “Now it’s my turn.”

He kissed her then, slowly and deeply before his mouth moved to her jaw, sweeping a trail of fire down her neck to her tender breasts. He cupped and licked and suckled until Faith thrashed her head on the pillow and her hips rotated, searching for him. She came so close to falling apart. He suckled her hard, exerting just the right amount of pressure to have her moaning his name, clutching at the bed-sheets. She reached for him time after time, but he forced her hands back above her head, the motion lifting her breasts in silent invitation. And he suckled her harder, greedier. Only when she nearly burst into a thousand pieces did he pull away. The distance cooled her feverish skin for a rational moment, until she became acutely aware of his hands.

They slid down her belly, fingers ruffling her pubic hair with gentle tugs that sent tingles of electricity dancing up her spine. Then his attention moved lower, to the insides of her thighs. Fingers rasped lazy circles against her tender flesh, moving so close to her heat, her heart. So dangerously close.

“More,” she begged shamelessly. She was past the point of modesty. She needed him inside her.
Now
.

“Soon,” Jesse promised, aching to fill her as much as she ached to be filled. But he wanted to watch her. Like her, he’d been deprived of that pleasure their first night together, and the time at the hospital had been sweet, yet unfulfilling. Tonight he intended to satisfy them both. Completely. No holding
back, he’d promised her, and he meant to keep his word.

He cupped her heat and she arched into his palm. Every muscle in his body went rigid as he fought for control. His gaze riveted on her face and he touched her slickness, rubbing her sensitive nub with his index finger.

The friction of his callused fingertip against the delicate tissue wrung a gasp from her. He repeated the motion, exerting just the tiniest bit more pressure.

She came up off the bed, her body bowing toward him. A pink flush spread over her breasts, up her neck, to gather in her cheekbones. Her kiss-swollen lips parted on a breathless moan that filled his ears and sent an ache straight to his already straining flesh.

He wanted her like this every night. Wanted to wake her up with his kisses in the morning, share breakfast, lunch, and dinner with her, wrap his arms around her and watch the sun set from her back porch. He wanted … her. Every moment of every day, from here until—

No!
He clamped his eyes shut. He had only this moment. This night. Now.

He opened his eyes to find her staring up at him, her gaze bright with desire despite her fierce culmination only moments before. He stood, stripped away his jeans and underwear, then joined her on the bed.

She opened her legs, welcoming him, and he slid between them. He wanted to warm her up, to stir her senses again before he entered her, but she would have none of it. She grasped his buttocks and pulled him to her.

He slid inside in one deft motion that sucked the
air from his lungs and sent the blood roaring through his veins. Before he could catch his breath, she started to move, rotating her hips, her inner muscles contracting, sucking at him, the internal caress nearly making him spill himself right then and there.

She was so hot, so welcoming, and she was killing him. But this death was sweet and Jesse followed her willingly into the unknown.

He started to thrust, strong and sure and deep in a motion that sent them both hurtling into oblivion. Eyes clamped tight, he pumped into her over and over.

And in those last few moments, as they teetered on the edge of climax, he felt her soft fingertips on his face.

“Look at me,” she commanded in a breathy whisper. “I want to see you.”

Their gazes locked, and though Jesse knew he was about to make the biggest mistake of all—and he’d made many where Faith was concerned—he couldn’t refuse her. He thrust deep, watched her beautiful neck arch, her lips part, her eyes glaze, and never so much as blinked.

Even when he felt his control slip and saw the frightened expression that gripped her face.

“What … ? Your eyes … your”—she gasped—
“eyessss.”
The word trailed off into a deep moan of pleasure.

He simply pumped harder, loving her with his body and lulling her with his gaze until her fear disappeared and wonder took its place. A few more strokes and he exploded. His back arched, his teeth ground together, and he spilled himself deep inside of her.

She followed his climax with one of her own, calling
his name and clinging to him as if he were her last hope on earth.

The action would be repeated again and again before sleep finally overwhelmed them and
tonight
dwindled to a bittersweet close.

A pale pink glow softened the horizon when Jesse finally opened his eyes. He stared down at Faith curled against his side, the sheet bunched at her waist, her beautiful breasts gleaming white in the semidarkness. He leaned over and placed a tender kiss on her chest, felt the beat of her heart against his lips. His own heart thudded in response.

His eyes burned and he blinked against the sudden realization.

What the hell had he done?

He’d thrown all thoughts about the future to the wind and loved her as he’d wanted to from the beginning. No holding back. No hiding.