From the Ashes (Force of Nature Book 1) (14 page)

And I wanted him too, there was no denying that. Like the dreams of him I'd had, filled with visions of him on top of me, inside me, consuming every bit of me that he could. That night, with him standing half naked at the foot of his bed, I wanted to be exactly where I was, and it was plain that he could read that in my eyes.

The dream had finally become real.

Like the predator he was, he stalked toward me, climbing onto the bed with the elegance of a lion about to pounce on his prey. But he stopped himself, hovering just above my legs to stare down at my expression more closely. Always watching. Always assessing. Then I saw the doubt flicker through his eyes. He may have viewed me as strong, but even he couldn't deny that a part of me had broken the night I was attacked. He was far too intelligent to think otherwise. He'd studied my every move afterward, undoubtedly analyzing everything I said and did. His quiet contemplation when he was around me made far more sense. He was torn between what he wanted and what he thought I needed. If I did nothing to reassure him, then our wedding night would fizzle out in a hurry.

Time to man up, Piper...

“So...I know it's been a
really
long time since I've done this, so I might be wrong, but I'm pretty sure you need to come a bit closer if you want to have sex with me,” I said playfully, trying my best to be funny yet seductive. There was no reason those two things had to be mutually exclusive.

His eyes narrowed, the desire in them pushing through the reservation they had just displayed.

“I didn't want to appear too eager, but I won't lie to you, Piper. I've wanted this since the first time I saw you,” he replied. “I have since realized that my intentions may not have been clear to you—that my nature made it difficult for you to see what seemed so obvious to me. But make no mistake, the thought of you has all but consumed my every thought since that night. Especially the thought of you beneath me. ” He stared down at me while he knelt between my legs, and I spread them wider, enticing him to lie between them.

He took the bait.

In a flash, his body was pressed tightly against mine, and it became clear just how badly he wanted me. His breathing was ragged and erratic, and his erection pulsed against me. Even with his pants on, I could tell he had a lot to offer a girl, a revelation that both excited and terrified me. It really had been a long time since I'd been with someone—years, to be exact. But what worried me most was the damage I'd sustained in the fire. It wasn't only my abdomen that had been burned beyond recognition. Everything down to my upper thighs had been as well. Though I’d healed, I hadn't exactly explored that part of my body beyond the occasional naked stand before a mirror. And that never ended well. I'd basically blocked my girly bits out of my mind, trying to forget what they looked like after the attack. I certainly hadn't played around with them to see what, if any, feeling still remained.

With my luck, there was probably none.

“I want to see all of you,” he whispered into my neck, grinding his body against mine. My breath caught in my throat, which pulled a growl from his. He reached behind me, unclasping my bra, and let his fingers trail along the bottom edge of it, teasing the underside of my breast devilishly as he did. He traced the clear delineation between scarred skin and smooth, kissing a line along my neck to my chest. As his lips made their way down to the top of my breast, a desperate gasp escaped me.

He stilled instantly.

“Nonononononono,” I protested, locking my hands in his hair. “Don't stop. Please don't stop.”

I lowered my gaze to find mischievous eyes staring up at me.

“But you said no,” he countered, pulling away from me slightly.

“NO! I meant 'no, don't stop'! Not 'stop',” I argued, my heart racing with anticipation.

A smile spread wide across his face.

“Perhaps you're not ready for that,” he said, sliding down past my breasts to my stomach. “Perhaps here would be a better place to start.” He dragged a single finger down the line of my once-perfect abs, stopping as he met the top of my underwear. I felt my body clench at the thought of him dipping below that elastic barrier, willing him to do it. Instead he backtracked, trailing his finger back up to where it had started.

“Nonononono!” I protested again, the note of pleading in my voice impossible to ignore.

“No?” he asked with a quirk of his brow. “No what?” He shifted his weight to his elbows, sliding down the length of my body, his pace painfully slow. “No this?” he inquired as he grazed the skin above the line of the thin black fabric. The only thing keeping him from where I wanted him to be. “Is that what you're suggesting, Piper?”

Before I could answer, his hand dove just below my underwear. Again I gasped, arching my back in a futile attempt to force his fingers just an inch or two lower. I needed him inside me.

Just as he started to draw his hand out from underneath the black fabric, I caught his arm, thrusting it back down again. I positioned it right where I wanted it to be—his intended target. This time, it was his turn to gasp. Then he growled, tearing the thin fabric from my body with the flick of his wrist. I could feel his breath fall heavy and erratic on my tender flesh. The tingle of anticipation it caused was unlike anything I'd ever known.

Then his mouth fell upon my core, and my body erupted into a fiery ball of need that bordered on pain. It was hard to process all the feelings at once. I felt like I wanted to pull him closer and shove him away as the pressure built. My body rocked rhythmically against his face as he continued to do things I'd never experienced before. I felt his finger slide inside me, drawing a guttural sound from deep within me. The tension building inside my core couldn't sustain itself much longer, and I begged him to put an end to this sweet, sweet torture. As if he'd been toying with me all along, waiting for me to tap out of our sexual exploration, he reached his finger deeper, expertly finding the exact spot needed to allow my body to let go. With a cry, my body convulsed as I let the wave of energy crash over me—through me—my muscles clenching tightly against the finger that remained behind, caught in the crossfire.

“Oh my God,” I repeated over and over again, my head extended so far back that all I could see was the headboard. “Please...”

“Please what?” he asked, his words suddenly tickling my ear. While I fought to put together a coherent sentence, I could hear him unzipping his pants.

“That!” I finally blurted out. “I want that. All of it.”

“All of it?” he said incredulously. “Are you sure about that?” He pushed his body away from mine, once again kneeling between my legs, his pants around his hips. With a smooth slide of his hands, his boxer briefs found their way down as well, exposing everything I had just claimed to want. All of it.

I gasped at the sight.

My mind demanded that I withdraw my previous statement, but my body told it to fuck off. Whether it was anatomically possible or not, I wanted him to slide himself deep within me until I begged him to stop or I passed out from pleasure. Whichever came first.

“Yes. I'm sure.”

“Then say it,” he demanded, collapsing on top of me. The raspy tone of his voice told me his control was waning.

“I want you,” I breathed, writhing underneath him.

“To do what?”

“To fuck me,” I moaned as I felt the tip of him press against my opening.

“And how do you want me to fuck you?” he asked, pulling away from me. I wriggled down, trying to reconnect us.

“Hard? Now? Whatever, I don't care, I just want you inside me.” I was practically begging at that point. I was senseless need and little more. Merc had reduced me to that, and I loved him for it.

Again I felt him pressing against me, splitting me open, but not entering. Always testing. Teasing.

“Whatever am I going to do with you,” he asked rhetorically, catching my earlobe in his mouth and biting it lightly. “Have you no manners? Say please.”

“Please,” I exhaled, arching against him.

“Say it again.”

“Please!” I cried out this time, whimpering with desire.

“Now,” he said, thrusting himself inside me, “that wasn't so hard, was it?” The shot of pain that jolted through me was as intense as the pleasure that followed in its wake. He worked over every inch of my body with every inch of his, driving me to the brink of insanity. With every thrust of his hips, every hungry kiss, he consumed me until we climaxed in beautiful synchrony. He owned me then, mind, body, and soul. There was nowhere else in the world I could dream of being other than by his side.

9

I woke up early to find my body entwined with Merc's. His eyes were closed, still heavy with sleep, but I knew he was awake. The smile that spread across his face while I stared at him told me as much.

“You're staring,” he said, his voice low and raspy.

“How did you—”

“I could feel the weight of your eyes on me.”

“That's freaky.”

“It's convenient,” he countered, finally lifting his lids to expose his piercing gray-blue eyes. My body shuddered when they fell upon me.
And he thought I was staring
...“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Me? I feel fine. Why?” I asked, laying my head back down on his shoulder.

He shrugged it lightly beneath me.

“Much has happened to you in the last few hours. I want to be certain that you have wrapped your head around all of it.”

“And that I don't regret anything,” I added, seeing where he was going. His silence was all the confirmation I needed. I propped up on my elbow so that I could look down at him. So that he could see my face clearly, in case my words were not reassuring enough. “I am exactly where I want to be. Last night went from horrible, to desperate, to shocking, then amazing in a flash. I wouldn't change a thing about it.” I smiled at him, leaning forward to kiss him lightly on the nose. “Well, that's not entirely true. I could have passed on the king part. That was scary as all hell.”

“I would not have let him harm you,” he said matter-of-factly.

My eyes widened at his treasonous admission.

“Don't say that,” I said, my heart racing with fear. “You cannot stand against him. To do that is to sign your own death warrant. If anyone ever hears you say that...”

“Calm yourself, Piper. Nothing will happen to me.”

“You can't guarantee that if you challenge the king.”

He smiled widely.

“Do not be so certain of that.” He leaned in close to whisper in my ear. “Haven't I already?”

My mind started to race with the implications of his words, but before it could get too far, he shot up and tackled me, pinning me back down to the bed. The weight of his body against mine was more than sufficient to derail my train of thought.

“Do you still wish to discuss my imprudence where the king is involved, or would you prefer to do something else?” he asked, grinding his pelvis against mine. I spread my legs a little wider to accommodate him.

“King who?” I breathed as he bent his head low to kiss along the side of my neck.

“Exactly,” he murmured against my skin.

* * *

“Venturing out of your love nest to get some food?” Jase called after me as I attempted to sneak into the kitchen for some snacks. Keeping up with Merc was going to require a trip to the grocery store soon. Preferably not one in Brooklyn.

“Something like that,” I replied, turning to find him striding down the hall toward me.

“Piper, I need to talk to you.”

“If this is going to be some lecture about staying away from Merc, I hate to inform you but I think you've missed the boat on that one.” I kept making my way toward the kitchen, not waiting for Jase to catch up, but he inevitably did, grabbing my arm to halt me.

“It's not about that, Piper,” he explained, his dark eyes soft and kind. “I want to talk about what happened before that. When you and Sylvia were fighting.”

“Oh. That,” I said, my arms drifting up to cover my midsection.

“Yeah. That. Why didn't you tell me about your scars? Or Dean?”

My eyes fell away from his gaze to the floor.

“I was embarrassed.” My words were a whisper.

“Aw, Piper,” he sighed, pulling me into an embrace. “Nothing could ever make either of us feel differently about you. You have to know that by now.”

“I'm sorry—”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. We're the ones that are sorry. What I said that night on the bridge—I had no idea that your post-attack trauma was so deeply rooted. That you had a constant reminder of it.”

“You didn't know because I didn't want you to, Jase. And there's a reason for that. I knew you'd blame yourself and I couldn't stand the thought of seeing pity in your eyes every time you looked at me. So please don't start now. What's done is done. I've found love and acceptance where I least expected to. Merc doesn't see my scars when he looks at me. He sees something much greater. I can't tell you how amazing that feels.”

Jase sighed heavily, a tentative smile tugging at his mouth.