In the Firelight (14 page)

“Dammit, Rhys…” she breathed. “God, you’re killing me.”

Rhys’ lips left their torment, and he lifted his passion-filled gaze. The feral look in his eyes took her breath away, his pupils wide in the low firelight. His hand reached up to slip along her jaw, his thumb resting just in front of her ear and his fingers firmly tangling in her hair along the base of her skull. Only a few moments, yet it seemed like an eternity, he gazed at her, as if he were battling something deep within himself. Finally, unable to resist, Shea closed the space between them, bringing her mouth back to his. She feasted on his lips frantically and sucked at his tongue with abandon, clutching at his shoulders.

Whatever seemed to stall him broke free, and, somehow both forcefully and gently all at once, he pushed her back to lie on the counter before him, scooting her back slightly but allowing her calves to dangle over the side of the counter. His hand skimmed down the smooth skin of her stomach to the buttons of her jeans. A slight pause, and then he ripped them open and drifted his fingers down to tease along the bare skin of her mound. With a sharp gasp, Shea’s feet pressed against the cupboards below the island, gaining purchase as her hips lifted. Her body was aching for more as he continued to toy with her, grazing her skin with his fingertips.

“Mmmm… I want that pussy, sweetheart,” he moaned into her mouth, tugging at her lower lip with his teeth.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Oh please, Rhys…”

Rhys’ hand slipped to the bony prominence of her hip, and his other hand slid to the other side. He slowly began to push her jeans and panties down, and the coarse scrape of denim along her highly sensitized skin wrenched a groan from deep inside her. He worked at a tortuously slow rate, using the jeans themselves to caress her skin and fan the flames of her need. His lips trailed along behind his hands, gently biting at her, sucking at her skin. As he finally pulled them from her feet, his strong hand raised one leg slightly. His lips teased the arch of her foot with a little nip.

Shea had never felt this crazed with want before.
This was insane!
  She was spread out before him like a feast
, completely bare-ass naked on the kitchen counter. His lips slowly caressed and nibbled their way up her ankle, along her calf, the inside of her thigh, she could feel every muscle in her body tense and release. Shock waves coursed through her, tightening her deep inside, building her ache. His lips finally reached the apex of her thighs, and he nuzzled her mound with his nose, scenting her, breathing in deeply. His fingertips trailed along her inner thigh, pushing her legs apart, opening them even farther for his pleasure.

“Beautiful… fucking beautiful…” he muttered at the sight before him before his mouth took possession of her wet heat.

Shea’s voice rang out in the quiet of the room as his lips began to taste her, his tongue delving deep inside, drinking her in. Shea arched below him, her arms reaching above her head to grab the edge of the countertop.

Rhys simply devoured her, his lips trailing up to the tight, swollen bud of her clit. He swirled his tongue around it with a heady pressure, then sucked lightly. Every touch of his lips, every brush of his tongue tightened Shea’s growing knot of nerves. All too quickly, her entire body began to tremble and convulse, and then shatter into an explosion of sobs and fiery waves. The tremors coursed through her body as his thick fingers slipped inside her, filling her and roughly pumping into her, pulling even more of the shocking, wracking jolts from her.

Rhys suddenly straightened, pulled her naked, trembling form off the counter and lifting her tightly against him. He quickly walked them towards the large couch in front of the fireplace and laid her against the soft microfiber fabric.

His lips plundered hers again. The scent and the taste of her orgasm on him surrounded her, and her taste buds tingled for more with every brush of his tongue. Her just-sated body caught fire again, and her hands slipped down the rippling muscles of his abs to desperately reach for the fly of his jeans.

Rhys braced himself above her, his hands holding her head steady with his elbows at her sides. As she fumbled with the buttons of his jeans, he raised his hips so she could push them down, freeing his hot, hard length. His size and hardness pulled a needy gasp from her lips. Her hands immediately grasped him, her prize, and he groaned loudly. She couldn’t wait any longer.

“Fuck, Rhys… I need you… now…”

“I need to grab a condom, baby,” he whispered against her lips.

“No… please. I’m safe. I’m on the pill, and I’m clean. I trust you.”

With those words, Rhys seemed to stall, to freeze for a moment. Shea began to nip and suck at his neck as her hips tilted up to meet the weeping tip of his cock, and her hands slid around behind, to pull him to her. The first touch of him at her wet and aching core wrenched a sharp cry from her lips.

“Fuck! Rhys, please… please…”

And then he was filling her, stretching her, claiming her. Shea cried out sharply as he slid in to the hilt, and they both stopped moving for a moment to relish the feel of their connection.

“Fucking Christ, Shea…” Rhys whispered brokenly as his lips once again found hers.

He raised his hips slightly, slowly rubbing along her inner channel, setting fire to a whole new set of nerves inside her. Shea tilted her hips to allow him greater access to the depths of her core, and he slowly, rhythmically began to slide in and out, as though he couldn’t bear to miss a second of the sensation. The tortuous pressure of his thick length filled her, pulled at her center, and her hands slid up his back, her nails digging into his skin.

He rose slightly on his elbows to look down at her, and the low firelight flickered across his features. His eyes looked so dark, his lids hooded with desire, his jaw clenched with the need he was holding back. The beauty, the sight of his warm skin and the depth of his gaze touched her as deeply as the motion of his thick length inside her, and her body constricted around him. A deep throaty moan emanated from his throat, and she felt his cock jump inside her as he continued the slow and steady motion.

The pressure of her promised release began to build, the fullness of him as he rubbed along her most sensitive spot began to make her tremble and tighten.

“That’s it, sweetheart,” Rhys murmured as he looked down at her. “You’re getting close, aren’t you?”

“Rhys,” Shea whimpered. “Faster… harder…”

Rhys lifted up a little higher on one arm as he gripped her hip bone forcefully with the other, holding her hips steady, and he began to pound into her rapidly. He was like a machine, pistoning in and out of her, building the pressure inside her with every slap of their skin.

“Oh fuck, Shea,” Rhys groaned. “Feel me, squeeze me and hold me inside your hot little pussy.”

Already on the edge, his ragged words triggered her fierce orgasm, a deep and throbbing explosion that she felt clear to her fingertips and toes. Her desperate cry and shaking body ripped his own release from him, and he collapsed on her with a deep groan as he flooded her depths with a hot wash of his seed.

“God, Shea…” he exhaled against her neck. “Fuck…”

Slowly, the quiet of the cabin, the crackling of the fire before them, softly came back into focus. Rhys could barely believe the heaven he’d just experienced. His face was buried in the sweet scent of Shea’s neck, and he never wanted to move. Ever. He wanted to stay here,
right fucking here
, for the rest of his fucking life.

Inside her, still feeling the soft, tight heat of her grasping him with spasmodic little jerks.

Feeling her body shivering with tremors, milking him of everything he had.

The warmth of the fire against his skin, against hers.

He raised his head slightly to look down at her, her eyes heavily sated with contentment and exhaustion. Her skin glowed golden in the flickering light and the curls of her hair spread across the couch below her.

This was too much.

This wasn’t okay.

He had a job to do, and he had totally lost himself in her. He should leave, now. Before he hurt her. Before he felt any more than he did right at that moment. Because, right then, he couldn’t bear the thought of what he was here to do.

He should leave. He should get up and walk out. He should tell her the truth about why he was there, and she’d throw him out.

This was too much…

But, instead, he softly kissed her lids as they drifted closed. He lightly kissed the gasp from her lips as he pulled out of her wet heat. He wrapped his arms heavily around her and shifted to lay on his side, pulling her close to his pounding heart. Reaching up to the back of the couch behind him, he pulled the quilt down over them. Her nose nuzzled against the dusting of hair on his chest, and his lungs tightened.

He should tell her.

He should leave.

He
really
should leave.

But he didn’t… he couldn’t.

Shea shivered and nestled into the warmth of Rhys’ arms. His scent was all around her, that of pine and fresh air. And the scent of the explosive passion between them. Glancing over at the fire, she noticed it had died down to only a few coals. She watched their red glow wax and wane in the darkness of the hearth, hypnotizing her for a moment with a ghostly dance.

Gently pulling herself from the heat of Rhys’ body, she sat on the edge of the oversized couch, pulling a smaller throw from the other side. She wrapped it around her body and gathered underneath her arms to cover her nakedness. Taking a few steps across the chilled wooden floor in front of the fireplace, she reached for a chunk of wood, selecting a split piece that had lots of small shards of wood poking out.

Tiptoeing back to the hearth, she sat before the coals, softly laying the firewood on them and blowing to feed oxygen to the starving fire. After a few moments, flames began to creep up across the split pine, dancing along the shards and discoloring everything in their wake.

Shea sat for what seemed like forever, absorbing the heat from the growing blaze as the room began to flicker back into existence. The wood cracked and popped as the fire settled, and she heard the rustle of the blankets behind her.

Slowly she turned to see Rhys leaning up on his elbow, watching her as the flickering light danced across her skin and filtered through her hair. His expression seemed hard to read with the shadows around him, his dark hair was tousled and hanging in his eyes. Her fingers tingled as she remembered the sensation of her hands in that hair, on his hot skin. Images from a few hours before began to filter through her mind, causing her heart rate to quicken and goosebumps to rise all down her arms.

Then he rose, wrapping the soft quilt around his hips as he stood, and walked towards her. He settled behind her on the ledge of the hearth, enveloping her in his warm, strong arms. His nose nuzzled into her hair before he settled his chin on her shoulder, his soft breath softly caressing the sensitive skin behind her ear.

Shea curled back against him, melting into his embrace, and the two sat like that, watching the flames. Finally, Rhys spoke.

“We really need to talk,” he began.

Shea swallowed hard. “I don’t want to,” she whispered back quickly.

“Shea, something happened here tonight. This makes things complicated. You have no idea how complicated.”

“No,” she continued to stare ahead, not looking at him, but resting her head more firmly on his shoulder. “This is just… this. Tonight. It’s not forever. It’s not life-altering. You’re not staying.”