Jared (27 page)

She eased the right side of his shirt over and then
the left, fully exposing the washboard tightness of his abdominal muscles. She
poked. There was no give in the man. He was the perfect killing machine. One by
one, she flattened her fingers on his chest, centering the demand of his nipple
into the hollow of her palm. The perfect lover. She let her other finger ride
the hills and valleys of his stomach, heading south to the intriguing area
still hidden by his jeans, meeting his gaze. “I bet women have been chasing you
your whole life.”

“I’m only interested in one.”

She flashed him a quick smile. “Good answer.”

He tugged on her hair, calling her gaze back to his
serious one. “It wasn’t a joke.”

She petted his chest. “I know.” Her fingers naturally
drifted down the curve of his pectoral. The roughness of his hair was exciting
against the tips. She licked her lips, remembering how those tight curls had
felt against her nipples the night before, rasping, sensitizing. “It’s just,
I’m not really into being serious tonight.”

“Suddenly, neither am I.” His hand came up to her
breast as she rubbed her fingers over the hair on his chest. Little flames
flickered at the edges of his irises. Desire thickened his natural drawl. “You
liked that, huh?”

“What.”

“My chest rubbing on your breasts.”

Why did it sound so much more when he said it out loud
than when she thought it? Her breast peaked to his touch. Pressing back against
the flat of his thumb in a wanton invitation he was quick to accept.

“Yes.”

His cock surged, brushing the juncture of her thighs
in an illicit little touch. Her gasp broadened his smile. “You like that, too?
Me wanting you?”

“Do I look like a fool?” She quickly covered his mouth
before he could answer with something logical and mood killing. “You’re a
wonderful lover, Jared. Any woman would be thrilled to be where I am now.”

To prove her point, she wiggled her hips down,
receiving another of those erotic surges in return. He kissed her palm. His
tongue, hot and moist, tickled the center. Raisa cautiously took her hand away,
revealing the hint of a smile and the edge of his fangs just visible through
the seam of his lips. Her desire honed to the promise within reach.

“I’m not interested in other women.”

She smoothed her palm over his chest. He shook his
head, lifting his chest into the press of her nails as she found his flat
nipple and flicked it.

“Just you.”

“Yes.” Satisfaction flowed over her. Tonight he was
hers, to do with as she wanted. “And I’m really looking forward to indulging
myself.”

That right eyebrow of his arched up, spicing the
intensity of the moment with a hint of humor. “Don’t I get a say in that?”

She canted her head to the side. “No, I don’t think
you do.”

He let her hair go, his eyes following how the strands
curled about her face, lingering on the one she could feel tickling the corner
of her mouth. “Why not?”

“Because no one ever lets me play, and I’m tired of
being the doll lying in the bed accepting what comes her way.”

“You don’t like the way I make love to you?”

Hurt flicked over her with the memory of their last
time. “With the exception of that one time, I love it.”

He pushed her hair back, studying her expression. “I
thought we weren’t going to dwell on the past?”

“We’re not. I was just explaining.”

“Explaining what?”

“That I intend to take advantage of the fact that I
don’t think it will bother you if I’m on top for a while.”

Now both brows went up, along with the corners of his
mouth. Whatever he was thinking, he wasn’t turned off by the idea. “Looking to
take over?”

From another man, the phrasing of the question might
have given her pause, but from Jared, she could take it on face value. “Will
you let me?”

He flicked the hair off the corner of her mouth,
replacing the silky softness with the delicate abrasion of his thumb. “Tell me
why first.”

“Last night you got to have the pleasure of discovery.
You got to find out what made me gasp and shiver.” She placed both hands on his
chest, loving the hardness of muscle under the firmness of his skin, the utter
heat and strength he radiated. Spreading her fingers wide, she drew them down
toward his stomach. His breath sucked in, increasing the incline of the ride.
“I just want the chance to know you the same way.” Her thumbs settled into the
ridge defining his abs before gliding to the well of his navel, where they
snagged and stuck. “Do you have any objections?”

He arched into her hands, his hips lifting her knees
off the floor, pressing his shaft into the cradle of her thighs, and suddenly
he wasn’t the only one gasping.

“Not a one.” The curve to his lips was almost sweet.
“Go crazy.”

She would, just as soon as she got over the
near-divine sensation of his cock pressing up into her core. Her talons sprang
free, piercing his skin, leaving behind eight tiny pinpricks of blood.

“Easy.”

She yanked her hands from him as her knees reconnected
with the cave floor. “I’m so sorry.”

With a deft motion he brought her fingers to his lips.
“Not a problem.” He kissed first the right hand and then the left before
replacing them on his chest. “Just want to get to the good part with all my
organs intact.”

“I’ll be careful.” She had to be careful. He never
hurt her when he touched her. She’d be darned if she’d hurt him.

Again the touch of his fingers on her cheek. “You can
sink those pretty little claws into me all you want, sunbeam. I just want you
aware when you do it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

With a swift yank, she had his shirttail free of his
pants. The twin valleys defining his abs drew her eye. Deep and inviting, they
tempted. Working her hips back, she brought her mouth even with the right
valley, hovering just above his skin. She took one breath, two, letting the
moist air blow across the firm flesh. His stomach sucked in. A trail of goose
bumps dotted the path of her breath. Between his flesh and his denims a more
intriguing trail opened. She touched her tongue to his skin.

His hands cupped her head. Not pushing, not pulling,
but definitely encouraging. He wanted her mouth on him. Just knowing that,
feeling the stroke of his energy over her skin in a tangible caress, gave her
the courage to continue. Raisa explored the hollow with teasing flicks. He
tasted as good as he smelled. Clean, with a slight male musk tinged with salty
spice that was addictive. She fumbled with the buttons of his jeans as she
brought her lips and teeth into play, nipping and nibbling the tight flesh as
she worked her way down, struggling with his jeans, wanting to bite with
frustration when the buttons wouldn’t give.

Her chin bumped the waistband. She pushed until she
couldn’t go any farther. And still she couldn’t get the darn button undone.

Jared’s hand left her head. She caught a blur of
movement from the corner of her eyes, and then there was a harsh rasp and the
material parted under the slash of his talons. She leaned back, staring at the
denser patch of hair positioned so much lower. “Thank you.”

His “Anytime” poured over her in a husky timbre that
stroked along her arousal, fanning the embers, creating flames of intensity
deep inside.

She pressed her finger to the thick base of his shaft,
just visible above the V of his fly. A tickle of her nail and he snarled, his
energy sinking into her with a wild thrust. His fingers fisted on either side
of the material. The touch of her hand on his stilled his wildness.

“It’s my present. Let me unwrap it.”

For a second she didn’t think he was going to, his
naturally dominant nature wrestling with his promise, but then his thumbs
grazed her thighs, sliding inward, rubbing suggestively, warningly. “If you do,
don’t expect miracles when it comes to my control.”

A furtive thrill shot from her head to her toes,
bouncing back up to lodge in her center where it tingled and grew. She’d never
made a man lose control before. She kissed the pulse pounding in his strong
throat, measured it with her lips, her tongue, before answering. “I’ll keep it
in mind.”

She scooted lower, riding the lure of temptation. Her
feet bumped into the wall long before she got to her destination. If she wanted
this to work, she was going to have to change her plan. She sat back on her
heels. Bracing her hands on Jared’s rock-hard thighs, she drummed her fingers.
“We’ve got a slight problem.”

The glance he shot her from under his brows was full
of lazy sensuality, but not a lot of help. She motioned with her hand. “You’re
going to have to sit up.”

He did, that same sexy, languid ease in every movement
that said he knew how to stretch the pleasure out, make it last. For both of
them. She crawled over him, noting the narrowing of his eyes as she climbed his
body, the flare of energy swirling around him. She slowed her movements,
holding his gaze as she ran her tongue over her lips, matching her pace to the
depth of his respirations. One breath, one foot. Two breaths, two feet.

His hand dropped to her shoulder, and his finger
slipped beneath the collar of her turtleneck, playing with the sensitive skin
of her neck. “Take off your shirt.”

“I thought this was my show.”

“It is, but there’s no reason I can’t enjoy the view
of those gorgeous breasts of yours while you’re about it.”

Her breasts were so small they were almost
nonexistent, yet he though they were gorgeous?

“Absolutely.” Jared gestured with his finger. “And if
you bring them up here, I’ll prove it to you.”

She shook her hair back over her shoulder, arching her
back as she did, feeling wanton and beautiful under the touch of his heated
gaze, smiling when his gaze followed the few strands that insisted on falling
over her breasts. “Maybe later.”

He drew a line from her neck to where the hard
protrusion of her nipple poked through her shirt. It was a short journey from
base to tip. He climbed it with the diligence of a man climbing Mount Everest,
making sure to cover every contingency to pleasure, lingering in those areas
that had her shifting, biting her lip, moaning.

His cock stretched down his thigh, fighting the
constriction in his jeans. Feeling daring and nervous, she grabbed hold of the
bottom of her shirt. The way Jared immediately froze, his attention coming to
point, was more potent than the deepest kiss. She lifted the material that
first inch.

“Oh yeah.”

All it took to complete her metamorphosis to temptress
was a glance at Jared’s expression. The man was completely enthralled with the
prospect of seeing her breasts.

“You’re easy, Johnson.”

“And you, sunbeam, are gorgeous.”

She smiled, pulling the shirt up another inch. “You
need glasses.”

His thumbs rode up her thighs, dipping into the well
between. “No, I need you.”

His certainty flowed over her, through her. She pulled
the shirt off with a flourish and gave it a toss. She hadn’t worn a bra. As the
shirt floated to the floor, he growled and lifted her up and over, leaving her
kneeling beside him while he stood. She suddenly felt exposed and incredibly
vulnerable, which was silly. A rustle of clothing and he was kneeling in front
of her. One hand sliding behind her back, the other engulfing her breast.

“Sweet baby, come here.”

He pulled her against him—hard, hot, and in charge.
His skin melded to hers in a perfect culmination. A tiny sob of pure joy
welled.

“You know what I like, Rai?” Dark and sultry, Jared’s
voice whispered in her ear, rising and falling on husky notes of enticement as
he drawled, “I like the way your hair slides across my skin when you kiss me,
the heat of your mouth, the delicacy of your build, the way your nipples rise
against my tongue with such delicate eagerness. But mostly, I like the way you
hold me when I take you, all hot and eager, as if you’re holding your world in
your hands.” His tongue traced her ear. “Nice and tight.” He followed the inner
curve in searing flicks she had to concentrate to feel. “Very, very tight.”

His lips touched the side of her neck. Her womb
clutched on a wild flutter of sensation. “Oh God.”

“And that,” he murmured, sucking the skin into his
mouth, extending the shivers, the moment. “I like that best of all.”

She tilted her head away, giving him more room to
play. “What?”

“The perfect culmination you experience every time I
touch you. I bet I could give you a thousand tiny orgasms before you’d need the
real thing, couldn’t I?”

She nodded her head. He clasped her nipple between his
thumb and forefinger, and pressed.

“Oh.” Pleasure gathered, bit by bit, with each teasing
second, building before shooting outward as he rolled the engorged nipple
between his fingers. Her hips bucked against him.

“That’s it. Let me feel what I do to you. Share,
baby.”