Smoldering Hunger (10 page)

Someone had to do it. Why not her? She had no family or anyone waiting at home. Not even a cat. She was the most likely candidate to cover those shifts to allow the others with spouses and children to get home to them.

“I can sleep in,” she said aloud and took her first bite of the roll.

Sleeping in. What was that exactly? Her inner clock would have her awake at five with or without a day off. She was banned from even going to the hospital for the next two days. What was she going to do?

What
did
people do on their days off?

There were a few patients she could check on that she saw outside the hospital, but that would only take a few hours. What in the world was she going to do with the rest?

Sophie glanced at the telly. She couldn’t remember the last time she turned it on. There were movies. She could go see a movie. That would eat up a couple of hours. And then what?

She ate the rest of her sushi roll and was sipping on the wine when she rolled her shoulders. A nice soak in the tub would help to work out the kinks.

As soon as she walked into the bathroom and saw the tub, images from the night before filled her mind. Darius. The man set her aflame with a single look. It wasn’t fair that he had that kind of control over her.

“It’s not control,” she told herself. “I’ve just not relieved my body in a while. That’s all it was.”

Horse shit.

It was complete horse shit. Darius did it for her in so many ways she couldn’t begin to count. His hair, his eyes, that amazing jaw and cheeks. That mouth!

And his hands.

She sighed just thinking about his large hands skimming over her flesh.

“No,” she said and firmly put him out of her mind.

Darius was gone from her life. He’d appeared as suddenly as he vanished. If she hadn’t touched him herself, she would almost think him a ghost.

Sophie lit the candles around the tub and turned on the water. She sat on the edge of the tub until she got the water just right, then she put in the bubble bath and clicked the remote that turned on some classical music.

The hauntingly beautiful strings began to play. Sophie danced around the bathroom as she undressed. She couldn’t help but smile as she realized that for a brief moment in time, she’d had her own Highlander.

Now she knew that men like that really did exist. They were rare—and usually already claimed by someone—but they were out there.

If she actually thought she could be in a relationship again, she would begin searching for a Highlander. A man who prided himself on loyalty, honor, and love.

Not true. She’d search for Darius.

She might actually view men a little differently if she’d met Darius years earlier. Then again, Sophie knew she wouldn’t have. A year after she came to Edinburgh she was still too bitter.

Hell, seven years later and the bitterness had faded. Some.

Sophie stepped into the water and sank back against the tub. She closed her eyes, listening to the music. Halfway through the soundtrack she opened her eyes thinking Darius might be there. But he wasn’t.

She finished her wine and remained in the water until the bubbles began to fade and the water turned tepid. Sophie toweled off and wrapped her robe around her, clicking off the music as she walked out of the bathroom.

After sorting through her mail for the past week and tossing out junk, she took the magazines onto the couch with her and looked through them. That wasted another thirty minutes.

Finally, Sophie gave up and untied her robe as she walked to her bedroom. She tossed the robe onto a chair and slid between the sheets.

For a long time, she stared at the ceiling thinking of Darius. Of his hands on her body, his mouth, and how wonderfully he kissed.

She finally closed her eyes and let it all replay in her head. Even as sleep claimed her, she wondered where Darius was and if he was thinking of her.

It was the chill that woke her. She looked to the window to see her curtain billowing into the room from the wind. And standing in the shadows was a man.

Sophie knew him instantly.

Darius.

She didn’t know why he’d returned, and she didn’t care. Her body heated instantly, aching to feel him inside her.

He turned to shut the window, and that’s when she realized he was naked. She shifted to her knees, breathless with excitement and desire.

Darius pivoted to face her and slowly walked toward the bed. She licked her lips when the mattress dipped as he placed his knee on it.

She stared into his dark eyes and touched his face. With a growl, he slid his hand along the back of her head and jerked her to him.

He claimed her mouth with passion and fury, a driving need they could only quench with each other. She groaned in response when her nipples scraped against his chest.

Before he could touch her, Sophie pushed him back onto the bed and kneeled beside him. He looked up at her, a slight smile of anticipation lifting his lips.

He was a man who was always in control, a man who liked to please his bed partner. But this time, she was going to be the one in control. This time she was the one who was going to be in charge.

She leaned forward and ran her hands from his chiseled jaw down his thick chest to his impeccable abs. Sophie glanced at his arousal and grinned.

He had driven her insane last night with his mouth, hands, and body. It was only fair she do the same to him. And oh, the things she wanted to do to him.

Sophie trailed her fingers past his navel to his rod. She wrapped her fingers around him and felt his cock jump in her palm. That wicked grin was gone, replaced with a hunger that made her stomach catch.

She pumped her hand up and down his length a few times while she leaned forward to lick and kiss his chest. His hands came up, not to stop her, but to take the pin out of her hair so that the length fell around her shoulders and draped on either side of her face.

“Damn,” he whispered.

Sophie looked up at him. The way he whispered that word, as if he were enthralled with her made her want to cry. If he didn’t stop doing things like that, she was going to be in real trouble where he was concerned.

To shift the focus, Sophie moved and brought her mouth to his arousal. He ground out her name, his hands clutching at the comforter.

Sophie took him deep in her mouth. His fingers delved into her hair, almost as if he were afraid she might stop. She had no intention of stopping anytime soon.

His breathing was hoarse in the silence. She could feel his gaze on her, and it made her want to pleasure him even more.

She sucked in a surprised breath when his hands grabbed her and turned her so that she lay on his chest with her legs on either side of his face.

Sophie let out a sigh when his tongue found her clit and began to tease it. She had never done 69 before, and she wondered, why not? To give pleasure the same time as receiving it? It was perfect.

But the more pleasure he brought her, the harder it was to concentrate on her task. To get back at him, she sucked him hard, squeezing his ball sac gently.

When she tasted the pre-cum, Sophie smiled. He was almost there. She didn’t plan on stopping until he came in her mouth. There was one thing she forgot while making such arrangements—Darius made his own rules.

One moment he was beneath her, and the next she was on her hands and knees and he was filling her from behind. Sophie moaned as he filled her with one thrust. Her body sighed, missing the feel of him.

He held her hips and began to move. She could feel his balls slapping against the back of her thighs as he increased his tempo.

With his teasing of her clit, she was so close to climaxing. Then he leaned over her and cupped her breasts, tweaking her nipples as he did.

She rocked back against him. His cheek rubbed against hers, his whiskers scraping her face. She closed her eyes. There was no use fighting against a force like Darius. He knew just where to touch her to give her the most bliss.

Her chest heaved and her breasts swelled at his touch. She didn’t think the passion could get any better until his hand lowered to her sex and found her clit.

He fondled the swollen bud until she was crying out from the intense pleasure. She could hear him telling her to give him more, to give him everything.

Sophie could feel his thick arousal drive into her time and again, touching her womb he was going so deep. The more he filled her while teasing her clit, the higher she went.

Until the orgasm swarmed her. It ripped through her with the force of a tsunami. She screamed, even as the pleasure consumed her. And still he pounded into her, still he circled that tiny bud.

Just as the first orgasm began to subside, another arose, this one even more intense than the first. All Sophie could do was lock her arms and give herself over to the ecstasy.

Her head hung between her arms when the last vestiges of the orgasms began to fade. Darius’s grip was tight on her hips as he pounded her.

His breathing hitched right before she felt his warm seed shoot inside her. Sophie couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought about a pregnancy or using protection any of the times she was with him.

Was Darius able to make her forget everything but him so easily? She was a doctor. She knew better than most what could happen with unprotected sex.

He pulled out of her and held her against him as he rolled to his side. Sophie opened her mouth to speak when his hand caressed down her hair to her back over and over again.

She let herself relax once more. Darius had that affect on her.

She really should be worried, because she was beginning to want Darius around.

Never again.

But … maybe with Darius.

CHAPTER
TWELVE

Darius held Sophie against him as he stared at the opposite wall. There was no longer any denying the fact that he craved her like he craved to fly.

It was a feeling he never expected to feel again. And he shouldn’t be feeling anything even close to this. And yet … there was no refusing to acknowledge it.

He wound a long lock of her red hair around his finger and listened to her breathing begin to even. Damn Con for insisting he remain close to Sophie.

Then again, Darius had intended to do it anyway. It was just easier to blame Con than to admit what was confusing the total shite out of him.

Sex with Sophie was incredible. Her touch, her scent, her body—everything about her was as if everything he’d ever wanted had been brought to life.

It shouldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be happening. He’d already found—and lost—his mate.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” Sophie asked in a husky voice.

His cock stirred at the sexy sound of her British accent. “Too much.”

“Obviously.” She shifted her head so that she was looking up at him, a worried frown puckering her brow. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No’ particularly.”

But he was going to have to. How much did he tell her before she began to ask questions? Sophie was intelligent. She would figure things out if Darius wasn’t careful.

Under no circumstances would he be responsible for her discovering his secret and putting her in Ulrik’s line of sight. He would get what he needed from her and leave quickly. It was as much for her sake as it was for his.

Her hand lay over his heart while her body was pressed against his. The feel of her warm skin was heady. Lying with her in such a way was dangerous.

“I didn’t expect to see you again,” she said into the silence.

Darius drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I tried to leave.”

“I’m … glad you stayed.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Me too.”

The truth of it hit him hard. It wasn’t about Ulrik. He would’ve stayed regardless, but Ulrik’s interest only spurred him to admit what he’d been fighting to ignore—his ever-growing need to have Sophie.

“Am I still supposed to act like I don’t like you?”

“Aye.”

She was silent for a heartbeat. “Why?”

“A dangerous man I’ve been dealing with.”

“Dangerous?” she repeated nervously. “And this has to do with…?”

Darius said the only thing that made sense, and because he didn’t want to lie. “Business.”

She chuckled softly at his words while she rolled onto her back. Sophie scooted just enough away so that they weren’t touching. It didn’t go unnoticed by Darius that she had done it on purpose, as if she needed to break contact in order to catch her bearings.

“Right,” Sophie said. “Business. I knew the moment I met you and Thorn that you were not the typical men in the city. Do you work for the government?”

“Something like that.” It was as good of a cover as any, and it would allow him to keep most of what he did a secret.

But for how long? A day? Two? If he continued to hang around Sophie he’d have to tell her everything because she’d eventually see something.

That in itself frightened him. A part of him worried that she wouldn’t be able to handle the truth of who he was. Then there was the matter of his past.

He was going to have to face that sooner rather than later. Darius would rather do it much later, but memories were assaulting him constantly.

She tucked her hair behind an ear and turned her head to him. “You look like that type to work for the government.”

Now that intrigued him. He rolled toward her and propped himself up on an elbow. Darius made sure not to touch her as he did. “Type? There’s a type?”

“Of course.”

“And what exactly is that?”

She cut him a look, her olive eyes holding warmth and teasing. “The type that keeps to the shadows. The type who needs doctors to come to him instead of going to the hospital. The type who disappears without a word, only to suddenly reappear seemingly out of nowhere. The type who has an air of mystery and a large dose of ‘don’t fuck with me’ attitude.”

Darius grinned, he couldn’t help it. Did she really see him that way?

Her face softened as if in wonder. “He does smile.”

“I smile.” Didn’t he?

“Not like that.” She reached out and touched his bottom lip. “It transformed your face. You should smile more.”