Sparks of Blue (Dark Light Book 2) (8 page)

“Is something wrong?” Kai asked, stopping a respectful distance back. She hadn’t said anything to him during dinner. To the point where Gwen had made some awkward comment about awkward dinner with the parents.

Belle huffed, a sound of pure frustration, and stepped up to him until less than a foot separated their bodies. She held his gaze unflinchingly, but he couldn’t read the look on her face. Other than determination. She’d definitely made up her mind about something.

“I can’t get you out of my head,” she said. “I’ve gone over everything. I want to hate you, I really do, but I can’t make myself go there. I keep thinking of you as the best time of my life, and it’s hard to hate that kind of memory.”

Kai wasn’t sure whether she meant that as a compliment or an insult. He simultaneously wanted to grin and apologize, but instead he kept quiet.

She didn’t wait for a response before grabbing him by the collar of his tee and tugging him down to her lips. The kiss was hot and wet from the start. She put everything into it that would get him immediately worked up and she damn well knew it. She slid her tongue along his, slow and lingering, before she pulled back and nibbled on his lips, all the while never releasing his shirt.

Kai let his hands land on her hips, holding her firmly in place as he allowed her to control the kiss. He had no clue where she was going with this or what she was trying to accomplish, but he wasn’t about to complain. He nearly growled when she pulled away.

“I want you to fuck me,” she whispered, her nose brushing his.

His eyebrows lifted. It wasn’t like her to be so vulgar. “Belle,” he said, a warning in his voice. There was no way he could deny her if she was
trying
to seduce him, but he couldn’t wrap his brain around a logic for it.

“Don’t try to talk me out of it,” she interrupted firmly. “I’m never going to be able to move on if I still think of you as the best I can ever get. I need to get you out of my system once and for all, and if this mission is good for one thing, it’s providing the opportunity for that.”

Well, don’t try to be
too
romantic about it.
Not that he’d have expected romance. He swallowed and pulled back, trying to catch his breath enough to think clearly. “That isn’t exactly—”

“I’m not trying to get you back with me,” she said, interrupting again. “This isn’t some silly game to me. This is … this is closure. This is goodbye. So call it whatever you want. Just take me like you love me and it’s the last time you’ll ever get to touch me.”

Chapter Eight

Belle’s thoughts scattered like leaves in the wind as Kai devoured her mouth. He’d framed her jaw with both hands and slid them back until they were thoroughly tangled in her hair, holding her face at a slight angle so that he could deepen the kiss. He ran his tongue along hers in a steady, promising rhythm that had her body aching with need. He sucked her tongue into his mouth as he backed her up to the bed. The only thing she could do was hold on.

She swept her hands up, beneath his tight shirt, and flattened her palms over his muscles. His body was hard and hot to the touch. She had the strongest urge to climb him and never come down.

Kai broke the kiss, pulled his hands from her hair, and tore his shirt over his head. But when Belle went to release the tie at her waist he stilled her. “Let me.”

Stomach quivering with hopeful anticipation, Belle’s arms fell to the sides, and she swept her gaze over his torso. He looked somehow stronger than she remembered. Or perhaps her memory had faded. His muscles were beautifully sculpted. His skin tanned perfectly to make his piercing blue eyes pop. Eyes that were focused on her as he skimmed his hands down her chest, touch nearly nonexistent, until he reached the tie. With one sharp tug, he pulled it loose and then he lifted his hands to her shoulders and pushed the soft fabric off.

The robe fell to her feet, revealing her short, clingy nightgown. It was her favorite shade of blue; like his eyes.

“Good choice,” he murmured, lifting one finger and tracing it along the lacy triangular top that didn’t completely cover her breasts. He kept to the edge kept his touch teasingly light, and it was a struggle not to arch into his hand.

He didn’t make her wait long, however, before slipping his hands beneath the short bottom hem and raising them higher. The nightgown bunched and slid sensuously against her skin. Combined with his heated, calloused touch, that motion alone was enough to draw a moan from her throat.

Then he lifted the nightgown completely over her head, carelessly discarding it as his burning gaze swept over her bare body. She dared a glance of her own down to his pants and smiled at the sight of the bulge behind his jeans.

“Think you’re feeling good, do you?” Kai teased, his touch hot and heavy on her hips and his lips close, teasing her ear. His breath rushed, warm, down her skin and she shivered.

“I could feel better,” she said, raising her arms to curl them around his back. She dug her fingertips into his shoulder blades as he latched his lips onto the skin below her ear. He rumbled his approval of her words, and she threw her head back, wanting so badly to spread her legs for him. It was only a matter of moments at best before she lost the ability to stand on her own.

Kai trailed his tongue down to her collarbone with wet kisses and teasing nips. One hand burned a path up her side until he had captured the nearest breast in his palm. His thumb flicked at her nipple, and she gasped, holding him tighter. He kissed her lower, continuing to tease her nipple until he took her neglected breast into his mouth.

Belle moaned low and arched her chest forward, curling her arms around his shoulders. Kai worked her breasts expertly, squeezing and licking, sucking and pinching until she was nearly delirious. With one last hard lick over her nipple he lifted his head, finding and trapping her gaze with a heated stare.

He slipped one finger between her legs and traced the length of her folds.

She nearly cried out from the pleasure of the simple touch, clinging tighter as he refused to let her look away. He brought his hand slowly forward, and his thumb found her clit, rubbing hard. At the same time, he plunged one finger deep inside her and her orgasm crashed over her.

Belle shuddered, and her back collapsed onto the mattress. Kai caught her hips and slid his hands around to spread her thighs wide. She’d barely caught her breath when he ran his wickedly delectable tongue over her entrance. She gasped again, still seeing stars at the edges of her vision, and groaned when he slipped his tongue inside her. He proceeded to lick and suck intermittently when he wasn’t rolling his tongue around inside her core.

He worked her right back to the edge of that blissful precipice before withdrawing, leaving her body aching and begging for release.

“Kai,” she gasped, sitting up as best she could in time to see him stepping out of his jeans. She’d forgotten he went commando.

“Crawl to the middle,” Kai instructed, wasting no time in shedding his socks and moving toward the bed. “I’m not sure I can just fuck you, but I can damn sure make you beg for more.”

Chills broke out along Belle’s body, and she obeyed, crawling until she was in the center of the bed, her head supported by pillows. Kai crawled over her moments later, his rock-hard erection pressing promisingly against her thigh.

“Don’t you dare hold back,” she said breathlessly, threading her fingers through his hair.

“Trust me,” Kai replied, nudging her legs apart with his knees and settling himself between her thighs, “I’m not capable of that.” He swallowed whatever she might have said in a rough kiss, braced his weight on his forearms, and surged into her center hard enough to make her cry out.

She’d forgotten how blissfully, impossibly full she felt when he was inside her. He held his hips against hers for a long moment, either to let her adjust or to stretch out the fun, and Belle wound her arms around him. He released her lips as he withdrew, snapping his hips immediately forward again. She saw a definite smirk when she gasped his name, but she didn’t care. God, he felt so good.

He drove his cock into her with every ounce of passion she remembered, and possibly a few extra she’d forgotten. Every now and then he’d adjust his weight enough to shift the angle, and it was always
nearly
enough to bring her to another orgasm. She knew he knew it, too.

Kai found one of her breasts with his hand, kneading and molding the flesh with a rough kind of passion and urgency as he kicked up the pace. He sank into her harder, and Belle responded with a deep arch of her back and a groan. When she came down, she wrapped her legs around his hips, taking him deeper.

Her nails were digging into his skin now, and Belle heard herself plead with him for mercy. It was as if he were torturing her, never quite allowing her to come.

“Please, Kai,” she gasped, arching and rolling to meet his grinding thrusts.

He kissed his way up to her ear and ran his tongue along the shell. “As you wish,” he murmured, voice thick and strained. The sound of it was sexy as hell. Then he sucked her tongue back into his mouth, stroking it, and ground his hips hard against hers.

White-hot pleasure erupted inside her, blinding her as she clung to him. Her body arched and rocked without conscious direction, meeting his slowing pace in perfect synch.

The kiss broke, and Kai shifted to drop lighter, tender kisses to her shoulder and collar. He did that until she’d all but caught her breath, his chest no longer heaving.

“Kai,” Belle whispered, exhaustion and confused emotion choking her voice. Her legs slid down his strong thighs, and she brought a hand up to cup his jaw. “Stay tonight.”

He pressed a chaste kiss to her palm and nodded.

When she was tucked up against his side, her head on his shoulder and his arm around her waist, Belle finally released a heavy breath. In the morning she didn’t know where her head would be, but for now, this was right.

****

Sunlight had slipped in through the cracks in the curtains when Belle blinked her tired, crusted eyes open the following morning. Her body ached in a fantastic way, and she was warm to her toes. She’d never known a hotel bed to be so comfortable. Except she doubted it was the bed. Kai was wrapped around her, his chest still rising and falling evenly. Their legs were tangled together, and his cock pressed eagerly against her belly. He had one hand tangled in her hair and his other arm locked around her waist, holding her perfectly in place.

She knew if she shifted enough to see his face he’d wake up, so she resisted the urge and carefully splayed her fingers over his chest. Memories from the day before weren’t long in returning, and she fought to keep her breath steady.

Creed and his chokehold.

Kai’s kiss.

His stupid apology and the confession that had followed.

How confused, utterly drained, and broken she’d felt after kicking him out of the room.

The night of hot, powerful sex.

Belle swallowed, remembering the idiocy that had led her to talking him into her bed. She’d honestly convinced herself that all she needed was a round or two of wild sex and mind-blowing orgasms to get him out of her system. Or, preferably, a night of should’ve-been-wild-sex. If it were disappointing, that would be an easy solution. Not that she’d expected disappointment, but what she’d thought she remembered clearly had been wrong. Oh, so wrong. She still felt like she hadn’t come down from that high.

The problem was, she didn’t know what to do now. Waking up in his arms again, after so long without him, felt like the place to be. More than that, it felt… like home. Peaceful. Safe.
Right
. But it couldn’t be. Not after the lies he’d told her, not after all that had happened since he’d abandoned her. Whatever his reason, no matter how noble it might have been, the fact remained that he
had
abandoned her.

But would she really be so upset about that if her sister hadn’t been killed less than a month later?

That was the sticky part. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t think she could honestly say she would be, though she felt inclined to say it now.

You’re being stupid, Belle.

She had never in her life, before or since Kai, been the kind of girl who couldn’t live without a man. Kai was great in so many ways, but he had it in him to walk away. He’d found a way to justify it once. Even if she could bring herself to give him a second chance, could she
really
trust him again? She may not require a man at her side, but if she was going to have one, she absolutely required that trust.

And she didn’t know how she could get back there with him.

His arm tightened around her, and her heartbeat kicked up. She was going to have to make a choice soon. She’d told him flat-out that last night was it; that she was not a part of his life come morning. She could stick to that, and he wouldn’t push it, of that she was certain.

“Morning,” Kai rumbled, voice thick with sleep and desire. The sound of it vibrated right through her, and she had to work to keep her hands above his waist.

What do you want, Belle?

“Good morning,” she whispered, still having no clue what was going to happen next.

Kai rolled them both over until she was sprawled over his chest. He trailed his hands up, caught her face between his palms, and caressed her cheeks gently. “Before you say anything,” he said, voice calm and soft, “I want you to know that I love you. And I’ll respect whatever decision you make.”

Tears stung the backs of Belle’s eyes, and she pressed her lips to his. She didn’t have a clue right now, and she wouldn’t be fair to either of them to play eeny-meeny-miney-moe and hope she didn’t make a mistake. The only thing she could say that was honest was that she needed more time.

“What if I can’t make a decision today?” she asked when she pulled back, one of her hands having found its way into his hair. “What if I’m more confused than ever and need more time?”

Kai’s expression softened, and he wound an arm around her torso. “Whatever you need, Belle. I can be patient.”

Belle suspected she’d have straddled him right then if not for the knock that echoed from the door to Gwen’s room. The sharp intrusion of reality jolted her awareness, and she tensed. “Didn’t you put up the Do Not Disturb sign?”

Kai was already frowning. “Of course.” He rolled, gently pulling Belle off him, and swiftly found his feet. A rush of blue flame around his waist rematerialized his jeans, and his sword appeared at his side as he opened the interior door.

Belle barely thought to pull the comforter to her chest in time.

She glimpsed Gwen’s legs swinging around to the floor beyond the door and assumed the knocking had roused her.

****

“Who is it?” Gwen whispered, gripping the comforter tight in one hand. Her expression was startled, and Kai assumed she’d been dead asleep when the knock had sounded.

He held up a hand to indicate for her to be quiet and pressed his other palm to the door. If he opened the door to a demon, he’d risk letting the bastard in. But he didn’t sense any demons, only a human woman.

She knocked again and this time called, “Housekeeping!”

Scowling at the door, Kai made sure the security chain was attached, stepped so that his sword wouldn’t be visible in the tiny space, and pulled it open.

A middle-aged woman with dark hair and light eyes, dressed in khaki pants and a dark green tee with the hotel logo embroidered on the chest, smiled back at him. She had no cart or other supplies.

“For you,” she said, quickly reaching out and flattening her palm over his forearm.

Kai jerked back, but it was too late. Electricity burst inside him, and he stumbled, trying to catch himself on air. The energy seemed to gather in his chest, building to the point of searing pain. He thought he heard Belle call out to him in the distance, but he hurt too much to focus on it.