To Trap A Temptress (Southern Sanctuary - Book 2) (13 page)

Drum
pushed his own plate away, his gut suddenly churning at the picture Nell
painted, her getting married to some man who would be totally unsuited for her
and completely unworthy.  Them having kids together…. grandkids.  But
the thought of her dying, being hurt was equally abhorrent.  Rock and a
hard place.  As Maat liked to continually rub their noses in it… it all
came down to choices.

“You
finished eating?”  At her nod he rose grabbing the ice bucket and his
glass.  “Let’s move this over to the living room.”

“Well?” 
Nell sat on the sofa swinging her bare feet under her, cradling her glass in
her hand as she stared at Drum lounging on the opposite sofa.  How was it
possible he could sit there in a sarong, sipping wine for Goddess sake and look
so utterly masculine?

“You’re
not going to let this go are you?  What can I say here, it’s my job to
protect, to fight, to exact justice.”

“You
said Maat is all about choices, I just want your word that if it comes down to
a choice you’ll choose life.” 

Outside
the foliage in their private garden began to dance and sway in the buffeting
breeze of the coming storm.  The garden lights flashing and twinkling
amongst the frenzied dance.

“You
want to tell me what this is all about… bottom line it for me so to speak Doc?”

“Today
at the base of the waterfall…. when you were wedged under that tree.  You
didn’t seem in any particular hurry to get yourself free when I found you.”

“You
think I decided my job was done?  I’d saved you from the invisible water
monster, got you to safety and decided I had fulfilled my quota of good
deeds?  The noble self-sacrificing hero checking out after one final win
on the board?”

“Well
when you put it like that my theory sounds flawed.”  Nell conceded, hot
colour flooding her cheeks.

“You
want to know why I wasn’t in any great rush to free myself? I knew you had my
back.  From the moment we met you’ve been telling me you can look after
yourself.  And everything you’ve done and said since then has made me a
believer.  I was pretty sure you’d come looking for me when I didn’t
surface.”

“You
were testing me?”

“No
I was trusting you.  My back was banged up and I wasn’t sure how much more
damaged I would inflict if I fought my way free of that branch.  So I
waited for you.”

“You
played me!”  Nell snapped.

Drum
held up a placating hand.  “Again let me state for the record, I trusted
you.”

Nell
chuffed a short derisive laugh unsure if she was buying any of Drum’s
story.  Suddenly her eyes widened.  “Did you even need mouth to
mouth?”

“Okay
here’s where I might lose a bit of credibility.”

The
cushion hit him in the face. 

“Good
aim.”  He conceded.

“You’re
a sneaky wretch. I was terrified out there for you today.”

“It
was no picnic for me watching as you were dragged along those rocks towards the
waterfall.” 

The
both looked over as the candles on the table were snuffed out by a forceful
gust of wind that blustered its way through the large open room.  Getting
to his feet Drum moved over to close all the patio doors, locking them up
tightly against the battering storm gusts.  Finished, he returned to
refill both their glasses before taking a seat, this time on the sofa right
next to Nell, only inches separating the tips of her bare toes from his
thigh.  Nell gave him a questioning look, wondering just what the devious
He-man was plotting.

“What?” 
He did his best to look innocent, failing miserably.  “You looked lonely
over here and there is a big storm coming.” 

As
if to prove his point in the distance lightning strobed across the horizon and
the garden lights flickered off for a brief second.

“So.” 
Drum took a bracing deep breath.  “We need to discuss two things.”

Nell
raised an eyebrow for a split second in query but kept her focus on her glass
of wine.  Anything was better than getting trapped in Drum’s soulful black
eyes or dazed senseless by the copious amount of flesh he had on display.

“First
I need to apologise.”  He continued.

Nell’s
eyes watered as she fought not to choke on the sip of wine she’d just
taken.  “Oh?”

“I
haven’t been giving you enough credit.  From the very first when you
ordered me to dance with you...”

“I
did not order you.”  Nell interrupted.

“Yeah
you did, but shush, it’s my turn to talk. Your turn’s coming up next.  So
as I was saying it’s taken me a while to figure you out Doc.  I saw
through the whole sweet nice girl charade for what it was almost from the
start.  But  I’m used to taking care of people, it’s what I do, it’s
what I’ve always done so it’s taken me a while to realise that you don’t need
me to look out for you twenty-four seven.  That you’re not just a
beautiful woman and a capable Doctor, you’re also independent, whip smart,
practical as hell, twice as stubborn and exceedingly confident in both your
strengths and your weaknesses.  Not that you have many by the way…
weaknesses that is.  But as I was saying, I’ve spent the last one hundred
years looking after people, stepping up and defending them when they couldn’t,
sometimes even protecting them from themselves.”

“Okay...” 
Nell was beyond confused.  “What was that term you used?  Can you
bottom line what you’re trying to say here?”

“You’re
not the type of person to suffer from post-traumatic stress.”  He let that
statement hang in the air for a while, waiting for the implications to sink
in. 

Nell
continued to scowl in confusion as she replayed his words through her
head.  Suddenly her brow cleared and a smile broke over her face. 
“Hold on, is this your roundabout way of apologising for walking away from me
last night?”

Drum
nodded a quick abrupt movement.

“Words
stuck in your throat?”  Nell asked in amusement.

“Baby
steps, you’ve gotten more out of me in three days than some have in a century.”

“Okay
then, apology accepted.”  Outside lightning flashed and for the first time
they could hear the faint echo of thunder, the storm was coming in fast as once
more the garden lights flickered, once, twice and then resumed
twinkling.   “You said there were two things from last night, what
was the other thing?”

“It
was something you said.”
 
Nearby lanterns
caused sparks of gold to shimmer in his black eyes.

“I
recall saying a lot of things, remind me.”

“I
think the statement went something along the lines that men cower in their
boots before me, and women.”  He turned on the sofa, bringing one knee up
so he was facing her.  “And women melt before my He-man
magnificence.”  His arm was now casually slung along the back of the
sofa.  Unable to stop himself he picked up a stray honey gold curl and
rubbed it between his fingers.  “Do I make you melt Nell?”

Goddess
did the man want her cheeks to explode with embarrassment?  Taking a
fortifying gulp of wine she looked him directly in the eyes.  “What about
what you said?  About if we take the next step that you wouldn’t be
letting me go...”  She gulped some more wine before placing the glass down
on the coffee table.  Maybe she should be trying to keep her wits about
her if she hoped to survive this conversation with any dignity.

“I
think our fate was pretty much sealed from the first moment we met don’t
you?  You think the Goddess of truth and balance along with your Great
Aunt, the famed match maker would get something like this wrong?”

Nell
met his black eyes, flickering candlelight reflected in their depths.  “We
could fight it.”  She suggested, keeping her back ramrod straight whilst
every instinct she had screamed for her to lean into him.

“What
if I don’t want to fight it?”  He asked, starting to wind her curl around
his finger. 

“Let
me go.”  She tried to pull her hair out of his tight hold.

“Never.”   
It was a promise, a commitment.  The word reverberated on the air just as
thunder crashed over the island, droplets of rain, riding on the gusting winds
splattering the glass doors and windows.

Nell
turned her attention to the garden just as the ornamental lights flickered one
last time and went out for good.  She should walk away right now. 
She loathed the idea of being manipulated by her Aunt and the Goddess
Maat.  She hated feeling so out of control with her hormones battling her
Goddess given common sense and winning.  Overhead the rain came down in a
tropical torrent, huge sheets of it.  It was like the world outside the
cottage had suddenly ceased to exist.  

Drum
dropped his hold on her hair.
  
Reaching
over with one finger he placed it gently against the side of her jaw, drawing
her attention back to him.
 
“So back to my
question, do I make you melt Nell?”

She
could lie.  He’d let her get away with it… for now. 

But
weren’t all the reasons she had cited to herself for walking away just childish
excuses?  Wasn’t it time she faced up to who she really was? 
Accepted that when it suited her she could be just as sassy, mean, vindictive
and cheeky as the next not so nice girl?  Admitted that what she felt for
Drum was more than just a knee jerk attraction to his looks and gorgeous
body?  Wasn’t it well past time she gave in to her carnal desires and
explored every naughty sinful fantasy that had tormented her since she’d first
met the mouth-watering, knee melting He-man?

Chapter
Thirteen

Nell
rose to her knees on the sofa facing Drum.  The candlelight from the
lanterns making her creamy skin appear almost golden and turning her long wavy
honey brown hair into a fiery halo. There was a smile lurking at the edge of
her lips and a determined sexy look in those big blue eyes of hers that made
his cock hard. 

“I’m
going to ruin you for other women, you know that don’t you?”  Her voice
was husky low, just loud enough to be heard over the incessant drumming of rain
on the cottage roof.

Drum
laughed, flashing his lady killer rarely used smile.  “Let the ruining
commence.” 

He
stayed frozen in place letting her be the one to make the first move. 
Watching as she leaned with infinite slowness into him, one of her soft hands
coming up to rest along the side of his throat. Under her touch the snake
tattoo writhed across his skin.  Her other hand cupped the side of his
face.  Closing the distance she surprised him at the last moment by
swooping in to the side, resting her mouth against his ear, her hot breath
dancing across his skin. 

“As
long as you promise to ruin me right back He-man.”

He
swallowed his laughter, his arms wrapping around her instinctively, bringing
her in tight.  A soft breathless gasp escaping that cupid bow mouth of
hers. 

“I’ll
make it my mission in life Doc.”

Her
lips pressed down on his, a bone deep hunger blossoming from a small flame into
a raging inferno as their lips met.  Goddess the taste of him was
addictive.  Drum made a deep rumbling sound of approval as she flung her
leg over his and settled more fully on his lap to face him.  His hands
coming to rest on her bare legs, moving up swiftly, rucking her dress high as
he gripped her bare thighs.

Things
low and tight in her melted and pooled as he captured her bottom lip suckling
on it.  She loved the feel of his heated skin under her touch as she
trailed her fingertips down over his chest, those hard planes of muscles. The
fact they jumped and spasmed under her touch made her feel powerful and oh so
very feminine.  Goddess she wanted to feel more of his skin against her
own.  Pulling away from him for just a moment she reached down to grab the
hem of her dress, intending to yank it off over her head.

“Let
me.”  Drum rasped, halting her actions.  Slower than molasses he
began to raise the dress, laughing softly as she shifted impatiently making
small demanding sounds in the back of her throat.
 
“I always like to take my time unwrapping
presents.”  Drum admonished her impatience, grinning evilly. 

Nell
sent him an amused blue eyed look as she scooted forward slightly on his lap,
clamped her knees against his hips and began to slowly rub her aching core
against his rock hard cock.
 
“I always think
slow is overrated.”  She murmured in a soft husky whisper. 

Drum
groaned in response, pulling her dress off over her head with one quick yank. 
“I like when you don’t play fair Nell.”  Drum kissed her deeply. Loving
the feel of all her soft creamy skin pressed against his own, though her lacy
bra needed to be gone stat.  He wanted to explore those gorgeous breasts
of hers, play, taste and tease them until she begged him to stop. 
“Because when you don’t play fair it means I don’t have to either.” 

With
one flick of his wrist he undid the clasp and pulled the lacy cups down her
arms.  He cupped his other hand under her silken clad butt and lifted her
higher so he could reach her breasts with his mouth.  Laving attention
with his lips and teeth first on her right breast and then when he had her
practically begging and writhing he moved on to the left. 

Nell
was panting hard, her heart racing.  She was practically coming in her
lacy knickers and all the man had done was play with her breasts.  He
really was going to ruin her.  Like many women she’d never been
particularly turned on when a man paid attention to her boobs but with Drum she
was a convert.  Oh Goddess she was practically the high priestess of the
house of Drum.  Just the thought had her pushing hard against his chest
until he was forced to let her go.  With heavy lidded dark eyes he watched
her move lithely to kneel on the floor at his feet.  She sent him a cheeky
knowing smile as she leaned forward, her fingers finding the knot holding his
sarong together riding low on one hip.

“What
was it you said about taking the time to savour the moment?”  She began to
undo the knot with slow deliberate fingers. 

He
groaned in frustration but couldn’t help the smile that lifted the corners of
his mouth.  Payback was a bitch but Nell was the only person in the world
he’d allow to ever get the upper hand with him.  Because Maat knew he
wanted the punishment she was about to dish out like a dying man in the desert
wanted water.  But still there was a limit to what any man, even an almost
immortal could withstand.  Reaching down he tore the sarong right down the
middle. 

Nell
laughed with delight.  She appreciated his eagerness because it matched
her own.  Pushing his knees further apart she leaned into him, planting
soft kisses just below his navel that caused him to hiss curses under his
breath and buck beneath her.  Whilst she nuzzled her way lower she trailed
her hands from his knees over those solid granite thighs, skimming over his
bathers to prove that her fingers were more than dexterous as she parted his
bathers with admirable speed and precision.  Sitting back on her haunches
slightly she couldn’t help the dazed smile that clung to her lips.  Okay
her science background alone should have forewarned her that Drum would be big
all over but this..?  Well this was kind of daunting.  But then she’d
always loved a challenge.

“Ah
Doc… Nell.  For the love of Maat.”  He groaned out the words as she
licked along the base of his cock.

Lifting
his butt for a moment he shoved his bathers down further.  He was prepared
to man up and suffer through the full weight of any punishment she felt fit to
deal out.  Justice must be served and Maat, Nell was just the woman to
give it to him. Drum groaned again, a deep rumble at the back of his throat as
her small delicate hand encircled his cock, tugging down so the skin stretched
tight across the head.  His eyes almost crossed when she pressed down on
the tip as she began to nibble her way upwards using her mouth and tongue,
suckling her way with excruciating slowness towards the crown of his
cock.    By the sun she was enslaving him with her wicked ways. 

When
she finally engulfed him with her mouth it was all he could do not to shout out
in grateful relief.  Watching her pleasure him was about the sexiest sight
he’d ever witnessed.  Sweat broke out across his brow. The heated vacuum
of her mouth and the firm grip of her hand now at the base of his cock were
almost too much, bordering on just the right side of pleasure versus
pain.  He groaned her name, his hands tangling in her glorious silky
hair.  No longer sure if the roaring in his ears could be attributed to
the storm raging outside or the sound of his own blood thumping through his
veins. 

There
was only one small problem, for their first time together he wanted to come
inside her, very He-man of him he knew but Nell was a woman who bought out his
basest urges.  He needed to possess her fully, completely.  
There would be no going back for her after tonight.  She would be his
irretrievably.  Tightening his grip on her hair he pulled firmly on her
silken locks, disengaging her, delighted in the look of disappointment on her
face, lust burning bright in her gorgeous blue eyes.

“I
wasn’t finished.”  She murmured in protest, her fingers digging into his
thighs.

“Later…
to your heart’s content… that’s if mine holds out.” 

She
gave a soft squeal as he stood up abruptly, picking her up by the waist as he
moved, swinging her up high so she was forced to wrap her legs around his
narrow hips. 

“But
for now I really need to be inside you… fucking you… loving you.” 

He
kissed her even as his warrior nature kicked in and he scoped the logistics of
the room.  The coffee table was too low, the dining table too flimsy, the
walls mostly made of glass wouldn’t give enough purchase and the bed was too
far away.  That only left… Nell let out another muted squeal as Drum placed
her down on the cool surface of the bar.   She hoped she didn’t fall,
it was a long way to the ground.  Which was her last sane thought as Drum
bent over to place his mouth over the soaked material of her lacy silk
knickers.  Gripping the edge of the bar she arched as he mouthed his way
up her body, tracing a path upwards over her stomach across her ribcage, over
her heart, her throat and then her lips.  It was too much… and yet still
not enough. 

She
almost sobbed in relief as he reached between them and tore her knickers off
with one effortless flick of his hand.  She whimpered as his long fingers
found her clit, rubbing it before dipping below to spear her with two long
thick fingers.  Oh Goddess that felt good, she couldn’t wait, she
wouldn’t.  She broke their kiss to murmur his name.  As his lips
moved to the tender skin at the side of her throat he continued to finger
her. 

Sensations
threatened to engulf her as the snake tattoo writhed on his skin between them,
its tail flicking against her nipples before dipping low to sweep across the
all too sensitive skin just below her navel.  She gripped Drum’s shoulders
so hard she was sure she was drawing blood but she didn’t care, the man was
killing her. 

“Drum,
now!”  She used her sternest ‘put the fear of God into the interns’ voice
she had in her repertoire.  Thank the Goddess her He-man liked it when she
ordered him about.  Though it didn’t stop her automatic moan of
disappointment as he withdrew his fingers from inside her.

“There’s
no pleasing some people.”  He muttered with a throaty chuckle in her
ear.  Gripping her hips he settled the head of his cock against the
enticing heat of her entrance.  “Lucky for you.”  He thrust
forward.  “I’m no quitter.”

Nell
arched as the entire length of him drove deeply into her, stretching muscles
she wasn’t even sure she could remember the name of.  And at that moment
her lack of knowledge didn’t bother her one little bit.  She moaned Drum’s
name as he started a slow thrusting rhythm that was both delicious and torturous. 
“Faster.”  She requested in a husky near whisper.  Head falling back
as sensations swamped her, nails digging into the sides of his waist as she
held on.  “Faster.”  Her voice, louder, firmer but still he continued
with that slow, deep rhythm that only ramped up her need for something…
more.  “Harder.”  She demanded, hooking her ankles behind his
back.  Panting as he began to pick up the pace.  She didn’t want
soft, sweet and slow, Goddess yes she wanted this pounding, this mindless need
quenched… now! 

Thank
the Goddess above for his He-man stamina and a double shout out to Maat who’d
created him on an extra-large scale.   For every thrust he made into
her body Nell matched him, tightening her core and gripping him.  Making
him groan and work even harder for his… their climax. 

She
loved the feel of Drum deep inside her, never wanted him to stop but at the
same time her body was clamouring for the release only he could provide. 
Oh Goddess… she needed… wanted… demanded that he… yes, there was the
edge.  She groaned his name letting him know she was so very close… so
very near… but not.  She moaned in frustration. 

Drum
grit his teeth and picked up the pace, she was so hot, so tight, so
amazing.  Pulling her even closer to the edge of the bar he bent his knees
slightly, changing his angle so that with every thrust his cock rubbed her
clit.  Nell responded with small breathy sounds that almost made him come
then but he held on… she just needed a few more thrusts, he knew it like he
knew his own fighting skills.  Suddenly she was flying apart, yelling his
name as her climax hit and her internal muscles clamped down on him vice tight
sending him over the edge to join her with two final thrusts. 

It
took several shaky deep breaths for him to come back to reality.  Glory
be, his legs were shaking, sweat poured down his back in rivulets and every
nerve ending in his body was sizzling.  She really had ruined him… thank
Maat.

*         
           
*         
            *

Nell
came awake in an instant.  There were no open curtains to annoy her, no
ringing phone, and no morning wake-up call from the local bird life.  Just
what exactly had awakened her at this ridiculous hour of the morning?  Oh,
it was Drum prodding her awake.  She couldn’t help the self-satisfied
smiled that played across her lips.  The man was insatiable. 

After
they’d finished on top of the bar he’d carried her upstairs and continued to
lavish… or was the right word ravish her from top to bottom and back
again.  They’d barely managed any sleep and here he was ready for another
go round.  Rolling over she expected to find Drum leering at her with a
sexy come hither grin and knowing black gaze.  Instead she found him still
sound asleep in his usual serial killer come back from the dead in a blink of
an eye pose.  Knowing he wasn’t faking it she wondered exactly what had
awakened her, then she looked down.  Swallowing a devilish laugh, of
course the man might be asleep still but his body seemed to have other
ideas.  And hadn’t she warned him once she was awake of a morning there
was no going back for her.  Oh well he would just have to deal with the
consequences she thought diving down the bed, her objective to finish what he’d
denied her last night.