Part 16 (2/2)

”Yeah, maybe a bit too helpful.” d.a.m.n my mouth. Why couldn't I learn when to keep it shut?

”You need to let people in.”

But I shook my head. ”Not people,” I said. ”Only you.”

We locked eyes, my breath growing shallower by the second. I was breathing him in, our faces a mere inch apart. His hands still cupped my cheeks, his fingers in my hair.

”Riley,” I started, but I didn't know what I planned on saying. He wasn't listening anyway. He ducked his head a little, bringing his mouth closer to mine. My breath stopped in my chest, my lips tingling in antic.i.p.ation. He placed his mouth against mine, and my eyes slipped shut. My entire being focused on that one point, the touch of his mouth on mine. The warmth of his lips, the slight opening of his mouth, the exact amount of pressure he applied.

My body acted of its own accord. My arms wound around his neck, my back arching to push my torso closer to his. He still wore his jacket, the leather soft and worn beneath my hands. He deepened the kiss and I responded, opening my mouth to him so our tongues did a slow, delicious dance.

Riley scooped me up. He was only a couple of inches taller than me, but he was strong and wiry. He pushed through the small trailer into the bedroom at the back and unceremoniously dumped me on the bed.

”Hey,” I protested. ”I'm injured, remember.”

He glowered down at me, his black hair falling in his face. ”Just stop talking.”

I clamped my mouth shut as he shrugged his jacket from his shoulders and pulled his t-s.h.i.+rt over his head. My eyes absorbed the sight of him, the jeans riding low on his hips, exposing the jutted lines that marked his hip bones. A spatter of dark chest hair ran across his pectoral muscles, and a line followed down the column of his abs, to his navel, and then further, disappearing beneath his worn out jeans. He kicked off his boots, and then climbed onto the bed with me.

”You're losing this top, you know?” he said. His fingers slipped beneath the hem of my long sleeved t-s.h.i.+rt, grazing the skin of my flat stomach, causing goose b.u.mps to erupt all over me.

He was lying with me, face to face, with no s.h.i.+rt on. I flattened my palm and reached out to touch him. I placed my hand on his warm shoulder, to run down his smooth, well-muscled arm, and then back up again. My hands found my way around to his back, feeling the sharp edge of his shoulder blades, the thick muscles either side of his spine, the dip at his lower back. Finally, I positioned my hand on his chest, right above his heart, feeling the steady beat of his life force beneath my palm.

He smiled at me, and his smile made my heart burst with happiness. ”What are you doing?”

”Learning every inch of you.”

He grinned wickedly. ”There are plenty more inches to go.” And he leaned back in and captured my mouth again, drawing me into another deep, forceful kiss. This time his hand slid further beneath my top. I'd never been so conscious of the position of another person's hand before. Our legs tangled together, our bodies melded. My lips felt bruised from the force of our kiss, my face hot, my breath leaving my body in frantic gasps. I could have kissed him this way for hours. Riley returned my pa.s.sion with fervor of his own, one hand knotted in my hair, while the other roamed my body, learning its curves and dips in the same way I had learned his.

I knew he wanted me, I could feel his desire pressed hard against my hip.

But he broke the kiss, edging away from me just a fraction of an inch, separating what should never be separated. I had to stop myself moaning in disappointment.

He gazed down into my eyes, intense, smoldering. ”Is this okay, Icy? Is this what you want?”

Emotions welled up inside me. I nodded frantically. ”Yes, more than anything else in the world.”

And I did. I'd never been surer of anything. I belonged with Riley, and he belonged with me. I wanted to know his body as intimately as I knew my own. I wanted to be able to lay myself bare for him, and know, without doubt, that he would hold my heart with as much care and pa.s.sion as he held my body.

I moved toward him this time, desperately wanting his mouth back on mine. I'd never experienced anything as wondrous as kissing Riley, and I doubted I would ever experience anything as intensely again.

He took me at my word. This time, when he reached down, he hooked his fingers beneath my top and slowly lifted it to expose my stomach and b.r.e.a.s.t.s. I s.h.i.+fted in the bed slightly, allowing him to pull the t-s.h.i.+rt over my head. He dropped it to the floor. Though I'd stood before Riley in just my panties before, even though I was still clad in my jeans and bra, this time was different. I wanted this. I knew how far I was going to go, and I was filled with nervous excitement. I was going to do it, finally, and not just with some low life I'd finally given in to, but with a guy I believed might be my soul mate.

We helped each other remove our jeans, struggling with the b.u.t.tons and zippers, while still clinging to each other and doing our best not to stop kissing for a second. Riley's mouth left mine, but only for a moment, while he trailed kisses down my jaw and throat.

”We need to be safe,” he murmured against my skin, before leaning across and yanking open a drawer in his bedside cabinet. He leaned back into me, holding a foil packet I instantly recognized but had no experience with.

Panic suddenly filled me. ”I don't know what to do.”

”Shush,” he said, kissing me lightly on the lips, in teasing pecks, the kiss turning into a gentle bite on my lower lip that sent s.h.i.+vers through me. ”Leave it up to me.”

I wanted to touch him. Tentatively, I reached down, slipping my hand inside his shorts. He was solid iron, heated from within. Silky soft. As I tightened my grip on him, cautiously sliding my hand up and down his length, he let out a moan and dropped his head to my shoulder.

His hips moved in response to my strokes. ”Oh, Icy,” he groaned.

Riley lifted his head back up and we kissed again. His hand ran down my body, stopping to caress my b.r.e.a.s.t.s, his thumb grazing over my hardened nipple, before moving lower. I had to stop myself from holding my breath. His hand slipped inside my panties, delving down. His fingers sought the place no one else had ever been, and he slipped into my intimate heat. I gasped, my free hand gripping his shoulder, my other hand keeping up my rhythmical stroking of him.

I buried my face in his neck, and suddenly became aware of the thump of his pulse beneath his skin. Instantly, all my attention redirected toward that point, toward the thump of hot blood. My mouth ran dry, my throat closing over with a pang of pain. I licked my lips. No, I wouldn't let this ruin my first experience with a man. I fought the urge to bite him with every piece of strength I had.

I must have paused my movements, as Riley leaned back slightly to look at me, concern in his eyes.

”Is everything okay?”

I had a hold on this, I could control myself. I felt the bloodl.u.s.t fading, the pain slipping away, and I nodded, then leaned in to kiss him again. ”Don't stop,” I told him.

I felt myself building as he touched me, a tight heat coiling at the very pit of my stomach. The rest of the world vanished, and I had the thought that at least if Bulldog Mackenzie had his way, I would have this moment of heaven to take with me into the next world.

I heard the rip of foil, and Riley lifted his hips to cast his shorts aside. He sheathed himself and then rolled my panties down my legs. He lifted himself between my thighs, spreading my legs before him.

”Are you sure?” he said, holding himself above me.

I didn't speak, but nodded and reached to the back of his head to pull him down to me for another kiss. I wrapped my heels around the backs of his thighs and lifted my hips to meet his.

He nudged against my most intimate place, pus.h.i.+ng, meeting resistance at first.

”It's okay,” I gasped, as I sensed him hesitate. ”It's okay.” And he pushed again, a little harder, breaching me. I cried out, but it was a pleasurable pain, like the pain of cutting, and we met each other with frantic thrusts, gripping each other's bodies.

Heat built inside me, pain and pleasure shattering my soul until I struggled to distinguish between the two. All thoughts of blood had vanished, and I was nothing more than an explosion of sensations that centered on the boy whose body surrounded me.

Afterward, we clung to each other, panting, Riley's body a heavy weight on mine. I didn't care. I would have held him like that until the last breath in my lungs had been crushed out of me.

Riley must have realized, because he lifted himself and slipped into the spot beside me on the bed. He gathered me to him, his arm around my shoulders, so my cheek rested on his chest. I put my arm around his waist and hugged him with pure, unbridled joy.

I had found my home, here in his arms. I didn't want to be anywhere else.

Chapter.

<script>