Part 15 (1/2)
”Hurry,” she begged as she obeyed. A flip of his sinewy wrist sent the uglygown flying, and then he was looking at her intently.
Reverently.
”G.o.d, sweetheart, I'm not dreaming here, am I?”
Riaheard the harsh need in his voice a split second before his mouth tookhers. Over and over the rough silk smoothness of his lips teased and tempted,while his clever hands stroked her hair, the line of her jaw, the vulnerableskin of her throat.
”So good,” he whispered before touching his tongue to the sensitive hollow atthe base of her throat.
He drew back to look down at her again, his dark eyes hot and hungry beforehe bent to salute one breast, then the other with a long, moist kiss.
”I love kissing your b.r.e.a.s.t.s and knowing I was the first to take those hardlittle nipples into my mouth,” he whispered with a catch in his gruff voice.
”There's been no one but you,” she murmured, running her hands over thepadded steel of his chest. Bending forward, she kissed the curved birthmark onthe slope of his shoulder.
He groaned, then sent her reeling with another searing kiss that wentstraight to the liquid core of her. His hands were gentle yet sure as he foundall the secret places, until she was writhing helplessly, swept along on atide of sweet pulsing pleasure.
Grady heard the pleas she breathed and knew bliss. She was his, only his. No other man had ever made her senses swim. No other man had felt the urgents.h.i.+vers that grew more and more frantic as he stroked and kneaded.
He knew he should feel humble. Instead he wanted to shout to the heavens. He settled for murmured endearments, whispering praise for the softness of herskin, the sleekness of her thighs, even as his fingertips traced circles justabove the indentation of her navel. When she was writhing, he let his fingerstrail lower, into the silky curls, over the sweet mound and into the slick,moist heat. He heard the plea in each breath she exhaled, the gatheringimpatience in the helpless little noises she made deep in her throat.
He slid one finger into her, then two. She gasped, twisted, clawed at him,but he knew there was more he could give her. Much more. Everything he was andhoped to be.
Half-wild with longing, he dug deep into himself for the discipline he'dlearned so painfully, narrowing his mind until it was focused on the tiniests.h.i.+ft of breathing, the smallest change in her expression.
Tonight she would accept his love, like it or not.
”That's it, sweetheart, fly for me,” he whispered against the perfumed skinof her shoulder. ”Let it go. For once, let it all go.”
Riaarched upward, close to sobbing, desperate for relief. Each stroke of hisraspy fingers brought her closer to the brink, closer to that moment whensweet ecstasy would be hers. A wanton madness seemed to have entered her body,crowding out the lingering agony of her lost love. Bathed in the heat of hisma.s.sive chest with its cruel scars, she felt her bones melting under her skin,dissolving under his pa.s.sionate a.s.sault.
She whimpered deep in her throat as the urgency built. Her fingers bit intothe hard texture of his back muscles as she arched against him, eager to feelhim sliding inside her, hot and thick and potent.
”Please,” she whispered, clutching at his arm even as she bucked against hishand. ”I want you now.”
”Soon,” he promised, his voice rasping.
Teeth gritted, sweat making his skin slick and wet, Grady thought about thenights he'd spent alone, aching for her. He'd dreamed of this for so long. Hewanted this night to last. Another memory to add to his wall against theloneliness.
”Yes, baby, that's the way,” he urged as she let out a low, keening moan thatended in a shuddering gasp. Her eyes popped open and she looked at him withglazed shock.
”Oh,” she said. ”Oh, my.”
He palmed the delta between her thighs, his fingers still slick with nectar,and squeezed, bringing her down slowly, gently.
”You're so dear to me,” she whispered, running her palms up his arm.
Dear? h.e.l.l, she said that about his brothers, too. Especially Flynn when hewas being charming. Selfish b.a.s.t.a.r.d that he was, Grady wanted to be special toher. As special as she was to him. More than that, he wanted her love.
Battling disappointment, he bent to kiss the damp curve of her breast.
”Come inside me,” she whispered, sliding her hands up his thigh to touch him.”I want to feel you explode.”
He groaned as his body threatened to do just that. Reminding himself to begentle, he stroked thighs already widening to welcome him. He chewed theinside of his mouth to distract himself from the punis.h.i.+ng urgency, fought tokeep from plunging hard and deep. Because he remembered the last time-eachmindless thrust that had hurt her, each bruise he'd left-he settled himselfslowly, testing her with his fingers, watching the pleasure gather and seethein her eyes. Finally, when she was hot and dripping, he pushed himself intoher with a slowness that had sweat pouring from his skin and his nervesscreaming. Still he let her take him gradually, feeling the velvet wallsstretching to accommodate the thick hard width of his need.
”Yes,” she cried, clutching at him. ”Oh, yes, that's the way. Yes,yes!” Shearched, writhed. ”More, give me more. I need...” Her voice shuddered into a gaspand her eyes widened. ”All of you, I need to feel all of you.”
And then he was welded to her, a part of her.
Home.
The sound he made was strident and primitive, a man's cry of possession andtriumph. His control broke; his patience drained dry. Hands fisted in th.e.s.h.eets, legs braced, he drew back, his muscles shuddering with restraint andhis teeth gritted, then thrust into her, alive for the first time in years.
She was his love. His happiness.
Gasping, she matched his rhythm, wildly responsive. He felt her musclessqueeze him, sensed her hover, then flash. Even as she cried out, he came witha splintering force that exploded white in his head. Dimly he heard himselfshout her name and then he was spiraling into a sweet welcoming pool of heat.
He had just enough mind left to roll to his back, his arms still lockedaround her. ”Sleep,” he murmured. She sighed, linked her arms around his neck,snuggled. Murmured words he couldn't hear. And then he let himself shut down,taking her with him.
Riasurfaced slowly, feeling wonderfully sated. She was also smashed againstthe hard wall of Grady's chest, which meant that she was being cooked by theheat pouring from his naked skin.
She smiled into the dawn light filtering through the loosely woven drapes.Sleeping with Grady had always been a battle for s.p.a.ce. Even deep in sleep, hewas restless, sprawling from one side of the bed to the other a dozen times inthe course of the night.
Lifting her head, she looked past his bullet-scarred chest at the clock. Itwasn't quite six. She resettled her head on the pillow that was half-buriedunder his shoulder and drew in the soap and male-musk scent of him-as familiarto heras her baby's, she realized as she exhaled slowly.
Letting her lashes droop, she studied the harsh planes of the face turned herway. Though more relaxed now, he still wore that slightly dangerous look thathad fascinated her from the moment they'd met. The eyes that crinkled beguilingly when he laughed could narrow to lethal warning in the span of athought, and the sensuous mouth that coaxed helpless moans from her throatcould harden into an implacable line.
Hard edges on an even harder man, Kate had described it once. Deliciouslypotent-if a woman was strong enough to handle all that soul-stirring power.
She let out a careful sigh and tried to wiggle her way into more breathingroom. He stiffened, his face going hard and the steely muscles alreadybracing. During his years undercover she'd learned to call his name evenbefore his eyes were open.
Grady dived a hand under the pillow and came up grasping air instead of theweapon that should be there. His gut screamed danger a split second before heheardRia's voice-in his head, he thought-until he opened his eyes and saw herface.
Her eyes were soft and luminous, her lips a little swollen from the kisseshe'd tried so hard to keep gentle-until her wild little cries had driven himpast his control into a wildness of his own.
Because his fingers were too clumsy and too rough, he used the back of hishand to nudge the wispy curls away from her cheek.
”Was it all right?” he asked because he had to know. ”I didn't hurt you?”
”It was very all right, and no, you didn't hurt me,” she murmured with adrowsy smile.
He let out the air he'd been holding, and some of the hot tension in his guteased. ”Not sore?” He stroked her hair and inhaled the faint scent of flowers.
”Only a little.” The corners of her mouth curled up in an imp's grin. ”Howabout you? Did I hurt you?”
He lifted the sheet and pretended to look. ”He's pretty bruised but still upfor a challenge.”