The Darkest Night

He shook his head, stilling her. 'When they come off, I'll be inside you.' His voice was low, gravelly.

'Good. I want you inside me.'

'Not done tasting.' He eased off her a little and trailed a finger down the planes of her stomach.

Oh God. 'Yes, taste more. I want… I need…' More of everything. If he wouldn't let her remove the pants, she'd work around them. She worked her hand underneath, gripped him.

He hissed in a breath. His eyes closed briefly. 'Ashlyn.'

He was so big, she couldn't close her fingers. Thick, full, amazing. As she skimmed her hand up and down, up and down like she'd seen him do in the shower—oh, so good, never stop—he finally, finally worked a finger inside of her. She gasped at the heady sensation.

He stilled. 'Good?'

'Good,' she said on a moan.

Propelling back into motion, he pumped his finger in and out. Slowly at first… faster… faster… she arched into the inward glide, loving the stretch, trying to tighten her muscles and hold him deep.

'More?'

'More,' she breathed.

A second finger thrust inside, stretching her farther. Her knees squeezed his thighs, surrendering to his every whim. Her gaze met his. Sweat beaded on his face and tension bracketed his mouth.

'Hot,' he said. 'Wet.'

'Big,' she said, squeezing him. 'Hard.'

'All yours.'

'Mine,' she agreed. I want him forever. Now and always. 'More.'

He slammed a third finger inside her and there was a slight burn. She loved it, loved the miracle of being filled by him. 'Mine,' he said. His cock surged in her hand. 'Ready, beauty?'

'Yes. Oh, yes. So ready.' More than ready. Never had she wanted anything so intensely. It was something she gladly would have given her life to experience. 'Yes. Please.'

She kneaded his back, scratched at his skin as he shoved his pants to his ankles and kicked them off. No underwear. He was finally, totally, blessedly nude.

'Look at me.'

She did, their gazes as tangled as their bodies.

The hard tip of his penis pressed between her legs, but didn't fully enter. She arched her hips, urging him on. He didn't move any deeper. Despite his claim that he'd be inside her the moment his clothes were shed, he resisted.

'Need a moment… to get spirit…under control,' he bit out. 'Don't want to leave. Don't want to walk away. But the urges…'

'Mmm, urges. Yes.'

'No. Dark. Violent. Hard.'

'I'm not scared.' No, she was excited, willing to take him and the spirit. It was a part of him, so she'd love it, too.

'Should be scared.' The sweat that had beaded on his temples dripped onto her cheek, the frosty air doing nothing to cool him down. 'Haven't done it this way in thousands of years. Haven't looked at a woman while…'

He didn't finish, but she could guess what he'd been  unable to say. He hadn't looked at a woman while making love to her. Ashlyn met his gaze again, all the love she felt for him shining brightly. She didn't try to hide it, couldn't. 'I don't want to wait anymore.'

'Must.'

She drew up her knees, trying to urge him forward, but he braced a palm on the headboard, refusing to budge. Grrr! She didn't want him to fear hurting her. 'Pound. Bite.'

'No. Not with you.'

'Pound me. Bite me. I won't break.'

'I won't hurt you.' He shook his head, refusing to look at her. 'Won't hurt you. Promised.'

Make him lose control. Prove to him that he can't hurt you, no matter what he does. Yes, she thought, cupping his jaw and forcing him to peer down at her. If he held back this time, if he continued to fear the things he wanted to do to her, he'd eventually stop touching her altogether. He'd leave her.

'Give me all you've got. Just do it now,' she told him on a moan, once more trying to slide herself down on his thick length. 'I'm so wet, I'm already in pain.'

His shallow pants filled her ears. 'Just a few more minutes. I'm just going to hold you, then I have to leave.'

No, not okay.

She traced her fingertips down his back, loving the feel of velvet poured over electrified steel. His tattoo had looked so real, she'd expected it to be raised, but it wasn't. It was smooth and as warm as the rest of him.

'If you won't take me…' She tried to appear innocent as she massaged his butt. The muscles contracted on contact. 'I'll take you.'

Without another warning, she tightened her grip and jerked at the same moment as she arched forward.

Maddox's arm bent and he slammed inside her. A cry spilled from her lips, pained and blissful all at once.

Maddox's control shattered.

He roared, loud and long, pulling back and slamming forward over and over again. She gasped, feeling him so deeply she'd never again be able to think of herself as simply Ashlyn. She was now Maddox's woman.

He bit the cord of her neck and she trembled. Back he continued to slide, forward he continued to slam. The entire bed shook, metal legs screeching against the floor. He gripped one of her knees, anchoring it on the curve of his arm, spreading her legs farther apart and giving him deeper penetration.

'I'm sorry,' he chanted. 'I'm sorry.'

'Don't be. Yes, yes!' she cried.

His tempo increased and his thrusts became harder. 'Ashlyn,' he panted. 'Ashlyn.'

She was on fire, burning from the inside out. Her pulse points hammered in tune with his strokes. Back and forth her head thrashed as she became mindless to anything except the pleasure.

He pinched her nipples and that made her hotter.

He scraped his teeth over her throat and that made her wetter.

He squeezed her thighs tightly and that made her needier. 'Sorry,' he said again. 'So sorry. Wanted to be gentle.'

'Love it hard. Want harder.' Gentle could come later, after her need had been sated. After he realized she could—and quite happily—take anything he had to give. 'Close. So close.' Almost there. Just needed…

He tangled his hand in her hair and jerked her face to his, thrusting his tongue inside her mouth. His decadent taste flooded her, a drug, a shot of heroin. In that instant, she erupted. Burst. Flames of ecstasy consumed her.

Her entire body shuddered and wept. A scream was ripped from her as white light and shadows flashed through her mind. She was dying slowly, dying quickly. Just… dying. Flying to heaven.

'Ashlyn,' Maddox shouted as he, too, erupted. Hot seed spurted inside her, pulsing deep… so deep… His muscles tensed. 'Mine.' He bit down on her neck again, as if he couldn't help himself.

This time, he drew blood.

It should have hurt, did hurt—so good, so good—but it made her come again. She trembled and arched against him, crying out with the heady bliss of it. Never would she have thought pleasure and pain could mix so potently. Never would she have thought one could trigger the other. But they did. And she was glad.

He collapsed on top of her, again panting, 'Sorry. So sorry. Didn't mean—'

'No sorries. I'm glad.' Satisfaction hummed through her as she accepted his weight. Satisfaction and true happiness. 'Always want it this way.'

He rolled to his back, taking her with him. Boneless, she lay on his chest. He wrapped his arms around her,