The Darkest Pleasure

His lips were soft, the tiny bit of shadow beard on his jaw scraping her cheeks. Every time he angled his head, taking her deeper with his tongue, harder, and scraping her a little more, a lance of pleasure traveled to her nipples, between her legs.

She moaned, unable to quiet herself.

'Do you like my kiss?' he asked. 'I'm not hurting you?'

'I like. Not hurting.' As she squeezed the knotted muscles in his shoulders, she didn't think she would have minded a little pain. She yearned to have his teeth bite at her and his body pound against her. Inside her.

'I'm glad.' His tongue swept past her teeth and worked the roof of her mouth, massaging.

So good, she thought, but still, she needed more. Perhaps she needed everything he had to give. She definitely needed him rubbing against her—why wasn't he rubbing? Some of her desire waned. Why had he sounded controlled? So…unaffected?

The questions chilled the hottest flames of her ardor, and she began to notice other things, as well. She had spread her legs but he hadn't fallen into the offered cradle. She'd clutched at him, desperate for more, yet he remained detached from her, only touching her with his tongue. She'd gasped again and again, yet his breathing was completely unchanged.

Danika pressed into the pillow, pulling from Reyes's lips. She was still panting; he was still breathing normally. She glared up at him, unsure what to think.

'You started this,' she said, anger rising inside her. He had started it and yet he hadn't really participated. 'Why? And don't give me any bullshit about wanting the need to end. Clearly, you don't desire me.' Saying it caused the anger to spike.

His eyelids flickered open. Normally they were so dark the pupils seemed to swallow up the irises. Now they flickered and swirled like a sea of churning emotion, a hint of crimson framing the black.

Demon eyes.

She gulped. It was terrifying, being reminded of his inner evil. And yet, still her desire remained. Still, her body ached and hungered. For him, only him. Why?

Much as she'd tried to convince herself that he was the same as any other man, she'd only managed to do the opposite. He was Reyes, a combination of man and demon, drawing and repelling her at the same time. He was right and wrong wrapped in the same sensual package, with a kiss and flavor that transported her at once to the heights of heaven and the depths of hell.

He had sprung from her nightmares, yet he had become her fantasy, weaving gossamer wings of desire through her every cell. He was the only thing she wanted and everything she shouldn't have. She would have been able to pick him out of a lineup blindfolded, his woodsy scent like a tether that bound them together.

What did she truly know about him, besides the fact that he was possessed by a demon? She knew that everyone else seemed pale and weak when compared to him, wilted carnations surrounding a lone, thorny rose. She knew no one else had ever set her on fire like this. She knew that she'd been cold for a long time and only he had been able to warm her.

Surely that warmth was drugging her, luring her down this road of temptation. Not Reyes himself. Yes, she'd blame the warmth. For now. The alternative scared her too much.

'Just get off me,' she said, amazed at her calm.

'I do want you,' he said, and he sounded tortured, as though knives were being shoved under his fingernails.

'Liar.' She echoed his earlier accusation as she pushed at his shoulders.

He didn't budge. He did frown. 'Stop, angel. You do not want me to leave.'

Angel. He'd called her angel again. Once, in the dungeon, he'd even called her his. She tried not to soften. Men had used endearments on her before, but none had ever uttered one with such a you-belong-to-me-and-only- me undertone.

'You don't know what I want,' she snapped, 'and obviously I'm not what you desire.' Be happy about that, you idiot.

Shame coasted over his rugged features. Shame and grief. His gaze fell to her shoulder, where her T-shirt gaped and cotton fell away from skin. 'I want you. Swear to the gods, I do.'

As he'd spoken, his lower body had brushed hers. He wasn't hard. Her cheeks heated. When he'd first walked to her, his penis had been so hard and full it had strained past the waist of his jeans. One taste of her, and he'd gone limp. Am I that bad a kisser?

'Don't make me tell you to get off again,' she said. 'I don't know what game you're playing, but I told you this was dumb. I need—'

'No game,' he interjected hotly.

She continued as if he hadn't interrupted her. 'I need back inside the dungeon, pronto, and this is wasting my time. I need to talk to Aeron.'

'First, you will listen to me.'

'Reyes. Off. Now!'

'We will talk, Danika.'

She glared up at him. 'Force this, and I will hurt you.'

His eyes closed again, hiding whatever emotion was banked in them. His lashes were like summoning fingers, beckoning her deeper into a world of shadows and dark seduction. 'I can't—I'm not—'

'Dungeon. Aeron. Nothing else matters. Talk time is over. Kiss time is over. Like we wanted, it's over and done. I won't wonder about your taste again.' Sadly, she knew she would dream of that kiss for the rest of her life. She would dream of what might have been, fantasize about what would have happened if he'd truly wanted her.

'Danika, I—'

Again he paused, and she experienced a wave of painful curiosity. 'What?' Her heart pounded against her ribs. 'Just say it so I can go!'

His eyelids popped open, fire blazing bright in his pupils. He got in her face, pressing his nose to hers. White-hot breath blistered her skin. 'Not another word from you. I have something to tell you.'

These last few months, her will had been ignored completely. Her wonderful life had been taken away, her existence stripped to the bare necessities. Everyone she loved—gone. Painting, her lifeline to sanity—gone.

She wouldn't capitulate on this.

'Not another word, huh?' You've trained for combat. You know what to do. Heart pounding, Danika flattened her palm on the cold mattress. Sweat beaded over her skin. Last time she'd defended herself, she'd killed. Careful this time. She didn't want to hurt this man beyond repair. She just wanted to wound him a little.

'I never wanted to tell you this, had hoped it would be different with you, but I cannot allow you to think I do not crave you.'

Block his voice and his bittersweet words. Act!

'I—'

Danika struck.

With all of her strength, she propelled her palm up and into his nose. Crunch. Snap. Warm blood poured from him, spraying her. Reyes moaned. Not a moan of pain, she realized, but of pleasure— exactly the sort she'd longed to hear while his tongue had filled her mouth.

The shock of that moan froze her in place. What. The. Hell?

Slowly Reyes turned his head and faced her again. The blood had already ceased flowing, his nose readjusting itself all on its own. Her eyes widened. He was an immortal warrior, yes, she'd known that. He healed quickly. That, too, she'd suspected after the choking last night. But how could she have predicted the explosive need that would appear in his eyes because she'd broken his nose?

His cock swelled quickly, again as she'd craved earlier, a brand between her jean-clad thighs. What would she have felt if they'd been naked? She swallowed, and Reyes licked his lips, as if he could suddenly taste her there.

A tremor catapulted down her spine. Their bodies brushed, her nipples against his strength, her softness against his warrior-might, and electricity sparked. For a moment, only a moment, the sensation was painful and the pain was a pleasure inside her.