'I need the medallion, Grace. Where is it?'
She watched him for a long, slumberous moment, then eased up and wound her arms around his neck, crashing her breasts into his chest. She tugged him closer until they were nose to nose. 'Questions later,' she said. 'Kiss now.'
His nostrils flared at her demand-but not in anger. A traitorous fire licked through him. He'd meant to relax her, not arouse her. Gods, he'd cast the peace spell to avoid touching her, yet here she was demanding that he do so! 'Release me,' he said softly, knowing he could pull himself away if only he could find the will.
'I don't want to.' Her fingers toyed with the hair at the base of his neck, and her eyes beseeched him. 'Every night I've dreamt of our kiss. It's the only thing I've ever done that made me feel complete, and I want more.' She frowned slightly. 'I don't know why I just told you that. I-Why am I not afraid of you?'
I deserve a beating , he berated himself, but he lowered his head anyway. Her admission lured him as surely as a beckoning finger. He was helpless against her allure. Any moment the aura of peace around her would wither, and she would jerk away from him. Until then… 'Open,' he told her. And he didn't care what type of man this made him. Dishonorable, so be it.
She immediately obeyed. His tongue swept inside, swirling and searching. His rough moan blended with her airy sigh. She was a mélange of flavors: warm, delicious, mesmerizing. It was a taste he'd experienced only once before, the first time they kissed. He wanted to experience that sweetness again and again.
She clutched at his shirt, then kneaded his neck, opening herself up, silently demanding he hold nothing back. He was humbled that she responded to him so openly, so uninhibitedly and so quickly. A deep-seated yearning to let her goodness seep into him blossomed and heightened. How desperately he wanted to press deeply inside her, over and over, and take her in every position imaginable until this hunger for her vanished.
He eased himself on top of her, allowing them both to lie in her bed as he'd imagined doing moments before. He gently rolled them to their sides. Had she been coaxing him to his death, he gladly would have followed. The full lushness of her breasts cushioned his chest. Besides the thin shirt, she wore a small patch of lace between her thighs. She was the most erotic little creature, and he deeply resented the menial barriers preventing complete skin to skin contact.
She settled one leg over his waist, cradling him intimately, and he sank deeper into the apex of her legs. He hissed in a breath at the exquisite pleasure. He knew he should shove her away, knew he should begin the questioning. He did not have much time, for he already felt the weakening effects of leaving Atlantis.
But he could not stop. Was helpless. Desperate for her.
He had to have this woman.
His lust for her was dangerous, forbidden, but time slipped outside of reality, and Darius allowed himself to feel instead of think. As he did so, the very things he'd always despised became his greatest allies. Tenderness. Passion. Greed. Warm, female flesh tantalized him. Her sweet, feminine scent drugged him. Smooth and perfect A sheen of sweat covered his brow.
As if she read his mind and discerned his needs, she sucked on his tongue, nibbled on his lips, and slanted her mouth for deeper penetration. She taught him the way of it, consuming him bit by enticing bit. And he let her do it. He would have begged her to continue if necessary.
He trailed one hand over her body, tracing the velvety texture of her skin, first along the column of her spine, then over the roundness of her bottom. She moaned, and he slid his fingers between her legs, allowing them to travel up and over her panties, her moist heat, then under her shirt.
'I love the feel of your hands,' she gasped when his fingertips grazed her nipple. He circled the hard bud with the tip of his finger. 'So good.'
She'd said as much to him before and still he relished the words. They made his every nerve dance and clamor to please her. He licked her neck and rubbed against her, nestling his erection in the pulsing heart of her desire. Their gasps blended, his strained, hers hoarse. Which only made it clear they both needed more.
'I want you naked,' he said raggedly.
'Yes, yes.'
Impatient to see her, he tore the folds of her shirt in two. She didn't flinch from his action; instead she arched her back, offering herself to him. Silently telling him to do with her what he would. Her breasts sprang free, revealing two rosy nipples, both pebbled and wanting. In the moonlight, her slightly rounded stomach glowed like fresh cream, and a small, silver jewel winked from her navel. He paused and fingered the stone.
'What is this?' he asked.
She wet her lips. 'A belly-button ring.'
He'd never heard of such a thing, but praise be the gods for its creation. The eroticism of seeing a jewel nestled in the hollow of her stomach nearly felled him. His muscles taut, he bent his head and flicked his tongue over the little bud. She gasped and shivered. His body jerked in response.
'I shouldn't have done it,' she said, gripping his shoulders, urging him on with the sting of her nails. 'I'm not skinny enough.'
'You are the most beautiful sight I have ever beheld.'
Her heavy-lidded gaze met his. She opened her mouth to protest, then cupped his jaw and compelled his lips to hers. He slanted his chin, taking more of her, sinking into her. As his fingertips continued to caress the jewel, he trailed kisses along her shoulder and neck, then moved to her breasts. Biting her lip, moaning, she bowed toward him, letting him suck her nipples deeply, hungrily. He wanted to taste all of her at the same time: her stomach, her nipples, the core of her.
'Darius?' she said, her tone thick and drugged with arousal.
'Hmm?' Though his body urged him to finish what they'd started, he continued to savor. Continued to feast on her.
'I want my hands all over you.'
He stilled, gazing down at her and thinking he must have misheard. No woman had ever said such a thing to him before. Perhaps he'd left them too quickly. Or perhaps they'd been as unconcerned with him as he was with them. 'Tell me what you wish to do to me.' His voice emerged hoarse, choked.
'I want to give you pleasure.' Her eyes were like turquoise flames. 'So much pleasure.'
'How?'
'By kissing you like you're kissing me. By touching you like you're touching me.'
'Where?' He couldn't stop the questions. He needed the words.
'Everywhere.'
'Here?' He skimmed his hand inside her panties, felt the softness of her hair, and dove two fingers inside her silky wetness.
'God, yes!' she screamed. Her eyes closed, and she moved her hips with his fingers. She moaned, 'That feels… that makes me… Ohmygod.'
'Do you want to touch me like this, sweet Grace. Between my legs?'
'Yes. Oh, yes.' Grace uttered a ragged exhalation and coasted her hands under his shirt and across the bold, black tattoos on his chest. The tips of his nipples speared into her palms as a deep thrum of pleasure rocked her entire body.
His fingers were stretching her, but oh, Lord, the pleasure. Darius's thumb found and circled her clitoris.
Lost in the magic of sensation, she gripped his forearms and let herself be swept away. So close… almost there.
'Seeing you like this,' he whispered, 'touching you like this gives me more pleasure than I deserve.'
He crushed his lips to hers in a deep, openmouthed kiss that stole the breath from her lungs. He was kissing her the way a man kissed a woman right before sinking into her body. Kissing her the way she needed to be kissed. Her knees squeezed his waist, and she gripped his butt in her hands. His fingers never stopped working her.
'I want so badly to make you mine,' he said through gritted teeth.
Something hot and wild exploded inside her just then, not allowing either of them to go slowly. He wanted to make her his woman, but she needed him to do it. She fisted her hands in his hair, holding him captive while she deepened the kiss. Other men had kissed her, but this was the first time she ever experienced a kiss with her entire body. This was the first time a man had ever made her feel as if she were his entire world.
His thick erection pulsed against her thigh and the need to have it inside her, a part of her, consumed her heart and soul. 'You're so thick and hard. I want you, Darius,' she told him, the words coming from a secret place
