He wasn’t gorgeous, despite what she’d claimed, not in the same sense as the singers and movie stars she’d had crushes on growing up. Calan’s striking features gave off a commanding tone that appealed to her.
She wanted to kiss him, ride him, and love him with everything she had. The yearning she’d carried for him had grown over the years. No other man had been able to break her fascination, despite her limited view of him. His eyes, the same ones that watched her with hot, uncontrolled hunger, had ruined her for any other lover.
If it was sex he wanted, she’d give it to him. The possessive edge to the way he focused on her warned he wanted more, which didn’t match what she suspected would eventually happen between them. That he would kill her.
Harley shook her head. “No, I—”
He stilled the back-and-forth motion of his finger and pressed the pad of his thumb to her clit. The damp cotton of her pants separated them, but the promise of what one flick could do hovered within reach.
“Wrap your legs around my waist and kiss me.”
The command slammed into her just like the one he’d given her all those years ago. She thought about resisting. It’d be better if they talked, but desire to feel his powerful cock between her thighs wasn’t a temptation she wanted to pass up. She settled over his thick length and dropped her head back on a groan.
He shifted his hand to her ass as he’d done earlier and caressed each butt cheek. The reverent way he touched her made her feel as beautiful as a flower. She’d been told countless times she was, had even been offered modeling and acting jobs, but never had she felt worthy of people’s attention.
Her parentage tainted her view of herself. She hated looking in the mirror, knowing what lurked inside her body—the remnants of the monster who’d created her. Calan’s confirmation that it was festering and spreading chilled her soul.
“How can you save me?” Harley cupped his face between her hands. “How, Calan? You told me—”
“Shhh, my flower. Forget what I said and kiss me.”
He ran his finger down the crack of her ass to the spot where his length stretched along the seam of her sex. With his big palm on her bottom, he held her immobile and rocked against her. The bonds locking his body in place prevented him from stimulating her the way she would’ve liked, but the slow grind of his hips skipped electricity over her swollen lower lips to her clit. Pleasure built deep inside her.
She shook her head, trying to clear the lust, but her body wanted what Calan teased her with. All the nights she’d fantasized about him added to the moment. Emotions rose, ones she didn’t know what to do with. Hope, uncertainty, and restraint warred within her.
Calan bent his head and nibbled on her jaw. Her arousal flowed in response to his nipping bites. Licks of his tongue followed, cooling the sharp sting. Each swipe weakened her. She clasped her arms around his neck and matched the gentle thrusts of his hips. It was impossible not to follow his lead.
He was seducing her, but the growing passion between them tempted her beyond anything she’d ever encountered. Knowing it was Calan, her ghost man, who touched her made it better. She’d never been able to let the memory of him go or find any other man who made her feel a tenth of what she’d experienced each time she pictured his eyes. Goodness knew, she’d tried.
“Calan, I want…” Harley stopped herself before she begged him to fuck her. What they were doing was wrong on so many levels, but she needed his smoky taste on her lips one more time. A kiss. Just a kiss. That was all. She sifted her fingers through the strands of his hair and leaned closer until only a hairbreadth separated them. “You. I want you.”
“Harley, my beautiful flower, I want you too.” The words whispered into her head slipped through her in an intimate caress she hadn’t known was possible.
He explored her mouth, stroking and licking every inch as if he loved her taste as much as she enjoyed his. The appreciative moans spilling from his throat revved up her needs. She shifted her hips, grinding against him as if she had every right in the world to take her pleasure from his hands.
Harley tried to lead him in a quicker dance, but Calan ignored her demands. He eased back and allowed her to kiss him wildly. The opening to have her way with him would’ve been welcome any other time. At the moment, his passive response tore a whimpered groan from her.
“Please, Calan.”
“Open up. Let me inside. Let me shield you from the chaos your father infected you with.”
“I don’t know how.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Kiss me and let go. I’ll do the rest.”
Harley did as he ordered. She kissed him, allowed him to lead her, and gave herself up to the emotions he stirred. With each stroke, her tension eased, but her needs grew. She wanted to take him into her body and make love to him the same way he worked her mouth—slowly, as if they had eternity to worship each other.
Something soft and silky wrapped around her, filled her up, and completed her. The brush of his fingers along the column of her throat matched the gentle caress she felt deep inside her body. The burn, the constant unsettling reminder of the chaos she carried, calmed.
“Take my hand, Harley.”
She linked
