Rise of the Titan

by Pressley James

  The silence stretched for a long second.

  “You wanted me?” he asked, and his voice sounded somewhat unsteady.

  “It’s a simple truth, isn’t it?” Closing both arms about herself, she tried to shield herself from her own inner pain, yet failed to. A single tear streamed down her cheek at the admission. “I wanted you so much that I couldn’t turn away from it.”

  “Liar,” he whispered again in a ragged tone. “Stop lying to me.”

  “That night, when I stepped onto the stage, I knew that things were different. I just felt something---something that I’ve never felt before.” Misty-eyed, she recounted the passionate memory and somehow found comfort in it. “For once, I wasn’t ashamed to bare all. In fact, I felt very much alive. All I can remember is my heart beating so fast….” She closed her eyes tightly against the vivid memory. “I was so sure that I was going to die. But, the closer I drew to you---I found the air that I needed to breathe.” As she opened her eyes again, she discovered more desperation. For what she wanted before, she wanted it still. “Then, I saw you. I swear that my whole world stopped.”

  “Damn you.” Breathing hard and fast, he stopped directly behind her. Still, though, while he didn’t touch her, she sensed his tentative hope and desperation. “For trying to make me believe.”

  “You touched me.” She let out a whispered breath. “Everything about you---us---it became all too real. I wanted you. Even though we were strangers, I wanted you inside of me.”

  On his lips, her name was a distraught sound. “Bella.”

  “In my head, I knew that being with you was wrong. But, the other part of me didn’t care.” Stunning them both, she turned and stared into the wall of his chest. “At the club, I wanted to give in to you, but I ran because I was scared of what I was feeling.” Her eyes rose to his and were filled with every bit of her emotion. “Then, you found me on the roadside. I wanted to run and stay at the same time.” The tears shimmered in her eyes. “You made me so confused.”

  His voice was raspy. “Baby---”

  “Back at your mountain home,” she went on, almost deliriously. “I knew that I had to somehow keep my distance. I tried to fight against you. But, I lost---I gave in to you.” Her words were barely audible. “Being in your arms was more than anything that I could have ever imagined. Our lovemaking---the experiences left me completely enraptured. You became my escape, and our every encounter just made me want more of you.”

  “If that were the truth,” he demanded roughly, but still, his reckless and crazy hope breathed. “Why did you run?”

  “Don’t you get it, Braden?” Blinking fast, she landed her gaze on his chin, and while speaking the words, she found it difficult to breathe. “Somehow, by being stranded together on those mountains for all those weeks, we existed in a world of pretend. Unfortunately, the real world was out there, and I realized that at some point.”

  “Then, why not stay and fight for what you wanted?” he argued passionately, “Running away wasn’t the right choice.”

  “Outside those mountain walls, we didn’t stand a chance,” she fought back just as passionately. “Circumstances made it impossible for us to be anything. I knew that you wouldn’t accept my leaving without demanding answers---answers that I wasn’t ready to give at that time. While you didn’t know the full truth about your father and me, I did. So, running away was the only choice. But, I will never regret what happened between us.” She raised her eyes to his again. “However, we can’t hide from the inevitable. Everything’s plain and clear. I’m with your father, and we’re trying to put our relationship back together.” With reluctance, she pulled free of him. “Please respect that.”

  Chapter 15

  Falling silent, he just stood there for a moment.

  “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” Passing her a look of disbelief, he stepped back away from her. “Especially now.”

  “W—what do you mean?”

  “You stand here and literally tell me that you want me.” A hint of anger played on his visage. “So, now I’m just supposed to say thank you, bow out, and watch you go to him?”

  Her eyelashes fluttered nervously. “In a matter of so many words---yes.”

  “You are unbelievable.”

  “But, you asked me for the truth---”

  “Are we really going to do this?” The frustration sounded in his deep tone, and again, it signified his growing loss of patience. “Keep tap-dancing around the real issue here?”

  She raised her voice. “Why are you not satisfied? I gave you what you wanted---”

  “No, you haven’t, not really,” he quipped tightly in fast disagreement. “All these mixed signals of yours---they’re completely insane and giving me whiplash. In one breath, you’re trying to push me away from you. But, in the next, you’re pulling me straight to you.” His eyes simmered with something that she couldn’t name, and as he edged closer again, her heart skittered into an irregular pattern. The sexual heat between them was all-consuming. “So which is it? Do you want me to run away from you, or come straight at you?”

  “W-which is it?” she stammered, biting her lip, and struggled to stay centered. But, their closeness was making that too difficult. “Again, you’re confusing me with---”

  “Hell, no.” His gray orbs darkened to a fever pitch. “Don’t give me that, damsel. Again, you’re just not being straight with me.”

  His voice was too velvety soft, it was a softness designed to weaken her.

  The pulse jumped in her nape wildly.

  “We need to get one fucking thing straight.” He made a fateful step closer, drawing a short breath from her, and the sound of her weakness satisfied him immensely. “I’m a selfish asshole, and I don’t plan on sharing you with any other man, especially not him.”

  She dropped her eyes to his bare chest. “I---I think that I should leave---”

  “You’re right---you probably should go.” Reaching out, he touched a finger to her trembling lips. “Yet, some crazy and irrational part of me wants you to stay. But, you always have driven me to the point of insanity. Therefore, I shouldn’t be surprised by my actions and reactions to you right now.”

  A desperate plea left her. “Please, let me go.”

  “I don’t have you, at least not yet.”

  Her startled gaze flew to his.

  Oh, he was so deliciously wicked…

  “And you know what else I know?” he taunted her, and his sexy tone was laced with suggestions. “You want me to say it out loud?”

  Helplessly drawn, her eyes searched his face. “What?”

  “You want to stay,” he whispered in a low seductive tone. “After all’s said and done, it’s me that you want to be with.” Grabbing her hand, he brought it to his chest, and then, raising it to his mouth, he kissed it oh so damn smoothly. “You want us.”

  She pleaded with her eyes. “Please don’t do this.”

  “Exactly,” he asked slowly, peering down at her with unabashed hunger. Again, he was the predator while she the prey. “What am I doing?”

  “Y—you’re playing a game with me,” she whispered, and the hot tears sprang to her eyes. Without a doubt, she was on the losing end. Shamelessly, she wanted him that much. “Trying to make me do bad things with you---”

  “Bad things? Oh, no, they’re hardly that. In fact, they’re the exact opposite, aren’t they? They’re so damn good that rationality and reasoning play no part,” he rasped huskily. “Our only crime right now is turning our backs on what we want to do to each other. Deep down, you know what you want from me.” Reaching out, he traced a finger along the edges of her robe, just right where it parted. Though, he’d had yet to touch her, she felt the searing heat. “Like me touching and kissing you in the naughtiness places…Despite your treachery, I want to do that right now. Doesn’t that make me the fool?”

  Too mesmerized, she stayed silent.

  “What am I supposed to do now---forget about you?”

/>   “Yes.”

  A storm brewed in his eyes. “Just like that?”

  Her lips trembled. “Just like that.”

  “That’s impossible, and you know it.” Once more, like a sexy stealthy creature, he edged closer, and only a scant breath separated their heaving bodies. “Day in and day out, all I do is breathe and think about us. I’m obsessed with you and what you make me feel. My dark confession should frighten you, but it doesn’t. You want to know why?”

  “Why?” she whispered, like a fool, and swallowed hard. Then, tempting fate, she lost herself in his gaze and began drowning. Again, helplessly, she was bewitched by the manly creature before her. “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because the truth is right there in front of you...you’re consumed with an unrelenting desire to be with me. Your obsession is equal to mine. Denying it is useless at this point.”

  “Things are different between us now.” She struggled for more denial and arguments, but found herself fledging. How could she not when he was speaking the whole truth? Still, she had to try, she mulled, distressed, and forced more words out. “So, we can’t speak of such things.”

  “No one is here but us.” His tone was edged with both roughness and softness, a quality that’d left her weak-kneed on many occasions. It was a lethal weapon against her flimsy resolve, and he knew it. “Let me be your hiding place again. I swear on my fucking life that no one will ever find you. The outside world doesn’t have to exist with us. We are our secret, damsel. The two of us, we’re the only ones that will ever understand it. No one and nothing will ever change or lessen that fact.”

  For a moment, she faltered.

  They were lightning in a bottle.

  That only made them an even more potent combination.

  But, where would their mutual obsession take them?

  In Vitali’s world, it’d destroy them both.

  “Don’t you get it? We’re wrong.” She eyed him with renewed desperation. “I’m trying to do what’s best for everyone.”

  “You are my best.” A fiery passion was etched on his face. Then, he reached out as if captured in a wondrous daze. Ever so gently, he touched a finger against her chin, and then, traced a slow path beneath it, finally descending. His gray orbs simmered with unrest and dark needs, and she sensed his fight for understanding. “As fucked up as that might be, it’s true.”

  Gasping unsteadily, she embraced the rising madness.

  Perhaps, because it was unstoppable…

  Against her nape, she felt his maddening touch.

  She released a distraught whisper. “Braden.”

  “Baby, I’m right here,” he whispered in turn, as if pained. “You don’t have to run away from me anymore. Not when we can find a way to fix it. We will fix this.”

  Spearing his fingers wide, he grazed them along her flesh, and every single point in her skin responded to his feel. Her pulse jumped erratically and beat an incessant rapid tattoo. Too conscious and needy of his touch, her body trembled before gravitating towards his---just close enough to signify her near surrender… Immediately, he sensed her sexual discord, and his eyes darkened further at her silent submission. “I’ve missed you so much,” he said thickly and dropped his hot gaze to her mouth. A daring sexiness stole his features, and a blatant invitation was reflected in his eyes. Without a doubt, his thoughts were less than virtuous. In fact, they were probably the most sinful and immoral yet. “While you’re too afraid to admit that to me, I know that you feel the same thing.”

  Dazed, lost, she could do only do one thing.

  Want…

  “You are and always will be the most beautiful and captivating woman in the world.” He dropped his hands to her waist and grasped the thin sash. As he did, he hitched a painful breath, and again, his handsome features were fraught with tumultuous emotions. “Even after everything that’s happened, after all your lies, I’m besotted to one thing---wanting and needing you. Do you understand the power of that?”

  Magnetized, drawn together by an inexplicable passion, they bowed.

  Their labored breathing came fast.

  In the darkened room, their intense hunger sought a haven.

  Slowly, ever so gently, he untied the sash.

  Taking both hands, he parted the robe and exposed her naked body.

  A fast breath expelled from her.

  The deep yearning played on his face.

  Yet, still, he didn’t touch her.

  Feel him, though, she did…

  Every fiber in her body knew him.

  Her plump breasts were full.

  The brown pebbled tips rounded and swollen…

  An ache began to spread and pulsate between her thighs.

  All parts of her longed for his taste.

  She shivered uncontrollably.

  The breadth between their bodies was scant.

  If she just moved, ever so slightly, she breathed, there’d be no turning back.

  Their fiery chemistry would flare out of control, and together, they’d confront the raging monster that was them. But, what would occur upon its unleashing?

  “Don’t be afraid of this.” Drawing closer to her, he hauled in a needy breath, and his voice was raspy at the same time. “Embrace it like you did before.”

  She nearly crumpled at their heat.

  It was too much.

  “I don’t give a damn about circumstances.” Eyes darkening, he bit back a violent curse, and his mood became stormier. “You are what I want.”

  She sagged against him weakly. “Braden---”

  “Don’t you know it’s useless to run away from me? There’s not enough distance in this world to hinder this fire between us.” As she trembled at his words, he grasped her waist, and her breathless whimper wasn’t lost upon him. A knowing light shone in his eyes at the needy response. “Surrender to it now.”

  “N-no,” she protested feebly, feeling drugged. “No.”

  Though she voiced the words, she didn’t deter him as he dropped to his knees.

  To her shame, her traitorous body writhed with eagerness.

  Hopelessly, she stared down at his kneeling form.

  His gaze was centered directly on her heat.

  Her scattered pants hastened.

  Sweet goodness, how could she not do him?

  “The Bella Spencer that I encountered in this house, hours ago, is a phony. But, I know the real woman, and she’s alive and responding to my touch.” A dangerous sensual light played in his eyes. “In my arms right now, it is you.”

  “No,” she argued back, as if crazed. “You’re wrong.”

  “Explain it to me then. Why are you shaking so badly and getting weak-kneed?” To prove his point, he pressed a gentle kiss on her quivering abdomen, and then pulled back. With satisfaction, he watched as her fast pants increased and held her steady under his strong hold. “This is all you, no matter how much you are afraid of it. Our closeness has always had the most damning effect on the both of us, hasn’t it? The ache starts slow and then builds to an uncontrollable, blinding fixation.” His raspy breathing quickened as he leaned forward and stopped short of her wet heat. As he drank in the sight of her wicked parts, he growled low in appreciation. “We can’t win against us. So, why even try to fight it?”

  Were they wise to embrace such a reckless claim?

  But, thinking was proving impossible.

  For he was intent on destroying her, she whimpered softly, as he clasped her butt cheeks. Parting his lips, blowing softly, he bathed the sensitive area with a steady stream of air. The warmness met her pussy, and on instinct, the seeping pleasurable wetness began building within.

  A second passed.

  Or was it five, six, or ten?

  He just stayed still.

  Blinded, lost, staring across the room, she saw nothing.

  But, felt everything.

  His point became clear.

  On her part, he wanted full surrender.

  Suddenly, he inched fo
rward and stole her next gasp.

  Muttering unintelligibly, he buried his lips amidst the fine curls.

  Then, slow, ever so erotically, in tiny sharp jabs, the tip of his tongue danced against her flesh. At once, the hot heat flourished through her system.

  A wild, crazy, and dangerous thrill rode inside of her.

  Helplessly, she released a series of soft desperate pants. “Oh…oh…oh…”

  His hard body quaked.

  Beneath his firm hold, she trembled violently.

  Together, they glimpsed an impending sexual culmination.

  “Please,” he rasped hoarsely. “Let me taste you.”

  A desperate and longing breath escaped her.

  He had yet to part her thin sweet lips below.

  The simmering hot wetness seethed within them.

  It needed his mouth, she mulled, falling further into the dark sexual state. Within those bounds, there were no rules. A wild hunger raged like a monster, beckoning for some type of release. When and if his tongue slipped inside, eating away at her, and teasing her pussy with such scorching, wicked, and delicious strokes, she’d come apart, no doubt. Already, her knees threatened to buckle from beneath her, and with each passing second, she was weakening more. Thinking, thinking, thinking---was it even a concept, considering the sexual euphoria that was overwhelmingly great? Befuddled and confused, breathing painfully fast, she stared down at his bent head.

  A feral delirium reared to the forefront.

  Weren’t they all that mattered?

  Their longing and what they felt…

  Taking in a shallow breath of air, she braced a shaky hand against his head. Finally, relenting, she buried it into his hair and relished at its softness. Weakening further, releasing a deep pent-up moan, she fought for control. But, the aching pleasure bolted against her restraints and demanded her claiming.

  Would it overtake her before she could halt it?