DarkInnocence

by Madeline Pryce

  “You’re probably right. Keep her safe, Dante, or I’ll tie you down, cut off your balls and shove them up your ass.” Two seconds later, Ella poofed away.

  Dante frowned. “Your sister has such a lovely disposition.”

  On the short, silent drive back to his house, I stared out the window and watched the landscape pass me by. Instead of stopping in the driveway, he pressed a button on his rearview mirror and the rumbling vibration of his garage door opening thrummed through me.

  Headlights cut through the darkness and illuminated a tidy workspace large enough for two cars. Workbenches topped with shelves and dark oak cabinets lined the walls. In neat little organized trays, there was everything from screws to copper wiring. Tools hung from corkboards. Tucked in the back corner was a stainless steel washer and dryer. It was so masculine and responsible, nothing like any of the guys I’d dated in my pre-kidnapping days.

  “I’ve got wards around my house, it’ll be safer if we park here,” he said.

  His words sank in—park in the garage so Mr. Restricted couldn’t tamper with Dante’s truck. Holy hell. I could have died tonight. My stalker, most likely a vampire, could have ripped open my car door and dragged me out if he’d wanted. I would have been defenseless.

  The garage door closed after Dante pulled in and shut off the motor. He killed the headlights and for an awful moment my helplessness joined with the pitch-black. I’m not sure how long I sat, utterly frozen, until Dante was there to pull open my door. The cab light flashed on and with it, the terror abated.

  I unclipped my seatbelt, grabbed my bag and accepted the hand he held out to help me down from the truck. Once inside his kitchen, Dante flipped on light after light, bringing his house to life. Hand in hand, I trailed behind him like a lost puppy.

  Dante guided me into his bedroom and did a quick scan for danger in the closet, under the bed and in the attached bathroom. Once he had the all clear, he shut the window, locked it and pulled the blinds closed.

  He turned to me. “Why don’t you get dressed and I’ll start dinner. You hungry?”

  My insides cramped but I didn’t think I could stomach any food. “Not really, but you should eat. Go ahead, I’ll be out in a minute.”

  “You look a little pale. Do you want me to stay with you?”

  I shook my head. I needed a minute to freak out in private. “I’ll be fine,” I lied.

  He pressed a quick kiss to my lips before exiting the room. The second the door shut and I was alone, the panic crept in. I tried to fight through it. My hands trembled when I unbuttoned my jacket and let it drop to the floor. From my pack, I pulled out wrinkled, mismatched clothes. My fault for packing without paying attention.

  I found a silky tank and slipped it over my head before settling on a lace thong to match. Then I collapsed. In the middle of Dante’s room, I sat with my bare legs pulled to my chest and my arms wrapped around my calves. Around me, the crumpled contents of my backpack littered the floor. It reminded me of my life, disheveled and all over the place.

  The overall sense of disorder worked its way inside and destroyed the carefully constructed mental filing system I’d created to cope with the lingering images. I closed my eyes. My mother’s pale, lifeless face appeared behind my lids. Her glazed white eyes faded and were replaced with my father’s. So much thick, dipping liquid.

  My thoughts spun, tighter and tighter, circling me, backing me into a suffocating corner. My chest was tight and my breaths were too shallow. Sweat slicked my skin and made the thin camisole stick to my flesh. Lizbeth drew her small pink tongue over her lips, lapping up my blood. Her moan reverberated through me.

  Somehow, and I didn’t remember retrieving it, the lid to the round pill bottle I clutched dug into my palm, the sting breaking me free from my thoughts. How many would I need to take to push away the rising anxiety? I struggled with the child safety cap.

  The bedroom door creaked open and I turned my head as Dante stalked silently into the room. He crouched in front of me and wiped away the tears I hadn’t realized I’d shed. Resigned, I handed him the bottle of magic medicine.

  “I couldn’t get it open,” I whispered.

  “Do you need one?” he asked gently. The tone of his voice said that even if I’d asked for five he wouldn’t have judged me.

  I turned my head so my cheek rested on my knee and sniffled. “Yes, but I don’t really want to take it. I’ve been drug free since you picked me up the other night and I threw up in your bathroom.”

  Dante sat next to me on the floor, close enough for our shoulders to touch. He brought the see-through orange bottle in front of his face. “Ativan,” he read. “What is it?”

  “You might know it as lorazepam. It’s an anti-anxiety medication that slows your central nervous system. If you take enough of them, it makes you numb.”

  He trailed a finger down my cheek. “Is that what you want? To be numb?”

  I shivered at his touch, at the tenor of his voice. “No.”

  When Dante touched me, I wanted to feel it. Needed to feel it.

  He flicked his gaze from my eyes to my mouth. I darted my tongue out to dampen my suddenly dry lips.

  “When I was sick—did you sing to me?”

  The faintest of blushes colored his cheeks. He grinned a little boy’s grin. “Didn’t think you’d remember that.”

  I laid my head on his sturdy shoulder and closed my eyes. “I don’t remember the words, only the sound of your voice.”

  My mother used to sing to me when I was little, songs I could still hear when I focused on the sound of her voice. Tears pricked the backs of my eyes.

  He cleared his throat. “My ma used to sing to me all the time. Bed time, bath time, dinner time. You name it, she sang it.”

  I lifted my lids and met his gaze. “Is she still alive?”

  Sadness filled his eyes. “Passed away a few years ago to cancer.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  He shrugged. “Happens every day. I miss her, but at least she’s not suffering anymore.”

  “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

  “Nope, just me. Ma always said she took one look at me and knew I’d be enough to make her happy.”

  Funny, I looked at him and thought something remarkably similar. Maybe he was all I needed too. I uncurled my arms from around my calves and pivoted to face him. I rose to my knees and leaned into him. His arms automatically came around me to pull me closer.

  “You’re an amazing man, do you know that?” I wound my hands around the back of his, closed the distance between us and traced my tongue over his lower lip.

  He made a low, rumbling sound in the back of his throat and opened to take full control. He cupped my butt with one hand and the back of my head with the other as I crawled into his lap. He fisted the back of my silky top in his hand, pulling the material tight against my breasts.

  Between my legs, his cock was a hard ridge I rocked against. My clit pulsed with pleasure and made me greedy for more. In one swift move, too graceful for a man his size, he laid me back on the floor and settled above me. Lizbeth’s face flashed before my eyes and I shoved the image away. Instead, I concentrated on the golden hue of Dante’s irises and the lust that shone in their depths.

  The breaths I’d had such a hard time finding came a little easier. He fitted himself between my spread legs, keeping only an inch of space between us. The heat of his body teased me and I rubbed my bare leg against the soft material of his jeans. I wanted him naked. I wanted him panting above me and whispering naughty things in my ear.

  “Tell me what you want, Hannah.”

  Everything. I wanted him to possess me, to dominate me. To make love to me until it was the only memory in my head.

  I lifted my head, closed the distance between us and met his lips. Under the skilled stroke of his tongue, my insecurities melted away. Right here, right now, no one else mattered.

  “I want you to make me come.”

  His lids lowere
d. “What else?”

  “I want your heat, your weight on top of me. I want to know what it feels like to have your cock in my mouth, to make you lose control.”

  At my words, he thrust his erection against my center and sent a wave of pure bliss spiraling through me. He ran a hand down the center of my chest, over my pounding heart and curved it along my hip.

  “I can do that.” He spread his palm and used one finger to trace a line down my thigh. When he reached my knee, I parted my legs farther and he reversed direction, stopping only when his knuckles brushed the crotch of my wet panties. I sucked in a breath.

  He mouth brushed my ear. “First, I’m going to make you come using my fingers.” He nipped the lobe. “Then I’ll use my mouth on your pussy until you scream.”

  My sex clenched. He laved my neck with his tongue and teeth, each new spot he found ratcheting up my desire for him. A little at a time, he lowered his body on top of mine. His weight pressed me into the soft carpet and I drew comfort from his warmth and his strength.

  Dante didn’t bother moving my panties aside, he simply pulled, and the lace ripped under his strength. The thud-thud of my heart galloped. He traced the lips of my sex with the tip of his finger and I wiggled beneath him, trying to get closer.

  “You’re so wet and warm,” he said softly. “I can smell how hot you are for me, how much you want me to sink inside you.”

  I moaned against him, his husky words a huge turn-on. The flesh between my legs was wet and dripping with arousal. He teased my pussy before slowly pushing inside. My muscles clenched around the invasion and I tilted my hips up for more.

  “So fucking tight.” He thrust in, twisted, drew out. When he pressed back inside, he added another finger to stretch me. He curved his digits and found my G-spot. On the outside, he rubbed his thumb over the sensitive pearl of my clit.

  The pressure, almost uncomfortable at first, turned to pleasure when he stroked and rubbed.

  “Oh my God,” I moaned and clutched the breadth of his shoulders.

  He lifted his torso off mine and pushed the hem of my tank top up my belly, over my breasts. Cool air tightened my nipples and I arched my back, begging him silently to play with the tight nubs. As if he read my mind, he flicked first one areola and then the other. Bolts of sensation travelled straight to my core and my inner muscles clamped around his fingers.

  A moan fought free, an involuntary reaction.

  “That’s it baby, let go for me,” he said and traced my puckered nipple with his tongue before sucking the peak into the heat of his mouth.

  I gripped his hair and held him against my breast.

  “Harder,” I moaned and came up off the floor when his teeth clamped around my flesh. “Yes, oh god, yes.”

  He did it again, and again, the sharp bites of pain bringing me into the first spasms of orgasm. My moans escalated, each coming louder than the last. It was going to happen. Shock warred with the burning pleasure and I tensed, willing the release to come. He curved his fingers inside me, flicking the tight bundle of nerves deep within. So close. So very close.

  I could see it. Almost touch it. I squirmed beneath the onslaught of impending pleasure and waited for a miracle. Then the thought hit me. Would Dante give up like every other guy I’d let try? Hell, what if my body wasn’t capable of reaching that final pinnacle? I mean, I knew I could orgasm. I’d masturbated before and gotten off, but nothing had ever felt this intense.

  I’d never wanted it this badly.

  Dante tongued my nipple, a sexy curling rasp and my gasp was so sharp it sucked in my stomach. I opened my eyes and met his aroused gaze.

  He curved his lips up in a soft, gentle smile while he slowly fucked me with his fingers. “You’re thinking too hard, babe. Relax and trust that I’ll see you through this. You feel me?”

  Oh, I felt him. He added a third finger and twisted. I nodded as quickly as I could, terrified he’d give up on me and prove he wasn’t the sex god I’d made him out to be. I wasn’t sure I could stand the disappointment.

  “I’m almost there,” I panted and hoped it wasn’t a lie. Maybe I should just fake it?

  Dante shook his head. “You get there and then you tense up and retreat into that head of yours. Stay here, with me.”

  I bit my lip and focused on the potent sexual hunger emanating from him. He used the pad of his thumb to press against my clit and my pulse sped. He massaged me inside, outside, up, down, all around. When he closed his teeth around the pebbled tip of my areola and tugged, something within pulsed. The pleasure gathered into a heat so intense it burned.

  I tensed, instinctually fought the almost paralyzing sensation.

  It wasn’t going to happen. I shook my head and panted through a sob of frustration. “This was a bad idea. I don’t think I can.”

  Dante withdrew his fingers and moved up my body until his chest pressed to mine and we were eye to eye. Disappointment washed over me and I turned my head away, ashamed and frustrated when he tried to catch my gaze with his. One more failure to add to my growing pile.

  He took my chin between his fingers and brought my face straight so I had no choice but to look at him.

  “Talk to me.” His voice was husky yet soft.

  I shrugged and wished I wasn’t naked. Where he touched my skin, his fingers were damp with my arousal. Proof that one of us had failed.

  “Hannah.” My name from his lips was a demand I couldn’t deny.

  “No one’s ever made me come before.”

  Knowledge filled his gaze as if knew exactly how to solve the problem.

  “You trust me?” he asked.

  I drew my lower lip between my teeth, bit down. Did I? He’d saved me, stood by me. He’d shown me nothing except patience.

  “I do,” I said after a long pause.

  “Good. Stop worrying about how long it takes and just let yourself feel. Focus on the sensation, let it build and when you reach the point where you tense up, trust that I’ll be there on the other side to catch you. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  Patient and calm, he slid his fingers between my thighs and into my swollen pussy. I gazed into his eyes, took his strength and gave myself over to him. In and out, he played my body better than I could have. With his free hand, he cupped my breast and teased my nipple with flicks and pinches that kept my thoughts at bay.

  “That’s it baby, you’re so wet and ready.”

  His voice, more than the words, kept me grounded through the approaching chaos. Pleasure climbed higher and higher, peaking as my climax stole over me. Instead of pulling back, I pushed. My entire body tensed, muscles clenching from the contractions deep within me. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t scream. I could do nothing but clamp down around his fingers and ride out the waves of electrifying sensation.

  I came back to earth with tears in my eyes and a warm, blissful lethargy weighing my limbs. Holy hell, he’d actually given me an orgasm.

  Voice husky and rough, eyes feral and hot with desire, he said, “Sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, you coming apart on my fingers like that, knowing I’m the first man to ever make you come. Now I’m going to do that with my mouth.”

  Dante lifted off me only long enough to pull my camisole over my head, and then attack his own shirt and throw it behind him. With a hand pressed to either side of my head, he bent. The muscles in his arms bulged and sent my heart racing. Lowering himself, he stopped a mere centimeter from pressing our bodies together. His stomach aligned with mine, close enough for the hair on his body to brush my sensitive flesh. His chest hovered over my aching breasts, but he didn’t close the distance. Heat and electricity mounted.

  He slanted his mouth over mine in a deep, desperate kiss. His teeth scraped my lip and forced my mouth open. He pressed his tongue inside, conquered. I could imagine the same rough, wet pressure against my clit, inside my pussy until I came once more.

  Dante skimmed a hand down my arm, and
then along the side of my breast in a barely there caress. He rounded his calloused fingers over my hip and delved them between my thighs. Sensitive from my orgasm, I gasped into his mouth. With teasing, deliberate strokes he played in the new arousal leaking from my slit.

  He ripped his mouth away from mine and drew a deep, ragged breath. Hunger danced in his eyes. Just beyond his need, I caught the glimmering sheen of his lion, separated from the man by a thin veil. I’d never experienced the otherness this close before. The press of it was a little scary. He pressed his thumb against my clit and drew a needy cry from my lips. Pleasure spiked, and my hips moved against his hand.

  Down the center of my body, he drew his mouth along my flesh in a single open-mouthed kiss. Cool air wafted over the moisture his tongue left, and the sensations of hot and cold rioted through me. He spread my thighs wide and settled himself at my core. He inhaled deeply, his eyes fluttering shut.

  “Delicious,” he purred.

  My breathing sped. The moment he drew the broad, flat surface of his tongue against my slit I panicked.

  “Wait, wait, wait.” I closed my eyes and threw my arm over my flaming face.

  I felt the heat of his gaze but didn’t dare look at him.

  “You want me to stop?”

  “I’m nervous all of a sudden. What if you don’t like the way I taste, or what if—”

  He crawled up my body and cupped my cheek until my lids fluttered open. “Darlin’, you taste better than you smell which, by the way, is fucking incredible. Has anyone ever gone down on you before?”

  I licked my lips and his gaze traced the movement. “No.”

  His eyes lit up with an excitement that eased my tension.

  “Give me thirty seconds. Keep your eyes open and watch. If you decide it doesn’t feel good or that you want me stop, just say the word.”

  The hard knot in the pit of my stomach eased the rest of the way. “Just like that and you’ll stop?”