Hidden Embers

by Tessa Adams

  As she pulled him down to her for a kiss that went from sweet to wild to hotter than hell, she thanked God for giving her this beautiful man. For showing her a way to have him and be true to herself as well. It was more than she had ever guessed was possible.

  “Jasmine, baby, you’re killing me.”

  “I’m not doing anything,” she answered, even as she nipped at his full, gorgeous lips.

  “Fuck,” he whispered. It was a curse, a prayer, a statement of intent, and she was more than willing to go along with him for the ride.

  “Quinn,” she gasped, his name suddenly the only word she knew.

  He bucked against her, his cock growing harder still. Then he was kissing the corners of her mouth. She waited, lungs burning, body on the brink of an explosion, for him to continue.

  But suddenly he was the one moving slowly, his tongue tracing every curve of her lips before he nibbled his way across her cheek, down her chin to her throat. She arched, tilting her head to the side to give him better access, moaned as he licked at the pulse beating crazily at the hollow of her throat.

  Heat sizzled along her nerve endings, burst into flames that seared her from the inside out. She pulled him closer, so close that she could feel his heart beating wildly beneath the firm muscles of his chest. So close that the fine sheen of sweat coating his neck mingled with her own.

  Pushing against him, she rolled them over yet again, so that she was once more on top. She ran her hands over his pecs, toyed with his nipples through his T-shirt, reveled in the involuntary surge of his hips against her own. She lifted and lowered herself, riding the hard ridge of his erection as she would if there were no clothes between them.

  He groaned deep in his chest and went from teasing to dominating in an instant. Claiming her, he bit her lower lip, sucked it between his teeth and brushed against it with his tongue. He delved deeply into her mouth, so deeply that she couldn’t remember what it was like to breathe without him there.

  His tongue caressed hers, circling, playing, turning her inside out with each touch. He tasted so good—of limes and the desert and hot, burning passion—that she knew she’d crave the taste of him for the rest of her days.

  “Quinn,” she moaned again, sliding her hands up to the cool, wet silk of his hair. Tightening her fingers until she knew there was a pin-prick of pain. Tightening them more until he erupted with a growl.

  Then he was devouring her, his hands squeezing her ass while his denim-clad cock slid back and forth between her thighs. His mouth was everywhere, everywhere, moving down her throat to nudge aside the neckline of her tank top so he could trace his tongue over the swell of her breasts. Nuzzling the curve of her breast as his tongue swept over her lace-covered nipple with small, velvet strokes that had her burning hotter than ever.

  She was on fire, her body aching and heavy and desperate for the feel of him within her. His fingers dipped beneath the waistband of her pants, stroked her skin until all she could feel was him, all she could think of was him.

  Once she would have regretted this, would have hated letting him see her so vulnerable and needy. But none of that mattered now, nothing mattered but him and having him inside her now and for the rest of her life.

  Then Quinn’s teeth scraped against her nipple and she forgot her own name, let alone any reservations she once had about being with him. She had never wanted anything the way she wanted him, her entire body tightening until the need to come was a screaming agony within her.

  Her hands clutched at his hips and urged him closer. Urged him to take them all the way. His laugh, low and seductive, brushed against her painfully hard nipple right before he pulled it into his mouth and began to suck.

  She moaned, arched her back, pressed her breast more firmly against his mouth.

  “Take me,” she murmured, as he skimmed light hands up her arms, over her back. She was adrift, all of her concentration focused on this man and his carefully controlled caresses. “Please take me.”

  The words were out before she could stop them, a plea she hadn’t known she was going to utter.

  “I will,” he answered, sliding his lips along her throat, and she didn’t know if she should be relieved or disappointed at his easy acceptance of the physical meaning behind her words.

  Then her gaze met his and she knew he hadn’t taken anything lightly. His eyes glowed electric green, and they were filled with so much love and desire and possessiveness that she felt her own fill with tears.

  This is what it is like to be loved, she thought, as he licked his way down her neck and shoulder.

  This is what it is like to be wanted, she realized, as he nipped at her breasts and arms.

  Then suddenly, he picked her up, shifted her so that her back was against his chest, and walked her slowly across the room. “What are you—”

  “Trust me,” he said, his mouth hot against the curve where her shoulder met her neck.

  “I do.” She was exactly where she wanted to be—in Quinn’s hands, and she wasn’t ever going to take that for granted.

  Before she knew what was happening, Quinn positioned them in front of the mirror. She waited for the nervousness to come, but felt only need. For her lover. For her mate. She was in Quinn’s hands and she knew he would never hurt her.

  “What do you see?” he murmured, as he slipped her shirt over her head, then did the same to his own. His hands went to her breasts, cupped them from behind, and his thumbs played gently over her nipples.

  “I see you,” she answered, and it was no less than the truth. Here in the dim light of his bedroom, she did see him—all of him. The strong, powerful body. The wary eyes. The gentle heart that beat beneath the rough, domineering exterior. She saw the man who would walk through hell to keep her safe and who would expect her to do the same for him. It was more than she had ever dreamed possible.

  “You are so unbelievably beautiful,” he whispered into her ear. “I can’t believe how beautiful you are.”

  She tried to turn, wanting to wrap her arms around him, but he held her fast, one large hand splaying across her pelvis to lock her in place.

  “I want you to watch me take you,” he murmured. “I want you to see everything I do to you as you feel it. I want you to watch as my hands and lips and body take yours.”

  Heat spiraled through her, had her pushing her back more firmly against his chest. His muscles rippled at the strong contact, his cock growing even harder and longer against her back. She reached behind her, cupped his ass through his sodden jeans and held him tightly against her. She needed to feel him, to anchor herself in the press of him against her—otherwise she would simply spin away, her body and heart and soul no longer hers to control.

  Nothing in her whole life had ever felt as good as Quinn did at that moment. The feel of his body behind her, the touch of his hands as they glanced over her body again and again. She grew wetter, hotter, lust building with each touch of his fingertips.

  She moaned, her hands clenching on his ass as she demanded more from him. But he merely laughed. “Don’t be so impatient, sweetheart,” he murmured against her ear, as he slowly slipped her wet pants down her legs. “We’ll get there eventually.”

  “I need you now!” It was a whimper, a plea for mercy.

  But Quinn had no mercy, and as she watched his eyes darken to forest green, she knew she was in for it. Today, this moment, Quinn would be satisfied with nothing but everything she had to give.

  He groaned, his breath coming in hot pants against her cheek for long seconds before he pulled away to yank off his own clothes. “I need to make you crazy, need to hear you scream my name as you come. I came too close to losing you. I need to know that you’re safe and healthy and here with me. Forever.”

  Her legs trembled, but she locked her knees in place, determined to give Quinn everything he asked.

  He caught her eyes in the mirror and for endless seconds there was nothing else—just that one hot, elemental connection. For a moment she wanted
to jerk away, wanted to close her eyes. It was too personal, everything she felt laid open to him in one blinding instant. But his eyes held her, trapped her, made her spellbound, and all she could see was him. All she wanted was him—and the life they could build together.

  Then he was moving, his hard fingers cupping her aching breast. She jerked, arched into the sensation, melting as his fingertips swirled around and around her nipple, each circle bringing him closer to the aching bud, though he never touched it.

  It was a double shot of sensation, to watch and feel those long, elegant hands touching her. Heat, rapid and all-consuming, built in her, raced down her nerve endings into every part of her body.

  “You have the most beautiful breasts,” he said softly, as he raised his left hand and cupped her other breast. “Look how pretty they are, Jasmine.”

  “Quinn.” It was a protest, one he had no trouble ignoring.

  “Your skin is such a gorgeous shade of ivory, with just the barest touch of rose. And so soft—you’re so incredibly soft here, like the most expensive silk. And these—”

  Finally, his hand glanced across her nipples and she moaned, arching into the contact, every cell in her body focused on that one brief touch.

  “These are incredible. Sweet, responsive—” Again he ran a finger across her nipple; again she arched against the contact, seeking more. “And so damn sexy I could spend my life right here, loving them. Can I do that, Jasmine?” His breath was hot against her cheek, his words even hotter. “Can I suck these gorgeous nipples for hours? Can I slide my cock between your breasts and into that hot little mouth of yours? Can I come in your mouth, on your breasts? On your stomach? In that hot little ass of yours?”

  “Quinn!”

  His breathing was coming heavier, his big body shuddering against hers as his words wound their way around them both, chaining them more tightly together. “Can I, Jasmine? I need to be in every part of you, need to know that I’ve marked you, branded you. Claimed this hot little body of yours until all you feel is me.”

  His fingers tugged on her nipples and she screamed as fire whipped through her. “Until all you know is me. You’re mine and I’m never giving you up.”

  “Yes,” she gasped, her head thrashing back and forth against his chest as she tried to get closer to him. She wanted to take him every way she could, needed him in every part of her.

  He leaned down, bit her neck, and she whimpered, her body going into sensory overload. But he didn’t give her time to process her feelings. Instead, he kept moving, his tongue and lips and teeth trailing hot kisses over her shoulders and upper back even as his fingers continued to squeeze and flick and rub against her sensitized nipples.

  It was too much, the heat rushing through her body. The lust clenching at her womb. Her eyes drifted closed as she savored everything Quinn could do to her body with such little effort.

  “Look at me!” he barked, and her eyes flew open, electricity sizzling along her nerve endings.

  He laughed at the heat in her eyes, sliding a hand down her stomach to her sex, shoving two long fingers roughly inside of her.

  She cried out, her body bucking wildly against his as need—raw and overwhelming—stripped away everything but the desire to be underneath this man as he took her any and every way he wanted to.

  “I want everything you are, Jasmine.” He circled his thumb around her clit and hurtled her into an orgasm so intense her knees collapsed beneath her. He caught her, held her up with one powerful arm against her belly. “Everything you’ll ever be.”

  “You have it.” Once again, she met his eyes in the mirror, saw the heat and lust reflected in his.

  “And will you take me in exchange?” His teeth sank into her shoulder and she shuddered, her body erupting again. “Take everything I am? Everything I want to give you.”

  “Yes!”

  “There’s no more running now, Jasmine. No more backing away from me. From what’s between us.” His fingers twisted inside of her. “You’re my mate and this is forever.”

  “Yes!” she sobbed, riding his hands as need for him exploded within her. She couldn’t take the pleasure, the torture. It was too much. Watching him and hearing him and feeling him—she couldn’t think, couldn’t catch her breath, couldn’t do anything but experience.

  Ripping herself out of his arms, she turned and sank to her knees in front of him. “Jasmine!” Quinn’s voice was low, warning, but she paid no attention. She couldn’t; all her concentration suddenly focused on the long, hard cock in front of her. She worked at his zipper frantically, yanking his pants down and off, then leaning forward until she could stroke her tongue up and around his huge length.

  Quinn’s breath slammed out of him, his hands tangling in Jasmine’s hair of their own volition. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go, wasn’t how he’d planned it. But it felt so good, so fucking good, as she ran her tongue over his testicles before taking them into her mouth and sucking gently.

  “Fuck, Jasmine.” His hands tightened in her hair and he tried to pull her away, but she wrapped her arms around his upper thighs and hung on. Then he couldn’t fight anymore, didn’t want to fight, as the most incredible pleasure of his life slammed through him.

  He glanced into the mirror and nearly came at his first sight of Jasmine’s naked back. It was incredible, intense, more arousing than he thought possible to watch her from the back and the front as she took him.

  When she finally pulled back, giving his balls one last kiss, he didn’t know whether to give thanks or howl in disappointment. But she wasn’t done—not by a long shot. Now her hot, gorgeous mouth was swallowing him whole.

  Fuck, he was going to lose it, his cum boiling up inside of him as his mate claimed him as surely as he was claiming her. His control was in shreds, his body completely in her thrall, and he didn’t care. He was hers to do with as she wished.

  His teeth clenched, his jaw locked as the moist, sexy heat of her mouth drew him in deep. Her tongue ran in circles around his throbbing cock—up and down and around until he was clinging to control by his fingertips.

  He looked down, watched as she slid him back and forth between those cherry-red lips of hers. Her eyes were closed, her long, golden lashes resting on her cheeks as she tucked the head of his cock against the roof of her mouth and slid him down her throat.

  “Look at me!” His voice was low, guttural, more animal than human. But she understood what he was saying and those beautiful purple eyes flew open. He stared into their violet depths as she took him—as he fucked her mouth and she fucked him up—and wondered if he would ever be the same.

  Then the pleasure exploded through him, sweeping up from his balls to the base of his cock, taking him by surprise as she sucked a little harder, her tongue wiggling over the sensitive spot on the underside of his cock.

  “Fuck!” It was a groan, a plea, a prayer, but his mate had no mercy in her soul. She took him deeper, her hands clenching on his ass as she worked her throat convulsively.

  And then he was coming, spurting inside of her, his cum jetting furiously into her mouth. She took it all, swallowed it down, consumed him and left him so damned shaky he nearly fell on her.

  And still he burned.

  Pulling her up by the hair, he spun her around, shoved her—stomach down—onto the bed. She moved to her knees, wiggling that sweet ass of hers, and it was as if his orgasm of a moment before had never happened.

  With a growl, he launched himself at her, slamming himself into her hot pussy again and again. She screamed, pushed back against him. Her fingers tangled in the pillows, her head thrashed from side to side and her vaginal muscles gripped him in fits and spasms that had him seeing stars.

  “Jasmine!” He called her name as the orgasm rose sharply in him. He wanted her with him, needed her with him with an intensity that was overwhelming.

  And then she was screaming his name, her pussy clenching around him as her climax hit, the waves milking him despite his best efforts
to hold on.

  With a cry—of thanks, of need, of bone-wrenching fear—he came, emptying himself inside of her. Giving her everything he had in one bone-crushing, mind-numbing, soul-searing orgasm.

  When it was done, when he could finally move without landing on his ass, he picked Jasmine up and carried her into the bathroom. He set her on the edge of the tub, then started the bathwater for her.

  “I’m sorry. I wasn’t planning on being that rough.”

  She wrapped her arms around his legs, rested her head on his stomach. “I’m not. I love it when you’re like that.”

  “Yeah, but you just got out of the clinic—”

  “Which I could have left yesterday, if my mate wasn’t so overly protective.”

  “You nearly died,” he growled, tilting her head up so that she had to look at him.

  “But I didn’t, thanks to you. And I was more than ready to begin our life together with a bang.” She grinned at her deliberately bad pun.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, the urge to know what she was thinking suddenly overwhelming. “A few days ago you stood here and told me you’d never be my mate.”

  “I was wrong.”

  “Yes, you were.” He ignored her eye roll. “But I need to know what changed your mind. I need to make sure that you’re not just here out of—” He broke off, unable to even say the word.

  “Out of gratitude?” she asked archly.

  He nodded.

  “Oh, Quinn, how a man like you could be so insecure, I have no idea.” She pulled him down next to her so that they were almost on eye level. “I’m here because there is nowhere else in the whole world that I would rather be—and no one I would rather be with. I fought against caring about you, against loving you, not because there’s anything wrong with you but because I knew there was something wrong with me.”

  She paused, tried to look away but he wouldn’t let her. “There’s nothing wrong with you,” he said.

  “Let’s see if you say that after living with me for a couple of weeks. I’m grumpy, mean-tempered, and often suspicious as hell. My family life wasn’t the best—I told you that—and I’ve spent years running from my past. I didn’t want to love you because I was afraid I would cave to your domination like my mother did to my father, like I did to him.”