And yet…he wanted more time with her.
Furious at himself for the irrational thought, Jachin focused on his body and the pain that should have been rolling over him in waves.
He hadn’t thought it possible for him to heal such severe burns without an influx of human blood. Raising his arm, he flexed his fingers once more, and the scent of Ariel’s blood surrounded him as if he’d bathed in it.
Grinding his teeth in sexual frustration, he ran his hand across his stubbled jaw. Her blood’s inviting aroma floated around him, musky and alluring, evoking a sudden dreamlike memory of Ariel leaning over him, running her hand down the burns on his arm.
His groin tightened and his cock filled with blood. He ached for her with a ferocity that disturbed him. Closing his eyes briefly, he tried to rid the image of Ariel caring for his wounds from his thoughts.
When she’d asked him if he wanted anything to eat, it had taken all his willpower not to grab her around the waist and yank her into his lap, honor and duty be damned.
She’s mine.
Upbeat music began to play throughout the room, interrupting his lustful, possessive thoughts. He immediately tensed, preparing to get up.
His limbs refused to work at the sight of Ariel sliding across the wooden floor in front of the coffee table, singing into a wooden cooking spoon. She lip-synched the words from an old Pat Benatar song, her voice full of sass.
His entire body went rock-hard at the sight of her gorgeous bare legs peeking below the shirt she wore. Her thigh muscles flexed while she gyrated to the music, her back to him. As she sang the next line, she cast a gaze through her hair to see if she had his attention.
Undivided, he thought.
His pulse thundered and his groin throbbed. He was thoroughly captivated and jealous all at once. When his gaze drifted down Landon’s shirt, territorial resentment made him want to bellow. She should be wearing his shirt, bathed in his scent.
She turned and faced him, singing the title, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.”
At the sight of the bruise cresting her left cheek, dark, primal instincts knotted his stomach and seized his heart. His hands curled into tight fists as his thoughts and emotions tumbled from banked passion to full-on arousal to dominant protectiveness instantaneously.
The scent of sweet almonds wrapped invisible, sultry tendrils around him, grabbing his throat like a vise, taking his sexual hunger to a much higher, more fundamental craving.
When his gaze drifted past Ariel’s tight grip on the makeshift microphone to the trickle of blood sliding down her wrist, Jachin’s fangs exploded from his gums.
His iron-fisted control finally snapped.
Ariel opened her eyes, surprised to see an empty couch. She’d only been trying to evoke some kind of response from the man, even if it was laughter. Instead she’d run him off with her horrible singing.
The sensation of muscular arms encircling her waist from behind caused her to gasp and drop the “mike.” Her heart hammered as the spoon clattered on the wood floor.
Pinning her body against his hard, naked chest, Jachin ran his lips up her neck. His warm breath made her skin prickle. “I thought I’d dreamed you touching me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she denied in a whisper, shocked by the excitement that fluttered in her chest at his nearness and seductive tone.
Jachin lifted his healed hand from her waist and spread his fingers wide in front of her, palm down. “Why did you heal me, Ariel? You could’ve let me suffer for hours.”
Her heart tripped as she stared at his forearm and the back of his hand. Streaks of dried blood coated his arm. Faint handprint patterns were interspersed in the smeared red pattern.
She wasn’t ready to admit she’d willingly helped him. It was one thing to act goofy so he couldn’t ignore her but another thing entirely to admit she’d consciously healed the man who’d kidnapped her. Hell, she wasn’t even sure why she’d done it.
She shook her head. “I—I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
Jachin grabbed her hand and lifted her arm so she could see the fresh blood dripping down her wrist from her bandaged wound.
He knows. He wasn’t just guessing. She began to tremble all over.
Retaining his hold on her hand, Jachin turned her body around to face him. His expression held intensity and something else—something she’d never seen reflected in his steady gaze—that made her pulse skitter erratically.
Desire.
As she stared in mesmerized fascination, he lifted her arm and ran his tongue along the rivulet of blood, following it up her wrist. He closed his eyes and groaned as he turned her arm so he could reach her palm. Her belly fluttered at the warm sensation of his tongue on her skin, but she knew this wasn’t right, watching him taste her blood and the pleasure they both seemed to derive from it.
She clenched her fist and tried to pull her arm away. “My blood will poison you. Don’t.”
Jachin’s grip tightened on her fingers and his eyes snapped open, tormented and aroused. “It’s not enough to hurt me. Let me heal you.”
The fact he asked her permission instead of demanding it made her insides shudder in intimate response. She let out an unsteady breath and uncurled her fingers.
Jachin held her gaze as he pulled the bloodstained tissue apart, uncovering her wound. The blood-moistened paper fluttered to the floor and his warm fingers laced with hers. When he ran his tongue over the heel of her hand, making his way toward her cut, her breathing increased and her thighs began to tremble.
Ariel tried to get a grip on herself, to bring some reality back to this dreamlike scenario. She needed to focus on something real, something that reminded her how deadly this man could be. She zeroed in on the long scar that went down the side of his neck.
But instead of thinking about the violent life he’d lived—an aggressive, primal existence that had probably earned him that wound—she wondered if it were possible for her blood to heal this old wound, as well. Before he stopped her bleeding completely, she thought she’d try.
Pulling her hand from his hold, she started to lay her bloody wound across his scar, but Jachin grabbed her wrist. “No,” he said with a firm shake of his head.
Her gaze locked with his and she tried to understand why he’d stopped her. “I was able to heal your other wounds. At least let me try.”
He shook his head again and lifted her hand toward his mouth once more. His firm, wet tongue laved across her bloody palm, eliciting the most erotic sensations she’d ever experienced.
The warm pressure, the way he savored her, sent waves of heated tingling down her arm, straight to her breasts and shooting to her core. When her knees started to give way, Jachin caught her, his arm supporting her weight.
He never paused in his tender ministrations as he pulled her close, locking their bodies together. In his firm embrace, heart to heart, hip to hip, the smooth rub of his tongue took a more personal and seductive turn, devastating her senses.
Sharp pain radiated from her cut at the first swipe of his tongue, causing her to wince. Instead of backing off, Jachin flattened his tongue and pressed harder against her wound. The pleasure/pain felt so decadent she found herself sighing and her fingers curling against his cheek in an involuntary caress.
“It should begin to heal now,” he rasped right before he pulled her even closer and buried his nose against her neck. Ariel tilted her head back, accepting the heated slide of his tongue up her throat.
He had her so wrapped up, so aroused, she didn’t have time to think, to worry. She just experienced and felt…everything—his tight grip on her waist, the soft thickness of his hair as her fingers moved to slide through it, the exhilarating press of his hard erection against her.
When he lifted her in his arms, her whole world tilted off-kilter. Ariel met his hungry gaze, her breathing shallow. “Where are we going?”
“Shower,” he said as he started toward the stairs.
<
br /> His clipped one-word response told her just how on edge he was. “But I’ve already had one.”
Jachin leapt toward the second story. Her stomach pitched and she gasped, gripping his shoulders tight. She didn’t have time to adjust to the surreal sensation of flying through the air before he landed past the banister on the soft carpet upstairs.
“Not with me, you haven’t,” he ground out. He turned toward the bathroom, his fingers pressing her closer.
Ariel’s arms tightened around his neck at his sexy, dark tone. With his injuries healed, the strong, dominant Jachin was back.
Full force.
The thrilling zing that rippled down her body scared her more than a little. As soon as they walked into the bathroom, the bright lights turned on and water began to pound on the walk-in shower’s slate-gray tiled floor.
Ariel couldn’t help but smile in appreciation of Jachin’s telekinetic powers. While heat and steam began to fill the room, she toed off the thick, loose socks from her feet. Her belly fluttering, she let out a soft cry of surprise when Jachin stepped right into the shower and under the warm spray with her in his arms.
“What about our clothes?” she started to ask as her light blue shirt turned a darker hue under the water. Instead of answering, he kissed her throat, and all logical, rational thoughts evaporated, rising with the steam to the ceiling.
When he set her feet down on the floor and stared at her with his intense gaze, Ariel’s heart thumped as she threaded her fingers with his.
Blue, his eyes were a beautiful shade of steel-blue…so dark she’d mistaken them for black. Until now. Or maybe it was the first time she’d really looked at Jachin as a man instead of a vampire.
A man she wanted.
Gripping his fingers, she lifted his arm to let the shower water sluice over it in pounding, cleansing warmth. Water dripped from her partially wet hair onto his skin. She didn’t say a word while she ran her other hand down his arm, helping wash away the remnants of blood that still remained. As her palm slid over his skin, the muscles in his forearm contracted and relaxed.
Once she’d reached the end of his fingers, he grasped her wrists, encircling them with his fingers. “How did you get your cuffs off?”
Her gaze followed his and she saw he was staring at the cuffs she’d left in the corner of the shower. She smiled and pulled her wrists from his grip. Lifting her hands in front of him, she bent her thumbs along her palm and downward the same way she had to remove the cuffs. “I’m double-jointed. You have your talents and I have mine.”
Jachin grasped her wrists once more and pulled her arms away from her body.
“Being double-jointed has its benefits,” he said in a suggestive tone as his gaze raked over her nipples jutting against the wet shirt.
Ariel’s body ignited at his double entendre. While his gaze devoured her body, she slowly inspected his breathtaking physique, observing the long red scar on his waist and the remnants of the earlier deep claw wounds on his shoulder. Both had already started to fade considerably. His muscular chest and rock-hard stomach held her rapt attention until she felt his fingers on her chin. Her line of sight moved up his towering height until her gaze collided with his.
Jachin traced his fingers down her throat, then cupped the back of her neck. Her pulse thundered in her ears as he used his hold to pull her flush against his chest. His broad shoulders blocked the spray from hammering her face, while his arm wrapped around her waist, locking her against him.
He leaned close and paused when his lips were a half inch away from hers. Her stomach tumbled and she waited for him to cross the small distance between them. I love the way he looks at me, arousal and hunger meshing in his gaze.
When his lips covered hers, Ariel leaned into his powerful frame. Even though Jachin’s wide shoulders blocked the water, his hard body radiated a seductive heat that sent warmth all the way to her toes.
Wrapping her arms around his waist, she moaned against his lips and accepted the slow slide of his tongue exploring her mouth.
Ariel ran her tongue alongside his, teasing him. Jachin groaned and cupped her face with his hands. Slanting his mouth over hers, he thrust deeper and invaded her mouth with a primal passion, demanding an intense response.
He tasted of mint and an elusive erotic flavor that only made her crave more. Ariel gripped his thick biceps and responded to his faster pace, pressing her mouth harder against his with a desperation all her own. Her nipples were tender and sore, her breasts throbbed and tingled and her sex ached for release from the coiled sexual tension clawing within her.
Jachin gently kissed the bruise on her cheek before sliding his lips to her jaw, where he planted tender kisses along the edge. “You’re the most stubborn human. You constantly test my patience.” His husky tone sounded tortured as he traced his hands down her waist and palmed her rear through her wet shirt.
The water’s warm spray hit her face as she tilted her head back. Threading her fingers in his wet hair, she thrilled in his hot mouth worshiping her neck. “You’ve kidnapped me, thrown me out a window, tossed me in your trunk—twice—dangled me over the edge of the mountain, hauled me for miles up the mountainside and infuriated me beyond my limits,” she panted back.
The realization that she wanted him after everything he’d put her through, not to mention the fact she’d handled it all with finesse, fueled his desire. Jachin pushed her back against the cool tile wall.
“Your verve and tenacity astound me.” As he ran his lips along her neck, Jachin fought the urge to sink his fangs deep. His canines had fully extended in his arousal, demanding he take her blood.
The hunger clawed at him, relentless and raw. He closed his eyes, fighting the urge. Commanding his fangs to retreat, he muttered, his voice rough with need, “You’re more resilient than half the vampires I know.”
Her grip tightened on his shoulders as she let out a husky laugh. “Watch it or I’ll think that’s a complimen—”
It was a compliment, the deepest one he could pay her. Jachin couldn’t hold back any longer. Covering her lips with his, he thrust his tongue into the sweet recesses of her mouth at the same time he pressed his erection against her body.
His tight grip on her hips and the hard press of his body against her told Ariel how much he wanted her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and parried her tongue with his, thrilling in his aggressive, dominant kiss.
His hands slid lower. The rough grip of his fingers grasping her rear in a possessive hold made her throb for sexual fulfillment. When he pulled her hips upward slightly and ground his erection against her naked mound, she mentally cursed his jeans separating them. “Not close enough,” she whimpered against his mouth and tightened her hold around his neck, trying to press closer.
He growled low in his throat and slid his fingers under the hem of her wet shirt, massaging her bare flesh.
When he lifted her as if she weighed nothing, Ariel’s heart hammered in frantic thumps. She moaned an excited “Yes” against his mouth, kissing him deeply as she wrapped her legs around his hips and locked them together.
Jachin leaned her back against the tile at the same time he rammed his denim-covered cock against her throbbing folds. Ariel shivered and keened at the pleasurable friction the rough material caused.
“Let go, Ariel,” he said in a husky tone, moving his hips against her, his thrusts turning rougher, almost possessive. Ariel mewled her encouragement at the same time she came to the startling conclusion that taking a shower with one’s clothes on was one of the sexiest experiences she’d ever had. But then, she suspected that any sexual experience with this particular male would be mind-shattering.
Panting, she canted her hips, seeking release, but with each erotic press of his body against hers, her core began to ache for a fullness only he could fulfill.
“Jachin,” she begged, laying her head back against the wall and gasping for breath. Tears formed in her eyes and she began to shake with the need to have
him inside her.
In answer, he pressed his hips fully against hers, literally pinning her against the cool wall. Instead of thrusting, he began to rock his erection along her sex with slow, intentional pressure. The constant pleasurable bombardment to her body’s sensitive nub, combined with the shower’s wet heat and the sensation of his muscular strength holding her up, was the hottest aphrodisiac.
“Jachin…” She dug her nails into his shoulders as her heart stuttered and slight tremors began deep inside her. His lips skimmed her neck, adding to the surreal sensuality of the moment.
“You’re irresistible,” he said right before two tiny sharp edges slid along her throat.
His fangs.
The sensation reminded her of the beast within him, residing just below the surface, barely in check. She should be frightened at the thought he might bite her at any second. Instead she was shocked that the knowledge only spiked her desire.
The danger, mixed with her trust in him, sent Ariel right over the edge. Rapid body-rocking waves of unparalleled ecstasy slammed through her core, taking her breath with their intensity. She didn’t feel the least bit inhibited as she rocked her hips and pressed her body even closer to Jachin. Every contraction deep inside her felt wicked and decadent and so incredibly sexy. She moaned and rode his erection until her limbs began to shake.
Jachin pressed his lips against her neck and palmed her rear, grinding his cock against her until she stopped moving.
Ariel clung to his hard, wet shoulders, her arms trembling as her heart rate began to slow.
Without a word, he lifted her away from the wall and stepped out of the shower.
“Jachin?” she asked when the water stopped hammering the shower floor. His only response was to slide a hand up her back and lock her body against his as he carried her to the bed.
She fell against the soft comforter at the same time his knee depressed the mattress between her thighs and his hands landed on either side of her head. His gaze searched her face, hungry and haunted, while cool droplets of water dripped from his hair onto her cheeks. As he lowered his head to hers, she speared her fingers in the wet mass and her heart ramped up once more.
Scions: Resurrection Page 12
