Her hands slid down to his waist and with unsteady fingers, she lifted the back of his shirt, pushing up the leather, exposing the strong, fine lines of his back inch by delicious inch. Emboldened by his need for her touch, Autumn leaned forward and planted kisses on one side of his spine and then the other, feeling the muscles quiver beneath her lips, though Kade himself remained rigidly still, his vegetables forgotten.
She shifted her kisses to his spine. But when her tongue darted out to taste the ridge of bone, he jerked, arching away from her.
“Autumn.” The word came out on a strangled laugh.
Autumn grinned, delighted. “You’re ticklish. Put down the knife before you stab one of us.” But when she tried to kiss him again, he pulled out of the grip of her hands, turned and hauled her into his arms.
The look on his face was part humor, part surrender and all desire. With a groan, he covered her mouth in a kiss that exploded through her, sending chills of need tearing through her body.
The kiss was hard and urgent, his lips moving over hers with hot demand and something more. A desperation. In his kiss, she tasted the darkness of his self-imposed prison and the confusion that still swirled within him. He needed her, she realized, to lead him out of that darkness.
Love for him swelled until she could hardly breathe around it.
When his tongue slid into her mouth, she welcomed it, twining her arms around his neck and pressing herself against him, feeling the hard ridge of his arousal.
Excitement and need heated her blood, pooling dampness between her legs. This was what love was all about, she realized. This fierce tenderness combined with a desire so intense she thought it might tear her limb from limb. This need to give herself up to it…to him…in every way.
Kade’s big hands roamed her back, then slid down to her bottom where they gripped and kneaded. Desire spiraled out of control, spiking in a gasp as he rubbed her against his erection, telling her in no uncertain terms what he wanted.
Was she ready for this, ready finally to know a man in that way? To know Kade in that way?
Oh, yeah. More than ready.
Autumn gripped his face with her hands and drank of him as he devoured her, telling him silently of her love, her need. Comforting him even as she stole comfort in the knowledge he needed her. He wanted her.
She felt his hands on her braid, his fingers tugging it loose.
“I want your hair against my skin.” His tongue slid across her lower lip, then dove back into her mouth with a sound of pleasure. As the kiss grew more frantic, she felt his fingers slide against her scalp and shoulders as he unbraided her hair.
He pulled away and she groaned in protest until her passion-dazed eyes focused and she saw the look on his face. He watched her with an expression of such softness, such caring, she wondered if he, too, were falling in love. Tears stung her eyes at the sweet perfection of the thought.
With gentle hands, he lifted her unbound hair over her shoulders. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, the truth shining in his eyes.
For the first time in her life, she felt beautiful.
With excruciating deliberateness, he leaned forward, grazing his lips across her cheek, sending shivers of pure delight tingling through her body. Tenderly, he trailed kisses along her jaw, then down the sensitive skin of her neck. The shivers intensified a hundredfold, tightening her nipples, sending more damp heat to pool between her legs. She clung to his shoulders, tilting her head to the side, encouraging his gentle, exquisite attack. Need built inside her, pulsing and growing until it was alive in every vein, every muscle, demanding release. Here. Now.
With this man.
As his lips pressed against her neck, he pushed the blazer off her shoulders and let it slide to the floor. Then his fingers moved to the top button of her shirt.
Autumn kept her eyes closed, drowning in sensation, reveling in the feel of his lips pressed against her upper chest, moving downward with the release of each button of her shirt.
When he pushed the shirt off her shoulders, she opened her eyes to find him watching her with sharp desire. His hands cupped the pink lace of her bra, his thumbs sliding over her sensitive nipples, nearly buckling her knees.
He leaned forward until his lips brushed her mouth. “I want you, Autumn McGinn. I want to be inside you. I need to be inside you.” His mouth slid across her cheek to tug at the lobe of her ear. “If you don’t want that, tell me now. Before I go any further.”
She forced her arms, heavy with wanting, to grasp his face. Her fingers slid through his hair. “I want you, Kade. All of you. Inside me.”
He pulled back, searching her eyes with his brilliant blue gaze, as if not quite believing the truth of her words. Deep in his eyes, behind the hard alpha pride, she saw uncertainty. And wonder. As if he weren’t God’s gift to women, but a man all too used to rejection and denial.
“If you want me, let me see you,” he murmured. “All of you.”
Autumn felt heat rise up her body, flaming in her cheeks. She breathed in quick, shallow breaths, her pulse racing, but she felt powerful.
A slow smile pulled at her mouth as she reached behind her and unfastened her bra. She pulled it off and tossed it to the ground, standing before this amazing man, bared and proud, offering him…everything.
As her fingers groped for the button on her pants, Kade lifted his big hands to her breasts, sliding his palms across her ultra-sensitive nipples until she was gasping for air.
His hands clenched gently around the soft mounds as he stroked one nipple with his tongue, then the other. Need shot through her, doubling when he took the second breast wholly into his mouth. She arched against him, holding his dark head against her as she drank in the exquisite feel of him. When his damp tongue slid across the hard, sensitive tip, heat spiraled so deep, so low inside her, she wasn’t sure how anything could feel any better.
His mouth moved to her other breast, lavishing upon it the same exquisite attention until her hips were rocking against his chest, her fingers digging into his scalp. When he pulled back, the expression on his face was sheer triumph, his eyes burning with a fire hot enough to melt her where she stood.
With his gaze locked on hers, he slid her pants down over her hips and thighs, stopping only when he reached her knees where Larsen’s blood had soaked her jeans and dried, causing the fabric to stick.
Autumn sighed with pained disappointment. “I need a shower.”
Kade pried the fabric loose and pushed the pants down to her ankles where she stepped free of them.
Kade rose to his feet, his blue eyes smoky with desire, the violence she’d sensed in him when they’d first arrived channeled now into an entirely different passion. She felt his gaze like a tender caress as his fingertips grazed her face. “You are so beautiful,” he whispered again, his words aching with emotion.
Her hands splayed against his leather-covered chest. “So are you.”
With a daring she’d never before possessed, she reached between his legs and stroked the hard, thick ridge inside his pants. He closed his eyes and threw his head back, a groan of pure pleasure rising from deep in his throat. “Autumn…” He opened his eyes and pulled her hard against him, his kiss barely controlled.
The metal zipper of his jacket pressed against her abdomen, reminding her she was the only one un-clothed. She needed to feel the warmth of his skin beneath her fingertips. And she needed to feel not quite so exposed.
“You have too many clothes on,” she murmured against his mouth, then reached for the zipper of his jacket, but his hands snatched hers and gently pushed them away.
“I’ll do it.” He turned away from her and retreated to his bedroom.
Autumn followed and watched as, back turned to her, he shed his jacket, then pulled his polo shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze took in the sight of his muscular back, perfectly proportioned, with wide shoulders narrowing to a trim waist.
He glanced down at himself, then turned toward her, a rueful look on his face. “We’re both going to need showers.” Blood stained the skin of his abdomen, but did nothing to hide the hard muscles. Standing there, shirtless, covered with blood, he looked like a warrior of old returning from battle. Deadly, dangerous and very, very sexy.
The flash of devilish amusement in his eyes set the butterflies to flight in her stomach. “We’ll share one.”
The very thought made her legs tremble, but when he held out his hand to her, she hesitated less than a heartbeat before placing hers in his palm, giving him her heart, her body and her unquestioning trust.
He led her to the bathroom, turned on the shower, then pulled her into his arms, his eyes shining with desire and tenderness. She’d always felt too big, too clumsy and ungainly. But in Kade’s arms, pressed against his far larger frame, she felt feminine and perfect. Beneath his gentle touch she felt delicate and cherished.
Loved.
He leaned in and kissed her again, capturing her mouth, her emotions. Her very spirit. Desire exploded between them, sweeping her away. She wanted him.
Kade’s hands encircled her waist, then slid over her hips and behind, to cup her buttocks. His fingers dug gently into her soft cheeks, through the silk of her panties, making her gasp with the sheer excitement of his touch. Her breath quickened until she wondered if he would steal it altogether.
Everything about him excited her. The smell of his skin. The taste of his mouth. The tenderness and fire in his eyes. This was what lovemaking was supposed to be. Not just a joining of bodies, but of minds, of spirits.
Of hearts.
The fingers of one of his hands slid down to the bottom edge of her panties, then beneath the edge to stroke the flesh of her bottom. She felt his finger slide slowly, shockingly, between her legs until it brushed her most private and sensitive flesh. Wondrous sensation shot through her body, weakening her knees. She grabbed for his shoulders, holding on as he pushed her panties over her hips and down her legs until she stood naked and ready before him.
Then he stripped himself of his remaining clothes, freeing his engorged flesh to her curious eyes. He was huge. Of course he was. Everything about him was giant-sized. She knew, from a clinical aspect, he’d fit. If she was ready for him, he’d fit. But how?
She had no more time to worry the question. With a strength nothing short of miraculous, he swept her into his arms and ducked into the shower.
The warm spray pelted her body as he lowered her to her feet, letting her slide down his long length. The thickness of his arousal brushed her hip and abdomen, stoking her excitement. When her feet reached the floor, Kade turned her in his arms and kissed her beneath the spray, stealing all thoughts, all doubts, everything but her spiraling need for this man.
The water ran down their faces, blending with the heat of the kiss until she couldn’t breathe. With a laugh, Autumn pulled away, gasping for air. Kade’s answering grin was nothing short of evil as he turned her away from the water, pressed her back against him and covered her breasts with his hands.
“Let me wash you,” he said in her ear as his large hands stroked her breasts from beneath, then captured her tight nipples between strong fingers.
“Yes,” she said, though anticipation and nervousness warred within her. She’d never had a man’s hands on her body like this.
He released her to pick up the bar of soap, then slid his soapy hands over her shoulders with studied care. His hands traveled across her body, sliding over her breasts, her abdomen, then turning her in his arms to soap her back. His broad, muscular chest was too much temptation and she slid her fingers through the dark, springy hair. His low sound of approval drew her gaze to his and the heat in his eyes burned through her flesh, all the way to her soul.
The moment was so right, so perfect, tears sprang to her eyes. Kade saw, his expression softening as he cupped her face, his soapy thumbs stroking her cheek. When his head bent to capture her lips, the kiss was the most tender, most precious she’d ever imagined. A kiss filled with love and caring and need.
Finally he pulled back, reslathered his hands and knelt in front of her to wash Larsen’s blood off her legs. Autumn braced herself with his shoulders while his palms slid over her calves and knees, but when his hands slid higher, her fingers dug into his flesh.
His thumbs led the assault, sliding with perfect friction up her inner thighs, pressing and teasing, rising until they touched the very heart of her fire. As his thumbs played between her legs, his mouth covered her breast, sucking, making her arch against him as fire erupted in both places. She gasped as his fingers stroked her pulsing heat and dipped inside. Hot tremors wracked her body.
“Kade, I need…I need…”
As he released her, a sound of dismay escaped her throat. But he rose to stand before her, his eyes glittering with passion and tenderness.
“I want you.” His words set rhythmic spasms clutching inside her.
“Yes,” was all she said, was all she could get out, but it was enough.
Kade pulled her into his arms, pressing his hips to hers, his thick erection between them. He covered her mouth and the kiss was hard and wild, his tongue thrusting against hers, driving her beyond reason. She had no thoughts, no fears, only feeling. Need.
His hands grasped her waist. “Wrap your legs around me,” he murmured against her mouth, then lifted her until her eyes were at a level with his.
She complied without thought, desperate for release from the terrible pressure building inside her body.
Not until she felt the brush of that hard thickness at the juncture of her thighs, did she start to tense. But he was already sliding into her, already stretching her in a way that felt heavenly and right. She closed her eyes, lost to the exploding sensations until the pinch of pain made her gasp.
She felt Kade tense and prayed he hadn’t noticed she was a virgin. It would be too embarrassing and it no longer mattered. All that mattered was that they were joined.
If he’d noticed, he didn’t stop, but pulled partway out of her and thrust himself inside her again, this time without hurting her. Again and again, he moved inside her, harder, faster as her own need, her own desire built in a way she’d never imagined, in a way she’d never expected. It was like energy filling her, sweeping her up in a frenzy of lust and power.
Hands locked at the back of his neck, her head thrown back, she rode the incredible storm, each thrust of Kade’s hips driving her higher.
A sharp tingling began at her wrists where her arms pinned Kade’s hair to his shoulders. The discomfort barely registered through the haze of passion until her wrists started to burn. She snatched them away, grabbing his biceps.
Her eyes flew open and she froze.
Kade’s dark hair was standing straight up, whirling around his head, heedless of the shower spray that should be beating it down.
She stared at him, uncomprehending, her mind struggling free of the delicious sensations of the flesh. His hair looked just as Princess Ilaria’s had in that painting. Tarrys’s words ripped through her head.
It’s what happens when an Esri uses or acquires great power.
Terror ripped through her, freezing her lungs on a gasp.
This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening.
But at her sound, Kade’s eyes snapped open. His eyes, so blue before, now glowed like blue light bulbs.
“No.” Fear speared through her. Her head spun as the truth assailed her.
Kade Smith wasn’t Sitheen. He wasn’t human.
The man who even now thrust inside her, stealing her virginity…the man who’d stolen her heart…was Esri.
Chapter 10
She was a virgin!
Kaderil thrust into Autumn’s tight sheath over and over, trapped in the power, as the enormity of his error crashed over him. He’d released her virgin’s power, revealing himself as Esri.
“Stop!” The terror in Autumn’s eyes speared through his heart,
shredding the ecstasy that had enveloped him just moments before, destroying something deep inside him.
“I can’t.” He held her in his arms beneath the hot spray of the shower, her legs locked around his waist, his hips rocking against hers in a hard, carnal rhythm. His muscles bulged as he struggled to stop, strove to at least slow down, but all control had been wrenched from his grasp the moment he’d spilled her virgin’s blood.
Water ran in rivulets down Autumn’s face, her vibrant hair a dark cloak around her shoulders, her expression desperate as she beat at his arms with her fists. He knew the look of fear, had forced it from others a million times, but seeing it on Autumn’s face was more than he could bear.
“Kade, stop!”
“I…can’t. The magic…won’t let me.” His words came out low and hoarse, a strangled gasp in the throes of what had been the most wonderful event of his life and was quickly becoming the most horrible. The unnatural energy heated his blood, flowing through his body like stinging sparks of fire, making him feel stronger. Filling him with power as the tight heat of her body drove him toward ecstasy.
“Kade.” Tears slid down her face, slaying him with her misery.
The uncontrolled passion that drove their mating was too much for her untried body. Her fear only made it worse.
“Autumn, close your eyes.”
But she continued to stare at him, terror whirling in those gray depths.
“Close your eyes!”
She turned her head, dipping her face until he couldn’t tell if her eyes were closed or not.
It was all he could do to talk, all he could do to think, so great was his hunger for her body and the completion to come. “I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t stop. The magic won’t release us until the act is complete. Until I’ve climaxed.”
“Then do it,” she said between clenched teeth.
Her desperation twisted inside him. “Come with me.”
“No.” Her face jerked up, her eyes flashing with hatred beneath her fear.
“Close your eyes!”
Dark Deceiver Page 12
