Desire

by P. T. Michelle

  The second the words hanging in the air dissipate, I open my mouth to scream Ethan’s name, but the smooth water starts to ripple, making me pause. When Ethan’s dark head breaks the surface, tears streak down my cheeks.

  I quickly brush them away and bend to unzip his bag. Grabbing the towel sitting on top of the clothes, I straighten to see Ethan climbing up the embankment, his raven wings growing larger with each step he takes.

  “Nara.” He stands next to me, dripping frigid water into the snow under his feet.

  I’m so upset, I refuse to look at him or his gorgeous wings while I rub the towel in brisk strokes across his hard chest. “That has to be the most reckless, stupidest thing you’ve ever done.”

  “Nara,” he repeats in a calming tone, but I don’t want to hear any excuses. I just want him dry and warm. I run the towel over his shoulders, then along the side of his neck.

  Ethan tosses the mistletoe into the snow beside his bag, then captures my wrists to stop my frantic movements. “Look at me.”

  His voice is firm, commanding. The fact that his hands aren’t blocks of ice eases some of my panic. I shift my attention to his blue one.

  “Come with me,” he says, taking a step back toward the water.

  My eyes widen in panic. “I can’t go in there. I will turn into a human popsicle.”

  “Trust me, Sunshine.” At the same time Ethan grips my hand, his raven wings unfurl fully behind him in an impressive, breathtaking spread.

  I stare wide-eyed at their strength and beauty. When he’d shown them to me before, we’d been in my small bedroom, so he hadn’t been able to spread them as wide. The sun reflects off the streaks of iridescent purples, blues, and greens veining along the midnight black feathers, only adding to their mystical appearance.

  Tugging the towel from my tight hold, Ethan releases me to quickly dry his hair, chest, and arms. I can’t help but watch his muscles and abs flex with his quick movements. Once he drops the towel on his bag, he reaches for the zipper on my jacket. My heart speeds up as he slides it down. When the zipper pulls free of the hook, I finally manage to breathe out, “I can’t, Ethan. I won’t survive that.”

  “You can,” he simply states, stepping close to tug my coat off. When my coat joins the towel on top of his bag, he laces his fingers with mine, the desire swirling in his deep blue eyes pulling me in. “I want to share this with you, Nara. Please let me.”

  Even though I’m shivering against the cold, the look of assured certainty on his face warms me from the inside out. I bite my lip and start to slide off my left boot. Once my foot’s free, Ethan’s hands encircle my waist and he effortlessly lifts me toward him.

  The moment my legs settle around his waist, I kick off the other boot, then gasp at the jarring cold of his wet jeans seeping into mine. Darkness suddenly surrounds my back and lifts my thighs. A second later I’m settled against him once more—minus the cold dampness.

  His wings move closer, folding fully around my back and encircling my legs and feet in a layer of soft warmth.

  I glance up at the blue sky and see puffs of clouds above us where his wings haven’t completely closed yet. Matching Ethan’s confident smile, I wrap my arms around his neck. “Show me something new.” I lean close to kiss his jaw, but Ethan turns his head and presses his lips to mine instead. I sigh against his mouth as his fingers massage my skin before his arms gather me even closer and the silky darkness encloses around us.

  I feel us moving, but I’m distracted by Ethan’s heady kiss and lost in his masculine, earthy smell. This kind of magical connection is like a double whammy to my senses, heightening the experience of loving him.

  The bubbly, muffled sound of water moving all around me feels strange. Goose bumps raise on my arms, and I break our kiss for a second to reach out and push against his wing. The slight gurgle of the water’s movement and buoying pressure moving away then rushing back against his wing and my palm makes me gasp.

  “Amazing,” I whisper in awe. I sense the sharp bite of the cold water around us; its sterile smell is in the air, but I don’t feel its chilling effect. Ethan kisses the line of my jaw, sensuously making his way back to my mouth, building fiery warmth inside me.

  Excitement overrides my apprehension, and I let Ethan’s lips claim mine; all I feel is the strength of his arms around me, the mesmerizing drug of his kisses devastating my senses, and the erotic sensation of his strong wings cocooning inward, sliding along my butt and thighs, cupping me tighter against him. The combination is intoxicating. I moan against his mouth and tighten my grip on his neck, trying to get closer.

  Silky, strong feathers begin to slide and tuck themselves even tighter along my calves. Caressing the muscles, they wind their way down to the bottom of my bare feet. I whimper my delight and curl my toes to capture some of the soft vanes, holding them captive. Ethan’s grip on me constricts and his groan of desire rumbles through his chest before he deepens our kiss, his tongue entangling with mine, amping our intimacy.

  I lose all sense of place and time during our underwater heavy kissing session, but when it starts getting harder to breathe, Ethan breaks our passionate kiss. Once we start to move again, he presses less intense kisses to my chin, my lips, my nose, my cheekbones and then to my forehead, worshiping every part of my face.

  As daylight slowly splinters through and breathing becomes easier, I tuck my face in the warm, secure place between his shoulder and his jaw and quietly blink back my tears of amazement. “Thank you for not letting me be too chicken to dive in; that was an indescribably beautiful experience. One I’ll never forget.”

  He clasps my waist in a firm grip, and as his wings start to separate above us, he presses his jaw against mine, locking me to him, his voice raw with emotion. “Thank you for trusting me enough to try. You have no idea how much that means to me.”

  When I lift my head, he brushes a lone tear off my cheek with his thumb, a smug look on his face. “Moved you, huh?”

  I nod, then give him an impish smile. “You know you’re going to have to do that again, don’t you?”

  “I think I’ve created a monster,” he says on a laugh, stepping up onto the embankment. His jeans are dripping once more, but every other part of him is bone dry, just like me. While he effortlessly holds me above the snow while I slide my feet into my boots, I’m even more in awe of his strength. We’ve been in enough dangerous situations in the past—adrenaline pumping, tension running high—that it would’ve been so easy for him to hurt me by accident, but he never has.

  Feet firmly planted on the ground, I shrug into my coat, then throw him the towel so he can sop up the wetness from his jeans.

  After he’s mostly dry, I bend to retrieve the mistletoe while he grabs his bag and heads over to open his back door, sliding into his backseat to change into dry clothes.

  I make my way to his open back door, my heart racing a little while I inspect the bundle of greenery sporting red berries. “Ethan?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Do we need the berries for the mistletoe to be effective? I’m worried about Houdini. Most things like this are poisonous to pets.”

  He leans toward the opening, his dark eyebrows raised. “You expect him to jump all the way to the top of the doorway to get to it?”

  I snort. “No, but as it dries out, the berries could loosen and fall. That’s my worry.”

  “Break off a small piece and pluck out the berries.”

  I snap off a twig, then set the bigger bundle on top of his car next to his damp towel. “Now what?” I say, holding the sprig on the roof while I bend down to see his face.

  Ethan quickly leans over and kisses me, then glances to the roof, grinning up at the bit of mistletoe he knows I’m inadvertently holding over his head. “Nope, still works.”

  I roll my eyes, but smile. Shrugging out of my jacket, I toss it in the front seat so the bulk won’t hinder me while I lean on the car’s roof to pull out every single berry I can find. I’m almost done, when
Ethan says, “Hey, can you hand me that towel?”

  Swiping the berries off his roof into the snow, I absently lower the towel for him to grab, while I examine the bundle of greenery for any berries I might’ve missed.

  “Thanks.” He tugs and the towel disappears from my fingers. I brace myself against the cold air biting at my bare cheeks and fingers and spin the mistletoe around in my palms one last time. When the cool air blows up my shirt, I release the shiver I’d been holding back. A couple seconds later a sudden warmth flows along my belly, quickly chasing the chill away. I slow my movements, then pause at the sensation of the warmth moving down my belly button to the top of my jeans. “Ethan?”

  “Come here. I want to show you something.”

  As soon as I bend down to see what he wants, he clasps my wrist and pulls me across his lap.

  Giggling, I quickly flip over onto my back and try to sit up, but he presses his hand to my stomach. Spreading his fingers wide to hold me in place, he slides my boots off into the snow outside the car. “One of these days I’ll get to wake up with you in my arms.” His husky tone glides across my skin like a tender caress as his deep blue gaze skims along my jean-clad legs.

  Clasping my ankle, he lifts my bare foot up and traces his thumb down the center from my toes to my heel. “But for now…there’s no water, no wings. Just you, and me, and a very cozy backseat.” He turns my foot and my pulse skips as he presses a tender kiss just under my toes, then another on the ball of my foot, and yet another, longer lingering kiss along my arch before raising a dark eyebrow. “Care to take it for a spin?”

  He’s wearing dry jeans, but hasn’t put his shirt on yet, and the sight of his gorgeous body and feel of his muscular thighs underneath me, coupled with his sensual suggestion, melts my insides. I lift his hand from my belly and press light kisses from the top of his palm to the bottom, then finish with a slow answering kiss on the TTTWFO tattoo along his wrist.

  Before I can say a word, Ethan’s fingers curl around the back of my neck. One second I’m on my back and the next I’m upright in his lap.

  I don’t remember moving—his reflexes are that quick—but Ethan’s mouth pressing against mine in a deep, soul-searching kiss, sets off a flurry of electrical surges flowing through me so fast and furious I’m left breathless by their fierce intensity.

  Just as I move my hand to his jaw, something makes a loud squawk, drawing our attention.

  Patch is standing just outside the open door on the toe of my boot. Tilting his head back, he swallows a red berry, then he spreads his wings slightly and begins to sway back and forth. All the berries I plucked from the mistletoe are gone. “What?” I ask the bird, laughing. A raven eating the berries doesn’t worry me; they can eat just about anything.

  He bobs his head up and down, making several gronking sounds. I shake my head. “It’s not my fault you gobbled them down so quickly. There might be some more under my boot.” I snicker. “But you’ll have to move it to find out.”

  When the raven lets out a loud raaaaack, Ethan looks at me, his brows pulled together. “You actually understand him?”

  I nod, a bit surprised. “Yeah, I do. I get the gist of what he wants. He’s very direct.” I gesture to the bird. “Don’t you?”

  Ethan slowly shakes his head. “Every other animal I understand, but it’s like Patch is a blank slate. I might be able to get him to understand me when I really concentrate, but I don’t hear or sense exactly what he wants like I do other animals.”

  Patch had been plucking at the boot’s shoestring while we spoke, but so far it wasn’t moving. Turning to us, he flaps his wings hard and squawks long and loud.

  “Go to the top of the oak and gorge yourself.” Ethan grunts, then slams the door shut, cutting off Patch’s sounds of agitation.

  I laugh and pat his jaw. “Did you actually understand him that time?”

  His hands flex on my hips, his thumbs sliding under my shirt to trail along my skin just above my jeans. “Not a bit, but he’s taking up what little time we have together.”

  My brow furrows. “I’m kind of surprised you can’t understand him.”

  “You’re the only one I care about connecting with, Sunshine,” Ethan says between kisses as he shifts my thigh over his until I’m straddling his lap.

  His double meaning makes me tingle all over. I settle against him and smile. “You were in the process of showing me the benefits of backseat love over Corvus submarining.”

  “Submarining, huh?” Chuckling, Ethan shifts forward and pulls me flush against his hardness. Before I can reply, he quickly captures my bottom lip between his teeth, but when he starts to slowly slide my lip free, he pulls back and clasps my jaw. “I taste blood.” Running his thumb along my lip, he turns it down. “God, Nara. It looks like ground hamburger. Did I do that?”

  “No.” I shrug and glance away. “I was worried about you while you were underwater.”

  He palms my cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry you.”

  I meet his gaze, folding my hand over his. “I know it’s the Corvus making you so reckless.”

  Ethan snorts. “As much as I’d like to lay every dangerous thing I do at the Corvus’ feet, I can’t, Nara. I’ve always done things I shouldn’t have. My father might’ve thought I was a saint compared to my stubborn brother...” He shakes his head. “But the difference is, I just didn’t flaunt it in his face like Samson did.” Cupping my face with both hands, he slides his thumbs along my cheekbones. “But one thing I’ll never, ever risk is you. I would never have attempted to take you in that water if I didn’t know for sure you’d be safe.”

  Leaning close, he presses a tender kiss to my lips. “I’ll always watch out for you.”

  “But who’s watching out for you?” I reply, loving how his kiss sends sparks shooting through me once more.

  He shrugs and unbuttons the top three buttons of my shirt, his mouth crooked in an ironic smile. “I’ve been responsible for me for a while now.”

  I shake my head and cup either side of his face like he did mine a second ago. “Not any more, Ethan. I’m watching out for you too. I care what happens to you, so for my sanity I want you and your Corvus to care about you for me. Got it?”

  Ethan swallows a couple of times, then blinks away sudden mist in his eyes. “I love you, Nara.”

  I’ve never seen him get choked up before. Not like this. He’s sharing a deeper layer of himself with me than he ever has before. My smile trembles with emotion. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all serious on you—”

  Ethan kisses me again, but this time he keeps the pressure in check, his kiss tender and searching. “Never stop loving me,” he murmurs against my lips.

  “No chance of that,” I say adamantly while he frees the rest of my buttons, then unsnaps my bra.

  As his hands move over my sensitive skin, suddenly clothes are too much constriction and we’re fast to rid ourselves of any barrier that keeps us apart, other than protection.

  After I settle into his lap, Ethan gently grasps my waist and pulls me fully against him. The feel of his warm, hard chest against my sensitized breasts and his strong arms encircling my back is so thrilling, my cheeks flush with the pure bliss of unrestrained togetherness. He kisses me deeply and intimately, his thumbs tracing sensually along the sides of my breasts. I moan against his mouth and he tugs me closer, upping the tide of passion and desire between us.

  Tracing his hands to my lower back, he grasps my hips and lifts me, then tilts my body forward slightly. I mewl softly against his mouth as he lowers me down over him.

  “So perfect,” he rasps, then whispers loving words against my throat.

  This position feels somehow more intimate, and his enticing encouragement gives me both the confidence and freedom to find a rhythm that allows our love to flow naturally. I gasp through the thrilling new sensations zipping through me and grow bolder. Gripping his broad shoulders tight, I let myself go, totally unrestrained.

  As we
move together, Ethan groans against my mouth. His fingers flex on my hips, then caress my butt before he pulls me tighter to him, his hold desperate and intense. My heart races and my love swells. Tingling heat lingers everywhere his fingers have tracked my skin.

  It’s like he’s leaving a roadmap of every place he’s touched. Does he feel it like I do? Am I imagining it? Are these amazing sensations just wishful thinking of a shared connection on my part? All I know is, when we come together like this, it feels stronger, deeper, making each time with Ethan an even more amazing and unique experience.

  The inexplicable completeness I feel when we physically connect defies description; the passion that flows between us goes way beyond the physical. If it were possible for two souls to merge, it feels like ours do at the most minute level.

  My breath rushes out as Ethan sears my neck with aggressive nips, followed by sweet, tender kisses. He takes me high, then makes me melt until my heart reaches a hummingbird’s pace.

  Once our breathing begins to slow, his warm hands fold around my back, his hold almost possessive as he kisses the swell of my breasts. When he suddenly slides his tongue between them, lapping up a trickle of sweat, the act is so primal and raw, a shiver of sheer delight ripples through me; all I can do is grip his shoulders with shaky hands and revel in the many emotions he makes me feel.

  “My Sunshine,” he says, reaching the hollow in my throat. She wrecks the hell out of me. Every damn time.

  Gasping, I tense. Ethan’s eyes snap to mine, worry creasing his brow. “What’s wrong? Did you hate that? I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist. You just taste so good.”

  I blink back tears and smile past my surprise. Did I really just hear his thoughts? When I don’t hear anything else, I shake my head. Must be my overactive imagination. “No, I didn’t hate it at all. You just surprised me.”

  A sinful smile tilts his lips. “Did you like that surprise?”

  I wrap my arms around his neck and lay my head on his shoulder. “If it’s with you, like this…I’ll never get tired of surprises.” Pressing a kiss to his neck, I inhale and enjoy his outdoorsy smell mixed with his masculine deodorant.