Just like last night. He had sat out here on the balcony and listened to the small sounds from the woman in the next room.
She made him feel like a damn voyeur.
A strand of night jasmine, trailing down from the hanging pot over his head, swayed in the breeze. He reached up and moved it, taking care not to bruise the soft petals. The sweet, pungent fragrance mingled with the fresh cool scent of the river, spinning a sensual web around his senses. Hunger swirled to life as its exotic scent reminded him inexplicably of Kalesia.
Gabriel shifted, irritated. Son of a bitch. He didn’t need this again tonight. It was a wonder he wasn’t walking permanently hunched over. The damn woman was going to cripple him yet.
She’d be wild. Passion would make her bottle-green eyes luminous. His mouth went dry as he pictured her nails raking his back, her legs wrapped around his waist.
He shook his head to dispel the image.
Gabriel cursed long and fluently when the fantasy refused to go away. Hell, if she learned how much he craved her, the touch of her mouth and hands on his body, the feel of her moving under him, he’d be handing her a power over him he had never allowed anyone.
The front legs of the chair thudded to the wood floor. He got to his feet. In the hallway, Gabriel told himself that he had the strength to resist even as he came to a stop in front of Kalesia’s door, his hand on the knob. Turn around. Leave. Now. His hand clamped down on the doorknob as Gabriel argued with himself. If he left now, Kalesia need never know. All he had to do was return to his room.
The doorknob turned quietly under his grip.
He was just going to check on her, he justified silently. See if she was all right. She’d been upset earlier.
Gabriel padded silently across the room. He noticed with a sense of relief that the drapes weren’t drawn.
He was just going to make sure she was safe, he told himself again as he came to a halt beside her sleeping form.
Staring down at her, Gabriel admitted to himself that he’d lied. He wanted to do more than check on her. Much more. He wanted to crawl in bed beside her, hold her, shape her gently rounded form with his hands. He wanted to be inside her. So deep inside he could forget, even if only for an hour.
Forget the faces, forget the blood, forget the taste of pain.
Kalesia stirred, her lashes lifting. She blinked sleepily, then asked huskily, “What’s the matter?”
“I can’t sleep.” Gabriel closed his eyes in despair. It wasn’t what he wanted to say.
Chapter Seven
Kalesia’s eyes slowly focused. Silvery light gleamed off a sleek flank.
Gabriel was naked.
Her gaze slid up. Etched on his face was a kind of agony.
She lifted the covers.
Gabriel went perfectly still, then came to her in a rush. “God, I need you so much tonight.”
She closed her arms about him, feeling, but not fully understanding, the urgency pulsing through the hard, strong body. All she could do was respond to it. It’d be easier to stop breathing than to say no to this man tonight.
“I shouldn’t be here,” he muttered against her throat, his mouth tasting, teasing, nipping the sensitive area.
Luxuriating in the gently savage caress, her head fell back. Her hands explored the massive shoulders. She sensed the internal struggle going on within Gabriel and asked, “Why are you?”
“I couldn’t help myself.”
The undercurrent of disgust that laced the words caught her attention. Knowledge, sharp and clear, burst forth from where it had been hovering on the edge of her awareness.
Gabriel patterned his entire life on the concept of control.
Looking back, she grasped the undertone of his initial rejection. Her talk of visions was the antithesis of everything he valued. Visions couldn’t be fitted into nice, comfortable niches. They couldn’t be controlled.
Kalesia contemplated the alluring picture of Gabriel out of control.
“I don’t want you to be able to help yourself,” she murmured, tasting the hot skin of his chest. She wanted him caught in the same welter of emotions that snared her.
He lifted his mouth from her neck and stared down at her. “Oh no, you don’t, witch. You’re going to be the one unable to help themselves. I’m going to fuck you until all you can see, feel or think about is me. I want to hear you beg to take me inside you. Trust me, Kalesia. Just hold on and leave everything to me.” One large hand shaped the soft fullness of her breast. He brushed the roughened pad of his thumb over the nipple.
Kalesia arched beneath the light caress. A delicious ache began in the pit of her stomach as his mouth and hands began to work magic on her. A tiny moan escaped. She shook her head, trying to clear it.
Gabriel wanted to play it safe.
He wanted her trust but was unwilling to give the same in return. She couldn’t let it happen, she realized in sudden, sure knowledge. If he won this battle, he would stay hidden behind that invisible wall forever.
Barely able to think, assaulted by the swirling storm he was relentlessly building in her, she clung to one truth.
Gabriel wanted her.
Against his better instincts, he had been unable to stay away tonight. That knowledge gave her the strength to wedge her hands between them.
Startled, Gabriel drew back.
She smiled up at him, a small curve of her lips that was as old as time. He looked instantly wary. She traced the strong line of his mouth with one burgundy-tinted nail. Gabriel had an utterly sexy mouth, a mouth that tempted a woman into contemplating forbidden fantasies. Resting her index finger against his lower lip, she realized his mouth had fascinated her from the beginning. A chill that had nothing at all to do with cold, chased down her spine when he opened his mouth and took the tip of her finger inside. Her nipples tightened when he curled his tongue around her finger.
His eyes glinted in the moonlight, hot satisfaction in them
Fresh determination surged. “Do you believe in witchcraft, Gabriel?” she asked, her voice low and throaty. With the tip of her finger, she teased the sensitive inner lining of his lip, using his moisture to ease her path. His breath hitched when she slipped her finger in and out of his mouth in a suggestive rhythm. She slid her finger down, ever-so-slowly, over his chin, past the hollow of his throat to his chest, leaving behind a thin veil of wetness that glistened. She spread her hand over his heart. It was pounding. Beneath her palm, she felt the small nipple wake and pressed harder, enthralled by the ripple of response that raced over his skin.
He moaned. “You’re playing with fire,” he warned, the words deep and guttural. He moaned again when she rotated her palm.
“Um-um. Never with fire. Witches aren’t particularly fond of fire, you know,” she teased, a wonderfully wanton and wicked feeling welling up inside her. Giving a light shove, she was delighted when he obeyed the silent command and rolled onto his back.
She straddled his stomach, supremely aware of the contained strength between her thighs. Like riding a half-broke stallion, all power and arrogant male will. Inch by inch, she slid her nightgown up and over her head. The gown floated to the floor as she tossed it aside.
Gabriel inhaled sharply. God, she was beautiful. The light of the full moon bathed the ample curve of her breasts and outlined the darkness of her nipples. He reached out and cupped one breast, swallowing hard when it immediately responded to his touch. His erection jerked and nudged the base of her spine.
He slid his hands around to cup the sweet curve of her bottom. “If that is the case then, lady, you’d better find a spell to quench this blaze you’ve started, or we’ll both go up in flames,” he grated, flexing his fingers in the resilient flesh. He rocked her on his stomach, his nostrils flaring as he scented her feminine arousal.
“Perhaps I’m a new breed of witch, after all,” she whispered, twining her fingers between his before pressing their joined hands to the mattress, “because I find I have this insatiable urge to p
lay with matches.” She lowered her head and drew his bottom lip into her mouth.
Gabriel couldn’t remember ever being so hard. Everywhere. His muscles pulled taut as her pebbled nipples dragged over his heated flesh, flirted with his own nipples. He shouldn’t let her get away with this, he thought as a wave of heat enveloped him. Kalesia was supposed to be writhing under him, not the other way around. He was supposed to be the one safely in command.
Except Kalesia wasn’t cooperating.
The tip of her tongue danced over his as she explored the depths of his mouth with a soft, feminine aggression. Gabriel groaned and tried to engage it in a duel but she eluded him. This time he groaned in pure frustration. Immediately, she brushed the sensitized roof of his mouth, once, twice, small, flitting caresses that slowly drove him to the edge of sanity. A part of his mind warned him that he was walking on dangerously unstable ground. Allowing Kalesia to take charge was risking losing a part of himself. Gabriel consigned the small, insistent voice to the outer edges of Purgatory.
He wasn’t going to fight her! Kalesia sensed it in the subtle shift of tension. Elated, she initiated a tiny duel.
Gabriel immediately accepted the challenge, his tongue twining with, sliding along hers. His breathing changed, became heavier.
His taste, dark, spicy, all male, exploded across her taste buds. God, she loved the way he tasted.
The ache in the pit of her stomach became a slow fire.
He untangled their hands and then Kalesia felt his hands in her braid, loosening and combing through the heavy mass. It fell free in a curtain that flowed past her hips. He seemed fascinated by the silken length.
“I didn’t think women still wore their hair this long,” he murmured hoarsely, letting it slip through his parted fingers.
“Don’t you like it?” Some of her wonderful confidence fled.
His hands clenched in her hair and he used the leverage to pull her head back so that he could look at her. “I love the way it feels on my body, like a waterfall of cool fire.”
She gave a brilliant smile filled with relief. “I’m glad. I couldn’t bear to cut it.” She sat up and placed her hands over his, caressing the elegant strength. “Not everyone likes it, you know,” she confided.
He smoothed his hands down her spine, the gentle touch an evocative contrast with the rough calluses on his palms. “I burn wherever it touches me. Can’t you feel what it does to me?”
She could. Tension corded his biceps as she literally felt his effort to remain passive. Heat poured off his body in wave after wave of need. Kalesia shifted, lifting until her pussy was just brushing the sculptured muscle of his abdomen, aware of his swollen length leaving a wet kiss against her inner thigh.
It was a heady experience. Bending her head, she kissed the hollow of his strong neck, following the line over to his shoulder. Beneath her lips, Kalesia felt an unusual ridge. Puzzled, she pulled back. Silvery moonlight highlighted a wickedly curved scar. Starting at the top of his shoulder, it curved around in a half moon to end midway down his ribs.
Kalesia traced it with the lightest of touches. The pain he must have endured! She pressed a soft kiss, then ran her tongue along its length, eliciting a ragged groan. She smiled in the darkness and worked her way down his body until she reached the thin line of hair that bisected his torso. She tormented him with deliberate slowness as she followed its rough path.
And discovered a network of scars marring the warm satin of his skin. The crisscross pattern stopped at his groin. Even without the benefit of light, it was obvious that the wounds had been intentionally inflicted. A potent wave of rage and horror washed over her.
Her eyes burned. Who could have been vicious enough to do such a thing?
“Tears?” He brushed his thumb across her lashes, catching one drop.
“The pain… It must have been unbearable. How…”
“Don’t think about it. It happened a long time ago.” Placing his hands on both sides of her head, he pulled her up so that her mouth was separated only by a breath from his and rasped, “Kiss me.”
Kalesia obeyed, her mouth desperate. She broke the kiss to tease a nipple in its nest of dark hair, scraping her teeth on the hard nub, causing Gabriel to arch beneath her. Moving lower, she ran the edge of her teeth over his stomach before salving it with her tongue.
He shook under the provocative assault. Against her thigh, she felt his cock jerk. His hand cupped the back of her head as he urged her lower.
Kalesia smiled against his belly, refusing to hurry. His body fascinated her. It was so different from her own, hard and sleek where she was soft and supple, lightly furred where she was smooth. She knelt between his thighs.
Gabriel went still.
Up the length of his body, her eyes met his. She closed her hand about his shaft. Her fingers didn’t quite meet. “So smooth, so hot,” she murmured as she lowered her head, keeping her gaze locked with his. She stuck out the tip of her tongue and touched the flared head of his cock.
The gentle wonder in her voice was almost Gabriel’s undoing. Then her mouth found him and he arched off the bed. She wiggled her tongue into the slit. A pulse of pre-cum leaked past his control. She caught it on the pad of her index finger and held it to her lips. He couldn’t take his eyes from the pearly drop as she opened her mouth and, with one delicate swipe of her tongue, caught it. He groaned. The woman was killing him.
“Come here,” he growled. Tangling the hand that had been cupping her head in the silken strands, he tugged.
He pulled her astride him. His stroked her plump lower lip with his thumb, before pressing down, opening her mouth to his. He slid his tongue inside, tasting her. Tasting himself.
“Damn.” He nibbled on the left corner of her mouth before working his way to the right corner. He nipped sharply, taking her gasp for his own.
“Gabriel!”
“What, sweet witch? Tell me what you want.” He groaned the command as she rocked against him. Her heat scorched his flesh. His hand went to her pussy, forging a path through the coppery curls to trace the swollen lips of her labia.
“So hot,” he muttered, his breath ragged. He probed again, separating the slick folds, his fingers dancing an erotic pattern on the sensitive flesh. “And wet.” His body shuddered in response to the feminine message. Sliding one long finger inside, he slowly and carefully stretched her. So damn tight. She was going to wrap around his cock like a heated, velvet glove.
“Tell me what you want,” he ordered, teasing her engorged clit with the slow, gliding pressure of his thumb.
She arched against his hand. “Please.” Her thighs tightened and she threw her head back, her hair tangling around his cock.
Gabriel gritted his teeth. “Tell me what you want.”
“You. Inside.” A small sob hung on the air. “Me.”
Another pulse of pre-cum dribbled past his control. His balls pulled tight against his body.
Shit.
He shifted until he was leaning against the pillows. Moving his hands to her hip, he started to guide her down on his cock. At the last moment, Gabriel remembered he didn’t have any condoms.
Goddamn it, no! He slammed his head against the wall.
“What’s wrong?”
“No condoms,” he gritted out, feeling ten times a fool. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized, he’d used the lack of rubbers as a reason to stay out of her bed. Talk about your dumb-fucking-ideas.
Kalesia leaned sideways and opened the nightstand drawer. She fumbled for a minute, muttering under her breath. When she sat back up, she held a small packet aloft like it was a prize. Moonlight glinted off foil.
Gabriel eyed the small foil packet and then her grin. “Uh, you brought rubbers with you?”
She gave a small, husky laugh. “No. I found them in the nightstand when I unpacked the first night. I, uh, kinda wondered why you kept condoms in the guest room.” There was more than casual inquiry in her voice.
Was that
a note of jealousy? Damn, he sure hoped so. He’d hate to be the only one out here on this limb. “I didn’t put them there. Must have been Parker or Sam, a friend of mine who drops in once in a blue moon.”
“Oh.”
“I haven’t needed them in a while.” A long while, he amended silently.
“Oh,” she said again. He saw the flash of neat, white teeth. “Me either.” He heard foil tear. “I hope I haven’t lost the knack.”
He wasn’t meant to hear the muttered aside but Gabriel couldn’t resist responding. “Trust me, sugar. It’s like riding a bike. Some things you don’t forget.”
“Idiot,” she laughed. Then she proved him right. Small, hot hands smoothed the latex over his erection. His hips jerked and he gritted his teeth. Damn. He was hotter than a firecracker and ready to go off with a bang.
He gripped her waist, fitting her over him the moment she was done. She sucked in a tiny breath, making him excruciatingly aware of the differences in their sizes. Then, she engulfed him in one smooth motion. Gabriel’s concerns disappeared on a wave of lust.
She began a deliberate rocking motion, lifting until he was barely inside before sinking back down. He shuddered again, his hips thrusting in a demand she ignored. From beneath lowered lashes, Gabriel gazed at the woman riding him with an exquisitely measured tempo, timed to drive him crazy. Her eyes were closed and she wore a faint look of concentration. The fact that she wanted him so much was a seduction all in itself.
He kissed away the trickle of sweat between her breasts, then nuzzled over to brush his lips across her nipple. She gasped and braced her palms on his shoulders. She was so damn responsive. He opened his mouth just enough to slide her nipple inside. With exquisite care, he closed his teeth on the sensitive tip. She lost her rhythm.
He smiled around her flesh and surged upward, his thrusts fast and hard. His cock slid in and out of her heated depths. His thumbs rested above her pubic mound, right beneath the small, womanly curve of her stomach, while his fingers gripped her rounded ass. Damn, he loved her softness. It made him want to bury himself inside her, stay there until all the darkness in his soul withered away under her touch.
Tapestry of the Past Page 9
