Deadly Is the Kiss

by Rhyannon Byrd

  “I don’t care!” She dug her nails into his hard, sweat-slick shoulders, loving how strong he was. How big and beautiful and deadly. “I trust you.” At least in this bed…

  He hissed her name, a hard shudder moving through his powerful frame as he braced his weight on one arm. She lifted her head again, wanting a better view of what was about to happen. Breathing hard, he hooked his thumb at the base of his cock, pulling it away from his ridged abdomen. Another sharp, keening sound fell from her lips when he pushed that huge thing against her opening, her body burning as he pressed to gain entry.

  “Ohmygod,” she gasped, breathing hard, scared and excited and so turned-on she was pulsing against him. So drenched he was able to slip in a little deeper, until the tip of him was finally in, stretching her open, hugged tight by her body.

  She swallowed, her gaze lifting, locking with his.

  In that moment, she couldn’t have looked away if her life depended on it.

  * * *

  THROUGH BURNING EYES, Ashe watched Juliana arch beneath him in sweet, feminine surrender, and nearly died. His heart was pounding so hard, he hoped to hell he wasn’t in the middle of a heart attack. He’d never heard of a vampire having one before…but then, he figured these were extraordinary circumstances.

  Then she wrapped her arms around him, her soft hands slipping down the sleek length of his spine, and he knew he had to act. Fast. Before she ripped what little control he had right out from under him.

  Snagging her wrists, he pushed her arms over her head, pressing her wrists into the bedding, and held himself over her, her gorgeous breasts cushioned against his chest. Locking his jaw, Ashe watched the awareness burn in her eyes the moment he started pressing deeper inside, pushing himself into her. His hips rolled in blunt surges as he carefully worked himself in, inch by painstaking inch. She was hot and wet and incredibly tight, strangely so for a woman who wasn’t a virgin, and he knew it had to hurt a little. Maybe even a lot.

  “You okay?” he asked, holding still about halfway in. His muscles were tremoring, his body slick with sweat, his chest heaving as if he’d just finished a bloody marathon.

  She licked her lips, her lashes fluttering as she focused her hazy gaze on his. “Yeah. But it was…a lot.”

  A breathless laugh shook his chest, the tenderness piercing through him creating an odd sensation when combined with the raw-edged lust. It made him want to press a gentle kiss to her lips, while screwing the ever-loving hell out of her. “I hate to tell you this, but we’re, uh, only about halfway there.”

  Her eyes shot comically wide. “Half… You’re kidding, right?”

  “’Fraid not,” he said as he laughed, rubbing his lips over hers, a goofy smile on his lips that he couldn’t get rid of. “But, God, you’re adorable.”

  “I’m glad you find this funny, but there isn’t any way that that thing…I mean, er, that you are getting all the way inside me.”

  “Just give it time,” he soothed in a dark, rumbling drawl, rubbing his tongue across the cushy swell of her lower lip. He kissed her slow and deep, losing himself in the warm, pansy-soft texture of her mouth as he rubbed his chest against her tight nipples, giving her a chance to relax.

  He was no doubt about to bust an artery, but he managed to wait until she was arching against him again before he started working deeper into her, the feel of her the most incredible thing he’d ever experienced. Dragging her wrists down to either side of her head, he raised himself on his arms and looked down as he pulled back. Then he drove back into her with more force, the thrust getting away from him, her sharp intake of air making him feel like a prick.

  “How come you’re so…tight?” he forced out through his gritted teeth, holding still inside her. He hoped to hell the conversation would give him a moment to get it together, letting her get used to him, before he went off the deep end and found himself pounding her into the mattress. If he hurt her, he was going to feel like seven kinds of shit and end up having to kick his own ass.

  “What do you mean?” she whispered.

  Ashe lifted his head, looking her right in the eye. “I mean, how long’s it been?”

  “Since what?” she asked, baffled.

  His nostrils flared as he sucked in a sharp breath. “The last time you did this, Juliana. When was it?”

  “Oh. Um, before the imprisonment.”

  Before the…? Holy Christ.

  His voice was so rough, he sounded like he’d been crunching gravel. “Why?”

  She pulled her lower lip through her teeth as her lashes lowered, concealing the look in her eyes. “I, um, just didn’t feel that way about any of the men who worked for my family. And they’re the only ones who’ve been available.”

  Something flipped over in his chest, and he found himself pushing into her a little deeper. “You should have told me. If I’d known, I’d have gone a bit longer on the foreplay. Given you a few orgasms first to make it a little easier.”

  A small smile touched her lips as she lifted her lashes, staring up at him with a luminous look of joy. “I’m not complaining.”

  He closed his eyes. “Shit, don’t look at me like that.” His voice was tight, strained. “I’m trying to hold it together here.”

  “There’s no need for that,” she murmured. “Go ahead and let go.”

  He cracked one eye open, giving her a dubious look.

  Laughter bubbled up from her chest. “I promise. It’s all good now. You’re not hurting me. Just…do your thing.”

  “My thing, huh?” He was smiling as he lowered his head, running his tongue over her lip again, coaxing her to open for him. When she did, he slipped his tongue inside, licking as if he was starved for her flavor. Which he was. His head was already spinning from the provocative kiss when he pulled back his hips, then surged right back into her, working against the tight resistance of her body. It took a few hard, heavy lunges, but she finally gave way around him. The sensation was so electric it buzzed in every cell of his body, crackling in the air.

  “Jesus…God…” he rambled hoarsely, his blood burning with such fiery heat, he was surprised steam wasn’t rising from the surface of his skin. “I’m gonna take you so fucking hard, woman.”

  Juliana’s breath caught at his words, the look of awe on her face no doubt one that would only feed his outrageous ego. She should have bitten her tongue, but as he pumped that thick, textured shaft back inside her, holding tight against her womb, she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “I didn’t think it was possible, but you feel even better than in my dream.”

  The hot, primal glow in eyes burned brighter. “You dreamed about me?”

  She licked her lower lip, and gave a slow nod. “This afternoon. Woke up…coming.” Just like I’ve done so many other times when dreaming about you.

  He ground against the moist cushion of her sex, sending sweet, shivering chills over the surface of her body. “Is that why you wanted to leave?” he asked. “Because of the dream?”

  “Just shut up and kiss me,” she gasped, lifting her head and nipping his bottom lip. Though she was the one who started it, he quickly took control of the kiss, ravaging her mouth with wicked, sliding thrusts of his tongue as his hips started increasing their tempo, his thick shaft pumping into her harder…deeper…faster. She tore her mouth away, gulping air as she writhed beneath him, his fingers tightening around her wrists to keep her in place.

  She trembled, shaking, her skin suddenly too tight for the wild, terrifying emotions building inside her. She felt trapped, penetrated, her mind instinctively trying to fight it even as her body craved more.

  It wasn’t just his size or his strength destroying her defenses, battering through the walls she’d built to protect herself. It was everything. The things he said. The raw intensity of his gaze as he stared into her eyes, watching the pleasure push through her…filling her. It was even in the way he moved, the powerful muscles flexing so sinuously beneath the tight stretch of his skin. He made one of thos
e rough, purely male sounds in his throat as he started moving even harder, faster, her back arching as she begged for more. She didn’t know who this woman was who wanted to claw his back with her nails, her fangs heavy and sharp, mad with the need for his blood. “God, I want to bite you so badly,” she cried out, her voice cracking at the end.

  His own fangs flashed as he growled, his control slipping a little more. She could feel it in the hardness and speed of his strokes, the bed crashing against the wall loud enough to be heard downstairs in the bar. He was rougher than she ever would have imagined, but she loved it. Couldn’t get enough of it.

  “More,” she gasped, staring up at him. His jaw hardened as he ground his teeth, his eyes glowing like a fire beneath the dark slash of his brows.

  “You’d better be sure this is what you want.”

  “Do it,” she snapped, so desperate she wanted to scream. “I want it all.”

  “It’ll be rough,” he warned, pushing up on his knees.

  “I don’t care. That’s how I want it! I want everything you’ve got!”

  He took her at her word, the hands that had been gripping her wrists suddenly behind her knees, folding her over. She looked down, loving what she saw, the explicit position leaving her sex tilted and exposed. He rammed himself into her with breathtaking thrusts, and she could see it all, the sound of their bodies coming together the most erotic thing she’d ever heard. She’d always been embarrassed when she’d accidentally wandered too close to one of the couples at the compound when they were having sex. With a vampire’s hearing, it was difficult not to eavesdrop now and then. But there was nothing embarrassing about it now. The sounds were raw and earthy, the bed groaning as it slammed repeatedly into the wall, the low growls rumbling in his throat making her hotter. Making her need it even more.

  Then he shifted over her, tilting her hips up even higher, his cock hitting so deep that it jerked a sharp cry from her chest that made him go still.

  “I warned you,” he growled, a muscle pulsing in the hard line of his jaw.

  “Like I said before, I’m not complaining!” she shot back, using her arms for leverage as she pushed her hips up, pressing against him until not even a sliver of space existed between their bodies. Every thick, rigid inch of him was buried inside her, and she tightened her muscles, clamping down on him, his body shaking with a hard, muscular shudder as she said, “Now do it again.”

  He swore something guttural and hoarse as he pulled back halfway, then slammed back inside her, her body pulsing around him, bathing him in her juices. He made a thick, helpless sound, as if undone by her, and then they were going at it again, the rhythm as violent and frenzied as it’d been before. A secret smile bloomed inside her, melting and sweet. She loved that she’d been able to give him this. That he was finding pleasure in an act she’d feared might bore him…or worse. Her track record was hardly anything to inspire, but…maybe that hadn’t been entirely her fault.

  Lowering her gaze, Juliana watched the rippling of his abs as he moved, his thrusts so strong now they were shoving her up the bed. He used one hand to grip on to the headboard for leverage, crushing the wood in his grip, the muscles in his arm rigid beneath his golden skin. “Need you,” he growled, looking at her as if he wanted to devour her, his fangs longer than she’d ever seen them. “Need every goddamn part of you.”

  She wanted to tell him that she needed him, too, but the words turned into a breathless cry as he shifted his body higher, rubbing against her at the perfect angle. She gasped, bracing her hands against the rock-solid wall of his chest, her back arching as the most devastating orgasm she could have imagined slammed into her, a thousand times more stunning than her dream. She screamed, thrashing, instinctively fighting the pleasure at first, it was so shocking, before giving in and embracing every part of it as it pulsed through her, surging like an unstoppable wave, the heat so extreme it was like burning at the center of a star.

  “That’s it,” he ground out, his hips thrusting faster…and faster, until his own release had him growling and flinging his head back. Tendons stood out in his strong throat as he shuddered and pulsed, blasting heavy streams of heat inside her that went on…and on, until everything in her mind went heavy and silent and black.

  “Christ,” Ashe groaned under his breath, his body practically turning itself inside out as he pumped into her, the pleasure so extreme he wasn’t sure if it was the best bloody thing he’d ever felt…or something that would kill him. When it finally eased, he carefully worked himself out of her sweet, clinging hold, then slumped onto his back beside her, one hand covering his eyes as he struggled to catch his breath. She rolled, snuggling into his side, and he tried to put his arm around her, but wasn’t sure if he managed it. His body no longer felt like his own, his mind floating in a daze. He didn’t know how long he drifted in that lazy sprawl, exhaustion weighing down on him, but when he suddenly opened his eyes, he was instantly awake, the memory of what had happened between them playing through his mind in vivid, heart-pounding detail.

  Holy…living…hell.

  Ashe couldn’t wrap his mind around it. He’d had more than his fair share of sex in his lifetime, but he’d never experienced anything like what had happened between him and Juliana.

  He knew he should turn tail and get the hell out of there, but the thought of leaving her alone left him cold inside. He didn’t even want to think about how he’d feel if he knew he wasn’t getting a piece of her again.

  He’d probably made the biggest mistake of his life in thinking he could handle this, but it was too late to turn back now. All he could do was suck it up and make sure that he kept it together better next time. Surely he wouldn’t be as blown away by the experience, now that he’d already had her. And despite how badly he’d wanted to drive his fangs into her, he’d managed to hold back. It would get easier. Feel more…normal. Right?

  But as he tucked in his chin, watching her sleep beside him, Ashe knew that was just more bullshit talking. Her face rested on the curve of his biceps, so damn beautiful it made his chest hurt just to look at her. He could easily stay buried inside this woman for hours, days, and never get his fill. And it wasn’t just the Burning making the experience into something that blew his mind. It was Jules, everything about her appealing to him so deeply, it was as if she’d been made for him.

  And Jesus, there he went spouting romantic nonsense again. He was starting to sound like Sybil! Definitely time to get the hell out of bed and back to work.

  Smoothing his hand over her shoulder, he said, “Come on, Jules. It’s time to get up.”

  “Hmm?” she moaned sleepily, snuggling closer against him.

  A low laugh rumbled in his chest. “Out of bed, sleepyhead. I need to get you some food if I want you to keep up your energy.”

  She cracked open one eye, a delightful blush spreading across her cheeks as he reached over and cupped her breast, rubbing his thumb over her pink nipple. Unable to resist, he pushed her to her back and lowered his head, suckling that tender tip into his mouth, laving it with his tongue.

  * * *

  WRAPPING HER ARMS around his dark head, Juliana held Ashe to her breast, the poignant moment bringing tears to her eyes. Shivering waves of pleasure coursed over her sensitive skin at each slow, possessive lap of his tongue, the bed dipping as he shifted his weight, his mouth latching on to her other nipple, while his thumb stroked the one he’d left damp and aching. Her eyes slid closed, a sensual wave of lassitude pouring through her, melting her down, until she stiffened in alarm.

  “What was that?” she whispered, certain she’d heard something that sounded like breaking glass coming from downstairs. There was another sharp sound, followed by a guttural shout, then definite sounds of fighting.

  With a vicious curse, Ashe lunged out of bed and pulled on his jeans. He didn’t even bother with a shirt or shoes as he headed bare-chested for the door. Pinning her with a sharp look over his shoulder, he barked, “Stay the hell in this room!”