by Lynda Chance
Putting one knee on the bed, he lowered himself beside her, completely naked, and took her in his arms without hesitation.
He ran his hand up her side, starting at her creamy thigh and travelling quickly up her hip, over the indent of her waist and landed on a lace-enclosed breast.
Her soft gasp and quickened breathing made his already rock-hard shaft pulse with need.
He reached over to the lamp on the bedside table and flipped it on. Light glared into the room, making her blink.
She sucked in her breath and let out a small noise of panic.
He tried to soothe her as he reached for her again. “Shh, everything’s okay.”
“Why’d you turn the light on?” she whispered.
“I couldn’t see you,” he stated the obvious, his hands reaching for the clasp between her breasts. He pushed the cups away from the small, tempting mounds, his eyes fastened to the bounty he was uncovering.
A sharp sound came from his throat.
Elaina saw him staring at her uncovered chest and red flecks of arousal colored his cheekbones as he lowered his head and covered a nipple with his mouth.
He began sucking like a starving man, his hand going to her other breast, and pleasure, swift and intense, had her hips lifting off the bed and pushing against him.
His chest vibrated with the moan coming from deep in his throat. His lips lifted from her nipple and his voice rasped against the soft mound of her skin, “You’re beautiful, Elaina. God, you’re so beautiful.”
She answered him, her heart constricting from the tenderness of his tone, “You’re the beautiful one.”
He lifted up at her words and stared at her, his gaze fixed on her. He peered at her intently, and she felt like he was trying to see into her soul.
She didn’t have anything to hide from him. She reiterated her words, “I think you’re beautiful—I thought you were beautiful the first time I saw you,” she whispered.
“Why, baby? Why’d you keep me in the dark?”
She stared with longing at him, her heart in her eyes, “I just knew—I could tell—I wasn’t ready and I knew I wouldn’t be able to say no to you.”
He visibly swallowed. “Are you ready now?”
A soft, pink flush covered her face. “Yes.”
“Thank God.”
He reached down, smoothed his rough hands over her sides until they landed on her hips. He divested her of her panties and tossed them aside.
His gaze roved down her naked body and a harsh look of satisfaction crossed his features. He lowered himself back down beside her, and began the slow process of her seduction all over again.
He kissed her slowly, his tongue swirling with hers as her hands clenched his biceps. He rolled her nipple between his finger and thumb, and she began mewling softly into his mouth. He ran his hand up and down her thigh and lifted it over his hip, opening her softness to him. His finger slid between the soft folds at the center of her feminine core, and landed on her slick, wet clit. She jerked against him, moaning.
He rubbed against her, his finger going up and down between her clit and the soft opening of her vagina.
She was wet.
He thought she was wet and excited enough.
He slowly penetrated her with his finger up to his first knuckle. She was small and her inner muscles clenched him tightly. He felt the restriction of her hymen, and a fierce, territorial satisfaction hammered at his guts.
Yeah, that was what he wanted from her. That was the beginning of what he wanted from her.
He carefully manipulated his finger while she moaned and shivered around him. Her chin butted against his cheek in agitation, and he sank his tongue in her mouth and began kissing her as he tested the strength of her virginity.
Sweat broke out on his brow when she whimpered in pain.
Son of a bitch.
This was going to hurt her. Goddamnit! He really, truly, did not want to hurt her.
He carefully removed his finger and slid it over her clit again. She began mewling in need and panting against him.
With a vague idea of getting her so hot she might not feel the pain, he spread her legs wide and dropped down between them.
Shock hit Elaina when Raul lifted her thighs over his shoulders and pushed his head between her legs. “Raul—”
“Shh, be still, it’ll be okay.”
Her shaking fingers sank in his hair as he spread her folds open and looked up at her, his face a contrast of emotions. She saw need, worry, and arousal as he looked at her, his finger falling on the bud above her sex again.
Pleasure pierced her and embarrassment fled completely as she watched him begin swiping her with his tongue, all the while manipulating her clit until she began feeling great waves wrapping around her spine, flowing from her breasts down to pulsating need beating through her feminine core.
Her breath came quicker and mingled with the rough growling noises coming from his throat as he moved his tongue on her.
His dark, velvet brown eyes tangled with hers from his position between her thighs, and she knew the look on his face was going to push her over the edge.
He came to his knees between her thighs, picked up the condom and began ripping the small package apart.
He rolled it down his length and came back down on top of her, his mouth landing on hers and his finger pushing against the pearl above her sex, wanting her as hot as she had been ten seconds before.
He didn’t have to wait that long.
His finger on her clit and his tongue in her mouth was enough to do it.
She became frantic in his arms, and he knew she was about to detonate. His abs clenching in vicious need, the muscles in his neck cording, he pushed himself between her thighs, pressing her knees apart and hooking her legs up and around his waist. He lunged into her, taking her virginity with one smooth, hard thrust of his hips, pushing himself into her until he didn’t know where he stopped and she began.
The blood pounding through his veins in a deep primal rhythm, he felt her take a shuddering breath and gave her to the count of three heartbeats to absorb the fullness of his intrusion. Then her muscles began contracting around him and he felt the shimmer began to take her. He began stroking her, pushing his hips in and out, stroking her in time with the pulsing contractions of her inner muscles.
His lips landed on hers again, his hips pumping into her, and he felt it the second the orgasm took her body. She screamed against him, the sound muffled by his tongue and mouth over hers. She shimmered in his arms, and he pummeled into her, his erection engorging with the last influx of blood, his ejaculation strong as he erupted inside of her, following her over a precipice of pleasure so intense, he didn’t know how he’d managed to live this long without it.
Elaina came back to herself, the glaring light from the lamp not allowing her to hide from anything.
Raul lay on top of her, still deeply imbedded in her, the only things keeping him from crushing her were his elbow and forearm holding him apart from her, just enough so she could draw breath.
Her mind screamed from stunned shock at the way it had been between them.
Was this normal? Was sex always like this? Surely not. She bit her lip as her heart rate slowly receded. She expelled a shallow, shaky sigh.
His voice rumbled from the pillow above her head, “Did I hurt you?”
Surprisingly, no. “No.” It was all she could manage.
That one fast climax against the barn earlier in the evening hadn’t prepared her for the complete and total intimacy of sex. Sex with Raul Vega.
Christ.
He was right. She never had a fighting chance. Had she ever stood a chance against him?
A barrage of images inundated her brain. The first time she met him when his rough palm held her hand for as long as he reasonably could. The day at the feed store when his anger and jealousy were already apparent. His temper when she had run out of gas. The first time he kissed her in the study. Tonight, with his head betwe
en her legs.
Suddenly, it was all too much for her to handle.
“I want to go home.”
CHAPTER TEN
Raul’s big body jerked over her, and he surged to new life inside of her. “No.”
Elaina whimpered and pushed her hands against his shoulders. “I can’t breathe.”
“You can breathe just fine,” he grunted over her, his hands lifting her face up to his and his eyes devouring hers, trying to see inside of her.
She closed her eyes against him and he growled low in his throat at the small defiance. When he spoke, there was a silken thread of warning in his tone, “Open your eyes, Elaina.”
He hung in suspended animation above her, waiting for her compliance. She held her eyelids closed a few pulsing moments, long enough to let him know she only opened them because she wanted to.
The beautiful brown orbs glistened up at him, fury and determination coming from their depths. She spoke through gritted teeth. “You’re not being fair. I need a moment, Raul. Is that too damn much to ask for?” She pushed against him, hard. “Get off me!”
Her fury sparked an answering emotion in him, and he jerked away from her, forgetting all about being careful.
Her body didn’t release him easily. He was fully aroused again, and the friction against her delicate inner skin resulted in pain that made her flinch as tears flooded her eyes.
“Shit! I’m sorry,” he bit out as he rolled away from her.
She caught her breath and pushed herself up into a sitting position with her back against the headboard.
He rolled to his back, dragging oxygen in and out of his lungs, physically trying to subdue the violent urge to grab her again. He clenched his jaw in suppressed need and silently watched her. He saw her gaze slide down his body and she stiffened visibly at what she found. His eyes followed hers to his erection, and he knew that what she was seeing was threatening to her. She’d been a virgin until only minutes before, and now she was experiencing sex in the stark aftermath. His cock was no doubt intimidating to her, and the soiled condom and blood weren’t things from a fairytale.
It wasn’t something he was used to seeing, in fact couldn’t ever remember seeing blood of any kind on his cock. Knowing it was her blood, her virgin’s blood, gave him a swift kick in the ass and the realization that no matter what kind of shit he was going through, she was feeling more.
He rolled to his feet and walked to the bathroom and quickly cleaned himself. It did little to relieve the heat in his groin. He retrieved a warm, wet cloth and brought it back to her.
She was watching him walk back toward the bed, her eyes skipping down to his full blown hard-on, like he was a snake about to strike. She clutched the covers to her chest.
If he hadn’t felt like a piece of shit before, the look on her face cinched it for him. He couldn’t do anything about his unruly cock, but he bent down and pulled on his boxer briefs.
He saw a slight flare of relief in her eyes from the underwear he pulled over his hips, and he sat on the side of the bed facing her.
He held the cloth in one hand and took hold of the covers with the other and began slowly pulling them away from her body.
She resisted. “No.”
“Yes.”
“I can do it,” she said, holding out a hand for the cloth.
“I want to do it,” he demanded.
“No.”
“Are you about to ask me to take you home?” His voice was sharp.
“Yes.”
“Then give me this. Please.”
It was the please that did it.
She let go of the covers.
He held her eyes with his and slowly pulled the sheet and comforter down her body until they were pushed to the foot of the bed. Slowly, he lowered his eyes to her naked body.
He gently pushed her knees apart, and the raw emotion on his face as he saw the effects of his handiwork left no room for her embarrassment. She saw unmistakable tension in his face as he put the cloth to the feminine mound between her legs and began to softly cleanse away the blood, the sweat, and the smells of sex.
Elaina was utterly unable to speak as he performed this service for her. Everything he was feeling was there, right before her eyes. Possessiveness, satisfaction, tenderness, ownership.
Her face paled and a fine trembling began at the base of her spine and travelled out to encompass her limbs. Just because she was emotionally ready for sex, didn’t mean she was ready for this.
She cleared her throat in agitation and his attention lifted. His eyes were hot on hers and glowed with a savage, inner fire. His voice was deep and purposeful when he spoke. “Thank you.”
She searched his expression as a soft kiss of blushing heat covered her cheeks. She knew he was thanking her for the gift of her virginity. She softly nodded in acknowledgement.
“You still think you need to go home?” He waited for a second before continuing, “I want you to stay.”
Elaina studied him, trying to get a handle on his true meaning. Her expression clouded with unease and a sudden need for caution infiltrated her being.
She didn’t think he meant to stay just the night. He wanted her to stay longer. Or he would as soon as tomorrow came. She might be new at this, but she wasn’t naïve. He had every intention of doing exactly what he had spelled out before. Sleeping with her again and again and again.
And then what? Whatever he wanted, that’s what. Although he was being gentle at the moment, Elaina knew him well enough to know it wasn’t his standard operating procedure. He wasn’t above railroading her into getting what he wanted, and she needed to find it within herself to exert her demands.
If she didn’t—well, she couldn’t contemplate that. “I think I better go back,” she said.
“Why?”
“I just should. I don’t want a bunch of questions tomorrow. I want to wake up in my bed.”
“I want you to wake up here, beside me,” he voiced his opinion, determination in his tone.
She studied him briefly before trying to get him to understand. “This is all new for me, you know?”
“Yeah, I do know, more than anyone else on the planet. So, why are you wanting to run, to not share this with me?” he growled.
She bristled but tried to hold on to her emotions. She spoke with quiet firmness. “There’s a hell of a lot of emotional crap going on inside me right now. You think it was only by circumstance that I was still a virgin at twenty-two?”
His arms crossed over his chest, his muscles laced into corded bands of steel. His eyebrows came together in a hardened frown. “I don’t know, why don’t you tell me?”
“Well you’re acting like I shouldn’t need some time to myself. I need to regroup, take a bath—”
“You can take a goddamn bath here, Elaina.” He swung his arm in the direction of the bathroom before continuing, “So tell me how it was.”
“Tell you how what was?”
“You started it. You asked the damn question. Why were you still a virgin? Was it because you never had the opportunity?”
“Really? You think that?” Surprise and a small amount of indignation colored her voice.
“Fuck no. I think every goddamn straight guy in his right mind that came across you wanted to crawl on top—”
She sucked in her breath in a gasp and his words came to a halt.
Her shoulders stiffened and her tone chilled a degree. “I don’t even want to talk about this. I don’t know why I worded it that way. I’m just saying that even though I haven’t dated a lot, what we did tonight meant something to me. I don’t sleep around—yeah, I’ve had opportunities in the past—” He growled at her words and she went on, “but it was never the right time, or the right person—”
“So I was the right guy and this was the right time—”
“Maybe not the right time—you pushed me into this—”
He slashed his arm through the air and gritted out, “And there it is! I knew you’d hol
d that shit against me. I told you.”
“I’m not holding anything against you. I’m just ready to go home now. You’re the one who’s acting like we’re fighting. I just want to go home.” She grabbed the top sheet, jerked it away from the mattress and held it over herself as she slid off the bed and began picking up her clothes.
“Elaina,” his voice subtly threatened.
“I’m going home Raul, even if I have to walk.” She turned her back to him and began slipping her underwear back on.
“This isn’t about you wanting to go home. This is about you getting your fucking way,” he blasted.
“Yes!” she screamed, turning around and mumbling, “finally, geez.”
He watched her dress and glared at her menacingly. “I could force you to stay,” he said in a heated threat under his breath.
She snapped her head up and a chill came over her features. “That would be a mistake.” Her eyes froze his in an impenetrable glare. “I promise you.”
****
Elaina had been too tired to do anything but fall into bed when Raul dropped her off the night before. But now, after several hours of uninterrupted sleep, she lounged back in the bathtub, and remembered the night before, as the warm water soothed her aching muscles.
He had pulled the truck up in front of her house and cut the engine. He turned to her, sifted his fingers through her hair and ran his eyes up and down her length.
When he spoke, his words were intent, questioning, trying to gauge her feelings. His fingers were gentle on her. “What do you want, baby?”
His eyes tangled with hers and she sucked in a breath at the naked emotion and blatant need in his voice. “That,” she answered him softly.
His fingers tightened. “Explain.”
She reached up and put her hand over his where it entangled her hair. “I want you to care about what I need—what I want,” she said.
“I do care,” he answered.
“I think you probably do, but it’s kind of hidden underneath what you think I need—what you want for me. What you want.”
“You’re saying I’m selfish?
“News flash, Raul. You are selfish.”
His cheekbones colored slightly. “Elaina—”
