by Arianna Hart
“I know, but I don’t want to stop touching you.”
He cupped her breasts and ran his tongue through the valley he created. Licks of flame followed in his wake. She felt electric with need and arcs of energy sparked between them. The air was so charged she was surprised her hair didn’t stand on end.
He grazed his teeth against her over-sensitized nipple and fire blazed through her body. When he drew the tip into his mouth and sucked hard, she felt the pull between her legs. She rubbed against his cock, soaking his pants. The friction felt delicious against her swollen clit, but she wanted more. She wanted him, inside her.
And damn it, she wanted it now.
Pulling away from the drugging pleasure of his mouth on her, she climbed off him. “Lose the pants.”
“I don’t remember you being this demanding before. I think I like it.”
“In New Orleans you were in control and I just went along for the very pleasurable ride. Now I know what you’re capable of, what I’m capable of, and I intend to get it. And more.”
Until the words were out of her mouth, she didn’t even realize the thought had been in her head. But it was true. She’d let other people direct her path for too long. Declan had given her a feast of passion after years of starving with Michael.
She wasn’t about to go back on a diet.
As Declan dropped his pants and boxers, his shaft sprung free, standing up hard and long. Her mouth watered at the sight. Without another thought, she dropped to her knees to get closer to his cock. She had to touch it, taste it.
She wrapped her lips around the tip and licked off the salty fluid already pearling there. Slowly, slowly, torturously slowly, she eased her way down his length, grazing him with her teeth. Declan thrust his fingers into her hair, dislodging her bun, and her curls fell down around them, brushing the base of his cock.
“You’re killing me,” he ground out between clenched teeth.
She sucked harder in response. When his knees buckled, she felt power surge along with the desire coursing through her system. She had the power to bring this strong man to his knees.
“Ciara, this hasn’t happened to me in close to a thousand years, but if you don’t get that luscious mouth off my dick, I’m not going to get inside you. And I really want to be inside you.”
Exultation shot through her. Yes! She had done this to him. Part of her wanted to keep going, to make him lose control. The rest of her really wanted him inside her.
“Get back on the chair.” Her voice was raspy with desire. She felt hot and light, as if her body was made of sunbeams and rays would shine out of her fingers at any second.
Declan sat in the chair and his cock bobbed up to his stomach. She swung her leg over his thighs and positioned him at her entrance. Her pussy practically quivered with need as she rubbed his tip against her swollen lips.
“You’re playing with fire,” he growled.
“I’m already burning,” she shot back before she sank down, driving his length into her welcoming sheath.
She gasped as he surged inside her, filling her, stretching her, pleasuring her. He dug his fingers into her hips as he thrust up, rubbing her clit against his pelvic bone. Heat poured through her, coalescing at the point where they joined. She wrapped her arms around him, clinging to him through this storm of desire that threatened to sweep her away.
When her chest met his, an explosion of lust burst from the point where her breast met his goddess mark. The orgasm ripped through her, tearing her apart until she was sure her atoms must be scattered across the room.
She had no idea if Declan had come, nor did she really care. He sat still beneath her so she thought he must have gotten his or he’d probably be moving.
“Do you see my body floating around the room?” she finally asked.
“I’ll let you know as soon as I regain my sight. I’m fucking blind right now.”
Ciara laughed weakly and Declan groaned. “Damn, don’t move. I’m so fucking sensitive, or so sensitive from fucking, I feel like a tuning fork.”
She clenched her inner muscles just to make him growl. He worked his hand between them and rubbed her clit, which shot sparks through her already overloaded system.
“Stop! I surrender. It’s not funny.” Reluctantly, she pulled away and climbed off him. Moisture trickled down her thighs.
“Fuck.”
“You’ll need to give me a few minutes, love.”
“Declan, we didn’t use protection.”
Chapter Six
Declan stared at Ciara in shock. He hadn’t forgotten to use protection of one sort or another since he’d been marked by Morrigan. Never had he lost his head and neglected to at least pull out before he spilled his seed. If he accidently impregnated another woman, he feared for what further tortures Morrigan would visit upon him.
But he couldn’t think of that right now. Ciara’s eyes were huge with dismay. She looked shell-shocked more than anything else.
“You must have slept with hundreds of women in your lifetime. God only knows what you could be carrying!” She grabbed a napkin and started wiping herself up.
“That’s not a worry, love. Morrigan’s curse protects me from any and all diseases. I haven’t so much as had a cold in a thousand years. I’m more concerned about the other consequence of unprotected sex. Could I have gotten you pregnant?”
Instead of the dread he’d anticipated, he felt a spark of hope. Gods knew there was something different about Ciara. Could she be the one who would break this curse? He was pretty sure he wouldn’t recognize love if it bit him in the ass, but he’d never felt like this before.
“There’s no chance of that,” Ciara let out a harsh laugh. “I’m sterile. Michael and I tried for years to get pregnant and I didn’t so much as miss a period.”
“Are you sure? Maybe he was just shooting blanks.”
“We spent two years going through fertility treatments. He was tested. I was tested. I took every medicine, underwent procedure after procedure until even the doctors gave up trying to find out why I couldn’t get pregnant. Then he went and knocked up some twenty-five-year-old six months after our divorce. Yeah, I’m pretty damn sure I’m sterile.” She stalked off to the bathroom and shut the door.
Declan sat there, bonelessly. The despair all the more devastating for the brief surge of hope he’d had.
“Haven’t you punished me enough, Morrigan? Do you have to bring an innocent into your revenge as well?”
Anger replaced despair and he surged to his feet. The apartment was too small to pace adequately. He felt like a tiger stuck in a cage.
Why would Morrigan mark Ciara if she wasn’t the one to break the curse? Could she be that cruel?
Needing fresh air, he slipped on his boxers and went through the sliding doors onto the miniscule balcony. Night had fallen while he and Ciara had been otherwise occupied. Declan leaned against the metal railing and looked out at the lights of the city. Her apartment overlooked the river which glistened under the weak moonbeams.
A slight swirl of air brought the scent of flowers to his nose and he knew Ciara had joined him on the balcony.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you,” he said, turning to face her. She’d pulled on a short, silken robe.
“It’s an old pain and not your fault. I’d thought I’d come to terms with never having a child of my own, but Michael told me today that he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant and then you asked if I was sure I was sterile. It was a one-two punch I wasn’t prepared for.”
“Is that what the bastard was doing when I showed up? Telling you about his pregnant girlfriend? No wonder you looked so devastated.”
“Yeah. Can you believe it? He wanted to show me the ultrasound. Asshole. You came at a perfect time.” She stepped back and gave him a speculative glance. “Considering I now know you’re not a businessman, what exactly are you doing in Connecticut and how did you find me?”
“Actually, I wasn’t lying about being an investment consul
tant. I’ve done a lot of jobs, moved around the world inventing new identities for myself, but right now, I actually am a businessman.”
“Did you really have a meeting in Connecticut?”
“Sure. With you. As to how I found you, you’d be amazed what you can find on the web. I put your name into Google and your picture popped up.”
“Seriously?”
“Yup. You had done some fundraiser or something with the hospital and there was a picture of you with a bunch of other ladies in pink T-shirts with the hospital logo. I figured I’d start there and ask around until I found you. Lucky for me, you were on your lunch break and projecting so much emotion it was like a homing device.”
“Come again?”
“I can sense your emotions. Ever since the morning after our interlude, I’ve been able to feel you.”
“That’s…weird.”
“Weird good or weird bad?”
She seemed to think for a minute. “Weird good. I don’t like the idea that our one night of sex reveals me to you that much, but on the other hand, it’s nice to know I don’t have to spell out everything.”
“I wouldn’t go that far. I can’t exactly read you like the morning newspaper. It’s more a general feeling of distress, or fear.”
“Or desire?” she asked, moving into him.
The silk of her robe glided across his chest like a hundred tiny caresses. He could feel her need but it wasn’t the mindless lust of before. There was something off about it, but when she slipped her hand past the waistband of his boxers and grasped his dick, he didn’t delve into the motivation, he just enjoyed the results.
“I do like a man who recovers quickly.”
She stroked his length, teasing the tip with her fingernails. He thought about moving them inside before things got out of hand, but the reckless light in her eyes made him reconsider.
Yanking her closer, he closed the distance between them and captured her mouth. Sensing she wanted a hot, angry fucking and not a gentle love making, he held nothing back. He didn’t just kiss her, he devoured her. This was no delicate teasing of lips and tongue, this was a war. He challenged her to fight for the upper hand in this passion play.
Ciara answered his challenge with gusto. She bit his lower lip and sucked it into her mouth. Her leg slid up his thigh and wrapped around his waist, opening her to him.
Declan didn’t tease or flutter around her opening, he thrust his finger into her dripping wet pussy. She let out a muffled shout and arched her hips into him, driving him deeper inside her hot channel.
Knowing she wanted it hard, he added a second finger and pumped his hand harder. Every time he drove into her, he flicked her nubbin with his thumb. She let out little pants as he abandoned her mouth for the delectable feast of her throat.
When he sensed her orgasm coming, he bit down where her shoulder met her neck and thrust a third finger into her sheath. She threw her head back as her body spasmed and her pussy drenched his hand.
Without giving her a chance to recover, he spun her around until she faced the railing of the balcony.
“Hold on, love, we’re not done yet.”
He eased her feet apart and slid his hands up her thighs until her luscious ass was exposed. Using the moisture that still coated his hands, he slipped his fingers between the lush globes until he could trace her sensitive opening. He teased the nerve-rich spot, pressing just enough to pleasure her.
A breeze gusted by and she shivered, but he didn’t think it was from cold. The sensation of being mostly naked outdoors added another flavor to the experience. He freed himself from his boxers and trailed the head of his cock between her butt cheeks.
Leaning in close he whispered in her ear. “Don’t make a sound. We’re exposed to the whole city, not to mention any of your neighbors enjoying the night air. If you hold perfectly still and stay quiet, they’ll never know what we’re up to.”
Ciara nodded her agreement. Her face was flushed and her eyes wide with desire. Declan longed to trace her face with kisses but that would have to wait until later. His lady didn’t want a long, slow lovemaking. She wanted him to fuck her brains out.
He was happy to oblige.
Declan bent her lower over the railing until her ass was sticking in the air, framed by the dark silk of her robe. She moaned as he pushed her legs a little farther apart, opening her up even more.
“Bad girl, I said not to make a sound,” he whispered in her ear before taking the lobe between his teeth. Gently, he stroked her ass, then quickly slapped both cheeks, lightly stinging them.
She gasped and thrust her butt higher in the air. He didn’t need any more invitation to drive his cock into her waiting pussy.
She clamped around him like a vice and he suspected he’d played the game a little too long. Muffled whimpers came from her and he saw she had the sleeve of her robe clamped between her teeth.
“You have to be quiet, remember?” He pulled out until only the very tip of his cock brushed against her.
She nodded her head. He could see her white-knuckled grip on the railing and her robe stuck to the sweat clinging to her skin. His hands weren’t exactly steady as he grasped her hips and drove his cock home. He slammed into her, the globes of her ass cushioning his hips as he thrust harder and faster. His balls swung against her softness, ratcheting the need higher and higher.
He didn’t just want to fuck her. He wanted to possess her. Whatever she’d done before, whoever she’d done before, he wanted to erase them from her memory. He didn’t know what the future held for them, but he wanted her to remember him.
After years of loving and leaving women, he knew this one was imprinted indelibly on his soul, and he wouldn’t be satisfied until she was equally marked.
Ciara let out soft sobs as she pushed back against him. He could feel her pulse throbbing and her breath came out in tortured gasps. Barely holding back his own orgasm, he reached around until he could trace her clit.
It took just the lightest touch to send her over the edge. Her inner muscles milked him so hard he exploded into her. Wave after wave rolled over him and he thought he’d never stop coming. His legs shook, depleted of all strength.
“Hey! Keep it down up there!” Someone shouted from the balcony below them.
Ciara let out a muffled laugh and straightened up. The movement dislodged his cock from her tight sheath.
“Let’s go inside. I could use another glass of wine.” Her face was wet with tears but he didn’t have time to examine her more closely before she slipped into the living room.
“Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He seemed to be asking that a lot.
“Are you kidding me?” she asked with an incredulous lift of her brow.
“You have tears on your face.”
“Do I? I don’t remember crying, except maybe at the end. It’s all a little foggy.”
He captured a lingering tear on his thumb and licked it away. “I’ve faced far too many women’s tears in my lifetime. I don’t want yours staining my soul.”
The truth of it shook him to the core. She had faced enough sadness in her marriage and he would damn Morrigan to eternity if his curse added even one more tear to Ciara’s life.
“These are happy tears. Or at least tears of release, not sorrow. Come on, let’s take the wine into the bedroom.”
Ciara felt his eyes on her ass as she led him to her bedroom. The silk robe caressed her sensitized skin, giving her aftershocks from her recent orgasm. God, that had been incredible. The heat of Declan’s skin combined with the night breeze and the risk of discovery had been an explosive combination.
When she’d joined him on the terrace, she’d been angry more with herself than with him. Why did she let the subject of infertility get to her so badly? Just because she couldn’t have a child didn’t make her any less of a woman, damn it. It had taken her months to get over feeling inadequate after her divorce and she didn’t like how quickly she’d gotten defensive when Declan ha
d brought up the possibility of her getting pregnant.
She’d wanted to reclaim the feeling of feminine power she’d had before, and seeing him standing there like a freaking god spurred her on. If ever a woman wanted to feel feminine, Declan was the man to do it. He’d fucked her brains out and left her weak as a day-old kitten.
His tenderness afterward had shaken her though. How did he go from demanding lover to wiping the tears from her eyes in seconds? The juxtaposition staggered her.
Maybe it was the link they shared through his goddess mark, but he seemed to know exactly what she was feeling, what she needed without her having to explain it to him. He responded to her unspoken desires, both physical and emotional, without hesitation. It was like they’d been together for years, yet it had only been a few days.
Crap. Had she only known him two days? It felt like she had known him forever.
Somehow she couldn’t imagine her life without him part of it. It was like a weird addiction or something. The more she was with him, the more of him she wanted.
God, what was wrong with her? Could she be any more cliché? She was totally falling for him and she’d only known him two days. Damn it, she was smarter than that. It wasn’t like she’d never been in love before.
In theory, she and Michael had been perfect for each other. If they couldn’t make it work, how could she risk falling for a thousand-year-old Celtic warrior? One who needed a baby to release him from his curse? It was ridiculous and her brain spun as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened.
How could her heart dive in deep when her brain had sworn never to test those waters again? Something about him pulled her heartstrings and she was helpless to resist. Maybe it really was his goddess interfering, or maybe she was just a sucker for a gorgeous guy with a sob story. Either way, she was hooked.
And because she couldn’t get pregnant, he would be forced to live with his curse no matter what he felt for her.
She lit some of the candles she had scattered around the room. In their soft glow, she dropped the robe in a puddle around her feet and climbed into the queen-sized bed.
