Deep is the Night: Dark Fire

by Denise A. Agnew

  Feathery sensations moved all along her body, and she knew he generated that sweet, wild feeling in her belly. He flattened his hand against her stomach and as his fingers caressed her, she felt her body moisten as it prepared for mating.

  “Feel that, lass?” His voice went deeper, clearly changed by desire. “That’s real. It’s you and me, and every second longer that I go without kissing you, I think I’m going to die.”

  She parted her lips to tell him to kiss her, to beg him to taste her, but he must have read her mind again and he beat her to it.

  Chapter 22

  Lachlan’s mouth captured Erin’s and everything within her filled with pleasure. A heavy throb started between her legs, and reminded her of sexual needs she couldn’t deny.

  The slow, seductive persuasion of his mouth lulled her into a languorous response. Opening to him, she shivered with a fine thread of desire as he pressed tender kisses to her mouth. Each brush of heated skin drew her arousal higher, her burning desire into a raging thing that would be appeased.

  “Lachlan.”

  He swept his tongue over her lips, begging for entrance. When Erin gave it, he sank into her mouth with a deep plunge that said he possessed her here and now. Each rhythmic, famished taste sent tremors of unprecedented longing into her body. She couldn’t hold back soft moans, and she moved in his arms with eager anticipation. She reached for every inch of him she could touch. Her palms brushed across his back, testing the groups of muscles. Strength radiated from him—in the curve of his shoulders, in the power of his rock-hard biceps and forearms. He could have broken her in half, but he used that authority to cradle and protect. A woman could drown in Lachlan’s care, in the very lifeblood of his concern. She could sink to the bottom of this ocean and never want for another thing so long as she lived.

  With a groan, he pulled away and yanked his sweater over his head. As he tossed it aside carelessly, he paused as if he knew she would feast upon the sight. Erin savored this man, no longer caring that a vampire gave him powers in exchange for blood and life. He was here now, and she would love him.

  He looked like a god awaiting her consent. Her approval.

  Admiration burst to the fore as Erin devoured the glorious sight of incredible muscles in his shoulders, arms, chest, and the rippling sinew of his stomach. It didn’t matter that she’d seen Lachlan naked before. Right now it seemed new, different, and inconceivable. Never in all her years could she have imagined this man before her. A banquet of fantasy and imagination she would enjoy for as long as she could.

  His eyes blazed, male animal and primitive. His chest expanded as he drew a deep breath into his large body.

  Oh, yes.

  His whispered thought drifted into her mind, and she captured it and held it to her heart. He wanted this.

  A long shudder ran through his body, and for a moment he closed those magnetic eyes. He leaned back his head, and inhaled again. Fists clenching, he resembled a sacrifice awaiting torture. Her special brand of intimate torment.

  As he opened his eyes, that glittering glow illuminated them, this time hotter, wilder than before. “Touch me, lass. I want to feel your hands all over me.”

  His request, filled with desperation, turned her on. She complied, wanting more than life itself to give him as much pleasure as she could. Lack of control snared her in a fiery, free exploration. The craving for more pumped through her veins—more touching, more fire.

  The force to create.

  As Lachlan devoured her with kisses, her hands explored the contours of his brawny, hair-covered chest. Heat poured from him, generated by the pure screaming longing to make love.

  Yes, lass. Nothing else will do.

  He lay back on the couch, drawing her on top of him and cupping her ass in each hand. He squeezed gently, and Erin couldn’t deny the way her body tightened and released with a forceful need to have him deep inside her as he pounded out his lust. He arched upward, nestling her against the hard evidence of his cock. She gasped into his mouth, and he tilted his hips upward again, instigating a primal rhythm that simulated sexual joining.

  God, I want him!

  Lachlan heard her thought and the pleasure rushed through him. He’d worried about her, desperate to keep her from harm. Now that he had her in his arms, he never wanted to let her go. He sent a thought back to her. I want you, too.

  Lachlan saw the flush spread over Erin’s face. This overwhelming attraction and affection he felt transformed into a starvation for her that was far more powerful. Once he’d endured Erin’s mistrust, but now she realized he wasn’t the ancient one. She was safe in his arms. He wanted her lips parted in ecstasy as he showed how he needed her and how she burned him with desire. Now, the truth came out, and she realized he was her protector, he could worship Erin until she cried out for orgasm.

  Ronan would be here soon, and together they would fight the ancient one and keep Erin safe. That solidifying thought pushed all worries out of Lachlan’s mind so he could love Erin the way she deserved to be loved.

  Whatever force brought them together, he would keep her near and show her how much she meant to him every time he sank deep into her wet heat. His cock tightened and hardened more, and he died a little each minute he didn’t thrust inside her sweet, hot body. He thought he’d once loved his fiancé, but now he realized what he felt for Erin far surpassed the desire he’d experienced for Sharon.

  Lachlan drew Erin against him, his hands moving over her in a restless search—her arms, her back, her neck, her face, sliding down to her hips. Again he tilted his hips against her, a ravaging drive for her nakedness against him.

  “I need you,” he managed to choke out.

  Erin loved that he felt so intensely for her. But she had to know one thing. “Are you…is this a part of your powers? Can you make a woman want you against her will?”

  He drew back and the sexual haze in his eyes transformed into a frown. “God, lass, is that what you think? That I’d force you to have sex with me?”

  Shame made her flush. “No. No, of course not. It’s just that, when we first met, the sexual pull for me was staggering. When we were between the bookshelves and you made me so crazy with desire…”

  “Yes?”

  “That wasn’t normal. I don’t do things like that.”

  A feral grin curved his mouth, sensuous and damn right sexy. “That’s something else I have to apologize for. I can influence a woman to allow me near her. And I was desperate to touch you and kiss you. I can’t automatically control it. The vampire uses his power to attract victims. My power is not nearly that strong. ”

  Doubt made her wary. She pushed out of his arms and started to climb off of him. “Lachlan Tavish—”

  “Wait, wait.” He grasped her arms, his fingers gentle, and as he sat up he said, “Hear me out, please.” He leaned near and whispered into her ear. “Please listen.”

  His tender words, whispered velvet in her ear, made Erin’s entire body shudder in delighted response. She subsided and took a deep breath.

  Lachlan’s eyes went tender, and Erin couldn’t think straight when he did that. “That’s how the vampire held you captive beyond his physical strength. I do not have the power he does to hold you against your will.” His deep voice lowered even more, made husky by a gentleness that melted her bones. “You could look away from me and leave at any time.” He nibbled on her jaw. “I want what is between us to be real and because we want to be near each other.” His hands caressed her shoulders. “What we feel when we’re together is something special, Erin. Not vile and controlling. That first night in the library, maybe my power drew you to me quickly. But once I had you in my arms, what we felt was real.”

  His gaze pleaded with her, and she believed him. “I was attracted to you from the moment I saw you, goofy teeth and all.”

  Lachlan grinned and kissed her again, softly and quickly. “Do you realize how many times I was dying to kiss you when I couldn’t? It was all I could do to keep my
hands off you when others were around. That night in the library, when I first met you, I would have taken you against the bookshelves if no one had been in the building.” He winked. “Maybe we could try that one night.”

  Just the idea of him taking her in a public place, a chance they might be caught, sent a wild fission through her. “I’d like that.” She put her arms around his neck again. She knew that this time there would be no going back. “Here we are, though I can hardly believe it. It’s been so quick, Lachlan—”

  Another mind-numbing kiss held her captive for a minute before he released her. He waited, and Erin could tell he wanted her to make the next move, to show she believed him.

  So she gave Lachlan the answer. She pulled him off the couch and toward her bedroom. He stopped along the way to pull her top over her head. Before she could think about how quickly this was all happening, he backed her up against the wall.

  He leaned close and said with a husky tone, “I adore you.” His arms slid around her waist and drew her tight against a body gone rock-hard. “I want to feel those hot walls around me again and feel them tighten around my cock as you come.”

  Lachlan’s raw words, rough with arousal, made her body moisten. She was already sopping wet, and shaking with desire.

  She took a deep breath and ventured to ask him one question she must know. “Your fiancée. You said she left you?”

  He nodded. “When I tried to explain about the vampire and my new abilities as a result of the bite on the neck, she thought I was insane.” He swallowed hard. His hand slipped through her hair, caressing the back of her neck. “And when she saw the glow in my eyes, it frightened her so much she left England for Australia. I never heard from her again.”

  “She was crazy for leaving you.” The words left her mouth before she could stop them, and now they were out, she felt better for it. “Do you still love her?”

  “No.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “No, lass. I stopped loving her as soon as I realized she didn’t trust me enough to believe me.”

  There it was. The truth of her predicament. If she loved him, Erin knew she must accept his assertions. He told her the truth, and she felt it with soul-stirring conviction. She loved him with a wild passion that went so deep she couldn’t pretend her emotions were fleeting or that this love wasn’t a real, intense worship that would last a lifetime and beyond.

  His hands went to her slacks and made quick work of the button and zipper. As the tweed fabric brushed against her skin and slipped down, the whispery sensation tickled her skin and her belly tightened with excitement.

  “I need you. I want you.” He whispered in her ear again, his hot breath teasing. “Do you trust me?”

  Erin inhaled deeply, taking in his tantalizing scent. She ran her hands up his arms, testing the unbelievable hardness of his muscles. “With all my heart.”

  He groaned, the sound desperate and full of desire. “Thank you, God.”

  Seconds later his hands slipped into the back of her panties, and he tugged them down her legs so she could step out of them. As he cupped her ass, squeezing and stroking, he dove in for another kiss. His tongue took ownership, thrilling her as the driving movements reminded of her of his thick, hot cock moving back and forth inside her.

  Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes!

  You want more, lass?

  Yes. Yes.

  Erin responded with all the love inside her, tangling with him in a tongue-thrusting kiss.

  His breathing came fast and frantic, as if he ran a race to the finish with her as the prize as the end. Tears of sheer happiness welled in her eyes as well as a driving need to scream out to him that she loved him. Still, it stuck in her throat, waiting for the nudge that would push her over the rim.

  As Lachlan broke their kiss, she ran her hands through the thickness of his hair, cherishing the texture and relishing his arousing male scent.

  Without more preliminaries, he dropped to his knees. “Part your legs.”

  She obeyed. He was going to lick her, and the idea sent a rush of arousal running down her leg. Please lick me.

  He responded with a husky moan. As he nudged her legs further apart, she felt the heated brush of his breath against her swollen clit and labia.

  “Oh, shit.” His breathy curse startled her, then he added, “This is so beautiful. All plump and slick.”

  His words, laced with predatory hunger, filled her with pleasure.

  He swept his thumb over her sensitive skin and she gasped. “Oh.”

  Warm and deep, his laugh vibrated in side her.

  She loved him so much.

  As he dipped his head, she felt the first hot lash of his tongue over her wetness. She gasped again. When he nestled closer between her legs and set to serious work, Erin thought her eyes would cross and her breath leave her body forever.

  “Mmmmm.” He murmured against her as his tongue dipped into her body and he held her there, pushing and thrusting his tongue in and out of her tightness. “Mmmmm.”

  In and out. In and out. In and out.

  Then he did the most mind-boggling thing of all. He began to tease her anus with gentle touches of his middle finger, his tongue still at work flicking over her labia and clit. He tormented her for a long time. His tongue fucked her with ruthless touches that made her jiggle against his mouth in anguish. Sighs, moans and soft grunts parted her lips. Beyond caring, she let her feelings take the fore.

  Her head rolled from side to side, her body supported by the wall and his hands as he feasted between her legs. Although feasting didn’t quite describe it.

  No, his tongue was a conquering invader.

  When he parted the soft, hot folds over her clit, she knew what he meant to do next and her breath caught. He flicked his tongue over her clit, a fast movement that made her sob out in sweet ecstasy. Again her hips jerked in his grip, and unable to keep still, she reached down and grasped his head in her hands. Erin thought she would die as the continual movement of his tongue caressed her ultra sensitive labia and clit. Then, slow and with exquisite gentleness, he eased his finger into her anus.

  She couldn’t think. She could scarcely breathe.

  Heat slammed into her clit, and Erin writhed against his mouth. His hot breath puffed against her wetness as he licked her insistently and moved his finger in her ass.

  As his lips latched onto her clit and he sucked, Erin let out a startled oath of incredible bliss. “Oh, shit. Shit!”

  Without remorse he suckled that tiny piece of flesh until she could no longer stand it. He inched his finger up her anus a little bit farther, moving with a back and forth gentle thrust.

  “Lachlan.” Her breath shuddered out of her lungs. “Please do something. Please.”

  He released her clit for a second.

  She shivered.

  He licked.

  Heat sliced through her cunt, building, building, building.

  He licked again and moved his finger.

  Erin keened, ending on a screech as orgasm roared through her unmercifully. Fire erupted through her lower limbs and up her body as she wept in ecstasy. Her muscles clenched as he held her.

  He sucked her still tingling clit deep into his mouth.

  She couldn’t help it; she let her cries rip as the second teeth-grinding climax burst.

  As her body shuddered and quaked, he sucked and sucked and sucked until a third orgasm flamed high up inside her cunt, and Erin thought she would come unsealed forever. By the time she came down from the plateau, her breath sluiced through her lungs. As she panted, dazed from passion, he released her and picked her up in his arms. No more time for play.

  This was serious.

  When he set her down by the bed, Erin hadn’t regained her breath. Lachlan helped her slip off the bra. He chucked it across the room. Naked, she lay back on the bed and watched as he wrenched off his shoes, then removed his pants and briefs. As his rippling muscles glided over her softness, even in the shadowed room, she saw the heat in his eyes t
hat proved his passion and emotions ran high.

  As his sinew-thick thighs lowered between her legs and his cock touched her, his voice came harsh with passion. “Now.”

  With one smooth thrust, he wedged through her aching folds, burrowing deep.

  Filled to bursting, she moaned and started to thrash against him. Her hands clenched his back and clasped desperately at his wide shoulders. She found Lachlan’s tight butt and dug into his cheeks. Wrapping her legs around his hips, she pushed up in counter to his movements.

  He growled and slipped his arms around her so they were plastered together without an inch of skin to part them. His hips plunged and thrust until his motion caught her up and lifted her into the heavens.

  “Oh, Lachlan.” She cried out at the exquisite sensation of having his spike-hard cock drilling inside her.

  “Fuck,” he growled and yanked out of her.

  “What?”

  “No condom.” His chest heaved with fast breaths. “We’ve got to have one.”

  “Some in the bathroom, top drawer on the right,” she managed to say as he headed that direction.

  She heard the drawer slide open and the ripping of a condom package. Seconds later he settled between her legs and took her with a stabbing thrust that made her cry out and arch up against his body.

  He kissed her as he stirred his hips, grinding into motion. As thick, hot cock rasped against her sensitive walls, she whimpered with excitement. As the seconds lengthened, he kept the gentle thrusts long and deep, back and forth. Each languid movement of his body sent a myriad of sensations through her hungry body. A body desperate for a skull-splitting orgasm.

  Again and again he sank into her until she didn’t know where Lachlan started and she ended. Ebb and flow moved between them, and it felt to Erin as gentle as a breeze and as never-ending as a wave against the shore.

  As the tender, exquisitely slow movement of his body inside her escalated, she could no longer keep her frantic longing from showing.

  Erin told Lachlan exactly what she must have. “Harder. Harder!”