The urge to protect her rose inside him, as did the desire to possess her. As the two feelings warred inside him, he shrugged off his jacket and hung it on a branch. Freeing the links from his cuffs, he dropped them into the jacket’s pocket. “Why don’t we take a swim first?”
“You want to give me time to think about it,” she guessed. “I won’t change my mind.”
His jaded palate didn’t stand a chance. “You might want to undress,” he suggested as she walked to the water’s edge.
Turning her head, she looked over her shoulder at him with an expression that was unconsciously pure siren. “You might want to undress me,” she countered in a voice that definitely seduced him.
Only now did he realize how much compliance had bored him in the past. It would be a mistake for him to think Celina unsophisticated in every respect. Her thoughts were busy. She would do nothing without a good reason, including having sex with him. She’d seen more horrors than most people twice her age, and as they stared at each other, he noticed what his colleagues must have seen when they hired her. Beneath her fragile-looking shell, Celina was tempered steel. She was no innocent at the mercy of a practiced seducer, but a woman who knew her own mind. “So, what’s your angle?” he asked.
“My angle?” she demanded with affront. “Do I need an angle? Isn’t a simple thank-you enough?”
“Forgive me,” he commented dryly, “but there isn’t anything remotely simple about the type of thanks you have in mind.”
“If you’d rather not—”
“Did I say that?” he interrupted. “But you have to be straight with me.”
She firmed her jaw. “One night. That’s all I’m asking. One night of pleasure.”
A betraying swallow gave her away. She could act bold all she liked, but this was a big deal for her. “One entire night?” He held back a smile.
Lifting her chin, she demanded, “Do you have a problem with that?”
Only that he rarely woke with a lover in the morning. He’d usually exhausted their potential well before dawn.
“Well?” Celina pressed, staring intently at him.
“You’re still wearing a dress,” he pointed out.
“I’m waiting for you to undress me,” she countered.
Chapter Four
Celina had slipped the straps from her shoulders and let her dress fall to the ground before he had chance to move. His body responded as if he had never seen a naked woman before. The perfection of her form was startling. She was so pale, so young, so innocent, and so undeniably sensual. She was undiscovered treasure. He’d have to be wood from the neck up not to respond. She was clever to plan this. It was a definite ruse, though one he was happy to go along with for now. The quality of her flimsy lace underwear gave her away. It must have cost at least a week’s salary. Was this to thank him, as she’d said, or was there more behind Celina Petrovka’s rush to lose whatever might remain of her innocence?
His cock didn’t care, and thrust aggressively against his zipper. Then his head took over. What was her clock ticking so rapidly toward? Why the hurry?
Holding her stare, he stripped naked. He had no inhibitions, had never seen any reason for them. All men were made alike, more or less.
Walking to the water’s edge, he plunged in. Celina was still on the bank when he surfaced. Shaking hair out of his eyes, he looked up. “Found the water too hot now you’ve dipped your toe?”
“Not at all,” she assured him.
Joining him in the water, she swam to his side with a few strong strokes. Turning onto her back, she floated effortlessly beside him. “This is beautiful, isn’t it?” She stared skyward to where the moon was peeping through the canopy.
“You’re beautiful.” It was no more than the truth.
She ignored the compliment. “I want to thank you for what you did for us in Monte Carlo. Not just for me, but for all those other women. I don’t know if any of us would have survived if your team hadn’t arrived when they did.”
“The odds were stacked against you,” he agreed.
Turning her head, she gazed at him. “Please don’t tell me that what you did was nothing.”
“I wasn’t about to.”
“Or that you wouldn’t do it again.”
“In a heartbeat,” he assured her, noting the way she relaxed.
“And thank you for assuming I know my own mind.”
“I’d be surprised if you didn’t.”
The faint smile she gave at this remark made the urge to kiss her fierce. Only knowing the pleasure would be greater if he waited stopped him. “Monte Carlo was an interesting mission,” he said instead. “You were interesting.”
“And now?” she queried.
“Even more interesting.”
“Sometimes, I can’t believe I’m here,” she admitted. “The job with the team? I was so lucky to be hired.”
He disagreed. “You earned your place on the team with your courage in Monte Carlo.”
“I wasn’t brave, I was terrified. I didn’t know if I had what it took to do what I must.”
“None of us knows that until we’re tested,” he pointed out. “And now you’re angry with the slavers and the torment they put you through.”
“Angry?” She huffed incredulously. “That hardly covers it.”
“Anger in a situation like yours isn’t a bad thing, so long as it’s controlled and directed appropriately. It’s a natural reaction. Don’t beat yourself up.”
They had swum almost to the opposite bank, but now she turned around and swam back to where they’d left their clothes. When she clambered out, her underwear was sodden. She might as well have been naked. She tried to cover herself with her arms, then thought better of it, and, tossing back her hair, she stood tall.
The water had left her body with a silvery sheen that made her look like a creature of the night. Her long dark hair provided a striking contrast to her milk-white skin, and only the slightest tremor of her lips gave away the fact that she was nervous. This adventure with a man she hardly knew was costing her a lot, maybe everything. “Do you want me to take you back to the party?” he offered.
“Are you rejecting me?”
She looked genuinely concerned. Her naivety touched him. Springing onto the bank, he stood in front of her.
She stared up. “I’ll be seriously offended if you take me back to the party.”
He curbed a smile. “There’s no need to be offended.”
“If you’re having second thoughts—”
“I’m not having second thoughts.”
The tension between them was unsustainable; then she ramped it up by peeling off her underwear. Her limbs were slender and white. Her buttocks as she turned around, as if to display them, were plump and pink, while her breasts were as full as he could wish. Her nipples showed darkly erect against her moonlit skin, while the pouting mound between her legs was as smooth as silk. More evidence of her preparation for tonight, he suspected. She was giving him quite a show, he mused as she turned around a second time. She was leaving nothing to chance. She wanted him and wasn’t afraid to show it. She was asking him as plainly as she could for sex. He was prepared to oblige, but an unusual reaction was stirring inside him, which was the desire to protect her. From him.
“Are you cold?” he asked as a sudden shiver gripped her.
“Not if you hold me. Shared warmth,” she explained. “Will you?”
Taking Celina into his arms was more of a shock than he’d anticipated. Lust raged through him. She felt so good beneath his hands, so supple and firm, and the chill of the water wasn’t the only reason she was shivering, he concluded as her nipples pressed against his naked chest.
He soothed her, stroking her back and murmuring in his own language. His intentions toward her were a dangerous mix of hunger and caring. He had to pull away in his head. He didn’t do close. His life as a vigilante didn’t allow for it. He couldn’t act with decisiveness in the field if someone was worrying ab
out him back home. His colleague, Alexei, had assured him that love could change a man’s mind. He’d had to make allowances for the fact that Alexei and Dante, another player on the team, had just found love. He told them in no uncertain terms that Cupid didn’t stand a chance where he was concerned.
Celina had stopped shivering and now she was taut with anticipation. Half his size, and yet they fit together perfectly. His body craved release. He used sex to blank his mind to the horrors he’d seen. Why shouldn’t she do the same?
~~o0o~~
She shivered with arousal beneath the touch of Diego’s hands. This was everything she’d anticipated and more. Since he’d rescued her from the cellar, Diego making love to her had preoccupied her thoughts. Knowing she was going back into danger and that she needed him to follow her if she wanted to survive meant cramming in everything she imagined a normal couple might take their time to explore over days or weeks or even months. If she told him what she planned to do, she’d no doubt he’d stop her any way he could. But he didn’t know, and she would risk this one night with him to bind him to her side. Love didn’t come into it. She wasn’t even sure she knew what love was, but she did know she could live without it.
Can I?
Yes. This was enough. It would be enough for any woman, she thought as she stared at Diego. Clothed, he was a fabulous sight. Naked, he was off the scale. This was definitely sex, pure and simple.
“Where are you now?” he asked with amusement as she firmed her jaw.
“With you.”
“Your mind was somewhere else.”
Moving in his arms, she worked her body against his. He felt amazing, and every nerve ending stood to attention when Diego groaned.
“What are you doing to me, Celina?”
“Seducing you?”
He laughed, and then his mouth was on hers, testing, teasing, his teeth gently nipping before his tongue persuaded her lips to part when he became firmly demanding. She responded with fire. Diego’s kisses were beyond anything she could have imagined. His tongue plundered while his lips seduced, and his warm, minty breath stole hers away. Her body craved him, and when he ground against her, she cried out loud, begging for more.
“You want more?” he murmured, watching her intently.
“I want everything,” she gasped out.
Lowering her to the ground, he observed, “At least you’ve stopped shaking.”
She turned to look at him as he stretched out his length against hers. He was such an impressive sight. “I can’t believe you’re surprised I’ve stopped shaking. You’re a heat conductor. If you were still in the water, it would be sizzling.”
He laughed and grabbed hold of her.
Let the bond between us strengthen, she thought.
“I’m taking over,” Diego growled against her neck, making her writhe uncontrollably with arousal. But right next to hope sat the fear of loss.
Blanking doubt, she reached up to trace the wide spread of his shoulders. Freeing the chunky waves of damp black hair catching on his stubble, she whispered, “I won’t change my mind.”
“Slowly,” he advised as she reached for him.
She gulped and withdrew. “I think you had better take over.”
“Take me between your breasts and bring me off. Ease the pressure so I can concentrate on you,” he explained when she sucked in a shocked breath. “Like this.”
She held her breasts tightly around his cock, which freed his hands to touch her.
“Everything you want and more,” he promised, moving faster, and with more intent.
She cried out with each thrust. As the urge to satisfy him grew, she came closer to climax. She would do anything to please him, and in pleasing him, it was as if she was pleasuring herself. Watching the smooth tip of his erection plunge repeatedly into the dark shadow between her breasts was the most arousing thing she’d ever seen.
“Now!” she said, feeling him tense. And then she came too.
Mutual release hit them in violent, body-rocking waves. Diego called out her name at the moment of release. That touched her. She hadn’t expected it. It was a battle to remain objective. She had to remember there was one goal and one goal only, and that was to return to Eastern Europe to find Marissa with the Blood and Thunder team. Emotion couldn’t be involved. But it was, it was!
~~o0o~~
He lowered Celina into the coolness of the pond and wrapped her hands around him. “Work me.” He showed her how. One release wasn’t enough to blunt his hunger. He needed more to give her the experience she deserved.
Her breathing quickened, and she began to move with him. The water had failed to cool either of them. They moved steadily, rhythmically, faster and faster, slipping on the mud beneath their feet, so it became a crazy, desperate ride to the finish. Finding his grip on a smooth stone lodged in the shallows of the pond, he steadied her and held her close. “Cup my balls. Gently. Yes,” he hissed between his teeth. “Like that. Exactly like that.”
She seemed to know instinctively what to do, and he roared with pleasure as she brought him release. “And now it’s your turn,” he told her when he could.
Chapter Five
Diego remained erect even when she loosened her grip on him. “Don’t you ever tire?”
His mouth curved appealingly. “I guess we’ll find out.”
The water fell away in a great rush as he lifted her into his arms. He held her close to his heart. She could feel it beating slow and strong as he carried her to the bank. She would have been happy to stay in his arms forever, but as always, reality intruded. She had to make sure that he wanted her enough. She had to draw that bond tight.
“I don’t want to think or to speak for the next few hours,” she admitted as she stared into his face. “You’ve programmed me for pleasure.”
“That was my intention,” Diego admitted as he settled her back on her feet. “But now I want you to tell me exactly what you need. Describing what you want in detail will add to your enjoyment.”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
“Maybe,” he conceded, pressing his lips down as he appeared to consider this. His tone hardened. “But I want to hear you say it.”
She felt suddenly vulnerable standing naked in front of him without the water to act as her cloak. What he wanted her to do was quite shocking. But necessary, she told herself firmly. “I need you to fuck me in as many ways as you can.”
“That you enjoy,” he added as a rider. “It’s important,” he insisted. “Go on,” he prompted.
“I want you to ease the ache you started.”
“And touch you where?”
She showed him shyly.
“Lie down,” he instructed. “I want to look at you.”
Settling onto the mossy ground, she stroked her hands over the undulating surface before returning her touch to her own body. The bank felt damp and scratchy, while she felt cool from the water, but deliciously smooth. Arching her back, she thrust her naked breasts toward him. Pinching her nipples into arrogant peaks, she stared into his eyes, daring him to resist the urge to suckle. To her disappointment, he didn’t move. He simply raised a brow, suggesting she carry on, and so she moved her hands slowly over the swell of her belly, bringing them to rest at the apex of her thighs.
“Touch yourself,” Diego commanded softly. “Show me what you do when it’s dark and you’re alone in bed. Show me what you like. I want to watch as you pleasure yourself.”
“I can’t,” she protested, realizing too late that her boldness had put her in a really deep hole.
“Of course you can,” he argued quietly.
“But why can’t you touch me, show me—”
“Like this?”
“Exactly like that,” she exclaimed on a shaking breath as Diego hunkered down by her side and took over.
His hand, his touch… Thrashing her head on the ground, she fought to draw sufficient breath into her lungs. Parting her legs, she allowed him better access. The sensation wa
s indescribable. Applying the lightest pressure with the slightly roughened pad of his forefinger, he found her and quickly brought her to the edge. But once she was hovering and more than ready to fall, he took his hand away.
“No,” she exclaimed in an agony of frustration.
“Now it’s your turn,” he insisted.
“I can’t. Not in front of you.”
“I say you can.” Guiding her hand, he proved this to be the case.
At first she resisted and tried to close her mind to sensation, telling herself that she would not be reduced to begging for release. But she did beg. She did feel. She did need, and she certainly pleaded with him. “Now, oh, please, now…now!” she begged as Diego increased the pressure of his hand over hers.
She fell at once, bucking so violently at the moment of release that he had to hold her down with one hand while he worked her with the other. When she quieted, he took hold of her wrists and pinned them above her head. “Again?” he suggested, smiling into her eyes.
“Yes!” She had no inhibitions left. Her only thought was to repeat the experience as many times as she could. She widened her legs a little more, loving the wet sounds his skill had produced as she invited him to give her more.
“What’s your hurry?” he demanded as he continued to tease her with touches that were far too light. “We’ve got all night.”
He might have all night, but she had to get away as soon as she could. And before then, she had more technical preparations to make. “You’re the hurry,” she insisted. “I need this, and I don’t see why I should have to wait.”
Her comment made him laugh. Wrapping her in his arms, he kissed her deeply, tenderly, searchingly, almost as if he really was making love to her rather than just having sex. Emotion came back like a drowning wave, and all the feelings she’d bottled up for years came pouring out.
“Tears?” Diego said with surprise as he caught one on his thumb pad.
She would not disgrace herself by crying openly like a child simply because this was her first experience of tenderness.
Spaniard Untamed Page 3
