Chapter 12
CONNOR’Stouch was assertive, almost rough. Needy.
Thank God.
She couldn’t get enough of it.
Elaine had been handled with such delicacy the past few months. She was sick of being treated like a breakable doll. As a full-grown shifter woman, one with a hormonal carnivore dwelling inside her, she craved the brave caress of a man who understood her strength. Leave it to Connor to realize it when no one else did. As he threw her around on the bed, holding her down with powerful arms, her heart soared.
“Yes. More.”
His dark eyes took on the brighter aspect of his mountain lion’s eyes. “Do you like how I touch you?”
She nodded. “Don’t be gentle, Connor, please. I can’t handle it if you’re gentle with me.”
He gazed at her for a long time, his face inscrutable. He slid his hand behind her neck and tugged gently on her hair. “When I take you, it’ll be hard. I plan to leave my own marks on you.”
He took her mouth in a ruthless kiss, nipping at every piece of flesh. Dragging his tongue along her neck, he tangled his fist in her hair. Needing to administer her own sort of tough love, she ran her hands down to his buttocks and scratched him there.
She would see to it he wore her marks as well.
When she scratched him again, he nipped her on the shoulder. “You think you’re in charge here, lady?”
“In a way. I think you would do anything to please me.”
“I would, but I know what you need right now, and it has nothing to do with sweetness and tenderness. You’re not getting off easy, Elaine. I’ve been dreaming of this moment, and you’ll take everything I have to give.”
“Give it to me.”
He wrapped his hand around her jaw. “First, this mouth. I want this mouth.” Connor kissed her with urgency. There was no exploration in his kiss, no tentativeness. If they’d kissed in any other situation, there might have been more of a tease involved, a learning process. He might have started off slow, gleaning what she liked.
Not this time.
He embraced her like a man who’d lost out on a multitude of kisses and who didn’t know if he might ever get another. He kissed like a man who understood life could be short, brutal, and unfair.
In his fevered grip and quick breaths, she also tasted a desire for a new life. He whispered her name as if it was the most haunting music in the world. As he tasted her over and over, he nudged her legs open and claimed the space between them. Bracing himself on his forearms, he palmed her breasts with greed, plucking at her nipples so hard she was sure the dusky pink tips had turned red.
He slid down to capture one of her nipples in his mouth. Again, there was no elegance, no softness. He sucked and bit, and she didn’t think she’d ever been so grateful for contact. Each draw on her breasts left her panting and hungry for more, and she’d never been wetter in her life.
His nostrils flared. He smelled her potent arousal. She smelled it too.
“Do you need more, sweetheart?”
She nodded.
“That’s not good enough. Tell me.”
“Touch me. Touch me harder.”
Connor rose and sat on the bed. He drew her onto his lap, her back against his chest. Spreading her legs, he hooked them over his own legs, keeping them open. She writhed atop him, but he held her firmly in place.
“Keep your legs spread until I say you can close them.”
Elaine didn’t argue. A part of her needed to be controlled in this way. In her life, she’d felt adrift, lost. She wanted Connor to be her compass. She’d been trying so hard to lead by example for her kids. In this case, for once, she just wanted someone to tell her what to do and she would do it.
His left hand sought out her breast, toying with her nipple once again. His right hand slipped between her thighs. He pinpointed her clit as if it was his home. Elaine closed her eyes and surrendered to feeling.
A shooting star shot across the night sky outside, or so it seemed.
