17
Nightshade drewin a shuddering breath at Merc’s intense sincerity. He meant every single word he said. She knew he wouldn’t hesitate even half a second to lay down his life for her for those she loved.
“Why?” God she hated the way her voice trembled.
Merc cupped her cheek with his powerful hands, cradling her jaw as gently as someone would a newborn baby. “I can't explain it. I've never felt it before, but I trust my instincts and everything inside of me wants every single part of you.”
His warmth heated her like the sun on a perfect July day. She felt hot from the inside out, branded by his touch. She desperately clutched the desk behind her as she fought for control. “I don't understand it either.”
His head inched lower, a lock of midnight black hair falling across his forehead. “I don't think this is something we’re meant to understand. I think it just is.” And then his mouth closed over hers and she stopped thinking entirely.
She wanted him like she'd never wanted anything else in her life, like every cell in her body was incomplete without him. But why? Why didn't she hate him or at least have that cold indifference she typically felt toward her enemies?
“You taste so sweet.” Merc peppered kisses across her jaw and she threaded her fingers through his hair, yanking her mouth back to his.
She'd never been one to sit compliantly to the side and wait for someone else to take action. She made a decision and she followed through. And she knew in that moment, just like she knew the sun would rise tomorrow, that she would be with Merc today. No, it wasn't part of her mission. In fact, it was completely counterproductive to it, except for the fact that she couldn't think straight when he was near. She needed to find out what this all-consuming need meant, and hopefully remove it from her system.
Then she could focus on her team...
He nipped her bottom lip and she groaned out loud. He lifted her onto the desk, setting her down hard, and shoved her knees wide, nestling himself between her spread legs. She felt his hardness, knew what it was and wanted more. She grinded her hips up and down, seeking to soothe the fire inside but only flaming it higher. He shoved her to her back, his lips never leaving hers, bowing her head and neck over the narrow desk. She locked her ankles around his waist, her arms around his neck, and held on for more. His tongue thrust in her mouth, his head slanting, and she countered each move. He tasted all man, smelled like it too — raw and masculine and full of power.
One hand scraped down her side, the pressure hard, abrading her sensitive flesh and she twisted, putting her breast into his palm, remembering how his lips had felt there last night. Merc kneaded her breast through the thin fabric of her shirt, and she shoved at his shoulders, finally breaking through the haze surrounding them long enough to pull her shirt up to her neck.
He was panting just as much as she was, staring down at her chest, enraptured. A surge of feminine power urged her hand to gently tug the cup of her bra down and reveal her nipple to him. Under his gaze the bud tightened painfully, needing his lips around it. She arched up. “Please.”
In a move that shocked her, he yanked her bra up and her shirt down, his fingers winding around her waist as he pulled her from the desk and marched from the room, pulling her along behind him. “Merc, stop. What are you doing? Did I do something wrong?”
He didn't answer, just drove forward like a freight train. She tugged against him with all her strength, but she didn’t slow his progress. His power awed her.
He slammed into her bedroom, locking the doors only to then span his hands around her waist, his fingertips touching as he propelled her backwards onto the bed. He landed on top of her, holding most of his massive weight up on his arms. In a lightning fast move, he ripped her shirt off of her and cast it to the floor, leaving her panting with erotic pleasure at his dominance.
“Either you take off the bra or I’m ripping it, too.” His harsh voice rasped across her skin, driving her wild.
With fumbling fingers, she tore at the clasp, somehow managing to unhook her bra and toss it across the room. By the time her back touched the sheet again, his mouth was around her nipple, drawing hard. She felt his teeth, with just enough pressure that it sucked the air from her lungs, freezing her to the spot with intense pleasure.
“More.” She urged him on and he drew even harder, the pleasure bordering on pain so intense her toes curled.
Just like the night before, he lavished the same attention to both her breasts, nipping and licking and sucking until she was a writhing mass of need. She pushed his shoulders until he leaned back far enough for her to grab the hem of his shirt and tug it up over his chest. He lifted his arms, helping her when her arms weren’t long enough to reach the tips of his fingers, and then she fell back, mesmerized in helpless wonder at the broad expanse of his shoulders.
With his long black hair wild and tumbling around his face, a shadow of a beard on his wide, strong jaw, and his scarred, heavily muscled chest, he was every inch a warrior. A soldier. A mercenary. And though she’d never dreamed of being intimate with a man, she knew their joining was meant to be.
Hand trembling, she reached up to trace a long narrow scar that stretched from his left shoulder across his pec. “What happened here?” She tried to keep her tone light but failed miserably.
Merc captured her hand in his, kissing the tips of her fingers one by one before he answered, “Knife fight with an African slave trader.”
“I take it you won?”
“What do you think?” He nipped her pinky and her hips arched involuntarily off the bed.
“I think you're the strongest most beautiful man I've ever seen.” Multiple other small scars crisscrossed his chest, proof that he was a warrior. Just like her.
His head dropped to hers. “No one's ever called me beautiful before. I think we need to have your eyes examined.” She heard the sincerity in his words, along with the dawning loneliness she recognized from her own experience.
She clasped his face in her palms. “You are beautiful. You are strong. You are honorable.”
His hands covered her own. “And you are strong. You are brave. And you're the most stunning creature I've ever seen. I'm so happy I found you.” He lowered his lips, brushing his mouth across hers in a feather-light kiss before lifting his head again. “And I promise, I'll stay by your side and protect you.”
“I don't need protecting right now. I just need you.”
