“Which is it?” he inquired.
“I don’t know.”
Her broken admission, and the torn way itslid from her lips, pulled at his heart. He was causing her thisanguish, and though she was driving him just as mad, he couldn’ttear her apart in this way. He went to pull away, but her fingerscontinued to dig into him. Her eyes were dazed when she tilted herhead back to look up at him. His fingers slid through her hair,pushing it away from her face as he bent to press a tender kissagainst her trembling lips.
“Tell me no,” he murmured against herlips.
“And you’ll find someone else.” She barelyspoke the words as her mouth grazed his. Her heart plummeted, hecouldn’t leave, but she didn’t know if she could be the one heneeded.
He shuddered, the idea of another woman, onewho didn’t smell of apples and sex, made his stomach turn. Thehard-on throbbing against his jeans began to shrink. “No. I need arelease, but I only want you. No one else will do.” She did adouble take as she gazed at him. “You have to tell me what you wantnow.”
What did she want?Him, her bodyscreamed at her. That was what she wanted, and with an intensitybordering on insanity. She longed to tear the clothes from hisbody, from her, and press her flesh against his, feel him inside ofher and over her. Her body screamed this answer at her, but hermind called her an idiot. There were so many other women in hispast, she’d seen part of his parade of conquests and he’d admittedthere had been countless others. She couldn’t be just another oneof the many. Her pride wouldn’t allow it. His vampire status didn’tmatter. She’d already come to realize he was no monster; no, it washis status as a man holding her back now.
“You, I want you,” she admitted. “But Iwon’t be, and Icannotbe, like all those other women.”
“I can assure you, Paige, you are nothinglike any of the others. It’s impossible for you to be.” He bent lowand pressed a kiss against her cheek. “You’re different to me, sodifferent.” As he spoke the words, he knew they were true, but hewas too caught up in her heady scent to think about theimplications of what he’d said.
His hand began to rub her through her jeansagain. She’d been determined to resist him, instead her eyesdrifted closed and a small moan escaped her. The man may not beevil, but to her, he was the devil incarnate. A temptation toogreat to refuse. His hands were pure sin, and they should be withall the practice they’d had.
That realization sobered her up, but beforeshe could protest his other arm slid around her waist. A gaspescaped her when he lifted her up and spun her so she was facingthe wall in one, fluid motion. Her eyes flew open; her handspressed against the wall as his massive body enveloped hers frombehind. The heat of him encompassed her. His muscles bunched andflexed as his fingers fluidly undid the button on her jeans. Herbreath shuddered out of her when his palm slipped inside of herunderwear to cup her.
“Wait!” she panted. “I can’t… I don’t know…”Words completely failed her.
Ian felt a subtle stiffening in her body.She couldn’t pull away, not now, not when he was so close to beinginside of her in some small way. “Let me please you,” he gratedthrough his teeth. “I’m not asking for sex; I only want to touchyou, to feelyourpleasure.”
Paige shuddered, and then her thighs thathad tightened at his touch, eased. The yielding of her body againsthis caused a rumble of satisfaction to escape him. A sense ofpossession filled him when he pulled her flush against hiserection. Her ass fit snugly against his cock, her hands flattenedon the wall when he slid his finger into her. The tightness of hermuscles, and her heat enveloped him. His dick jumped at the thoughtof those muscles clenching around it as he began to deliberatelyslide his finger in and out of her.
Thinking was a thing of the past as he movedwithin her, and his palm worked against her clit. She didn’t knowhow she remained standing, the pleasure swamping her caused herlegs to shake. His warm breath tickled her neck and stirred herhair when his lips slid over her neck, leaving a trail of kissesacross her flesh. His fangs scraped her skin, instead offrightening her though, the rough sensation of them sent her lustspiraling higher. His other hand slid up to her breast; his palmcupping her as he kneaded her sensitive flesh.
“Do you like this?” he inquired as histongue ran over her ear. Was she supposed to answer that? Was shesupposed to be able to form words at all? Because right now theycompletely failed her. “Imagine if it was my dick inside of you,stretching you, filling you. Imagine how amazing it would feel tohave me sliding in and out of you, taking you,possessingyou.”
The vivid pictures his words evoked dancedacross her mind. A strangled cry escaped her when he slid anotherfinger into her, stretching her further. It could be him withinher; all she had to do was say yes. The word lodged in her throat.Her breath came in rapid pants and her head bowed. The massivelength of his erection pressed against her ass; his hips set up arocking motion against hers. She eagerly met his movements as hisfingers slid in and out of her with the rhythm of his hips. Hisheated mouth slid over her skin, down to her shoulder.
Her fingers curled into the wood of thewall; bits of it broke away beneath her hand. His breath becamemore rapid against her ear. He nipped at it before swirling histongue over her flesh and sucking upon it. “I’d have you begging meto stop, and then pleading with me to continue,” he said in aragged voice.
She was on the verge of that now as his handbecame more incessant, and he pushed her toward the brink ofsomething she welcomed and feared. “Ian!”
“Fucking you, relentlessly, endlessly.” Witheach word his fingers drove deeper into her, his palm rubbed moreinsistently against her. A part of her tried to withdraw from theoverwhelming sensations, but the unremitting press of his bodyagainst hers wouldn’t allow her to. “Can you imagine it, Paige? Canyou feel it?”
“Yes!” she cried.
With that word he drove his fingers into herand rubbed her clit in such a way that she couldn’t hold backanymore. Her hips jerked forward; her knees gave out as spams ofpleasure wracked her body. He grabbed hold of her waist, holdingher up before she collapsed in a heap on the floor. She couldn’tthink, her mind spun, it took everything she had not to sink to thefloor, but he continued to stroke her refusing to allow her torelax. She released a guttural shout as he pushed her to higherheights before sending her spiraling out of control again.
She was still trying to catch her breath andget her bearings, when he spun her around and flattened her againstthe wall. She didn’t think she would ever come back to earth again,when she cracked her eyes open to look at him. His eyes were themost beautifully bright blue she’d ever seen as they burned intohers. Holding her gaze, he lifted his fingers to his lips andlicked them leisurely.
“Delicious,” he murmured savoring in thesweet taste of her on his fingers. “But I knew you would be.”
Paige’s heart thumped against her ribs. Theman had just made her orgasm twice, and yet those words made herwant to jump him all over again. Beads of sweat dotted hisforehead; she felt liked she’d taken a handful of valium, butstrain radiated from him. Some of her euphoria faded away when hebent to place a tender kiss on her forehead.
“Wait,” she whispered when he started toturn away. “Where are you going?”
A sardonic smile curved the edges of hismouth. “Unless you plan to jerk me off, to the bathroom.” Thesaliva in her mouth vanished. He took hold of her hand and placedit against his dick again. “Do you? Because I can assure you I’dmuch prefer to have your hand wrapped around me than my own.”
L.J. had never been this forward, thisbrazen or sexual, and this manoozedsexuality from everyone of his pores. She and L.J. had both been fumbling, bumblingvirgins in the beginning. Neither had really known what they weredoing. It had always been a pleasurable, comforting experience, butsex with L.J. had never been as erotically charged and satisfyingas this one experience with Ian had been.
Unable to resist, she stroked her hand overthe rigid flesh pressing against his jeans. A low groan escapedhim; his hands rested against the wall on both sides of her head.His body shuddered when her hand slid over him again. “Don’t teaseme, Paige,” he grated through his teeth. “If you keep going, you’regoing to finish what you start, otherwise let me walk away fromhere now. There’s only so much I can take, only so much restraint Ihave.”
She couldn’t catch her breath, not when hisunraveling restraint shone in his striking eyes, compressed lips,and the sweat trickling down his temple.Shewas doing thisto this man, one of the most powerful beings she’d ever comeacross. He could break her neck before she ever saw him move; yetshe held him in the palm of her hand, literally and figuratively.For the first time, she felt the more powerful of the two, and shereveled in that power. The realization aroused her almost as muchas his fingers inside of her had.
