AB (4 page)

but he moved his finger deeper into her mouth, and she whimpered with even greater

longing as he rubbed her tongue in sensual ministrations.

“So beautifully.”

He bussed her top lip, his finger still in her mouth, quivering. She tasted the briny

sweat, the need stemming from him.

“Dance with me, Sophia.”

The man’s sultry words of desire rolled across her spine, making her toes quiver. The

taste of him in her mouth, the energy emanating from his stalwart torso poisoned her

cries of protest.

He removed his finger from her mouth and cupped her cheeks.

Sophia sighed as he slowly rocked his hips in step to the music. She closed her eyes and

wrapped her fingers around his midriff, matching his thrusts and undulations.

Their bodies moved as one, lilting to the melody. She pressed her breasts against his

wide chest, seeking warmth and comfort. She listened to the man’s deep, even breaths.

She matched his heartbeat, too. Soon they were a single being. Alone in the dark.

Dancing.

“Sweet, Sophia.”

Sophia shivered as he exhaled, his breath stirring her locks in a whimsical fashion. She

had no words. He enveloped her completely: body and mind. And she slipped deeper into

the man’s embrace, her flesh covered with goose bumps.

“I want you,” he whispered.

The blood in her veins burned, her belly ached. There was a profound need budding in

her womb. It pulsed and pleaded with her for surcease. And she sensed that the black

devil would give her the succor she craved, that he would strip the chains holding her

captive and let her spirit run wild and free.

He bussed her brow, leaving a warm mark between her eyes, the imprint of his lips. He

kissed her nose next, still keeping her features pressed between his large palms.

“I’m going to move deep inside you.” He licked her lips. “I’m going to make you

scream with pleasure.”

Sophia gasped for air. She parted her lashes and gazed into the dark and smoldering

pools of his commanding eyes. The distant firelight reflected in the black orbs. She

peered deep into his soul and shuddered at the welcoming warmth she sensed, pulling her

closer, even deeper into his heart.

“Are you a virgin?” he said quietly.

“No.”

“Good.”

The salacious hunger pains in her belly growled. She clasped his wrists, starving for

more intimate contact. However, she wanted to be sure he really desired to be with her,

and she cut him a venomous stare. “If you walk away from me again…”

“I won’t, sweetheart.”

The low, lyrical timbre of his voice made her shudder once more with its musical ring,

and she capitulated. He sensed her surrender as soon as she wistfully sighed, and in one

swift movement, he captured her lips in a savage kiss.

He filled her senses with his breath and being, and she took in every part of him with

ravenous pleasure, savoring the briny moisture from the sea that bathed his skin. She

licked the salt, the rich musk from his pores. She opened her mouth and let him invade

her with his firm, hot tongue.

He steered her body toward an ancient tree, hundreds of years old. It had crashed long

ago in the dense jungle, its mighty roots exposed. He pressed her against the wide log, as

high as her midriff. He moved his sweet lips over her mouth in avid hunger, lifting her

skirt and wedging his narrow waist between her moist thighs.

She groaned. It was pure bliss to feel his robust strength grinding between her legs. She

wanted him to envelop her even more, to crush the listlessness in her heart with his girth

and his passion, to wrench apart the manacles that were keeping her prisoner.

Sophia circled her ankles around his waist, caging him…but he firmly untangled her

legs, forcing her feet apart.

“Are you still fighting for control?” he said between raspy breaths.

She gazed into his dark eyes, so hard…so hot. “I…”

He grazed her cheek with his thumb. “We do this my way.”

She shivered, heart pounding. “And what’s your way?”

“Let me go, Sophia.” He brushed his lips against hers. “Let me show you.”

The man’s tempting words weakened her, making the blood dart through her veins. He

wanted con trol. She didn’t mind giving it to him, though. She was always in charge of the

household, her father. It thrilled her to think she might have the opportunity to submit to

him, to let him be in command of her senses, her body.

She loosened her fierce grip around his neck.

He kissed her softly again. “Spread your legs.”

She obeyed, sweat soaking her garment, cooling her fevered flesh.

“Lift your skirt higher.”

Slowly Sophia lifted the hem, letting the fabric skim across her calves, her knees,

tickling her, making her shudder.

“That’s better,” he said softly. He moved his large hand across her breast, her thumping

heart. “Stay open for me.”

He rubbed her breast in smooth, titillating strokes, leaving her quim untouched. She

cooed with pleasure to feel the cool jungle mist at her throbbing clit…and the sultry heat

from James’s strapping figure.

“Yes, like that.” He moved his lips across her stiff nipple. “Stay wide open for me.”

Sophia quivered as he drew her nipple deep into his hot mouth, feasting on the

sensitive flesh with ravenous regard through the thin fabric of her dress. She moaned

with unabashed delight at the assault on her senses.

“You taste good, Sophia.” The moist garment pinched her tender flesh. “So bloody

good.”

Her legs buckled.

“No,” he said brusquely. “Stay open for me…wide open for me.”

“James—”

But he kissed her to keep her quiet, swallowing her entreaty as he kneaded her tender

and aroused breast.

“I’ll take you when I’m ready,” he said roughly. “When you’re ready.”

I’m ready now! she wanted to impart.

“We do this my way, remember?”

Sophia let him strip even more of her willfulness away. She let him have his ruthless

way, and the more she relinquished control, the more pleasure he offered her in return.

“I think you’re ready now.” He slipped his large palm across her midriff…then lower.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

She groaned in intense pleasure.

The burly brigand fingered her clit, softly stroking the sensitive spot with his thumb, his

other fingers brushing her opening in feathery touches.

Sophia bucked at the first steamy touch.

“Aye, I think you’re ready.”

He kissed her, shushing her wanton cries. His warm lips moved firmly over her mouth,

keeping her hungry growls contained in her throat as his stalwart fingers rubbed her

sensitive core to pulsing arousal.

“Does this please you?” he breathed hoarsely.

She gritted, “No.”

He chuckled, slipping a strong finger inside her. “Liar.”

She tightened at the slick feel of him moving inside her. “It doesn’t please me enough.”

“Hmm…Let me see if I can please you even more.”

She moaned as he thrust a second finger inside her wet quim, stretching her even more.

“How was that?”

“I want more,” she said weakly.

“Then open for me even more.”

Sophia lifted a shaky leg and wrapped it around his sturdy hip, spreading her flesh even

wider apart for him, crying out as he pressed his thumb against the nub of nerves at her

apex.

He nuzzled her cheek. “Doesn’t that feel better?”

The firm pressure of his palm at her clit was mesmerizing, and she yearned for more…

for sweet release.

She cried softly in need.

He nuzzled her throat and rasped, “Oh, sweetheart, I’ll give you what you want.”

Sophia quivered with unabashed longing, wet and ready for him, but he wasn’t ready for

her. He cupped her hips and turned her around, hoisting her slightly over the fallen tree.

She grabbed the sturdy wood for support as he roughly pushed her skirt aside, scraping

his fingernails across her sensitive buttocks.

He needed to be in control, she remembered. He needed to guide her through the

erotic experience…and she needed to let him.

“Open for me,” he commanded.

Sophia shuddered at the hot feel of his palms massaging her backside. She lifted one

leg, keeping the other firmly on the ground, and arched over the log, giving him greater

access to her quim.

He unfastened his trousers and soon the hot, velvety touch of his cock stroked her

inner thighs, and she groaned in pleasure. “Oh, James!”

He grabbed her hips and guided the cusp of his erection inside her, stretching her.

She moaned.

He stilled. “Did I hurt you?”

She clasped his hand, still firmly embracing her hip, and squeezed his fingers. “I’m all

right. Don’t stop.”

He hesitated for a moment, trembling.

She raked her nails across his hand, scraping flesh. “James…”

Soon he grunted and pushed deeper…deeper, fil ing her with his hard, wide girth.

The heat and muscle and power surging through her body was mesmerizing. She

quieted her thundering heartbeats and ignored the pulses in her head to better feel the hot

and rigid length of his flesh inside her.

“Yes,” she sighed. “Yes. Yes!”

He thrust slowly, giving her time to grow accustomed to his size, his thickness, and she

reveled in the heady sensation. It was such a liberating act, to surrender to his desires. She

rejoiced in the thought that she needn’t seek her own gratification, that she need only take

the blissful comfort he offered her.

“Do I give you pleasure?” he rasped.

“Yes, sweet pleasure.”

The pounding mento drums thumped in tempo to the brigand’s more vigorous thrusts.

“Is this what you dreamed about?”

“Yes!”

She gasped with each rough, undulating push, tears welling in her eyes. There was no

pain, though. She suffered sweet surrender, instead. He rocked her hips, pressed his breast

against her moist back, slick with sweat.

“Did it feel so good in your dreams, sweetheart?”

Sophia cried with pleasure. She spread her legs even wider, relaxed her tight muscles,

giving him her whole being. “You feel so good.”

She was blinded by her tears and her long, loose tresses. But she didn’t need her sight.

She needed him. To feel him. To be one with him.

Free.

She was free.

So free.

“I feel good, do I?” he growled.

She was throbbing in ecstasy, so wet with need. She listened to the rogue’s hard, hoarse

breathing as he pumped inside her with swift and pulsing thrusts, her quim quivering with

delight at the sound of his guttural groans and wispy sighs.

“Yes,” she cried. “Yes!”

The pressure at her apex was great. He sensed she was about to come, for he offered

her the stimulation she needed. He reached between the fronts of her legs and rubbed

her clit, stirring her lust into a maelstrom of sensuous delight.

Sophia screamed. A rough and choking scream. The orgasm gripped her body in a

vicious embrace as her muscles seized and pulsed and the fluids flowed freely from her

womb, draining her strength, making her feel so weak and light…and free.

The brigand rammed hard, seeking his own feral release, squeezing her hips and rutting

with firm and steady strokes before he gasped and grunted into the forest night, his

shouts snatched away by the rhythmic music and singing dancers.

He embraced her, and together they rested against the ancient tree, starved for breath.

He didn’t push away from her after he had had his fill, like others had in the past. He

wanted more. He wanted to touch her, to keep her in his arms. He melted the iron bars

encasing her heart with his tenderness, and she closed her eyes, wishing for the moment

to stretch on forever.

He stroked her leg, her wet back, her arms. He buried his lips in her mussed hair and

took in a sharp breath, his nose grazing the back of her throat. “Did I give you what you

wanted, sweetheart?”

The hoarse words funneled through her ear, ringing in her skull. “And if you didn’t?”

He nipped her ear. “Then I would give it to you again.”

She shivered. The tremors wracked her bones. She was so tempted to admit she needed

more from him just to relive the experience, but she would not lie to him after what he

had done for her.

“Aye, you gave me everything that I wanted.”

He was quiet for a moment, his heavy limbs still draped over her sweat-soaked body.

The aftermath was as dear to her as the coupling. Feeling his hefty lungs expanding as he

breathed into her back assured her the intimacy had not been a dream.

“I have to go, Sophia.”

He said the words with an air of regret.

She gathered her muddy thoughts, her heartbeat more mellow, and opened her eyes. “I

understand.”

James pul ed away from her. The nippy jungle breeze attacked her senses, her flesh, and

she shuddered.

Slowly she righted herself and smoothed her skirt as he fastened his trouser flap. She

eyed him for the first time since their wanton rendezvous and sighted his bedraggled

appearance, smiling inwardly, wondering if perhaps he had needed the fuck as much as

she had.

“Wil I see you again?” she wondered.

The brigand was silent.

Sophia smothered the disappointment in her breast. She would not allow the intrusive