Banshee Seduction (Montgomery's Sin Book 1) (25 page)

“Oh.” She covered her mouth with both hands, her bright blue eyes alight with amusement. “Oh…I tried to warn you.” She leaned down, stroked his frozen cheek, and spluttered an unsympathetic laugh. “The plumbing is ancient; it takes forever for the hot water to come through.”

She slid her hand down his neck and touched his cold, tight pectorals. “You’re freezing.”

He opened his mouth to deny it, but his teeth chattered in response. He rolled his eyes as she laughed and then heaved himself up off the floor, thanking his lucky stars his ass was frozen solid, otherwise the fall might just have hurt.

Still wrapped in her robe, she turned and bent over to retrieve a floor mat, repositioning it at the entrance of the shower. He tilted his head to one side to admire the slide of silk against the smooth, rounded globes of her backside. The material served to emphasize the contours of her body. His imagination simply hadn’t done it justice. As she straightened and turned, a becoming blush stole across her features and made him wonder how much of the dragon had sneaked through his eyes to reveal the lust that raged in him.

She certainly had no fear of him. Desire was one thing, tethering the dragon quite another. He refused to claim her until she was ready. She might want him, but she was not yet ready to commit heart and soul. His dragon was just going to have to be patient a while longer.

One small, delicate hand fluttered to indicate the shower cubicle. “It should be fine now.”

He took a step closer, unfastened the tie on her robe, and held the edges out wide to expose her perfect body to his view. “Should?”

“Yes.” Her voice quavered as he glided the robe from her shoulders and let it slither to the floor in a silken heap.

“You first.”

“No, it’s okay, I…”

With a fast move, he hauled up her slight body, enjoyed the squirm of her soft curves against him as he carried her into the shower unit, and dumped her under the raging torrent of water, half hoping it was still cold. Her echoing squeak gave no indication of the ice he’d experienced, so he shuffled her along to stand under the fall of water, almost hot enough to boil his skin.

He closed his eyes, reveled in the wash of heat reviving him from his state of near hypothermia, and then popped them open again at the slide of her deft fingers over his chest. He blinked the water from his eyes to scan her face as she concentrated on him. The confident sweep of her nimble fingers spread bubbles across his shoulders, down his arms, over his chest, and onward to his waist.

Her soft hesitation had him holding his breath, praying for her to continue her pathway down his body. He leaned against the back wall and shamed himself with another girly squeak as his skin touched the freezing tiles. His teeth clacked together as he jerked upright.

Her open laughter had him smiling at his own stupidity, until she angled the showerhead and let the hot water plummet down the wall, taking off the chill as she invited him to lean back against it again. The warm wash rinsed over his shoulders in a soft spray.

Driven mad by her sweet seduction, he followed her command, rested against the wall, and allowed her to take the lead, watching through narrowed eyes as she took her investigation of his body one slow swipe of her bubble-icious hands at a time. She cruised them over his chest, starting her downward sweep again. She stirred him like no other. He wanted her to hurry. He wanted her to take her time. She confused him with her strange combination of innocence and bold curiosity.

A rumbling groan vibrated through his chest, and he tipped back his head and allowed the sound to make its way up his neck and out of his mouth, almost swallowing it as she wrapped her soapy fingers around him and tested the length of him with a steady swipe of her hand. He jerked upright again. The muscles in his thighs contracted painfully as he almost exploded. He fought for restraint as her passionate gaze met his, the wonder in her eyes reflected in the sharp hitch in his chest while her firm grip glided back up his shaft. Her fingernails gave a dexterous scrape to his balls before she cupped them in her hand.

“I never knew it would be so soft…this skin here.” Her voice husky, she dipped her head to watch what she was doing, and he tightened painfully, wondering how much longer he was required to be patient.

“Ginny…”

“…and here.” She wrapped her palm around him again and clasped him with a strength that belied her elegant form. “This is like steel wrapped in the smoothest, softest satin. I never understood how such a delicate appendage could become so hard. Not until now.” She raised her head to stare at him as she tested his endurance and gave another firm squeeze.

Puffing out short breaths, he tried to restrain himself, but a small ball of fire erupted from his lips, to be doused by the onslaught of water from the showerhead. His stomach contracted as he tried to tether his response. Hot breath slammed in and out of his lungs and set his heart on fire. She was his. She was all he needed.

If he’d believed she didn’t know what she was doing, her sly smile rid him of his conviction, and he gave up on all pretense of patience. He slipped his hands under her arms. Delighting in her surprised squeak, he lifted her to reverse their positions so her back was against the wall. The steamy water gushed enthusiastically over her smaller body, sending up jets of spray to flick over him and tease his skin.

The silken slide of her legs around his waist thrilled him and gave him the permission he needed to abandon all further niceties. He skimmed his hands down her sleek body, grazed his fingers over the slender line of her waist, the smooth curve of her hips to grasp her firm, rounded ass and plunge, deep and possessive, into her hot, welcoming tightness. He held his breath for a moment as she adjusted herself, wondering if he might have been too forceful.

She tilted her head. Water sluiced over her face, sweeping her hair in a silken waterfall down her back to expose her neck for his pleasure in a gesture of submission. The sapphire gleam in her half-closed eyes pinned him in direct opposition to submissiveness as she fisted her hands in his hair and pulled his head down to hers. His heart thundered in his chest, and the beast rejoiced deep in his belly.

“More,” she demanded. Her lips crashed into his in a desperate demand for him to satisfy her.

Mouth against hers, their tongues twining, he withdrew, found purchase on the shower basin, and pushed deep inside her again, swallowing her groan and echoing it with one of his own. A thousand female voices resonated in his head, almost tempting him to glance around to make sure no one was watching. The woman in his arms grabbed his attention, and the voices faded into background music as the banshee demanded every last bit of his concentration.

Heated water rained down on them, making the slip and slide easy as he thrust high inside her, his chest swelling with masculine dominance. Blood rushed hot and sure through his veins like molten lava. Her soft mewls encouraged him ever onward. The dragon demanded he claim her. Sly whispers of how easy it would be seeped through his mind. Take, take, take.

And he took, with relish, with ferocity, and with passion. But as her inner muscles started to pulse around him, hot and tempting, and his loins tightened in anticipation, he slipped his mouth from hers, tucked his face deep into the curve of her neck, and resisted the call of his soul to claim hers. One last time, he thrust deep into her hot velvet body, expelling every last drop of his seed inside her. He wrapped his arms tight around her body to draw her away from the hard wall and cradled her in his arms while she gasped for breath. His legs weakened, trembled like jelly, but still he didn’t have it in him to release her as she clung to him. His heart rejoiced to be needed with such desperation, such blind passion.

Satiated, he raised his head to stare into her face. Eyes squeezed shut, lips parted, she gasped in small desperate breaths, and his heart stumbled at the sight of his love, his life. He moved one hand, stroked the sodden tresses back from her face, and attempted a smile as her laser-blue eyes opened to gaze in awe at him.

If she said it now, he would claim her. He didn’t care how spent he was, if she said she loved him, he would find the strength and make her his soul mate until the end of time. She just needed to whisper those words, and he would bind her to him. The dragon stirred; fervent interest uncoiled from deep within.

The swipe of her delicate pink tongue over her top lip grabbed his attention, and he stared eagerly at her mouth, willing the words to spill forth.

“Well…” She shook her heavy, soaked hair and flicked up a few drops of water to join the still raging shower. “That was certainly better than anything I’ve ever read in a book.”

She smiled as she raised a hand to smooth over his jawline.

Disappointment flooded his system, drowned the burgeoning hope, causing his muscles to tighten. He knew from her pursed lips that his response had communicated through their bodies. She withdrew her hand from his face and rested it on his shoulder at the same time she slackened the grip of her legs from around him. She dropped her gaze to the pulse in his throat, and he wanted to thrash himself for distressing her.

They’d only had sex twice, and he wanted her to proclaim undying love. It was hardly a reasonable expectation. Just because he knew didn’t mean she had to. The declaration had to come from her.

He lifted her from him and glided her slippery body down his until her feet touched the floor. He could easily have started again if there hadn’t been a cold lump of dread forming in his chest. Regret churned in his stomach, but he had no idea how to put matters right. Perhaps it was just a matter of time before she felt the same way.

With a graceful shrug, she wiped a sodden lock back from her face and made to move out of the shower. Without understanding his intention, he shot out a hand and swept her back into his arms, barely giving her a moment to squeal.

He plastered his mouth to hers and warmed to the immediate response.

“It was great. Let’s do it again.”

With a playful laugh, she pushed away. “I think you need to cool down first.” As she stepped out of the shower, she tapped her finger to the shower’s thermostat, and a deluge of freezing water instantly hit him, making him scream an octave higher than she had a moment before.

Blind with panic, he grabbed the door and almost wrenched it out of its frame as he pulled it, and then realized it was a slider.

Her tinkling laughter echoed in his ears as she stepped from the steamy bathroom. Wrapped in an enormous fluffy yellow towel, she pulled the door closed behind her.

His heart still staggered around in his chest as he allowed his gaze to cruise the room. She’d left him a pale lime green towel draped over a rail, and as he lifted it off, he felt the gentle warmth from the heater that had permeated the towel, together with the subtle scent of Ginny. He rubbed the thick softness over his skin, stroking away droplets of water, and almost purred with the sweet luxury of it. For a woman who dressed in gray suits and tethered back every strand of hair on her head, she sure did have a very feminine side.

He wrapped the towel around his waist and smiled with appreciation at the downy feel of it. He glanced around again. She wasn’t just feminine. It went further than that. He reached out and picked up a tiny pearlescent pink glass perfume bottle from a lineup. They were all shapes and sizes in pastel colors on a dainty shelf, resembling some kind of sea life shit. He plucked off the fine heart-shaped lid and lifted the bottle to peer at the contents. With fingers larger than the miniature top, he raised it to his nose and closed his eyes to better absorb the scent. It smelled of her. He opened his lips, dabbled his tongue at the back of his throat, and enjoyed the exquisite slide of it over his senses.

“Matt?”

With a guilty start, his eyes flew open, and he jerked upright dropping the delicate stopper. Horrified, he snatched at the fragile piece of glass, but before he could grab it, it hit the side of the sink, shattered into a hundred tiny shards, and slid to a halt, slivers of glass lining the plughole.

“Shit.” He reached out, intending to pick up the minute splinters, but Ginny was there in a flash, grabbing his hand to stop him.

“No. Don’t.”

Frustrated, he turned to her, held out the tiny bottle still grasped in his other hand, and offered it to her.

“You’d better keep this safe. I seem to have a habit of breaking everything of yours.”

Her light laughter soothed him, followed by words that froze him to the spot. “At least it’s only the glass heart you broke. I hope you don’t do the same with mine.”

•
●•

She could have bitten off her tongue. She certainly wanted to as he turned his back to her again. He stared into the sink for a long moment before his gaze met hers in the mirror. The dawn light slanted through the colored glass panes of her bathroom window and reflected a kaleidoscope in his eyes.

Her breath lodged in a painful lump at the back of her throat at her idiotic words. Seething with embarrassment, the hot rush of blood filled her face as she whipped around and dashed through the open doorway to the kitchen.

She seized a carton of eggs, took them out, and broke them one by one with shaky fingers into a bowl, while the shrews in her head cringed and wailed, rebuking her for her stupidity. She grabbed a whisk and beat the life out of the eggs until they were pale and frothy, the noise blending with the racket of the sluts’ sniveling. What had possessed her to say something like that? As though she were in love with him and he was capable of breaking her heart.

She stopped whipping the eggs and stared into the bowl, watching the slow burst of bubbles until they dissipated, leaving the mixture flat and airless. The way she felt. Stupid woman. Men ran screaming from her because she’d made them bleed, but never had she chased one away with a near declaration of love. Heavens, but they’d only made love twice. Pain gripped her stomach so hard she almost bent double. Love. Hah!

She tipped the mixture into a pan and watched, hypnotized as the edges bubbled in the hot oil. She turned the temperature down and stared at it for a long moment before she covered her face with her hands. She’d made such a fool of herself. She had no idea why she continued to make breakfast for him, but it seemed like something to do. He’d probably head straight for the door once he was dressed.