Burned Deep (27 page)

His thumbs whisked over my hard nipples, pebbling them tighter. He tugged at them and fire roared through my veins.

“Jesus, Dane.” The erotic sensations swelled within me once more. How he could make me come so damn fast was beyond me. Yet I barreled toward that wicked precipice in no time.

He clutched my waist again and drove deeper, harder, faster. His low groans mingled with my throaty moans. My fingertips pressed into his thighs, keeping me steady as he fucked me.

His tone turned dark as he simply insisted, “Come.”

“Yes. Oh, God, yes.” I was
so
close. Trying to hold off because it was just too sinfully delicious a sensation to let go of so quickly. I wanted it to go on and on.

But then Dane's strokes became shorter and more rapid and he hit that perfect spot. I screamed his name as everything inside me ignited and exploded.

He stilled for a few seconds as I lost myself in the massive rush of heat and fervor. I was still breathing erratically and pulsing from the inside out when he started up again. Bypassing slow and picking right back up with the frenetic tempo that sent me straight into sensory overload.

For good measure, the pads of two fingers rubbed my clit, with pressure and a determined pace.

“Dane.” I shifted a little. He wrapped his arm around my lower back and I sat up partially, keeping one hand on his thigh for support. I watched him piston into me, watched him stroke my clit. Beads of perspiration popped along my hairline as I continued to burn for him. My nipples were impossibly hard and I cupped my breast, massaging in the same not-so-gentle manner he would have used.

My legs were spread wide to accommodate him as I half rested on his lap, using my knees to keep me slightly lifted so he could thrust deep.

I never knew anything could be quite so sensational and addictive as him fucking me. I never wanted it to end.

“You're making me so damn hot,” he grumbled. “Shit.” His jaw tightened. “Nothing feels as good as you, baby.”

Excitement slammed into me and I cried out again. “Dane!”

This time, the tremors didn't dim as I rode out the orgasm. I quaked and my breathing wouldn't slow. I was ridiculously turned on, rocked to my core.

I fell forward, collapsing against his wide chest. His hand moved from between my legs and he held me to him.

“Oh, God,” I gushed. “Holy Christ.”

My fingers twined in his hair and I kissed his neck, his cheek, his temple. I was crazed. Completely and totally spellbound, enthralled. Drunk on Dane and riding a high from which I never wanted to come down.

His mouth captured mine and he gave me another scorching kiss. I couldn't stop myself from rocking again, my hips undulating and coaxing him back into a sexy pace.

He tore his mouth from mine and said, “You're not going to be able to walk tomorrow.”

“I don't care. I just … Dane … I just want you.
So
much.”

Alarm edged my euphoria, but I refused to give it credence. I was enveloped in sheer bliss, not inclined to relinquish it. Not for a second.

It was a little frightening how my body trembled and my breathing wouldn't return to normal. But I couldn't escape the intensity of our desire for each other—and how vibrant and
alive
he made me feel. Like I'd merely existed before. Gotten by.

Now I was acutely aware of my surroundings. Of myself. Of him. Of every sensation blazing inside me.

His mouth sealed with mine again as we moved together. His hand slid to my backside. The finger that had rubbed my clit, still coated with my juices, circled the rim of that forbidden spot.

I broke our kiss. “Dane.”

His eyes locked with mine, glowing provocatively. “I want all of you, Ari. Every piece of you. Especially if no one has ever owned you like this.”

I shook my head. “No one. Ever.”
Never
was more appropriate. Because I would never let anyone but him touch me like this—so intimately.

His lips grazed my neck; his teeth nipped. He pumped into me feverishly. And I was lost once more.

With skill, he rotated us to the side so I lay against the pile of pillows in the corner and he was on top of me. He sank deeper. His finger penetrated. The searing heat collided with the breath-stealing feeling of him buried so far inside me.

He moved slower now. Long, full strokes that made my spine bow and my hips rise to accommodate him, to accept more of him. All of him. My fingers tangled in his hair as he continued to kiss and lightly bite my throat, finding sensitive spots that lit me up even more.

One of my legs twined with his, the other wrapped around his hips, keeping his body pressed to me. Keeping him surrounding me. Filling me.

“Oh, fuck, Ari.” His head lifted and he stared deep into my eyes. Dark, complex emotions swirled in his gorgeous green irises. Emotions I couldn't decipher, but which on some visceral level—which I couldn't begin to fathom—likely mirrored what he saw in my eyes.

My heart pounded wildly. My body writhed and arched to keep his pace and keep the intimate contact with him. The hand I didn't have buried in his hair glanced over his biceps, up to his shoulder. He increased the sexy rhythm and I moaned. My nails dug into his flesh. He pushed harder, faster. My hand dragged downward, over his collarbone, across his chest.

All the while, the eye contact didn't falter. I wasn't even sure we blinked.

I felt him swell inside me as he moved more aggressively. My breasts nestled beneath the hard ledge of his pecs. The ridged grooves of his abs pressed into my softer stomach when he exhaled in harsh breaths.

I couldn't separate all the sensations crashing over me, coursing through me. So I clung to the overall teasing, beautifully tormenting feeling that landed me once more in that place where I was about to leap from the ragged edge.

“Dane,” I whispered.

“Yeah.” That was all he said. As though he knew. As though he could sense it, as though he had already memorized every single change in my breath, my body, my eyes. And knew how close I was.

“I can't stop,” I warned him.

“That's okay,” he told me, still gazing deep. “Come with me. Right now, baby. Come with me.”

He was so thick inside me, so delectable and so commanding. “Dane,” I said again. A peculiar lump of emotion lodged in my throat. He thoroughly captivated me so that the only thing I focused on was his weight on top of me and the feelings that swelled and burst. “Oh, God!” I came harder than before, still riveted by his intense gaze. “Oh, Christ!”

His cock throbbed and he thrust deeper. “Fuck. Ari!” He convulsed as I squeezed him tight, prolonging my orgasm, making me soar.

The powerful release was enhanced by how vehemently he responded to me—how hard
he
came. I clenched him fiercely, not wanting to let him go.

All of his muscles flexed as he wrapped his arms around me. He was rigid, stone. I loved how the strength not only came from his chiseled features but also emanated from his every pore.

His head finally dipped and he kissed me like I'd just made his entire year. Passionately, gratefully, sensually. Insanely perfect.

When we came up for air, he burrowed his face in the spray of my hair across the pillows. And continued to breathe heavily.

“Think I could stay here forever,” he mused.

I stared up at the dark ceiling, the flickering candlelight barely registering. Something stirred and moved inside me. Something unexpected and indefinable. Something that caused my heart to constrict and turned my blood molten.

Tears pricked my eyes. I couldn't explain why, except that every second with Dane inside me was amazingly, darkly spectacular. Priceless. Impossible to break free of.

So when he made to pull away, I said, “Not yet.” Unable to catch myself. “That
forever
was a bit too short.”

His mouth grazed my neck, then my cheek, capturing my tears.

“Ari,” he murmured. “Don't cry.”

“I'm not,” I insisted. “I'm—”

“Ari. Baby.” He stared into my eyes again. “What is it?”

“I never came before.”

“What?”

“With those other men,” I rushed on, to clarify. “From the hotel bars. I never once came. Not with any of them.”

His gaze narrowed on me. “Never?”

My head rolled back and forth on the pillows.

“Then, why—?”

“Because I wanted to—I mean, I'd hoped…” I sighed, a bit frustrated that even I couldn't truly make heads or tails over those brief encounters. “I did it to make me feel normal, I guess. I engaged when it seemed necessary, but really … I never got anything out of it. And it sure as hell wasn't anything like this. Nothing—
nothing
—could ever be the way it is with you.”

Maybe too revealing.
My eyes squeezed shut.

“Ari.” He gave me a sweet, sexy kiss. One that melted my heart. My lids fluttered open. “I've never been this consumed, either. It's different with you. Special.” He shook his head. “That sounds inconsequential and temporary. I don't know the right word.”

I stared at him, at a loss for words myself.

“Anyway.” His lips brushed over the remainder of my tears and then he said, “Just let it be the way it is between us. Don't try to fight it or let it scare you.”

“It didn't scare me,” I assured him. “It should have. But it didn't. Not really.”

“Then, what?”

“It was just … kind of beautiful. Like … incredibly beautiful.”

He grinned, his tension easing, his bunched muscles loosening. “Now I'm catching on.”

“Dane.” I grimaced.

He chuckled, low and deep. “Face it, Ari. For all your hedging, you wouldn't have come tonight if you hadn't agreed we were seriously involved with each other.”

“You promised me answers,” I challenged.

“And told you to pack an overnight bag,” he countered.

I snickered. “You don't have to win every time. You could maybe concede once in a while.”

“Not really my style.” He hoisted himself up. I protested with a small whimper. He added, “Don't worry, baby. I'm nowhere near done with you.” With a sexy wink, he untangled himself and stood.

Sighing dreamily over the view, I watched him saunter off to the bathroom. Jesus, he was a masterpiece. I could barely take my eyes off his ass to admire his broad, tapered back. His narrowed waist. His powerful thighs.

How the hell was I so lucky that
he
wanted
me
? It boggled my mind. And that he seemed as deeply enthralled … That just felt crazy and impossible. Yet there was absolutely nothing about him that would make me believe that everything he said was some sort of devious mistruth. Granted, I had no basis of comparison, but the way he'd fucked me and the things he'd said … And then the way he'd—

My thoughts came to a screeching halt and I bolted upright. I pulled around me the chenille throw that was tossed haphazardly into the corner and covering the cushion where I was sprawled.

He'd fucked me at first. No doubt there. But then … He'd made love to me. When he'd been between my legs, buried deep inside me and staring into my eyes … He'd made love to me.

My stomach flipped.

Okay, Ari. Time to face facts.

Dane was absolutely right.

This. Is. Serious.

 

chapter 15

Not just what had happened with us this evening and how I'd responded to it—to Dane—physically. But emotionally as well—most important of all, really.

That I'd not had an orgasm with another man, only my vibrator and nameless/faceless fantasies, bore its own significance. Along with the blatant reality that I'd just been scratching nature's itch from time to time. Unsuccessfully.

This,
however …

Whole new ball of wax.

As Dane returned, my gaze was fixed on him, taking in every glorious inch of his tanned and toned body. The way he stealthily, confidently moved. The way he watched me watch him.

I tossed off the lightweight blanket and stood. My hands moved over his cut abs, up to his chest.

“You did say you were nowhere done with me, right?” My voice was low and sultry. Suggestive. Because I wanted him again.

One corner of his mouth lifted. “I don't want to wear you out all in one evening.”

“Pretty sure I'll bounce back.”

A heartbeat later he swept me off my feet. Literally and figuratively.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I said, “You seem to like doing that.”

“Well, you did call me alpha.”

“Good thing I didn't say
caveman
or I'd be over your shoulder.”

He carried me down the long hallway and into a bedroom. Dozens of candles ensconced in glasses of varying shapes, sizes, and heights were lit along the mantel, on the nightstands, across the wide ledge of the headboard. A fire warmed the room. No lights illuminated the space, just the flames.

The king-size bed was covered by a rich, navy-colored satin sheet, with plump pillows that had shams to match. Dane sat me in the middle of the mattress and I curled my fingers around the lush material.

“This is gorgeous,” I said as I absorbed it all in awe. My gaze landed on a nightstand and I leaned forward, fingering the velvety red and white rose petals scattered about. Warmth laced through me. I glanced back at Dane. “You did all of this for me?”

“I told you this wasn't going to be like your hotel hookups. There's nothing casual about this at all, Ari.”

“You're trying to make me believe in romance—in
my
life, not just with my clients?” I shook my head. “I'm not saying that lightly, because this is really sweet and thoughtful.”

He said, “It occurred to me the other night that I'm not exactly romantic myself. I've never felt the desire or need to be, honestly. But with you … I wanted you to know what all this might be like. Granted, I'm not incredibly original, given my own lack of experience—I even forgot the music.”