Jordan, Nicole - Notorious 1 (17 page)

Sensually, expertly, his thumb caressed her, sweeping away all thoughts of denial, the languid, tantalizing rhythm arousing a wild, relentless pleasure in her. She felt hot, feverish, throbbing. Her thighs fell open as he parted the sensitive skin of her inner lips.

A tremor rippled through her when he slid a long finger into her quivering flesh, finding her slick and wet.

“See, your honey flows for me,” he whispered with satisfaction, watching her flushed face.

Her head moved restlessly on the pillow as she surrendered to the magic of his wonderful, caressing hands.

The fingers were bolder now, exploring her with hot, slick strokes, learning the intimate secrets of her, lavishing sensuality on the melting folds of flesh, the slow thrusts a sweet, delicious torture.

Writhing now, Vanessa arched against his hand, seeking ease for the hot, pulsing ache between her thighs. She thought she might faint, but not from fear. Fear was no part of the tumultuous feelings surging through her.

“Are you ready for me, sweet angel?” he rasped. “I think yes

”

A fierce disappointment assailed her when his magic suddenly ceased, but he was only anointing his huge shaft with the slick wetness that seeped from her body. Then he moved over her, settling in the cradle of her thighs.

She felt his weight, the pressure of his powerful thighs against her bare skin, the controlled probing of his hardness.

Shivering helplessly, Vanessa stared up at him, a deep primal fear combined with excitement coursing through her. Their eyes locked as he eased the silken head into her quivering flesh.

She stiffened and gasped as the fiery brand intruded into the delicate softness of her, her newly sensitized body thrumming with panic and desire. Unbidden, her fear rose, yet he glided in smoothly, as if her body had been made expressly for him, for this.

Her tension eased as his body wrapped around hers, warming her, calming her.

“The stars, angel. Will you come with me?”

Tears sprang to her eyes as she gazed up at him. He was holding her so gently and his eyes were so soft

“Yes

”

She kept very still, desperately wanting him to stay inside her, wanting the heat of his fullness deep within her.

His mouth found hers again, tenderly arousing. “I want to get closer,” he whispered against her lips, even as he buried himself deeper. “So close I can’t breathe without you being a part of me.”

His raw, silky voice caressed her as he roused a throbbing need that swelled and grew. He was murmuring sensual, coaxing words against her lips as his body began to move against hers.

Vanessa shuddered. He was a dark fire, igniting her senses. He was raw torment and searing pleasure. The tremulous desperation intensified within her, making her writhe and arch her back.

Her legs wrapped around his as she struggled to get closer, as the dark waves of pleasure built relentlessly.

“Damien

” His name was like a prayer on her lips.

Her nails dug into the flesh of his back. The pleading moan that came to her throat became another cry that was taken from her by his kiss. No longer was she conscious of her surroundings, only of Damien, of his ebony hair and silver eyes, of his hard-driving body, his feverish mouth and possessive thrusts. He was her world, the center of the spiraling madness that held her in its turbulent grip.

The hungry plundering of his mouth followed the urgent motion of his hips, his hardness impaling her, while his rough, sensual voice urged her on, deep into a heated wildness.

“Yes, be on fire for me

”

Dimly, she knew she was sobbing.

He was moving faster, deeper, filling her to bursting, his breathing thick and heavy. Brilliant flames leapt against the blackness of her mind, and she cried out, a high, keening pleasure sound. She felt as if she were dying in his arms.

In mindless abandon she began to convulse beneath him. Her body surrendered to him, overwhelmed by blind desire that shook her, wrenched her, devoured her.

His mouth captured her scream of passion as she shattered around him. Giving her no surcease, his hands closed over her buttocks, lifting them so he could thrust even more deeply inside her.

His face contorted with pleasure and pain, Damien exploded inside her.

She was still clinging to him long moments later when he lowered himself to her side, shaking with aftershocks. He held her limp and trembling body, cradling her in his arms, his breath harsh, ragged.

She was weeping, he realized with alarm. “Angel?”

Concern flooding him, he turned her face up to his to search her shimmering eyes. “Did I hurt you?”

Swallowing, she nodded her head. “Yes, a pleasurable hurt,” she returned huskily, echoing his earlier reply.

When he saw her tremulous smile, his concern eased. Her tears were tears of joy, of wonder. She had tasted the warmth and passion he knew her capable of, and it had shocked her, that was all.

Tenderness assailed him as he held her lightly. He wanted to kiss those tears away. “Your body is becoming awakened to desire for the first time.”

To his surprise, she reached up and tentatively touched his lips with her fingertips. “I never realized stars could be so lovely.”

A smiled filled his eyes. In her deplorable innocence, she hadn’t known lovemaking could be so powerful, so soul-wrenching. Nor had he, in all honesty. The shattering intensity of his climax just now had startled him. As jaded as he was with pleasures of the flesh, passion with her had seemed somehow fresh and new.

And he knew that one taste of her would not be enough.

A chill night breeze wafted over his skin, cooling his heated flesh and hers. Feeling her shiver, he reached down to draw the covers up over them both, then gathered Vanessa closer. Her body weak and sated, she buried her face against his shoulder, an unconsciously sensual gesture.

Damien felt a fresh stirring of desire and a dangerous tenderness. As she lay languid in his arms, he toyed with a lock of her satiny hair, his thoughts a strange fusion of emotions.

His plan to satisfy a fleeting hunger for her had ripened into something far more compelling. What had started as a carnal seduction had become a tender wooing

a wooing he was determined to continue.

Her sexual awakening would be like nurturing a hothouse flower, but before she left him, he would make her blossom fully as a woman. His lips pressed against her burnished hair as he made the solemn vow.

Vanessa sighed at his gentle touch. She felt cherished, protected, as she drifted off to sleep in his arms. Her dreams were a tangle of erotic images and sensual yearning, images of Damien, his hard male body moving against her softness, setting her aflame, driving her ever higher and higher until she shattered

She woke to the feel of his vibrant heat against her. For a moment she lay there, savoring the sensation, reliving the enchantment of his lovemaking.

He had won; Damien had succeeded in persuading her to share his bed. But she couldn’t regret his victory. She could only feel a sense of wonder at the ecstasy he had brought her. Only a profound relief that she wasn’t the cold, unresponsive woman she’d always condemned herself for being. That, and a fierce gratitude for the man who had led her to that revelation. Damien had shown her a passionate side of herself she had never known existed.

After her wretched experiences in the marriage bed, perhaps it was inevitable she would succumb willingly to his practiced seduction. She had never been wooed so ardently by a man, or treated so tenderly.

But she hadn’t expected that wild hunger in herself, that fierce, sweet fire. Oddly, she felt no shame at her wantonness. But perhaps that in itself was shameful.

Shutting her eyes, Vanessa tried to summon a proper sense of contrition, but it eluded her. All she could remember was the magic of his spell, the straining thrusts of his body, and her cries of ecstasy as he brought her to fulfillment.

Aching at the memory, she sat up, holding the sheet to her breasts. Almost at once she felt Damien’s fingers brush her naked back. He must not have been asleep.

She shivered at his incredibly gentle touch. “I should go,” she murmured uncertainly.

“Why?” he asked, his voice soft, beguiling. “We have the entire night ahead of us.”

She turned to gaze down at him, his face heart-wrenchingly beautiful in the silver moonlight. He had promised to show her the mysteries of pleasure, and, heaven help her, she wanted him to. The woman in her, who had never known true passion, yearned for it now, with this man. And yet she was afraid. Afraid she would be opening herself to far greater hurt than the physical pain the carnal act of mating had once brought her.

He must have seen her hesitation, for he reached up and cupped her cheek with his palm, the gesture intimate and infinitely protective.

“Stay with me

”

His hand caressed her cheek and moved downward to the slim column of her throat. Vanessa let her head fall back, cherishing the sensuality of his touch. His hand trailed lower, to rest possessively on the curve of her breast, and she felt her heart jump against his palm. How could he arouse such deep hunger in her so swiftly? she wondered. Such fierce, tender emotion?

She made no protest when his hands twined in her hair and he drew her down to lie beside him. Willingly she pressed against his body, against his shaft that was rigid and full

She gave a start and stared at him in puzzlement.

His eyebrows rose. “What’s wrong, love? Have I frightened you again?”

“I suppose I was just

startled. Roger could never—” She broke off in embarrassment, evading his gaze.

“Could never what?”

“Become

aroused again. Once his desire was spent, he left me alone. I used to pray that he would

finish quickly.”

His eyes soft, Damien pulled her into his embrace and whispered a promise in her ear. “I intend to make you forget he ever existed,” he vowed. “We’ll banish all your ugly memories. From this night on, we start anew.”

He heard her sigh. She lay trustingly, with her cheek pressed against his heart, her hair spilling like a curtain of silk over his skin. His hands swept her back lightly.

“Some men can last longer than others, become stimulated more quickly,” he explained. “When a man desires a woman as much as I desire you, his arousal is never entirely sated.”

“Do you

desire me?” The soft question was serious, holding no coyness.

His fingers were moving on her back, sending cascades of shivers through her. “Immensely,” he answered with complete honesty. “What red-blooded man would not find you irresistible?”

His hands moving to clasp her upper arms, he made Vanessa lift her head to look at him. “From the moment I first saw you in that gaming hell, I wanted you.”

She gazed solemnly back at him, her dark eyes reflecting moonlight. “I never would have suspected. I thought you wished me in Hades.”

“That was before I tasted your sweet lips

” He kissed her softly, and her lips trembled against his. “I could make love to you for hours, I have no doubt.”

She hesitated. “Hours?” There was both wonder and skepticism in her tone.

His mouth curved in amusement. “I fear my reputation as a lover has been maligned unjustly.”

Her own mouth fought to hold back a smile. “Unjustly? But then you are not a particularly objective observer, I suspect.”

“You require proof, my lady?”

“Would you be greatly put out if I said I did?” she asked with a combination of boldness and shyness that was enchanting.

A melting tenderness infused his laughter. “Greatly, indeed. Very well, love, at your insistence, we shall put my stamina to the test.”

She could not find the breath to answer, for he was kissing her now with the fevered softness of a lover.

A spark ignited and flared upward between them as his magical hands moved over her body, and he whispered against her lips, “Let me show you how many ways I can pleasure you, sweet siren

”

It was a night of pure enchantment, and over too soon. In the dawn of early morning, he escorted her back through the secret passage to her own chamber.

Impossibly, the kiss Damien gave her upon leaving roused her as much as the first touch of his mouth had, even though Vanessa thought herself so sensually drained, she couldn’t conceivably feel any more desire or pleasure.

She slept deeply, replete and exhausted, and woke far later than usual. For a moment she lay there, remembering the night. She could still feel Damien’s warm, elegant hands on her flesh, his sleek, lithe body pleasuring her, his soft, murmured words of praise and satisfaction as he brought her to ecstasy again and again.

He had swept her away with his consuming passion, into a world of rapture, and, in so doing, had banished her feelings of dread, her memories of pain. More remarkably, his exquisite lovemaking had left her shaken with the realization of her own passion.

Properly she should feel shame for acting like such a wanton, yet she couldn’t bring herself to wallow in self-reproach. She had dutifully endured a joyless marriage and the misery of carnal relations with her husband, never knowing what it meant to be fully a woman, to feel cherished, desired, wanted. Damien had given her a taste of real passion—perhaps the only one she might ever know—and she wouldn’t disavow this fantasy, however fleeting.

She closed her eyes, savoring the memories of his worshiping caresses. His male scent still lingered on her skin, and she felt an absurd reluctance to wash it off

The thought of washing was an intrusion, although a pleasant one, for it reminded her of the plans for the day. This afternoon Damien intended to introduce Olivia to the bath he had built for her in the conservatory.

Rising with an elated feeling of anticipation, Vanessa rang for her own bath.

She saw no sign of Damien that morning, however, or later at luncheon, since reportedly he was overseeing the finishing touches on his creation. Then she became busy helping Olivia prepare for the momentous event, helping her into her new bathing costume. When finally he arrived at his sister’s rooms, Vanessa still had no opportunity for a private word.