Light Beyond the Darkness (8 page)

She had become used to his presence, had come to expect it. She wanted him in her life, she realized. She too wanted…
more
.

She washed her hands and set to mincing garlic. She glanced at Reid, who sipped wine, watched her work, and looked so incredibly sexy, she was surprised at her own willpower for keeping him at arm’s length for this long.

“Do you always work this hard to try to impress women?” she blurted.

He leaned his hip against the granite counter and crossed his feet at the ankles. “Not usually.”

Of course he didn’t. The man was gorgeous, stunning, sexy as sin. As scarred as she was, her mind had taken a very provocative slant over the last few days, as she lay in bed alone and tried to fall asleep each night. Considering her experiences with sex, she’d never been one to have fantasies. Now she couldn’t seem to turn them off.

“I’m, ah, flattered,” she said, feeling flustered. She still did not understand why he would be so obsessive over her, of all people.

“I suspect, initially, it was your magic. I’ve heard it said lightbearer magic is ‘happy magic.’ Apparently, to me, that means arousing magic. But now, I am utterly intrigued by you, as a person. Magic or not,” he commented, as if he’d read her thoughts, and knew she needed his reassurance.

Oh my
. Carley’s heart rate increased. He was so charming. So starkly honest. So…sincere. She placed the knife on the counter and wiped her hands with the towel she’d slung over her shoulder. Then she turned to face him.

“Kiss me,” she said in a breathy voice. “A real kiss, I mean.”

*

Reid froze. The smile slipped from his face. “If I kiss you, Carley, I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to stop.”

“I really want you to kiss me,” she whispered, watching him with eyes that were wide with anticipation mixed with the faintest tinge of fear.

He wanted to take the fear away. He wanted her to look at him with anticipation mixed with lust. He decided there was only one way to fix the situation.

He reached out and slid his fingers into her soft blonde hair. She automatically lifted her chin. He wrapped the other hand around her waist, and then gently pulled her to him, until they were not quite touching. He bent his head and brushed one of those almost painfully innocent kisses across her sweet, lush lips. He wanted to devour those lips, but he needed her fear to be erased first.

He was rewarded when she parted her lips slightly and a faint sigh escaped. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she instinctively leaned forward, silently asking for more. Her body melted against him. She wanted this. He leaned in and gave it to her.

He pressed his lips against hers, let his tongue flick out to tease her plump bottom lip. She automatically opened her mouth and he licked his way inside. She tasted like wine and magic and need. She tilted her head and pressed closer, her own tongue tentatively touching the tip of his.

The hand tangled in her hair closed into a fist as he struggled with his own self-control. He needed to go slow, for her sake, and it was killing him, because all he wanted to do was tear off those leggings—while leaving the sexy as hell knee-high boots on—and lift her onto the counter and take her with an urgency he hadn’t felt since he was a youngling experiencing his first sexual encounter.

The problem was, she responded to him so wantonly, she was more enticing than any female he’d ever bedded before. She was completely open, utterly honest. She let him take the lead, but made it abundantly clear when she liked something he did. And so far, she liked everything he liked.

When he took the chance and lifted his hand to brush it across her breast, she thrust out her chest and pulled him yet more tightly against her body. He tugged his other hand out of her hair and dropped it to squeeze her ass. And was rewarded when she mocked his movement with her own hands.

“Carley,” he mumbled against her throat. She’d tilted her head and let her hair fall to the side, giving him full access to the curve of her neck. He nipped gently. “I want you.”

She made an erotic noise in her throat, not quite a word.

“Bedroom?” he suggested as he scraped his teeth over the shell of her ear.

She mumbled something incoherent, but did not stiffen, yet he did not want to assume he had her assent. He needed her to say it. She had obviously been violated at some point in her past, and he did not want her to associate his intentions with that experience.

He kissed a trail from her ear, down her neck, and up to her lips, against which he murmured, “Tell me, Carley.”

“Yes.”

It was the sweetest word he’d ever heard uttered. He swept her into his arms and carried her down the hall to his bedroom. She curled into him, one arm holding tightly to his neck, the other clutching his shirt, while she burrowed her face against his chest.

He walked over to the bed and laid her down on her back. She immediately tensed. He felt her close up on him, as if he could sense her emotions. Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him. He dropped to his knees next to the bed, an attempt to be less intimidating.

“Talk to me, Carley. What am I doing wrong?”

She twisted her head to the side. “Nothing. I just…It’s just…I thought I could forget,” she whispered as tears welled in her big blue eyes.

“Is it the bedroom? The bed? We can go into the living room. Or back to the kitchen. What do you need?”
Anything
. It wasn’t even about the promise of impending sex. He wanted her to feel safe. To trust him.

He watched her face as she struggled to come to terms with her fear. He wondered about the fear, wanted to press to determine the root, but now was not the time. If he asked, he would lose her completely, at least temporarily, and neither his body nor mind was ready to let her go just yet.

“This,” she finally said, indicating herself. “This position. Me, lying on my back. It’s…This is how—” He cut her off with a shake of his head.

He pushed to his feet and dropped onto the bed, lying on his back. “Here,” he said. “I can be subservient. Do what you will with me.” He smiled, trying to lighten the mood. Trying to ensure she did not close up entirely, and change her mind about where they were headed.

She sat up and smiled. “I’m not sure I even know what to do with you. But this does make me feel more comfortable. Thank you.”

Thank the gods, fates, and lights
. Reid blew out a breath. “I’ll guide you.”

She looked dubious.

“Take off my shirt. Just the top one. Leave the undershirt.”

“Oh,” she said, understanding blooming on her face. She pulled off his shirt.

“Now take yours off.”

She hesitated and then unlatched the buttons on her sweater. He sucked in a breath, and his eyes dilated as she slipped the sweater over her shoulders, revealing the lace camisole underneath.

“Your eyes are glowing,” she commented.

“That happens when our emotions are heightened.” He watched her with eyes he knew were filled with stark hunger. Hell, he wasn’t surprised they were glowing. His emotions were certainly running high at the moment.
Everything
was running high at the moment.

“Oh. This one too?” she asked, referring to her camisole.

“Come here,” he said gruffly.

He held out his hand, and she placed her smaller one into it. He gave it a tug, and she climbed onto the bed and straddled his hips. She kept her weight on her knees, instead of sinking onto his groin like he wanted her to. But that was okay. All in good time.

“Let me,” he said, his voice gone hoarse with need. He placed his hands on the leather boots, ran them up to the tops, then trailed his fingers up her thighs. She shivered, and he continued upward until his hands rested on her waist, at the lacy hem of her camisole. “May I?” He would do nothing she did not want him to do.

She lifted her arms over her head.

He pushed his hands up her side, taking the camisole with him, and then he tugged it over her breasts and over her head. They jiggled as the material released them. Her nipples peaked instantly, and she sucked in a ragged breath and stared at him as he stared at her chest.

“You can—can you touch me?” she whispered.

Reid groaned as he lifted his hands and cupped her breasts. “So beautiful,” he murmured as his thumbs brushed over her sensitive nipples. She arched into his touch, making a sexy noise that he was quickly learning meant she approved. He did it again and then pushed himself up onto one elbow so he could take one of those delicious-looking, rosy buds into his mouth.

Carley cried out and thrust her hands into his hair, holding him there. He obligingly laved at her breasts, more than happy to give her this pleasure.

He took as much control as she would give him, while he remained on his back and she straddled his hips. And slowly, gradually, they removed their clothing, until he wore only his undershirt, and she sat astride him, utterly gorgeous in all her natural, naked beauty. When she’d tried to pull off his undershirt, he stopped her with his hand covering hers, and distracted her with a kiss, possessive, thorough, until she panted with need and forgot what she’d intended to do in the first place.

But then the tension began to ratchet up again. He sat up and hugged her to him. He could feel the wetness between her legs. She was so ready for him, and yet she was suddenly hesitating again.

“What is it?” he asked as he rubbed his face against her beautiful, flaxen hair. “Tell me, Carley.”

“This is the part that hurts,” she whispered.

He squeezed her more tightly, as he struggled with his own self-control. He felt dual urges at the moment. First, to show her that sex did not hurt, and was not meant to be feared. And second, to go find whoever scarred her this badly, and teach him a well-deserved lesson. His hands shimmered as they shifted from human to animal, and he pulled on every ounce of control he possessed to tamp his temper.

“I suspect it hurt because you didn’t want it and weren’t ready for it,” he said, and then he rolled his hips, sliding his erection through her outer lips, and the wetness there. “Do you feel that?”

She gasped and arched against him.

“You’re ready for me, Carley. Do you want to? Or do you want to stop now?” He said another silent prayer to whatever Fates might be listening.
Please don’t ask me to stop
. Had he ever wanted anything so badly in his life? Another memory tried to intrude, but he ruthlessly pushed it away. This was nothing like that. Nothing.

“I…Do that again,” she whispered.

He did, pressing his hand into the small of her back as he did so. She gasped again.

“It’s never…felt like this.” She sounded confused, uncertain.

“I can make it feel even better,” he promised.

“Okay,” she said, shyly. “But go slow.”

It might kill him to do so, but he vowed to try. He started to lie back down, and she wrapped her arms around his back and said, “No. Like this. I like this.”

So he held her in his lap and slid backward until his back was pressed against the headboard. She straddled him, and he lifted his hips again, sliding his erection across nerve endings that he knew were ultrasensitive. Her gasp of pleasure confirmed it.

He wrapped one arm around her waist and slipped the other between their bodies. “Ready?” he asked, and when she nodded, he trailed a finger through her wetness until it slid inside. Her inner muscles tightened around his appendage, and she gasped at the intrusion as her eyes flew open and gave him a questioning look. He slid the finger out and in again, and her fingernails dug into his shoulders.

“Good?”

“I’ve never…”

“But good?” he urged as he continued to slide his finger in and out. Her eyes glazed with passion as she nodded. He added a second finger, and she sucked in a breath as her body finally kicked into gear and began to move with the motion of his hand.

“That’s it,” he encouraged as his thumb teased her clitoris. She let out a strangled cry, so he did it again. And again. And over and over until she suddenly arched and threw her head back and let out a shriek as her body convulsed through what he suspected might be her very first orgasm.

He was immensely proud that he’d been the one to give it to her.

She collapsed against him as he pulled his hand out from between them and wrapped both arms around her, holding her tightly as she struggled to catch her breath.

“That’s never happened before,” she mumbled against his shoulder, confirming his suspicion.

“Explains why it hurt to have sex,” he commented. “A little manual stimulation never hurt anyone,” he said with a teasing smile.

She blinked rapidly. “No, that certainly didn’t hurt,” she agreed, and then she giggled.

He shifted his hips. “Ready for more?”

“I don’t think I can—”

“Trust me. You can.” He pressed against her and then waited. His entire body was tense with the need for release. But he would wait. He needed her assent first.

She wiggled her hips experimentally. He sucked in a breath. And held it.

“Okay,” she finally said, and he let out the breath.

With one arm wrapped around her waist, he held her still, while the other guided his erection to her opening. Her nails dug into his shoulder as she buried her head into the crook of his neck. Her body tensed. If she wasn’t so wet right now, he would probably not be able to even do this. But she was and he was determined to prove to her that this was what it was supposed to be like between a man and a woman. Whatever the hell she’d experienced in the past was wrong, and as he gently pushed up while pulling her down with his other arm, he vowed it would be like this for her forever now. Never again would she experience pain during the act. Never again, he swore as he slid into her tight, wet heat.

And then he groaned, overcome with the sensation of something he’d been craving for a month, something he’d been fantasizing about every night as he sat either in her bedroom or on the roof of the building next door and watched her sleep. This was as close to the Summerlands as he’d ever get while still living in this life. He sank into her, and then stopped and waited for the tension to drain from her body.