Lindsay McKenna (21 page)

Cat leaned against him, closing her eyes, absorbing his maleness, his mouth sending small kisses across her neck. “I can’t think anymore,” she said, and laughed. “And it’s all your fault, Holt.”

“And I’ve been wanting to do this all day,” Talon growled, pulling her into his arms, turning her toward him. As she leaned against him, sliding her arms around his shoulders, Talon smiled down into her eyes. He could see so much in them. Cat didn’t try to hide how she felt about him. And when her hips pressed against his, he groaned, feeling her belly against his arousal.

“Me, too,” she whispered, leaning up, framing his face and sliding her lips against the line of his mouth. Cat wasn’t disappointed as he pulled her tightly against him, his mouth curving hotly against hers, opening her lips, deepening their kiss until she felt her knees melting beneath her. The man knew how to kiss! His breath was moist, sensual against her face, his fingers tunneling through her hair, angling her just so to hold her captive, to plunder her mouth with unrestrained hunger. His other hand drifted to her hip, cupping her, crushing her against him, letting her know how hard he was, how much he wanted her.

As Talon eased his mouth from her wet lips, he opened his eyes, staring into hers. Cat’s gaze was cloudy with arousal and he smiled a little. One kiss and it was like flipping a switch between them. They went from simmer to boiling in a heartbeat. He would bet his life she was damp right now and he moved his fingers, curving them around her thigh. Her breath hitched as his fingers grazed the denim across her entrance. She was wet and he smiled. Cat pushed against his hand, wanting more. The look in her eyes was the same as he’d seen just before she’d experienced her deepest pleasure. He was trembling with need and positioned her to continue massaging the damp region. “I like what we have.”

Cat found her voice husky as she moaned, wanting his fingers exactly where they were. “So do I.” The act was so intimate, so arousing, her lower body burning beneath his fingers. She felt far away, taken to another place and time in his arms, the sensations building, scalding her, and she moaned, pressing her face against his shoulder.

“Hungry?” he rasped.

“As in food? Or as in going to bed with you?” She saw his eyes glitter with amusement, feeling his need of her, his erection obvious.

“Your call,” he said, positioning her such that he could place his palm against her entrance. A cry caught in her throat, her eyes shuttering closed, her body sinking against his as he gave her pleasure.

“I want dessert first....” And she saw Talon give her that confident male smile of his, his eyes growing turbulent, sending fire of another kind singing through her veins. Tightness swept through her and she recognized it as an orgasm preparing to flood her. The way he rubbed his fingers against her, even through the denim, was making her ache with scorching fire heating her from the inside out.

“So do I,” he growled, easing his hand from between her thighs. “You’re so wet, so ready,” he said, lifting her into his arms. “I’ve been thinking about loving you all day,” Talon gruffly admitted to her as he mounted the stairs to her bedroom.

With a sigh, Cat laid her head against his. “Me, too....”

“A woman after my own heart,” Talon said, pushing the door open with the toe of his boot.

This time, the evening light was cascading through the opened drapes into the bedroom. Cat had made the bed and he gently deposited her on it and sat down at her side, his arm across her. The smile on her lips sent a scalding fire down to his lower body. Her hair lay about her head, her eyes shining with love for him. Talon sat there, gently grazing her cheek, pushing some of the strands away from her temple, wondering how he knew what he saw in Cat’s glistening eyes was love for him. How could he know? There wasn’t any doubt when he held her gaze. Did she know it was love? Never in his life had Talon felt these powerful, almost obsessive feelings toward any woman. Every time he skimmed Cat’s flesh, she responded. The sweet sounds in her throat spurred him on. She was incredibly sensitive, responsive to the briefest of his contacts. It fed him, his heart, his fractured soul, in a way no woman ever had.

“Tell me what you want,” he rasped, his hand stilling beside her cheek.

Cat laughed softly and lifted her hands, sliding them down his arms. “You.”

He grinned, his muscles leaping and tightening as her fingertips skimmed his arms beneath his shirtsleeves. “Anything in particular?”

She shook her head. “I loved everything we did last night, Talon.” Her lips curved. “I still feel like I’m floating. I don’t feel like I’ve come down, come back to my body.”

“Good loving will gift you in that way,” he assured her. Cat had lost her initial shyness from last night. Talon saw the glow in her face, the radiance that good sex gave when it was right. And, God, it had been so right last night. He moved his hand to her shoulder and grew serious. “Are you still sore?”

She shrugged. “A little. But it doesn’t matter, Talon.” Her voice dropped, becoming husky. “I like what we have. You make me feel so glad...so wonderful... The way you touched me in the kitchen...I want more of that....”

He grinned and nodded. “So do I. You’re incredible. You really are.” Her smile slipped and he saw moisture come to her eyes. “Hey,” he murmured, leaning down and kissing her brow, “what’s this all about?”

Cat grimaced. “Just—” and she stumbled, embarrassed “—me, I guess.” She didn’t have the courage to tell him that her exes tended not to say or give much. Talon brought his whole heart to her and so did she. “I feel what we have is like a beautiful flower garden, so colorful, brilliant...beautiful.”

Talon kissed her temple and cheek, inhaling her scent. “I like the way you see us...” he said, because Cat was healing to him.

His mouth settled lightly upon hers and Cat gave a little moan of pleasure, wrapping her hands around his shoulders, drawing Talon against her. She felt him growl deep within his chest, the reverberation sent sweet ripples through her own body. She was in a heaven she never knew existed until now. Until Talon. His mouth plundered hers, fire tightening her breasts against his chest, nipples hardening, his hands gentle as he framed her face, lavishing her with his tongue, sending her lower body howling, like a starving wolf, for him to be within her once more.

Easing from her mouth, Talon rasped, “Let’s get undressed.” Before he took her with their clothes on.

Without hesitation, Cat sat up and divested herself of her clothes. Last night, she’d been wary about being seen naked by Talon. This morning, she’d felt bold. She’d felt her power as a woman sitting naked, his gaze burning with desire as he raked her body. Talon put her in touch with herself as a woman. Sex with Talon was addictive, Cat thought, as she watched him stand naked before her. The look in Talon’s eyes for her made her heart race with anticipation. Those large, scarred hands of his made her ache to be touched by him. He had taken her to the edge of ecstasy. Her gaze dropped to his erection and, instantly, she felt her body contract with an eagerness that made her tremble inwardly. The man electrified her, made her body salivate, and she smiled, holding out her hand to him.

Talon sank his knee into the mattress next to her hip. All he wanted to do was give back to Cat. The shimmering smile in Cat’s blue eyes melted his heart and made him grow even harder, if that was possible.

CHAPTER TWENTY

A
LL
T
ALON
HAD
to do was open her lips and Cat drowned in the strength and hunger of his mouth taking hers. It was so easy to surrender to him, to his roughened fingers skimming her slender neck, placing warm, wet kisses down the length of it, the fire skittering like small shocks directly to her tightening breasts. Her heart was wide-open to him and Cat felt fierce feelings for him flowing outward, being expressed in the way she kissed him, her fingers moving through his short, dark hair. Intuitively, she knew it was love.
Real love.
And as she moved to her side, pressing her hips against his, feeling him tense, a groan working its way out of him, she smiled and simply enjoyed how and where he touched her.

This time, there was ease between them, no anxiety or tension. Talon gave her the confidence to express herself, whether she felt very skilled at loving him or not. And as Cat moved her searching fingers down across his hard belly, wrapping her fingers around his erection pressing into her, she began to understand the power a woman had over her man. Talon growled her name, taking her mouth, plundering her lips, sweeping his tongue against hers as her fingers lingered around his shaft, feeling his steely warmth, his hardness. It excited Cat and she arched wantonly against Talon, her nipples tangling in the soft hair across his chest.

Their breaths were uneven, and as Talon eased out of her exploring hand, settled his knees between her thighs, she saw the sexy look in his narrowing gray eyes. Her lips were wet, felt lush as she met and held his intense, burning stare. As Talon’s large hands settled around her hips, Cat closed her eyes, wanting him in her. His fingers followed the crease of her thighs, moving toward her damp entrance, and her breath hitched with anticipation. She liked him touching her there, igniting that throbbing ache within her, heightening the scalding heat, feeling her entire being focused and centered around his exploring contact.

Cat was completely unprepared as she felt him move, his broad shoulders widening her thighs, his fingers curving beneath her thighs. The next moment, she felt him kissing the inside of her thigh. Her skin tautened and quivered as his tongue traced a lazy pattern across her flesh, moving much closer to her entrance. A groan tore out of her, fists clenching into the covers, back arching as his tongue went even lower. Her mind exploded as the sheer, raw pleasure tunneled through her. And when Talon kissed her entrance, his tongue finding, capturing that knot of nerves, she gasped and cried out. Mindless, writhing between his callused hands, feeling the sweet assault as his tongue dived inward, Cat felt paralyzed. Scorching heat roared wildly through her. Every mooring that held her functioning mind liquefied like hot wax. All she could do was sob and feel the raw fire arcing deeply into her, triggering her orgasm, which exploded with a power that sent her tumbling and fusing with the rippling contractions.

Talon felt the power of her pleasure. Her scent intoxicated him, pushed him so close to coming. He eased to his knees, watching the flush of orgasm sweep across her damp, quivering body. The look of rapture on her face, the burning arousal in her eyes as she held his hooded stare, made him feel good in ways he never had before. Her breath was coming in gasps, those ripe, full lips of hers parted, begging to be kissed by him again.

This time, Talon covered her body, his lips settling on one nipple, drawing it into his mouth. He felt Cat’s hands fall across his shoulders, her hips lifting to receive him. There was no question she was ready, but he wanted to make his entrance smooth, without stress upon her. He suckled her deeply and he heard her gasp. Instantly, her fingers dug into his shoulders and she cried out his name. It was then he thrust into her, feeling her body begin to accommodate him. Talon sought and found her other nipple, suckling her more demandingly. Cat moaned and writhed as he thrust deeply into her. Moving in and out, coaxing her to participate, Talon felt the tension in her lower body melt and relax around him. Leaning upward, Talon captured her parted lips, taking her hungrily, feeling her response just as eager and needy as he was.

Talon could feel Cat’s body building toward her release, heard it in her short, sharpened gasps. This time, he thrust powerfully into her, reaching that second knot of nerves deep within the muscled walls. He felt her shudder and whimper with pleasure. Her body was so reactive, so sensitive that Talon could feel her contracting and squeezing around him until he could barely think. He wanted to wait, wanted to please her first. Thrusting hard and quickly, Talon felt her starting to come apart in his arms, heard her keening cry tear out of her.

The heat, the tightness around him, was too much. Pressing his cheek against her hair, Talon groaned, feeling the explosive, scalding pleasure flowing out of him, filling her. Taking her. His body taut, Talon grabbed the covers on either side of Cat’s head. His hips ground against her, the hot liquid shared between them. He felt his body melting like honey into hers. Felt her hands grip his hips, drawing him hard into her, her legs wrapping around his waist, prolonging the wild sensations unleashing and tunneling out of him. Talon gritted out her name, felt his entire body collapsing upon Cat, his weight against her softer, giving body beneath him. His nostrils flared and he drank in her scent, the fragrance of the sex shared between them.

Struggling, Talon pushed himself off Cat. He rolled off her, gathering her into his arms, tucking her tightly beside him, her cheek pressed into his shoulder. “Every time is even better,” he rasped, kissing her temple, inhaling her fragrance. Just the way she made a sweet sound in her throat, straining against him, her arm sliding around him, Talon had never felt so fulfilled. So...happy. He could feel the beat of Cat’s heart against his chest, her breathing uneven, nuzzling beneath his jaw. There was such innocence to Cat. Absorbing her on every level, Talon lay with his eyes closed, unable to conceive his life without her in it. So much had changed since he’d come home.

And as he felt her fingers move up his damp back, Talon tensed inwardly because he knew she could feel the ridges of the many scars across it. His heart contracted. Cat’s fingers lingered lightly, tracing one scar that was nearly the full length of his back.

“What happened to you?” she whispered against his neck, feeling his pulse beneath her lips.

Talon held Cat a little tighter, not wanting to go there, but not wanting to lie to her, either. He thought all the grief, the terror, would avalanche him once again if he spoke. The soft movement of her fingers was surprisingly calming, not inciting the usual dark emotions. Talon kissed her temple, his voice rough with feeling, struggling to keep his emotions controlled. “I was tortured. But I’m fine now.”

Cat suddenly tensed, her fingers going still on his back. He swallowed hard, not wanting to give it any more words. Any more explanations.

Cat nuzzled his neck, feeling Talon tense in her arms. She sensed his fear, heard it in his gravelly voice, his breathing going uneven. She eased back enough to look into his stormy expression. Tears jammed into hers as she saw the stark terror of that torture deep in the recesses, felt him wrestling to keep it all at bay. Her instincts told her not to push the topic. Her one question had seemed to rip a festering scar off his terrifying trauma. She comprehended on a level few would understand.

Wordlessly, Cat leaned up, softly pressing her mouth to his. She moved her hand lightly, caressingly, across his deeply scarred back. As she deepened the kiss, she felt overwhelming love for Talon, along with a fierceness to protect him. He responded powerfully, laying her on her back, curving his mouth against hers, almost desperately, and it made tears leak out of her tightly closed eyes.

Talon could taste the salt in her tears. Why was she crying for him? But she was and it strengthened his need for her. Her caressing fingers slid up his cheeks, into his hair, as if to soothe him, take away the nearly overwhelming pain he felt. Easing away, Talon stared down into her glistening eyes.

“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” he said, his voice hoarse.

Skimming his jaw, she whispered, “Tears are always good. Healing...”

Talon felt a fist of grief so huge he thought he might explode. He hadn’t even cried for himself. Hadn’t cried for the loss of Hayden. Yet, Cat could cry for him. It shook Talon to the bottom of his fractured soul. He closed his eyes, like a starving wolf, thirstily absorbing her every caress to his face, his shoulder. Did Cat know how healing her touch was to him? Somehow, it lessened his burden. Whatever they shared, whatever it was, Talon knew it was the only thing that could help him heal.
Cat’s touch.
Her husky voice trembling with emotion. Blue eyes looking deep into his dark, wounded soul, bringing light, understanding and, most of all, her acceptance of him, no matter how damaged he was.

Talon forced himself to look down into her compassionate gaze. “I can’t talk about it yet,” he rasped.

“I know,” she whispered, sliding her fingers through his hair. “It’s all right, Talon. I’m here. We can heal one another over time. I know that....”

Talon buried his head against Cat’s shoulder, holding her so tight he heard the air whoosh out of her. He clung to her as if she were the last anchor in his fragmented world. If he let go of her, he would be lost. Forever. Talon surrendered to Cat as he clung to her like a dying man. Her fingers moved gently across his shoulder, soothingly down his back, grazing his scars, lifting the pain and memory out of them as she did so. Tears leaked out of his eyes, no matter how hard Talon tried to force them back. They fell against her silky hair, the strands soaking them up.

And then his world turned upside down and all Talon could hear was the sobs tearing out of him, his entire body convulsing against hers. Cat held him with her woman’s strength, with her softly whispered words, her hands moving in healing gestures across his back. Talon had never felt such shame, such helplessness, in his life. And yet, she absorbed everything with a calm sweetness that Talon couldn’t believe.

Cat had suffered terribly herself. Somewhere in his shattered mind, Talon wondered if it made her stronger and far more capable to deal with him and his horror. Part of him was dying. A part that had already been dead, but now, it dissolved and left beneath her whispered words, her caresses and the warmth of her curved body against his. It was a miracle and Talon had no explanation for what had happened or why. As he lay in her arms in the aftermath of the storm that had rolled through him, that he’d finally given voice to, he felt cleaner. Hopeful.

Sliding his hand down her arm, Talon eased his grip on Cat. How could someone this soft and giving be so damned strong? Strong enough to hold him? Love him at his worst moment? And as Talon kissed her hair, inhaling Cat’s sweet scent, he knew this was an act of love on her part. All these feelings he’d had within him since he’d met Cat were now brilliantly obvious to him. Talon loved Cat. He loved her just the way she was. She was perfect for him. She made him happier than he could ever recall.

Cat kissed Talon’s hair, his neck and shoulder. “You’re going to be okay now,” she told him quietly. “We’re all wounded. Every last one of us.” She gave him a wry look and eased away enough to study him. “You and I have the physical scars to prove it.” She caressed his damp cheek, the spent tears beneath her fingertips. “So many others have no physical proof of their wounds, but they’re still there and they know it. They carry them around every day just like we do, Talon. That’s the only difference....” Cat drowned in his raw devastation, in everything he’d endured.

He caught her hand, kissed her fingers and then wrapped it in his, pressing it against his heart. “How did you get so smart?”

The corners of her mouth turned faintly upward. “I learned in junior high when I had PE and would shower afterward, every girl in there saw the scars on my back.” Her voice lowed with feeling. “At first, I lied. I told them a horse threw me and I landed in a barbed-wire fence. And then I hated myself for lying. I was ashamed of my scars, Talon. By the time I got to high school, I stopped lying to the girls who saw my back. I told them my father did it to me.” She inhaled and added, “The moment I told the truth, I felt free. By that time, I knew I looked different to them. No one else had scars like me. But I found telling the truth made me feel better.”

He frowned, moving his hand gently across her back, feeling her scars. “Someday, I’ll tell you how I got mine.”

“You’re not there yet, Talon. I get it. I had my own journey with my scars.” Cat tilted her head, becoming somber, a quaver in her voice. “I’ll be here to listen when you’re ready. Okay?”

Relief shuddered through Talon. He knew Cat would give him the time and space he needed to deal fully with his trauma. She wouldn’t push. Wouldn’t keep asking questions or stirring it up in him. Cat understood the long process it took to get to that point where he could give it voice. And Talon knew, without a doubt, she’d sit quietly and simply listen. She was strong enough to hold him and be there for him. Talon knew that with every cell of his being.

“Okay,” he rasped, trying to smile but failing. Grazing her flushed cheek, her skin velvet and firm beneath his thumb, Talon felt a new kind of peace entering him. He eased away from her. He sat up and placed several pillows behind his back, leaning against the headboard. He gathered Cat into his arms, nestling her against him and holding her for a long, long time.

At some point, he realized the sun was no longer shining. Looking out the opened curtains, Talon could see dusk coming, the sky darkening. He pressed a kiss to her hair. “How did you get to be who you are?” he demanded huskily, smiling down into her eyes.

Cat shrugged, wrapped in his arms, content as never before. “I think our first eighteen years define us, don’t you?”

Talon moved his thumb lightly across her eyebrow. “Yeah, that’s part of it for sure.”

“Why are you giving me that bug-under-a-microscope look?” Cat teased, giving him a playful smile.