Secrets in the Stone (34 page)

“I’m going to come just watching you,” Adrian groaned, her eyes huge indigo pools of desire.

“Go ahead.” Rooke unzipped her fly. “I’ll just make you come again in a few minutes.”

“I want you first. Right now.” Adrian ripped off her T-shirt and pushed her sweatpants down.

Rooke shoved off her jeans and briefs.

“Come closer,” Adrian demanded, rising to her knees.

Taking a step forward, Rooke braced her legs against the side of the bed. Adrian wrapped her arms around Rooke’s hips and rubbed her cheek against Rooke’s belly. Rooke circled her pelvis against Adrian’s breasts. When Adrian rimmed her belly button with the tip of her tongue, Rooke reached back and released the band that held Adrian’s hair. She twisted the thick blond strands in her hands and held Adrian’s face hard against her rigid abdomen.

“You make me want to come so bad,” Rooke whispered.

“You’re beautiful, baby,” Adrian murmured, her mouth wet and hot against Rooke’s abdomen. She massaged the rock-hard muscles in Rooke’s ass and rubbed her breasts over Rooke’s crotch. Liquid heat painted her nipples and she moaned. Rooke’s skin blazed under her tongue, igniting her hunger. She swung her legs around and sat on the edge of the bed, forcing Rooke to open her legs wide for balance. Holding Rooke steady with one arm around her taut hips, Adrian slipped a finger on either side of her clitoris and exposed her.

Rooke clenched her fists. She needed to come.

“God, you’re so hard. So wet.” Adrian licked her and Rooke shuddered. “Easy. Easy, baby. Let me have you slow.”

Through half-closed lids Rooke watched Adrian kiss and suck and lick her until her abdomen cramped from holding in her orgasm. She felt herself swell, felt her control slip. She was going to erupt any second.

“I need you to make me yours,” Rooke groaned.

“You
are
mine.” Adrian funneled her lips and sucked.

“Adrian. Adrian, I’m going to come.”

“Mmm,” Adrian hummed. Never, never had it been like this. Rooke’s legs went hard as iron and her clitoris hammered between her lips. The power lashing through Rooke’s wire-tight frame struck at Adrian like barbed lightning and she cried out, her teeth grazing the rigid shaft locked between her lips.

Rooke jerked, let out a hoarse shout, and then she was exploding, shaking, burning up from the inside out. She came in Adrian’s mouth for a long time, until her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees, exhausted and drained.

“I love you,” Rooke gasped.

“I love you.” Adrian dragged Rooke fiercely against her, cradling her head on her breast. “I’ve always loved you. I will always love you.”

“Adrian.” Rooke’s voice was low, slurred, satisfied.

“Hmm?”

“Can you do that again?”

“Oh, baby,” Adrian breathed, guiding Rooke onto the bed. “I can do it forever.”

Biting wind buffeted Adrian as she clung to the edge of a rough stone parapet beneath a midnight sky. Her thin cloak flailed behind her and her hair whipped free from its leather tie, lashing her cheeks. Tears gathered on her lashes and her heart thrashed wildly in her chest. Through stinging eyes, she willed the figure to appear, but she remained alone. When she’d nearly given in to the darkness slowly eclipsing her spirit, she saw the shadows distill into a tall, broad form. Weary and bloodied, the warrior approached, and with her every step, the wind died and the raging storm receded. Adrian felt the fire in the great hearth leap to life.

“You’ve come back,” Adrian whispered. “I was so afraid…”

“I promised I would not fail as long as you believed.”

“You’re hurt.” Adrian touched the blood streaming over the bold contours of her face.

“No,” she said, holding Adrian hard against her chest. “I am healed.”

Adrian gasped. “Rooke?”

“Right here.” Rooke leaned over her and kissed her mouth, then cradled her breast and kissed the place where her heart pounded.

“I was dreaming.”

“Good dreaming?” Rooke rubbed her cheek against Adrian’s breast and fondled the nipple.

“Yes. I dreamed of you. Of how much I love you.” Adrian traced the chiseled muscles in Rooke’s shoulders and back, loving her strength. Rooke’s stone-roughened fingertips chafed her nipple, and she went wet. Grasping Rooke’s hand, she guided it down her middle into the valley between her thighs. Arching against Rooke’s hard body, she curled her fingers over Rooke’s and pressed them to her center. “Inside me. Deep.”

“I love you,” Rooke said, obeying Adrian’s command.

Adrian watched Rooke’s eyes go black, felt her filling her body, her soul. She lifted her hips to take more and slid her hand over the firm ridges of Rooke’s abdomen to cup her sex. Rooke was wet and engorged, ready for her. Adrian gripped her, alternately squeezing and stroking. Rooke moaned and thrust against her palm. An exhilarating surge of power arced between them and Adrian took Rooke’s mouth hungrily, breathing her in. Rooke’s hand, exquisitely demanding, pumped inside her and flames licked at her core. She would come soon.

“I love you inside me.” Adrian rocked the heel of her hand on Rooke’s tense clitoris and then dove inside to tease the spot she’d discovered would make Rooke explode. In and out, in and out.

“You’re going to make me come,” Rooke murmured against Adrian’s mouth.

Rooke’s eyes were hazy and unguarded. Fierce love pierced Adrian’s soul and she tumbled into orgasm without warning. She went rigid with the shock and her fingers spasmed, driving Rooke over with her. Adrian trembled in her arms, totally helpless, and totally unafraid.

“I love you…want you…so much,” Adrian cried.

“Never want you to stop.” Rooke collapsed with a shattering groan, dropping her head onto Adrian’s shoulder.

“I won’t stop.” Adrian caressed her damp cheek, stroked her quivering body. She loved knowing all that strength, all that power, was hers. “I adore touching you. I love when you touch me.”

“I want you all the time.”

“Good.” Adrian kissed Rooke’s temple. “I need you to want me.”

Rooke kissed Adrian’s throat. “You’ll have to go away, won’t you. For your work.”

“Sometimes. Baby—”

“Will you come back to me?”

“Oh, baby,” Adrian whispered, trying to hold in so much love that tears escaped. “Yes. Yes, always. I won’t go very far, for very long. I need you too much.”

“I can get a house, or I can come down here…”

Adrian leaned back so Rooke could see her face, so she could read the truth. “I don’t care where we are, all I need is you. Tell me you love me.”

Rooke slipped on top of her and braced herself on her forearms, her gaze as sharp and clear as the lines she carved in stone. “I love you. I will always and forever love you.”

“And I love you,” Adrian whispered. “Always and forever.”

*

“Don’t answer it,” Adrian said when Rooke’s cell phone rang for the fifth time that morning. It was noon and they were still in bed. She had no desire to get out of bed anytime in the next century. She felt as if she’d never touched a woman before, never been touched before. She couldn’t stop wanting her.

“It’s okay.” Rooke kissed her swiftly. “It’s probably Melinda.”

“Not okay then,” Adrian grumbled. As much as she wanted to grab the phone and rail at Melinda, she held back. Rooke was capable of taking care of herself. “Answer the damn thing.”

“Hello?”

Rooke pushed up against the headboard and Adrian curled up against her. The phone was between them and Adrian heard Melinda say, “Rooke love, I’ve been trying to reach you since last night. Are you all right?”

Rooke sifted her fingers through Adrian’s hair. “I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry yesterday was trying for you.”

“I survived.”

Adrian grit her teeth and rubbed Rooke’s chest. Muscles flickered beneath her fingertips.

Melinda laughed. “Of course you did, darling. You’re far too strong to be taken anywhere you don’t want to go, by anyone. But I do hope you’ll give me the chance to make it up to you. I promise to take very good care of you.”

“I’m going to kill her,” Adrian muttered.

“I agreed to let you show my sculptures,” Rooke said. “That’s as far as our arrangement goes.”

“You will come to the reception tomorrow night?”

“Yes. And I’m bringing Adrian.”

After a moment, Melinda said, “Of course. I’ve been looking forward to seeing you both.”

When Rooke hung up, Adrian said, “She wants you, you know.”

“Melinda wants every woman, I think,” Rooke said.

“She can’t have you. You’re mine.” Adrian stroked Rooke’s abdomen, endlessly fascinated by the ripple of muscles, stacked like bricks beneath satin.

Rooke pulled Adrian on top of her. “And you are mine. I’ve seen her look at you, and I know what she can do when she turns on her charm.”

Adrian nipped Rooke’s chin and straddled her. “I’ve had you inside me. No one will ever touch me but you.”

“Then Melinda has no power, does she.” Rooke cradled Adrian’s hips and guided her in a slow steady circle over her stomach. Her grip tightened as wetness coated her skin.

“None at all,” Adrian murmured, her lids fluttering closed. “I need you again.”

“I’m here.”

“I’ll say one thing for Melinda. She has excellent taste in clothes,” Adrian said, assessing Rooke’s charcoal Armani. The slightly boxy jacket and tailored trousers accentuated her shoulders and gave her a lean and dangerous look. Adrian crossed the room and put her arms around Rooke’s neck. In the heels she’d chosen to go with her own black raw silk Prada suit, she was slightly taller than Rooke. Her two-button jacket was cut in at the waist and she’d decided not to wear anything under it except a strapless black lace demi bra. “You look incredible in that suit.”

“We don’t have to stay long, do we?” Rooke pulled Adrian hard against her and nuzzled her neck. “You’re practically naked under there.”

Adrian laughed. “Baby, we haven’t been out of bed for two days.”

“Is that bad?” Rooke blazed a trail of kisses from Adrian’s neck to the hollow of her throat and then lower, to the vee between her breasts.

“No, God no. Not bad. Glorious.” Adrian closed her eyes and gripped the back of Rooke’s head, pressing Rooke’s mouth to the inner curve of her breast. When the burn ignited in her core, she pulled away. “Baby, stop. Another second and I won’t be able to go anywhere. I won’t be able to walk.”

Rooke raised her head, pupils flaring. “Then let’s not go.”

“We have to.” Adrian skimmed her fingers through Rooke’s hair, loving the way the ends refused to be tamed, curling over her ears and at the back of her neck. Everything about Rooke hinted at wild energy and unbridled sensuality, and she adored knowing all that passion was hers. “Despite the many ways I want to dismember Melinda, I know that professionally she’s unrivaled. If you can tolerate working with her, then I think we should do what she suggests regarding promotion. If she says this party is important, I’m sure it is.”

“I can handle Melinda. I’m all right now.” Rooke clasped Adrian lightly around the waist, keeping their lower bodies in contact. “I was thrown when I first got here, but I have you now. I’ll be okay.”

“Then we should go.” Adrian kissed her swiftly. Rooke might think she could handle Melinda, but she intended to be certain of it.

*

As soon as they left the building, Adrian saw the limo idling at the curb. She narrowed her eyes when Valencia stepped out and came around the front of the car. The woman didn’t walk. She prowled. “Did you know Melinda was sending her?”

“No,” Rooke said. Despite the temperature, Valencia did not wear a topcoat and tonight her black suit was conservatively cut, blunting the feminine angles of her body, and her white shirt and dark tie were equally sedate. Rooke had a fleeting memory of the savage hunger she’d glimpsed in Valencia’s eyes those few seconds in Marguerite’s salon. She felt nothing at all for her now. Not anger, not outrage. If anything, she felt sorry for her. She doubted that Valencia ever managed to satisfy her hunger.

“Good evening, Rooke. Adrian.” Valencia held open the rear door. Her tone was neutral but her eyes lingered on Rooke as Rooke climbed into the vehicle.

“In case you have any doubts,” Adrian murmured, “Rooke is not available.”

Valencia’s eyes glinted darkly and her full, sensual lips thinned, but she nodded in assent. Satisfied, Adrian slipped inside. When the door closed, she put her arm around Rooke’s waist and rested her cheek against Rooke’s shoulder.

“I’m having a sign made for you.” Adrian kissed a spot just below Rooke’s ear. When Rooke shuddered, she felt a thrill of satisfaction. “Property of Adrian Oakes.”

Rooke laughed. “I think that might be overkill.”

“I know you do.” Adrian kissed the angle of Rooke’s jaw and very subtly rubbed her breasts against Rooke’s arm. “One of the many things I love about you.”

“Adrian,” Rooke’s voice carried a warning, “if you want us to go to this thing, you have to stop exciting me all the time.”