Spirit Bound (23 page)

“I can’t take any more.” Even to herself her voice was a husky, pleading moan.

Let go, angel, and just fly for me.

She had no choice, she really didn’t. Not with flames building into a giant firestorm and her body bucking helplessly against his mouth and fingers. She felt every muscle in her body tighten, the coil so tight now it was frightening, and then she was flying apart, her soft cries filling the room.

Stefan held her hips to steady her, even as he stood, stripping away his jeans with one hand, turning her away from him, pressing her down with one hand on her back, forcing her over one of the tables. He left his shirt on. His body was covered in scars. Knife fights, bullet wounds, whip marks, years of enduring torture, it was all on the road map of his body. She might buy he’d gotten a few wounds in the service, but it would be impossible to explain them all and he didn’t want to lie to her.

She was nearly sobbing, her body rocking back into his. “Easy, angel, we’re going to go slow.” He hoped he could.

His hand circled his cock, finding her slick entrance with the large, very sensitive head. Her channel was burning hot, surrounding that first inch, gripping tightly so that he had to still, throwing his head back, his body shuddering with pleasure. “Hold still, Judith,” he entreated. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

Judith tried to stop writhing, stop the terrible restless need gripping her as she felt the hot head of his thick shaft lodge inside of her. Her breath caught in her lungs. Between her legs, she felt chiseled steel, hot as a brand, invading, stretching,
burning
. But more, it was the essence of the man lodged so deep inside of her she knew she would never get him out. The sensations poured over her so fast she couldn’t catch her breath, couldn’t possibly control the screams of her body, the demands. She had no experience with this kind of sex, yet everything in her responded. Even the small wisps of fear curling treacherously in her mind heightened her pleasure.

She felt a sob welling up and tears burned behind her eyes. She hadn’t thought herself capable of this type of strong passion, the need so great, so incredible nothing else mattered but having him buried deep inside of her. She didn’t care if it stretched and burned. She wanted him to take her so high that she lost herself in him. She was willing to give him everything she was as long as he gave her the same.

“Stay still, damn it,” Stefan pleaded. He needed her to keep from moving so sensuously, her body sliding enticingly toward him as she tried to draw him deeper into her scalding feminine sheath.

She hissed something between her teeth that sounded as if she was trying, but the feeling of her soft, rounded buttocks and the long line of her spine with her hair spilling around her were every bit as sensual as her hips bucking.

He rocked forward, driving an inch deeper, pushing through those tight, strangling folds of silken fire, gasping with the flames racing over him. It was difficult not to slam himself deep into that inferno of paradise. He halted the moment he felt her tense, just staying where he was, surrounded by living velvet as tight as any fist.

“I’m all right,” she panted. “Keep going.”

“What’s wrong?” He couldn’t stop, not now. He closed his eyes and prayed to a God he wasn’t certain existed.

“I want this,” Judith insisted, her tone pleading, breathless,
needy
. “It burns a little when you’re stretching me, but you feel amazing. Please don’t stop.”

He let his breath out and invaded deeper into that tight feminine channel. “You’re so damn tight, angel.” She was scorching him all the way down to his toes. He took a breath and eased in more.

“You’re so damn big,” Judith gasped and pushed back with a small cry, sheathing him another couple of inches.

He flexed his fingers. Blood thundered in his head, and a jackhammer pulsed between his legs, hard and demanding. With her squirming he could barely maintain sanity let alone control. He gripped her hips and as her body thrust toward him, he rammed home, burying himself deep, driving through those snug, nearly unyielding muscles. He bumped her cervix and she cried out again, taking several deep breaths.

“Please, Thomas, please . . .” She broke off pleading with a gasp as he began to move.

Stefan built the rhythm slowly, watching her reaction as closely as possible. She was burning him alive, feeding the flames with her passion, with her own need, a black magic woman, wrapping him up in sex and sin. His cock felt like steel, slamming into her over and over, disappearing into dark, hot depths. Deliberately he adjusted position, dragging over her most sensitive part so that she gave another cry.

Her long hair was everywhere, her breasts rocking with each hard stroke. The sight of her broke his last thread of control and he gave in to the wild need that had been building his entire life for this one woman. He drew in his breath sharply, his hold on her hips tight as he drove forward and yanked her back into him again and again.

He stretched them both out on a rack of torturous, pure carnal pleasure he hadn’t known could exist, the tension building until her cries were music to him and his hard breathing matched the deep, pistoning thrusts of his hips. He couldn’t stop, didn’t want this to end, felt complete with her, with flames licking over his skin and his cock forging such heat they were welded together.

Lust rose into frenzied hunger and mingled with a far gentler emotion that took his heart and placed it solely in her hands. He slammed into her again and again, her pleas and the sound of their bodies coming together weaving the sensations into a deeper, darker coil. Judith gasped, a sobbing plea escaped, as wave after wave of shocking orgasms tore through her. Her muscles clamped down like a vise, dragging over him, a fierce, almost brutal assault that took him by surprise, ripping his own vicious release from him.

Stefan collapsed over the top of Judith, careful not to put too much of his weight on her while he fought for breath. He pressed his face against her back, inhaling her fragrance, feeling the silk of her hair against his face.
Are you all right?

She reached one hand behind her and stroked his thigh. He could feel the pulse of her heart in the muscles surrounding him.
Absolutely. You?

Never better.

She hesitated and he felt it like an arrow through her heart.
I’m a little frightened by how intense this is between us. I didn’t expect sex to be so explosive. I can’t control it.

He waited a heartbeat.
Don’t regret this, Judith. It’s too good between us; don’t pull away from me because it’s scary. We can figure it out together.

She was silent another moment.
I should have told you, I’m not on birth control. I haven’t been with anyone and didn’t expect to be.

I should have protected you. I’m sorry, Judith. I wasn’t thinking.
He couldn’t say it aloud, could barely manage to utter the lie telepathically. He would welcome his child growing inside of her. The damn truth was, he
wanted
his child in her. And that was another shocking first for him.

Judith went still. She turned her head to one side and looked back at him, her long, feathery lashes lowering over her dazed expression.
I’m a grown woman, Thomas. I can protect myself. I should have been the one thinking about it. And truthfully, there’s a part of me that would welcome a baby.

My baby,
he corrected.
My baby.

The intimacy of speaking to one another in mind only while their bodies were locked together heightened his pleasure. He wrapped both arms around her slender waist and pressed kisses down her spine.
I love this room.

Me too.
There was soft laughter in her mind.

Judith didn’t try to move and he could feel every aftershock rocking her body.

This room will always be my favorite, although I’m quite willing to check out every single room in the house to see if any others are quite as exciting as this one.
Slowly, reluctantly, Stefan allowed his body to leave hers. He kept one hand on the small of her back to keep her in place, not taking chances that she might see the scars on him as he dragged up his jeans. “How many tables are there in this room?” He wanted to ease back to give her time to come to terms with how quickly their relationship was moving forward.

Judith straightened with unhurried deliberation. Sweeping back her hair she faced him, his seed dampening her thighs, her body flushed, nipples erect, her gold chain glittering at him. She looked thoroughly made love to, her eyes just a little glazed, watching him with a mixture of vulnerability and shock. “The tables are for work,” she managed.

“I’m willing to work,” he teased, just to see more color stealing into all that soft skin.

She made a face at him as she reached for a soft cloth. “One of these days, you can make your own scope. I’ll show you how.”

Stefan’s warning system went off loudly. Judith read people so easily. She saw things in them or she couldn’t make a kaleidoscope suited to an individual and their needs. She would see into him just by the things he selected to put in his scope. He wasn’t certain he knew what Thomas Vincent would choose for his cell, but whatever it was, those choices would be completely different than anything Stefan Prakenskii would make.

He kept the smile on his face even as he watched her closely. His suspicious nature couldn’t help but come up with all kinds of reasons for her to probe into his character. They’d just made love, the best sex he’d ever had in his life and he’d made up his mind that this woman would be
his
woman—the only one he’d ever want or have for himself, yet his mind immediately went to conspiracy. That showed him more than anything how very fucked up his trainers had made him.

“That sounds like fun,” he said, because she was waiting for a response.

Without looking away from him she smoothed away his seed with the cloth and it was the sexiest thing he’d ever witness. In spite of being sated minutes earlier his cock jerked hard. He nearly groaned aloud. Who was he trying to kid? He needed a lifetime to sate the craving she’d set up in his body. He nearly took the cloth away from her, hating to see the evidence of his possession wiped away. He forced himself to stay quiet, without protest as she dressed.

“I’m hungry all of a sudden,” she announced with a small grin. “Do you feel like eating?”

“Sure, although we’re down here, you may as well give me a quick rundown of the place. You can’t really see anything of the downstairs from outside so I was surprised with so many windows. I expected these rooms to be more like a basement.” He wanted to see the entire layout of the house. Windows made things difficult for security, but her gardens provided thick screens, at least during this time of year.

She flashed a pleased smile. “Painting requires a great deal of light. I’m a conservator of painting as well as an artist. Both require light, just as creating kaleidoscopes does. I like to be surrounded by color and all of the gardens are different. I mix the flowers with taller grasses and shrubs to help give myself the feeling of protection.”

He didn’t need to ask her why she felt in need of protection; she’d told him. He put his arm around her waist and leaned down to kiss her. If there was the smallest hesitation on her part, he ignored it. There was going to be a lot of kissing because, truthfully, he could kiss her forever and never be tired of it.

“Let’s get you something to eat, Judith. You can open doors for me along the way and give me the big tour another time.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him to her. “I can’t believe I haven’t known you all my life. This feels brand-new, and yet as comfortable as an old shoe. It’s a little scary how much it feels so right being with you.”

Behind her back, Stefan lifted his hand to inspect his fist, scarred and calloused with training and fights. Part of him expected his flesh to be transparent. He hadn’t been real since he was a boy and now, his blood flowed hot and his mind contemplated a life in this home with this woman, a daring dream. He didn’t deserve a woman like Judith. There wasn’t much good in him, but he’d fight to his last breath for her and he’d do whatever it took to make her happy.

“I know it has to feel like the devil showed up at your door and maybe he has. I just know this is right, Judith.”

She pressed kisses along his jaw and then stepped back. “Come on, before we start something all over again.”

“I’m willing.”

She laughed. “Me too, but unfortunately, I had to ask Airiana to work in my store for me and she has something she’s doing so if we’re going to eat, we have to eat now and I’m truly starving. Besides”—she sent him another mischievous smirk—“I want to see just how good a cook you really are.”

Stefan let her take his hand and lead him toward the door. He inhaled deeply and took in their combined scents. The room smelled like both of them now, sin and sex. He was the sin and she was the sex. Smiling to himself, he followed her out the door into the hall. Directly across from the kaleidoscope studio was another door. She pushed it open and stepped back.

“I have this smaller bedroom down here just in case I stay up all night, which is often, and I just crash down here.”

“Another bedroom for us,” he murmured appreciatively and was rewarded with her laughter.

The room next to the bedroom was another bathroom and shower, no tub this time, but the room itself was spacious. He was beginning to realize Judith liked everything as open as possible. She closed that door and moved on to the next door, which was quite a bit down the hallway, on the same side as the kaleidoscope studio.

“This is where I both paint and do my conservator’s work.”

Stefan stepped inside before she could close the door. There was Judith in this room as well, he could feel her. This studio was very organized, a complete contrast to the happy chaos of the adjoining room. Once again, the double French doors led out to a garden and banks of windows invited sunlight, but the resemblance ended there. The ventilation was paramount here, due to the chemicals she used and she had several exhaust fans overhead as well as windows positioned to provide a cross breeze with the doors open. He could see the studio had been well thought out.