Stealing Kathryn (22 page)

Kathryn woke slowly the next morning, finding herself a prisoner of powerful, almost desperate arms. He had both his arms wrapped round her midriff, pinning her back to his chest in a very adamant spooning. She was wearing another of the outstandingly unique and delicate nightgowns he seemed to have in such abundance, this one a fiery red threaded through with silver filament to shape the bodice around her breasts and trails of hand-painted silver stars to play over all of her curves. She had been afraid to wear it at first, afraid her overpopulated bosom would damage the silver. She eventually gave in and tried it on, once again amazed that everything seemed to fit her so very well. She wasn’t exactly a mainstream figure, so she wondered about it. Eventually exhaustion had won out above curiosity and she had crawled into the huge, beautiful bed that no longer seemed so awful. The next day, she had thought, she would take the time to explore some of these treasures of his.

She had fallen asleep before he had come into the bed and hadn’t stirred an inch when he had. He had pulled her this tight and close and apparently all she had done was snuggle against him as if she had done so for all of her life. She supposed that should disturb her on some level. After all, she was still essentially his captive.

Slowly she tried to turn around so she could observe him in his resting state. He was such a vital creature with an unequaled presence; it would be interesting to see him while he slept. But it was hard to move even a little bit, that was how tightly he was holding her to him. Using a little ingenuity, she began to pet him along his forearm. Only lightly; she didn’t want to wake him, after all. There were thick, crisp hairs all along his arm, not beastly but more than manly. He stirred when she ran the pads of her fingers over the backs of his. His grip loosened as his hand tried to follow her gentle touch and she had to stifle a giggle. Biting her lip hard so she wouldn’t make any noises, she slowly pivoted around in his embrace. She did it as gently as she could, but the moment she shifted her weight against him, his subconscious mind took that as a cue to lock his arms around her once more.

Now front to front, her breasts were smushed into his bare chest and their hips were in healthy contact. Healthy enough for her to recognize he was getting an erection even in his sleep. Just from her small movements against him. My, she thought, he really was a lusty creature. Or maybe that was true of all men. She was hardly the person to ask.

She studied his face and realized it was even smoother than it had been yesterday. Was that because he was asleep? Or was it because he continued to change? She wriggled an arm free of his imprisoning grasp and touched him on his forehead. Yes, she thought, he was definitely different. It wasn’t his skin that had smoothed out, but his bone structure. What amazed her was that now she could see he had remarkable cheekbones, like his sister. His lashes were long and beautiful, his mouth like something carved perfectly out of stone. His jaw was long and strong, with much more character than his avatar in the dream he had created for her. In fact, she didn’t think he had done himself much justice at all in that dream. But people always saw themselves differently than they actually were, so it made sense in a way.

Tempted by their shape, she reached to touch his lips with soft, barely there touches. They didn’t seem to be so altered by his fangs this morning. She wanted so badly to take a peek, but didn’t have the nerve to do it.

That was exactly when he smiled, flashing those fangs at her. And though they were smaller now, they were most certainly there, and likely just as deadly as they had been yesterday when they had sunk into Cronos’s shoulder. Still, the smile startled her, telling her he’d probably been awake for quite some time. She reached out and pinched him hard on the shoulder before she could think about whether that was a good idea or not, given his volatile temperament. In response he gnashed his teeth at her, making her squeal, which made him laugh.

“Oh! You’re mean!” she scolded him, beating a fist against his chest.

“I’m a beast,” he said, helping her with her description.

But she didn’t entirely agree with that any longer, so she shook her head. “No. You’re just mean. How long have you been awake?”

“How long have I had a hard-on?” he countered.

She gasped and blushed fiery hot, almost red enough to match the gown she wore. “Maybe you are a beast!” she retaliated when he chuckled at her discomfort. “You like to shock me. It’s terrible of you.”

“It’s fun is what it is,” he said, catching her hand when she would have pinched him again. “Now, stop. All your thrashing around only serves to turn me on more.”

She went still in a heartbeat, her reddened cheeks giving off heat as he bent to kiss one. Then her lashes lifted and her gorgeous gray eyes turned silvery and sly. “And you don’t want me to turn you on?” she asked.

He opened his mouth, but no reply was forthcoming. She couldn’t help the mischievous smile that spread across her mouth. Then, without knowing where she got the courage for it, she stretched her neck forward and slowly kissed his lips.

His response was instantaneous. He was rock hard in an instant and pressing heavily against her lower belly, and his breath hitched sharply. Then the next thing she knew, she was under his big body, his hand cradling the back of her head and his mouth pressing hotly against hers. His tongue dipped against her lips, coaxing them apart for him, and then plunged deep into her mouth when she finally did. Kathryn was instantly overwhelmed, her heart racing beneath her breast and her whole body suddenly creeping with heat from head to toe. The hand at the back of her head burrowed deep in her hair, massaging her scalp in slow, firm circles until she went utterly boneless beneath the ministration. She moaned into his mouth, and he captured the sound with relish as he rolled her fully beneath him, using his elbows to keep from crushing her.

It changed everything. Suddenly their position became everything erotic and titillating. Her knees instinctively rose up so her thighs were cradling his hips. His strong belly lay against her softer one, and trapped between them and a thin layer of silk was the heaviness of his adamant erection. She had never been so exposed before. She’d never felt such a delicious weight lying over her. As if it were some kind of trigger for her, her body went wet and hot almost instantly.

She saw Adrian take a deep breath in through his nose, the masculine flare of his nostrils somehow so very primal in her eyes. She realized almost instantly that it was her excitement he was sniffing for, and she knew the exact moment he found it. The hunger that fell over his dark eyes was powerful and lustful. Suddenly his mouth was voracious against hers, as if he couldn’t possibly get enough of her, and she gasped for her breath beneath the onslaught. He was just about wild as he devoured her lips again and again, exposing the erotic danger of his fangs against her lips without any sign of fear or regulation. His hands dove beneath her back, cupping her shoulders tightly, his claws curving against her collarbone. The sensation turned her liquid beneath him.

Part of her wanted to let her arms drop down helplessly on the bed; the other part of her couldn’t resist the opportunity to run her hands freely over the exposed skin of his back and shoulders. Her touch acted like a catalyst, making him grab hold of her even tighter and loosing a deep growl from the depths of his chest. It was a purely possessive sound, warning others to back off, that she was his prize to have and he wasn’t ever going to share.

Suddenly he broke away from her mouth, panting hard for breath in unison with her. Then with a slow downward slide of his body, his head lowered toward her breasts.

“Oh! I don’t think that’s a very good idea!” She squeaked out the protest and was completely ignored. Especially when she followed up with, “I’m really not at all sensitive.”

Her preconceptions clearly meant nothing to him. He closed his mouth on her nipple directly through the silk of the nightgown she wore. He used teeth to do so and she nearly leapt off the bed using her butt muscles alone as sensation rocketed through her. He chuckled, low and wicked, and curled his claws into the strap of her gown and dragged it down her arm until she was covered in a rash of goose bumps and her stiff nipple was prodding against his confident mouth. He captured her instantly and easily, and she almost squealed at the power of his sucking mouth. The insensitivity theory flew right out the window as her entire body melted and twisted like fine wires he pulled with masterful ease. He cupped her opposite breast, the heavy weight of it like nothing in his big hand. He scraped his claws against her and she shivered so hard that he immediately did it again. He ran the sharp points directly across her nipple, coursing over it again and again until she was likely to scream from hypersensitivity. All the while his mouth sucked greedily at her other breast, making her squirm beneath him in ways she’d never imagined herself doing.

Adrian made a passionate tribute out of his play against her breasts, but all the while he was working his way deeper and deeper against her widening thighs. Then, with a final press, he was seated firmly against her truest heat. He wanted to shout in triumph, to roar out his victory to all the world, but he managed to control himself. Barely. He remembered she was an innocent and tried to appreciate what she must be experiencing. In a way, he was experiencing it too. He hadn’t known the real touch of a woman. Now here was an astoundingly sensual woman beneath him, her seeking hands running all up and down his back, shoulders, and sides, and it was as clear as day that she wanted him. Him. Beastly flaws and all, she was accepting him. More than accepting. She was passionate and hungry for him to the point that she forgot herself, forgot her shyness, and lifted seeking hips up against his, rubbing his shaft right down the center of her core. The only thing that could have made it better was if the silk of her nightgown hadn’t been in the way. But he was far from complaining. The connection was pure heaven, a true sign of how much she wanted him.

And he wanted her, with a passion so savage he could hardly keep it under his control. But he must. He must be careful or he would risk frightening her or, worse yet, hurting her. If she was going to be so generous as to save his life, then he could see to it that everything she experienced was well worth the pain she might suffer.

The thought almost made him stop. He feared for her, didn’t want to hurt her. But just the same, he couldn’t make himself quit her. In fact, he wanted to lose himself even deeper against her. To that end, he planted his hands firmly against the mattress and slid farther down her amazing body, the presence of her gown alleviating all friction and making it an easy and sensual slide. But once he was able to kiss her against her inner thighs, he no longer had use or patience for the red silk covering her precious flesh. He pushed it away, baring her secret heart to him, a sound of painful delight escaping him at the sight of her. That was to say nothing of the exotic smell of her. Her arousal was flushed wet, dampening the soft, dark curls protecting her pussy and releasing a heavenly aroma that was purely aroused and waiting woman.

And she had never been kissed. Never been touched. By none, he thought, but her own hand. This was his treasure and his alone. Unique and precious and just waiting for him to touch her. He bent his head and kissed her at the very crest of her mons, unable to resist the flickering touch of his tongue. Kathryn gasped and gasped again when he repeated the action only half an inch farther down. Half an inch more and he’d be toying close to her sensitive clit, and the idea of it thrilled him no end. He brought his hand to her, touching her between her nether lips in a long, seeking stroke. The exploration wet his finger and made her flesh swell like a waiting flower about to bloom. He wanted to taste her so badly, and it was all he could do to keep from falling on her voraciously. Careful, he kept telling himself, it’s only her first time!

He opened her up to him with the slide of two fingers, parting her folds wide and welcoming to him. She was already drenched and needed no help from him there. All she needed was a fine tonguing. Something to make her scream. Yes, that would be perfect. And with that thought, he fastened his mouth to her.

Kathryn nearly leapt out of her skin when he did it. She had, of course, heard all about oral sex and had fantasized about what it would feel like, but never once had she come close to imagining the feeling accurately. She hadn’t realized that a man’s tongue could move so quickly, or that when it did it would make her tumble back into herself again and again. Her feet climbed his back, pressing in counterpoint to his actions, and her hands found a home deep in his hair, holding him to her with a wantonness that would have made her blush had she had even a moment to think about it. But that moment never came. Not when she felt him wrap his lips around her clit, framing it for the fast flick of his tongue. She gasped and moaned, her hips lifted for more…anything…anything she had to do to keep his glorious mouth working against her. And swiftly, swiftly now she began to burn inside, began to climb up to a very high point as if preparing to leap down with nothing but the wind and Adrian to catch her.

Now his hands curled around her thigh on one side and her hip and buttock on the other. As he attacked her voraciously he forgot himself, forgot the tips of those deadly claws, which pinched into her skin painfully. But she welcomed that bracing pain, for it kept her from flying away too swiftly. It made her build up all over again, back up and up to that point, her whole body shaking, determined to leap off this time.

She came with an explosive shout. It might have just been noise, it might have been his name, she didn’t know which and she didn’t care. She was pulsing in powerful rhythms, her whole body stretched out tighter than a drum. Then, with a drawing gasp for breath, it all stopped. It all came down to delicious little spasms of pleasure slithering through her, and a clit far too sensitive to bear the attentions of his tongue any longer. Still, she didn’t have it in her to push him away. And she didn’t have to. All it took was one suck of air between her teeth and he knew she’d reached her tolerance for him. He backed away from her, using everything in his power to keep from giving her one last, hearty lick. He buried his face against her soft belly instead, rubbing his nose against her and relishing licking the incredible flavor of her off his lips. It sent him over the delicate edge he’d been walking between the man being in control and the beast.