Sweet Release (33 page)

She had just placed the candle back on her bedside table when another deafening thunderclap shook the house, seeming to bring down the rafters. Wood cracked, and wind ripped through the room, snuffing out the candle.

She whirled about, expecting to find her balcony doors blown open, and froze, a scream stifled in her throat.

Alec.

A jagged bolt of lightning filled the room with blue light, revealing a look of feral intensity on his face. His hair hung in a wet, dripping mass about his shoulders. Water traced rivulets over the bare skin of his chest and abdomen. His breeches clung to his thighs like a second skin. Splinters of wood lay in the puddle at his feet, all that was left of the wooden bar that had bolted her doors. Without speaking or taking his gaze from her face, Alec closed the door behind him, shutting out wind and rain. “You shouldn’t be here.” Her voice was little more than a whisper.

She looked away, unable to bear his penetrating gaze.

“I’ve come to take what you offered.”

“You . . . you said you wouldn’t.” Cassie realized she was wearing only her shift and shielded her breasts with her arms.

“I changed my mind.” He took a step toward her.

“Are you displeased?”

“No. Yes!” She took a step backward. She felt like a fox, and he was the hound. Except she had asked him to come to her. And here he was. What had she done?

“Do you want me to leave?”

“ I . . . I. ..” She could hardly breathe, hardly think with him so near.

He crossed the distance between them in a single graceful stride. “You’ve no reason to fear me.” He gently traced the curve of her cheek with his finger.

“I know that.”

“Do you?” His hands cupped her bare shoulders. “You’re trembling.”

A flash of blue-white. Thunder.

“I am?”

“Aye, love.” His fingers traced their way slowly down her arms.

“Is it desire, or are you afraid?”

“I don’t know.” Still she could not look at him. “Maybe both. I . .. I’m not sure what desire is supposed to feel like.”

He tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to meet his. Taking one of her hands, he placed it over his heart. “It feels like this.”

Beneath her palm she could feel the rapid beating of his heart, a staccato rhythm that matched the one beneath her breast. A small whimper escaped her.

Before she was prepared for it, he pulled her softly against him. His lips closed over hers in a searing loss, his wetness soaking through to her skin. He smelled of pine and rain, tasted faintly of whiskey, and for one terrifying instant she feared she would be lost. She sagged against him.

Taking her weakness for acquiescence. Alec moaned, pulling her tightly against him. His tongue plundered her mouth, and to Cassie’s surprise her tongue responded in kind. But then she felt his hands move beneath her shift, felt them cup the flesh of her bare buttocks, lift her and press her hard against him.

A flash of light. Thunder.

“Alec! Please...!” An emotion she recognized as fear drew her back. Her hands grasped his and pulled them away. “Stop!” With obvious difficulty he released her. His hands cupped her face. “If you want me to go, I will.”

“I don’t know what I want!” The words were almost a sob. Her entire body shook. “When you touch me, I feel... But... I’m scared.”

“I would never hurt you.” His thumb traced the fullness of her lower lip.

“I’ve heard women say it hurts.” She looked away again.

“It’s true a woman’s first time can be painful, but I promise I will be as gentle as I can. I want only to bring you pleasure.” He took her hands in his.

“Some say there is no pleasure in it for women.”

“I pity them, for I’ve never known a woman who didn’t enjoy it as much as any man.” His thumbs drew lazy circles on the insides of her wrists.

“You’ve deflowered many virgins then?” Even Cassie could hear the note of jealousy in her voice.

“None.”

“Then how shall you know what to do?”

To her surprise he chuckled, his teeth white in the darkness. Then he brushed a stray curl back from her face and pulled her gently into his embrace. He was so warm and so strong, and she felt that perhaps she had been waiting her entire life for this, for him. When his lips took hers again, she surrendered.

“Dear God, Cassie.” His voice was rough with emotion. “What have you done to me?”

A flash. A rumble.

She had no answer for him, even had she been able to speak. Transfixed by his scent, by the male feel of him, she could not think, let alone talk. Then his lips traced a line along the most sensitive part of her throat, and she heard herself moan. Her hands moved of their own accord to rest upon his chest. They had come this far before, and her fears began to drift away.

“If you undress me first, there will be less to frighten you,” he whispered.

“Undress you?” Her words were a squeak. “I don’t think—”

“Aye, undress me.” He took her hands in his and led them to the opening of his breeches.

She stared up at him, eyes wide. He was moving too fast. She wasn’t ready. But she wasn’t a child. She had wanted this, hadn’t she? So what was the matter with her?

She looked down. Hands trembling, she struggled to loosen the tie that held his breeches in place. His strong fingers closed reassuringly over hers, stilled her trembling, and guided her motions until, at last, his breeches lay on the floor.

Another stroke of lightning cast his nakedness in momentary high relief. He stood still, making no move to hide himself. She’d seen him unclothed once before, but he’d been unconscious and quite ill. She’d done her best to avert her gaze. Now he stood before her, healthy and strong, his shaft huge and erect against his belly. Her breath ceased, and a tremor of desire tinged with fear rushed through her. She’d never seen a man in this state before, and her gaze fixed on him. Could he really fit inside her without hurting her?

“There’s nothing to fear.” Alec caressed her cheek, guessing the direction of her thoughts. Then he reached for her, pulling her into his embrace. His arousal pressed full and hard against her, only a thin layer of cloth between them. This time when he lifted her shift, she didn’t object. He released her from his arms only long enough to pull it over her head and cast it aside.

She’d never been completely naked in front of anyone since she was a child. Impulsively she shielded her body from his view.

“Don’t.”

He took her arms, gently drawing them away from her breasts.

“You’ve no reason for shame. You are so incredibly beautiful.”

She felt the passion in his voice, sensed his gaze hot upon her, but could not meet it. But then his arms enfolded her, and she could think of nothing else. Her breasts yielded to the hardness of his chest, skin meeting soft skin, flesh against fevered flesh. His shaft was a brand against her belly. His lips closed over hers again, their tongues twining. With one hand he caressed the soft underside of her breast; then his fingers found her nipple, rubbed and teased it. She gasped, and the gasp became a moan as the tender bud grew taut under his touch. His hand took her other breast, cupped its fullness, traced lazy circles over its hardening crest with his thumb. Liquid heat flooded her body, pooling deep inside her.

“Oh, Alec!”

Her breasts felt so full and heavy. Was this what it was like—all this longing, this fever, this desperation? She found herself wanting to touch him the way he was touching her. Hesitantly she slid her hands over the skin of his chest. Her fingers weaved through the mat of soft curls, traced the hard outline of his muscles, skimmed his flat nipples. She heard his breath catch, felt him tense beneath her touch.

He bent and lifted her into his arms, placed her gently on her bed, and lay down beside her. But it no longer felt like her bed. It had become a foreign country, exotic and unfamiliar, and she a traveler. She looked up at the man who had become her guide in this strange land, and the intensity of his gaze made her heart pound.

“Cassie, my sweet.” His mouth captured hers again, his lips straying to place fiery kisses across her face and throat. When his lips closed over one taut nipple and drew it into his mouth, she felt her entire body shudder with delight.

“Oh, Alec! Aaah.”

Lost in sensation, she felt his tongue tease first one taut bud, then the other, licking, nipping, suckling. The feeling was both shocking and delicious and seemed to shoot straight from her nipples to the aching flesh between her thighs. Clutching handfuls of his wet hair, she twisted beneath him, panting his name. She wanted him to stop. She wanted more. She didn’t know what she wanted.

“I’ve imagined making love to you a thousand times,” he said, then blew gently across her breasts.

Cassie cried out as her already sensitive skin, wet from his kisses, tightened against the chill.

“Alec, help me!”

The throb between her legs had become an unbearable ache, and she felt her thighs spread of their own accord.

His hand slid in tantalizing, slow circles across her belly, over her inner thighs, and into the thatch of curls that concealed her womanhood.

She gasped and tried to pull away as his fingers found the soft folds of her sex and parted them. She had never imagined anyone touching her there.

He stilled her, caressing her belly.

“Let me bring you pleasure. Let me give you what you want.”

“Is . . . is that part of it?”

“Aye.”

He kissed her face, her lips, her breasts. Gently he again delved between her nether lips, stroking her most tender flesh, then began to play with her sensitive jewel. She felt her inner passage clench at this new, indescribable sensation. The slow burn he had ignited within her became an unquenchable wildfire, and she arched against his hand, aching for release.

“Oh, God! Please!”

“There’s more.” He smiled lazily—and slowly slipped a finger inside her.

“Aaaah!”

Spirals of pleasure sprang to life within her at this new torment, and the noises that came from her throat hardly sounded like her at all. Who had she become?

“Mmm. You’re so wet, love.” He slid first one finger, then two, in and out of her moist sheath, penetrating her deeply. Drawing her inner moisture onto his fingers, he spread it over her sensitive nub until it was slick and his ringers slid quickly and easily over it. Without mercy he caressed her inside and out.

“This pleases you, my sweet?”

“Yes!” She gasped. It was a kind of torture as his fingers slid into her, then withdrew to circle over her swollen pearl, then penetrated her again. Her nails dug into the muscles of his back as she strained against him, frantic for what she thought must come next. He moved over her, pressed her thighs farther apart with his own, and sat back on his haunches. Cassie’s breath caught in her throat as his gaze dropped to her most private self, and she felt her entire body turn scarlet. No one had ever seen this part of her. Reflexively she would have drawn her legs together, but he held her fast, his hands stroking her inner thighs.

“You are so beautiful—everywhere.” With one hand he caressed her swollen nether lips until she moaned with pleasure. Then he stretched out above her, took her hands in his, and drew her arms above her head. His weight pressed them into the downy softness of her pillow. His gaze locked with hers as he began to slide the head of his shaft up and down over her throbbing sex. His eyes were dark, their pupils dilated with desire.

But still he did not penetrate her fully. The head of his manhood found her cleft, probed, then withdrew and probed again until it pressed against the barrier of her maidenhood.

Pinned beneath him, Cassie felt helpless, ensnared by his sexual and physical power and her own raging passion. Her breath came in ragged gasps.

He spoke her name, his gaze still locked with hers. Then he thrust—and breached her barrier.

She cried out, startled by the sudden sharp pain. Her entire body stiffened.

He caught her cry with his lips, murmured endearments against her cheeks, kissed her brow. “It won’t hurt again, I promise.” She could feel the tension in his body as he held himself still within her, his ardor barely contained. To her surprise the pain did fade, replaced by a delicious sense of fullness. He felt like iron wrapped in velvet, hard and thick inside her.

Slowly he began to move. Pennants of pleasure unfurled in her belly. Lost in him, she gave herself up to the heat of their joining.

His motions were a sweet torment as he rocked against her. Each thrust answered her desire, heightened her need. She had never imagined anything could feel this good, as stroke upon stroke, he filled her. Her hips matched his movements, inspired by some instinct all their own. She heard herself call his name over and over, heard him answer, his voice strained. Her fingers twined tightly with his as her body raced headlong toward some precipice.

“Alec!”

She arched toward him as the world exploded into a shower of light. Unimaginable pleasure spread from somewhere deep in her belly through every inch of her body. She cried out as he carried her over the crest and wave after wave of delight washed through her. She felt his body shudder, heard him groan as, with one last powerful thrust, he joined her, spilling his essence inside her.