The Order Boxed Set (91 page)

“Fighting always makes me as horny as hell.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Her mouth went dry. She swallowed. What the hell could she say to that? Nothing. Besides, she wasn’t sure her throat would work. So staying silent seemed the best bet.

He took another step toward her, framed against the backdrop of mountains, and she whirled around and raced for the door. Acting on pure instinct, she wasn’t trying to escape him; she knew exactly where she wanted him. She ran back into the bedroom with its huge circular bed.

As she reached it, she turned. Ash strode in, slamming the door shut behind him. Inside, he appeared even bigger. The room suited him to perfection.

He took a step toward her, and she backed away but came up against the edge of the bed. Hunger burned in his eyes. His hands went to the buckle at his chest. He flicked it open and the sword and scabbard clattered to the stone floor.

Then his hand went lower, to hover at the button of his jeans.

“Faith?”

She’d been staring at the bulge in his jeans again, now she peered up. “W-what?” The word came out as a hoarse whisper.

“That’s my robe—take it off.”

Holding his gaze, she tugged at the belt of the robe, the silk slipping through her hands. Her fingers clumsy, it seemed to take an age to untie the knot. Finally, the belt unraveled and the robe fell apart. She smoothed it from her shoulders and it dropped to the floor in a slither of silk leaving her naked before him.

His gaze was like fire as it raced over her body, lingering on her breasts and belly. He kicked off his boots, flicked open the button on his jeans, slid down the zipper.

As he pushed them down over his hips, his cock sprang free, hard, huge, pale against the hair-roughed skin of his belly. He stepped out of his leather pants and closed the space between them coming to a halt only inches away. The spicy, musky scent of him filled her senses.

Her legs shook and she locked them in place as his hands came out and rested on her shoulders, hot and hard against her skin. “You owe me,” he said. “Are you going to pay up, or do you want me to chain you to that wall in my dungeon and you can pretend that you don’t want this? Don’t want to make love with someone like me.”

At his words, a wave of heat rolled over her, threatening to suck her under. Some perverted part of her really liked the dungeon idea. The dungeon was probably too far away. She took a tiny step toward him, closing the last gap between them so her breasts pressed against his chest and the scalding-hot length of his erection nudged against her stomach.

“I always pay my debts,” she murmured.

He let out his breath, and she realized he’d been holding it, waiting for her reply. She liked that he’d been in no way sure about her, because while he hadn’t actually lied to her, he’d definitely been stingy with the truth.

His fingers tightened on her shoulders and he gave a little shove so she fell backward onto the fur cover of the bed behind her. Balancing her weight on her elbows, she stared up at him.

“This is not going to be slow,” he warned in a low husky voice that sent heat straight to her sex. “I’m not going to risk this not happening for a third time. So prepare yourself, honey. I promise you slow and easy next time.”

She couldn’t even begin to think of next time. She needed him now.

“Lie back,” he ordered.

She did so, resting against the silky softness of the fur. Keeping her eyes on him all the time because he was so beautiful and she didn’t want to miss a second.

He leaned down, his hands grasping her knees. He lifted her legs from the floor, pushed her farther up the bed and spread her thighs, bending her knees back so they rested against her hips, leaving her totally exposed to him.

His eyes glowed crimson. “Gorgeous,” he crooned.

Her sex felt hot and swollen under his stare as though she was melting from the inside. She glanced down his body to where his shaft strained, the head flushed with blood. She needed him inside her.

“Please…”

A slow smile curved his hips. “For you, sweetheart, anything.”

He knelt on the bed between her thighs and thrust into her in one fluid move.

She gasped and he held himself still. He was big, and it had been a long time, but her body tightened instinctively around him. He withdrew slowly, staring down into her eyes the whole time. The drag of him against her was exquisite, and then he slammed into her hard, his mouth coming down on hers to swallow her scream.

He was consuming her, changing her, filling her. She lost the ability to think. All she was aware of was the hard body on her, in her, as she hovered between pain and pleasure, unable to move under the force of his passion. Even so, the sensations built inside her on a great swell of pure bliss. Every cell in her body focused on the place between her legs where his body joined to hers. He pumped into her faster as his tongue plunged into her mouth and his hands dug into her bones. She clawed her way higher and higher, the pleasure spiraling out of control until she thought she would burst.

As though he could sense her hovering on the precipice, he raised his head. His face was a mask of craving, his lips a grimace, his eyes burning like fire.

Lowering his head, he bit down hard, piercing the skin where her throat met her shoulder, while his hips ground into her and every muscle tensed. She came in a long, drawn-out explosion of crimson light that flashed behind her clamped lids.

She must have blacked out for a second. When she came back to herself, he was still inside her. There was an ache between her legs, and her shoulder stung where he had bitten down on her. He was heavy on top of her, and she wriggled.

Finally, he shifted, raising himself up on one elbow to stare down into her face, a slow lazy smile curving his hips.

“You all right?” he murmured.

She gave a small nod, all she could manage right now.

“Sorry, I was a little rough. It’s been a long time.”

She swallowed. “How long?”

He was silent for a moment and she thought he wouldn’t answer. “Twenty-three years.”

Wow.

She presumed that must have been Tara’s mother, but it didn’t seem right to talk of his lost love with his cock still wedged firmly inside her.

“We’ll go slower next time,” he promised.

“Next time?” She needed a long soak in a hot tub first.

“This time,” he said. He flexed his hips and she felt him swell inside her. He must have seen her wince. “Relax, lie back, and I’ll be so gentle.”

He raised himself up on both elbows so his weight was off her. Then lowering his head to her breasts, he kissed the nipple, took it deep in his mouth, and suckled. The tug sent a jolt of pleasure to her groin and her hips lifted without conscious thought. He pulsed inside her and this time pleasure beat the pain.

He kissed the other nipple, sucking and licking on the taut peak. Faith peered down the length of her body; his mouth at her breasts was the most erotic thing she had ever seen.

As if sensing her gaze, he raised his head and his eyes met hers. He moved with a slow, languid roll of his hips, pulling out of her so she saw the glistening length of him, then easing back inside, grinding his hips against her. One hand moved between their bodies, and one finger massaged her already sensitive clit so tremors of pleasure rippled through her. She lay back, closed her eyes, and concentrated on the feelings.

Never. Never before—and she suspected never again—would she feel like this.

Each stroke was followed by the slow curl of his hips. No pain this time, just a slow build of sensation. She relaxed into the feeling, letting it carry her higher and higher until she shattered into a thousand sparks and drifted slowly back to reality.

She came around the second time wrapped in his arms. Ash lay on his back with her held tightly to his side. One hand stroked circles on the skin of her hip.

She gazed up at him. “Thank you.”

He grinned. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

“No. I didn’t exactly add a lot to the experience.”

“You were perfect.”

He leaned down and stroked his tongue over her skin where he had bitten her. “Sorry.”

“I don’t mind. I like it that you got carried away.”

She studied his face. His eyes had returned to normal, the restless energy that was always such a part of him was gone and he appeared at peace, even happy.

A little sense of foreboding nagged at her mind. This was nothing more than sex. That was all it could be. Words hovered on her tongue, but she couldn’t bring herself to spoil the mood. Not just yet.

She settled her head back against his chest, loving the smoothness of his skin against her cheek. His flat male nipple was so close to her mouth, and she blew lightly, as his hands stroked her hair. For a little while, she’d allow herself to relax.

He started to speak in a low voice. “When I first met you, I wanted you, but you were so different…so prickly. I could never love you, and I’d be safe.”

She swallowed. Part of her wanted him to continue. The rest of her willed him to shut up. To not say the words that would change everything. Spoil everything.

“Tonight, on the rooftop back at the Order, when the angels attacked, I didn’t think, I leaped to protect you. It was instinctive, despite the fact that my daughter stood close by. You were all I thought of. Saving you.”

Now, Faith’s mind was pleading with him silently to shut up. To not say anymore. Inside her heart was breaking for all that she could have had. Screaming it wasn’t fair. As though anything in life was ever fair.

“I don’t know how things will work out. I’ve never considered anything more than the most casual relationship with a human. But I want to try. I don’t want to lose you. We’ll find a way.”

How could they, she wanted to scream. She was dying. She’d believed she was slowly coming to terms with that fact, rather than existing in a state of total denial, but now she wanted to live. And she was going to hurt him so badly. Things should never have come this far. She should have told him and now it was too late. She needed him to leave her. To be the one to walk away. That way he would hate her instead of hurt.

Then she would get away from this place.

“Faith?”

…

Something was wrong.

She was like a statue in his arms. He could feel her withdrawing from him and he didn’t understand why. He knew she cared for him; her emotions had been so easy to read while they’d made love.

Now, she placed her palms on his chest and pushed herself away. Her lips were swollen from his kisses and he had the urge to kiss her some more. Stop her saying the words she was obviously girding herself to speak. She dragged her lower lip between her teeth and bit down so hard that a bead of blood pearled on her lip. Slipping out of his grasp, she got down from the bed. His robe lay where she had dropped it, and she picked it up but didn’t put it on, just clutched the silk to her as though the flimsy barrier could protect her from him.

She collected herself together and stared him in the eyes. “You’re a demon,” she said. “I could never love a demon.”

He searched her face, trying to see behind the words. “Why?”

Her eyes widened at his question, but it was perfectly reasonable.

“All my life I’ve wanted to be on the side of the good guys. It’s why I joined the force. I wanted to fight against evil. I didn’t believe in the monsters back then, but if I had, I would have wanted to fight them as well.”

Darkness swirled in his mind. “So you think me evil?” he purred the words and saw her start in shock. “One of the monsters?”

She glanced away, but when she looked back, resolve hardened in her eyes. “Aren’t you?”

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and rose to his feet. She was tall for a woman but even in his human form, he towered over her. “What do you think?” he asked. “After all, I think we’ve gotten to know each other well in the last few days and certainly in the last hour.” He cast a glance at the bed behind him.

Anger flared in her eyes. “But we didn’t know each other, did we? I didn’t know you were a demon until you had no choice but to show your true self. Would you ever have told me otherwise?”

“Of course.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He’d told her he cared. For the first time since Lily had died, he had allowed himself to care for someone, and she had thrown it back in his face.

“You knew what I was when I took you to my bed. So it’s okay to fuck the monsters but not to share your life with them?”

There was that pain again, shadowing her eyes, but banished quickly.

She shrugged. “I fancied you. It had been a long time and—”

“Fancied?” he interrupted, his tone incredulous. Rage built inside him and he fought for control. Part of him wanted to hurt her, but something at the back of his mind told him he would bitterly regret it if he harmed her physically however much his rage might drive him now.

That would make him the monster she believed him to be. And that wasn’t who he was—not anymore. He’d lived a long time, done some dark, dark deeds, but he’d changed. Maybe his almost friendship with Roz had started that change, but his love for Lily had solidified it. Transformed him beyond anything he could have imagined. Oh, the darkness still lived inside him, would always be there, a part of what he was, but he now knew he no longer had to give in to that craving. That he had a choice.

Could she not see how far he had come from what he had been? What he could be even now?

Obviously not, and the need to hurt her in return tore at his insides, demanded that she feel the same.

He stepped closer. “And do you still
fancy
me?” he said silkily.

She shook her head but not before he saw the flare of desire in her eyes. She wanted him. And she could have him. The blood rushed to his groin. Maybe sex was the only way to reach her. She was raising walls against him and he needed to smash them down.

She thought him a monster. He’d show her a little of the monster inside him.

Her gaze shifted down his body and her eyes widened as she took in his erection. He released a little of his control and the wings sprouted from his back. He flexed them so the tips brushed the walls on either side of the room.