The Protectors Christmas Box Set (sexy paranormal romances) (16 page)

“I mean it, tender one.” His velvety, deep voice caressed that sensitive spot between her legs. “You won’t have to fake it. You will come for me.”

She swallowed deeply. Every part of her being wanted to believe him.

Don’t open yourself up to disappointment
, a slippery voice inside her head warned. The chill from that afternoon crept inside her belly and cooled her courage.

“No,” she whispered. A fat tear rolled down her cheek. “I can’t. I’m sorry…I can’t.”

“Can’t?”

She so didn’t want to do this. She mumbled an apology and, after swiping at her unruly tears, started gathering up her clothes.

He caught her hands. “I understand,” he said. “We know from last night that your mind can perform beautifully. What I’m worried about is your body.” He gave her a quick kiss. “Have you ever experienced an orgasm when you were awake and a man wasn’t around?”

Good God, did he really expect her to answer
that
? She pulled away from him and buried herself under the bed covers.

He crawled under after her and propped his chin on his folded hands. They stared at each other in the darkness. He held his silence, waiting for her.

Not willing to trust her voice to do the deed, she nodded once. Slowly. Yes, she had brought herself to orgasm.

A broad smile spread across his lips.

“I’m glad,” he said.

She wanted to feel embarrassed, but he seemed so pleased that she couldn’t help but share in his pleasure. He kissed the back of her hand and then traced the length of her finger with his tongue.

“Has a man ever forced you to have sex with him?” he whispered.

The question shocked her. She didn’t know how to answer him. It wasn’t that she enjoyed lying, but when it came to intimate encounters with men, she was careful to say whatever her partner wanted to hear. If he wanted her to play the part of a wounded dove, she would.

But what if he didn’t want a wounded lover?

He rescued her with his explanation, “What I want to do with you won’t work if anyone has ever forced himself on you.”

She shook her head. “I’ve always been in control.”

“Then perhaps that is the problem, tender. You haven’t given yourself the freedom to simply enjoy.” He paused and she could hear her heart thudding against her chest. “Give yourself over to me. Let me be your master and I’ll give you the world.”

Though it terrified her to give herself over to a man so completely, she found herself nodding. Her body craved him and was willing to do anything…including forfeiting her control…to feel the length of him swell inside her.

“Your power is strong,” he said between feather-light kisses that both tickled and excited. “But I have more experience. You will not be disappointed.”

He pulled her out from under the covers and made her hold her hands above her head. With her help, he tied a velvet cord around her wrists. Not tight, but secure enough that no matter how much she twisted or turned she wouldn’t be able to slip free. He gave the soft rope a tug.

“I need you to come higher on the bed,” he said.

She arched her back and turned her head so she could see why. A lump formed in her throat as she watched him tie the rope to the center iron post on the headboard.

“I-I’m not…”

He pressed his lips to hers. Liquid heat swirled around them. It licked at the moist place between her legs. She liked that and instinctively spread her legs.

“You’re not
what
?” he asked.

She was descending deeper and deeper into the dark world of his control. But if he could kiss her with such fierceness, certainly the pleasure he could give her would be worth the price.

He kissed her again, sending her thoughts skittering into the background. She pulled at the ropes holding her hands, wanting to touch him and feel the broad muscles tightening his chest.

“One more thing.” A black satin sash appeared like magic in his hand. Her breath caught in her throat.

“Trust me,” he whispered and lowered the blindfold over her eyes. He tied it snug enough that it blocked all light. A vast sense of nothingness engulfed her world.

“Breathe,” he whispered. “I will never hurt you.”

She nodded into the nothingness. Her eyes strained in her new, bleak black world. She was desperate to see his expression and even more desperate to try and guess what he was thinking…about her. And her performance.

“You’re alone with only my voice and what you feel as your guides,” he whispered against her ear. “There are no boundaries in my bed. No right or wrong. Only pleasure.” He curled his fingers around one ankle and nudged until her legs were set wide apart.

“Your pleasure.” His hot breath stirred the soft curls between her legs. “Not so much different than the dream we shared last night?”

She found herself nodding in agreement, mostly because she feared that if she didn’t he would leave her to languish like this, unfulfilled and aching.

Until he demanded she take several deep breaths, she hadn’t realized how close she’d come to hyperventilating. While he nibbled on her lips, her ear, her neck, gentle thoughts whispered promises in her head. While her body tightened with anticipation, her mind started to relax.

In the nothingness surrounding her, she felt adrift as if floating in a tub of water. He caressed her in the same way he would a cherished pet. Feelings of affection grew hot and damp between her legs. She pulled at the ropes binding her, desperate to guide his movements, but the gentle touch of his hand stilled her struggles.

His hot kisses clung to her breasts. He slipped his middle finger into her mouth and told her to suckle him. While she was licking and nipping his wiggly finger, he twisted and pinched her nipples until they each became as hard as pebbles. The sensation only added to the zinging electricity sending ripples spreading out in the sea of warmth gathering around her.

She was his for the taking. And he took advantage of her willingness, directing her every thought and movement. Dallas mindlessly obeyed.

Her head spun in the heat, but she followed his directions carefully. Moving her tongue slowly down the length of the finger he had put in her mouth while imagining that she was taking his cock.

Slowly, he eased his finger from her lips and following her contours, trailed a path until it reached the supple spot between her legs. She breathed deeply as his hot, damp finger kneaded and stroked her soft folds.

New territory for her, she was surprised how easily her body responded to his commands. Her body tensed and tingled under his touch. He slid a finger into her. Her legs weakened. Her body involuntarily responded. His pushed a second finger in, and then a third, gently pumping. She pushed against his hand. Her breathing shortened…again she began to pant in anticipation.

The rasp of his zipper seemed to echo through the room. Her ears strained in the silence as she listened to the rustle of material as he removed his pants.

“You can stop at any time. Right now, for instance,” he said.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and shook her head. She wanted this. If he could give her even a whisper of what she had felt last night, she wanted it. This was why she’d searched the streets all day. She needed his flesh as desperately as she needed to breathe. It didn’t make any sense. He was a stranger. A handsome, skilled stranger who held her power in the palm of his magical hands. If he stopped now, she’d be crushed.

“Please…do it.” She barely heard herself say over the loud whoosh of blood pushing through her veins.

“That’s my brave girl.” He feathered a kiss over her lips.

His cock brushed up against her opening. It was hot, searing, like flesh on fire. Though scorching, it didn’t burn her tender places. Instead, the feel of his cock made her ache for him and beg for completion. She whimpered.

He rubbed himself against her wetness until he slid easily against her slit. Slowly he pushed into her. His moist tip was thick and full.

So was his shaft.

Inch by inch, she took more and more of him. He filled her and pushed deeper. Just when she thought he’d sunk himself to his hilt, he pushed himself even deeper, stretching her.

Slowly, he moved. She heard the hitch of his breath. He muttered a curse and increased his pace. She matched his movements, raising her hips to greet his entry.

Faster.

Deeper.

Fuller.

His cock became her whole world.

It pounded into her slick, warm body.

“Come for me,” he commanded and she felt compelled to obey.

Her clit pulsed with every brush his cock made against it as he pulled in and out of her body. The building pressure inside her begged for relief.

Never with a man. Never like this. She was giving too much of herself, which wasn’t safe. She couldn’t do it.

But his cock insisted.

Her body grew tighter.

No.

He reached down. The pad of his thumb rubbed against her clit. With her hands tied above her head she couldn’t stop him. She couldn’t get away. Her hips betrayed her and pressed up, while a long-silent piece of her screamed to take him deeper. And she felt him moving inside her. On the outside she was hot, wet and ready.

But fear still lurked deep in the shadows of her mind.

No!
The warm, pulling pressure inside her continued to build. She tried to stop it, but the way he moving inside her, filling her, and the way he stroked her was too much.

Please!
She stared into the darkness and felt…simply felt. It came all at once. Her entire body shuddered. Wave after wave of energy washed over her as the orgasm she’d fought forced its way through her entire body.

And, for the first time in her life, she let go.

She simply let go
.

In that moment she felt closer to Brendan than she’d ever felt to anyone. Though still blindfolded and tethered to his bed, she could see clearly for the first time in her life. She could finally accept that she needed to let go of her fears if she ever hoped to find love. A sense of peace washed over her as she drifted smoothly through the nothingness surrounding her.

Her clit was still pulsing when he pulled out of her. She heard the rustle of sheets. While struggling for a calm breath, she couldn’t help but wonder when he might suggest they try that again.

Without warning, a rough tongue raked over her sensitive clit. Her hips shot off the bed.

“Shhh…” His hot breath against her sex calmed her. “That was simply your first one. We have at least eleven more to go before I’m good and done with you tonight.”

“I’m worried about Brendan.” Horace had taken time off from the nightclub to visit Frank Stone at The Oblique Café. “He hasn’t returned any of my phone calls.”

Stone, who looked older than his thirty-eight years, gave the woman who was sharing his table a pat on the hand. She smiled and, after gathering up her things, quietly left.

Few secrets existed among
the Protectors
, but there were a few instances when Stone decided to keep matters private. It appeared that this was going to be one of those times.

“Sit down,” he said to Horace. He then gave a nod to Jake, the café owner. Within a minute, cups of fresh coffee were placed in front of both men. “What’s worrying you?”

Stone sat back and calmly sipped on his coffee. Horace couldn’t fathom how Stone could act as if there was nothing wrong when one of their best and brightest was in mortal danger. He sure as hell couldn’t remain calm about it.

“He’s obsessed, Stone. All you have to do is see how he nearly drowned himself trying to find her.”

“But he found her in the flesh,” Stone pointed out. “He called me the other day and told me that he was giving her time to get accustomed to the idea of being…um…different.”

“No, I don’t buy it.” Horace slashed his hand through the air. “He’s obsessed. There’s something else going on here. I can feel it like an ache in my bones.”

“He’s a Pisces and she’s powerful and beautiful,” Stone said as if that was enough to explain Brendan’s long absence. It wasn’t. Stone must have read Horace’s blank look, for he added, “Pisces are unaccountably attracted to powerful women. As a being strongly controlled by the stars, I’m sure he’s wanting to control and keep all that power and beauty for himself.”

“You mean he’s holed up in his apartment fucking her brains out?”

Stone shrugged. “Probably.”

“He’s likely to get lost in the fantasy he has weaving around this new piece of ass who also happens to have a direct connection to the powers of the universe. He wears his heart on his sleeve, you know. Damn, and he’s ultra-sensitive to the emotions of others.”

“That’s the Pisces in him.”

“Damn right, Stone. Pisces are drawn to their fantasies. And what will happen if he gets caught up in this fantasy and inadvertently hurts her?”

“She’s strong enough to hold her own,” Stone said, though he didn’t sound convinced. He furrowed his brows and started to say something else, but then waved whatever was bothering him away. “I’m sure Brendan can handle whatever fate throws at him. After all, he lived through hell growing up and is still in one piece.”

“We all had horrible childhoods,” Horace grumbled. “How could Brendan’s have been any worse than the rest of ours?”

“It was. Believe me, it was
far
worse,” Stone said. “Damien had tried to trick fate and give Brendan something better. Unlike the rest of us, he found Brendan as a newborn. What luck, right? We could train one of our own from infancy. And even more importantly, Damien had planned to give him the kind of childhood all of us wished we’d had. He planned to raise Brendan like a son.”

Stone closed his eyes. A rare show of raw emotion tightened his brows. “Damien would have taken the baby into his home, but there was an upheaval with the council at the time. He was worried that the opposing forces might try and take Brendan and use him as a pawn in their battle for power. With only a few moments to decide, he left Brendan with Lady Czarina, a mystic who knew about us and had vowed her friendship and cooperation.