Under His Skin (27 page)

His eyes darkened as he watched her remove her bra. It was a look she hadn’t seen on a man’s face in a long time and her doubts faded away on the heat emanating from his eyes.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispered. His gazed flicked to her nipples and she inhaled sharply as they pebbled under his scrutiny, growing so hard they almost hurt. He growled his appreciation, a wild look flickering in his eyes just before he lowered his head. She held her breath as his mouth closed over her nipple.

Ecstasy crackled over her breast, spiraling out from where his tongue circled the hardened bud. Her hips arched off the bed and a fiery moan escaped her lips as he dragged his teeth over the puckered flesh. She laced her finger in his hair, scrabbling for something to hold onto as a thousand sensations rushed over her body. He repeated his attentions to her other breast, licking and sucking until her head swam. When his mouth left her chest, she whimpered at the loss, her back arching off the bed as if to force the aching flesh back into the mouth that had offered the promise of relief.

She fought to focus on him as he trailed his lips down the soft planes of her stomach. Her muscles tensed and she gasped at the sensation of his breath whispering over her pleasure-sensitized flesh. When he reached the fastening of her jeans, he rolled his eyes up to hers. For a minute she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think beyond the hunger in his eyes. He waited, slowly licking along the line of skin just about her waistband. It took her almost a full minute to realize he was asking for permission. Her breath fluttered out of her chest and she nodded.

Slowly he raised his hands to the fastening of her jeans. The sound of the zipper going down prickled over her nerves, winding her tighter and tighter in anticipation of what he would do next. By the time he slid her jeans, along with her panties, off her legs, she was sure she’d go mad.

The warmth of his arms sliding over her legs, his muscled chest sliding between them, sent a delicious tickle of pleasure over her nerves. She raised her head, looking down just in time to see him dip his head a draw his tongue along the heated flesh of her opening.

“Oh, gods, yes,” she gasped. Her hands crashed down to the bed and fisted the sheets, holding on for dear life as he repeated the motion over and over. Every slide of his tongue went a little deeper until he was drinking from her, swallowing her pleasure as it flowed from her body.

When he flicked his tongue over her clit, she cried out and thrust up to his mouth. His hands closed over her hips, anchoring her to the bed and holding her still while he teased and nibbled and licked her into
a frenzy
. She could see the blinding light of orgasm just ahead of her and she ran toward it with everything she had.

Her climax broke over her in a blaze of glory, nearly rending her body in two. Everything she was shattered and warm pulsating light swirled through the pieces and built her into something completely new. The world spun around her and she felt herself falling.

Something hot and wet pressed against her throat. She blinked up at the ceiling trying to remember who she was in the midst of what had to have been the most powerful orgasm of her life. She had no idea how long she’d been lying there, staring up at the ceiling as her brain struggled to recover from the intensity of her pleasure. Brec nipped at her neck before whispering in her ear.

“There’s more if you’re up for it.”

She tried to scowl at him even as his words sparked another wave of aftershocks between her legs. She tried to raise her hand to smack him, but her body wouldn’t cooperate yet.

“You arrogant—” She froze.

He canted his head in feigned innocence. “What’s wrong?”

Her gaze traveled down their bodies. She shifted underneath him experimentally, concentrating on the warm slide of bare flesh against bare flesh.

“When did you take your pants off?” she asked in surprise.

He smirked.
“While you were swooning.”

“I was
not
swoo
—”

A jolt of pleasure sizzled through her as he slid his hips forward, dragging that hard hot weight between her legs to slide through the wetness he’d created there. Her mouth fell open in a gasp and she instinctively bent her knees, spreading her legs to give him better access. A blush tinged her cheeks as she realized what she was doing. She tried to look away from him, but he cradled her jaw in his hands.

Almost against her will, her gaze drifted to his eyes, so close to her own. She stared into that dark gaze and saw a soft happiness there. For just a second, she let herself believe that happiness was for her. Knowing someone cared, that someone would have missed her, raised a lump in her throat.

“
Shhhh
,” he whispered. “Don’t cry.”

He brushed his lips over hers, a delicate kiss to soothe the soul. Not wanting to ruin what she knew was coming, she pushed away the sadness. That was the past. He was her future. She kissed him back, feathering her lips over his as their breath mingled between them. He tasted like the sea, fresh and clean. She knew she could get used to this, would love to wake up with this selkie waiting for her.

Slowly, the kiss became deeper. He pressed a little harder against her mouth, slid his tongue over her lip. She parted for him with a sigh, welcoming him in with gentle sweeps of her tongue. The pleasure that had only just begun to
ebb,
started to build all over again. She wrapped her arms around him as her hips shifted back and forth, trying to find the alignment that would bring them together. Without breaking the kiss, he reached between their bodies and guided himself to her entrance.

The head of his cock pushed inside her, easing her open and sending thick waves of pleasure up her spine. He pumped his hips, sliding farther inside her and she pulled back from his kiss to gasp at the delicious pressure that began to build inside her. He gave another thrust, sharper and deeper. A tinge of pain rode the edge of her pleasure and she tensed. Brec stopped immediately.

“Am I hurting you?” he asked hoarsely.

The strain in his voice revealed how hard it had been for him to stop and Ana almost smiled. She nodded, cupping his face with one hand as she drew in a deep breath.

“It feels good, don’t stop. It’s just . . . been awhile.”

He smiled, relief passing over his face at her reassurance. He bent his head for another deep kiss, dipping his tongue in to taste her as he pressed himself farther into her body. He went slowly, trying not to hurt her, but it was too slow. The delicious ache between her legs sent adrenaline racing through her blood and she wanted more. She moaned and bucked her hips underneath him, forcing him deeper.

A surprised sound escaped his throat and his hips jerked forward, thrusting himself hard and fast into her body. Pleasure crackled over her nerves, driving her wild with need. She met his thrust with her own, grabbing his shoulders as she fought to impale herself farther on his body. A frantic urge to take him harder, deeper, faster pushed her sanity to the edge. She was desperate for him.

“So tight,” he groaned.

“Don’t stop, don’t stop,
please
don’t stop.” The words fell from her lips, quick bursts of sound that moved in time to her erratically jerking hips. Something bright and wonderful hovered ahead of her again, but she didn’t know how to get to it. She thrashed underneath him, rocking her body against his.
Just a little closer, just a little more.

Suddenly his hands crashed down to the bed on either side of her. He raised dark eyes to her face and her mouth went dry at the sight of a wild passion burning in his gaze. His body raged forward, shoving his cock deep inside her in one smooth hard motion. She cried out, her hands scrabbling for his shoulders as her body clenched around him, gripping him like a vice. Without giving her time to draw a breath, he pulled himself out and thrust inside her again. Over and over, he drove himself into her body, each stroke deeper and more powerful than the last.

Pleasure danced over her nerves like raw electricity and her body arced into his. Her head thrashed around on the pillow as she fought to ride the overwhelming pleasure rocking her body at every move he made inside her.

The orgasm caught her by
surprise,
an explosion of ecstasy that thrust her body off the bed and dragged her nails over Brec’s back hard enough to leave jagged red lines on his skin.
Every muscle in her body spasmed over and over, wringing the pleasure out of her body until she had nothing left.

In the middle of it all she was half aware of Brec’s body going rigid just before he roared his own climax. He pistoned his hips in and out of her body in sharp quick successions. She screamed as each thrust sent another wave of pleasure crackling over her nerves, making her body dance with it.

When it was over, and the last ripple had faded from her body, Brec collapsed beside her on the bed. Dragging her into his arms, he tucked her against the sweat dampened muscles of his body. The soft warmth of his skin soothed her spirit as it warmed her back. He pulled his skin up over them, and tears welled in her eyes at the sign of trust. For the first time in two years, she looked at a future without her fox-skin and thought that maybe, just maybe, she would be all right. Feeling safer than she could ever remember feeling, she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

Alaunus, ancient Celtic god of healing and prophecy, stood before him. Brec fell to one knee, genuflecting before his patron deity. Alaunus’ golden hair framed his head like a halo, his blue eyes sparkling like the sun on the water. He was too magnificent to look upon and Brec averted his eyes not just out of respect, but out of self-preservation. All around him the ground was covered in a thick white mist, but he could feel wet rock beneath his knee and the smell of sea air soothed his marine spirit. Despite what his senses told him, he knew with a certainty that came from experience that he was dreaming.

“Alaunus, you grace me with this vision.”

Alaunus chuckled. “I do so enjoy your sprit, Brec. You speak to me with such respect, such unquestioning loyalty. As if you do not spend most of your waking hours wishing I’d bestowed your healing gifts on someone else.”

Shame filled Brec’s spirit and he lowered his head even farther. “You have shown me more tolerance than I deserve, and well I know it,” he said, without a trace of bitterness. “I let myself by blinded by a childish vision of a warrior’s glory and I took your gift for granted. I didn’t realize how fortunate I was, how incredibly grateful I should be to you.”

“But you do now?” Alaunus’ voice held amusement and a trace of what sounded like surprise.

Brec nodded. “There is someone I care about who is suffering greatly. She has fought for years to heal herself with no success and she asked me for help.”

He shook his head, frustration clenching his teeth as he remembered how he’d reacted when she asked about healing a burned skin. His assumption that she’d done something horrible had blinded him to the truth and he would never forgive himself for the pain he knew his furious response had inflicted on her. Tearing his mind away from the memory of her tear-streaked face, he spoke to Alaunus.

“I don’t know how to heal her.”

“The
lisitsa
whose skin was burned.”

Brec nodded. “She’s tried everything.” He fought not to wince as an image of her blackened skin danced like a ghost in his mind. “The damage is extensive.”

“And you wish me to tell you how you might heal this scorched skin?”

Hope lifted Brec’s spirits and he raised his gaze for just a moment. Alaunus watched him, his eyes full of kindness. Part of him had expected Alaunus to be angry with his arrogance, to mock him in his time of need for all the hours he’d spent vocally taking his gifts for granted. Instead, Alaunus watched him like a father watching his child. Brec lifted his head and nodded. “If you tell me how to heal her skin, I will spend the rest of my life in grateful service to you.”

Alaunus smiled. “I believe you will do that anyway. I see no sparkle in your eyes when you mention warriors now.”

Panic spiked inside him and Brec had to stop himself from leaping to his feet out of desperation. He stared at Alaunus, willing the god to see the sincerity in his face.

“Alaunus, please.
I beg
you,
you are the greatest healer in all of creation. If there is a way to heal her skin, you hold that secret.”