Darkness In The Flames Read online

  Now there was no holding him back. Adrian took Katherine in his arms, squeezing her roughly against his body, running his hands over her back from her buttocks to the nape of her neck, devouring her with his touch.

  She gasped and leaned into him. “You are driving me insane.”

  “Yes, Kat, I know.” He repeated the words, grasping a handful of her ripe bottom and kneading it, smiling a little as her legs parted involuntarily in response to his touch.

  “Adrian…” She breathed his name.

  “Tell me what you want…”

  “I don’t need to tell you, do I?” She closed her eyes and Adrian’s body took a blast from the heat her mind radiated.

  This…this link between them was stunning in its intensity. “No, Kat. You don’t need to tell me.” Adrian pressed his cock against Katherine, an already-rigid length of flesh that ached for her, swelling rapidly at the chance to find and plunder her sweetness.

  She moaned. “God, yes. More. Show me that there is something to this whole business, something more than pain and unpleasantness.”

  Adrian caught a glimpse of images he could not fathom. Darkness, distaste, fumbling hands and sudden discomfort. He jerked a little, realizing he was seeing some of his Kat’s thoughts.

  Oh God, no wonder she was confused by him. She had no idea what sexual pleasures awaited her. She was no virgin, but she was sensually unawakened.

  “Show me that I am truly a woman? Not just a…a…receptacle…”

  Adrian eased himself apart from her a little and cradled her cheek. “Is that what you’ve come to believe? That a woman is only a receptacle for a man’s seed?”

  She nodded, keeping her eyelids tight shut. “Yes. My dream with you was the first time I…”

  “The first time you realized what passion could be? The first time you were touched in the right way? The first time…you let go?”

  Kat nodded again. “Yes. Yes to everything. And it wasn’t real…” The last word was a cry from her soul.

  Adrian slid his arms around her once more and lifted her from her feet, cradling her close to his body as they stood in the moonlight.

  “This time, my Kat, this time it will be real.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Katherine believed him.

  What she couldn’t believe was how easily she’d confessed her deepest longings, her most concealed insecurities, and how easily she’d fallen into his embrace.

  It was as if she’d been waiting for this moment her whole life, poised on the brink of something enormous, something so devastatingly wonderful that only the right man would do.

  Adrian Chesswell was the right man.

  The feel of his arms banding around her body pushed away her past and cleared the mists of unhappiness like a breeze from the ocean so near to them. The look in his eyes as their darkness reflected the moonlight sent bolts of heat and brilliance through her limbs to her pussy, where moisture welled and pooled in readiness for him.

  Once more she licked her lips, recognizing the shiver that went through him as his eyes watched her tongue hungrily. It was heady stuff, this power she had over him, and it went to her belly like a gulp of the finest wine, all heat and sweetness, spreading languorously through her muscles and leaving shuddering pleasure in its wake.

  When he bent his head and took her mouth it was all she could do to stop herself rising to a climax on the spot.

  His lips crushed hers, parting them and demanding entrance for the darting presence of his tongue. She willingly obeyed, sucking strongly at him, eating his mouth, devouring as much of him as she could in her turn.

  They dueled, learned, tasted and then parted to catch a breath, returning immediately as if they both begrudged that small necessity—the fact that they were separated for a mere instant.

  Katherine moaned deep in her throat as her tongue thrust against Adrian’s, and he moaned in response—harsh animal sounds that they both recognized.

  It was echoed by the call of some night bird along the shore, and the brief intrusion of reality recalled both Katherine and Adrian to a sense of where they were.

  “This won’t do,” mumbled Adrian against her hair. “I want you naked. I want to feel your breasts against me as I kiss you. I want my cock hard against you as you kiss me. I want…I want to fuck you more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life.”

  “Yesss…oh yesss…” Katherine was in complete accord with his plans. He could have her right there over the balustrade if he wanted, although a bed and a week or so would be better and they’d be less likely to shock the servants.

  “Come on.” Adrian turned away from the ocean and carried her back into the shadows of the house, moving faster than she’d believed possible, dodging furniture in the darkness with an uncanny dexterity and finding her breast with one hand as he did so.

  His touch blinded her to everything else, and she felt herself swell into his grasp, hot and ready for whatever other touches he would bestow upon her. They were in his room before she could catch a breath, with the door closed and locked and the huge bed a looming presence in the firelight.

  He slid her down his body until her feet touched the floor, but did not let go. It was probably a good thing since Katherine wasn’t sure her legs would support her at this point. “Your touch burns…” She watched his hands as they caressed her breasts, slipping easily to the lacings securing her gown and loosening them. “Your hands are cool and yet my skin heats beneath them.” He slipped her sleeves from her shoulders and let the heavy fabric drop away from her light chemise. “How can that be?”

  “Warm me, Kat. Give me your warmth, your fire.” His fingers tugged at the thin ribbon securing the undergarment and it gave way, releasing her breasts into his waiting grasp.

  “Oh God.” It was no more than a sigh of delight as Katherine felt her hot flesh cradled delicately in Adrian’s strong hands.

  Yes, he was cool to the touch, and yet his very coolness was erotically arousing—the icy hot kiss of winter against the summer furnace that was exploding inside her.

  “I want to take my time—to go slowly with you Kat—but…“

  Adrian’s words were belied by the speed with which he was stripping her of her clothing. His own followed, ripped from his body before she could blink.

  He was perfect—his body pale and smooth in the firelight, unmarked by scars or calluses. Muscles rippled as she reached out for him, light flutters beneath cool skin that showed her how aware he was of her every move.

  Having a naked and aroused man this close, this uninhibited, lit fires within Katherine’s soul. She wanted him, but she also wanted to explore him, to understand who he was and why he had so devastated her senses.

  “May I touch you?” She stared at the cock jutting so vigorously toward her. She could swear it nodded agreement before Adrian’s voice could find the words.

  “Please do.”

  “Thank you.” Ever polite, Katherine moved close, reaching between their bodies for that wonderfully intriguing hardness, marveling at the feel of satin skin slipping across steel muscles and loving the tiny gasp of pleasure her touch caused within Adrian.

  “As long as you allow me to return the favor.”

  It was Katherine’s turn to gasp as for the first time a man’s hands learned her body. Thoroughly. She nearly purred with delight as he stroked her, investigating her curves, feeling her buttocks with firm squeezes and her thighs with soft lingering flickers of his fingertips.

  She held on to his cock, using it as a lifeline between them, aware of the shivers that crossed it and the matching ones that made her belly tremble and her pussy weep. “I grow wet, Adrian.” The words astonished Katherine as they tumbled unheralded from her lips. She’d never imagined being so free in her conversation with a man.

  Of course, she’d never imagined a man like Adrian, either.

  “I know.” He brought her as close as possible to his body, pressing himself against her and forcing her to release his co
ck.

  “How do you know?” Katherine let her arms slide around Adrian’s body, enjoying him in her turn.

  “I can smell the fragrance of your arousal. The sweetest perfume of all…”

  The room spun as Adrian kissed her again, forcing Katherine’s lips apart once more and plunging his tongue into her mouth with eager thrusts.

  It spun even more as strong arms grabbed her around her thighs and she felt herself lifted from the floor to be tumbled onto the shadowy bed beneath a hard male body.

  His cock dug into her hip, her hair caught beneath his elbow and she couldn’t have been happier or more excited than at this moment. Adrian’s thoughts surrounded her in a heated blanket of colors, vibrant and shimmering with his desire.

  His touch was all cool slick male, exciting her to the depths of her being and bringing a muted cry of anticipation to her throat. She breathed into his mouth, fighting him for control of their embrace, and then retreating—each move part of the choreography—a natural flow within this dance of intimacy between them.

  Finally, she was going to be loved in the way a woman should be loved.

  Finally, she would know real passion.

  She could barely wait.

  *~*~*~*

  Hunger flooded through Adrian from his toes to his ears, a lust for his Kat, a yearning to know all that she was, to feel all that she had to offer, and drink deep of her life’s essence.

  And yet much was to be denied. He dared not let his fangs slip free lest his control vanish and he become the dark monster he feared. And Kat was just the woman to rip the reins of command from his hands and his heart and lead the ride herself.

  He simply would not take that risk. Not with her. It would be a mammoth battle, one he would fight alone—within himself. A fight to restrain the dark urges, to inhibit that side of his nature that demanded to feed, to bite deep into Kat’s soft neck and let her blood slide over his hungry tongue.

  Even the thought sent bolts of savage arousal through his body, and he pulled himself up and away from Kat, just enjoying the sight of her sprawled wantonly beneath him.

  He sucked in air, letting his lungs expand and contract as he bit down on his own desires.

  “Adrian.” She reached for him.

  “Not yet, sweet Kat. Not yet.” I am not in control yet.

  “You want me.” She blinked uncertainly at him. “I feel your wanting coiling around me.”

  “Yes. I want you. I want you more than…” Words deserted him as his gaze fell to her fiery mound and the glistening drops of moisture dappling the swelling folds beneath.

  He touched her pussy lips with one finger, wetting the tip with her juices. The droplets were more precious to him than any diamond or jewel might have been. They were proof of her words—evidence validating her desire. She wanted him.

  He brought his finger to his lips and sucked, Kat’s gaze widening as she watched him in amazement.

  He smiled around the tip. “You taste good.”

  “I…I…never…” She blinked.

  “Oh really?” He chuckled, a rough sound, but a laugh nonetheless. “Then you might want to hold on to something…”

  Kat squawked as Adrian dove between her thighs, pushing them apart with his shoulders and burying his face without ceremony in her pussy. She writhed and jumped and struggled, choking on words that had no meaning and panting loudly.

  He held her firmly refusing to allow her to scuttle away from his mouth. This would be her initiation into the arts of lovemaking and she was going to get the full treatment. Or at least as much as he could stand giving to her without killing himself in the process.

  He felt her relax a little, sensed her curiosity along with her arousal, and took this as a signal to begin a thorough investigation of her pussy.

  She sighed into his attentions, muscles easing then tensing as he licked around her clit, finding those spots where her responses were most marked and returning to them with varying amounts of pressure and delicacy.

  Kat moaned, a little sound, but one that made Adrian smile against the lips he was suckling. She liked this. Whether she realized it or not, her thighs were parting even wider to permit him full access, and her sex was flowing with copious amounts of honey.

  Finally, Adrian thrust his tongue deep into her darkness, letting her juices coat him with a hot slick veil of passion.

  And he nearly gasped as he tasted her.

  Really tasted her.

  Dormant buds on Adrian’s tongue burst into life, sending frissons of savagely painful pleasure to his brain. She was sweet, tart, spicy, redolent of something he vaguely remembered as cinnamon, mixed with a unique musk all her own.

  Stunned, Adrian lapped at her, letting the sweetness fill his mouth and his nose and re-awaken sensations he’d lost so many years before.

  She moved beneath him, thrusting herself against him, bold now, wanting…wanting more. Adrian could feel her muscles heaving within his hands, and her breathing became more rapid.

  Her pulse thundered through her veins as her arousal built, sending Adrian’s tongue back to her clit and the deeply pink folds that were parting around it. He wanted her to come, to scream out her orgasm as it erupted into his mouth, his nose, his face—his soul.

  He worked harder, licking, suckling, tasting the bounty that flowed into his lungs like a man dying of thirst. She was the fresh spring water to his parched existence, and drinking from her pussy lips quenched the cold fires that had consumed him.

  Her unique flavor dazzled him, making him a little drunk, a lot excited, and deeply aware of her involvement in their embrace. She had already given him a gift, an astounding moment of renewal, of faith that there could yet be a future for him that was not filled with darkness.

  She had lit a candle in the shadows of his existence, and she would never know how much it meant to him.

  Adrian vowed to show her lights of her own. He pressed his face into her, inhaling her scent and finding the exact spot to bring her over the edge. She gasped, cried out and stiffened, just as he thrust his tongue back into her silken channel as far as he could reach.

  With ever-increasing intensity, her inner walls began to spasm, building to a crescendo that had every muscle in her body rigid with orgasmic delight. Her thighs locked around his head, squeezing hard, and her nails scrabbled against the linens on the bed beneath them.

  “My Kat…” He could feel her trembling, shuddering through the waves that took her, and relished the rhythmic clutching of every portion of her lower body as it traveled a road that was new to her.

  His Kat climaxed against his face, in his mouth and around his nose. He felt it, smelled it and tasted it. He relished each and every sensation with his newly-awoken taste buds, knowing that the finest vintage wine would be sour vinegar next to the taste of Kat as she came.

  And he smiled as he gentled her back down from the peaks, relaxing between her legs and laying his head on her belly. The thrumming of her blood soothed yet aroused him, keeping him simmering in an odd state of happy and relaxed desire.

  He would take her, without a doubt. She would be his, he would sink his cock well beyond the places his tongue had just reached, but he was in no hurry. They had all night.

  *~*~*~*

  “My Kat.”

  Katherine had heard the words through her orgasm, and they’d stayed in her heart even as it slowed down to something approaching its normal rhythm. She’d had no idea that a man could do that to a woman. No clue that such a tremendous physical release could occur without the use of his cock.

  She was stunned, shocked, sated, limp and thrumming with a contentment that astounded her.

  She did the only thing she was capable of in that moment. She smiled.

  As if he heard her lips curve, Adrian lifted his head and idly ran his fingers over her hipbone. “Hello.”

  “Hello.” Her voice emerged as a mere croak. “My goodness.” She coughed and tried once more. “That was…beyond anything.” />
  He grinned. “Yes, I rather thought you’d like that.”

  Katherine felt the color flood her skin and she looked away, completely unable to meet his gaze. “Er…I…you…we…” She stumbled to a halt.

  “Yes.” He moved, sliding up beside her and gathering her comfortably into his arms. “Here.” He shifted pillows and covers, settling them into their own private cocoon.

  Katherine frowned. “But you…you haven’t…”

  He laid a finger on her lips. “All in good time. We are in no hurry.” He drew back a little and gazed at her. “Are we?”

  Katherine shook her head. “This is all so strange. So new. I cannot comprehend what is happening.”

  “Don’t try. Just enjoy it.” Adrian yawned. “Rest a little. There is much more yet.”

  “There is?” She couldn’t keep the astonishment out of her voice.

  “Oh yes. Much more.” He tucked her head into his shoulder. “I haven’t fucked you yet, my Kat. I want to come inside you. I want to make you come again around my cock, so all that squeezing and throbbing that goes on won’t be wasted on my tongue.” He dropped a kiss on her nose. “Not that it was wasted, but…”

  Katherine astonished herself even more. She giggled. “I’m glad it wasn’t wasted. It didn’t feel like it was wasted. Not to me, anyway.”

  He laughed too.

  This is so strange. Laughter in the bedroom. Smiling amidst a rumpled set of linens. Enjoying not just the closeness of sex but the sharing of humor. Katherine was bemused by it all, and surrendered to it. To Adrian.

  “I do not understand any of this. But I find that in all honesty I don’t care. Not right at this moment.” She stretched like the cat he called her and then cuddled close once more. Lassitude embraced her and suddenly even lifting her closed eyelids was an effort. “I am tired.”

  “As am I. Good sex will do that. Sleep for a while. There is no hurry.” Adrian yawned his agreement.

  “You will not leave?” The question popped from her mouth unbidden by her brain. Katherine realized it had been her heart doing the asking.