Текст книги "Burning Ember"

Автор книги: Darby Briar

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Текущая страница: 22 (всего у книги 33 страниц)

We often ride a fine line between what will break us and set us free.

EMBER

The purr of the motor vibrates through every one of my limbs. We’ve been riding for a few minutes, and the anxiety I felt when Mav initially pulled out of the lot has faded. He handles the bike with cool confidence. Shifts gears with calculated precision. It also helps that he warns me each time we’re about to come up on a turn. Each time, he removes his hand from the handle bar and rests it for a few seconds on my thigh, something that sends chills spreading over my skin.

I keep waiting for the air skating around me to cool down some of this heat building between our bodies. Or maybe numb the steady hum of anticipation flowing under my skin. But it does neither.

The bike slows down, and I peek over Mav’s shoulder. We’re coming up to a rural side street. This time, when his hand leaves the handle bar, I inhale a steadying breath, bracing myself for the onslaught of desire that’ll hit from his touch. But instead of caressing my leg, he lays his palm over the hand I have covering his chest.

My own heart begins to skip to an obnoxious beat. An erratic rhythm I didn’t know it was capable of.

But too soon, his hand is gone and Mav takes the turn. I gently lean with him. Afterward, he accelerates but not to the speed he was going before. The next time the bike slows, it’s to pull into the driveway of a gorgeous, stucco two-story home, nearly the size of the clubhouse. The home is newer, has a three-car garage, and a huge yard.

Mav parks and turns off the bike. After kicking down the stand, he twists to look at me.

“Too fast?”

“No. It was perfect.”

The side of his mouth curls up. “So does that mean I’m gonna be able to get you on the back of my bike again?” His eyes slowly travel over my face and he tucks my hair behind my ear.

“Only if you show me how fast this thing can really go.”

He chuckles. “You sure you can handle it that fast, babe?”

The shot I downed earlier, might be giving me a little courage or I just naturally want to test his control. “I guess we’ll have to try it and find out.”

“Come here,” he says in a husky tone. Then I have no idea how he does it, but he grabs me and shifts me around so I’m sitting in front of him, my thighs over his, my chest facing his, and his erection hitting me exactly where he’s had me aching for hours.

Holding my face, he stares into my eyes. “We don’t have to do anything tonight. I’ll be happy just to hold you.” Though his eyes are riddled with lust, a sincere expression covers his dark features.

Raising a brow, I tease, “Will you?”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “I’m trying to be good and patient, and soft, Doll, but you’re giving me the feelin’ that’s not what you need.”

I slowly sneak my hands under his cut and under his shirt. He jerks as if shocked by my fingertips, then groans and closes his eyes. He whispers something so softly that I almost don’t hear it. But I do. He whispers my name. My real name. And it sounds so good coming from his lips.

“Tell me what you really want to do, Mav. No more sweet lies for my benefit.”

His eyes open and sear me with the heat they’re throwing off. Reaching up, his thumb sweeps over my bottom lip. I barely recognize his voice. It’s so deep. “I want to abuse this mouth, Doll. In so many ways. I’m obsessed with this fuckin’ mouth.” Lightning fast, he threads one hand through my hair and tugs my head back. He kisses me hard and fast. As he pulls back, he bites my lip and lets it slowly slip from between his teeth.

Tendrils of lust shoot straight to my sex.

“I want to explore every single inch of this freckled skin.” His tongue darts out and tastes me. He sucks on my skin roughly until I both gasp and flinch from the spark of pain.

“And when I finally bury my face between your legs, Doll, I wanna make you lose your mind, the same way you’ve been makin’ me lose mine.”

Image after image of him doing these things flashes through my head and my core tightens. Locking his hand around my waist, he yanks me closer and his erection grinds against me.

“When you recover, I’ll fuck you, Ember, like we both need me to. Fuck you until neither of us has the strength to move anymore.”

Every cell in my body is lighting up. I close my eyes and lick my lips. “God, Mav.”

His hot breath does amazing things to my insides as he says into my ear, “Or do you want it nice and soft and sweet, Doll? It’s your choice. I’ll give it to you any way you want it.”

My thoughts are jumbled and hazy. I can’t think of how to respond. At this moment, I don’t care how he takes me. I just need him to do it. I want to feel his skin, his body, his weight on top of me.

“Just make it good.”

“I can do that, baby doll. I can do that all night long.”

Memories of my time with Warner try to creep in, but I push them far away and remind myself of two things. I promised myself the day I left Warner that I wouldn’t give him the power of being able to steal one more moment of my life. And I won’t make the same mistake Mav did. I won’t let my past keep hurting me and stop me from living. I won’t let it corrupt my future.

He’s not Warner and I’m not Dana. And maybe together, we can heal from the scars we carry.

Using the tight grip he has on my hair for leverage, he fuses our mouths together.

His kiss takes me to another place, away from my thoughts and worries. Only this exists, him, and the way he leads but gives me enough room to follow and explore him too. One second, he’s licking at my mouth with soft caresses like he’s sampling a decadent dessert; and then next, like the complicated man he is, he’s groaning and eating at me like he’s famished and I’ve got exactly what he needs.

He’s unpredictable and for the first time, it excites me. Being with him is thrilling. I have no idea what to expect from him next.

“Wrap your legs around me,” he breathes against my mouth.

I obey and he lifts me, and rises off the bike. A few seconds later, he’s at the front door, and cursing under his breath. “Hold on.” I tighten my legs around his waist and hold on to the back of his head. His hand digs into his pocket, until he produces a key and unlocks the door. Before he even steps over the threshold, he’s dropping the keys, kicking the door closed, and kissing me madly again.

“We need a bed,” he growls. “I just hope to God they moved it in.”

I look around to see a sparse room with a few pieces of furniture, a couch, one end table, and a lamp. The far side of the great room appears to open into a kitchen.

“You just bought this?”

“Yeah, while I was gone. This is one of the homes my company built. The buyers’ deal fell through. I had my secretary draw up the papers and asked her to have our designer furnish it by today.”

“Did she?”

He scans our surroundings. When his eyes meet mine again, there’s a playful gleam in them and a smirk on his mouth. “Yeah. Looks like she did.”

I try to get down and he grunts in disapproval. “Uh huh. Hold on.” He turns and carries me up the stairs.

Pushing his limits again, I start kissing my way up his neck and Mav groans. When I bite his jaw he grates out, “Fuck. You’re killin’ me.” We pass room after room, until he finds the one he’s looking for. When we enter what looks to be the master suite, he rasps, “Thank fuck.”

I twist to see that yes, there is a bed and it’s massive. It’s also black and gold, much like the man carrying me. It has a low footboard and a nice headboard, and on each side of it are end tables with lamps, both lit and giving off a soft glow.

Finally, he sets me down on my feet, but only so he can forcibly back me up. His body is literally a wall of muscle herding me to where he wants me to go. Eventually the back of my knees hit the bed, they buckle, and I fall to my butt on the mattress.

Mav remains standing. He starts to undress by first shrugging out of his cut, and then he reaches up behind him to peel his shirt off.

Lust pulses through every part of me. I love looking at him. Especially like this. The sight of his abs has my core muscles throbbing, and his pecs and tattoos have me licking my lips.

I’m taken off guard a second later when he falls to one knee in front of me. His position puts us at eye level. Reaching out, I trail my fingers over his chest. “Do you remember that day when you made Rigor bring me to your office? The day I was looking at the pictures on your wall?” I see that he does, and go on. “I was terrified of you. I knew you hated me, but—”

He opens his mouth and I place a finger over his lips. “That was also the day I was convinced you weren’t all bad. In those pictures, I saw a different side of you.” I press my hand to his chest. “And I couldn’t help but wonder if he was still in there somewhere. Now I see he is.”

My fingers travel up and around his neck. I lean forward, tilting our heads, we work in sync and our mouths come together. The languid kiss snatches away another bad memory of him and replaces it with the way he makes sweet love to my mouth, and how he seizes another little piece of my heart.

As the kiss slows, Mav presses his hand to my chest and lays me back. One foot at a time, he removes my sandals. His hands circle my ankles and his fingers slide leisurely up my calves. Dipping his head, he places soft kisses on my knee, first one and then the other. The ticklish pleasure has me flinching to pull away and at the same time practically begging for more.

Who would’ve thought having a man kissing your knees could feel so good? I didn’t, but the way he does it, so affectionately, so endearing, sends a rush of warmth through my chest.

“I told you that day to get on your knees and get ’em dirty.”

How could I ever forget?

Let’s break in those soft knees of yours . . . Show me you can do more with that mouth of yours than piss me the hell off . . . suck my cock like you like it. Lick it like it’s a goddamn lollipop . . . the best fuckin’ thing you ever tasted.”

“I remember.”

Coming back up to look me in the eyes, he massages my knees. “I’ll take care of you whatever way you need me to. Whether you do the same for me. You never have to get on these knees again, Doll. Not unless you want to.”

Snaking his arm behind me, he begins to unbutton my shirt. After it falls away to the bed—like he’s done many times before—he sweeps my hair away from my eyes, and his knuckle lightly trails over my cheek. It keeps going down my neck and over my shoulder.

“Your skin is beautiful.”

“It’s covered in freckles.”

“Which I find fuckin’ beautiful. It was the first thing I noticed about you.” The intensity of his eyes leaves me with no doubt of the truthfulness of his words. “Your eyes were the second. They fuckin’ gutted me every time you looked at me. But I was so fucked up, Doll. I wouldn’t let myself feel what I wanted to feel for you.”

Without waiting for me to reply, he starts kissing a path up my thighs, shifting from one to the other and getting closer to my sex. His hands work on the button and zipper of my shorts. Slowly, he pulls them down my legs and throws them on the floor. His heated eyes fall on pink lace.

“Fuck. Are these for me?” His hand covers the top of them and his thumb strums over my clit.

I moan. I’m already so sensitive. I bite my lip and press up against his finger, seeking more of the throbbing sensation pulsing through me.

I had other underwear laid out. Safer underwear. Underwear I thought would keep me from being half-naked around him. But at the last second, I changed my mind. Maybe I knew this is exactly where I wanted to be tonight. With him. In his bed. With his eyes devouring every inch of my skin.

“Yes or no, baby?”

When I don’t answer right away, his taunting finger stops moving. “Tell me.”

“Yes.”

He unsnaps my bra, and once it’s gone, his gaze gradually travels over me from my shoulders to my navel. Everywhere his eyes touch, I feel him, just like his hands are physically caressing my skin.

He hooks his finger into my panties.

“I want to see all of you. Every inch, Doll. Will you show me?”

I nod, and he sheds them from my body before tossing them to the floor. Wasting no time, he pushes my thighs apart.

A sharp breath leaves him and his nostrils flare as he stares at the very heart of me. His gaze shoots to my face. “Show me,” he breathes and waits. “With your own fingers, spread yourself open.”

Dear heaven . . .

A flurry of nervous anticipation rushes through my body. This is so new to me, but so hot that I’m lost in it. Held captive by him.

I do as he asks and slide my hand between my thighs. I’m wet and my fingers glide smoothly over my lips. Spreading two fingers, I open myself for his eyes only.

His fingers on my thighs dig into my skin so hard they might just leave marks. “You’re so wet, Doll. I can see how much you want this.” Almost reverently, he whispers, “Do you know how many times I thought about tastin’ you here?” Bare now, he stokes me. “Too many,” he says huskily. Wrapping his hands around the back of my knees, he tugs me forward. “I’m fuckin’ starvin’ for it.” He guides my legs, first one over his right shoulder and the other over his left.

“Mav, I’ve never—”

“Shhh . . . You’re gonna love this as much as I’ll love seein’ you fall apart.”

I’m high, dazed, and very close to exploding. I nearly come all the way off the bed as his tongue sweeps up my center and leaves a blazing trail of cool fire in its place. I thrash my head to the side and grab hold of the blanket beneath me.

“Oh. My. God.”

“More?”

Before he can even finish asking me, he’s there sucking on my clit and sending shock waves through every part of me.

“I had no idea,” I say breathlessly.

His tongue starts further down the next time and sweeps past where I crave him. Then slides all the way up before teasing and playing with my clit. His lips wrap around it and lightly bite. The bolt of painful pleasure nearly makes me shatter.

I clutch the comforter, clawing for a hold on my sanity. I bow up off the bed to both escape this wonderful torture and seek more of it. First, he taunts me then spears me and begins thrusting his tongue into my pussy repeatedly.

While rocking against him, my hand finds the back of his head. Mav captures it with his. I’m certain he’s going to pull it away. Instead, he forces me to push his head into me. And it’s almost as if he’s telling me it’s okay to let go, to take what I need from him.

He sinks two fingers inside me and thrusts deep. Those fingers work fast, hitting the bundle of nerves with each stroke until a tremor rakes down my body and I break apart, fall just like he said I would . . . into pieces. His tongue joins his fingers, and my muscles convulse repeatedly around both. He laps gently at my tender folds as I float away and revel in the bliss rolling through me.

I’ve never soared like this. I’ve never flown this high or this free away from all the responsibilities and worries always clouding my mind. I never thought I was capable of such a thing.

But with this man, I am. With this biker, I can.

There is a flicker of hope building inside me that he could be a part of “my perfect.” But I don’t dare believe it. Not yet.

Our limits need to be tested or we’ll never know how good it feels to overcome our fears.

EMBER

When I wake from my delirious daze, Mav’s standing at the end of the bed, watching me. He removes his boots, socks, and with slow deliberate movements, unbuttons his jeans. As they make their way down his strong legs, my gaze latches onto the dark smattering of hair that disappears beneath his black boxer briefs.

If I had an ounce of strength left, I’d sit up and do something I’ve wanted to do for days—follow that trail with my tongue, and see where it leads. Maybe repay the favor Mav paid me.

With a smirk covering his mouth, Mav kneels on the bed. “You okay, Doll? Or did I break you?”

I shake my head slowly from side to side. “No. Maybe. Ugh, that was amazing.”

He laughs out loud this time. “I’m glad you liked it because I plan on doin’ it often.” Lifting me under my arms, he repositions me to lie in the middle of his big bed. Half of his body blankets mine, and his heavy erection makes itself known against my thigh.

A hum of sexual energy flutters through my stomach.

He caresses my cheek. “You look tired, babe.”

“I am, a little.” It’s the truth, but I’m also tempted to see what he’ll do. Does he actually have this much control? When it’s blatantly obvious he’s hurting?

“Are you?”

Pulling away, his eyes leave my face and move down over my body. They sear a trail from my breasts down my belly to my sex. His fingertips barely graze the softest part of my belly before his hand draws back.

Mav clenches his eyes shut tightly, exhales and falls to his back. “I am, yeah. We should sleep.” And it’s like he’s remembering what we did a moment ago, because his tongue comes out and sweeps over his bottom lip.

I turn toward him and the lure to touch him is more than I can fight anymore. I lay my hand over his stomach. The moment I do, he groans low in his throat and his abs tighten. His eyes are still closed as I glide my fingers over his abdomen. He moves his hand from his chest to grant me full access. I read the skin on his abs as if it were brail, and memorize every sound of pleasure he makes. Moving on to his chest, I tease him with my fingertips, circling his nipple, and then sliding them up his sternum, before tracing the words of his tattoo. After I’ve explored his upper body to my heart’s content, I tentatively touch his jaw and feel the hair there tickle my fingertips. The same hair that’s left a temporary burn between my thighs and along my neck.

Good Lord . . . my Luce is handsome. He has a face and a body no woman in her right mind could resist. Yet he’s so much more than that.

I never had a chance, did I?

No.

From the moment I saw him, he’s captivated me. Shoved his way into my heart.

When I reach his lips and brush the pads of my fingers over them, Mav’s mouth parts. I fell in love with these lips that first day. Though they were wrapped around a cigarette, they were still the sexiest lips I’ve ever seen. Lush and made for kissing.

Finally, his eyes blink open, and as they focus on my face, they burn with a heat that nearly singes the air between us.

He’s looking at me as if I’m his next meal, and he’s been stranded for so long without food.

We stare at one another and I wonder why he’s waiting. Why he’s not kissing me? Stroking me? Having sex with me? What happened to his declaration to fuck me?

“Mav?”

He gives me a lazy smile, “Yeah, baby?”

I palm his cheek and study his face. “What are you waiting for?”

He turns his head and places a kiss on my palm. When his eyes meet mine again he says, “You. I told you. You control this. I don’t want to push you more than you’re willin’ to give.”

But I want more. I want what you promised me.

The words hover on the end of my tongue.

Tentatively, I move toward him. I wrap my hand around his nape. Drawing closer, I keep my eyes locked with his. He doesn’t move an inch. He waits for me to come to him, for me to press my lips to his. He opens and my tongue slips inside and laves at his in languid strokes. He grips my neck and matches my movements, my intensity, and my momentum. But he’s holding himself back. A tide of hunger lies dormant under his skin. Beneath the soft kisses there’s a ferocity waiting to be unleashed.

I crave it and the biker who takes exactly what he wants.

I kiss him deeper, more aggressively. My hands roam and I touch him without censor. I suck his lip into my mouth and scrap my teeth across it before letting it go. My hand ventures down his stomach and covers his erection over his briefs.

Mav hisses, “Fuck!” and bucks against my hand. Then he stills my hand with his, and says, “You don’t have to.”

This time, I shush him. Using my mouth, I stop him from talking and kiss him without restraint. We’re all lips, tongues, and hands. We’re frenzied and so hot that the air between us is sweltering.

Breaking the kiss, I rasp, “I want the rest of what you promised me.”

He’s up on his elbow a second later and gripping my neck tightly. “Doll.” His thumb strokes my jaw. “I swear to God, babe, I need to be inside you more than I need to breathe. Actually, I’m losin’ my mind over here. But are you sure? I’ll be patient if that’s what you need me to be.”

“No, show me how good it can be with you.”

He rolls over on top of me and frames my face. “Dammit, baby. I want to be what you need, but my control is fuckin’ slippin’. I’m way past being able to be gentle.”

“No more holding back.”

“Jesus, I don’t think you know what you’re askin’ for.”

I bite his lip, nearly drawing blood. “But I do.”

“Fuck.”

Our mouths collide. And from the second our lips connect it’s raw and hard and bordering on violent. His hands grab my hips and our lower bodies move together. The dip and swirl of his hips quickly starts to make me greedy for more. Grinding himself into me, Mav growls low, the sound echoing out of his chest. Lifting up, his head dips to my breast. He licks my nipple and rolls it, before he bites it lightly.

I gasp and throw my head back. “God, that feels so good. Everything you do feels good.”

He leaves me for a minute, but only to remove his boxers. Then he’s parting my legs and kneeling between them. “So fuckin’ wet for me, Doll. And every single drop of this is mine.” He palms my sex and then using my own juices, he strokes his shaft. With his other hand, he thumbs my clit and he smiles when I squirm under his ministrations.

After propping himself up on one arm, he pulls my leg over his hip. Before I can take a steady breath, he guides his long and thick cock to my entrance.

“Tell me, Ember. Is this what you want?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t want nice and soft and sweet? You want me to fuck you like we both need me to?”

“Yes!”

I want this. I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I need him. I need him to relieve the pressure inside me, all the way inside me.

The tip of his cock pushes at my entrance. He’s big and at first, my body resists the intrusion. There’s a slight pinch of pain as I stretch to accommodate his size.

We both seem to be holding our breaths. Pulling back, he thrusts using more of his strength and oh, my God, it feels so damn good.

He hisses, “Fuck!” as he gradually works himself deeper. “Let yourself relax, baby, and let me feel you let go.” I try, but it’s only when he plays with my clit and distracts me, that my tension dissipates.

On his next drive forward, he sinks to the hilt and his head falls forward. He releases a guttural groan, whispers, “Christ,” and closes his eyes.

He’s filling me up, completely, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt.

“God, Ember. This is almost too fuckin’ much,” he says between ragged breaths. Then he cups my face. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod.

“You okay if I start movin’ now?”

I nod again.

“Say it, Doll.”

“Yes.”

His jaw flexes and his eyes turn molten like they do. He backs off a little and plunges forward. Going deeper still. I make an unintelligible sound and my back arches. He curses again and cups my breast. Our bodies collide and he pushes himself again until he’s seated all the way inside me, and his body becomes flush with my own.

Bending down, he trails his lips over my neck. Bites my ear. “The sounds you make, baby, are enough to make me come. But this. This is too much. How you feel. You grip me like we were made to be like this. Nothin’ . . . nothin’ ever gonna come close,” he says breathlessly.

Then he takes my mouth, passionately and aggressively.

I cling to him like a life preserver. He’s hitting a spot that has pleasure rocketing through me with each stroke. And it’s building as he draws back and slams back inside me. Our bodies work in tandem. He swirls his cock inside me in such a way that I’m gasping for breath and pleading for more.

But then he stills.

“Please . . . don’t stop,” I whisper as I dig my nails into his back. “It feels so good.”

“That’s it. Hold on to me, baby.”

It’s meant to be a warning. I realize that a couple of seconds later as his cock goes all the way to my womb and rapidly withdraws, only to drive into me again. He slams into me in rapid succession, and his biceps bulge with the force he uses to bring my world falling down all around me.

“Holy sh . . . I’m going to . . .”

“Let me see it, Doll,” he speaks huskily against my lips. “Show me. Show me what it looks like when you let go. Come for me.” Then he’s kissing me expertly and fucking me into the mattress hard enough to move us up with each powerful thrust and I’m wrapped completely around him.

It only takes four, four more mind-shattering strokes for my body to succumb. I’m propelled into another orgasm. Every limb stiffens. The intensity practically paralyzes me.

He growls low and thrusts deep. “Fuck, Ember. I feel you. You grip me so goddamn good, baby.” Still, he manipulates my body causing the pulses to stretch on and on forever.

He reaches up and grabs the headboard with both hands. His voice changes and his face hardens with concentration. “Christ, I’m ready to come in this sweet pussy. But not until you come around me like that one more time.”

Using his grip on the wood behind me, he drives up into me with such force that I swear I see stars each time he bottoms out. “Again. You’re gonna come again.”

Holy mother of God.

After only a few seconds of this new assault, I become someone I never knew I could be. And say things like, “Yes, please. Oh, my God! There, yes.” And I’m sure when this is over I’ll be embarrassed as hell, but right now I can only feel and be and open myself up to this new wild burning ache he’s started inside me.

When I’m not gasping for breath, I’m crying out his name more times than I can count. Leaning up, I lick the sweat from Mav’s chest and circle my tongue around his nipples. My claws rake down his back as he spears himself inside me.

Something cracks behind me and I almost giggle because . . . shit . . . I think we just broke his new bed.

He slams into me faster and grunts with the effort. His mouth comes to my ear. “Let me see it.” He bites my earlobe and mixes all the pleasure he’s giving me with a spike of pain. Every part of my body locks up, my head kicks back, and I scream. I detonate, and my orgasm sends tremors through every part of me.

Mav growls and his head bows forward. “Yes, Doll! I feel you.” He thrusts all the way in, and a shudder runs through his whole body. Together we break apart. Him right along with me this time. Warmth hits my womb as Mav’s body strings tight.

Moments later, as his muscles begin to relax, his arms give out, and he collapses over me, resting his forehead on my shoulder. And our heavy breaths are the only sound to be heard.

I have no idea how long it takes for us both to recover, but it’s a while. Mav’s the first to move. He kisses my shoulder. “Never felt anything like you locked around me before. And the way you look when you come. Most beautiful fuckin’ thing I’ve ever seen.”

He palms my face with both of his hands on my cheeks. “Promise me you’re gonna be here when I wake up, because I already know it’s gonna wreck me not to have more of this. More of you.”

“I’m here, Mav. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”

His kiss this time is utterly soft and gentle. Tender. And with it, he steals another piece of me. Another piece of my heart. I don’t think falling for him was ever a choice. More like an inevitability.