Frost and Flame

by Showalter, Gena

  Booo. Not a single correspondence.

  She gathered toiletries and clean clothes, showered, brushed her teeth and dressed in a tank top and a pair of shorts. Still no sign of Bane. Was he out chasing Ronan and Petra?

  Kill them both, but save their hearts for me.

  Another memory surfaced, and Nola sucked in a breath. Had she truly uttered those words to Bane, planning—hoping—to eat the organs?

  Reeling, she plopped onto the edge of the bed. Did Adwaewethian queens often eat other people’s hearts?

  Queen of Hearts, yo.

  Well, Nola would just have to use her iron will to ensure she never gave in to the urge. Because yuck. If I put my mind to something, I will accomplish it.

  Hinges whined as the door to the mobile home swung open.

  Anticipation propelled her to her feet, her heart a pounding fist in her chest.

  Bane stepped inside, and the RV suddenly felt a thousand times smaller, the walls seeming to close in. He spotted her and stopped abruptly; the heart-fist started punching her ribs.

  Locks of wet hair were plastered to his forehead and cheeks. He wore a T-shirt and leathers, both garments soaked through and clinging to his muscular body. The scent of rain blended with his innate fragrance of male musk and exotic spices. Will never get enough. A leather strap bisected his chest, anchoring his sword to his back, the hilt rising above his broad shoulder.

  Lightning flashed behind him, gifting him with a temporary halo. Flutters erupted in her belly. The way he moved...as fluid as water, as graceful as a jungle cat, every inch of him pulsing with the hunger of a nocturnal predator. His eyes blazed with desire. And he was hard. Perhaps throbbing.

  She shivered and hugged her middle.

  Tone rough around the edges, he asked, “You are well?”

  “Thanks to you, I am.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “What about you? Where have you been?” Gross! Whiny, nagging girlfriend, anyone?

  Wait. She remembered an article she’d written. The research she’d done. When you were in a relationship, it was 100 percent okay to want to know where your person was, and there was nothing whiny or naggy about it.

  “I’ve been overseeing our defenses.” He slid his dark and hotly sexual gaze over her slowly, languidly. “Were you worried about me?”

  Did she detect delight in his expression?

  Arousal fizzed in her veins, the rest of the world vanishing. A series of stronger shivers traipsed down her spine. How could she want him this much? How could she want anyone this much?

  As he took a step forward, the door slapped closed behind him, sealing them inside the RV. Alone. He took another step. He fisted and unfisted his hands, saying, “I like your mind—when it decides to obey my every command.”

  Husky, teasing tone this time. At least, she thought he’d tried to make his voice playful. He’d mostly sounded ravenous.

  Thunder boomed, shaking the entire mobile home. Her pulse points hammered. “Thanks, I guess?”

  “I like your body always,” he continued. He took another step closer, removed and discarded his shirt, revealing a feast of muscle and sinew. “But I dislike that you are wearing so many clothes.” Step. “I dislike that you are standing so far away.” Step. “I dislike that your legs aren’t wrapped around me.” The final step.

  Every new word had been gruffer than the last. A sign of his growing arousal?

  Finally, he stood directly in front of her, a tower of masculine beauty. As he reached out, her heart nearly burst from her chest. What did he plan to do? What did she want him to do?

  Easy—I want him to do everything.

  His knuckles brushed her navel, her belly fluttering. When he began toying with her zipper, breath hitched in her lungs.

  “Now,” he said. “Tell me what you dislike about me. And hurry. As soon as you’re done, we can end our argument properly—with a kiss.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  How many orgasms should you expect?

  AROUSAL CONSUMED NOLA, shocking her once-ignored hormones. Her breathing quickened and shallowed, welcoming a bout of light-headedness. Whatever had wrought this change in Bane...

  I like!

  While her mind wasn’t sure what was going on, her body said, I do. I know. He wants me madly! Almost as much as I want him. Passion, primitive and wild, doused his gaze. His warmth and scent acted as kindling. Goose bumps spread over her limbs, sensitizing her skin.

  One intimate touch, and she might go off like a rocket.

  “I dislike... I...” To tell him what she “disliked” about him, she had to think straight. He ruined my brain.

  New flashes of lightning lit the vehicle with a soft amber glow. A bandage covered the wound on his shoulder and metal links circled his biceps. Water droplets sluiced down his washboard abs. A golden goodie trail pointed down, where his erection strained the fabric. Like a road map to perfection.

  He looked like a painting come to sizzling life.

  “You dislike nothing about me?” he asked, one of his pecs jumping. “You think I’m perfect, just the way I am?”

  “No, of course not.” Was this how Adwaewethians flirted? “You have numerous flaws. Countless!”

  “Wrong. I have one flaw, and it’s a total lack of flaws.”

  She sputtered for a moment, only to burst out laughing.

  He tensed, peering at her as though he could read every secret lurking behind her eyes. Aggression thrummed from him.

  Her amusement died with a strangled breath.

  Searching her gaze, he slowly dipped his head until his lips hovered over hers. “Allow me to tell you more of my dislikes.”

  “O-okay.”

  “I dislike that you aren’t on that bed, accepting my cock as I feed you every throbbing inch.”

  Heat. More shivers. The most wonderful aches. She experienced all of that and more.

  Sex with Bane, the male she craved more than water to drink. There were complications, and there would be consequences. Right now, she didn’t care, her need too great.

  “Yes,” she whispered. She’d waited a lifetime for this moment, this man, and nothing would stop her from enjoying it.

  “Argument over then,” he snarled, desire frothing in his eyes. “Now we kiss and make up.” With one hand on her nape and one on her waist, Bane yanked her against the hard line of his body and pressed his mouth against hers.

  Argument? Her thoughts dulled, and she melted against him, opening her mouth eagerly, meeting the thrust of his tongue with a suck and a nip. He tasted like rain and arousal, and she couldn’t get enough, a terrible, wonderful madness consuming her.

  His tantalizing groan lit a fire deep in her belly, a fever swiftly spreading. How many nights had she lain in bed, enveloped by darkness, starved for a man’s touch?

  Bane soothed her hunger...and made it worse.

  With a tug on her hair, he deepened the kiss. Harder, faster, every unfulfilled longing she’d ever harbored surging through her at once, demanding satisfaction now, now, now. Her heart pounded, and her breasts readied for him, tips distending. Between her legs, she ached worse.

  He lifted his head and pressed his forehead to hers. Panting, he said, “I want to see you.”

  The fire in his eyes...she grew drunk just looking at him. Voice like silk, she replied, “And I want to show myself to you.”

  Needing no more encouragement, he yanked her shirt overhead and tossed it aside. His pupils flared as her hair tumbled into place. Then he turned his intensity to her bra, giving it the same treatment as the shirt. Snatch. Drop.

  Cool air brushed her heating flesh, drawing more goose bumps to the surface. When her nipples puckered, he gritted out a curse.

  The fire intensified. Feminine power wafted through her, leaving her drunker. She rolled back her shoulders to lift her brea
sts.

  He unleashed another growl. “Perfect little beauties.” Reverent, he cupped and kneaded them, ghosting his thumbs over their peaks.

  “Bane!”

  When he set back into their kiss, a frenzy overtook them both. Maybe because her bare breasts pressed against his chest, heated skin rubbing against heated skin. Every breath drew her nipples up, then down, then back up, sparking the most amazing friction. Ecstasy and agony bombarded her, and she couldn’t form a complete thought, only fragments.

  Want. Need. More. Please. Yes, yes, yes. “Bane!”

  He wrenched his mouth from hers, dragging a ragged moan out of her. He was panting, anguish cooling the fire in his eyes. “Shouldn’t be this good. With anyone. Ever.”

  Thinking about abandoning her? Let’s see if I can change his mind. She rose to her tiptoes, fisted his hair and bared her teeth. “I need to come,” she told him softly. “Make me come. That isn’t a demand but a desperate request.”

  “I will. Yes.” With a snarl, he twirled her around and tore the button off her shorts, the two sides of the zipper gaping open. He shoved his hand into her panties.

  She arched her spine, reaching up and back to comb her fingernails through his silken hair. Once, twice, he ground his erection into her backside while tracing his middle finger through her wetness. Teasing her clitoris. Kneading her breast. Teasing, kneading.

  His hands were a brand, scorching her body and soul. As ecstasy drowned Nola in increasingly intense waves, his warm breath fanned her neck, mimicking a caress. She felt this incredible man in her cells, her marrow.

  He nipped her earlobe, pinched her nipple and whispered, “You respond to me like no one else, as if you are a conduit for my pleasure. I give, and you take, then give right back to me. You give more.”

  Beautiful words. Heady. The big, bad beast was putty in the virgin’s hands, the knowledge life-changing. But...“Less talking, more touching.” Beyond conversation, she gripped his wrist and lifted her hips, trying to wedge his middle finger inside her.

  His dark chuckle fanned her ears, sending shivers to all her favorite parts. “Does my dove need to be filled?” he asked, circling her clitoris with mounting pressure.

  “Yes!” Circling, but never quite touching. Plaintive cries left her. When she turned her head to nip his jaw, he swooped down and kissed her again. Every stroke of his tongue demanded total surrender—surrender she gave.

  At last, he pressed his finger against the heart of her need.

  “Bane!” Rapture. Bliss.

  Satisfaction.

  Nola screamed, burning up, inside and out, stars winking behind her lids. “It’s good. So good. Never want it to stop...” Sublime pleasure crashed over her, rousing total euphoria. Her mind went on vacation, and her body soared in the clouds.

  “This is only the beginning,” he rasped. As her inner walls clenched, he plunged a thick finger inside her tightness, and her climax sharpened.

  Another scream barreled free.

  “You are hot enough to scorch, and tight enough to madden me forever.” He thrust in another finger, stretching her, working them in and out, in, out. “I’m going to love fucking you.”

  His crude language turned her on, need for him, for this, roaring back to startling life. She mewled.

  “Any sickness, dove?” He sounded so calm.

  “None. But I might die if you stop.”

  “That’s good, because I would rather die than stop.” He slipped those fingers out of her...in...out, then whirled her around to face him.

  Breathtaking male. A bead of sweat ran down his temples, lines of strain tightening the skin around his eyes. She slid her palms up the muscular ridges on his abdomen, delighting when his nostrils flared. His breaths were shallow and ragged, as if he had to push the air through some kind of obstacle course. His irises were molten gold, with flames crackling throughout.

  “I will...” He ripped off her shorts and panties, then removed and dropped the links that were wrapped around his biceps. He clasped her waist. “Addict your body to mine.”

  “Consider it mission accomplished.”

  “Yes, but let’s be doubly sure.” He tossed her on the bed. As she bounced up and down, he kicked off his boots, unfastened his pants and shoved the garment to the floor. Metal clinked. No telling how many weapons he had hidden.

  Released from confinement, his shaft bobbed, a massive rod with a damp slit. He gripped the base and stroked once, twice, the rhythmic motion hypnotizing her.

  When she purred, giddy, he clasped her ankles and jerked, sliding her to the edge of the bed. For a long, silent moment, he peered at the heart of her desire. He licked his lips. “The things I want to do to you. The things I want you to do to me. And we will do it. All of it. Even the things forbidden in Adwaeweth.”

  “Yes,” she croaked. “I want to do everything with you. With us, nothing is forbidden.”

  He blinked with astonishment, before a look of breathtaking wonder descended over his features. His chest puffed with pride—in her! “You undo me, dove.”

  I think I kind of...do.

  He dropped to his knees and hissed in a breath. “Luscious. Pretty.”

  The ravenous gleam in his eyes... A promise of wicked delights.

  Suddenly, Nola felt like Little Red Riding Hood, with a big, bad wolf between her legs.

  * * *

  WITH TREMBLING HANDS, Bane pushed Nola’s knees farther apart. Farther still. The new center of my world.

  Guilt surfaced. If he did this, if he took Nola, Meredith would no longer be the last woman he’d bedded. Yet...

  I cannot walk away.

  Her mouthwatering honeysuckle and jasmine scent obliterated any lingering doubts. The pain in his shoulder—what pain? His desire for Nola eclipsed everything else. He wanted this woman more than he’d ever wanted anyone or anything. Even the beast wanted her. Sexually, at least. Bane suspected she’d...beguiled the fiend.

  He’d never felt so connected to Drogo, as if they were one being rather than two, drawing from each other equally, creating balance. A development he didn’t understand, but wouldn’t question. Not yet. Satisfaction beckoned. Pressure built.

  The body she possessed...willowy and soft. Intoxicating. Made for this. Made for me. Her vulnerability made his shaft throb harder. Everything about her made his shaft throb harder.

  Drawing circles on her inner thigh, he rasped, “Do you crave me, dove? Do you require another kiss?”

  “Yes!” Eyelids hooded, lips parted, a passion-fever spread over her skin. “Kiss me, slide inside me. Do one, do both. Just do something. Please!”

  Once again, she filled him with wonderment. “My princess’s need is so great she can hardly contain it.”

  I love my life.

  Bane leaned down, but didn’t kiss her. As she quivered, fisting the sheets and writhing against the mattress, he nuzzled his beard stubble against her thigh, on the same spot his fingers had drawn those circles.

  He hissed. She groaned.

  Will take what’s mine! Bane dipped his head, licked her wetness and nearly roared at the rightness. Pure, sweet honeyed perfection. Delectable royal.

  Bane set in with a vengeance Licking. Sucking. Nipping. She cried out and rolled her hips, chasing his tongue, driving him wild. Never, in all his days, would he get enough of this woman.

  Between wanton forays with his mouth, he told her, “Never deny me this. I want it every day.”

  She uttered an incoherent reply, music to his ears. He sucked on her clitoris and sank a finger inside her hot, wet sheath.

  “Yes!” she shouted, fisting hanks of his hair to hold him in place. “Bane! It’s yours, always yours.”

  As a reward, he sank in another finger. He worked the two like scissors, spreading them again and again, stretching and preparing her.

 
When she came, screaming his name, he tongued her channel once, twice, mimicking sex. She screamed his name.

  Desperate for a release of his own, he kissed his way up, up, tracing his tongue around her navel, before moving up, up again. One after the other, he laved her nipples.

  She scoured his back with her nails. A first for him, because no lover had ever lain beneath him. The fact that he was on top, pinning her to the bed, her body a cradle for his...better than I ever dreamed.

  “You ready for me, dove?”

  “So ready!”

  He reached between their bodies and positioned the tip of his erection at her entrance. He’d never wanted anyone so badly. Control unraveling... “I want to take you like this.”

  Between heavy breaths, she said, “Bare?” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “What about a condom? Birth control? Disease?”

  “No disease, I swear it.” He almost couldn’t get the words out, his need too great. “I cannot get you pregnant.”

  “Ever? Never mind. Tell me after. I need you inside me. Just like this.” She jerked his face to hers and kissed him, teeth clinking, tongues tangling. “Hurry! Please. Now.”

  Now. Yes. Mind ravaged by torturous arousal, he began to ease inside her. At first, she welcomed him eagerly, slick and hot. But the deeper he slid, the more resistance he met. Too tight.

  He circled his hips. Again. And again. He worked his shaft in deeper each time. Sweat poured from him. Frenzied need urged him to thrust in fast, sure and to the hilt. Muscles tensed as he resisted. Oxygen singed his throat with every inhalation.

  He kept his gaze on her face, mindful of her reactions. When he hit the evidence of her virginity, she flinched, and he forced himself to still, surely the most difficult thing he’d ever done.

  “Pain?” he croaked.

  “Yes, but I don’t care.” She breathed the words against his lips, urgent. “Been waiting for you so long...don’t make me wait any longer.”

  Waiting...for him... Him and him alone.

  The urge to plunge deep nigh overwhelmed him. Do not harm this precious female. Bane drew back his hips, preparing to thrust. He paused, teasing her clitoris forcing her to chase his finger, to rock her hips.