And saw a stranger.
He was devastatingly handsome, but pure good looks didn’t cut it for her anymore, not when she knew what monsters might lie beneath.
The man smiled, the corners of his eyes crinkling with what appeared to be pure joy. “How do you feel?”
She pondered that for a moment. Actually...not too bad. Her stomach twisted in hunger and her limbs were heavy, but she was lucid and rapidly becoming more so. What was the last thing she remembered?
Oh yes. She was discussing something. Asmodeus. In Ronin’s living room.
“Who are you? And where’s Ron—?” Her eyes traveled from the man farther down. “Ronin!”
He stood at the end of the bed, his body taut and his hands curled into fists. The intensity on his face was somewhat terrifying. He looked wrung out, like he’d been to hell and back.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, struggling into a seated position.
“Wrong?” His laugh was harsh, like iron scraping steel. “You collapsed, Amara. Days ago.”
“I...collapsed?” She blinked at that bit of news. No wonder she was so weak. Every move made her body ache.
“I flew you to London.” Ronin motioned toward the stranger. “To Cresso’s place.”
“Your incubus friend?”
“Yes.”
She was in London. With Cresso. The obvious reason for her being here made her want to weep. Now the expression on Ronin’s face made sense.
Amara was here to feed off Cresso.
As if he’d read her train of thought, Cresso shook his head. “That’s not why you’re here. Something has happened that you need to know about.”
The way he paused underscored the gravity of the situation. “What is it?”
“A vaccine. A temporary protection against the toxins your body carries.”
Her brain couldn’t seem to process his last sentence. It was too outlandish. Too inconceivable. “You created a vaccine?”
Cresso nodded. “Ronin has already taken it.”
The earnestness in his gaze, more than anything else, penetrated the doubt in her mind. Eyes widening, she turned toward Ronin. “You mean we can...?”
Cresso cleared his throat and checked his watch. “Ronin, I’ll need to come back in two hours, no later, to draw some of your blood for testing purposes.”
Even though Ronin avoided meeting her eyes, she couldn’t tear them off him. She got to have two whole hours alone with Ronin. Two hours in which they could do anything they pleased. Her biggest fantasy come to life.
Could this really be happening? Maybe she was still unconscious and simply dreaming up this fairy tale. That wasn’t unconceivable.
“If you need me for any reason, I’ll be down the hall.” With those words, Cresso turned and left the room, clicking the door shut behind him.
Ronin watched him go before turning back to her. The fierce look in his eyes shocked her. Her heart pounded with sudden ferocity. A muscle in his jaw ticked. “I thought you were going to die.”
There was clear agony behind those softly spoken words. Something inside her melted. “What happened after I collapsed?”
“I called Cresso. He had work obligations that prevented him from going to New York, so I flew us here to London. He worked a miracle.”
Oh, Ronin. The tone of his voice spoke a million times louder than his words. With effort, she swung her legs off the bed and tried to stand. Her legs wobbled.
He rushed to her side. “You shouldn’t move. You’ll burn all your energy.” He grasped her arms and sat her back on the bed, then started to pull away.
“No.” She took his hand, halting his retreat. “I only wanted to touch you.”
A low sound escaped him and he dropped to his knees, staring into her eyes. “Amara, I didn’t know what to do. What you would want. I feared for you, and...hell, I don’t know what I’m trying to say.”
“Shush.” She touched his cheeks, scruffy from a few day’s growth, then traced the lines and ridges of his face. So masculine, so handsome. He’d done this all for her. She couldn’t even begin to express how she felt about that. “I can’t believe you did this for me. Ronin, it’s dangerous.”
“I trust Cresso with my life,” he said simply.
Yes, apparently he had.
His lips curved into a slow grin that flattened her. Her hungry body took in his pure scent and something inside her exploded with desire. She let herself fall forward onto him, pressing her lips to his. He caught her with a groan, opening his lips and sweeping his tongue inside her mouth. The world tilted as he lurched forward, depositing her on the bed and laying on top of her. She whimpered at the feel of him. There were far too many layers of clothes in between them.
He must have read her mind, because he sat back long enough to grasp onto the satiny material of her pajama top with one hand. One sharp tug and the material rent in two, exposing the peaks of her breasts. Her back arched on a gasp when he did the same thing to her bottoms, leaving her nude with the exception of the scraps of cloth that still clung to her body.
“Damn Amara, but you’re beautiful,” he whispered.
“Your clothes. Take them off.” She tried to rip his T-shirt the way he’d done to her, but didn’t have the strength for it. With a low laugh, he yanked it off for her. While he fumbled with the button on his jeans, she slid her hands down his chest. Skin so soft, yet the muscles underneath so firm. His pectoral muscles twitched when she ran her fingers along his flat nipples, and his abs pulsed when her hands moved lower. Finally—finally—he slid his jeans off, and exposed the object she most wanted to worship. Hard, heavy, and huge—his cock was made to dominate. To ruthlessly conquer. Later, when she was more energized, she would show him how much that pleased her, but right now she was too weak and too crazed with desire for him.
He closed his hands over her knees and spread her thighs, touching his tongue to his lower lip as if she were a delectable dessert he longed to devour. “You don’t know how badly I want to taste you. I’ve done nothing but think about it for the past month.”
His words drove her insane. She could imagine his mouth and tongue driving her to new heights of ecstasy. But that would have to wait. “Later, Ronin. I need you. Now.”
“Yes.”
He moved over her once again, repositioning his arousal at her entrance. His eyes bored into her, their depth of emotion betraying the immensity of this moment. Sudden panic chased away her ecstasy.
If Cresso was wrong, if he’d made the slightest miscalculation with the vaccine, this would kill Ronin.
No. She couldn’t take that risk. It wasn’t worth it. What good was her life if Ronin wasn’t around? He was the only decent thing in it. She couldn’t risk it.
“Ronin, wait—”
Before she could finish her sentence, he drove forward, ramming in to the hilt. She let out a cry and froze, the myriad of sensations as arousing as it was overwhelming. What had he done? What had he—?
He groaned and slid out a fraction, only to thrust back in. Then he did it again.
Wait...he could move. He was still moving. If the toxin had been present, it would have paralyzed him by now.
“You’re okay,” she whispered, not even knowing who she reassured: him or her.
A throaty rumble of pleasure escaped his lips. “I’m okay.”
She couldn’t remember ever feeling this full. Physically or emotionally. His eyes were locked on hers, as if they could see into her heart. A wide-eyed expression of joy and wonderment lit his face, more than likely a mirror of her own.
This was more than sex. It was a connection on a spiritual level that she’d never experienced before. A melding of their souls.
Ronin changed everything. He’d changed her. She’d never wanted anyone more.
&nb
sp; “Amara.”
“Please,” she sobbed, a tear escaping her eye and running down her face.
His control broke. He slid out almost entirely, then slammed home. Then he did it again, grabbing her wrists in his hands to keep her imprisoned beneath him. With every deep thrust, it was like he broke some fundamental part of her down, molding and reshaping her into something newer and better. Altering the very essence of who she was. Never had she felt anything so elemental before.
This was more than making love. It was a claiming.
“More. Harder.” She opened her knees to spread herself further for him, silently begging him to mark her in some immutable way. That was when the first waves of her orgasm hit her, tearing a hoarse cry from her mouth and sending energy coursing through her veins. She was filled. She was complete. She was all-powerful.
“Yes. Yes.” He screwed his eyes shut as she pulsed around him, squeezing him like a vice. Still he kept on, pounding into her, creating a fierce, driving rhythm that all too quickly had her riding the edge of ecstasy once again.
“Harder. Please!” The bedsprings squealed and the bed shook from the force of his punishing thrusts. On a primal level, she wanted to lie submissively beneath him, to let him show her how completely he could devastate her. But the warring desire to dominate him, to take her pleasure and give it in return, won out. Clamping her knees at his sides, she flipped them around so she was on top, then set about giving him as good as she’d gotten.
“Oh, baby.” Ronin rose up to take one of her breasts in his mouth, sucking hard on the bud before lavishing the same sort of attention on the other one. She undulated against him, taking every last millimeter of him inside her. A heavy sound tore out of his lips. “I don’t know how much longer I can last.”
She didn’t either. Part of her longed to immediately explode again, and to take him with her this time. But another part urged her to ride him harder. Faster. Deeper. To give him an experience he’d never forget, no matter what happened in the future.
She followed her instinct, closing her fingers around the base of his throat, now slickened with sweat. Planting her feet on either side of him, she lifted up until he was almost out, then slid down again, rocking her hips the whole while.
“You’re going to kill me,” he gasped. But this time, she knew it wasn’t literal. And that, more than anything, fed her desire to totally shatter his world, the way he’d done hers. She pounded down onto his hard flesh, now soaked from her moisture. Over and over again, until he grasped her hips and started to furiously piston up into her. The bed frame squeaked under the combined force of their thrusts, but she could barely hear it over the raw, animalistic sounds coming from both their mouths.
So close. So, so close.
One more hard, grinding pump and her climax exploded on her, tearing a ragged scream from her throat. She arched her back and rode out the wave of ecstasy, every single muscle in her body shaking with the force of her release. The bed frame gave one final squeak and broke, sending the mattress crashing to the floor. But she barely noticed it. Beneath her, Ronin tensed, gritting his teeth as he flung his head back. A low cry tore from his mouth with his release, and a torrent of hot liquid spurted deep inside her.
She collapsed on top of him, barely aware of the tears that streamed down her cheeks or the thin layer of sweat covering their bodies. A heavy beat pulsed between her thighs where she was still joined with Ronin. When his cock thumped once inside her, she could do no more than let out a moan.
Amazing how she could be so spent and yet fully re-energized at the same time. But that was how she felt. Too tired to move, yet like she could take on the whole world and win.
Sex with Ronin had been every bit as earth-shattering as she’d expected it would be.
Mind-blowing. Gut-twisting. Soul-wrenching.
Perfect.
And he was still alive. Part of her couldn’t believe it, even now. The thought that they could do this countless more times made her whole body tingle.
As if he could read her mind, Ronin let out a low laugh and closed his arms over her. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s do that again.”
Chapter Seventeen
Some time later, after Ronin and Amara had sated their appetites, he lay on his side on the bed. Amara faced him. Her long hair trailed down over her body, revealing tantalizing hints of her silky-soft flesh. A satisfied grin graced her lips, and the tip of her finger trailed lazy circles along his chest.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
“I feel wonderful.”
She looked it, too. She now had a rosy glow to her face, and her skin practically pulsed with light. Spent as it was, his cock showed signs of reawakening.
Amara had blown him away. He knew sex with her would be amazing. Their one experience from months ago had topped his list, despite the fact that he’d nearly died from it. But this...this had been another thing altogether. It went deeper than sex, deeper than satisfying her hunger.
A soul connection.
“How do you feel?” she purred in her sexy voice.
“Like I’ve just had a religious experience.”
She giggled, two bright spots of color reddening her cheeks. After flipping over onto him, she smoothed his hair back from his forehead. “Can I ask you an honest question?”
“Of course.”
Her cheeks flamed even more. “Does my past bother you?”
“Your past?” When she averted her eyes, he got it. Oh, she meant her sexual experience. He certainly couldn’t say that part of her life made him happy. The thought of her with anyone else made him want to track down every single man she’d been with and tear him to pieces. Huh, guess I’m more territorial than I thought. But she didn’t bear the blame for that. “Your past is what makes you who you are today, Amara. And I love who you are.”
She smiled, and belatedly he realized how close to her name he’d said the “L” word. A brief moment of panic flared, but she didn’t press him further. Her fingers trailed along the sides of his face. “You have the most beautiful eyes.”
“They’re glamoured.”
“I figured that out already. What do you look like without it?”
“I’ll show you.” He closed his eyes and focused on dropping the glamour. When he reopened them, her sharp intake of breath told him she was seeing his true eye color: a deep, fiery red. A pang of uncertainty made his gut wrench. He’d forgotten she’d never been to Infernum before. She was very much humanized, and his eyes were anything but. What if she hated them? They might very well frighten her into running away.
Much to his surprise, she said, “Amazing. The real color is even more beautiful.”
He yanked her head to him and gave her a deep, passionate kiss that had her squirming against him. When she pulled back, he asked, “Will you show me what you look like without your glamour?”
Her cheeks flushed. “Not too different.”
She dropped her glamour and her skin developed a red-tinged, opalescent glow. Subtle, but there. “Gorgeous.”
From the way her body relaxed into him, he could tell she’d been nervous that he wouldn’t like it. As if that would ever happen. There was nothing about her he didn’t treasure.
Frowning, she asked, “What are we going to do now? About Asmodeus. And my mother.”
Good fucking question. “Keegan is trying to find a way inside the townhouse. Once we can get in, we’re gonna take him down. Fuck the Council and their edicts. If they want to catch this fae helping Asmodeus, they’ll have to do it another way.”
She pushed up on his shoulders. “Won’t you get in trouble for refusing to follow their orders?”
Maybe, but he didn’t care. She wouldn’t want to hear that, though. “They’ll be pissed, but it’ll be fine.”
“Ronin,
” she said, doubt lining her face.
“I promise.”
A knock sounded on the door before she could say anything else.
“Everything okay in there?” Cresso called.
Shit, he’d forgotten Cresso had said he’d be back for another blood sample.
Amara slid off him and sat back on her legs to survey the room in dismay. “It’s a mess in here.”
He took a moment to admire the round globes of her breasts, her firm stomach, and the thatch of short, dark curls between her legs. Delicious. And now he was ready to go again.
Cresso knocked again. “Um...guys?”
“Yeah, give us a second.” He rose from the bed and fumbled around for his jeans, finally finding them halfway across the room. While he slipped them on, Amara found her pajama bottoms. Or rather, what was left of them, which wasn’t much.
“Oh, hell,” she whispered.
Stifling a laugh, he said, “Brynn packed a bag of clothes for you. It’s at the foot of the bed.”
She found the bag and rummaged inside, yanking out a soft, purple sweater and a pair of black leggings. Hastily, she dressed, then did her best to put the bedding back in order.
Ronin made his way to the door. Cresso stood on the other side, appearing marginally less exhausted. He broke out into a grin. “Still alive, huh? Most excellent.”
“Did you doubt I would be?” Ronin asked.
“Of course not. Still...good to know I’m right.”
Cresso stepped past him, then stopped short when he saw the mattress and box spring on the floor and the broken pieces of the wooden bed frame surrounding it.
To Ronin’s amazement, his face grew warm. “Uh...we had a bit of an accident.”
Cresso’s lips twitched as he tried to hold back a laugh, but in the end he gave up the fight and let it all out. “I see that.”
He smiled at Amara, who looked like she was praying the floor would open up and swallow her. “Feeling better, I take it?”
“Much better. Thank you.”
Touch of the Angel (Demons of Infernum, #3) Page 18