Calm Before the Storm

by Cara Lake

  Abrasax gulped. “There will be no need for that, oh Lord of the Abyss. War is as good as won and Peace, Peace will be annihilated!”

  * * * * *

  Tyr remained downstairs in the dark after Cassi left. Irina had not yet returned and he couldn’t relax until she was back. Safe. With him. After an hour, the dark pebble of heaviness in his chest had morphed into a rock. Something wasn’t right. He needed to be with her. The gravitational pull was insistent. He left the house, intent on finding her. Some sixth sense told him that Irina had headed in the direction of the beach. It didn’t take long for him to spot her, shivering as she sat on a rocky incline, dark hair whipping around her face in the wind, eyes looking into the dark. She remained still when he approached, but he knew she sensed his presence.

  “There’s a storm coming,” she said, her voice cracked. Shards of broken glass sliced into his chest. She was hurting. Please don’t hurt.

  “Irina, you’ll freeze out here. Come back to the house.” She gave no indication that she had heard. He was about to drag her up when she began speaking.

  “This whole thing, Tyr, it’s crazy. I keep thinking about my mother.” Her sigh nearly broke his heart. “My mother was so good. She let us make our own decisions, make mistakes. She never forced anything on us or my father. She loved him so much! But no one forced her to love him, told her it was a duty or a matter of life and death.” Finally she turned, her eyes meeting his. The despair he saw in her liquid gaze killing him. “Their love was real. How do I know what’s real anymore? Other people are pulling our strings and I feel like I’m going insane. This reality could all be an illusion. I don’t know how we’re ever going to find out what’s real. And then I feel this weight, this pressure, telling me we have to do this or people will die.”

  Tyr moved to wrap his arms around her, relieved that although she flinched, she didn’t draw back completely. “All I know is,” he said, a deep resonance in his tone, “we are attracted to each other, and even if we weren’t in this position, I’d want to see where it could go with you.”

  Her head rested against his chest and there was a flicker of acceptance in her posture. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve been avoiding you.”

  “I know. It was obvious.” His hands moved gently up and down her arms, the friction causing warmth to spread. She looked up.

  “Are you angry with me?”

  “Why would I be angry, little dove?” he said softly, brushing a wayward brown curl from her cheek. “You needed space. I gave it to you.”

  Irina contemplated that statement. He was being thoughtful, kind, and yet, the giving of space implied some control over her. As if it was a calculated gesture rather than a genuine one. She shook her head. She was so confused. So tired. Tyr effortlessly lifted her into his arms so that she lay against his chest. He was so strong. So…everything. She was too exhausted to fight. For now, let him be in control.

  “You’re all dirty, bleeding,” he said, “and your skin is like ice.” She gazed down at her scraped knees where she’d slipped on the rocks. “I’ll take you back.” Her head fell to his chest and Irina stayed that way as he carried her back, forcing her brain into silence, trying to wipe away her fears by listening only to the comforting steady beat of his heart.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Strong hands laid her down on soft linen sheets. It was her room. Gazing at the ceiling listening to the gurgle of running water, she realized that Tyr was running a bath. The warm familiar soapy scent of passion flower and lilies wafted around the bed invading her senses.

  Irina raised herself onto her elbows as Tyr walked back into the room. He was shirtless, wearing black jeans that accentuated the inky darkness of his hair, his skin a gleaming bronze from recent days spent sparring in the sun. Those exercises had only served to enhance the sculpted toned muscles of his torso into corded ridges of carved perfection. She drank him in, she was so thirsty. The last few days had been a desert, her avoidance tactics only ratcheting up her desire for him. He was an oasis and she needed to drink, her thirst a raging torrent and he was mouthwatering. Please don’t let him be a mirage!

  Tyr’s eyes swept over her, a sensual caress that licked the embers smoldering at her core. Liquid turned to fire. “Ready for your bath?” he asked, intent dripping from his beautiful lips. She nodded. He prowled toward her, a loaded gun, every bullet etched with her name.

  A slight panic arose as he began to strip her damp clothing, peeling the layers off her skin. Irina knew she was losing the battle. Fear rising, she tried to shore up the defensive wall around her heart, but already the foundations were rocking and with each piece of clothing he removed, another layer of her soul was laid bare.

  He stood back when she was naked, inhaling a deep breath, his eyes aglow with hot appreciation. “Irina!” Tyr expelled a soft growl. “I don’t think I’ll ever get enough of you.”

  She drank him in, helpless and exposed as he reached for her, the frank admiration in his eyes a soothing balm, stroking her agitated heart. Warm hands lifted her to his chest, her breasts melting into the rock-hard granite of his embrace. He carried her to the bath and stepped in with her, still wearing his jeans, cradling her gently in front of his warm body.

  Tyr sat down, his legs wrapping around her thighs and Irina couldn’t help the slide of her head against his shoulder as his hands and fingers began a soapy dance over her skin. The sensual rub around her inner thighs was enough to unleash a rush of wet juices between her legs. And when he gently circled her breasts with the soapy flannel she nearly came from the sheer pleasure of anticipation. Her nipples pearled under his flaming strokes, her breasts ached with intense arousal and Irina could no longer hold on. As warm water cascaded down her hair, she closed her eyes giving a soft moan as the erotic waterfall ran a river across the undulating contours of her flesh. She arched into him, lost in the seductive pressure of his body against hers.

  He was all around her.

  Enveloping.

  Encircling.

  Entwining.

  The grip on her soul intensified.

  The walls around her heart crumbled.

  She writhed against him unable to resist the feel of his hard shaft pressing into her back and heard him groan. Loving the sound of it, Irina continued to grind into him until he buried his face in her hair, hot breath warming the sensitive part of her neck. She shivered with delight. “Irina!” He whispered her name with reverence as if he couldn’t believe she were real. “What are you doing to me?” Overwhelmed by sensations she had never experienced before, Irina’s heart stuttered when his hands slid up under her arms and he gently flipped her so they were face to face, the water sloshing over the sides of the bath.

  Irina straddled him and nearly lost all breath, the raw need in his eyes touching a part of her soul she hadn’t known existed. She wanted to soothe him, comfort his wounds and calm the conflicts she knew he battled with deep inside. The urge to be his, to give herself fully was a force that propelled her toward the unknown. “Touch me,” she moaned. “Please, I need you to touch me.” Irina rolled her hips to increase the pressure of her clitoris on his fly. Tyr’s body jerked in response, she could feel his wayward friend twitching in frenzy. He appeared momentarily stunned but then his eyes darkened, his lips curling into a wicked smile and he sat up pulling her toward his hard chest.

  “I’m going to touch you, little dove, never doubt it, but I’m not going to rush it. I want to savor this moment, taste every part of you.” He kissed her then. A long, lingering kiss of ownership. Her defenses gone, Irina surrendered, a willing captive to his plundering mouth. When he finally he pulled back they were both breathing raggedly. Tyr sat up, pulling her close and rested his forehead against hers. His eyes were closed and her hand resting on his hard chest reveled in the rapid racing of his heart, hoping it was evidence that she affected him as deeply as he did her.

  Emboldened by his reaction, Irina gazed down at him, fascinated by water running in
rivulets tracing a path across his pecs, a path she longed to follow with her tongue. Apparently recovered, Tyr’s hands roamed up and down her back, gliding through her saturated hair as she bent to kiss his neck, throat, chest, nipples. He was murmuring soft words as his lips brushed her nose, lips and eyes. And when he bent to take her hard nipple into the softness of his mouth! The electrical current that shot through the length of her spine as he teased and nipped at her breasts threatened to kill her where she sat.

  There was a sudden change in momentum as his hands became more insistent, pressing into her backside guiding her forward and up. Tyr slid his shoulders down, his head partly submerged to place his relentless mouth against her sex. He hadn’t lied when he said he wanted to taste all of her, and for a moment Irina froze in shock realizing what he was about to do. Then she melted. Incandescent sparks blazed a trail into her core whipped to frenzy by the wicked tongue that devoured her most secret place. Irina threw her head back in absolute bliss as he slowly inserted two fingers that delved and explored to deliver exquisite rapture to her G-spot. Her body was consumed in wild abandon as she clung on desperately, her fingers twisting through the soft blackness of his hair.

  “Come for me, Irina!” It was a demand. A command. To obey was imperative. He was raw, untamed, his spirit savage, masculine and wild. She could not refuse. More licks as his dangerous tongue delved even deeper, claiming her essence for his own. Her release exploded, a sonic boom of light and sound as she collapsed with a scream into his enfolding arms.

  Tyr’s arms around her tightened. The water was cold now and she was beginning to shiver. She snuggled against him, boneless and lightheaded from the force of her orgasm. He scooped her up out of the bath, wrapping a soft towel around her before delivering her to the bed.

  As Tyr quickly pulled off his wet jeans, Irina shook off her langor. The shyness she had initially felt replaced by a burning need, she crawled toward him on all fours a teasing smile on her face. “It’s my turn to play with you now.” He was standing naked at the edge of the bed as she scraped her nails up his thighs, pushing them apart, glorying in the pure masculine power and the sheer beauty of his ripped abdominals. Taking the most potent part of him into her small hands, she found herself fascinated by the slide of satin smooth skin against such a rigid shaft.

  Deft fingers against his balls, she felt them harden under her caress, felt him shudder with pleasure at every touch of her hand. A surge of power within, she pumped up and down reveling in each ripple that washed over his flesh, in awe that she could produce such a response in this man, this god, whose verypresence was now an ingrained piece of her soul.

  His black eyes returned her gaze, such an expression of wonderment, her knees almost buckled from the adoration. She felt rough palms in her hair as she leaned forward to lick the ripe head of his cock. The bead of moisture lingering on her tongue, a salty tang down her throat.

  “Irina. I need to be inside you!” he groaned. She pulled back and rose up to meet his gaze. Finding nothing but desire in his expression, Irina could only acquiesce.

  “I want to finish it this time,” she said.

  He wasted no time, his hands roaming, exploring her flesh, a brush across her belly, a squeeze of exquisite pressure on her breast. Fingers stroking her throat, his mouth claimed hers, his wicked tongue delivering explosive charges to her core. The burn was intense. Irina nearly melted onto the bed. He nudged her down slowly onto the sheets until his warmth lay across the full length of her, his elbows resting at her head, his eyes diving through hers to capture her heart. There was no escape. The barriers she had erected had no defense against the onslaught that was Tyr. His magnetic energy now such an intrinsic part of her it was as if she had never existed before him.

  Tyr could hardly breathe as he gazed down and gloried in the visual perfection of Irina. He had wanted to be gentle, expecting nothing more than to hold her close and wash away her fears. But the moment he lay down with her in the bath he had felt the overwhelming need to luxuriate in the soft silky curls of her hair, to kiss a path over her creamy satin skin, and linger on every one of those delectable freckles, tasting, licking, adoring. Her luscious curves begged to be stroked and Tyr had to fight to control his erection, which was an insistent thrust, pressing into the wet fabric of his jeans. It was so hard he expected it to burst through the material of its own accord.

  When her hips began grinding into his groin, the pressure to have his hands on the sumptuous mounds of her ass, to caress and knead, to bury his face in those succulent breasts, to taste every part of her became an urge so overpowering he had no recourse but to release it. Irina straddled above him, head tilted to one side, eyes heavy-lidded with desire, was a sight he would never forget. She was so sexy in that moment that his brain froze. All thought except one, vanished. Irina. Her name was an aphrodisiac to his soul. When Irina was trembling in his embrace, the last remnants of her orgasm leaving her soft and pliant against him he knew the taste of her on his lips was a sweet addiction he could never hope to kick.

  And then she was taking control! His little dove staring up at him from the bed, a sultry promise in her eyes. One lick of her sweet lips and he was gone. She had teased him with her tongue, taking him right to the edge. Little flicks, soft kisses. The flicks turning to licks as Irina, gorgeous, beautiful, sexy Irina, finally took him into her mouth, sucking him up, greedily consuming him. Her hands reached behind his buttocks, pressing him closer and Tyr had nearly exploded with the sheer blaze of heat that lit an inferno through every cell. He knew he needed to take control before he came like teenager on a first date.

  “Irina. I need to be inside you!” he groaned as she did that little flick with her tongue that sent tingles the length of his shaft.

  When she withdrew her mouth, its absence left a cool rush of air against his sensitive skin. He held on to her curvy hips as she melded her beautiful breasts against his torso, sliding up, hard against soft, a yin-yang of ecstasy. Then she had told him she wanted to finish it and Tyr was undone. He couldn’t get enough of her. Lost in her touch he tried to pull back. She was a fragile bird and he didn’t want her to break. “Are you sure?” he managed. Even though he didn’t think he could stop if she said no, he had to ask. Her soft hands pulled his lips to meet hers.

  “Don’t even think about stopping,” she said.

  “I love the fire in your eyes,” he growled, his voice a thick rasp as he nudged his swollen shaft between her thighs inching them apart.

  “Oh god!” she moaned. “Come inside now!”

  So demanding, his little dove!

  “Irina,” he groaned. “We should take it slowly. It’s your first time.” She was arching against him needy and ready, so ready. “Please, Tyr, I need you inside!” He could not refuse. He was hers to command.

  The nerves in his cock vibrated with myriad sensations as he pushed his way into her tight sheath, gently, so gently. He heard her gasp as his head broke through the thin barrier of her resistance and he stilled, not wanting to cause her pain. Irina whimpered, a mewl of pleasure as she began to rock against him. “It’s okay,” she gasped. Slick wetness surrounded his shaft. She was ready for him but he couldn’t bear to hurt her; she was so small, so delicate. Ever so slowly he pressed on, groaning in bliss, her soft walls clenching around his shaft, a sublime revelation. Urgent hands scraped nails down his back, grabbing his buttocks, insistent for more. Soft legs clamped around his waist as Irina’s hips jerked upward to meet his.

  Tentatively he pushed in again and back out, glorying in the sweet ecstasy of her warmth against his. “Harder!” she cried. Her command sang to his soul. Tyr eased his way in again, swallowed into the moist wetness of her cleft. He nuzzled her neck, her hair and began a slow grind against her hips, a rhythmic roll of flesh against flesh. Soul against soul.

  Tyr elevated onto his palms, drinking in the visual delight, waves of chocolate curls, fanning out, lush against the cream of the silk sheets. Golden eyes smoldering w
ith caramel flames.

  “I want to see you as come.” His eyes locked on to hers. The rhythm increased as Tyr thrust into Irina. She arched her back, a wanton creature, so wild Tyr could hardly believe she actually existed.

  They were lost.

  Drowned.

  Consumed.

  They came together, colliding into each other, two meteors igniting in a harmonious explosion of euphoria so intense Tyr thought his skin would burn up in rapture. “Tyr!” Irina breathed, her body shivering in the throes of orgasm. “Oh god! I love you!”

  His heart jolted from the electric shock and the cataclysmic release. They collapsed in unison. Her body lay soft under his, tremors wracking them both as their racing hearts hammered together. He was warm inside her, a sanctuary. Tyr couldn’t bear to pull away. Her eyes were closed, head tilted to one side. A tear slid down her cheek. He cupped her face insisting she open her eyes, wiping the tear away with his thumb. Amber eyes flickered wide, a hopeless dilation. Gentle fingers rose to brush his lips.

  “Oh my god, Tyr!” she whispered. “I really do!”

  She blinded him. He worshipped her. He couldn’t speak.

  Tyr enfolded her in the circle of his arms, bands of steel, cherishing her fragile softness. He didn’t know how to say what was in his heart. It was too full. He tried to show her by lifting her chin and claiming the raspberry sweetness of her lips in a crushing kiss of infinite desire. He settled her head under the shelter of his neck, her ear resting where she could listen to the pounding of his heart. A heart that beat only for her. Hand on her hair, brushing through satiny strands, a soothing caress. Together they lay silent until the phantom of sleep swept a wave crashing over them dragging them down to the depths of a sweet oblivion.