Tait knew she had to say something. And she wanted to. She wanted him to know he hadn’t been the only one to suffer in the last six years. The words wouldn’t form on her tongue though, at least not in any acceptable way. Instead, she used anger to force them out.
“I broke my promise to you. When you left I promised that no man but you would ever touch me. You promised not to touch any other woman. How long have you been home? One week? Two? A month?” The words that poured from her mouth seared her with their intensity. Jealousy rose within her at the image of Marcus with another woman, assuaging a six year dry spell. “You thought I betrayed you. You thought I was dead. You can’t tell me you didn’t get laid the instant you got home!”
Marcus stared down at her, his face set in serious lines. “I didn’t. I’d gone that long without, a little longer didn’t matter,” he confessed quietly, his eyes searching her face. “And you never broke your promise, Tait. What happened to you was obviously against your will, an act of violence. It’s not the same.”
She turned away from him, unable to look into his handsome face a moment longer. “Acts, Marcus. It happened more than once.”
Tait stood facing her kitchen, longing to run to the pantry and use her escape hatch. She didn’t want to talk about what had been done to her. Didn’t even want to think about it. When she did, the darkness pressed closer to the edge of her sanity, threatening to overcome her.
“Tell me who they are.”
She’d heard that lethal tone of voice from him before, in battle, on assignment. Whatever Marcus set his sights on, he achieved. If he wanted someone dead, they died.
“It doesn’t matter,” she replied wearily. Then she nipped his lust for vengeance in the bud. “I’ve already dealt with it. Only the warden hasn’t paid for his crimes.”
Tait knew Marcus would understand from her words that she’d already killed every man who had hurt her. When she’d first started re-building her life three years before, the only thing that had kept her going was the systematic search and destroy of every man who had marked her body and soul.
She turned to find Marcus close behind her, grey eyes intent. She shook her head. “You don’t want me. I’m broken, Marcus. My body, my heart, my soul. All broken. Just like Humpty Dumpty in the Earth nursery rhyme, you cannot put me together again.”
“Let me try.”
His soft words prefaced the kiss he pressed to her surprised mouth. Startled, her lips parted. Despite all the years that had passed since their last kiss, and how badly he must need sexual release, Marcus’s mouth remained soft on hers. His gentle care for her cracked her defenses as nothing else could have. Tears spilled down her cheeks, and she moaned. Marcus’s arms came around her, holding her tenderly.
“Tait,” he breathed. “I missed you. I missed this… touching you, tasting you, loving you.”
A whimper escaped her as her heart took flight. His kiss deepened, his tongue teasing the inside of her lower lip, flicking out to tease the tip of her tongue. The years and the pain fell away as she breathed in his scent. She melted against him, her body remembering his instinctively. He filled her senses so completely that the horrors she’d endured faded. Only the man who held her and kissed her mattered.
Tentatively, her tongue touched his. He drew in a harsh breath and his arms tightened around her carefully. Marcus’s tongue tangled with hers. Tait shuddered. She felt like Sleeping Beauty, Marcus’s kiss bringing her back to life. Her love for him came roaring out of hibernation as she kissed him back. She slipped back into the familiar role of a woman secure in the love showered upon her by the man who stood at the center of her universe.
The kiss felt different than any they had ever shared. Pain, heartbreak, and horror colored the edges of it, but the simple wonder of Marcus’s mouth on hers made Tait eager to grab more than just a taste. Suddenly, it didn’t matter what had been done to her body between this moment and the last time Marcus had touched her. The reality was that she only ever came alive when he held her. And for the moment, the only part of the past that mattered was what they had shared. The familiar press of his erection against her belly made her want to cry. She ached to just collapse in his arms and sob out the agony of the last six years. She needed his love to heal her, but she couldn’t ask him for it nor could she expect it after everything that had happened. But maybe she could warm her hands at the fire of his lust for just a few moments. And maybe for those few moments, she could pretend that she hadn’t lost everything.
Unbreak Me (Spellbound Treasure)
Unbreak Me (Spellbound Treasure)
Chapter Four
She tasted like heaven. Marcus couldn’t believe it had been six years since he’d last kissed her. Despite the time that had passed and the things that had happened, his body knew hers intimately. The softness of her lips held the homecoming he’d longed for from the moment he’d returned to Estep Realm three weeks earlier. He’d been on edge, pissed off and snappish with everyone. He hadn’t felt happy to be home. He hadn’t felt as if he fit there anymore. Then he’d seen the heartstone – his heartstone – in the auction.
Marcus had never been as single minded about something as he’d been about getting his heartstone back. He’d realized the moment he’d seen it that Tait’s death had been the reason he wasn’t happy to be home. Until the moment he’d seen her tears and touched her skin, he’d not realized how much he ached for her.
He kissed her with every ounce of his heart behind it. He wanted her to know how much he cared for her. Her breasts pressed against his chest and her tongue twined with his. When his cock responded to the stimulus, he didn’t bother to hide it. She needed to know that he wanted her, and nothing that had happened in the past six years had changed his body’s need for her.
Her slight weight leaned into his chest. As his hands slid down her back he assessed the new Tait. More fragile about covered it, he thought. Physically, mentally… The body within the circle of his arms had a wiry strength rather than the healthy muscle mass of the Tait he’d always known. Her easy descent into tears surprised him, and not in a good way. And worst of all was touching her scars. Feeling the fine web of lines on her face brought home to him how much pain she’d suffered.
The scars made him burn with the need to hurt the men who had hurt her. Seeing her without the Alizar cloak explained why she had worn it. The way she cringed from his gaze told him how ugly she thought herself to be. But to Marcus, her current beauty transcended her former appearance because its roots lay in the fact that she was alive and in his arms. Until he’d heard her voice at Spellbound Treasure, he hadn’t realized how broken he’d been by her death. His urge for revenge had masked his sense of loss.
Tait moaned softly against his mouth, and Marcus gathered her closer, holding her carefully and touching her as if she were made of spun glass. After what they had both been through, being with her humbled him. Life had never felt so fragile or so precious.
Sliding his hand beneath the hem of her t-shirt, he touched her warm skin. Her breath caught and then her arms crept up to touch his shoulders. When they curved around his neck, bringing her body into alignment with his, he let his kiss turn hard and possessive. She didn’t stiffen or show any sign of revulsion so he turned her and caught her up in his arms, lifting her easily and carrying her to the bed he’d spied in a dark corner.
Their bodies pressed together on the hard mattress, hands stroking and touching and relearning each other. Cautiously, Marcus inched up her shirt, his fingers lightly brushing her skin. She moved restlessly against him, her own hands plucking at his t-shirt. Breaking the kiss, Marcus jerked his shirt over his head. Tait’s eyes widened and her hands stroked over his shoulder.
“My God, Marcus. What happened?” Her soft words accompanied the stroke of her fingers over the scars on his shoulder.
“We were ambushed, remember? I took a hit. It didn’t heal well in the conditions we were in,” he said in a flat, unemotional tone.
&nbs
p; For an instant, tears and a frustrated anger glinted in her eyes. Then, the irises darkened as he pushed her shirt higher, exposing her breasts. He eased the soft material over her head and tossed it aside. Before he could look at her or touch her, she had his jeans undone and her fingers wrapped around his cock.
Marcus threw his head back as pleasure streaked through him. It had been so long since anyone had touched him that he was ready to come instantly. He stilled her hands by closing his fingers around her wrists.
“Baby, please. I’m about to lose it,” he groaned.
She tried to pull her hands back, but he tugged them forward and placed them on his chest, then he shucked out of his jeans. When he pulled at her sweats, she stiffened, but he had them off her in a matter of moments. They lay skin to skin for the first time in years, both of them breathing harshly.
Out of the corner of Marcus’s eye, he could see his duster hanging off the back of Tait’s couch. The dark material glowed faintly from the heartstone he’d thrust in its pocket. In the past, he’d never noticed whether the stone had glowed when he’d been with Tait. Not that he cared either, but at the moment his fondness for the stone increased about a thousandfold because it had brought Tait back to him.
Sweeping his hands over her naked body, Marcus kissed her. The taste of her on his tongue made his heart pound. He’d always known that he needed her, but he’d never known how much until he’d thought her dead. His questing fingertips discovered more scars, bigger ones, on her body. One breast had a length of scar tissue that spiraled around her firm flesh as if someone had carved her like an apple. The spike of rage within him caused him to shudder. Someone bigger than Price had been behind everything that had happened to them, and Marcus vowed to discover who and why.
He shook off the anger and turned his focus back to Tait. Her hands stroked his chest tentatively. Her fear and uncertainty touched him deeply. His kiss gentled, his lips sipping at hers seductively, trying to coax her desire out in full force. A sigh escaped her when her fingers sank into his hair. Marcus shivered. The way she stroked his unruly curls made his cock ache. The smallest, most simple touches between them had always been the most incendiary.
Tait turned her head away, breaking the kiss. Her mouth caressed his shoulder, her tongue tracing the mass of scar tissue. All the remembered pain of the injury melted away as Marcus’s body went up in flames. Six years fell away. They were different, and yet the same. Their minds and bodies might have changed significantly in the time apart, but their hearts and desires remained as they had always been. The familiar package of lust arrived wrapped in an exotic ribbon of love.
Marcus pressed the length of his stiff cock to her naked belly. Already his hands had discovered that the expanse of flesh between her hipbones was concave where before it had had the slightest curve to it. Flexing his hips, he let the wet tip of his cock paint her skin with his pre-cum.
She’s still mine. She will always be mine, he thought fiercely.
Tait flicked her fingers over his nipples, and he sucked in a breath. She knew very well that his nipples were exquisitely sensitive. He ground his hips against her. She lifted hers in response. Mindless lust began to crowd out his caution. Ignoring the scars that marred her beautiful skin, he squeezed her breasts, his thumbs teasing the stiff nipples. When she moaned and moved restlessly against him, he dipped his head and took one nipple in his mouth. Rolling his tongue over the turgid tip, he reveled in the feel of her naked body against him, filling his hands, his mouth…
One hand stroked her thighs, slipping between to press them apart so his fingers could find the wet evidence of her arousal. He heard her breath catch in her throat as his forefinger glided along her swollen labia. Tremors racked her, and he stopped sucking her nipple to gaze into her indigo eyes.
“Are you okay, baby?” he whispered, stroking her hair.
Her eyes widened as he caught the snood in his fingers and pulled it off. Tears shimmered as a mass of white hair spilled across the pillow. He stared, unable to believe her gorgeous strawberry blonde hair was gone.
A sob escaped her, and her hand scrabbled for the snood. “It’s s-so ugly. I’m ugly now.”
Marcus absorbed her pain. She’d never been vain, but her hair turning white, and the marring of her face and body had totally fucked with her head. He had to show her how beautiful she was to him. If he couldn’t prove it to her with words, he had to prove it with actions. He had to show her how much he loved and wanted her. If he didn’t make her believe, he knew he could lose her.
He sank his fingers into the rough silk of her hair, cupping her head between his palms. “You could never be ugly to me, Tait. I think I love you more now than I did before.” He trailed his lips over her face, kissing her reverently, willing her to feel his emotion.
“I don’t understand how you could.”
Her agonized words accompanied an expression so filled with loss that he felt like crying. Deciding that he had to lead with his body, he kissed her again. She yielded to him eagerly, her rough skinned hands touching him everywhere. His desire rose higher and his need to be inside her overwhelmed him. Nudging her thighs apart with his knees, he plunged two fingers into her wet heat, trying to gauge her readiness. Her flesh gripped him, and his brain whirled as he tested her tightness. His control hung by a fragile thread. Six years without her - without love, without sex - was a long time.
Removing his fingers, he let his hips thrust toward her. The head of his cock pressed between her swollen lips. She tensed beneath him, but he flicked his tongue against hers, teasing her, seducing her. Another long, slow thrust, and he filled her completely. Her eyes went black. Marcus cradled her against him, willing her to not freak out at his entrance.
“Oh, God.”
Her whispered words sent chills down his spine. With a hiccup, tears spilled from her eyes. Two sobs escaped and fear locked around him despite the fact that her wet pussy teased his cock unmercifully.
Marcus rubbed her tears away with his thumbs. “I can stop, baby. If you aren’t ready, we can stop.” As much as his body protested, Marcus knew he’d stop if she couldn’t handle it. He would do anything to help heal her, even forgo his first orgasm inside a woman in six years.
“No. I’m okay.” Her throat worked as she swallowed hard. She blinked at him, reaching up to brush his hair out of his eyes. “It’s you, Marcus. You’re here with me, in me, and for the first time in years, I feel desire again. I didn’t think it could happen, but I know it’s because of you. Only you can make me feel like this.”
Relief swamped him, making his muscles weak. “You belong to me. You always have and always will,” he vowed, bending to kiss her.
The eagerness of her lips sent his hips into motion. Stroking his cock into her clinging pussy nearly undid his control. He knew he wouldn’t last much longer. It had been far too long, and already he could feel his orgasm gathering swiftly inside him.
Tait dug her fingers into his buttocks, pulling him closer. Marcus thrust harder, rocking the bed. Her flesh held him tightly, milking him. Heat streaked through him and the familiar surge of pleasure in his groin put him on notice that it was nearly all over for him. Slipping one hand between their bodies, he found her clit, pinching it between his thumb and forefinger.
She cried out, her eyes going wide. Her short nails scored his ass. Marcus rolled her clit between his fingers, then pushed the hood back, exposing the swollen nub to the friction of his thrusts. His chest burned from the force of his breathing. His mind flooded with pleasure, his reasoning gone. He pinched her clit again, and she went rigid, her pussy clamping down on him.
With a loud cry she came, shaking in his arms, clutching him against her, fear flickering for a moment in her eyes before intense pleasure took its place. The convulsions of her body took him over the edge. His balls drew tight to his body, and then his orgasm exploded. His cock swelled and jerked inside her clutching passage. Hot cum pumped into her body in quantities he’d never kno
wn he had. The ferocity of their passion surpassed what they’d had in the past and their orgasms reflected that. Marcus hadn’t ever come so hard, so powerfully. Apparently, absence and abstinence worked like sensory deprivation, causing their orgasms to be magnified beyond what they had previously experienced.
They lay entwined, unable to move for long minutes. Marcus’s knees and elbows hurt from keeping most of his weight off Tait. He didn’t know how he managed it considering he had no control over his body. Finally, he shifted his hips, and his softened penis slid from her flesh. They both shuddered. Rolling onto his side, Marcus cradled Tait against his chest. She rubbed her face against his sweat dampened skin.
“People die, but love doesn’t,” she whispered hoarsely. “When I heard the news that you were dead, I don’t think I ever loved you more. I tried to stop, but as you can see, it didn’t work. My heart has a mind of its own.”
He nuzzled the top of her head, his breath ruffling the white strands of hair. “When we got back a couple weeks ago and Cochrane told us you were dead, I think the only thing that kept me from losing it was the fact that I still thought you’d betrayed us,” he murmured with a sigh. “I used the anger to keep the pain at bay. But I still got drunk. Bran had to carry me to my quarters.”
Her hands lightly stroked his chest, and he could feel the tremors in her fingers as she touched his scarred flesh. He fought back a shudder, not wanting her to think he shrank from her touch. In truth, the feel of her hands on his skin filled him with more emotion than he could deal with. The tremors themselves sent flares of rage through him. She’d been so skilled, her hands more steady than any marksman he’d ever seen, and to see her thus filled him with helpless fury. No assassin could survive long with a handicap like hers. If he didn’t take her out of there, if he didn’t fix her current situation, and get her life as Tait back, she would be taken down and would die as Molly Dare. The thought chilled him to the bone and hardened his resolve.
Unbreak Me (Spellbound Treasure) Page 4