Smoldering Hunger

by Donna Grant

  Horse shit.

  It was complete horse shit. Darius did it for her in so many ways she couldn’t begin to count. His hair, his eyes, that amazing jaw and cheeks. That mouth!

  And his hands.

  She sighed just thinking about his large hands skimming over her flesh.

  “No,” she said and firmly put him out of her mind.

  Darius was gone from her life. He’d appeared as suddenly as he vanished. If she hadn’t touched him herself, she would almost think him a ghost.

  Sophie lit the candles around the tub and turned on the water. She sat on the edge of the tub until she got the water just right, then she put in the bubble bath and clicked the remote that turned on some classical music.

  The hauntingly beautiful strings began to play. Sophie danced around the bathroom as she undressed. She couldn’t help but smile as she realized that for a brief moment in time, she’d had her own Highlander.

  Now she knew that men like that really did exist. They were rare—and usually already claimed by someone—but they were out there.

  If she actually thought she could be in a relationship again, she would begin searching for a Highlander. A man who prided himself on loyalty, honor, and love.

  Not true. She’d search for Darius.

  She might actually view men a little differently if she’d met Darius years earlier. Then again, Sophie knew she wouldn’t have. A year after she came to Edinburgh she was still too bitter.

  Hell, seven years later and the bitterness had faded. Some.

  Sophie stepped into the water and sank back against the tub. She closed her eyes, listening to the music. Halfway through the soundtrack she opened her eyes thinking Darius might be there. But he wasn’t.

  She finished her wine and remained in the water until the bubbles began to fade and the water turned tepid. Sophie toweled off and wrapped her robe around her, clicking off the music as she walked out of the bathroom.

  After sorting through her mail for the past week and tossing out junk, she took the magazines onto the couch with her and looked through them. That wasted another thirty minutes.

  Finally, Sophie gave up and untied her robe as she walked to her bedroom. She tossed the robe onto a chair and slid between the sheets.

  For a long time, she stared at the ceiling thinking of Darius. Of his hands on her body, his mouth, and how wonderfully he kissed.

  She finally closed her eyes and let it all replay in her head. Even as sleep claimed her, she wondered where Darius was and if he was thinking of her.

  It was the chill that woke her. She looked to the window to see her curtain billowing into the room from the wind. And standing in the shadows was a man.

  Sophie knew him instantly.

  Darius.

  She didn’t know why he’d returned, and she didn’t care. Her body heated instantly, aching to feel him inside her.

  He turned to shut the window, and that’s when she realized he was naked. She shifted to her knees, breathless with excitement and desire.

  Darius pivoted to face her and slowly walked toward the bed. She licked her lips when the mattress dipped as he placed his knee on it.

  She stared into his dark eyes and touched his face. With a growl, he slid his hand along the back of her head and jerked her to him.

  He claimed her mouth with passion and fury, a driving need they could only quench with each other. She groaned in response when her nipples scraped against his chest.

  Before he could touch her, Sophie pushed him back onto the bed and kneeled beside him. He looked up at her, a slight smile of anticipation lifting his lips.

  He was a man who was always in control, a man who liked to please his bed partner. But this time, she was going to be the one in control. This time she was the one who was going to be in charge.

  She leaned forward and ran her hands from his chiseled jaw down his thick chest to his impeccable abs. Sophie glanced at his arousal and grinned.

  He had driven her insane last night with his mouth, hands, and body. It was only fair she do the same to him. And oh, the things she wanted to do to him.

  Sophie trailed her fingers past his navel to his rod. She wrapped her fingers around him and felt his cock jump in her palm. That wicked grin was gone, replaced with a hunger that made her stomach catch.

  She pumped her hand up and down his length a few times while she leaned forward to lick and kiss his chest. His hands came up, not to stop her, but to take the pin out of her hair so that the length fell around her shoulders and draped on either side of her face.

  “Damn,” he whispered.

  Sophie looked up at him. The way he whispered that word, as if he were enthralled with her made her want to cry. If he didn’t stop doing things like that, she was going to be in real trouble where he was concerned.

  To shift the focus, Sophie moved and brought her mouth to his arousal. He ground out her name, his hands clutching at the comforter.

  Sophie took him deep in her mouth. His fingers delved into her hair, almost as if he were afraid she might stop. She had no intention of stopping anytime soon.

  His breathing was hoarse in the silence. She could feel his gaze on her, and it made her want to pleasure him even more.

  She sucked in a surprised breath when his hands grabbed her and turned her so that she lay on his chest with her legs on either side of his face.

  Sophie let out a sigh when his tongue found her clit and began to tease it. She had never done 69 before, and she wondered, why not? To give pleasure the same time as receiving it? It was perfect.

  But the more pleasure he brought her, the harder it was to concentrate on her task. To get back at him, she sucked him hard, squeezing his ball sac gently.

  When she tasted the pre-cum, Sophie smiled. He was almost there. She didn’t plan on stopping until he came in her mouth. There was one thing she forgot while making such arrangements—Darius made his own rules.

  One moment he was beneath her, and the next she was on her hands and knees and he was filling her from behind. Sophie moaned as he filled her with one thrust. Her body sighed, missing the feel of him.

  He held her hips and began to move. She could feel his balls slapping against the back of her thighs as he increased his tempo.

  With his teasing of her clit, she was so close to climaxing. Then he leaned over her and cupped her breasts, tweaking her nipples as he did.

  She rocked back against him. His cheek rubbed against hers, his whiskers scraping her face. She closed her eyes. There was no use fighting against a force like Darius. He knew just where to touch her to give her the most bliss.

  Her chest heaved and her breasts swelled at his touch. She didn’t think the passion could get any better until his hand lowered to her sex and found her clit.

  He fondled the swollen bud until she was crying out from the intense pleasure. She could hear him telling her to give him more, to give him everything.

  Sophie could feel his thick arousal drive into her time and again, touching her womb he was going so deep. The more he filled her while teasing her clit, the higher she went.

  Until the orgasm swarmed her. It ripped through her with the force of a tsunami. She screamed, even as the pleasure consumed her. And still he pounded into her, still he circled that tiny bud.

  Just as the first orgasm began to subside, another arose, this one even more intense than the first. All Sophie could do was lock her arms and give herself over to the ecstasy.

  Her head hung between her arms when the last vestiges of the orgasms began to fade. Darius’s grip was tight on her hips as he pounded her.

  His breathing hitched right before she felt his warm seed shoot inside her. Sophie couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought about a pregnancy or using protection any of the times she was with him.

  Was Darius able to make her forget everything but him so easily? She was a doctor. She knew better than most what could happen with unprotected sex.

  He pulled out of her and held her against
him as he rolled to his side. Sophie opened her mouth to speak when his hand caressed down her hair to her back over and over again.

  She let herself relax once more. Darius had that affect on her.

  She really should be worried, because she was beginning to want Darius around.

  Never again.

  But … maybe with Darius.

  CHAPTER

  TWELVE

  Darius held Sophie against him as he stared at the opposite wall. There was no longer any denying the fact that he craved her like he craved to fly.

  It was a feeling he never expected to feel again. And he shouldn’t be feeling anything even close to this. And yet … there was no refusing to acknowledge it.

  He wound a long lock of her red hair around his finger and listened to her breathing begin to even. Damn Con for insisting he remain close to Sophie.

  Then again, Darius had intended to do it anyway. It was just easier to blame Con than to admit what was confusing the total shite out of him.

  Sex with Sophie was incredible. Her touch, her scent, her body—everything about her was as if everything he’d ever wanted had been brought to life.

  It shouldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be happening. He’d already found—and lost—his mate.

  “What are you thinking about so hard?” Sophie asked in a husky voice.

  His cock stirred at the sexy sound of her British accent. “Too much.”

  “Obviously.” She shifted her head so that she was looking up at him, a worried frown puckering her brow. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “No’ particularly.”

  But he was going to have to. How much did he tell her before she began to ask questions? Sophie was intelligent. She would figure things out if Darius wasn’t careful.

  Under no circumstances would he be responsible for her discovering his secret and putting her in Ulrik’s line of sight. He would get what he needed from her and leave quickly. It was as much for her sake as it was for his.

  Her hand lay over his heart while her body was pressed against his. The feel of her warm skin was heady. Lying with her in such a way was dangerous.

  “I didn’t expect to see you again,” she said into the silence.

  Darius drew in a deep breath and slowly let it out. “I tried to leave.”

  “I’m … glad you stayed.”

  He kissed the top of her head. “Me too.”

  The truth of it hit him hard. It wasn’t about Ulrik. He would’ve stayed regardless, but Ulrik’s interest only spurred him to admit what he’d been fighting to ignore—his ever-growing need to have Sophie.

  “Am I still supposed to act like I don’t like you?”

  “Aye.”

  She was silent for a heartbeat. “Why?”

  “A dangerous man I’ve been dealing with.”

  “Dangerous?” she repeated nervously. “And this has to do with…?”

  Darius said the only thing that made sense, and because he didn’t want to lie. “Business.”

  She chuckled softly at his words while she rolled onto her back. Sophie scooted just enough away so that they weren’t touching. It didn’t go unnoticed by Darius that she had done it on purpose, as if she needed to break contact in order to catch her bearings.

  “Right,” Sophie said. “Business. I knew the moment I met you and Thorn that you were not the typical men in the city. Do you work for the government?”

  “Something like that.” It was as good of a cover as any, and it would allow him to keep most of what he did a secret.

  But for how long? A day? Two? If he continued to hang around Sophie he’d have to tell her everything because she’d eventually see something.

  That in itself frightened him. A part of him worried that she wouldn’t be able to handle the truth of who he was. Then there was the matter of his past.

  He was going to have to face that sooner rather than later. Darius would rather do it much later, but memories were assaulting him constantly.

  She tucked her hair behind an ear and turned her head to him. “You look like that type to work for the government.”

  Now that intrigued him. He rolled toward her and propped himself up on an elbow. Darius made sure not to touch her as he did. “Type? There’s a type?”

  “Of course.”

  “And what exactly is that?”

  She cut him a look, her olive eyes holding warmth and teasing. “The type that keeps to the shadows. The type who needs doctors to come to him instead of going to the hospital. The type who disappears without a word, only to suddenly reappear seemingly out of nowhere. The type who has an air of mystery and a large dose of ‘don’t fuck with me’ attitude.”

  Darius grinned, he couldn’t help it. Did she really see him that way?

  Her face softened as if in wonder. “He does smile.”

  “I smile.” Didn’t he?

  “Not like that.” She reached out and touched his bottom lip. “It transformed your face. You should smile more.”

  “I could say the same of you.”

  Her hand dropped while her eyes lowered even as she turned to face him. “I don’t have to ask to know that something bad happened in your past.”

  “Because I doona smile?”

  Her smile was sad when her gaze met his. “It’s your eyes. Your view of the world is colored.”

  “As is yours.”

  There was a long pause before she nodded. “Yes.”

  Darius was suddenly curious, but he stopped himself from asking. If he wasn’t willing to share his secrets, why would she? It wasn’t fair of him to ask about her past or what had turned her so hard.

  “You’re not going to ask?”

  He shook his head. “You doona wish to talk about your past any more than I want to talk of mine. Tell me why you became a doctor.”

  “Um … let’s see,” she said with a grin. “Even as a little girl I’d play doctor with my dolls. I mended their broken bones, stitched them when needed, and even operated.”

  “I gather your dolls were gladiators or the like.”

  She laughed. The sound was magical. It utterly captivated him. All he wanted was to hear more of it.

  “Not gladiators, though they did fight often. It’s amazing how rough a doll can get with another,” she said, still laughing.

  “I can only imagine.”

  “From there I carried a box of Band-Aids, gauze, and antiseptic at all times. On the playground, if one of the kids got hurt, I tended them. My bag of medicines began to grow the older I became. As I walked the streets of London, I often stopped and tended anyone who needed it.”

  “And they let you?”

  She shrugged her shoulder. “Surprisingly, they did. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but looking back now they must have thought I’d gone daft.”

  “You’re a natural healer.”

  “I think each of us is born with a special gift. For some like me, we realize it fairly early and grasp it. Others find it later. I feel sorry for the ones who’ve either rejected their gift or not found it yet.”

  Darius lifted a lock of her hair from the bed and rubbed it between his fingers. “You’re verra lucky.”

  “I know. I love healing others, and it kills me when they don’t take my advice. What about you? Have you always known you’d do whatever it is you do?”

  “Aye,” he answered without hesitation.

  “Then I think we’re both lucky.” Her gaze shifted to his neck.

  Darius knew exactly what she was looking at. The head of his dragon tattoo that peeked over his right shoulder. Her interest made him want to fidget.

  “Is that a tattoo?” she asked.

  The first time he took her, he’d been clothed. The second time they’d been too frantic to notice anything like that. This third time was in the dark where she couldn’t see. It must be the streetlight behind him that shed just enough light to make out the tat.

  “Aye.”

  Her curiosity piqued, sh
e sat up. “May I see it?”

  Darius pushed into a sitting position as she turned on the lamp on her bedside table. When she faced him, he felt the urge to pull her into his arms and kiss her. Instead, he remained still as she crawled closer.

  The first contact of her hands on the dragon head made his breath catch. Her touch was soft and light, inquisitive. He didn’t want it to stop.

  * * *

  Sophie was awed by the elaborate detail of the dragon head. It peered over his shoulder as if seeing who Darius was talking to. The ink was neither black nor red, but a mixture that shouldn’t even be possible.

  She moved on her knees around to see his back and could only stare in mute silence at the beauty of the artwork. The dragon took up Darius’s entire back.

  The dragon was perched, as if climbing Darius’s back to his shoulder. The detail was so impressive that she could even see the dragon’s claws digging into Darius’s back. The dragon had his wings half open while its tail curled at its tip, stopping just above his ass.

  She ran her fingers over the tattoo, unable to keep her hands off it. It wasn’t as if she knew Darius particularly well—or at all really—but she hadn’t expected him to have a tattoo. Yet, she wasn’t surprised by the revelation either.

  “Why a dragon?” she asked.

  He shrugged, causing his muscles to move and the dragon to look as if it were alive. “I like them.”

  “It’s gorgeous.”

  Darius turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. “You like it?”

  “Yes,” she said with a smile. “I’ve seen a lot of tattoos as a doctor, and I can honestly say that is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.”

  Sophie laughed when his arms snaked out and dragged her around to his front. His chocolate eyes held hers for a long moment.

  “What do you know of dragons?”

  She scrunched up her face. “I’ve never been one to love anything in a fantasy element, so I don’t know a lot about them. I know they’re in most cultures in some form—sometimes as good, sometimes as evil.”

  “And they’re the largest mythological creature in the world.”

  “True,” she admitted with a nod. “Is that why you chose it?”