This wasn’t what she had expected from him. But she knew she had pushed him to this. Tears bit at her eyes again, and slipped over to slide down her cheeks to where he violated her mouth with his. Almost immediately he slowed, gentled his mouth, as if the tears had touched him, and he realized just how rough he was being with her. His hands let off of their bruising grip. He continued to hold her up, but softly now. His lips brushed against hers tenderly, setting off little sparks of excitement against her lips.
“So sorry,” he mumbled against her mouth, his nose bumping up against hers as he adjusted his hold on her body to where she was leaning against him rather than dangling above the ground.
Ever so gently his tongue caressed the seam of her lips, not roughly like before, but with a cautious lick that dared her to open so that he could prove to her that he was sorry. Hesitatingly she moaned against his mouth and opened slowly. One of his hands went under her bottom to keep her anchored high against his body, while the other came up to gently swipe her hair away from their faces. The strength in him amazed her and she trembled again.
“I’m sorry, so very sorry. Don’t be scared. Please.” The need, the abject honesty in his voice caused fresh tears to well in Nadia’s eyes and with a trust born of years of knowing him, she slipped her arms around his shoulders and opened her mouth fully against his, willing to take whatever he would give her.
Even though she had basically given him permission to correct what he had just done, that in no way let Nadia establish a pace with their kisses. Drake was a very dominant male. He liked to set the pace. He liked to call the shots, and he was doing exactly that with her right now, albeit a bit slower and more gentle than what he had started off with.
With his forearm snug against her bottom and his other hand now cupping the delicate line of her jaw, he teased her lips, tilted his head and caressed first the top then the lower rise of her mouth into a dance that she didn’t know the steps to, but she was learning. His breath soughed into her mouth, giving her air to breathe, since he wouldn’t let her go long enough to catch her own. A large, work roughened thumb moved across the side of her cheek, while his tongue licked at the entry to her mouth. Nadia clenched her fingers in his hair and timidly let the tip of her tongue catch his. His tongue felt like wet, smooth sandpaper, but his taste was hypnotic, drugging, with the faint hint of whiskey.
The growl that reverberated through his chest erupted inside her mouth. His forearm pulled her even tighter against him, while his thumb applied pressure, causing her mouth to open even further. Drake plunged inside.
Pleasure danced along her nerve endings and sang in her veins. Heat flooded her body and where minutes ago she had felt pain and such agonizing torture, she now felt like the most wanted woman in the world. His mouth moved over hers with such skill and passionate intensity that Nadia wondered how women weren’t lining up around the block for a go with this man.
Oh yes. Liquid, molten satisfaction bubbled in her blood. She had wanted this, craved this for years, and now he was giving it to her. And boy did he know how to give it. His mouth never stopped moving, teasing, licking, sucking, and caressing her own. Just when Nadia had gotten the hang of things, he switched on her, going from teasing the inside softness of her lips, to plunging his tongue deep, the way Nadia knew his body could do to hers.
Seconds later he pulled away slightly. She still rested on his forearm, and against his body, but now his mouth only whispered against hers, giving her fantastic tingles that trembled along the top of her lips and skin. His eyes were closed and Nadia didn’t move away, but stayed to where his lips brushed hers with soft, so very tender nips.
“I have to stop, angel…if I don’t, I might do something that I’m sure would shock you.”
Nadia smiled slightly, and answered truthfully, “I can’t possibly be more shocked than I am now.”
With his strong arm he lowered her slightly. Nadia felt his hard body under the material of the tux, so very powerful and sexy. All at once a large, hard, and extremely long part of his body came into contact with her core. Her eyes shot open even wider as she glanced down, trying to see around what she was pressed up against. “Oh.”
A crooked, sensual grin tucked up one corner of his mouth. “You got that right.”
Nadia had the wild, insane and totally wanton urge to let her legs fall open so that he would press right up to where she was aching. Just the image in her mind of her opening her legs, the slit in her dress allowing for more room, while his massive body pressed so intimately against hers, caused a renewed flash of heat and moisture to gather at the juncture of her thighs.
She wanted to wrap her legs around his taut waist, jerk her hips against his and feel him fully. Her insides trembled at the thought, while her inner muscles clenched with ferocity.
Just when she thought she might actually make a move and shock him for a change, his arm shifted, dragging her down that delicious hardness and for a second, Nadia thought she might explode from that torment alone. Then seconds later, he set her down in front of him. With her legs shaking and her heart in her throat, she braced her hands against his chest.
“Damn…we are both screwed, aren’t we?”
She thought that pretty much summed up the entire situation.
***
Nadia sipped the tea he had made for her when they had arrived back at the condo. It was full dark and nearing midnight, but Drake wanted to get this out right now. There was no need to put it off any longer.
In his mind he knew that Nadia wasn’t some errant society girl that would take the knowledge of what he was going to tell her and spread it around carelessly. She was caring and loyal to a fault, and he knew if he trusted her with his secret that she wouldn’t take that trust and stomp it in the ground. Just getting to this point was monumental enough. There had been women in his past, even two that he had married and had loved in his own way, but that physical and emotional connection between his two previous wives had never been as strong as the one he feared was growing between him and Nadia. What he had felt for Loraine and Marie had never been this physically powerful.
With her bright green eyes and lips still swollen from his kisses, Nadia looked like a teenager curled up on his loveseat in her pajama set. His eyes settled on the soft green tank top and green plaid flannel pants that she had on. Drake couldn’t remember when he had last seen a woman wear normal sleep clothes to bed. Usually the women he had over for the night wore silk teddies or nothing at all. It was refreshing to see her wearing something else besides what he was used to.
He had also changed. They both needed to get comfortable, as he had told her when they walked in from the gala. Instead of telling him anything smart, she had surprisingly agreed and walked off to the guest room without another word. Her quietness was worrying him. Before their kiss she had kept apologizing for her tears and her jealousy. That was the last thing he had wanted to hear. Why didn’t this beautiful, desirable woman see herself that way? What had the men in her life done to her to make her think that she wasn’t up to par with other women?
To put it mildly, Drake had seen red. He couldn’t believe she had the frame of mind to even think she wasn’t good enough for him, which had been exactly what she had been thinking before she had started crying and ran out from the ballroom. The emotions inside of her had been so volatile at that moment.
After the words they had shared, then the kiss, Drake was ready for round two. Hell, he was ready for any round that allowed him access to her and making her feel good. He was so hard for her that it was surprising she hadn’t been staring at his crotch for the past ten minutes. So far her eyes had stayed glued to the mug she was holding.
Drake stretched his shoulders in the plain tee shirt he had on, straightened his legs in a pair of black pajama bottoms, and curled his palms against his forearms which rested across his chest. Usually he didn’t dress for bed. He only made the concession of clothes because she was here.
“Are you tired?” he asked h
er.
She jumped a bit. Apparently he caught her off guard. Drake watched her eyes flutter, black eyelashes sweeping across her smooth cheek and once again his cock twitched. He almost groaned. It seemed everything she did was a turn on for him. “No, I’m fine, and besides we need to talk…about earlier.”
Heck, she didn’t know the half of what they needed to talk about. “First off, let me apologize for that.” He cleared his throat and leveled his eyes on hers. “The kiss started out pretty rough, but that was because of what you had said seconds before.” Making sure he had her attention, he deepened his voice and held her gaze with his, injecting a slight glamour into his tone. He wanted to make sure she took what he said to heart. “You are a beautiful woman. And no matter what any person says, you always have been and always will be. You will stop downplaying your attributes right now. I don’t want to hear another word on the matter.”
Huge green eyes took him in warily, but she managed to nod in his direction. He could sense she was reasonably calm, but he knew with the slightest word or touch that could change.
“Now, the other conversation we need to have.”
She nodded again.
Drake sat quietly for a second, building up his courage. It wasn’t an everyday occurrence that he ensured the safety of him and his brethren to someone else, even though he trusted Nadia implicitly, he would never know how she would react to what he had to tell her. He looked to her again. Her light green eyes watched him, and he sensed that she was waiting to hear something totally different from what he was about to say.
“Earlier, before we left for the gala, something happened. Do you remember what I’m talking about?” He asked her carefully.
She bit her lower lip then slowly let it roll out. Drake could have melted to the sofa cushions. “I remember looking into your face, and your eyes…the color had changed, and they were…they were glowing.” She hesitated as if he was going to laugh in her face about what she had said.
He nodded slowly. “Yes, the color was a deep golden color, almost bright amber. Am I correct?”
At her slow nod, he continued.
“Were you scared? Because I remember asking you if you trusted me, and you had said that if you didn’t, you would be across the room.”
She smiled slightly and her fingers curled around the mug in her hands. Drake felt her heart kick up a notch. “I wasn’t scared.” Those green eyes of hers landed on his face, searching deeply. “You don’t scare me. You never did.”
His breath hitched in his throat. Keep talking man, tell her what you need her to know and don’t think about sex right now. Christ, he was so hot from that kiss earlier that he still hadn’t cooled down yet. He had never been one to practice abstinence, but something about Nadia screamed that he should take his time. And he knew down the road something would happen, he had already given in to those emotions that she roused in him so easily, so now it was only a matter of when and where they would eventually get together. And for Drake the added knowledge that she wasn’t his usual flavor of woman was making him nuts. He wanted to be patient and caring for her. He wanted her to see a side of him that he had never shown anyone else. He didn’t question why.
“My eyes change colors when I’m at the peak of certain emotional levels, such as pain, pleasure, or even anger. The bright amber color symbolizes the unique traits I carry inside of me.”
The utter confusion on her face spoke volumes. “What?” She shook her head slightly and placed the mug on the small table beside her. “I don’t understand.” Her eyes stayed on him while her brow furrowed deeply.
Drake tried again. He had never been good at explaining, especially when people rarely believed what he said. Usually he had to do more of a show-and-tell experiment instead.
“I have other abilities also.”
“Abilities?” She stayed on the sofa, still relaxed, but Drake could pick up the tempo of her blood coursing a bit faster through her veins. “Just what kind of sci-fi kick are you on, Drake?”
“Believe me angel, there are no sci-fi kicks going on right now. Everything I’m saying is the God’s honest truth. If you remember, I asked you earlier to listen to everything I said with an open mind.”
“But when you say things like that, well,” she gulped deeply, “It’s kinda hard to believe you. I mean you are saying that your eyes glow.” She didn’t scoff at him but she came damn close to it. “No one’s eyes glow, Drake. You only hear about that stuff in books or movies.”
“But you just admitted that you saw it with your own eyes.” He didn’t want to point out that obvious fact again, but he did anyway. When he saw the utter confusion on her face, he felt horrible. “If you want to…and God, please listen to what I’m saying here because I sure as hell don’t want to scare you, I can show you very easily just what I can do.” He let his eyes rest on hers, testing her courage and feeling the excitement that battled with just a touch of fear inside of her. “But if I do please remember that I’m still Drake. I’m still the same man you have always known, okay?”
With a determined, but still confused look on her face, she nodded then said, “Okay, and of course I know who you are. Why would I believe otherwise?”
Drake didn’t say anything, but deep in his mind he prayed that she wouldn’t bolt when she saw what he could do. With a deep breath, he gave her one last look. “Please just keep trusting me.” He told her, his eyes serious on hers, then he closed them and the change begin. With just a slight burning sensation in eyes, Drake was finished. He kept the fangs on a short leash. That was one thing that he sensed would send her over the edge. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes.
She gasped, clenching the edge of the sofa with her fingers, her knuckles showing white. Drake instantly began to send out feelers, automatically taking in whether there was any show of real fear, because if there was, he would immediately halt whatever he was doing. He never wanted to scare her.
What he felt was confusion and a deep seated curiosity; there was no fear at all apparent to him. He figured the clenching up of muscles was just because of her nervousness.
“How is it possible?” Her green eyes were glued to his and he could see that she would need answers, but she would also need to see whatever he could show her too. He prayed for her acceptance to continue, especially with everything else that he needed to tell her.
“There are things about me that you don’t know yet, many other things besides just my eyes that change.” Drake took a deep breath. “But as for my eyes, we believe it is simply a way to show that my Druid side is awake and open for full change.”
That got her attention. “We, there are others? And what do you mean when you say your Druid side is awake and open for full change?” She sat on the edge of the sofa while her hands continued to curl around the armrest. Drake didn’t sense that she wanted to bolt yet. It was only a bad case of inquisitiveness that had her looking so earnest.
“Yes, there are others, and like I said there are many other things about me that change at certain moments, sometimes when I most need those special abilities.”
“So when your eyes change, does it cause you to have some special seeing ability?”
“Not only when my eyes change, but at every moment of everyday I have enormous seeing abilities, and I can see in the dark, very clearly.”
She pursed her lips, and Drake could see that she was starting to move her fingers together nervously. He tested her emotions, and he could sense the heightened interest moving around inside of her. She not only wanted answers to her questions, but Drake would bet money that she wanted to touch him, to see if he felt any different to her. He fought down the urge to give her a full access free for all.
“Amazing…what else happens?”
“I can send out spells.” He threw that out there not really knowing what her reaction would be. “I can also move faster than you can blink, read your emotions, heal pain, and live an extremely long, long time.”
Her
eyes got bigger, if that was possible. Now she seemed totally in awe. “I want to see something. Show me how it works.” She sounded tremendously inquiring, as if she couldn’t stop herself from asking.
Before she had closed her mouth, Drake was standing before her. The breeze from his fast movement just then lifted a few strands of her hair where it lay on her shoulders. Now the look in her eyes was priceless. “Oh my God…..” she said wonderingly, still too hesitant to touch him. In a half second, he was back on his chair facing her.
“Do you want to know more?” he questioned her and watched the wonder build in her features.
“There’s more? My God, how is that possible?”
“Oh, it is quite possible, believe me.”
“I do have a question.” She asked him before he started up again. “When you said you live a really long time, just what do you mean?”
Drake exhaled. This was a biggie, considering everything else was so easy to take. “I was born on August 28th of 1784, in a very small town right outside of San Antonio.”
“1784?? That makes you over 220 years old.” Now some wavering showed in her face. “It isn’t possible.”
“It’s very possible. I have a family bible that proves it. I also have my parent’s marriage license and two of my own, if you want to inspect those.” Drake watched her eyes grow huge again.
“Two marriage licenses? You were married twice?”
“When you have been alive as long as I have, time seems to move extremely slow, Nadia.” He answered honestly. That was the only hated concession, in his mind, of being an Amber Druid, the slow time progression.
“But then how do you stay in one place?” And in the next breath, “No wonder I could never guess your age. I was stuck between thirty-five and thirty-eight, because you always had been so hard to pin down.”
“I move around every twenty years or so. People are easy to manipulate. If I need to, I can do something we call a mind scrub; it is like eliminating me from your memory.”
“You can get in someone’s mind?”
Her Druid Desire (The Amber Druid Series) Page 18