by Lara Adrian
It was a good thing, too. An Incubus who lost control with a woman? That wasn’t a good sign.
She had refused him, and yet he had sampled the fire in her kiss. If he pushed her, she would relent. But that wasn’t his way. Rayna would have to come to him.
Just when he thought she would turn away, she rose up on her tiptoes and kissed him. Canaan wrapped his arms around her and turned her so that she was pressed against the wall.
He couldn’t get close enough, couldn’t kiss her deep enough. She was a balm to his shattered life, a calm to the turmoil he was in.
And she fired his blood like no other.
Her hands smoothed over his shoulders to his back, the caress slow and at odds with their frantic, fiery kiss. Canaan fisted his hands in the thick strands of her dark locks, loving the cool texture.
He ground his aching cock against her and felt satisfaction fill him with her answering moan. Every fiber of his being urged him to continue, to release the pleasure that restored his strength, but he couldn’t. Not until Rayna told him she wanted him.
Canaan ended the kiss and looked down at her swollen lips and her glassy eyes. She clung to him, her face a mask of confusion.
“What?” she asked.
“I’ll not force you.”
She shook her head and tried to kiss him again. “You’re not.”
“I have to hear you say it,” Canaan said as he pulled back his head. “I need to know you want this.”
Rayna stared at him for several seconds before she gave him a soft push and took a couple of steps away. Then she turned to face him, her head cocked to the side.
“You want me to say it even though I just threw myself at you?”
He might be an Incubus, but he did have standards. “I do.”
If Canaan thought his body was on fire, he didn’t know anything until she slowly, seductively began to unbutton her shirt.
All the moisture left his mouth as he watched her lovely breasts exposed, bit by bit. When the shirt fell to the floor and she stood in her plain beige bra, one side of her mouth lifted.
“Minx.” She knew exactly what the sight of the globes of her breasts and her toned abdomen did to him.
She didn’t retort as she unbuttoned her jeans and gave them a shove over her hips and down her legs. With the jeans divested, she stood in her bra and neon green panties with “Sexy” written across the front.
Canaan got a look at her long, lean legs and her gently flared hips. Despite her undressing, there was a thread of uncertainty in her gaze.
She feared being with an Incubus, of giving in to what she had been told was her destiny. Canaan couldn’t find it in himself to walk away from her.
“I want you,” she whispered as she stood before him, waiting.
He took a step to her. “Canaan.”
Her lips softened into a smile and she unhooked her bra to let it fall from her shoulders to the floor. “I want you, Canaan.”
That’s all he needed to hear. Canaan forgot about his wounds, forgot that his body hurt. All that mattered was having Rayna in his arms, hearing her sighs and cries of pleasure.
He had her on the bed, his body atop hers, in a split second. There was no holding back for either of them. Their kisses ignited a firestorm of passion.
His hand moved between them to cup her breasts and stroke his thumb over her nipple. She moaned, her hips grinding against him.
Canaan ended the kiss to take her turgid nipple in his mouth while his hand skimmed down her stomach to the juncture of her legs.
With a yank, he tore off her panties, exposing her. He raised his head to look at the patch of brown hair neatly trimmed around her sex.
He couldn’t remember ever needing sex so desperately, but if he was only going to have the one time with Rayna he wanted to take it slow, to savor her.
“Please,” she begged, her hand on his wrist.
Canaan slid his fingers into her curls and felt her wetness. She moaned, her eyes closing as her legs parted. He sank his fingers inside her and once more wrapped his lips around her nipple.
He moved his fingers slowly in and out of her at first, and gradually quickened his tempo. When her nails dug into his arm, he swirled his thumb around her clit.
A cry burst from her lips as her back arched. She was a vision, a temptress who was unraveling him at the seams. His body shook from the need to fill her, take her.
Claim her.
“Canaan,” she whispered.
He lifted his head and saw the sheer need in her gaze. She was on the edge, the desire ruling her as it did him. Canaan pulled his hand from her sex and hooked it beneath one of her knees as he positioned himself.
With their gazes locked, he thrust inside. The pleasure was absolute, unadulterated. It was fire and energy, an inferno of hunger and yearning.
It went beyond anything Canaan had ever experienced, leaving him reeling. He pushed it aside as he began to move within Rayna’s body.
Her walls were tight and slick. She wrapped her legs around his waist, sending him sinking deeper inside her. They were soon locked in a dance as old as time, carnal and physical.
Canaan pushed deeper, harder as the pleasure filled them. With each moment he could feel himself growing stronger and his wounds healing. But none of that mattered with the beauty in his arms.
Her moans became soft cries as she barreled toward her climax. A sheen of sweat glistened over them, allowing their bodies to slide.
Canaan drove inside her, taking them higher and higher. Pleasure was there waiting, but he refused to reach for it yet. It wasn’t until Rayna came apart in his arms, her scream echoing around the room, that he gave in.
The orgasm seized him, and the euphoria was blinding, the rapture dazzling.
He opened his eyes to find Rayna watching him. This was normally when he would make his excuses and depart, and yet there was a contentment that filled him. It was so strong he wasn’t ready to leave her. From the first moment he had seen her, he had known Rayna was special.
He just hadn’t anticipated how much.
She lifted her hand to his chest where his injuries had been. “The wounds are almost completely gone.”
“You did that,” he said and bent to kiss her.
To his surprise, the kiss was soft, sensual, altogether too sexy. And yet he couldn’t bring himself to end it as he knew he should.
Rayna smoothed her hands over the warm skin and hard muscle of Canaan’s amazing body. Her head was still spinning from the climax that had rocked her world – literally.
Now, after having such a strong orgasm, she wanted more of him. He was still hard inside her. Unable to stop herself, she lifted her hips.
Canaan’s hiss brought a smile to her lips. She had done that to him, she had brought him pleasure. It was heady, that satisfaction.
She pushed against his shoulder and rolled him onto his back until she straddled him. Rayna sat up and rotated her hips once, twice.
“You’re playing with fire, minx,” Canaan said in a tight voice, his hands on her hips, guiding her.
“Take me just once more.” She was prepared to beg if need be.
With her hands braced on his chest, she began to rock her hips faster and faster. Canaan’s blue-green eyes were riveted on her and filled with desire.
It made her shiver, that look. She had known giving in to him would alter her world. She just hadn’t expected to be knocked off her feet in the process.
Her skin tingled, her blood pounded - all for Canaan. He had breathed life into her gray existence, and she feared she would never look at the world the same again.
How easily he brought her to the brink, but this time he prolonged the torture, keeping her on the precipice of pleasure and taking her higher and higher.
The world fell away, leaving just the two of them and the passion that wouldn’t be denied. Rayna had never been so unreserved or unrestrained. Canaan brought that out in her, creating a wanton that couldn’t get enou
gh of him.
“Now, Rayna,” he urged.
The climax was soul-shattering and overwhelming. It left her dazed and searching for something to hold on to. She latched on to Canaan as he joined her in her orgasm.
She screamed his name as his fingers dug into her hips, but she didn’t care. She was in the arms of an Incubus, a man who had taken her to the gates of paradise.
With her body sated, sleep pulled at her. To her surprise, Canaan turned her onto her side and curled his body behind her.
There was so much she wanted to say to him, but sleep weighed heavily upon her. She took comfort when his arm draped over her that he might stay.
She woke instantly when he caressed the underside of her breast. It didn’t matter that she had dozed for a short time. She turned toward him, opening her body as he once more slid inside her. Again and again they found each other. Sometimes she reached for him, sometimes it was he who came to her.
Pleasure centered them, cocooning them in a bubble that the outside world couldn’t penetrate.
CHAPTER SIX
Canaan woke with a smile. It had been a long time since he had felt so hale and refreshed. His smile grew as he thought about Rayna. He hadn’t been prepared for just how good she would feel in his arms.
He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. Sunlight filtered through the slats of the shutters. He had lost another day and an entire night, but it had been worth it.
Below he could hear the sound of water running. Curious, he rose and walked to the doorway and then down the narrow stairs until he found the source of the sound.
Canaan leaned a shoulder against the doorframe and regarded the sight of Rayna’s silhouette through the glass door as she showered.
The shower – as well as the entire bathroom itself – was one of the many inventions he was pleased to find.
All that was forgotten as his body responded to the sight of Rayna. She fired his blood unlike any other. Canaan pushed away from the door and stalked into the room. He opened the shower just as she turned off the water.
“Canaan,” she said with wide eyes, surprise making her jerk.
“Turn the water back on. I want to join you.”
Instead of doing as he asked, she put her hand on his chest to stop him from entering the shower. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
He gazed at the water droplets covering her skin, but it was the pebble of water hanging from the tip of one nipple that made him want to lick it all away.
“I know how to make you scream in pleasure,” he whispered and pulled her against his nude body.
Her eyes darkened. “I know. That’s the reason I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Canaan thought back over the night. “We only had sex six times.”
“Seven,” she corrected. “You’re forgetting the chair.”
He smiled slowly. “Ah. The chair. How could I ever forget that?”
“You want to smile at the fact we’ve already had sex seven times?” she asked in disbelief.
All Incubi took precautions never to have sex with the same woman more than once, especially when that woman was a Nephilim. Women became addicted to the Incubi, but if an Incubus and a Nephilim had sex eight times, then the Nephilim became immortal and they were bound together.
But it tied both the Incubus and Nephilim into a relationship that kept the Incubus needing her and only her to survive.
A few Nephilim managed to gain immortality before the Incubi discovered what they were doing. It then became imperative to keep their mating to once only.
And here Canaan had engaged in sex with Rayna seven times. While wanting another. He knew he should walk away, but he couldn’t. He craved her like he yearned for revenge.
“Why remind me?” he asked Rayna. “Don’t all Nephilim long to be immortal?”
She grabbed the towel off the rack and held it in front of her while her gaze shifted away. “It didn’t seem right not to tell you.”
“So you do want to be immortal.” He should’ve known. Though Canaan had to admit, he was disappointed in her.
“Am I afraid of dying? Yes,” she finished in a whisper. She paused to lick her lips and hurriedly dried off. “However, I’m not the type to take advantage of someone like that.”
Canaan stepped back to allow her to exit the shower. Rayna was never what he expected. She surprised him at every turn, keeping him off kilter.
“I don’t work today. I can drive you wherever you need to go.”
He frowned. How could he have so easily forgotten what he was after? Not to mention someone had alerted the others that an Incubus was in town. More would come looking for him. It was time to leave.
That also meant leaving Rayna behind. He didn’t like the thought, but the only other option was keeping her near, which meant keeping temptation within arm’s reach.
Not a wise move when he was going to war and needed his mind focused on discovering the truth.
“New York City,” he said and spun around to get dressed.
~ ~ ~
An hour later they were in Rayna’s Camaro, leaving the quaint town of Traders Hollow behind. She hadn’t told Canaan that she would rather chew off her own hand than get anywhere near New York City, but then again, she had said she would drive him wherever he needed to go.
The easy exchange of words had all but halted after she reminded him how close to that dreaded number eight they had come. Eight.
The number itself meant very little. Other than its link to infinity.
Rayna could almost hear her mother’s shrill voice screaming about how she had let a prime opportunity slide through her fingers.
She had thought Canaan was also keeping track of how many times they had been together. It hadn’t been easy, and she had gone over the night five times just to be sure. Immortality didn’t really appeal to her, perhaps because it was something her mother desired more than anything else.
That’s the real reason she’d told Canaan. She hadn’t been able to choose her family or how those blood ties bound her, but she could choose how she acted and the choices she made.
No matter what, she wouldn’t become her mother.
The hours and miles steadily ticked by, broken only by the sounds of music playing through the speakers as Canaan searched through her CDs and even her MP3 files.
His gaze was constantly seeking, ceaselessly searching. He soaked up everything like a sponge, from the music, the billboards they passed, and even the commercials on the radio. It was like he couldn’t get enough.
Much like she couldn’t get enough of him. She hated herself for turning him away that morning when all she wanted to do was pull him in the shower and have her way with him again. But he would think she tricked him into their binding.
Was it true, the whispers she used to hear? That the more a Nephilim had sex with an Incubus, the more that Nephilim needed the Incubus?
Was that what was wrong with her? Had her desire turned to...need? Oh God, she hoped not. She’d be in real trouble then.
Not only would Canaan never make love to her again, but being this near to him was a torture she hadn’t known existed until now.
If she wasn’t already tense enough, the horizon filled with the skyscrapers of New York City – the home she had run from.
“You don’t have to drive me into the city,” Canaan said after he muted the music.
“I drove you this far. What’s a few more miles?” she said with an indifference she didn’t feel.
“Your family, for one thing.”
“They’ll never know I was even here.”
Canaan settled in his seat, one hand on each leg as he stared with narrowed eyes at the city. “It’s gotten bigger.”
“New York is the hub for...well just about everything. I imagine it’s changed quite a bit in five hundred years.”
“More than you can imagine,” he said through tight lips.
Rayna shivered. Whoever had incurred Ca
naan’s wrath was about to suffer the hammer. She should feel sorry for them, but from the time she had spent with Canaan she knew he was a fair man.
Whoever he was after had it coming.
“Where am I going?” she asked.
“Romerac Consolidated.”
She jerked her head to him. “Are you insane? You can’t go in there.”
“I can.” His head slowly turned to her. “Especially since it’s mine.”
Rayna pulled her car over onto the side of the road and threw it in park before she put her head on the steering wheel. “Dear God. You’re Canaan Romerac.”
“At your service.”
She had gotten into bed with the Master of one of the most powerful Incubi families that ever existed. So much for everyone thinking he was dead. He was very much not dead.
And she should know.
Rayna straightened and once more looked at him. His blue-green eyes regarded her with no emotion, as if he were distancing himself from her.
“Everything you’ve done makes sense now. Your family doesn’t know you’re coming, do they?”
“No.” The word was as cold as his voice.
“They betrayed you.”
He gave a single nod.
“I know about betrayal.” She glanced at the city, wondering if she would ever be brave enough to face her family the way he was. “Where should I let you off?”
“There’s a secret entrance only my brothers and I know about.”
Rayna put the car in drive and pulled back onto the road that would take her into Manhattan. She was returning home only to help someone else get revenge. Too bad she couldn’t do the same. But then again, her family was best forgotten lest she be pulled back into the web.
“What will you do when you leave?” Canaan asked when they were stopped at a traffic light, surrounded by skyscrapers, yellow taxis, and deafening noise.
“Return to Traders Hollow. It’s my home now.”
“Be careful, Rayna. I doubt your family allowed you to leave as easily as you think.”
She frowned at his words. “Meaning what? That they’ll try to bring me back home?”