Cliff's Descent

by Dianne Duvall

  She was going to run away with me. Emma was going to leave everything behind to run away and be with me.

  The knowledge staggered him. Humbled him. Moved him deeply. As did her touch.

  Drawing back a fraction of an inch, he stared down at her, mesmerized by her beauty, her bravery, and the love that shone in her eyes beneath the reflection of the amber glow in his own.

  Emma loved him. She hadn’t said it. But he knew it as surely as he knew he loved her.

  Groaning, he claimed her lips again, more fervent and aggressive. She tasted so good. Smelled so good. Felt so good. And he’d wanted her for so long. He could barely believe she was finally in his arms. He had thought this moment would never come. That they could never be together like this.

  And her touch…

  He’d been so starved for affection, for physical contact, that just the feel of her hands on the bare skin of his back could practically make him come.

  Almost as soon as the thought flitted through his mind, she slid her hands around and rested them on his bare chest.

  Please don’t push me away, he silently pleaded with sudden panic. Please don’t push me away. Not yet.

  But she didn’t. Instead, she curled her fingers in the hair there and gave it a tug that sped his pulse. Then she slid her arms up around his neck and, rising onto her toes, realigned their hips so the erection constrained by his towel could press against her center.

  She moaned and fisted his dreadlocks when he rocked against her.

  He moaned, too. Nothing could compare to this. To the feel of her in his arms.

  Her tongue stroked his as he ravaged her lovely mouth.

  Cliff slid a hand up to cup her breast. Small and firm, it fit perfectly in his palm. No bra hid the stiff peak, only the thin material of her tank top. She moaned again when he toyed with the sensitive tip, stroked it, pinched it. Her hips arched into his.

  He slid his other hand down over the firm ass he’d fantasized about and pressed her harder against his erection. Breaking the kiss, he buried his face in her neck and squeezed her tight, though he was careful not to let his enhanced strength come into play and squeeze her too tightly.

  “I need you,” he told her, his voice hoarse.

  She slid one leg up his and draped her knee over his hip, bringing them into even more intimate contact. “I need you, too.”

  How he wished the towel and her pants didn’t separate them so he could plunge his hard cock into her slick warmth right now.

  Abandoning her breast, he slipped a hand up her pajama-clad thigh to press her knee against his side and hold it in place. “I don’t have condoms.” Because he had no money. When Cliff had surrendered to the Immortal Guardians, Reordon had faked his death to explain his absence to the outside world. So his bank accounts had long since been closed.

  She drew back just enough to look him in the eye while their quick breaths mingled. “It’s okay. It isn’t my fertile time.”

  Hell yes. But his love for her outshone the lust that begged him to instantly ditch the towel and rip off her clothes. “We should talk first.” Before their relationship became physical. Or more physical than it was now. It would be much harder to walk away from her once he’d—

  “Later.” She pressed a kiss to his neck.

  A shiver rippled through him when she followed it with a lick. “Emma…”

  She touched a finger to his lips. “Please, Cliff. I need you. If Bastien finds out you came here, we may only have tonight.”

  His hold tightened instinctively in protest at the thought.

  She delivered another slow, sensual kiss. “We can talk later.”

  We may only have tonight.

  He nodded.

  Releasing his dreadlocks, she slid her hands down over his shoulders to his chest, slipped her knee from his grasp, and stepped back. “Let me clear off the bed.”

  Cliff shot into motion, clearing the lockbox, duffel bag, and gun off the bed in a blink. “Done.”

  Her eyes widened. Then she grinned big. “That is so cool.”

  Smiling, he took her in his arms. “Now where were we?”

  “I believe we were right about here,” she murmured and tilted her face up for another kiss.

  Even that—just the pressure of her lips on his, the teasing stroke of her tongue—ratcheted up his need.

  Cliff fingered the hem of her tank top, then drew it up over her head.

  Her beautiful brown skin looked as soft as silk beneath the overhead light and was, he discovered as he slid one hand up her side to palm a breast and toy with a taut, dark peak.

  Her breath shortened as desire flooded her features.

  Cliff stroked her other breast as well as his heated gaze roamed her. “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured reverently. Her shoulders were much narrower than his, lending her an air of fragility the light muscle definition in her arms and abs belied. Those muscles twitched and jumped as he teased the tips of her breasts with strokes and flicks and pinches.

  “Cliff,” she breathed, swaying toward him.

  “Lose the pajama bottoms,” he ordered, voice hoarse.

  They were down around her ankles within seconds, exposing nicely rounded hips, shapely legs, and a dark thatch of curls at their juncture.

  Cliff’s control began to fray.

  Emma dropped her gaze to his waist. “Lose the towel.”

  Gladly. As soon as it hit the floor, he lifted Emma into his arms. “Wrap your legs around me,” he murmured.

  “Hell yes,” she breathed, locking her ankles behind his back and trapping his hard length between them.

  He groaned when she ground against him. He wanted their first time together… perhaps their only time together… to be perfect. He wanted to take his time and worship every inch of her. But he’d been celibate ever since he’d transformed roughly four years ago, and he needed her now with a desperation that made him tremble.

  Turning around, he knelt on the bed and leaned down to gently lay her against the pillows.

  “Finally,” she moaned, urging him to rest more of his weight on her. “Take me.”

  Cliff shook his head. “Not yet.”

  When he started to move away, she tightened her legs around him and made a sound of protest.

  Amusement sifted through him, just enough to take the edge off. Smiling down at her, he patted one thigh. “Let me go.”

  “Never,” she breathed.

  And oh, what that declaration did to him. “If you don’t, I can’t taste you.” He cast a heated look down over her breasts and farther, to the point at which their bodies strained together, then met her gaze once more. “All of you.”

  Her heartbeat picked up as she unwound her legs and dropped her feet to the mattress on either side of him.

  Cliff ducked his head and ravaged her lips one more time, then trailed a path of hot kisses down her neck.

  She gasped when he closed his lips around the sensitive peak of one breast while he stroked and squeezed and teased the other. He sucked hard. She moaned. He delivered a light love bite, careful to keep his fangs from descending. She jumped, then writhed against him and drove her fingers through his dreads. “Cliff.”

  Then he trailed his lips down her stomach to the mound below.

  She was already wet for him and grew wetter still when he touched his tongue to her clit. “Yes,” she moaned. He licked it, flicked it, circled and sucked it. “More.”

  His cock jumped when she arched up against him and gave his hair a tug. Her breath shortened. Her heartbeat quickened. The muscles in her thighs tightened as she strained against him. He slipped a finger inside. She was so tight and wet. He added another, curling them up and stroking her at the same time he flatted his tongue against her clit and moved it so swiftly it would feel like a vibrator.

  Emma stiffened. Fingers clenching in his hair, she cried out as her inner muscles clamped down around his fingers in rhythmic pul
ses and she came hard.

  She was still panting when Cliff withdrew his fingers and rose above her.

  His heart pounded wildly in his chest. But when he settled himself between her thighs, he paused and met her gaze, asking a question with his own.

  Reaching down between them, she curled her fingers around his erection and guided him to her entrance.

  Yes. Cliff thrust deep inside her… and groaned. With his heightened senses, he could feel everything so much more now. And she was wonderfully tight and wet and ready for him, her inner muscles still twitching with residual ripples from her climax.

  Withdrawing nearly to the crown, he drove deep again.

  Emma slid her arms around him and splayed her hands on his back. “Yes,” she moaned, nails biting into his flesh and sparking a flash fire.

  Again he withdrew, then thrust deep.

  “More,” she begged.

  And Cliff gave her what she wanted. What they both wanted. Pounding into her. Holding nothing back.

  Sliding her hands down, she gripped his ass and urged him on as she arched up to meet him, thrust for thrust, breath shortening.

  He groaned, drove deeper, harder, altering the angle so he could grind against her clit with every thrust.

  “Yes. Cliff.” Tilting her head back, she cried out as ecstasy claimed her once more.

  Her inner muscles clamped down around his hard cock, squeezing and gripping him, increasing the pleasure until an orgasm seized him and he poured his heat inside her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Emma fought to catch her breath as Cliff rolled them to their sides, bodies still joined.

  His eyes shone bright amber as he rested his head on the pillow beside hers and stared at her as though she were the most precious thing in the world to him. Reaching up, he drew the backs of his fingers down her cheek in a caress that was so tender it brought tears to her eyes. “Are you okay? Was I too rough?”

  Catching his hand before he could lower it, Emma pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “You were perfect.”

  The corners of his lips curled up as he rubbed noses with her. “I haven’t been with anyone since I was transformed. I was worried I might…”

  She arched a brow. “Squeeze the breath out of me?”

  He laughed. “Maybe.”

  “It was perfect, Cliff.” She brushed his dreadlocks back from his face, relishing her ability to hold him and be this close to him after having to assiduously keep their distance for so long. “I can’t believe you’re really here with me.” In her bed. In her arms. She stroked the coarse stubble on his jaw.

  “I can’t believe you were going to drop everything and run away with me.”

  “I’d do anything for you, Cliff.” Her lips brushed his in a light kiss that was heavy with meaning. “I love you.”

  His hold tightened. “I love you, too.” Sighing with contentment, he pressed his forehead to hers. “I’m so afraid I’m going to wake up and find this has all been a dream.”

  She smiled. “If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up.”

  “Me either. This is so much better than having to share you with a table full of coworkers.”

  She laughed. “Absolutely.”

  “Thank you for that, by the way.”

  “For what?”

  “For finding a way we could continue to have lunch together.” His forehead rocked against hers as he shook his head. “By the end of that first week, I was already falling hard for you. And when people started whispering about complaining to Reordon, it tore me up to think I’d have to give up that time with you.”

  “Well, I wasn’t willing to give it up, so I got Cynthia to help me out.”

  “And Todd?”

  She chuckled. “Yes. And you can thank Sadie for finally enabling us to sit together.”

  His straight white teeth flashed in a boyish grin. “How’d she manage that?”

  “She baked cookies, set them in the middle of the table, and plunked herself down next to me, knowing they would lure more bodies to the table.”

  “I can see why. That woman makes damn good cookies. It doesn’t surprise me at all that people would brave sitting at a vampire’s table to get one.”

  Emma laughed. “That’s exactly what happened. Cynthia set her purse on the chair next to her to save a seat for Todd. And Sadie saved hers for you.”

  “So it was no coincidence that she left every time I arrived?”

  “No.”

  “That was kind of her.”

  She shrugged. “Sadie’s a real sweetheart.” Again she stroked his stubbled cheek. “She’s also very perceptive and empathizes with us.”

  “I wish I could thank her. But I don’t think she should know we meet outside network headquarters. I don’t think anyone should know.”

  “Even Bastien?” She regretted asking him when the joy left his handsome features.

  He sighed. “I love Bastien like a brother. I feel like shit keeping this from him. But I’m not sure how he would react.”

  “Are you afraid he’ll stop taking you hunting?”

  “No. He’d still take me hunting to dampen the voices, but…” A look of amazement swept over his face.

  She frowned. “Cliff? What is it?”

  A huge smiled dawned. “The voices.”

  “What about them?”

  “They’re gone.”

  Her eyebrows flew up. “What?”

  “They’re gone.”

  Confusion rose. “I thought hunting quieted the voices.”

  He shook his head. “Hunting just lowers the volume, which really helps. But you…” He stroked her face, the love and happiness that shone in his eyes piercing her heart. “You eradicated them, Emma. They’re completely quiet now.”

  And she’d thought she couldn’t love him more.

  “Wow.” She winked. “I must really be good in bed.”

  He barked out a laugh. “You are. You definitely are.”

  Grinning, she rolled him onto his back and straddled him. The long length inside her hardened. “Let’s just test that out, shall we?” Bracing her hands on his chest, she curled her fingers in the hair there and gave it a tug the same time she circled her hips.

  Sucking in a breath, he gripped her thighs and arched up against her. “Yessss.”

  * * *

  An hour and a half later, Cliff pressed a soft kiss to Emma’s lips and said with much reluctance, “I have to go.”

  Regret filled her pretty brown eyes. “Already?”

  He nodded and slipped out of bed. “I’m supposed to meet Bastien at his lair in fifteen minutes.”

  “I thought the Immortal Guardians destroyed that place.”

  “They did. But it still means something to him. To us both really.”

  She leaned up on an elbow. “I’m sorry it’s gone.”

  He shrugged. “If Bastien hadn’t riled up the Immortal Guardians until they came gunning for him, Seth wouldn’t have brought me to the network, and I never would’ve met you. Which just makes the place all the more meaningful for me. Living there led me to you.”

  Sitting up, she threw back the covers and rose.

  Cliff stared at her alluring skin, so soft and warm, traced a visual path to the lovely breasts he’d teased with fingers, lips, teeth, and tongue, then down to the dark thatch of curls that lay at the juncture of her thighs.

  “Cliff?”

  He met her gaze. “You’re so damn beautiful,” he professed, his voice deepening.

  She smiled. Stepping closer, she rose onto her toes, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. Though his body instantly responded to the press of hers, Cliff merely held her and relished the love and affection she granted him.

  “This is real, isn’t it?” he asked softly, almost afraid to believe it. “I mean, I’m not… back at network headquarters hallucinating or something, am I?”

  She kissed his chin, then dropp
ed back on her heels. “Come back tomorrow night and I’ll show you just how real this is.”

  Happiness welled within him, nearly bringing a lump to his throat. It had been so long that he’d forgotten what true happiness felt like. “Really? You want to see me tomorrow?”

  She smiled up at him. “Tomorrow and every night thereafter.”

  Cliff drew her into another quick hug, delivered an exuberant kiss, then zipped into the bathroom. Seconds later, he zipped back and stopped before her, once more decked out in his bloody hunting clothes.

  Still gloriously naked, she gaped up at him. “Okay. That’s going to take some getting used to.”

  He laughed, feeling lighter than he had in…

  Well, since before his transformation.

  “So I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked.

  She smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Good night, Emma.”

  “Good night, Cliff. Be safe.”

  “I will.” He had good reason to now.

  Giving her one last kiss, he dashed out into the night. A cool breeze buffeted him as he headed for Bastien’s place. He would have to run at top speed to get there on time but didn’t mind a bit. Energy surged through him, fueled by happiness.

  He shook his head at himself as his lips stretched in a grin. One night with Emma and his inner monologue sounded like the corniest of chick flicks. The stars seemed brighter. The air smelled fresher. His feet felt lighter. If he wasn’t careful, he might soon find himself bursting into song as he twirled around on a hilltop while cartoon birds fed from his hand.

  Laughing at the image, he skidded to a halt.

  Bastien lay on his back a couple of feet away, ankles crossed, fingers linked behind his head.

  Still grinning, Cliff nodded at him. “What happened? Did some vampire lookie-loo come searching for your legendary lair and knock you on your ass?”

  Bastien laughed. “No. I just got bored waiting and thought I’d do something I rarely have time to anymore.”

  Cliff arched a brow. “Stargaze?”

  “Yes.”

  While Bastien rose, Cliff propped his hands on his hips and studied the sky. “They are pretty, aren’t they?” No clouds hid their sparkle, and the new moon allowed them to dominate the night.