She waited and waited for sleep to come, but it refused, leaving her mind to race. Visions of what Brakkar would do to her if he had the chance tortured her thoughts.
Her nerves getting the better of her, Elena rolled onto her side and whispered, “Dariun...”
“You’re supposed to be asleep,” he replied from across the room.
“I’m trying.”
“You’re afraid.” It was more a statement than a question.
She nodded. “Yes. Even if what you say is true, about Brakkar not having his full strength at night, he still hurt me when he grabbed me on the beach.”
“I’m sorry I did not reach you in time to prevent the pain he caused you, but I’ll see to it that he won’t hurt you again, Elena. And as long as I’m here to guard you, he can’t get past me.”
His words were reassuring. And she had to remember that he’d been sent to protect her because he was one of an elite group of shadow guards – the best of the best.
She glanced in the direction of the chair where she knew he sat guarding her in the darkness. “Even so, do you think you might...I mean do you suppose you could lie next to me? At least until I’ve fallen asleep.”
Dariun’s emotions waged a war within him at her request. Torn between his need to protect the woman and his need to ‘have’ her, he grasped the arms of the chair, his fingers curling into the painted wicker.
“Elena...”
“I’m not asking for anything more,” she admitted with a tired smile. “It’s just that I’d feel safer with you here beside me.”
Darkness did nothing to dull his vision. He saw the pleading look in her eyes, heard the fear in her voice. Fear was a good thing. Brakkar was a ruthless life force stealer and Elena had to understand that in order for him to protect her from the rogue shadow.
“Dariun...” her soft plea came again thoroughly chipping away his resolve.
With a deep sigh, he gave in and pushed out of the chair. Gliding across the room as shadows had a tendency to do, he stood beside the bed. “Only until you’ve fallen asleep.”
“Thank you.”
He moved to lie atop the covers, but Elena drew them aside so he could lie beneath them. He slipped beneath the sheet and folded his arms behind his head, determined to avoid physical contact.
Only Elena had other ideas as she scooted closer and settled her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes.
Her sweet scent surrounded him, teasing his already heightened senses. Though he wouldn’t sleep, Elena needed to. And if his lying next to her helped to ease her fears, he would simply have to control his urges.
In a matter of minutes, her slow, even breathing told him she had relaxed enough for sleep to come. He turned slightly, taking in the delicate features of her face. Reaching up, he lightly traced the arch of her slender brow with his finger, moving down to the thick spray of lashes that framed her eyes. She was a natural beauty. Her face was perfection, he thought as his gaze slid down to her mouth. Full, pink lips formed a soft pout as she slept. Lips he had tasted and yearned to taste again. Slowly, he leaned into her, his mouth seeking hers.
She sighed softly, bringing him immediately back to his senses. Dariun dropped his head back onto the pillow, his body pulsing.
Elena nuzzled closer to him as she slept, the innocent gesture making him hard with want. He struggled to ignore the whispers of warmth caressing the side of his neck with each breath she took, but failed miserably. His need for her heightened, forcing him to dig deeper to rein in control of his desires.
She mumbled softly in her sleep and drew a leg up to twine about his. Heat sliced through him. He had never reacted to a female the way he was to Elena.
Dariun cursed his weakness where his desire for the beautiful human was concerned. He reached down to untangle her limb from his and froze the second his hand connected with her smooth, warm flesh. He couldn’t stop himself from letting his fingers glide up her calve to her bare thigh.
A soft, needy moan passed through Elena’s lips, making his cock harden even more. Her lashes fluttered open and their gazes met.
Don’t do it. Don’t kiss her his mind cried out. He had already tempted fate by kissing her earlier.
The tip of her tongue wet her lips in more of a nervous gesture than a seductive one, but it affected him all the same as he watched the wet slide of it with his gaze. With a defeated groan, Dariun leaned in, brushing his lips over hers.
She slid her arms up around his neck and parted her lips, giving him access to what he craved.
His tongue sought hers as he deepened the kiss. He ran his hand further up her thigh to brush over the barrier of silk that stood between his questing fingers and the heat he knew he would find beneath it.
“Dariun,” she moaned between hunger-driven kisses, her hips lurching toward his questing hand.
He silently cursed his inability to stop as his long fingers pushed aside the strip of silk and found their way to the silken nest of curls between her thighs.
Her breath caught.
His desire raged.
He pushed a finger through the soft, feminine curls to find the slick, moist heat of her desire. “Elena,” he groaned, “make me stop.” She had to, because he couldn’t seem to make himself do it.
“What if I don’t want you to,” she replied as she squirmed against his hand.
“Do it anyway,” he said, his words growing more strained.
Instead of obeying his command, she reached between them to run her fingers along the hardened length of him.
Breath hissed out from between his dark lips. “Do you ever follow orders?”
“Do you ever allow yourself to feel?”
That was the problem. He felt too much with her. And his hunger for Elena had moved past the point of containing it. He had to touch her. To taste her. Now.
Capturing her mouth with his own, he thrust his finger into her welcoming heat the way he ached to thrust his cock into her.
She moaned softly.
His sexual arousal had never been so strong. So intense. He fought to stay focused as she matched his every stroke. Using two fingers he pushed deeper inside her and then stilled, immersing himself in the feel of her body acclimating itself to the sensual intrusion of his fingers.
Elena arched into his touch, her head sinking deep into the thick down-filled pillow beneath it. Her soft cries of pleasure filled the room.
“Elena,” he groaned.
“Do you still want me to make you stop?” she asked with a sexy smile.
Why hadn’t she turned him away? He was an immortal. That alone would strike fear into the heart of most humans. Instead, she welcomed his touch.
“Well?” she prodded, her fingers firmly curled about his pulsing shaft, slowly stroking.
He dropped his brow to hers with a defeated sigh. “No.”
“Good,” she replied. “Because I don’t want you to stop touching me.”
He lowered his mouth to capture one of the hardened peaks that strained against the thin cotton of her pale pink tank top.
Her free hand shoved the barrier upward, freeing her breasts to his sensual kisses.
His tongue swirled about a taut nipple while his fingers stroked the damp, swollen flesh between her silken thighs.
Her thighs parted in silent invitation, her hips lifting with each fevered stroke of his finger.
The sweet, musky scent of her desire surrounded him, pushed him to the edge. Just when he thought he could take no more of her eager touch, Elena arched back into her pillow and cried out his name, her body shuddering its release.
His body tensed as her body clenched around his thrusting finger, nearly shattering the last of his restraint. He withdrew his hand and moved to free himself from her grip before he joined her in release.
“Before this night is over,” he warned, “You will be mine. Thoroughly. Completely.”
CHAPTER THREE
Pleasure like she’d never known rushed through her a
s Dariun’s determined strokes brought her to release. Dariun had awakened needs in her she never knew she was capable of having.
From their first kiss, she’d been drawn to her shadow guard. And to be awakened from sleep by his touch...
“I enjoy pleasuring you, Elena,” he whispered against her mouth.
He had certainly done that.
“Touching you pleases me,” he continued, his voice husky with desire. “I love the feel of your skin, so silky and smooth beneath my caress.” His flattened hand skimmed her abdomen, making her breath catch.
“Dariun,” she pleaded, the hunger returning.
His hand slipped once again between her trembling thighs. “And your body’s response as I plunge into your wetness.” He thrust his finger into her damp core.
Her fingers curled into the cotton sheet underneath her, grasping it as if it might help her hang on to her sanity as his skilled hand caressed her flesh. Shadow or not he was more man than her ex-husband ever would be.
“Oh, yes,” she said in a needy whimper as she arched into his bold caress.
“I crave the feel of your need, slick and warm around my finger as I stroke you.”
His seductive words aroused her every bit as much as his touch.
“I did not plan this,” he said, “yet I cannot stop myself from wanting it. I ache with the need to fill your sweet body with my own.”
She ached as well, so much so she thought she might die from the wanting. “I want...” she began, too distracted by the pleasure he was giving her to form the words.
“Tell me, Elena. Tell me what it is you want.”
“You,” she breathed. “Inside of me.” Her gaze lifted to meet his, the fire burning in them cutting into the night. “I want you to take me, Dariun. No other. Only you.
“And you will have me, but not until I’ve feasted on you fully.” He nipped at her bottom lip, drawing the delicate flesh into his mouth.
Release came swiftly – almost violently. Before the last shudder passed through her, Dariun shoved the covers away from them, exposing her heated flesh to the cool rush of air circulating in the dark, air-conditioned room.
“Lie back and open your legs for me, Elena. I wish to see all of you.”
“In the dark?”
“That is not a problem. We shadows see quite well in the dark.” He shifted as he rose up on the mattress beside her. “Now open for me.”
Her thighs trembled as she parted them, opening herself up to his hungry perusal. Though Dariun could see her, she was grateful for the darkness that surrounded her. Not only had it made her forget her inhibitions, her inability to see well had heightened her other senses immeasurably.
“Mmm, so lovely.” He leaned over her to circle a taut nipple with his tongue.
She arched, needing to be more fully inside his mouth.
He gave a husky chuckle. “You are a very sensual woman.”
“I am?” Her ex hadn’t thought so.
“You truly have no idea just how sexy you are, do you?” he replied in surprise.
She lowered her gaze, not answering.
“Before the night ends, you will believe.” His fingers began to play once more, gliding along the slick folds.
She shivered, more from the shock of her body’s response to his touch than the chilled air that brushed over her heated flesh.
“Do you know what it does to me to feel your body react to my touch?”
Her reply came out nothing more than a needy whimper.
He caressed the damp, swollen nub with his thumb while his mouth shifted its attention to her other nipple. “See how your breasts beg to be taken into my mouth.”
From any other man those words would have come across as conceited, but from Dariun it was more a sexual confidence. He seemed to know her body better than she ever had.
“So sweet,” he murmured against her flesh before drawing the taut peak deep into the heat of his mouth.
She had never felt so vulnerable, yet so amazingly sexy.
Suddenly his hand stilled, leaving her body aching for more. Even after two orgasms, she still needed more. Then his mouth retreated. Left her wanting even more.
“Don’t stop,” she pleaded.
“That is far from my intention,” he said as his large frame shifted, moving further down her body.
His hardened cock brushed against her thigh as he edged further down on the bed to settle between her parted legs. She shivered in anticipation as his tongue skimmed down her flat, quivering stomach.
“Now,” he said, “I will taste you.”
She had never been ‘tasted’ before and stiffened anxiously.
“Never,” he said, the warmth of his breath caressing her inner thighs, “be afraid of pleasure.” That said, his tongue slipped between the glistening folds of her sex.
She cried out, clutching at his broad shoulders.
He paused to look up at her, the glow in his black diamond eyes even brighter. “Does that pain you, Elena?”
“No,” she said, eyes squeezed shut.
“Because if it does, I’ll stop.”
“No,” she blurted out. “Please, don’t stop.”
Satisfied by her reply, he resumed ‘tasting’ her, his skillful tongue stroking her into insanity. While his fingers had given her incredible pleasure, Dariun’s tongue sweeping into the very core of her gave her ten times more.
His deft fingers parted her flesh further, giving him even better access to what is was he sought. His questing tongue thrust deep inside her.
“Ooh!” she gasped, her thighs threatening to snap shut.
“No,” he commanded. “Stay open for me, Elena. Let me pleasure you.”
She nodded, unable to speak. Her hands ran over the muscular contour of his back and then slid up to his broad shoulders, clutching them as his determined tongue worked her into another mindless sexual frenzy.
His large hands eased up her thighs, bidding them to open even more as his finger joined his tongue in pleasuring her.
Her head rolled from side to side as the sensual torment increased, as he loved her wickedly with his mouth. Digging her long nails into his dark flesh, she bucked her hips and then cried out as another orgasm tore through her.
Before the last quiver of sexual satisfaction moved through her, his body was stretched over hers, parting her legs even further.
“Now,” he said, “I will have you.” Grasping his cock, he guided it to her heated core, the weight of his body pressing her deep into the mattress.
A rush of nerves filled her, making her tense beneath him.
“It’s alright,” he said quietly.
“But it’s been so long,” she explained. “What if−”
He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “Wrap your legs around me.”
She did, feeling the fullness of him as he pressed slowly into the dampness. Then his mouth was on hers, demanding, distracting, and her body relaxed.
He thrust into her, filling her completely, her body stretching to take in every long, hard inch of him.
“Ah, yes, Elena. So good,” he muttered huskily against her mouth.
She clung to him, her groan of pleasure as his cock filled her echoing in the room around them.
He withdrew slowly until just the tip of his erection filled her and then thrust back in. In. Out. Deeper and deeper.
“Dariun,” she pleaded. She was on the verge of release again.
“Release the dam, Elena. I want to feel your desire wash over me.”
She locked her legs around his lean hips and arched up into his lovemaking. The pleasurable friction it created was more than she could bear.
With one final thrust, Elena cried out his name as she was swept away once more.
The feel of Elena’s sweet body milking him as her orgasm rocked her was more than Dariun could take. With a low growl, captured her mouth beneath his and thrust into her one last time before reaching his own release.
His entir
e body went rigid as he spilled into her. Lost himself to her. Oh, hell, what had he done? He lowered his brow to hers with a sigh.
“Dariun?”
He pulled out, his cock semi-erect and threatening to fill her once more, and rolled onto his side on the mattress beside her. “You should sleep.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
He reached up to run his fingers through her hair. “You were perfect.”
“Then why do I feel like I’ve upset you?”
He was silent for a long moment before replying, “I have a job to do, Elena.”
“I know,” she replied. “To protect me.”
Her Shadow Warrior Page 3