Gifted - The 5 Book Paranormal Romance Box Set

by Amira Rain

  With a growl rumbling deep within his chest, he locked his arms around my thighs, pulling me against his face. Instantly, I felt his tongue begin slowly flicking across my throbbing sensitive bud, and I cried out, gripping the top of the headboard just about hard enough to break it.

  I wasn't a complete stranger to having my most intimate parts "kissed," but what was currently happening was something else entirely. Whether it was because of my positioning or Desmond's enthusiasm, or a combination of the two, what I was currently experiencing was as close to complete rapture as I'd ever felt while being kissed. However, it was very soon to get even further rapturous.

  After a little while, Desmond began to accelerate the pace of his flicking tongue, and also increase the pressure of it, periodically growling, clearly enjoying what was going on. And what was going on was that I'd begun gently rocking my hips, not even aware of having started doing it, grinding my most intimate parts against Desmond's mouth, tongue, and face.

  I momentarily wondered if he was even able to breathe, but the way he seemed to be encouraging me with his growls, his increased pace and pressure, and his kneading of my thighs and rear told me that he was just fine.

  It wasn't long before I felt myself quickly approaching what I knew was going to be a climax for the ages, and when Desmond gave one of my rear cheeks a light swat, then gave the other one the same, this approach toward pure bliss gained even more momentum.

  Although nearly breathless from panting and moaning, I somehow managed to speak. "Yes. Yes, again with those swats. But harder."

  In a feat of coordination I was pretty sure only a shifter could display, Desmond continued rapidly flicking his tongue over my most sensitive spot while also giving each of my rear cheeks light, stinging slaps, alternating hands.

  "Even harder. Please don't stop."

  He didn't, flicking his tongue even more rapidly across my throbbing spot, and giving my right rear cheek two fairly hard, stinging swats that immediately sent me right over the edge. Rhythmically grinding my femininity against his mouth, tongue, and face again, I cried out, clutching the headboard, while rapid waves of intense pleasure seemed to pick me up and carry me away to some place where time didn't even exist anymore.

  I wasn't even sure how long the waves of complete rapture carried me; I just became aware that they were finally slowing. Desmond, however, was now eager to experience his own release, it seemed, and I was eager to experience it right along with him, hoping that maybe I'd get a second climax of my own as a bonus.

  Just a few moments after the last spasm of my first one had passed, he deftly lifted me off his face, displaying his shifter strength, and flipped me onto my back, burying his face in my hair while he parted my legs and slid his beyond-hard shaft deep inside of me.

  "So gorgeous, Madison. You're just gorgeous."

  Moaning with pleasure at what he'd just said, combined with the intensely pleasurable sensation of being so completely filled, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and my legs around his waist. With a growl, he soon began thrusting with slow, powerful strokes, quickly kindling the fire of my passion yet again.

  I'd never been the kind of lucky woman who could easily achieve two climaxes in one night, let alone one immediately right after the other, but I could tell that Desmond was going to make it very easy for me to become that kind of lucky woman.

  A short while later, he proved me right, his deep, powerful strokes bringing me to another incredibly powerful orgasm while he spilled his masculine essence inside of me, groaning out his own powerful release.

  Afterward, once we'd both stilled in our movements, he rolled to my side and took me in his arms with the fading light filtering through the curtains revealing his full lips curving in just the hint of a smile.

  "I'm sorry. I just can't stop saying it...you're so unbelievably gorgeous, Madison. Almost indescribably so. And the level of pleasure you give me physically...." He paused, seeming to be fighting a much bigger smile. "All I can say is that you're an extraordinary woman."

  Now smiling myself, I snuggled deeper into his arms.

  "Well, let me just say that you're a pretty extraordinary, incredibly handsome, beautiful man, and that the level of physical pleasure you give me is...." Pausing, I decided to tease him a little. "Well, it's decent."

  Jaw dropping, he feigned shock and outrage, but not a second later, he couldn't hold back a long, loud chuckle.

  "Just 'decent?' Just 'decent,' she says."

  I laughed, deciding not to further tease him.

  "Okay. Okay, I'll admit that the level of physical pleasure you give me is...I'll just say it's an amazing, mind-blowing sort of level. It's the kind of level a girl could get very used to."

  Desmond smiled. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. 'Decent' would never do...not for a creature as exquisite as yourself."

  I smiled in return, twining my fingers with his, and fell silent, my thoughts turning to things a bit more serious.

  After a few moments just spent looking into my eyes in the dim light, stroking my hair with his free hand, Desmond asked me what I was thinking. "You suddenly look as if you've got something on your mind...or maybe you're just tired."

  "Well, I am getting a bit sleepy, but...."

  "But, what?"

  "I just want to know if you're really still going to be here when I wake up. I want to know if that was something you just said in the heat of the moment before we...before we started our 'activities.'"

  In my gut, I felt like I wasn't going to wake up alone again like I had after the night we'd met, but I just wanted to know for sure. A look of sincerity in Desmond's eyes, however, told me all I needed to know before he even said a word.

  "I'll still be here when you wake up. I'm not going anywhere."

  Heart soaring but heavy eyelids closing, I nodded with a little smile, and Desmond spoke again.

  "Now just try to get some sleep. I'm going to hold you through the night."

  I loved the sound of that, and I closed my eyes, giving Desmond's large, strong hand a gentle squeeze. Soon I was sleeping hard, enjoying the deep rest of the profoundly satisfied. All my dreams were hazy and pleasant, and throughout them, some tiny little part of my brain was still able to register the feel of Desmond's strong arms wrapping me in safety and warmth.

  However, sometime not too long after dawn, I awoke to my own personal nightmare. I wasn't in Desmond's arms anymore. My bed was empty. He was gone.

  I sat up, heart racing, experiencing a wave of dizziness and nausea, as well as one of extreme hunger, even in my horror. As my pregnancy progressed, it seemed my body was becoming more and more demanding about a regular eating schedule, though at present, I didn't care. I just wanted to know what had made Desmond leave. Yet again.

  Hardly able to even believe it, I swung my legs over the side of the bed, wondering if it were possible that maybe he'd been called away on some Angel-related emergency. I realized I'd thought this the last time I'd woken up alone, and that hadn't been the case, or if it had been, he hadn't told me, but I was wanting to grasp at any straws available to me right then.

  The thought that he'd bolted on me for the second time, and without so much as a hasty goodbye was almost more than I could bear. It just simply couldn't be true. I wasn't sure if I'd survive it again with my sanity intact, not to mention my heart.

  However, while I waited a few seconds for my dizziness and nausea to lessen before getting out of bed, I noticed an aroma that suddenly made everything okay. It was the aroma of cooking bacon, and I breathed it in deeply, getting a little whiff of cooking eggs, too.

  Desmond was just out of bed making breakfast. I actually quietly laughed out loud, chastising myself for so instantly jumping to conclusions, not that I'd really much been able to help it after the previous experience.

  After slowly getting up and out of bed, trying not to make my slight dizziness and nausea worse, I used the restroom, brushed my teeth, and washed my face before getting back into bed t
he same time as Desmond appeared, coming through the doorway carrying a breakfast tray loaded with two plates, steaming mugs of coffee, and glasses of orange juice.

  He was shirtless, wearing only his jeans, and his dark hair was clearly still damp, indicating that he'd already taken a shower.

  Smiling, he came over and set the tray on my lap.

  "Sleeping beauty awakens...and I thought she might be hungry."

  I smiled in return, stomach growling as if on cue.

  "I am...though having a little touch of morning sickness at the same time. It seems a little counter-intuitive to eat when you feel sick, but usually, it makes me feel better."

  "Then, let's dig right in. I should tell you, though, I'm really not the world's greatest cook...but I can usually handle eggs and bacon, and I tried my best not to burn them."

  As he climbed into bed beside me, being careful not to jostle the tray, I smiled.

  "I'm sure everything will taste great."

  Whether it was because I was so hungry from only having had a sandwich and a bowl of cereal for dinner the night before, or whether it was because Desmond was a better cook than he thought he was, the breakfast actually tasted beyond great, really bordering on heavenly.

  The scrambled eggs were thoroughly cooked, yet fluffy and still just a bit soft, just the way I liked them, and the thick-cut bacon was perfectly crisp yet not burned in the least. The two slices of toast on my plate were also perfectly crisp without being burned, and Desmond had even made a delectable fresh fruit salad with sliced kiwifruit, strawberries, and orange segments.

  For supposedly not being very handy in the kitchen, he'd really done a wonderful job with the whole breakfast, and after thanking him for it, I told him so.

  "This is the kind of breakfast a girl could get used to...especially being served in bed by an incredibly handsome dragon shifter."

  This was exactly what I'd been wanting to happen following the first night we'd shared together.

  Desmond smiled, but before he could respond to what I'd said, his phone began going off, and he pulled it from his pocket with a frown. To my surprise, though, he didn't answer it.

  Instead, he just silenced it and set it on the ornately-carved cherry wood nightstand closest to him.

  “I’ve already called Eric and told him that I'm not going to be leading morning patrol around the city this morning, so we're just going to ignore that. If there's some emergency, he knows to call repeatedly, but until then...I plan on fully enjoying our morning together."

  We soon set about doing just that, digging into our food and sipping our coffee. We talked about somewhat "safe" subjects, like how I'd been doing at Gifted practice, and how I intended to try to get Emma to give things another go. From there, we moved on to talking about Jake, and how he was set to stop having to wear his leg braces very soon.

  I set my coffee cup down, recalling how the day before, Emma had been sharing her joy about it with Eloise at the care home, positively glowing as she talked about how he was going to be able to learn to walk.

  "Emma is just about as excited as a mom can be, and I don't blame her."

  Desmond smiled, setting his own mug down.

  "I know Eric is going to want to be there the very first time little Jake stands without his braces on."

  I smiled in return. "I bet. I know it'll be an amazing, special moment, for sure." I picked up my fork and speared a slice of strawberry, but then paused in lifting it to my mouth. "You know...not to get all into their personal business, although Emma has shared a few things with me, but...what exactly are Eric's feelings for Emma? Do you know?"

  Desmond finished chewing a bite of toast and swallowed with a faint sigh.

  "Well...I'll just say that his feelings for her are profound."

  I was pretty sure he was about to say something else, but before he could, his phone went off again.

  Now, instead of just frowning, he openly glared at it. "I told Eric that it had better be some code red-level emergency...."

  "But you said he'd call repeatedly if something major was up...so, don't you think you should answer it? I don't mind."

  Rather, I didn't, but then again, I did.

  Desmond reached for his phone, still glaring at it.

  "Let me just send a text, here. One second." Once he'd tapped out a quick text and had sent it, he turned to look at me again. "One of the reasons I skipped morning patrol today is because I want to talk to you about a few fairly serious things. I owe you some explanations."

  CHAPTER 14

  We'd both finished with our food, so Desmond took the tray away out to the kitchen, leaving me with just my half-finished coffee. Eating breakfast had made my nausea and dizziness completely disappear, although now I developed a different kind of stomach issue, more of a vague churning feeling, like I'd often developed throughout my life as a result of general nerves.

  Whatever Desmond was going to tell me, I just hoped it was something positive, like that he'd decided that he did want to be a part of our baby's life, and maybe mine, too. And I hoped that whatever explanation he gave me for his behavior since I'd arrived in Chicago, was something that made sense, and was something that I could understand. I wanted desperately for it to make sense, just as I wanted desperately to begin a new chapter with Desmond, one where we not only both cared about our baby, but about each other as well.

  When he returned to my bedroom, the bright spring sunshine filtering through the curtains had filled the room with a soft golden glow that bathed Desmond's lightly tanned skin, too, making him even more handsome than usual, which was saying a lot, and his body looked even more inviting.

  As he climbed into bed beside me, I found I couldn't keep my gaze off his bare chest and sculpted abs, but I forced myself to lift my focus to his face. If he was ready to give me explanations about a few things, I was more than ready to hear them.

  He first took one of my hands in his and just looked into my eyes for a moment.

  "I'm sorry, Madison. I'm sorry for leaving you without even saying goodbye the first night we spent together."

  "But why did you? Was it something I said, or did, or didn't do?"

  Sighing, he shifted his gaze downward, to our clasped hands, for a moment.

  "No. It was absolutely nothing you did. Well...it was, rather, but it wasn't your fault. You were simply too sweet, and I couldn't handle it. I had to run."

  "What do you mean? How was I 'too sweet?'"

  Again, Desmond sighed. "I noticed it almost right away. I chased you out of the bar because I thought you were so beautiful, but then very soon, I noticed a charming sweetness about you that I find incredibly attractive. When you said that you didn't normally pick up men in bars, I completely believed you. You just didn't strike me as the type of woman who brought home a new man every night after having a few beers.

  “You struck me as the kind of woman much happier sitting under the stars enjoying some good conversation and a treat as sweet as you are. I really liked that. I also liked how it was somehow clear to me that you weren't the type to bring strange men home, and yet, once you made up your mind that you wanted to take me home, you just kind of went for it. It was very surprising, and sexy, and sweet all at once. And then when we enjoyed our time in your bed...."

  Desmond suddenly cracked a smile, running his free hand over his face.

  I smiled as well, recalling that night.

  "Yes, I enjoyed our first night together more than a bit as well."

  Still smiling a little, Desmond gave my hand a gentle squeeze.

  "For me, it was incredible. I'd been waiting quite a while to share a night of passion like that with a woman just like you. But then after...immediately after...I began to think I'd made a mistake."

  "Why?"

  "Well...for a few years, I've had somewhat of a policy to not get too close to any one particular woman. I've had a policy of guarding my heart. It hasn't been extraordinarily hard, considering I'm used to being around a lot of
women who want status, and power, and prestige, and will go to any lengths to get it...but you were the opposite of that. And then after we made love, I realized that I'd kind of allowed my 'guarded heart' policy to blow right out the window.

  “My heart was already tipping toward you, and then you made the comment about needing to get up early to help your grandma and the other residents of the care home...and that's when I knew I had to run, before I became even further enamored of you. You'd become too sweet...dangerously sweet...and I knew I'd be in serious trouble if I didn't just get out of your apartment and try to forget about you."