Heart of Stone

by Debra Mullins

  He’d clearly been checking out her backside while she’d squatted down, and he didn’t even look guilty. He looked—hungry.

  He’d dropped his mask, his need stark on his face, his eyes burning with it. Had she really thought him a patient, controlled man? There was nothing controlled about the way he looked at her as he held out his hand, the demand unspoken.

  She took it and followed him from the cabana.

  * * *

  They hurried along the length of the pool with the furtiveness of a couple of teenagers, glancing around them in case anyone was home. But the pool and its deck chairs were deserted this Friday afternoon, and they reached the door to Darius’s cottage without seeing a single soul.

  He tugged her inside and shut the door behind them, clicking the lock. She barely glanced at his living room, focused completely on him. He leaned his cane against the wall, her scent tickling his senses. “Tell me you’re sure.”

  Her lips curved, and she laid her hand against his thudding heart. “What do you think?”

  He took that hand and guided it around his neck, pulling her against him. “I think you’re beautiful.”

  She blushed. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  He laughed. “I’m the one with the dents. If I were an appliance, I’d be in the clearance section of the store.”

  She stroked his cheek with her free hand. “I think you’re the most amazing man I’ve ever known, dents and all.”

  The sincerity in her words intoxicated him like top-shelf bourbon. She looked at him as if he could leap tall buildings, arousal simmering in her eyes. It sparked his own hunger.

  He kissed her, relishing the sweetness of her mouth, the ever increasing desire that reflected from him to her and back again, intensifying each time. The bond between them swelled, lengthening, strengthening.

  It wasn’t the only thing.

  He slid his hand beneath her shirt, started to pull it out of the way. She broke the kiss and put her hand over his, stopping him.

  “I’m not very experienced.” Her voice sounded lower than normal. Husky. Sultry. And sexy as hell.

  “That’s okay.” He slipped his fingers below the hem of the shirt and traced the flesh of her waist along the edge of her jeans. She didn’t stop him this time.

  “I’ve only been with one man.” She bit her lower lip, an earnestness coming through that humbled him. “I don’t want to disappoint you.”

  His heart softened. “That won’t happen.”

  “You don’t know that.” Her doubts crowded in, dampening a bit of her ardor. “I was so young when I met Michael, and since him … well, there’s been no one.”

  “Don’t worry about that.”

  “No, listen to me. I want you to understand.” She stared into his eyes, her own stark with honesty. “I never had the inclination. Figured I was a failure at romance, at being a woman. And you— You’re so strong. Protective. You always know the right thing to say. It’s like you can read my mind.” She swallowed hard. “You make me feel like a woman the way no man ever has.”

  With every word of her heartfelt sentiment, the yoke of guilt tightened around his neck. Here she stood in his arms, pliant and willing, and he was deceiving her by not telling her the full truth about his abilities. She’d been manipulated all her life by everyone, even her husband. Was he any better?

  “I just wanted to tell you that.” She pulled away a little, her insecurity whittling away at her earlier confidence. “So you would understand if, you know, it isn’t as good as you expect.”

  He put a finger to her lips. “Stop talking like that.” He couldn’t stand how she doubted herself, denied her very allure as a woman. He knew he should probably stop this now, before it was too late. But if he backed away after that poignant confession, it would only make her think she was right, that she wasn’t attractive enough for him.

  He couldn’t let her think that. But neither could he take advantage of her when he hadn’t told her the whole truth. So if he couldn’t walk away and he couldn’t in good conscience indulge himself, there was only one option.

  Today would be all about her.

  “I think you’re beautiful and sexy and fun.” He held eye contact as he said the words and reflected a little of his own hunger along their bond. “You feel that? You do that to me, Faith. I want to take you to bed and make you feel so good, you’ll know for certain you’re the sexiest woman on the planet. Because you are, to me.”

  Her lips parted, her cheeks flushing and her eyes bright. “Promise?”

  “Hell, yes.”

  She took the edge of her shirt and jerked it off herself, dropping it on the carpet. Her pale pink bra cupped her delicate breasts, her waist a gentle curve, her belly smooth and flat. She waited, half excited, half nervous.

  He took her hips in his hands, bending forward to press soft kisses along her throat and down, nuzzling the succulent flesh that pushed up from her bra. She arched into his touch.

  He took his time, savoring the taste of her, her answering passion bursting on his tongue like tart berries. Slipping a finger beneath the edge of her bra, he teased her nipple. Arousal shot through her, reflected to him. He pulled the material out of the way. Bending his head, he captured the tip of her breast in his mouth and sucked. She cried out. He let her nipple slip out of his mouth and blew gently. The taut flesh grew even stiffer. A shiver rippled through her.

  He slid his hands into her hair and captured her mouth, pressing her back against the wall. Her body heated and sparked beneath his touch, singeing him physically, empathically. She filled his every sense with her need, intoxicating him. He wanted to give her more. Give her everything.

  He ripped his mouth from hers. Staring into her eyes, he caressed her cheek. “I want you in my bed.”

  She nodded and licked her lips. “Yes.” Her voice sounded hoarse, her breath coming in pants. He held out his hand, and she placed hers in it. She was so delicately built, he felt like he was holding a butterfly in his grasp as he led her into the bedroom.

  He yanked the covers off the bed one-handed, tossing them to the floor, and led her to the edge of the mattress. She started to sit, but he stopped her. “Not yet.”

  She obeyed, watching him with a question in her beautiful green eyes. And trust. She believed he would take care of her.

  Which only reaffirmed his resolve to make this the best experience of her life.

  Desire ran hot through her veins like lava, flooding his senses and making his head spin. He pushed the bra straps off her shoulders. The cups gaped. He reached behind her and unfastened the bra one-handed, tugging it down her arms and baring her completely.

  “You are so beautiful.” He cupped one slight mound in his palm.

  “I’m small.”

  “No.” He caressed the soft flesh. “You’re gorgeous. Look at how you respond to me.” He swept his thumb along her nipple. She jolted. Gasped. He leaned in, covering her whole breast with his hand as he touched his mouth to hers. “I want to see all of you.”

  A long, low sigh swept from her lips across his. Her surrender washed over him like a warm tide. He tugged at the waistband of her shorts, and she helped him pull them down, her lacy scrap of panties going with them. They pooled around her ankles, and she kicked them off.

  He took a step back, regarding her from head to toe. “You look so sexy.”

  “Good thing I didn’t put my sandals back on.”

  “That would have been even sexier.” Her eyes widened, and he grinned. “Oh, come on. Haven’t you ever gotten your kink on?”

  “Not like that.”

  “We’ll have to change that. But later.” He gestured at the bed. “Lie down.”

  “What about you? You’re still dressed.”

  “Yeah, and it kind of gets me hot.” He helped her get settled in the middle of the mattress. “There’s something really sexy about a naked woman and a fully dressed man.”

  She slid him a glance that singed his good inten
tions. “You’d better plan on taking those pants off at some point.”

  He nearly lost control right then. “First I’m going to make you come a couple of times.”

  Her eyes bugged. “A couple of times?”

  “Sure.” He sat on the edge of the bed and skimmed his hand along her body from collarbone to belly. His fingertips grazed the dark hair between her thighs. “I’m a gentleman. I think I told you that before.” He leaned down to kiss her. “And gentlemen always let ladies go first.”

  She smoothed her hands over his chest. “At least take off your shirt. I’ve been dying to touch you since I first saw you in the pool.”

  Her sincere yearning strained his resolve. How long had it been since a woman had genuinely been turned on by his body?

  He yanked the white polo shirt over his head and tossed it across the room, leaving him clad in just his jeans. His erection strained against the denim, bold and unmistakable. “Better?”

  “Yes.” The word ended in a hiss of pleasure as she threaded her fingers through his chest hair. “You’re so furry.”

  “So are you.” He stroked a finger between her legs.

  She made a little sound, part gasp, part catch in her throat. Her eyelids slid halfway closed.

  “You like that, sweetheart?” He stroked her some more, each touch sending another jolt through her system, mirroring back to him and feeding his own hunger. She spread her thighs wider in answer.

  The sight of the moist, rosy flesh nearly did him in. She wanted this—him—so badly. His senses whirled as if he were drunk. And he was … on her. He wanted nothing more than to bury himself inside her and take them both to ecstasy. But if he did that and she found out he’d been keeping secrets from her, ecstasy would turn to heartbreak very quickly. And he didn’t want that, for either of them.

  He focused on her reactions, making her the center of his world. Kissing her mouth, her neck. Teasing her breasts with his tongue until those pink peaks strained hard and tight. He worked his way down her body with his lips and tongue, discovering what she liked, what she didn’t. Her fevered responses washed over him in waves, telling him what had no effect and what drove her wild.

  He nibbled her belly and then deliberately skipped over her sex to tease her thighs with his tongue. She whimpered and raised her hips, silently begging for his attention at her core. The scent of her arousal tortured him. He couldn’t resist those damp folds, so hot and swollen. He spread her thighs wide and dipped his head to lick her there.

  She cried out, clawing the mattress, and lifted her hips to his mouth, so turned on it made him desperate to drive her higher. Everything she felt echoed back on him, made him want to give her more until they were both insane with it.

  He found her clitoris and rubbed his tongue against the sensitive bud. He could feel the pressure building inside her, climax hovering just beyond her reach. He kissed and nibbled, licked and sucked, tension stretching so taut it might snap.…

  She came with a little scream, her body shuddering, cream bursting on his tongue. Her pleasure flooded through the mating bond, making his head spin and his cock even harder. He clenched his eyes shut and rested his head on her belly, waiting for her to come back to earth.

  They’d only begun.

  * * *

  Faith shivered as her body slowly came back to normal. Darius’s head still rested on her thigh, and she stroked his hair, content to drift. Her body hummed with satisfaction. He lifted his head to smile at her, and her heart did a slow turn in her chest. The way he looked at her. Touched her. Talked to her. He was like no other man she’d ever known.

  She was definitely falling for him.

  He kissed her thigh, his goatee tickling the sensitive flesh. She jumped and he grinned at her, a wicked curving of the lips that melted her insides and any inkling of rational thought. He brushed his facial hair along the inside of her thigh, then nipped her. She yelped.

  He laughed. “Ready for more?”

  “More?” she squeaked.

  Still grinning, he shifted his body until he lay beside her, his head propped on one elbow. “Just let me know when you’re ready. There’s more where that came from.” He drew a circle around one still-sensitive nipple, sending a jolt straight to her loins.

  She groaned. “My whole body feels like pudding, and you want to go again.”

  “Sure I do.” His grin faded, his gaze hawklike in its intensity. “I loved watching you come. Tasting you. I could do that all night, make a meal of you.”

  He gave her that look again, like she was a buffet and he was a starving man. She wanted to just open to him and let him take his fill. The bond between them throbbed like a live wire, conveying quite clearly how aroused he was.

  “What about you?” She trailed her fingers down his hair-roughened chest to rest on the snap of his jeans. Her thumb brushed the heat of him, hard and ready beneath the denim.

  He gave a hoarse laugh and lifted her questing hand to his mouth to kiss the palm. “Today is about you, sweetheart.”

  “If it’s about me, I can do whatever I want?” The idea piqued her mischievous side. “What if I want to touch you?”

  He lay back and spread his arms. “Touch away.”

  She scrambled up onto her knees and swept her palms over his torso. “I’ve been dying to get my hands on this chest since I saw you swimming that time. I could barely remember my name.”

  “Sure it had nothing to do with the hot dream you had the night before?”

  Her cheeks heated. Even though she’d just climaxed harder than she’d ever done before, her body sprang to life in response to that teasing light in his eyes. He seemed relaxed and in control, nowhere near the wild arousal that held her in its grasp.

  She wanted to change that.

  She stroked her hands over his shoulders. “Look at this upper body. Your muscles are amazing.”

  “Spending a few years in a wheelchair will do that.”

  She stopped her exploration. “Oh, Darius.”

  “That and swimming.”

  She accepted the change of subject without missing a beat. “You’re an amazing swimmer.” She trailed her fingers along his ripped abs. “Look at this tone.” She bent forward and swept her tongue along the bronzed flesh. Grinned at him. “Tasty, too.”

  “You want to play?” He hauled her up along the length of his body as if she weighed nothing.

  “That’s not fair. You’re stronger than I am.” She pushed against his chest and straddled him. “Well, this is an interesting position.”

  “Yeah, it is.” He reached up with both hands to caress her breasts.

  His hardness pressed against her bottom, imprisoned by his jeans. She wanted to explore him, to make him as mad with desire as he’d made her.

  Taste him.

  She swung off him, his hands falling from her breasts as she landed beside him. Before he could react, she’d leaned forward and flipped open the snap of his jeans.

  His features tight, his eyes burning, he reached out a hand. But it just settled on the top of her head as she pulled down his zipper and jerked his jeans and boxers out of the way to free him.

  “You don’t have to do this.” His voice sounded like sandpaper. “Today was supposed to be about you. Giving you pleasure.”

  “This gives me pleasure.” She stroked a hand down his stiff cock. “So hard and yet such soft skin. Like steel encased in silk.”

  “Poetic.” He shuddered as she swept her fingers along his length, across the tip. “Sweet mercy, you’re killing me.”

  “Payback.” She leaned forward and took him in her mouth.

  His back arched. He cursed, his voice rich with tormented pleasure. He slid his hands into her hair, holding her still but not hard enough to hurt her. His reaction sparked answering wildness inside her. She closed her eyes and focused on his wordless cues. The way he lifted toward her, the inventive, sometimes unintelligible profanity he muttered.

  The way he held her hair out of
her face in a gentle grip.

  The mating bond flowed between them, throbbing and molten. His escalating excitement flared her own. She was ready for him again, damp and hot between her legs. She would die if she didn’t get him inside her, right now.

  She glided her mouth up his length one last time and licked the tip before sitting up. He made a sound of protest. His eyes drifted open, and a low groan vibrated from his chest as she straddled him and took him inside her.

  She closed her eyes as he settled deep, the delicious friction stealing her breath.

  He gripped her hips. “This wasn’t the plan.”

  She moved up and down, slowly, enjoying the feel of him. He tightened his grip but didn’t push her away. A smile curved her lips. “Oh, did you want me to stop?”

  Breath hissed from between his teeth. “I’ll die if you do.”

  “Me, too.” She closed her eyes and indulged herself in him.

  * * *

  He should stop her. He knew it. But he couldn’t.

  He might have summoned the strength to pull away. He’d resisted the physical before. But the emotional … Even if he weren’t an empath, their mating bond linked them so strongly that everything she felt was magnified back to him, flooding him with every sensation. He was swamped with her pleasure, drowning in how badly she wanted him. How she thrilled at the way he filled her. He could only hang on as she rode him and whipped both of them to the hot, sweaty finish that had her throwing back her head and wailing her release seconds before she collapsed on him.

  Her climax ricocheted through him, pushing him over the edge with a harsh groan as he exploded inside her.

  They lay that way for a while, replete and panting, sweat drying on their bodies. He toyed with her hair, their situation niggling at him. He’d have to tell her everything. It was the only way he could in good conscience continue their affair. But first he had to let his family know he was going to tell her. He’d agreed to the deception for their collective safety, but since he’d gotten to know Faith, he knew she wasn’t part of some Mendukati plot to infiltrate their home and kill them all. His family wouldn’t be inclined to agree, but they would eventually accept his decision. He wouldn’t accept anything less. Faith was too important to him.