No, damn it. Don’t go there. You can’t.
Shying away from the dangerous territory of that particular thought, he said, “You have to know how beautiful I think you are. Every part of you, Hope. I wouldn’t change a single thing, except to take those scars away. To erase their existence. Not because of how they look, but because of what they represent. Because of what you went through. The pain. The loss.”
She blinked, trying to smile, but he could still see the shadow of doubt darkening her gaze. Knowing he needed to make her understand, he leaned closer, wanting her to see the truth burning in his eyes as he said, “I want you, Hope. Every part of you. In ways I’ve never wanted anyone or anything. But the idea of you hurt. Bleeding. Of what that bastard did to you. It’s going to push me somewhere you don’t want me to go. Not when you’re here with me. Alone.”
And just like that, he could see her doubts give way beneath a wave of indignation. “I’m not afraid of you, Riley.”
“You should be,” he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. “Christ, even I’m afraid of what’s inside me, baby.”
“Well, I’m not,” she snapped, the disgruntled words bringing the grin back to his face, managing to soften his fear.
“In that case,” he rasped, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth, “you’d better get your sweet ass on that bed before I have at you right here.”
Breathing deeply, Riley couldn’t take his eyes off her as she hurried to do as he’d said, settling on her knees in the center of all that innocent-looking linen and lace, her long hair streaming over her pale shoulders, his fantasy woman come to life. Pulling off his shoes and jeans, he took out a condom and laid it on the antique bedside table, then jerked his chin toward her, his voice nothing more than a husky scrape of sound as he said, “Lose the panties. Then lie back and spread your legs for me.”
Heat burned in her face, but she didn’t hesitate…didn’t balk. Riley could see her excitement…her own sharp, urgent desire in the racing of her pulse at the base of her delicate throat. Hear it in the rushing cadence of her breath. Feel it shimmering from her in warm, incandescent waves that blasted against him as she pulled down the small panties, throwing them over the side of the bed. The heat of her burned through his guard, his masks, until there was nothing but the raging, desperate need to be a part of her storming through his body, pounding through his veins.
Stepping out of his boxers, he heard her breath catch as she got her first look at him…at the dark, thick, brutal-looking evidence of just how badly he wanted her. It sounded as if there was a smile in her soft voice as she said, “Good God, Riley,” but he couldn’t take his eyes off the breathtaking perfection between her thighs long enough to look at her face. The instant she’d spread her legs for him, revealing her damp, glistening, candy-pink center, he’d been caught…unable to look away. She was…perfect. Swollen and wet and unbearably pretty. Tender and smooth and delicate. The most exquisite thing he’d ever seen, and he couldn’t wait to get his mouth on her.
Crawling up on the bed, Riley moved between her shyly parted thighs and grasped her behind her knees. Her breath caught, as he forced her knees out wider…higher, opening her all the way up, so that he could see every slippery, intimate pink detail. He made a thick sound of lust, unable to wait a second more.
“Keep them right there,” he growled, using his thumbs to separate her plump folds as he bent down and took a hot, hungry lick with his tongue. She arched beneath him as if a jolt of electricity had shot through her body, a sharp, shocked sound breaking out of her chest while he lost himself in her, his pulse roaring in his ears like the crashing surf. Greedy for every part of her, Riley swirled his tongue over her…inside her, dipping into the honeyed sweetness, her taste so perfect…so addictive, it was as if she’d been made for him. He couldn’t get enough as he thrust his tongue deep, then lapped…licking…rubbing it against her small, tightly knotted clit. He could have lingered there in that drenched, silken paradise forever if he’d had the time, but the urgent throbbing in his cock was too demanding, insisting that he bury himself inside her, as soon as humanly possible. But he couldn’t stop until he’d tasted her pleasure. Until he’d felt that intense, gushing rush of energy pouring through her, spilling into his mouth.
“God, Riley, I can’t take it,” she moaned, trembling beneath him. “It’s too much. Too…good.”
“Just remember to breathe,” he told her, his voice a husky, graveled rasp. “If you pass out, then you’re going to miss what comes next. And it’s the best part.”
“Oh.” She shivered…her body arching…drawing closer…closer. “In that case, I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“That’s my girl,” he murmured with a low, wicked rumble of laughter, and as he thrust his tongue back inside, rubbing one thumb against her softly pulsing clit, she broke, surrendering to the ecstasy…giving him everything that he wanted.
HOPE HAD TRIED not to get lost beneath the stunning, crashing waves of pleasure, but in the end, she’d lost her hold…and had seen stars glittering across the endless midnight stretch of her mind. When she came floating back to the world and could focus, she lifted her heavy lashes to find Riley right there, pushing her hair back from her damp brow, a boyish, wondering smile at the corner of his mouth that made him look endearingly young…fresh. Untouched. As if this moment were taking them back in time, all the pain and torment and stress of the years since they’d last been together forgotten, wiped clean from the board, leading to a shiny, sparkling future that was just waiting for them. Only…it wasn’t.
Before she had time to dwell on that bitter dose of reality, he asked, “Are you on the pill?”
She licked her bottom lip as she shook her head. “Didn’t see the point. Sex isn’t really my thing. Or at least…it wasn’t.” A smile tipped the corner of her mouth as she stared up into the devastating beauty of his face. “But I’m thinking now that maybe I need to reevaluate my priorities.”
Riley would have laughed, but he was too raw inside. Too tense. Desire was pulling him tight. Hunger breaking him down. And jealousy slithered like a serpent through his veins, taunting him with the knowledge that there would be men who came after him. All he could offer her was this moment…this night. And when he was gone, some other lucky bastard was going to come along and sweep her off her feet. The only reason it hadn’t happened so far was because she’d been closed down. Locked up. Hiding away. But she was open now. In bloom. Flushed. She’d draw the eye of every man who came into the café, and he’d turn into a memory, forgotten…lost.
It made him want to howl. Made him want to imprint himself on her so deeply that the mark could never fade.
He wanted nothing more than to take her skin-on-skin, but couldn’t take that risk. Not when he’d be leaving her here alone to raise his child. Locking his jaw, he reached for the condom he’d left on the bedside table, ripped open the packet and rolled it on. And then he gathered her beneath him, fit himself against her, and drove deep into the melting, softly pulsing depths of her body. A harsh, guttural groan filled his mouth, and he buried his head in the curve of her shoulder, closing his eyes, soaking in the mind-shattering details as he began to move, not wanting to miss a single sensation. Their skin turned slick with heat, bodies sliding against one another, warmed by lust and hunger and need. A dark, devastating desire that had been smoldering for so many years.
Pushing up on his arms, he said, “I want you to come before me this time.” Then he dipped his head, nipping her lower lip, before thrusting his tongue into the sweet, moist well of her mouth, unable to get enough of her taste, the pansy-soft texture of her lips. The sweet suction of the kiss was intoxicating, the touch of her hands fluttering down the length of his spine making him groan.
Breaking the kiss, Riley straightened his arms and stared down at the place where his body penetrated hers, watching the heavy thrust of his cock as he pushed into her. She was so tender and silken and pink around his dark, vein-ridden sh
aft. He was built too big for her, and yet she took everything he had to give, yielding and soft and infinitely sweet.
“God, that’s so sexy,” he groaned, his voice deep…breathless. Pulling his gaze up the graceful, feminine line of her body, he bent his elbows, using his teeth to pull the edge of the camisole over her right breast. He took the plump, swollen nipple into his mouth, loving the way that she cried out, arching against him. Releasing the tight, tender bud, he stared down into her eyes, his own savage expression reflected back at him in the luminous depths of her gaze. Changing the angle of his thrusts, Riley watched her eyes goes wide as he ground his body against her clit, pushing her into the orgasm, taking in every subtle nuance of her expression as she crashed over the edge.
“Beautiful,” he groaned, loving the way she surrendered to the pleasure, her body thrashing beneath him as she arched her neck and gave a throaty, provocative cry that made him pulse deep inside her, his own release bearing down on him. And with it came the rise of the Merrick, its fangs slipping free of his gums, heavy and sharp in his mouth, its talons slicing through his fingertips.
“Hope,” he growled, knowing it was time. “Oh, God, baby. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t,” she whispered with a soft, womanly smile, as if she instinctively knew things that his male mind could never understand. As if she saw the universe in a way that would forever be closed to him. “I’m ready,” she gasped, pulling the heavy weight of her hair to the side, exposing the pale curve of her throat.
He growled again, lowering his head…touching his mouth to her silken flesh, and then he drove his fangs deep into her shoulder, holding nothing back. Her taste spilled through his senses, making him shudder, his body slamming into her as the ecstasy of the feeding exploded through him with a savage, visceral intensity. He came with his talons embedded in the mattress…his fangs still buried deep, the rich, succulent heat of her blood heavy on his tongue, driving him wild. When he finally pulled them free, he lapped his tongue against the small, angry wounds until they no longer bled, coveting every drop…the power of the feeding filling him with indescribable warmth, as if a strange, exotic fire burned in every cell of his body.
Collapsing at her side, he waited for his fangs and talons to recede, before he rolled to his back as he took care of the condom, leaning over the edge of the mattress to toss it into the wastebasket beneath the bedside table. Then Riley rolled back and pulled her onto his chest, his hands smoothing over the silken length of her hair…her back, her damp cheek pressed to the violent beating of his heart.
Lifting her hand, Hope circled her fingertip around the dark nipple before her eyes, and with a wry drawl to her words, she said, “You might live like a saint, Riley, but you don’t make love like one.”
His body went tense beneath her, and as she lifted up to look at his face, she watched as shadows darkened the unearthly glow in his eyes, like thick, suffocating clouds choking off the warmth of the sun.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you.” His words were hoarse, more scraped out than spoken, his tension so thick, she could feel it vibrating through his muscles. “I didn’t mean to lose control like that.”
The corner of her mouth curved with a smile. “There’s no need to be sorry. A woman likes to know that she’s capable of making a man go over the edge.” He didn’t respond as he stared into her eyes, the moment stretching out between them, and then she said, “Now that you’ve fed…you’ll fully awaken. The Casus…they’ll know, won’t they?”
“Yeah,” he whispered. “They’ll know.”
“I know you needed to do it,” she told him, pressing her palm against the heavy beating of his heart, “and I’m selfish enough to be glad that I’m the woman who gave you what you needed. But…I can’t help feeling that we’ve just sped up the clock.”
His gaze slid away from hers, focusing on the ceiling as he said, “You can’t look at it like that, Hope. I can’t just hang around here digging forever, while they have their sick fun with the town. At least now they’ll go ahead and come after me…make their move, and that will be the end of it.”
Shivering at the thought, she sat up on the edge of the bed. She could feel the intensity of his stare on her back as she touched her fingers to the pulsing wound in her shoulder. “I thought you would bite my throat.”
“I’d love to,” he rasped, “but I didn’t want to put you in an uncomfortable situation with Millie when she gets home.”
Looking at him over her shoulder, Hope started to say, “She’ll know sooner or…” But her voice trailed off, and she read the question in his eyes. “Sorry,” she murmured, looking away and moving to her feet. She grabbed the thin robe draped across the foot of the bed and made her way to the window. Cracking the blinds, she stared out at the stormy view of the sea, the churning waves mirroring the twisting and turning of her own emotions. “I was going to say that she would have to know sooner or later, but then I remembered that we don’t really have a later. So, I guess it’s not really an issue.”
He cursed something foul under his breath, and she turned in time to see him roll up off the bed in a powerful ripple of muscle that made her heart skip. “Really, Ri. I’m the one who’s been telling you that this was what I wanted,” she said quietly, watching with wide eyes as he advanced on her, the look on his rugged face one of hot, predatory intent. “Just some time with you. Stolen hours of pleasure. And I’m fine with that, okay?”
“No,” he grunted, herding her back toward the four-poster bed. “Nothing about this is okay, and I’m nowhere near done with you tonight, so stop talking and get back in the damn bed.”
She studied the smoldering look in his eyes for a moment, then slipped out of the robe and climbed back onto the sex-rumpled bedding, lying on her back. A sharp, wicked smile curled his mouth as he shook his head. “Not like that,” he told her.
“How then?” she asked, her voice thick with excitement.
He sheathed himself in another condom, then climbed onto the bed with her, forcing her onto her knees with her face against the sheet, and Hope braced with a deep breath for the thick, heavy push that she knew was coming. But he shocked her with the soft, lapping thrust of his tongue instead. His hands settled onto her bottom, thumbs holding her open as his mouth covered her with a hot, ravenous urgency. His deep, fractured groan vibrated against screamingly sensitive flesh, making her claw at the bedding. His low chuckle followed, breath hot against her folds, and he pushed his tongue into her, moving it slowly, hungrily, as if she were the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted. The instant she started to come apart, to shatter and pulse, he buried the long, heavy weight of his cock inside her, taking her hard and fast, until the violent, scorching waves of pleasure overtook them. They collapsed together against the soft bedding, panting and breathless. Then he pulled her into his arms again, holding her possessively against the heavy pounding of his heart as they both drifted into a deep, exhausted sleep.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Thursday morning
AS RILEY OPENED his eyes to the watery stream of early morning sunlight spilling in through the window, he found Hope sitting beside him on the bed, the sight of her softly glowing face making something warm settle in the center of his chest. She had the same thin, silky robe that she’d worn last night pulled around her shoulders, the soft fabric draping her body like a sensual second skin. Guilt should have been eating him alive, and though he could feel it lingering at the edges of his consciousness, he refused to let it take hold just yet. There’d be plenty of time for self-recriminations later, when he had to leave this room…and Hope, heading out to the forest to find the Marker. Instead, he focused on the hot, primal burn of lust that stirred his blood. Reaching out with his hand, he stroked the pale, feminine length of thigh revealed in the robe’s parting, and with his voice still scratchy from sleep, he asked, “How long have you been up?”
“Not long,” she murmured. “Rhonda, our manager in training, was already schedu
led to handle the café this morning, but I wanted to check on Millie. I caught up with her in the hallway just before she headed out again this morning. She’d grabbed a few hours of sleep after Kellan brought her home at two-thirty, and was on her way downstairs to meet Hal’s niece. They’re driving back to the hospital to spend the day with him. He’s stable, but still hasn’t regained consciousness.”
“Did Kellan go with her?”
She shook her head, looking down at the hand he’d placed on her thigh while she traced the dark veins beneath his skin with her finger. “She told Kellan to stay here. Said she didn’t want him to be bored out of his mind at the hospital. She promised not to go anywhere on her own, so she should be okay, don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” he rumbled huskily, beginning to slide his hand farther up her sweetly rounded thigh, when the sound of his name being shouted from the bottom of the stairs made them both jump. “Shit,” he muttered, jerking up into a sitting position, the white sheet tangled around his hips.
Hope’s eyes went wide with surprise. “That didn’t sound like Kellan.”
“That’s because it’s my brother,” he grunted, throwing back the sheet as he climbed from the bed.
“Ian?” she gasped, moving to her feet. “What’s he doing here?”
“I don’t know,” he grunted, quickly pulling on the jeans he’d left lying in a pile on the floor. “But whatever the reason, it isn’t going to be good. I’ll go see what’s going on while you throw on some clothes.”
She was already moving to get dressed while he disabled the sensor that she’d reset and walked out the door, a heavy feeling in his gut as he wondered what had brought his brother all the way to Washington. Making his way down the stairs, he found everyone waiting for him in the living room. His brother, Watchman Aiden Shrader and Kellan were spread out over the sofa and love seat, mugs of steaming coffee sitting on the mahogany table that was centered between them. The rich scent of cinnamon rolls drifting in from the kitchen made his stomach growl, but from the look on his brother’s face, Riley knew food was going to have to wait.
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