Prince of Fire: Black Phoenix, Book 1

by Tawny Taylor

  He drew that nipple into his mouth, enjoying the simple pleasure of tasting her skin, inhaling her scent. He suckled gently while using his fingers to tease the twin. As he sucked, he felt her curl her fingers into his hair, tugging slightly, the added sensation amplifying his carnal need.

  Damn.

  Stiff, burning with fever, and quickly losing control, he pulled on her nipple harder. He pinched her other one, rolling it between his finger and thumb, smiling when she moaned and pulled his hair, practically smashing his face into her soft flesh.

  “Oh God, Talen. Just take me. Please.”

  “No.” He unfurled her fingers from his hair and sat back. “You’re going to get me. But not yet. I’m going to take it slowly, make you burn for me so bad, you’re going to beg for relief.”

  “I already am.” She lifted her hips, as if to illustrate.

  “This is nothing.” He dragged an index finger down the seam of her swollen nether lips, smoothing her sweet juice over her skin. Then he lifted his hand to his mouth and licked every drop away.

  Her eyes widened. She shuddered. “Bastard.”

  “You’ll thank me later.”

  “So cocky. You’d better live up to that promise.”

  “Haven’t I already?” He pressed gently on her pelvis until she was lying flat again. Then, not waiting for her to respond, he pulled her knees apart and stroked her wet pussy. Soft, teasing touches. The air filled with the intoxicating scent of her arousal. “Have you ever had a lover take care with your needs, Keri? Has any man denied his own pleasure and focused on you?”

  She squirmed, rocking her hips back and forth. “Maybe for a short time.”

  He pressed down on her thighs, stilling her motion. “Like ten minutes? Fifteen?” He bent his fingers, letting the tips dig slightly into her soft curves.

  She arched her back, lifting her spine off the floor. “Yes, could be. I wasn’t timing him or anything.”

  He smiled at the sight before him. Her ivory skin, so smooth and perfect. The heat in her eyes. “What about a half hour? An hour? Two?” He flattened his hands, dragging them up the sides of her thighs.

  She tightened her legs, the muscles forming hard knots beneath the supple satin of her skin. “Never.”

  He moved his hands to the insides of her thighs and slowly eased them apart. “I will.”

  “Are you for real, Talen?” She shut her eyes, rocking her head from side to side. “Hours? You’d kill me if you did that.”

  He gazed down at the juncture of her thighs. Her folds unfurled, like petals of a blossom opening to the sun. He moistened his finger and touched the outer lips, licking his lips at the sight of those delicate tissues, glistening with her nectar. “No, no. You won’t die. Just wait.”

  She reached for him. “That’s just it, I don’t want to.”

  He straddled her legs, caught her wrists in his hands, lifted them up over her head and pinned them to the floor, levering over her until the tip of his nose nearly touched hers. “Ah, but that’s okay. I can make you wait, even if you don’t want to.”

  She met his gaze, her eyes glittering with carnal need. “But that’s just…mean.”

  “Perhaps. But, in another way, it’s also most definitely kind.” He felt the corners of his mouth lifting. The hairs on his nape bristled as a fevered chill swept up his spine. Hot. Cold. The sensations blended, one into the other. Goose bumps pricked the skin of his back and shoulders. His arms. “You’ll come so hard, you’ll feel it in your teeth.” He bent lower, his mouth a fraction of an inch from hers. “The roots of your hair. The tips of your toes.”

  “Yessss.”

  He kissed her again, harder this time. His tongue plunged into the lush depth of her mouth, stroking hers, forcing it into submission. He tasted and took. Claimed. Possessed. And she relaxed beneath him, mewling softly into their joined mouths. Her wrists twisted in his grasp, and he loosened his grip, splaying his fingers as he slid them up toward her hands. They grasped hands, fingers curling, palms meeting.

  He broke the kiss, but only to pepper her face and neck with kisses. His cock was hard as hewn rock. Balls tight. Blood hotter than molten lava. Still, he struggled to control the dark urges pounding through his body like the heavy beat of a drum.

  Breaking away from her again, he sat back, tearing at his shirt. Off it came and then he disposed of his pants just as quickly.

  He wouldn’t take her yet. Couldn’t. But he still ached to feel her touch him. Everywhere.

  She lay on her back. Watching him. Glassy eyes full of fever but following his every move. Her kiss-swollen lips were parted into a natural pout. Unbelievably sexy.

  Slowly, she rose up on one elbow. One of her hands skimmed down the lush curve of her stomach. It stopped at the juncture of her thighs, and a fierce jealousy blazed through his system.

  “No.” His voice was low, like an animal’s warning growl.

  Her brows lifted. “No, what? I’m not allowed to touch myself?”

  “No, you’re not.” Nude, he went onto all fours and crawled over top of her, his legs straddling her hips, his hands her shoulders. “That’s my job.”

  “I was getting impatient.”

  “It’s been less than two minutes.”

  She sighed, those delicious lips of hers curling into a playful smile that made him think all kinds of wicked thoughts. “Two minutes too long.”

  He tsked as he forced her hands back up over her head. “You are impatient, aren’t you?”

  “I tried to warn you.”

  “Mmmmm.” Releasing her hands, he trailed his fingertips down her arms, over her shoulders and along the sides of her torso. He watched her face as he touched her, the smoldering fire in her eyes making him that much more desperate for her.

  Down he continued, passing by her full breasts, the sensuous swell of her hips, to her knees. Once again, he pulled them apart.

  This time, he was determined to savor her flesh, eat away every drop of her honey. Inhaling deeply, he bent over her, parting her labia with his fingertips. She was wet already, her folds glistening. Tempting.

  He salivated. Spikes of erotic hunger pierced his insides. The scent of her musk filled his nostrils, honing those agonizing spikes.

  He felt alive for the first time in eons. Fully human.

  Just as he had her nipple, he flicked his tongue over her clit, tasting her juices. Sweet nectar. So delicious. He needed more. Shaking now, drowning in his need, he suckled her delicate tissues, pulling her flavor into his mouth, stabbing his tongue into her slit.

  Beneath him, she rocked her hips slowly, forward and back, seeming to move to the thrumming beat pounding through his body. It was as if some primitive heartbeat was thumping through both of them.

  He slipped a finger inside her, practically shivering at the way her slick canal clamped around it. He stroked her, licked, sucked until the heat radiating off her skin felt like a simmering wave, and her moans and whimpers turned to choked pleas for release. Then he stopped, slipped on a condom—this time finding the task much easier than the first. He rewarded himself by kissing his way back up her body, finally settling his hips between her spread thighs.

  He wrapped his fingers around the base of his dick and dragged the swollen tip up and down along her slit but he didn’t allow himself to take her. Not yet.

  Damn, he just didn’t want this to end.

  He gazed down at her flushed face. Pink cheeks. Heavy lids fringed with long, sooty lashes. Lips pursed in a sex-kitten pout. That was a face he could stare at forever and never tire of the sight. So lovely. Impossibly beautiful.

  He kissed her some more. He stroked her cheeks, her skin like warm rose petals. He nibbled her chin and kissed her eyelids, letting her fluttering lashes tickle his lips. He licked along her jaw and nipped her earlobe before burying his face in the crook of her neck and finally lunging his hips forward. His cock slid into her sheath to the hilt and a groan of pleasure rumbled in his chest.

  Keep
ing his hips still, he nuzzled her neck, bit the swell of a shoulder. Underneath him, she arched her back, and his cock slipped deeper into her slick depth. So hot. Tight. Perfect.

  God, how long it had been since he’d enjoyed a woman twice in one lifetime. Hell, it had been centuries since he’d had one at all.

  He didn’t want to think how long it would be until the next time he held a soft, warm body. Heard a woman’s sigh. Smelled that intoxicating scent. Or enjoyed the pounding rush of his own heartbeat in his ears as he surrendered to the lust building between them.

  Electricity charged the air. Tiny, invisible currents zapping between them, heating his skin and making it prickle and burn. He rocked his hips back, until the tip of his cock almost slipped from her pussy’s grasp. Then, when he couldn’t stand it anymore, he slammed them forward, driving his rod deep inside her again.

  This time, their voices blended in a chorus of rapture.

  Keri lifted her arms, her hands exploring his shoulders. When he thrust inside her a third time, she hooked her fingers, dragging her nails down his chest.

  So many sensations. Such glorious bliss.

  Too much. Heat. Wanting. Need.

  He threw his head back and surrendered to his body’s need, driving in and out of Keri’s pussy. Hard and fast, he took her, until he was there, at the pinnacle. “No,” he growled. He stopped.

  The rough sound of his breathing, echoed by hers, filled his ears.

  “You. Bastard.” Her face twisted with fury, she pounded against his chest with her fists. “I was right there. Oh. My. God.”

  “I’m sorry, but I promised.” He kissed her cheek. Her other cheek. Her nose. Chin. Forehead. “Besides, I can’t stand the idea that it’s almost over.”

  She sighed. The corners of her mouth twitched. She lifted her legs, looping them around his waist, which made his cock glide deep inside her. She locked her ankles, trapping him there. The tip nudged at the opening to her womb. “We can do it again, silly. I’m not going anywhere.”

  He bit back a response, deciding it was much better to kiss away her anger.

  She didn’t put up a fight. Instead, she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him tightly against her. Chest to chest. Slick skin to slick skin. Nose to nose. “What is it about you? There’s something so infuriating and yet so…fascinating.”

  “I’m just me.” He kissed her again, silencing her before she asked a question he couldn’t answer. And then, just in case she recovered too quickly from the punishment his tongue gave her, he began moving inside her again. Slow thrusts at first, gradually speeding up.

  Their gazes locked and his soul rejoiced, feeding from the connection they shared. Thousands of years of ice accumulated around his heart like a frigid, hard shell melted. As if they were one, their bodies worked in perfect harmony, giving and taking pleasure. The heat scorching the air between them radiated so brilliantly the world around them seemed to ripple and sway until nothing existed but the two of them, Keri’s beautiful body and his own. Intense sensations rolled over him like waves tumbling over the beach.

  Such torment.

  Such ecstasy.

  Keri sighed and moaned, her hips rocking back and forth to meet his angry thrusts. She mapped every inch of his arms, chest and stomach with her hands while, eyes shut, she arched her spine and took the pleasure he gave her.

  He fought his body’s demand for release. Every second became a battle, and each battle made him feel more battered and overcome. This moment was like nothing he’d ever experienced before. Magical. Beyond words.

  “Please,” she whispered, once again clawing at him. Fingernails raked down his chest, leaving a tingling, burning wake of pleasure-pain behind. “I’m begging now. Like you said. Begging.”

  Her words were like a razor, slicing through his willpower.

  Snap. Done.

  Powerless to stop himself, he pounded into her hungry pussy, devoured her breasts with his mouth. She tangled her fingers in his hair again, alternately tugging him away and slamming him back down into her fragrant breasts over and over. Somehow, he slid a hand between their writhing bodies. He found her hard little clit and stroked it, slowly.

  “Yesssss,” she cried out. “Ohthankgod, yes!” Her body quaked. Her pussy tightened around his rod, like a warm, wet fist, milking him.

  Tingles gathered in his gut. Exploded out like a detonated firework until his whole body zapped. Tension coiled, pulling him tight, tighter. Come burned at the base of his cock, ripped down its length and finally escaped his body. He heard himself growling.

  Harder, faster, he plunged into her. His orgasm pulsed through his body, wave after wave. So fucking good. He didn’t stop thrusting until the waves stopped. Until he was too exhausted to move. Until Keri sighed beneath him.

  Her hands still moved, lightly tracing the lines carved between the muscles of his abdomen and chest. “That was…I don’t know if there’s a word to describe it.”

  He kissed her forehead. Eyelids. Cheeks, both of them. Chin. And finally, her mouth. The kiss was tender, filled with all the raw emotion he couldn’t really wrap his head around. She kissed him back then blinked open her eyes.

  Glittering eyes, full of emotion, just like his probably were.

  He cupped her face. “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you. Sex has always been fun, but wow…that was just…”

  A frigid chill swept up his spine. He pulled from her body, sat up and tugged off the spent condom.

  “What’s wrong?”

  His hand smacked over the burning skin on the back of his neck, and he silently cursed the bastard who was right now stalking closer, the bastard who was determined to kill the woman beneath him.

  Dammit. His time with her was over.

  Not enough time. Not close to enough.

  “He’s back.”

  “Already?” She scrabbled to her feet. “Are you sure?” Eyes wide, she wrapped her arms around herself.

  He scooped up a piece of her clothing and handed it to her. “Yes. He’s back. This is it.”

  “No. Not so soon.” Expression dark, she accepted the proffered garment and tugged it over her head. “Can’t we…I don’t know, run away? Hide? Stop him somehow?”

  Run away. If only it were that simple.

  Never had he hurt so badly at the thought of saying goodbye to another human being. It felt like his insides were being torn from his body. His heart pulverized.

  He’d always believed his curse was cruel, but until this moment, he’d never fully appreciated how brutal.

  If he could, if the gods who had cursed him would ever give him the chance, he would pay any price to be free. And it wasn’t because of his pain that he made this wish, but the suffering he saw in Keri’s eyes.

  “I mean, I kinda knew you’d leave sooner or later. I can deal with that.” She lifted her gaze to his. “But not yet. Please, not yet. Tell me there’s some way to buy more time. Hours. A day, maybe. Just a little more.”

  Chapter Five

  Keri knew she was being unreasonable—at least, if she believed what Talen had said about the curse. She didn’t, of course. Who would? But what she did believe was that they had a short time, for whatever reason. And she respected him for being honest at least about that. He hadn’t made a bunch of empty promises to try to get into her pants. Only a few sensational claims that he couldn’t expect her to believe. Nobody was that gullible.

  The fact was she’d been okay with the idea of a one-night fling. More than okay. Until now.

  The sensation of him moving inside her was still there, between her legs. The friction. The heat. My God, the man was the most attentive, giving lover she’d ever been with. Sex with him was mind-blowing.

  The first time they’d fucked had been something. The second time…she didn’t know how to put it into words. Good thing she didn’t need to.

  But gah! She didn’t need a boyfriend. She didn’t want a boyfriend. Or even a steady lover. No commitments.
No responsibilities. Nobody else to worry about. That was the way she lived. She just needed more time to say goodbye to him. That was all.

  Surely, this curse thing was a farfetched story, a joke. Oddly, she’d sensed not a flicker of amusement or deception when he told her about it. Quite the opposite, he’d seemed to be telling the truth. Then again, she supposed it could be some kind of superstition, like how her palms itched before she received unexpected money. Or perhaps some kind of strange coincidence.

  How strange a coincidence it was if people were attacked every time the back of his neck burned. Made her doubly grateful that nothing bad happened when her palms itched.

  Curses don’t really exist, she reminded herself.

  And men didn’t really live for hundreds of years.

  Made her feel bad about the guy. It couldn’t be easy, living that way, believing someone would die every time she got a tingle on her neck. Wow, she couldn’t imagine…

  Maybe she could show him that the curse wasn’t real.

  She shook her head.

  Why should she try? This wasn’t going anywhere, and he’d probably resent it anyway. People tended to get defensive when someone attacked their beliefs, however out-there they might be. That settled it, whatever his deal was, she didn’t need to worry about it, since they’d be saying goodbye and he’d go on his miserable-not-really-cursed way and she’d continue living as she always had…

  Geesh, I’m so freaking cold and selfish.

  She glanced at him.

  He was dressed. Peering out the window. Eyebrows furrowed. Arms crossed over his chest.

  He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. And it suddenly became clear—it didn’t matter whether the curse was real or not, to him it was, and he was obviously miserable.

  “Is there anything I can do…to help?” She felt foolish for even saying the words.

  One hand rubbing the back of his neck, he shook his head. “No.” He turned to her. “You’ve done more for me than anyone has in centuries. I…I’d forgotten what it felt like to be touched. Held. Kissed.”

  Good God, if he had been telling the truth that would be awful. She liked to keep people at arm’s length, and she had her own reasons for doing so. But she still had sex when she wanted. Evidently, it had been a long time for Talen. Months or years even.