Behind Closed Doors (The Mccloud Series Book 1)

by Shannon McKenna

  She let out a choked burst of breathless laughter. “How can I trust you if you don’t trust me? Look at us, Seth.” She gestured at his body, still pinning her flat. “I only weigh about a hundred and twenty pounds, and you—”

  “No, you weigh less. Your fridge has nothing but mustard and a couple of wrinkled apples in it. Do you ever eat, or what?”

  His critical tone grated on her nerves. “The contents of my refrigerator are nobody’s business,” she snapped. “My point is, you don’t have to pin me down. I’m not quick enough to run away from you, even if I wanted to.”

  “You don’t want to?”

  She opened her mouth, and closed it, unwilling to give him another opening. Simple honesty won out. She didn’t have the presence of mind to tell him anything but the naked truth.

  “No. I don’t want to run away from you,” she said quietly. “I want you to let go of my wrist. I want you to let me breathe.”

  The manacle of his strong fingers slowly relaxed. “I don’t want to get hit again,” he warned.

  “I promise, I won’t,” she assured him.

  He pulled her onto her side so they were lying on the floor facing each other, and studied her face as if she were a puzzle he were trying to solve. “I’m sorry I broke into your house,” he said, in a stiff, formal tone. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

  She put her hand to his face, caressing the place where she had struck him. “I appreciate the apology.” She echoed his formal tone.

  “I did it because I was worried about you,” he added, frowning.

  That broke the spell. Raine laughed in his face. “Don’t ruin a good apology by justifying bad behavior.”

  His cautious smile faded quickly. “Does this mean that I’m your boyfriend, then? Officially?”

  Another blind leap. She didn’t know what those words meant to him, coming out of the alien landscape of his mind, but something hot and soft was moving in her heart. She couldn’t draw back. She could see in his eyes how badly he wanted the strange, awkward declaration.

  Don’t cling to an illusion of control, Victor had said. For once, she agreed with him. It was time to give her heart a chance to run the show. Things couldn’t possibly get any crazier than they already were.

  “OK,” she said gently. “You’re my boyfriend, if you want to be.”

  He let out a long, slow sigh, and hooked his leg over hers, pulling her closer so that the whole length of her body was touching him. “I want to be. God. Do I ever want to be.”

  “All right, then.” She petted his tense jaw with a soothing hand and smiled at him. “You are. It’s official. You can relax.”

  Seth arranged her hair between their faces, right next to his nose, so he could stroke it and smell it. “I know I come on too strong,” he said, his voice hesitant. “It’s a really weird time in my life.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” she invited gently.

  “No.” His tone was like a gate clanging shut in her face. She flinched away, feeling thrown back on herself.

  He pulled her back against him, cursing softly. “I’m sorry, Raine. I can’t talk about it. I’m intense, yeah, but I’m not dangerous.”

  “No?” She turned her face away, avoiding his kiss.

  “No. Not to you.” He caught her face in his hands and insisted on the kiss, his thumbs tenderly stroking her cheek. She savored the hot, delicious flavor of his mouth, the intimate thrust of his tongue.

  What Seth said was untrue. She would give anything for this passionate, ravishing tenderness from him—and that made him deadly dangerous to her.

  He lifted his head, smoothing her hair off her forehead. “I got you a cell phone today.”

  That was so unexpected, she could think of nothing to say.

  “You’ll send me cute little text messages now?” he prompted.

  She closed her gaping mouth. “Is that what you want?”

  “That’s what I want.” There was a touch of embarrassed defiance in his tone. “I’m your official boyfriend now, and I want all the perks that go with the job. You cool with that?”

  “Um, yes,” she murmured.

  He cupped her head in his big hand and kissed her again, but the kiss had changed. There was a soft, pleading sweetness to it, as if he were silently begging her for something which she could not help but give him. Something that would break her heart to withhold.

  He pulled away and stared into her face, his eyes troubled.

  “What’s the matter?”

  “I’m nervous,” he said bluntly. “I don’t know much about the steady relationship thing. I feel like a bull in a china shop.”

  She laughed softly and stroked the deep little frowning groove between his eyebrows “Just be nice. Be gentle.”

  “It’s not the sex I’m worried about,” he snapped. “And I’ve always been gentle with you.”

  “Just because you don’t leave bruises doesn’t mean you’re gentle. Conan the Conquerer.”

  He stroked her hair, smoothing it all the way out to the tips. “Hey. Give me a break. I want you bad. You’re so fucking beautiful, I just want to carry you off to my beastly lair and make love to you forever. On my bearskin rug.”

  She touched his face with her fingertips and stared into his eyes, speechless. She could feel him gathering his seductive powers, weaving a spell to make her helpless with desire. He grabbed her hand, pressing hot kisses against her palm, and rubbed her knuckles against his cheek. “You’re not throwing that Conan the Conqueror crack in my face again,” he said. “This time you’ll tell me how much you want me. I want to hear you ask for it, pretty please.”

  She drew back anxiously. “That sounds like another power game,” she said. “Seth, I don’t—”

  “Shhhh.” He placed a finger over her lips. “No, not at all. You’ve got me wrong. I just want to show you something about yourself. Something beautiful. You’ll like it.” He explored her trembling lower lip with his finger, staring at her with hot, fascinated eyes.

  A bold impulse flashed through her. She drew his fingertip into her mouth and suckled it. He jerked as if an electric shock had gone through him, pulled his hand from her mouth and began to unbutton her blouse with fingers that shook. “Goddamn buttons,” he muttered.

  She laughed up at him. “You don’t like my clothes, do you?”

  “No, I do not. You’re like a box with too much packing tape.”

  “Poor baby. Such frustration,” she teased.

  “Watch what you say, if you care about this blouse,” he warned.

  He got it open and flung it away, rolling her to her side to unhook her bra. He lifted it off with reverent slowness, caressing her breasts, rubbing the taut tipples against his palms. A flurry of peeling, unhooking and unzipping followed, and she lay before him naked.

  He stared at her body, running his fingertips over her belly, dipping into her navel and then tangling tenderly in the soft nest of hair at her crotch. “Do you ever touch yourself?” he asked.

  Raine was so startled, she couldn’t reply. She stared at him, her mouth open, a hot blush sweeping up over her chest and face.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Do you?” he coaxed.

  “Doesn’t everybody?” She tried to sound nonchalant.

  “I don’t give a shit about everybody. I’m interested in you.”

  Her embarrassment melted away in the heat that radiated from him. “Of course,” she said simply.

  “Touch yourself for me.” His voice was husky, pleading.

  “But—don’t you want to—”

  He pressed her hand against the hot bulge in his black jeans. “God, yes. The next time. But first I want you to open up for me, all on your own. No pushing.” He settled between her legs and pushed her thighs wider. “Check me out, Raine,” he murmured. “Civilized self-control personified. Didn’t think I was capable of it, did you?”

  “Is this another one of your power games?” she demanded.

  “No way. It’s a gift. To m
ake up for hitting me.”

  She shook with nervous laughter, and tried to wiggle away from him and his wicked satyr’s smile. “Damn you, Seth. That’s not fair.”

  He lunged for her, grasping her waist and holding her still. “Please, Raine,” he said softly. “You’re so beautiful. And it’s so intimate, so secret. I’m starving for it. Show me that you trust me that much.” He dropped a gentle kiss on her belly, her hip, and let his hands slide, slowly and lovingly, all the way down the length of her thighs. He gripped her knees and pushed them wide again. “I want to know what goes through your head, what you fantasize about. I want to see that beautiful cunt get flushed and hot and soft and delicious. I want to watch you make yourself come. That’s my idea of heaven.”

  She couldn’t answer, couldn’t speak. He reached for her hand and pressed her fingers gently against her sex. “Show me.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and did as he asked, shy at first, but his magic was so potent that her inhibitions melted down into hot, sweet syrup. Her bedroom disappeared. They could have been anywhere; floating together in the silent heart of a white orchid, swimming in a tropical sea. She abandoned herself to the dance of shifting energy between them. He taunted her with his eyes, with his rigid self-control. She taunted him with her body and her desire.

  A fierce, joyful power swelled inside her. She played with the soft, secret folds of her sex, her body arching and heaving, offering him everything. The feeling unfurling inside her no longer terrified her. It was a burning cloud that expanded in her chest, her belly, in her womb. Hotter, higher, brighter. She wanted to push him to the very edge of his self-mastery, but still he sat there, watching and waiting. His eyes glittered, feverish. Flags of hot color burned on his high cheekbones.

  “Tell me what you’re thinking now,” he demanded.

  “I’m not thinking. I’m feeling,” she said shakily.

  “What do you feel?”

  “You.” She slid her fingers inside herself and writhed.

  “What am I doing to you?”

  “You’re…touching me. Kissing me.”

  “Am I licking you?”

  “Yes,” she moaned. “Yes.” Her hips began to jerk, frantic.

  “And now?” His voice was low, hypnotic. “Is my cock inside you?”

  “Please, Seth—”

  “Am I fucking you now?”

  “Yes!” She moved faster, following the swelling surge of pleasure.

  “Say it,” he told her. “Say the words. What am I doing to you?”

  “You’re…inside me. You’re fucking me,” she gasped. The crude words launched her, made it all burst and fly apart.

  She cried out and dissolved, shivering all over.

  She rolled onto her side and curled up, panting. Reality slowly crept back, and along with it, embarrassment at what he must think of her. Displaying herself like that. She felt more vulnerable than ever.

  Which had surely been his intent.

  Her eyes flew open at the sound of his belt unbuckling, his fly unzipping. He peeled the black shirt off his lean, beautifully muscled torso, and flung the garment away. He pried off his boots and socks, tossing them into the corner, and hooked his thumbs into the waistband of his jeans. He smiled at her wickedly. “My turn.”

  She licked her lips. “You’re driving me nuts, Seth.”

  He pulled his jeans and underwear off. His penis sprang out, jutting hungrily towards her. He sprawled next to her, pulling her against him. “Is that good or bad?”

  She put her arms around him tentatively. “I don’t know yet,” she said in a small voice.

  “I didn’t push you that time,” he protested. “You did it all yourself.”

  “Yes, you did too push,” she said quietly, petting the thick muscles of his shoulders. “I don’t think you even know what it would feel like not to.”

  He slid his arm behind her shoulders, pressing his hard chest against her breasts. His eyes were wary and troubled. “So you think I’m, uh, weird in bed, then?”

  Raine almost laughed at the doubt in his voice, but stopped herself just in time. “I don’t have any basis for comparison,” she said softly.

  His arms tightened. He kissed her forehead. “Keep it that way.”

  She ran her hands over the ridges of his muscular back, exploring him with eager, fascinated fingers. “Besides, this isn’t a bed,” she pointed out.

  “You can’t see the mirror from the bed,” he said. “I like the mirror. It’s another great view of your gorgeous, bare-ass naked body.”

  She looked at the mirror, and blushed again. He followed her gaze, rolling onto his side and pulling her against him so that her backside was pressed against his hard, hot penis. He nudged her legs open, crooking her knee, and slid his hand between her legs with a low, rumbling groan of pleasure. “Beautiful,” he said. “You’re ready now. Ask me for exactly what you want, Raine. Come on. Out with it.”

  She closed her eyes and pressed herself back against his bold caress. “Why do you do this to me, Seth?” she pleaded. “You’ve always got something to prove. It makes me feel vulnerable.”

  He nuzzled her ear, pulled her earlobe between his teeth and nipped it. “Face it, babe. You are vulnerable.”

  His tone infuriated her, as if he were stating something too obvious to bother mentioning. She tried to pull away from him, but he just pushed her flat onto her belly and rolled on top of her.

  He locked eyes with her in the mirror. “Too weird for you, huh?” His voice challenged her, soft and taunting. “You’d like it better if I was a nice, tame, normal guy?”

  He pushed her thighs apart and slid his finger inside her. She strained beneath his weight with a soft moan. He slid his hand out and thrust again, with two fingers, deeper. Preparing her.

  She couldn’t think, couldn’t speak, clenching around his fingers. “I like the way you are,” she admitted, in a halting voice. “But I don’t know how to give you what you want. It’s a language I don’t speak.”

  He bit her neck. “It’s not that complicated. I just want you to know what you want. So I can be sure that I’m giving it to you. It may not seem that way, but I really am making an effort to be civilized.”

  She laughed. “Civilized? You call yourself civilized? Seth, you are a wild animal.”

  His eyes lit up like a wolf in the moonlight, making her shiver again. She sensed that her words had unleashed something that might have been better off left confined. He grasped her hips and pulled her up until she was on her hands and knees. The picture she made, made her blush even hotter, redder. Seth loomed behind her, his thick penis pressed against her bottom. He stroked her with his strong hands. “That’s what you want from me, isn’t it? You love it that I’m a wild animal.”

  The position made her feel too vulnerable. She murmured something incoherent and tried to scramble away, but he was too quick. He slid his strong arm in front of her hips, arching over her and holding her in place. “Trust me,” he said soothingly. “This is what you want.”

  She shook her head, frantic. “No, Seth. I feel too—”

  “Wait,” he urged, his hands petting and soothing. “Give it a minute. Let me touch you…like this. Spread your legs wider. That’s right. That beautiful ass, open like a peach, all juicy and sweet. I won’t do anything you don’t like, Raine. I promise you’ll love it.”

  His fingers slipped tenderly along the delicate folds of her sex, and blissfully sensual tremors shook her at his skilful touch. He pushed her legs wider, murmuring his approval when she didn’t resist.

  “You’ll love it like this,” His voice was a hypnotic rasp of desire. “You know why? Because you’re a wild animal too, Raine. Just like me.”

  He slid his thumb tenderly around her clitoris. She moved against his hand, seeking deeper contact. She had thought that the submissive position would make her feel weak and helpless, but it didn’t. Not at all. It slid into focus and flooded her with heat. She felt savage and hungry, full of f
ierce, primal yearning. All the energy of nature woke up inside her, charging her with its pure, wild potency.

  She felt strong. Furious at him for his arrogance, for teasing, for making her wait. She arched her back, seducing him with her body, with her naked, honest animal self. She looked into his eyes, saw his helpless response. For a bare instant, she had a fleeting sense of just how much power she could wield over him. If only she knew how.

  “Beautiful, sweetheart,” he said hoarsely. “Arch your back for me, raise your ass in the air. Give it all to me.”

  She obeyed him, deep in the grip of his sensual enchantment, and content to be there. He could push her all he wanted, drive her all the way to bittersweet, glorious climax. She would die if he didn’t.

  She almost wept with relief when he fished the condom out of his jeans, smoothing it over himself. She pulsed her hips against him with a sob of eagerness, desperate to have him inside her. He grasped her hips and splayed his big hands across them, holding her still.

  “Don’t worry, sweetheart. You’ll get as much of me as you want. Just let me tell you when.”

  “Don’t play games now, Seth. You’re killing me. I can’t take it.”

  “What did I tell you?” he said softly, caressing the swell of her hip. “I knew you’d love it. My beautiful wild animal.”

  He nudged his thick shaft a little deeper, and she braced herself, pushing back. “I know your secret. Beautiful animal. You’re so wet and soft. You love it when we do it like this. Don’t you?”

  She tried to speak, but her throat was vibrating, and would not obey any mental commands. She gave him a jerky nod.

  He flexed his hips, pushing deeper, his breath ragged in the silent room. His slowness maddened her. “You like that?” he demanded.

  She heaved back against him with an impatient gasp. “Yes.”

  “You want more? How do you want it? Deeper?”

  She looked in the mirror and was lost in his dark gaze, in the pulsing magnetism of his sexual power. “Deeper,” she whispered.

  His fingers dug into her bottom. “Harder?”