Claimed by Ice (7 page)

H
e was angry
.

Enraged.

There was no outward sign of it, not really, but still, she could see it, wondered when she’d become so attuned to him that she could sense his mood.

And then she wondered what she’d done to anger him so.

When she glanced down at the hand he had laid on the gearshift, she saw the faint shimmer of something. Then she looked closer, realized it was scales. The blue-copper shimmer swirled, almost iridescent and more beautiful than she had recalled from the few glimpses she had seen before in some of his more unguarded moments at home.

She licked her lips nervously, knowing that her suspicions were confirmed. All that she’d read and what she’d seen with Exander said that a shift was most likely to occur when the dragon was experiencing deep emotions. Emotions like the rage that practically vibrated off him.

She knew it was her, had seen that clear as day as he’d marched toward her and Sebastian. Maybe that was it. Sebastian had introduced himself, been friendly and kind when most of the other guests had just gawked at her. And she’d been grateful for the friendly face. That he was charming and funny hadn’t hurt. But still, she had no real understanding of the dragon world, and even on her best days, she was not good at politics. So maybe she’d stepped into something she shouldn’t have, broken some unspoken rule.

She risked a glance at Exander again. The scales were gone now, but she saw the anger that rolled off him like frigid waves. If she had made a mistake, it wasn’t like him to ignore it and not correct her.

Unless…

Her stomach dropped. Maybe she’d done something so wrong, so improper that he couldn’t overlook it. Maybe he would end the agreement, leaving her without the bonus money and with no way to help Jewel.

Maybe he’d send her away.

And at that last thought, her body began to tremble. She didn’t consider why, but she knew that not seeing him every day would be the worst thing of all.

He parked, then got out and walked around the car to open her door as he always did. But this time was different. He didn’t watch her, and where before she’d found his gaze unnerving because of the things it did to her, made her feel, made her want, now she found its absence even more so, the new distance that had suddenly been wedged between them an awful, wrenching thing.

Trailing behind him, she tried to think of something to say, some way to get through to him, but she came up short. And when the door closed behind him, the sound heavy with finality, she felt near desperate.

“Exander,” she whispered as he walked away.

For a moment she thought he hadn’t heard her, but he stopped, turned, mouth pulled tight with anger, eyes blazing pools of cold fury. She felt herself begin to wither under his fury, and when it became too much, she broke his gaze and settled her eyes on his hand.

Despite his anger, she was unable to stop herself from reaching out, tracing her fingers along the strong, veined back of his hand. His skin was warm against her fingertips, smooth. She’d only wanted one touch, but once she placed her fingers on his hand, discovered again how he felt against her, she didn’t take her hand away.

Instead, she continued to touch him, somewhere along the way having decided that if he was going to send her away, she’d touch him as long as he would allow, see if the feeling of his hand against hers was anything like she’d imagined.

It wasn’t, though. Was nothing like she had imagined at all.

It was so much better that she doubted she had words to describe it.

She intensified her touch, let her fingers trail across his, tracing his thumb, his rounded, blunt fingertips.

And then she touched nothing because he pulled his hand away.

She kept her gaze down for a moment and then took a deep breath before she lifted it and met his. The ice she’d expected there didn’t greet her. Instead, where his eyes before had been frigid, his mouth set in a grim line, they now burned, the blue-brown swirling, his lush, full lips relaxed.

“What did I do to make you angry, Mr. Vale?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, stepped closer. “I told you. Call me Exander,” he said, his voice sliding over her like a caress she only then realized she desperately wanted.

“What did I do to make you angry, Exander?” she said, her own voice dropping as if whispering the words would somehow ease the blow of his answer.

She waited, eyes locked with his, for some reason feeling that her fate hinged on his response.

Her breath squeezed out of her lungs on a surprised sigh when he grabbed her hand and pressed it against the hard ridge that was covered by the fine cloth of his pants. She widened her eyes but didn’t move her hand away. Instead she curled her fingers slightly, the rough brush of the cloth the first sensation, one that was soon chased away by the feel of his hardness against her palm.

“This is what you did to me, Janie,” he said, voice a husky whisper that made her shiver. “And I’m not angry.”

Her eyes flew to his at his soft words, and what she saw there nearly stole her breath. His eyes blazed with icy fire, but not anger. It was passion, and it was directed at her. Her heart sped as Exander cupped her face between his big hands, kept his eyes locked with hers as he leaned forward to close the distance between them. And then he stopped, close enough that she could feel his warm breath against her face, lips hovering over hers, so close that her skin tingled in anticipation.

“I don’t understand it. No one has ever…”

He trailed off, eyes searching her face as if he were trying to undercover a mystery, solve a great riddle.

“I want you, Janie,” he finally said.

“Yes, yes,” she whispered.

And before she completed the word, he closed the final space between them and sealed his lips over hers. She exhaled on a deep sigh, releasing a breath she hadn’t even realized she had been holding. And for the first time in as long as she could remember, she felt complete.

Exander stroked his lips along hers with that potent mix of control and urgency that she’d come to recognize as so much a part of him. He’d kissed her before, but that had been angry, but this…this was something else. An exploration, yes, but more. In this kiss, she could feel him opening to her, letting her inside, something that thrilled her beyond anything.

But when he slipped his tongue between her lips, all but the need to feel more of him left her. He tightened his hold on her face and delved deep, expertly stroking the warm cavern of her mouth with his tongue.

She stood frozen for a moment, the overwhelming rush of pleasure leaving her stuck, but she recovered and began roaming her hands over his muscled abdomen, over the hard planes of his chest, stretching so that she could wrap her arms around his impossibly broad shoulders. The heat of his strong body ebbed into her, made her frantic for more, a feeling she knew he shared when he broke their kiss and stared down at her, chest heaving with his deep breaths.

“A pity,” he finally said.

She looked at him, confused.

“That is a lovely dress, so it’s a shame I have to ruin it,” he said as he grabbed the wide straps and pulled, ripping the dress until it fell in tattered pieces on either side of her.

The cool air hit her newly bared skin and made her shiver. She also realized that she now stood in front of Exander, naked save her strapless bra and panties and the heels she loved so much. And all of a sudden she felt exposed and unsure. She’d seen the women at the ball, the kind that Exander probably preferred, and she knew she didn’t measure up. She’d felt sexy in the bra, sexy enough to risk wearing it even though she’d been far from certain it could support the weight of her breasts. The panties had only added to the effect, the expensive, almost decadent silk an indulgence she’d never allowed herself before.

But now, under Exander’s gaze, there was nowhere to hide. He’d see that her breasts were far from pert, see her soft stomach, the too-wide flare of her hips, the short legs that even those beautiful shoes couldn’t disguise.

She flinched when Exander traced his thumb across her collarbone, and then, after a calming breath, looked into his eyes.

The heat she’d seen there before was now an inferno of passion, one that she hadn’t expected but that she couldn’t deny. And as he touched her, moved his hand over the top of her breasts, down the satin bra, over the rise of her stomach, down further to grip her full thigh, she felt his appreciation and his desire.

“So beautiful,” he said on a reverent whisper, voice thick, low, almost awed.

Then he worked his way back up her body, sculpted his hands up her back, where he paused to work the clasps of her bra free and then tossed it aside.

Jane didn’t know where it landed, couldn’t even be bothered to wonder, not when Exander looked at her as he did now, not as her nipples puckered under the intensity of his gaze, the sensation spiraling through her to land at the apex of her thighs, setting off an insistent throb that only he could calm.

“Touch me, Janie,” he said as he again trailed his fingers over her collarbone to palm her breast in his big hand. She closed her eyes against the sensation but snapped them open when he said, “No. Look at me as I touch you. Just like I’m going to look at you as you touch me.”

She complied and reached up and pulled his shirt from his waistband, allowing herself just a moment to again notice the softness of the fabric before she refocused and worked at the buttons eagerly. Her first glimpse of his bare skin urged her on, and soon she had the shirt open and pushed it down around his shoulders, eyes greedily taking in their fill.

He was perfection, masculine beauty personified, and though Jane had caught glimpses of him before, she hadn’t looked at him up close like this. She did now, letting her gaze trace the muscles of his shoulders, the light dusting of hair that covered his broad chest, the trail that got thicker as it disappeared into his pants.

And then she let her hands follow the trail, Exander’s hot skin and hard muscles against her hands making that throb so intense that she squeezed her thighs together for relief. The action proved insufficient, though, when she grazed her fingers over his hard shaft, the heat and power of him coming through his tuxedo pants.

She touched him tentatively and then grew bolder, tracing the outline of his shaft and then closing her fingers around it, marveling in the feel of his power in her hand, mind whirling with anticipation of how it would feel inside her.

Then she dropped her hand and looked up at him, wondering if maybe she’d misread, if maybe he hadn’t intended things to continue. And when she met his gaze, the fire she saw there was an inferno and it was directed at her. He reached for his belt, unfastened it and then slid the thick leather off his waist, the sound of leather against fabric filling the room and sparking yet another wave of intense anticipation.

Jane kept her eyes glued to his as he worked, saw when he tossed his shirt aside, baring strong, smooth shoulders that Jane wanted to lay her head against, that she wanted to hold on to as she rode him, not that she’d ever done such a thing. Then she heard his zipper lower, the sound of his pants hitting the floor and him stepping out of them, leaving him gloriously naked, something she’d dreamed of but had never thought could be a reality.

“Look at me, Jane,” he whispered, and without pause, she did, letting her gaze again caress his shoulders and chest and then move lower, until her eyes caught on the thick root of his shaft, which protruded from him, hard, tip wet with his desire.

Hand moving of its own volition, she reached for him, cried out at the first touch of his hot, smooth skin against her palm, the little bumps of the veins underneath creating irregular little patterns of pressure against her palm. She stroked him and was rewarded with the faintest little hitch, one of the few signs Exander ever gave her of losing control. But after a moment, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her hand away.

“I want you too much, Jane. But I’m going to make this good for you. I promise.”

As if being with him, finally having a chance to see and touch him, could be bad? But Jane didn’t say that, couldn’t say anything when Exander tugged her panties down her legs and then moved his fingers to the apex of her thighs, held them there, just on the precipice.

When she met his gaze, he moved, stroking one finger against her lower lips, then another, the touch soft, gentle, and completely breathtaking. She parted her legs on instinct, watching his eyes light when she did so.

“Umm,” she moaned when he ran those two fingers along her slit and then parted her lips, pressing one finger against her clit and using the other to circle her opening.

“You’re so wet for me,” he said, voice low and husky.

Jane felt a flush of embarrassment, and lowered her eyes, but then lifted them again when Exander stopped. “Don’t be ashamed. It’s beautiful. And it’s all for me.”

Though he hadn’t asked a question, Jane nodded, saw the satisfaction in his eyes when she did. But then he moved his fingers away. Jane didn’t have time to lament, though, for he pressed his hard body against her, thick cock pressing insistently against her stomach, and captured her lips in a deep, soul-searing kiss. After he’d tossed away her bra and began to torment her distended nipples with his thumbs as he cupped her breasts with his big hands, he plundered her mouth with his tongue, leaving no inch of it unexplored.

Jane’s knees went weak, only the awareness that if she fell, she would lose his touch keeping her up. And when she pushed her tongue into his mouth and stroked his, the low-throated moan he released set off a wave of moisture that she could feel coating the inside of her thighs.

Exander broke the kiss, stared down at her, eyes ablaze with passion. “No, Janie. I need you now.”

“Yes,” she whispered.

Before the word was out, he lifted her and she wrapped her legs around his waist. His cock found her center unerringly, and he surged inside her in one thrust, impaling her with his hardness. Some distant part of her marveled at his show of strength, but the rest of her was preoccupied. The breath squeezed out of her lungs and her pussy pulsed around his shaft. She hadn’t been with anyone for years, and never anyone of his girth and length, so the fit was tight, the fullness of having him inside her, stretching her, teetering between pleasure and pain.