Claiming Valeria (29 page)

Rui’s eyes darkened to the color of a forest at dusk. He obediently
cupped her, his other hand coming to her other breast, caressing her as carefully
as if he were handling fine silk. Sensation rippled from her breasts to her belly
in warm, honeyed waves. Her eyes drifted shut in sheer pleasure.

Her already-sharp senses heightened to an almost unbearable pitch,
boosted by the small amount of the aphrodisiac still in her blood. She could hear
Rui’s breath, harsh with desire…scent his rich male musk with that overtone of salt.
A heavily-muscled thigh pressed between her legs and he gathered her closer so that
he could run his other hand over her breasts and torso, his fingertips rough against
her skin. Rough—and perfect.

“
Meu amor
,” he said in ragged tones. “When I heard that
bastard had you, I thought I’d lost you both.”

He backed her up until she was seated on the mattress’s edge
and then came down on his knees before her. Carefully, he lifted each of her breasts
in turn, pressing kisses to the outside of each curve before moving on to her areola,
tracing each sensitive circle with his tongue until her nipples were wet and tightly
furled and she was dizzy with need.

“Rui,” she rasped. She took his hand and set it between her thighs.
“There. Touch me. Please?”

A corner of his mouth kicked up. But his fingers slid into her
wet folds, gently rubbing. The craving ratcheted up. Her pulse quickened and a flush
heated her cheekbones.

His mouth touched hers. “This is good? What you need?”

“Wha—” She gazed at him from under half-closed lids, her whole
body pulsating. “
Sim
. Oh, yes.”

His fingers halted their lovely motion. “You’re sure you’re all
right? The drug isn’t controlling you anymore?”

“
Sim
. I mean no, I just need you—”

“Then put your hands behind your head.”

The soft command sent a jolt of heat to her womb. He liked games,
her Rui. But then, so did she. She obeyed, her gaze latched on his.

“That’s it. Interlace your fingers behind your neck and keep
them there.”

The position thrust out her breasts. He regarded them with hooded
eyes. “
Deus
, your breasts are beautiful. Like lush, perfect fruit. I want
to eat you up.”

Still stroking her between the legs, he brought his mouth to
one nipple and nipped. The small pain made her moan.

“I know that
cabrão
hurt you,” he told her. “And I’m sorry.
It never would’ve happened if I hadn’t rejected you and our mating. But I think
you need to be teased a little, hm? Just to remind you who your mate is.”

She moved her head from side to side. “
Não
, Rui. Have
mercy. I’ve been waiting for hours—”

He nipped her other breast. “You’ll get what you need…when I
decide it’s time.”

“Damn you,” she muttered, even as another wave of heat flooded
her belly. The man knew her too well.

He chuckled darkly but said nothing. His hands moved over her
body, sure and knowing: plumping her breasts, pinching her nipples, cupping her
hips…sliding a finger between the crease of her buttocks until her mind was hazy
with desire. She moaned and tried to reach for him, but he stilled and told her
to place her hands behind her head again.

“You know the rules.”

She groaned but obeyed. “Please,
querido
,” she said in
a jagged voice. “I need you.”

“All right,” he said, taking pity on her. “Lie down.” He guided
her the rest of the way onto the mattress and then crawled on top of her, his face
stern with desire. Her hard, beautiful predator.

“Come here.” She reached for him and this time he let her, coming
down on his forearms to give her a deep, sensual kiss, his tongue sliding in and
out of her mouth, tasting, teasing. Pleasure rippled through her, wave after wave
of it. Her fingers dug into his shoulders and she moaned softly.

He pushed himself upright, his knees on either side of her hips,
and gazed down at her, his green eyes so dark they were nearly black. Her hands
fell to either side of her head and he grunted his approval.

“Keep them there,” he told her as he fisted his hand around his
cock and began to slowly stroke himself.

Her breath snagged in her chest. It was the most erotic sight
imaginable, watching him pleasuring himself, his inky eyelashes shading high cheekbones,
his face shadowed with night beard, his big, blunt fingers sliding over his heavily
veined erection. Desire pulsed in her blood, a hot, heavy beat.

“Rui,” she pleaded, reaching for him.

He chuckled, the bastard, and brushed her hands away. But to
her relief, he came down to her, his mouth sliding down her body. His fingers spread
her, stroked her open. His face moved between her legs, his stubble rubbing over
the soft skin of her inner thighs, and then his mouth touched her most sensitive
place.

Her whole body went taut. “
Rui
,” she said in a strangled
voice.

“Hm?” he said without stopping the magical things he was doing
with his lips and tongue.

She could only moan. Fire raced over her skin, lashed at her
core. Her hips rose, wordlessly begging for more. She lost the ability to think,
just melded with her animal as thrill after thrill whipped through her. She was
close…so close…

He slowed and she let out a sob. “
Por favor
, no more teasing.
I ne—”

“Hush. I know what I’m doing. I know
you
, Valeria. Don’t
ever forget that.”

He slid two fingers into her, stroking in and out. Her passage
clenched around him. Still sucking her clit, he twisted the fingers, touching a
single perfect spot behind her pubic bone. White heat exploded behind her eyes and
she screamed with pleasure as a climax took her.

He rode it out with her, licking and stroking her as he murmured
dark, erotic words of love. When she went limp beneath him, he crawled up her body
with a panther’s grace and settled between her thighs, forearms on either side of
her head.

She gazed up at him, her breath coming in soft huffs.

“
Deus
, I love you,” he said. And then to her shock, he
drew in a serrated breath and his eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry. So sorry.
About everything.” His head dropped to her breasts. “Forgive me,
querida
.”

Her heart squeezed. “Oh, Rui,” she said as she enfolded him in
her arms. “Don’t cry. Please don’t cry. I forgive you. And I’m sorry too. I—”

“Please.” He lifted his head to meet her eyes. “I need to say
this.”

She hesitated and then nodded.

“I should never have left you that night,” he went on. “But I
was so ashamed. I’d killed a little girl’s father. I felt so…cold. Like there was
nothing worthwhile about me at all.

“And then you looked at me like I was lower than a worm. I
felt
it, Valeria—and…it hurt. All I wanted to do was get the hell out of here. Because
you were right. I didn’t have to make that kill. I could’ve left, explained things
to Dion. He left the final decision up to me. He always does.”

“Oh, Rui.” She was crying now, too. She stroked her hands over
his close-cropped hair. “Oh,
meu amor.
I’m sorry, so sorry. I had no right
to judge you.”

“No—you were right. It’s my fault that Merry is an orphan. You
don’t know how many times I wished I could go back in time, fix it somehow. Keep
her father alive.”

“But that might not have helped. That night fae—Tyrus—wouldn’t
have given up. They’d both be dead now.” She stifled a shudder. “And who knows what
he would’ve done to her first?”

Rui swiped a hand over his wet cheeks. “That’s what I tell myself.
But who knows? Maybe Silver could’ve kept them both alive somehow. He was doing
okay up to then.”

“Let it go, love.” She cupped his face. “What’s done is done.
You can only be the best father you can be to Merry…and to the rest of our children.”

“Oh, Valeria.” He gave her a hard kiss. “I will be. I love her
so much. I swear on my mother’s grave that I’ll treat her as if she were my own.”

“I know, love.” She pulled back so she could look into his eyes.
“But you’re wrong about one thing. I do owe you an apology—for turning away from
you that night you brought Merry home. I knew even then how much I’d hurt you, but
I was too angry to care. But that only lasted for the night.” She shook her head.
“And damn you, Rui, for running. That’s the only thing you need to be sorry for—for
running from this thing we have. Mates don’t always agree with each other. But they
don’t run and they don’t close themselves off from each other. They talk it out—or
they fight it out. But they don’t go to someone else. When you were hurting, you
should’ve come to me,
not
Cleia.”

He took her hands and folded them in his. “I know.” He pressed
a contrite kiss to her fingers. “And I’m sorry, love. When I left, all I wanted
was to drink myself into a stupor so I didn’t have to think about you—or Merry.
I can still hear her asking if I was a bad man. And then somehow—” He briefly closed
his eyes. “But I thought of you every day. Every single day. But with every day
I stayed away, it got harder to come home, and by the time I did, I was so sure
you were better off without me that I blocked the mate bond with everything I had.
That was wrong. I was an ass.”

“Yes, you were.” She grasped his shoulders and gave him a little
shake. “But you’re my ass, got it?”

His lips curved. “
Sim
.” His head dipped and he set his
lips on her breast bone, right where the mate bond originated. Warmth filled her,
spread to every part of her body. She stroked his head, his shoulders, her eyes
drifting shut the better to savor the wonder of it.

When she opened her eyes again, he was sliding into her. Around
them, the candles seemed to flare, painting his cheekbones a warm gold. He regarded
her through heavy-lidded eyes.

“You feel it too, don’t you, Valeria? The bond.”

“
Sim
.” It was a heated pulse in her heart, one she knew
would bind them for the rest of their lives.

“Say you love me.”

It was a demand, but she sensed the vulnerability behind it.

“I love you.” Her arms came around him in a tight embrace. “I
love you, Rui do Mar. More than I can say. I never really stopped.”

“
Deus
, I was a fool to ever leave you. But I love you
too, Valeria.” He moved slowly in and out of her. “Now I’m going to fuck you,
querida
.
Slow and deep…hard and fast. And you’re going to let me, aren’t you? You’re mine.
Tell me.” He thrust a second time, a little harder.

“Yes. Oh, lord, yes.” Her hips lifted without her volition and
they started moving together, one body, one heart, one soul.

The fire in her blood began to burn again, a slow burn this time,
the kind that promised to build and build until it exploded into wonder. She bent
her knees so she could take him deeper. That first climax had been amazing, but
its own kind of tease; she wanted him deep inside her when she came this time.

Her arms wrapped around him at the same time that he cupped her
face with big, blunt fingers. They began to move, together and apart, starting slow
and deep as he’d promised, each stroke touching her most intimate places and increasing
the pleasure. His body pressed hers into the mattress, big and hard and perfect.

She dug her heels into his thighs and urged him on with breathy
sounds that she barely recognized as her own. In response, he slowed even further,
dragging the flared head of his penis over her sensitive inner tissue, then thrusting
back in at an excruciatingly deliberate pace.

She threw back her head. “Take me. Please…”

“
Sim
,” he gritted. He speared his fingers in her hair
and tugged her head back. “Mine,” he said, before bringing his lips to hers in a
hard kiss. She opened her mouth to him and his tongue thrust inside. There was no
more teasing, just a man taking his woman, pleasuring them both.

She sucked his tongue deeper and his hips sped up, deeper, harder.
Valeria clung to him, each stroke shuddering through her, hard and wonderful. For
long moments they moved like that, their mouths and bodies tight together, dancing
to the same intimate rhythm.

Rui tore his mouth from hers to kiss her neck, her breasts, his
breath hot and ragged against her skin. “Mine,” he said again.

He slid out of her and she whimpered, thinking he meant to play
with her some more. Then he reared back and thrust into her, hard and firm. A shock
wave vibrated through her womb. “
Sim
. That’s it.” It was perfect, exactly
what she craved. Liquid heat gathered in her core, seared lava-hot up and down her
spine.

His fingers tightened on her hips, holding her in place as he
drove into her. She arched her pelvis, taking him deep. “It’s so good,” she sobbed.
“So good.”

Rui’s breath grew harsh. “Mine,” he said with each hard thrust.
“Mine.”

“Yours,” she gasped, grinding herself against him. “Rui, I—”

He slid a hand between their bodies and rubbed his fingers over
her tight, aching nub. She bucked and made a sound that was half-moan, half-scream
as her climax took her and she convulsed around him in a seemingly endless series
of exquisite shocks.

“That’s it,” he ground out, pumping into her forcefully. “Take
me.” Then he groaned, muttered, “
Madre de Deus
,” in reverent tones and emptied
himself into her.

He collapsed half-on, half-off her, his legs entangled with hers.
Valeria smoothed a hand down his back, moist with exertion. She thought she’d missed
this most of all: the weight of his body on hers, his rich scent in her nostrils,
the feel of his smooth, hard muscles beneath her palms.

He lifted himself off her and rolled onto his back, pulling her
into his arms, her head on his chest. She combed her fingers through the mat of
wiry hair under her cheek, listening to the hard beat of his heart.