Darkling (6 page)

“Fuck, I shouldn’t do this.” With that, he scooped her off
her feet and turned for the sofa. He pressed her down with the weight of his
body and she squeezed her eyes shut, holding on to the expression in his eyes.

Dark heat wove through her body and her nipples puckered
beneath her gown. Seeming to sense this, Niles stroked one, bringing it into a
harder peak. Before she could gasp from that delicious pleasure, he dropped his
mouth to it and sucked it through the fabric.

She bucked upward and lashed his head to her. Now that he’d
started, he wasn’t turning away from her with his talk about keeping his
distance. He was hers; there was no question in her mind.

He dragged his teeth over her bud, his tongue swirling over
the tip until the fabric was soaked. She guided him to her other needy breast.
Since the first time he’d touched them, she’d dreamed of this again and again.
His fingers on them. His mouth.

As he sucked the other taut nipple into his mouth, he eased
his fingers under her gown. She gasped at his fleeting touch on her inner
thigh. But he was like a planet seeking the sun—he knew exactly what part of
her body he wanted to touch.

And what part needed his touch the most.

Flames burst inside her when he stroked her wet petals.
Juices drenched his fingers and he groaned in response. The vibration against
her nipple sent her into paroxysms of pleasure.

She held him tighter, locking her ankles around his waist
and rocking against him. Suddenly he surged upward and captured her mouth at
the exact moment he plunged his finger into her tight sheath.

The invasion shocked her. She’d never experienced such
maddening delight. Her chest rose and fell with her labored breathing. Her
harsh mewls for more spurred him on and he pulsed his finger in and out of her
cavern before adding another digit.

“Oh!” Her first orgasm rocked her. She quivered
uncontrollably.

“That’s it, baby. Come on my fingers. So beautiful when you
release for me. Come on. I’ll take care of you.” He thrust his fingers deeper
and curled them inside her body. When he touched a certain sensitive spot at
the top of her seam, she continued to contract around his fingers. Cream
spurted from her.

While she still rode the pinnacle of her wave, she opened
her eyes and looked at him, mutely pleading for him to take her as a man takes
a woman. Make love to her. If she didn’t have him soon, she’d die.

Tenderly he ran the pad of his thumb over the crest of her
cheek and down her jaw. “Vega, my rare beauty. Who are you?”

“Yours,” she whispered.

His eyes fluttered shut and his shoulders vibrated slightly
beneath her hands.

“More.” Her plea was a throaty rasp.

He looked at her hard and her stomach fluttered in response.
At that moment she was reminded of the fierce expression he wore in the boxing
ring. A thread of excitement zinged through her.

“Oh I’m not remotely finished with you, baby.” His growl
ignited her. He slammed his mouth over hers, angling her face to meet his
kisses fully, drawing on her tongue until she thought she’d come again. His
fingers sank deep into her pussy once more and the scents of her pleasure
mingled with his dusky personal scent.

“I need to taste you again,” she begged, gripping his belt
loops and tugging, hoping he’d flip around and let her pleasure him with her
mouth again.

He had different ideas. He shook his head and then stretched
out beside her on the narrow ledge of the sofa.

She stared at him quizzically. A grin spread over his face
as he grasped her waist and dragged her atop him. He nudged her knees apart and
drew them over his shoulders so she knelt with her pussy over his tormenting
lips.

As she realized his intention, her muscles began to shake.

He bunched her gown up to her hips, the fabric falling over
his long fingers. She met his gaze for a split second before he closed his eyes
and opened his mouth on her body.

Desperate need screamed inside her. The first touch of his
tongue brought an instant throb to her. Her clit swelled against his tongue. He
splayed his fingers over her ass and kneaded her globes. When he brushed his
fingertip down the sensitive seam, she writhed.

“Yeah, baby. Fuck my face.” His scorching whisper drove her
to new heights.

She rolled against his mouth until her muscles sang with
warmth. The pressure built and she trembled for more. When he drove two fingers
deep into her body, she splintered.

He lapped at her clit wildly as he speared her on his
fingers. The thought of his cock buried inside her flitted through her mind,
extending her ecstasy.

He brought her down expertly, his touch softer and slower
until the last pulsations ebbed away.

Their gazes clashed.

“My turn,” she rasped.

Before she could climb off him, his cell phone rang with an
ominous tolling of bells.

“Damn, it’s work’s ringtone.” Gently he shifted her and fished
in his pocket for his phone. “I have to take it in case it’s something about
Mischa.”

He brought the phone to his ear. “Walker.”

She watched him closely as he listened to whatever was being
said. He tensed and then swung his legs over the side of the couch, raking his
fingers through his hair and sending it into spikes.

Hoping to ease him, she ran her palm over his spine. The
muscles dipped and bulged beneath her fingertips and she sensed his distress.

“Yes, I understand. You can come tomorrow to inspect my
apartment.”

She stiffened. What was he talking about? From his voice she
detected he was in trouble.

“Okay, see you then.” He ended the call and for a moment sat
staring at the far wall. His motionless pose alarmed her.

“What is it?”

Without looking at her, he replied, “My boss got wind that
you’re staying here.”

“Got wind?” Her mind fumbled over the phrase.

“Yes, he found out, and since it’s against the rules, they
want to inspect this place to see if they find a trace of you.”

Which they would. Unless he hid her.

Or she left before then with the starscale.

She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat. “Niles, I
can’t get you in trouble. I can go.”

Suddenly he twisted to her and seized her in his grasp. His
steely grip bit into her upper arms and she again witnessed the wild expression
cross his face.

“No. I brought it on myself, but I won’t turn you out.”

“I’ll find another place until…”

His dark brow cocked upward. “Until what?”

If ever there was a time to tell him about her mission, this
was it. He’d help her, she knew he would. But the thought of tearing herself
from him created a thickness in her throat that meant she was about to burst
into noisy tears again.

She rocketed to her feet and stumbled across the room to the
tall window. Looking out on the landscape of the city, she realized she really
didn’t belong here. Celestials belonged in the heavens, and that’s where she’d
go as soon as she gathered enough courage to steal the starscale. And leave the
man who had become her universe.

He came to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her
waist. He nuzzled her throat. “You can trust me, Vega, but I can wait until
you’re ready to talk. Listen, I have an appointment to meet Mischa in ten
minutes and it’s a walk to the restaurant. Will you come with me?”

She shook her head.

He pressed a soft kiss beneath her ear, raising a shiver.
“Okay. But you have to do one thing for me.”

“What’s that?” Her voice echoed strangely off the window
glass.

“Don’t go. Whatever happens with work, I’ll take care of it.
And I’ll take care of you.”

Chapter Seven

Blue ribbons of moonlight wove through Niles’ bedroom and
fell across his bed. He lounged against a pile of down pillows, drinking in the
calm and trying to keep from going into the living room, scooping the sleeping
woman off the sofa and carrying her to his bed.

Yeah, he wanted her that badly.

This afternoon when he’d loved her, a switch had been
flipped in his brain. Sure, he’d felt his body’s reaction to her from the
start. Her exotic beauty drew him like a moon to a planet. And damn, when she’d
given herself to him without hesitation, possessiveness had taken hold. He was
still in its death grip. Couldn’t shake it if he tried.

His cock throbbed against the fabric of his boxers, the
engorged head leaking copious amounts of fluid.

For a long moment, he considered taking out his shaft and
fucking his fist to completion. His balls drew up tight to his body at the
thought. Heat bathed his limbs, urging him on. Just a few strokes would rob him
of all thought and grant him the desperate release he needed. He’d never make
it through another day with her in the same house if he didn’t issue the hot
spurts that could clear his mind and help him regain control.

He strained to hear movement in the other room. As usual,
he’d made up a proper bed on the sofa for her and given her one of his t-shirts
to sleep in. The thought of waking to find her facedown on the couch with her
supple globes peeking from beneath the cotton hem of his shirt maddened him.

He ached to truly know the shape of her body. The
experiences they’d shared hadn’t been nearly enough. Not at all.

Vivid images of her dancing in the moonlight the previous
night flashed through his brain and his cock grew rock-hard. The tip rubbed
against the elastic waist of his boxers, and suddenly the pressure was too
much. He had to take it out.

Gliding a palm down his lower abs, he reached into his
underwear and clamped his fingers around his erection. With a quiet grunt, he
tipped his head up to stare at the ceiling, praying for restraint but dying to
unload. He hadn’t been this worked up since he was a teen and May Clee, the
girl who’d once claimed he had weird ears, had dropped to her knees and given
him his very first blowjob.

He stroked his balls, absorbing the shocks of need that
ripped through him.

A creaking step drew him up straight. Instantly, he withdrew
his hand and looked toward the door as Vega slipped into his room.

His breath caught.

She’d shed her layers, but rather than wearing the t-shirt
he’d provided, she wore a flimsy black slip. It stretched taut between her full
breasts, and in the dimness, he caught the dark shadow of her nipples.

Oh my God. How am I going to resist this?

He dug his palms into the mattress and hitched himself into
an upright position. She lingered in the shadows but her fragrance wafted to
him, riding on the currents of the air-conditioning, filling his head with
alluring jasmine and his body with lust.

“Vega, what’s the matter?”

She drifted into the room, weaving through the slivers of cool
moonlight. The icy light flickered over her skin, illuminating the slender arch
of her throat, her narrow torso, her round upper thigh.

He ground his molars against the need to come. If he’d
thought himself hard before, now he was steely. Fullness and pressure consumed
his groin, demanding release. He dug his fingers into the covers and forced
himself to remain in bed. The instant he got up, she’d be in his arms, his lips
slamming over hers.

“I can’t sleep at night.”

Her lilting soprano sent a spike of need straight to his
cock. His shaft bobbed against his lower abs, pummeling the cloth of his
underwear for exit.

“Are you feeling well?” He didn’t know if he could
concentrate on the answer. She’d moved to the window and stood silhouetted in
the moonlight, giving him a full glimpse of her body.

A gong of sensation rang through his soul. Lust filled his
veins like quicksilver. The ripe mounds of her breasts were in profile to him,
the tips pointed and straining against the sheer slip. Her waist dipped dramatically
at the rib cage but swelled to a fuller area below her navel. And her hips…

He scrubbed his hands over his face to dispel the desire to
nuzzle her round hips, to grip them in his hands and draw her moist, dark heat
to his mouth. A groan escaped him.

She began to move, hips tilting up, down, side to side. Each
slender arm was held aloft, her fingers splayed gracefully as her upper body
moved in precise juxtaposition to her lower.

Belly dancing.

His breathing was ragged as he watched her waist dip and
curl to match her erotic movements. Raven waves tumbled over her shoulders and
slipped against her undulating spine. He jerked forward but caught himself
before he could bound off the bed, twist his fists into her hair, yank her head
back and plunge his tongue between her sultry lips. Fuck, he wanted it. Bad. If
he watched her much longer, he was going to come in his pants, and he wouldn’t
be quiet about it. He’d roar out his pleasure.

“Vega…”

A soft smile touched her lips as she twisted to look over
one shoulder at him. The blue light kissed her brow, her high cheekbone, and
the full pout of her lower lip. Sweet Jesus, he wanted to bite down on that lip
and tug it until she begged for his kiss.

“Don’t you think the night is lovely, Niles?”

He thought if he could just hold her in his arms, every
other embrace he’d experienced in his life would seem pale.

“Yes.” His voice was a harsh rasp. “Stunning.”

“The stars are so beautiful, aren’t they? Vibrant. See how
they wink?” The length of one thigh flashed as she turned and padded toward the
bed in a series of tiptoeing steps.

His cock hardened further, threatened to spill his seed
without him laying a single hand on her. But could he touch her? He shouldn’t,
that was for damn sure. Yet she wasn’t truly his case. Just a personal
obligation he’d taken on.

At that moment, she felt far from a responsibility and more
of a need. A drug that had trickled into his system, anesthetized his brain,
but jolted his heart to life.

The front of her thighs came up against his bed. He stared
at the tantalizing space between them, tracing the arcs of her inner thighs
with his gaze. Bands of blue light wrapped around her body at precise
intervals—breasts, belly, hips—like a lover’s fingers wrapped around her
womanly parts. Niles wanted to be that lover, to slip his arms around her
mounds and the curve of her waist, and let his hips nuzzle hers.

“Sweetheart—”

“Niles, I need you.” A harsh breath left him and she thought
she’d never heard such glorious music in all the heavens. The uneven rasps told
her he was far from immune to her dance—the dance of passion. Of lovemaking. Of
seduction.

She lifted one knee to the edge of the bed and placed a palm
on it, prepared to crawl across it to him. The man had been driving her crazy
since she found herself in his company, but when the stars had risen, so had
her raw sensuality. She’d lain in the living room for hours, wanting him,
aching for him. The slick heat between her thighs was unbearable, and she’d
spent long minutes working over the erotic folds and peaks of her new body.
Shocking waves of pleasure had rushed over her, but they did nothing but
ratchet up her need.

She ached to be held, caressed, kissed. And filled.

“Niles, make love to me. I’m asking you for this wondrous
pleasure.”

“My God, Vega.”

The cotton sheets were cool beneath her knees as she inched
toward him. The long lines of his muscular legs drew her attention to the V of
his groin, where a thick bulge pushed against his shorts. Intense desire
dizzied her as she stared at the rounded tip stretching the cloth. She ran her
tongue over her lower lip, no longer thirsty but hungry. So hungry for his
body.

“Baby, we can’t. I mean, we shouldn’t.”

“I need it. I want it. You do too. I can see you like this
body.”

His hands convulsed and he jammed one through his hair,
sending the dark locks into spikes. Warm musk rolled off him in waves, drawing
her nearer with every inhalation she took. Shocks of need stabbed her lower
belly. Her sex gave a tight squeeze and released a flood of juices. A wild
smile broke over her face as she ran through the other names for these secret
body parts—names in all the languages she’d picked up during the lonely nights
spent in the heavens.

Tonight she wasn’t alone. She had a gorgeous man before her,
a human body and enough desire to set fire to the city block.

“Vega.” He threw out a hand to stop her from climbing up his
body. “Darlin’, you’re not ready for this.”

Oh yes, she was. The tight buds of her nipples said so, and
the slippery heat between her legs screamed it. Yep, absolutely ready.

She hovered over him, delighting in the warmth of his body a
hair’s width away. She fixed her gaze on his hard mouth. “We’re both ready.”

“We haven’t known one another long enough.”

“What’s to know? Your heart is pure, and my body craves your
touch.”

The corner of his jaw fluttered. She felt his breath wash
over her throat. And suddenly, she could hold back no longer. She relaxed her
arms and brought their bodies together. Flesh to flesh, pore to pore.

Electricity exploded in her synapses as she learned the feel
of him. Roped biceps, hard abs, thighs of stone…and that cock.

He curled his fingers into her shoulders and tried to hold
her away. His brows knitted with distress. “Vega, you can’t. We…can’t.”

She rubbed against him, needing to feel the rough chafe of
his chest hair against her nipples. “Can. Aren’t I desirable, Niles?”

“God yes.” Pain grated in his dulcet tones, like glass
beneath a boot heel. “Exotic and sweet and fragrant as a flower. Sultry and
sexy. I want you so fucking bad.”

“Then take me.” She tumbled into the sheets and lay staring
up at him, urging him with her gaze to love her—show her the ways of passion
between Earthlings. Night after night she listened to love words, confessions
and cries of bliss. She needed that experience just once. The ache was
unbearable in this body.

He twisted so he hovered over her with an arm braced on
either side of her torso. His dark hair fell into one blazing eye. She reached
up to smooth it away, but he dodged her touch. “You don’t know what you’re
saying. What it means.”

“I do know.” She arched her back, bringing her hips up in a
rolling motion of the erotic dance she loved to watch from her perch in the
sky. “It means we kiss.” The word sounded as a quiet hiss. “And we join bodies.”
Lightly she trailed her fingers down his spine. “Niles…”

“God, Vega, I want to and not because I’m horny as hell, but
because I feel so damn protective of you. It seems natural to tuck you into bed
with me and love you.”

Her heart surged. “Love me. Yes, that’s what I want.”

“I don’t take sex lightly. I don’t have one-night stands.”

She grappled to find the meaning behind that, but when she
came up with nothing, she dismissed it, loath to break the intensity of the
moment.

His head was lowering, inch by painstaking inch. She dug her
fingers into his back, desperate for the brush of his lips. One taste would
ignite her and free her to feel things she never had before. And never would
again, after she returned home with the starscale.

She had precious little time, but enough for a stolen
moment.

As the flavor of his breath coated her tongue, she started
to shiver.

“Baby,” he gasped a split second before his hard mouth
descended. The biting pressure sent her spiraling out of control, and she
opened her lips with a cry. He drove his tongue inside—a hot, wet slither that
thrilled her to the pit of her belly. Her pussy squeezed and released a fresh
flood of cream. The hardened pearl between her folds throbbed to life, eager
for his touch.

Angling his head, he drank from her, swiping the interior of
her mouth with long, languid strokes. The inside of her cheeks tingled with
every pass. After a moment, she found the courage to taste him back.

He groaned as she thrust her tongue against his, flickering
it over the muscular flesh. Each flip of her tongue brought new awareness to
her body, until every nerve ending was on fire and eager to be touched.

She sank her fingers into the thick hair on his nape,
pulling him down for more. He nibbled her lips and she cried out as passion
swept her.

Every nipping bite was a clash of lightning, sparking
brighter, louder, until fireworks burst behind her eyes. She wrapped her legs
around his hips and drew him atop her. The spear of his cock dug into the
dripping folds of her bare pussy.

His moan vibrated his chest, causing her sensitive nipples
to bunch up tight. “Fuck. You’re so hot.” He bit off the words, and one big
hand closed over her breast.

Even through the sheer gown his hand scalded her. He circled
her nipple with maddening slowness while his tongue mirrored his actions in her
mouth. Just when she thought she’d expire from need, he pinched her bud, hard
and slow.

She arched her back off the bed, urging him on. “Please,
Niles, your mouth.”

“What do you want me to do with my mouth?” His dark gaze
burned into hers and a bemused expression kissed his face.

Passions rolled through her unchecked. If ever there were
words to express what she wanted—no, needed—they were lost in the blaze. She
gripped his jaw and pushed him toward one straining tip.

A soft growl sounded in his throat as he took her nipple
between his lips and suckled it through the fabric. Using his lips and teeth,
he worked it into a painfully tight peak. Tremors were starting to take hold of
her. She forgot about the stars blinking through the high windows and the
benevolent glow of her friend the moon, and knew only this man.