Diamond Dust (17 page)

Taking off the diamond earrings and necklace gave her a moment to breathe. She fidgeted as she placed them on the bathroom counter, attempting to regain her composure. “I’m glad nothing happened to these. I seem to have ruined the gown.”

“You didn’t ruin anything.” Tyler grasped the neckline and ripped the garment the rest of the way so it gaped open at the front. “I like unwrapping my presents.”

Steam filled the small room, wafting past his thick torso and covering his solid body. He pushed the fabric from her shoulders and observed closely as it puddled to the ground.

A delighted grin erupted as she stood in the new panties and bra he’d bought her—was it only earlier that evening?

Instead of caressing the bits of lace and satin still covering her, his fingers trickled over her thigh and the knife strapped there. “A woman of many talents and surprises. I like this, Caroline Bradley.”

She shivered, this time from his touch, not the cold. He dropped to his knees and took his time undoing the buckle on the sheath. He touched his lips to her skin and branded her, a shot driving from where his mouth landed straight into her core.

Before she found the power to speak, he’d removed her knife, laying it carefully on the counter before turning back to examine her.

“Tell me this is a one-night stand.” Caroline cursed the words even as they escaped. If he stopped she’d self-implode, only she didn’t want fancy promises given or assumed.

“This is whatever we make it.” He caught a finger in the edge of her panties and tugged them lower an inch at a time, his gaze fixed on her sex.

Good answer.

Gazing down at him, she was distracted enough to let this happen. Forget being tough and reacting on impulse to fix things. Forget planning and plotting to do the right thing. She wanted to feel alive and excited, and the man kneeling at her feet was sexy enough to have her panting before he’d done more than caress her skin.

He touched his lips just above her mound, breathing deeply. “This is what you want. What your body wants, what I want to give to you.”

Another open-mouthed kiss, this time on her curls, and Caroline caught his head in her hands in an attempt to stay on her feet.

He hummed in approval. “So eager. I am as well, but first things first.”

She stifled the whimper wanting to escape when he stood, but he didn’t leave her. Simply reached around, and her bra vanished.

“You guys are good at that. Undressing, I mean.” Caroline swallowed as he let the material fall to the floor, hands remaining to cradle the sides of her breasts.

“Occupational benefit.” He lifted her breasts, his thumbs teasing her nipples. The tips were already tight peaks, and his caress made them tingle.

She wanted more. Wanted to watch him lean closer and use his mouth. His lips. His tongue. Anything that would increase the pressure building inside her.

What she got was a quick ride through the air into the shower, the heat of the water smarting as it warmed her chilled toes and hands. “Oh, Lordy, that feels good.”

Tyler chuckled as he stepped into the tub beside her, his bulk barely fitting into the normal-sized enclosure. “Those are the kind of noises I want to hear when it’s me causing them, not a simple shower.”

He was a fine, fine looking man. Caroline stepped back to give him room and allow the spray to break over her shoulder onto his chest. The water poured down his torso, rivulets teasing through the trail of hair leading to his cock. His very erect cock.

Tyler outright laughed this time. “You just sighed again. Like what you see?”

She wasn’t going to lie. “You make me crazy, Tyler. I shouldn’t want you so badly.”

“Who says?” Tyler caught her close, water streaming between their torsos. His erection tight to her ass as he turned her and settled her against his chest. “Who says it’s wrong for me to want to admire your beautiful body? Like your breasts—damn, tonight when you walked across the room I wanted you to be naked so I could enjoy these.” He cupped her, this time able to hold her completely, thumb and forefingers playing lightly with her nipples.

Caroline rested her hands on his hips to keep her balance, her head on his shoulder. “You bears are insane. Do you think anyone got seriously hurt?”

His teeth caught the rim of her ear, and she shuddered. “No more politics. Forget them. Tomorrow will be soon enough. Your guard is safe, so is mine. That’s all we need to worry about. Concentrate on us.”

“Forget politics, hmm?” She really shouldn’t interrupt him when he was caressing her breasts so perfectly. Not when he adjusted position to reach farther down her body, no doubt aiming at her sex. She’d never been very good at making herself shut up, though. “Is this Political Necessity, what we’re doing right now?”

He cupped her sex, rubbing lightly. “You’re never going to let me forget that comment, are you?”

“Well, it was kind of memorable.
Oh
…”

He’d slipped a finger into her. “I’ll have to give you something more memorable to replace it with, then.”

The finger went deeper, spreading her, filling her. “Keep going, you’re doing grand.”

He thrust all the way in, the rest of his hand under her, his thumb centered over her clit. A slow, even rhythm of withdrawing and thrusting made her shake on unsteady legs. Especially when he added a second finger, spreading her wider, his thick digits driving her toward release.

“Oh, Tyler.” She dug her nails into his skin and pulsed her hips against his hand, wanting something more to send her over.

His free hand caught a breast and tweaked the nipple, hard, one side then the other. Caroline moaned as her core tightened on his fingers, trying to hold him in place even as he stroked her through her orgasm.

All traces of cold had vanished. She felt as if she was floating, and maybe she was.

Yes, he was carrying her again, out of the shower and into a huge towel, his touch gentle as he dried her.

She was far warmer and more relaxed than a moment before, but she wasn’t satisfied. Especially not when he dried himself, his cock bouncing against his belly as he moved.

Caroline reached for him, but he caught her by the wrist. “Uh-uh. No touching until we find a bed. Because the next time I start, I’m not stopping until we’re both boneless, and I find lying on bathroom floors highly overrated.”

They caught each other’s gaze, and Caroline smiled at the honest appreciation he wore. “That’s the kind of expression I like to see.”

“Enjoy it, you’ll be too lightheaded in five minutes to see anything clearly.”

“Promises, promises…” She turned and ran for the bedroom, figuring he’d like the pursuit as much as she’d like to be chased.

She made it to the door before he nabbed her. Scooped her up and tossed her toward the bed, throwing himself after her. They landed in a mass of limbs and body parts, rubbing together in a frenzy.

“You’re lucky this bed is reinforced for shifter weight,” Caroline teased.

“You’re lucky this bed is strong enough to take what we’re going to do on it.” He stretched over her, pinning her to the mattress. Caroline found her wrists caught in an inescapable clasp. He pulled her hands overhead, the position stretching her torso and making her arch her back. Her breasts rose and he licked his lips.

Anticipation made her breathing grow thinner, her torso shaking as he lowered his head to suck her nipple into his mouth.

She pressed against him. “
Yes
.”

He answered with a firmer tug of his lips and a happy hum. He drove her crazy for a while, flicking his tongue lightly over the tip, pulsing his lips closed and drawing harder, before releasing and starting all over again.

And this talented bear? With his free hand he was exploring the tender skin on her hip. Fingers edging in circles closer and closer to her sex.

“I want to touch you,” she complained.

“You will.” He mumbled the words against her breasts as if he couldn’t bear to leave them. “Caroline. Do you want me to use a condom?”

Where exactly could he possibly have such things hidden? And there would be none in her sister’s bathroom either, as both Shelley and her partner were shifters.

Lucky for Tyler, she had it covered. “No need. You’re a shifter—no disease—and I’m on birth control.”

His forehead crashed to her chest for a second as he muttered, “Thank God.”

She laughed. “You didn’t have a condom, did you? If I’d said we needed one?”

He lifted up on his elbows, searching her face, passion heating her even as he spoke. “I promise I will never hurt you, and I’ll always protect you. And that means yes, if you’d said we needed a condom, I would have made you happy but stopped from having sex.”

“Good thing one of us is prepared,” Caroline teased, lifting a leg and running her calf up the back of his thigh. She rocked her hips, bumping his thick erection against her.

His eyes darkened. “And not hurting you means making sure you’re ready.”

“I’m ready. I’m ready,” she insisted.

He licked his lips. “Oh, you will be, I promise that as well.”

A single-minded assault began as he determinedly worked his way down her body. He didn’t have to worry, though; she wouldn’t protest. Oral sex from a shifter was a form of paradise she’d sworn to never deny herself. They were truly talented with their tongues.

“Oh. My.
Word
.”

He had her pinned with one hand and with no warning had opened her thighs with his broad shoulders, falling on her as if he were starving. Long licks from her core to her clit, a teasing circle then another stroke. Caroline happily widened her legs to give him room to work.

He lifted her to his mouth, lapping intimately, one hand holding her in place. Somehow he got his fingers involved again, pressing against her clit until she gasped for air, teetering on exploding.

He slipped his hand away and covered her clit with his mouth and sucked, and she broke, pleasure enveloping her.

“Tyler, oh
yes
.”

He was over her before the first peak faded, broad cock at her opening. He held her thigh to one side and pressed in, a second pulse of pleasure accompanying his entrance.

She stared at him, his face tense with restraint; pleasure there as well as he sank deeper one rock at a time. She was being stretched so good, his cock teasing aftershocks from her.

When he buried himself all the way, their groins finally meshed, she squeezed her eyes shut to soak in the sensation.

“Caroline, you’re incredible.” The words whispered beside her ear. He was on his elbows over her, his hips moving slowly as he withdrew his cock then slipped in again. “So tight around me. So wet and perfect. Lift your legs and hold me.”

She obeyed instantly, crossing her ankles and groaning as the new angle moved him deeper.

“Yes.” He swiveled his hips, and a zing of something extra thrilled up her spine. She must have gasped or groaned or hoorayed
yes
, because his focus narrowed to her and nothing else. “Oh, you like that, do you?”

“Again,” she ordered. Panted. Wheezed. The word was barely comprehensible, but he seemed to know what she was begging for. Because he repeated the move. And again, teasing her inside where she never remembered feeling before. Like he’d found the magic button people always talked about, and she never knew she’d been missing.

Sex before this? She’d enjoyed. She’d enjoyed a
lot
. But with every thrust, Tyler erased what had come before and made her see stars. Everywhere.

“Breathe, Caroline,” he laughed. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“Don’t stop,” she begged, certain if he wavered this magical event would vanish like rain in the desert.

“Don’t worry.” He gave another thrust that made her ears tingle. The next one, the top of her head. “This feels too good to stop any time soon.”

Lillie’s comment about Energizer Bunny Bears echoed in her memory, and Caroline relaxed. Her entire lower body was along for the ride as he worked her over, leaning on one elbow to free a hand.

She was sure he’d go for her breasts, because, hello, consistency in a male was to be appreciated. Then he shocked her by slipping his hand under her head and cradling her neck, lowering his mouth over hers and kissing her tenderly. His tongue explored lazily even as his cock pierced her in two.

Tenderness mixed with incredible passion. A soft kiss pressed to the corner of her mouth as he rocketed his cock into her core, and that extra motion broke her. Her climax hit, washing her with passion as he kissed her one more time then came, his release shaking his torso as he held himself from crushing her.

“Sweet Caroline.” The words whispered against her lips, and she smiled, even as the delight shuddering through her made the room go fuzzy.

Chapter Twelve

When his arm strength gave out, he managed to drop to the side and not on top of her. Caroline cuddled in, resting her head on his shoulder, her fingers moving in small circles as she played with his chest hair.

“That was incredible.” She exhaled in a long, low rush. “Although, I’m still not sure why it happened.”