Dominic's Nemesis (22 page)

Desire soared in the face of his frown and
the strange emotion swimming in the depths of his eyes.

“Dammit. Haven
’
t you any sense of self-preservation?”

She softened her lips with a smile, her
fingers already plucking at the buttons of his shirt. “No, I
haven’t.”

Gawd! She didn
’
t know what she did to him with those adoring hazel
eyes that seemed an open window to her soul. A soul he
’
d seen and embraced many times and
knew to be just as pure and perfect as the delicate beauty of her
face. He could spill himself just from that expression, gazing upon
her and having her see
them
and not shrink away, but shine
back at him with passion dipped in green-gold. Passion for him. He
couldn
’
t resist.

Ahhh…but touching her, thinking about her
beneath his body, lips parted, eyes shining. There was a time when
he
’
d contemplated which
was worse…the years spent alone, devoid of all human contact, or
those endured in hell when every touch was one of pain and
torture…but not now. Now he knew the truth: her touch was the
sweetest pain of all.

The moment his lips closed over hers, some
primal instinct seized control of him. Denied warmth and affection
for so long, he was like a ravenous beast, desperate to satisfy the
craving lest the prey somehow free itself and he lose the
opportunity forever. He devoured her mouth, taking from her the
sweetly-offered gift of her innocence. Her hands, light and
tentative, caressed his chest…she must have finished with the
buttons some time ago, because her fingers set fire to his skin. He
relinquished his hold on her just long enough to divest himself of
the cotton barrier and fling it to parts unknown.

She killed him, her mouth just like her
hands, so accepting, so open, hot…moist heat that he sank his
tongue into, sucking, tasting, lavishing with an urgent gentleness.
He felt her groan into his mouth, echoing his own growing need.
Wait…

Abruptly, he broke off. Her breathing was as
erratic as his. Her stare, confused. His body throbbed from loss;
his nether regions protested most of all. “Eden, not…here. My
room.”

He searched her upturned face, needing to be
sure she knew what she was letting herself into. “Do you know what
I
’
m asking?
What
’
ll happen if I take
us there now?”

Her voice hitched, he noticed. She had to
swallow several times to get the words out. “Yes, Dom, I know. I
want to.”

And he was too weak to say no. “Climb up and
hold on to me like before.”

Waves of desire shot threw him as she hooked
her arms around his neck. He helped her shove the heavy skirts
aside so she could twin her legs around his waist. Her inner thighs
hugging him, her face turned into his throat…his groin spiked when
she touched a light kiss just shy his Adam
’s apple.

“That
’
s right, cara. I
’
ve got you.”

After adjusting his hands so that one
supported her gown-ed bottom and the other steadied her head
against his shoulder, he took several deep breaths to calm himself
enough to shimmer. When he did, he wasn
’
t prepared for the tenfold boost to an already
blazing need. He hoped she didn
’
t change her mind when he exited the astral,
because the after burn alone would leave him hard for hours,
semi-hard for days. He
’
d
deny himself if he had to, but that would mean avoiding her while
he battled his overwrought desire. And not seeing Eden had become a
torture all by itself; her half-smile, the white-blonde wisps
tickling her nape. No, none of that. He forced himself to
concentrate on their destination.

He stepped off the astral and shattered into
a million prickling shards of desire, screaming throughout his
body, jagged and shrill. They touched down adjacent the bed, and
flopped in a messy heap on the counterpane. He rolled over so that
she clung shivering atop his body. Her hair curtained over both
their heads.

“Eden?”

Dominic ran gentling hands through her hair,
smoothing it back so he could pry her face away from his neck.

“Eden, what
’
s wrong?”

“I…
I feel
hot
…all over, tingly. My breasts, they ache.” Her gaze was
flushed, excited. “And the mouth between my legs, it
’
s…
hungry.
”

Hell. The astral had affected her. Of course,
he should have realized it would. She, for reasons he
’
d yet to discover, seemed touched
by otherworldly things. Her sensitivity to his presence, her
hallucinations—or visions as Cael wanted to call them—were proof
enough.

He strained up and kissed her forehead. “Do
not fear, cara. It
’
s an
effect of the way I travel. Normally, it does not extend
to…passengers.”

“But I never felt this…effect before.”

“Whatever emotion you
’
re feeling at the time is magnified. The
day Cael rescued you we piggybacked, but you were unconscious.
After the incident the other night, you were calm, so you only
became more so. This time was different. Your emotions were
wild.”

“
Will
it
…abate?”

He let his hands slide down her sleeved arms,
hoping to help calm her. “In time. But if you
’
re feeling like I feel now, it will take a
hour or two before the heightened awareness is gone.”

“Dom, are we still going to…”

He closed his eyes to lock out the pulsating
throb her words caused. Gawd, he hurt for her. “Yes, cara, I would
like to so very much.”

“Me too.”

She was so slight in his arms, so trusting.
He needed to be careful with her, that much he knew. But knowing
and doing were two separate demons.

The mechanics he could handle. He
’
d seen it done. He
’
d read books, overheard gossip,
but they were racy books, experienced hoydens in the gossip.
Nothing learned from those sources would help him please an
innocent like Eden. And he ached to please her.

But,
he
existed mostly on the outskirts of love, looking in.
After all, what gentlewoman would lay with a man who hid his face
like a bandit? And no woman, gentle or otherwise, would want him
after she
’
d witnessed
his shame. He wished now he’d discussed the matter with Cael or
Ethan. Hell, even
Stephan
probably could have provided some
direction.

“Dom?”

He opened his eyes on her, and brought his
hands up to hold her face. She laid her hands atop his. The
contrast of fine porcelain to his olive ruggedness appalled him.
Had his hands always been so large and fearsome-looking?
He
’
d have to take things
slow. Gauge her reactions, and see what she liked…what she
disliked. Make certain he did everything right. Take care not to
harm her.

When her hands fell away to light once again
on his chest, Dominic let his migrate into her hair. He applied a
light pressure to close the distance between them in a kiss that
started off sweet and grew spicy with the melting of tongues. She
shifted her position further up his torso, probably to accommodate
his blossoming affection.

He liked the weight of her on top of him. But
soon just that and kissing her wasn
’
t enough. He needed more. His fingers combed the
length of her ashen mane, spraying it out around their bodies. He
strayed down her cheek and nibbled like an adoring pet at her
earlobe. His hands found the back of her dress. There seemed to be
a million slippery buttons encasing her in the garment. She
chuckled softly at his troubles.

“Here, why don
’
t you leave that to me.”

She moved to sit up but he couldn
’
t bear to let her go, so he
followed her up in a seated position. She slid into his lap. He
continued to lavish first her bruised neck then the creamy skin of
her shoulder with butterfly kisses and nips. Her intoxicating
taste, her bottom wiggling against his most sensitive organ…it was
sweet torture.

“Uhhhn…cara, please.” His voice came out
thick and tight.

Amazing, Eden managed to reach behind her
back and finish undoing her gown. With much angling and shifting,
he managed to pull it over her head. The skirts were next. She
stood on the bed, dropped the thick layers down, and stepped out of
the pool at her ankles for him to fling aside.

Clothed in only her chemise and ruffled
drawers, she lowered herself back on him, stocking clad legs folded
under at the knee and straddling his thighs. She nestled in his
lap, with a wicked expression, surprising him. She knew just what
effect the movement had on him. Before he knew her intent, she was
teasing at his nipple with a fingernail, playful…eyeing him.

“Is this bothering you?”

“No, cara.” A jolt of dizzying awareness shot
through him, as if tiny fibers connected the bronze plug to his
lower regions. His groin bulged against his trousers, throbbing and
painful until he could ignore it no longer. He covered either side
of her hips with his hands, repositioned her so her heat pressed
down on him, rocking her back and forth against his
erection…stroking it higher while alleviating some of his need.

The
little hitches in her breath told him she enjoyed the effect as
much as he. Her hips kicked in, undulating to the example he set.
She left off teasing him and went for the full-armored attack,
lowering her mouth to the erect plug. He jerked when her wet heat
latched on to him, and caged her head, encouraging her, eager for
her tongue’
s suckling and teeth nibbling at his skin. He
fell back on the bed, her, the pleasure giver at the moment.

She set him on fire, a soaring inferno. His
eyes must be wild again, because when she pulled back and looked
down at him, her smile turned to a gasp.

“Dom, your eyes…the left one is-.”

“Yes, I know.” He panted. “They get like this
under bright lights or when I am…emotional.”

* * *

Eden stared, mesmerized by the smoldering
starburst grey and eerie blue trained on her. His eyes were more
than excited. They were greedy, for her…almost predatory. If it
were possible, the place between her legs burned even hotter,
wetter. The dampened cotton drawers grew uncomfortable against her
feverish desire to be rid of them, to rid him of the blasted
trousers so she could be skin to skin with the seeking bulge wedged
at her thigh
’
s apex.

He pushed back cascading tresses, and
devoured her with another deep kiss, rolling her onto her back in
the process. Eden v-ed her legs at the knee to accommodate his
girth. She suffered his weight but a moment before he braced
himself on an elbow.

A delicious thrill went through her when his
other hand migrated down to cover her breast, kneading it, worrying
the sensitive peak with his thumb until she panted, arching her
back. Her own hands clawed the offending chemise denying her his
full touch.

“Shhhh, patience cara. Let me please you.”
His voice was a guttural whisper, near the lip of the garment.

Scorching breath wafted across her skin at
the place where her neck dipped into cleavage. She felt his lips
touch her there briefly, and let her hands fall away to her sides,
gripping the counterpane maniacally. Her head shifted to and fro,
as he trailed kisses in a path to her heaving breasts, closing his
mouth over chemise and all. Unable to stop herself, Eden caged his
head against her…one leg coming over the back of him to rub
impatiently at his taunt thigh and buttocks.

His tongue lapped at her incessantly, soaking
the material, molesting her nipple to a pain-edged pleasure. Her
hands got lost in his coal-black waves.

“Ohhhh…” A sigh escaped her when he loosed
the satin ribbon securing the garment and drew the satin from the
eyelets. Bagging cotton drawn down, the room
’
s cool air wafted across her buds just
before his tongue
’
s
coarse wetness raked maddeningly across it.

Eyes closed, head arched back, panting
through her mouth, Eden abandoned herself to the bombardment of
sensations and shivers. Her hips began to undulate upward. Her
wayward leg pressured his hips, trying to grind the pulsating bulge
into her core. Some place in the corner of her mind suspected that
he
’
d deliberately
agitated her into a writhing frenzy.

“Dom…” She exhaled his name.

That
’
s when she felt it, a hand, his hand, inching over
her drawers. Her hips jumped as his fingers slipped beneath the
waistband, twined in her nether hair and finally sprayed over
dew-moistened lips.

“For me, cara?” He lifted from her
breast.

She lulled her head to the side. Her
passion-fogged mind was slow to react…what had he said? Why had he
stopped? Forcing laden eyes to work, she glanced at the ruby pebble
he
’
d abandoned and then
turned up to collide with his face. Eyes brimming with awe stared
back at her.

His palm, warm and seeking, moved against the
delicate flesh between her legs. When his fingers fondled over an
especially sensitive nub, she nearly screamed at the burning ache
that resounded throughout her entire body. Her hands clutched at
his shoulders when he kept up the movement, worrying her flesh. The
minuscule corrugations on his thumb wrecked havoc, feeding her
throbbing need. Her legs widened, seeking more. Her hips moved in
time with his hand, rising to beg for fulfillment.