Hellfire (17 page)

Ginny glared at him, but she
had to fight the twitch in her lips to keep from smiling. “Drink your wine,
Alton.”

“Yes,
ma’am.”

Alton lay awake in the bed
beside Ginny’s and stared at the shadows a small nightlight cast against the
ceiling. Ginny’d slept soundly for the past few hours. It had been an unspoken
yet mutual agreement to choose separate beds. He’d sensed Ginny’s desire for
him even as he’d struggled to bank the power of his own heavy arousal, but they
were both exhausted, both overwhelmed by all that had happened over the past
thirty hours. Tonight was not the night for any more excitement.

Ginny had gained a legacy. Alton
had lost a father. He hadn’t allowed himself to think of his father’s
proclamation today, but now, lying alone in the darkness, the words echoed
hollowly in his mind.

Strike
Alton’s name from the Artigos line. He has brought shame to our family. He is no
longer my son.

How could any man of honor
disown his own child? Granted, there’d been no love lost between the two of
them;
not that Alton hadn’t tried
. He’d played by his
father’s rules most of his life, and when that hadn’t garnered him any love or
attention, he’d changed course and broken those same rules.

It never seemed to matter, one
way or the other. Now, though, when he’d finally taken a position he could be
proud of, his father had disowned him. It made no sense.
None
at all.
What made even less sense was how much it hurt. He was a man
grown. A good man who’d made a difficult choice to help save his world.

He shouldn’t be so easily
affected by a father’s love—or lack of same—yet he was. He couldn’t believe how
badly it hurt. He’d given up all that was dear to him, and for what? To be
treated now as a common criminal. He needed to get past this foolish need for a
father’s approval. It was never going to happen, and he might as well accept
it.

The bed dipped. The covers
lifted and Ginny’s sleep-warmed body snuggled against his. He tucked her close
beside him and murmured, “What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep.”

She grumbled and rubbed her
face against his bare chest. “I was, but you woke me up.”

“How?
I’ve been quiet as a mouse.”

She pushed and he rolled over
to his back. She rolled with him, sprawled across his body and wrapped her arms
around him. He stroked her spine and she purred like a warm, sleepy kitten.

“You were not. You were
thinking really loud. And besides, what do you know of mice? You told me you
don’t have any animals in Lemuria.”

“Thinking loud?” He chuckled
and nuzzled the soft skin where her slim throat dipped and curved toward her
collarbone. “I didn’t mean to. And you’re right. We don’t have animals now, but
I remember them. Remember? I told you we had them before our world sank into
the sea.”

“Even mice?”
She lifted her head and stared into his eyes, blinking owlishly.

He kissed her nose. “Even
mice,” he said. “Ginny? You need to go back to your bed.”

She rested her cheek against
his chest. “Why? You make a wonderful mattress.”

“And you make a perfect
blanket, but if I hold you like this much longer, I’m going to make love to
you. And if I do that, you’re going to be really angry with me tomorrow.”

“Why? Are you a really
horrible lover?”

He chuckled and felt her slim
body bounce against his. “No. I think I’m an adequate lover, but I know you
don’t take sex lightly and neither do I. I don’t want you feeling any
misgivings come morning.”

Ginny raised her head and
looked at him again, only this time she was clear-eyed and obviously wide
awake. Running her fingertips along the line of his jaw, she whispered, “No
misgivings. No regrets, and no way am I going to miss this chance.”

He frowned. Turned his head
and kissed her fingers. “I don’t understand. What changed your mind?”

She kissed him. As kisses
went, it was nothing more than a simple little peck to his lips. But as kisses
can, it sent a surge of heat spiraling from lips to groin while firing all
parts in between.

“You changed my mind,” she
said. “Lying here in your bed wondering why that bastard of a father of yours
would disown you, while I’m lying in my bed wondering why I was over there all
alone when the most honorable, decent, wonderful, brave, and beautiful man I’ve
ever met was within my reach.”

She cupped his face in her
hands and looked into his eyes with so much feeling, so many emotions in those
beautiful tiger’s eyes of hers that Alton felt a tightening in his throat and a
burning in his eyes.

“I can’t say I love you,
Alton. I’ve never been in love, so I don’t even know what it feels like, but I
know that I care about you. I admire you, I want you and I need the connection
that making love with you will give me. Does that make sense? Can we do this
without being in love and not fracture whatever it is we’ve got so far?”

“Ah, Ginny.”
He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her, holding her so close he
felt her heart beating against his chest, felt the rush of air in her lungs and
breathed in the air she exhaled. “I want you. I need you like I’ve never needed
anyone in my life, but you have to be absolutely certain. I know this isn’t
something you take lightly. I don’t think you take anything lightly, but I
swear, if you come to me tonight I promise to make it good for you. I promise
we’ll find that connection you’re looking for. Is that enough?”

She sat up, straddled his
waist with her long legs bent close against his hips, and tugged her camisole
top over her head. There was barely enough light to see her, but her dark skin
glistened where the dim glow from the nightlight caught her curves and valleys.

Watching as Ginny slowly
unveiled herself, Alton’s heart pounded so hard and fast he felt light-headed.
She leaned down and kissed him, and again it was just a tease, the light touch
of her full lips to his. “Is that ever enough? Alton, you amaze and confound
me, but I want this like I’ve never wanted anything before. However…” She
sighed, a movement so slight that he barely felt the brush of her turgid
nipples across his chest. “What I don’t want is to get pregnant.” She laughed,
but there was a shaky, nervous sound to it. Abruptly, she sat up and pressed
her palms to his belly. “Do Lemurians use condoms?”

He chuckled, but it was over
her nervousness, not the question she’d asked. She always seemed so
self-assured—he found it rather refreshing that she hesitated now. He rested
his hands on her hips, over her soft cotton pants, and spread his fingers
across her firm bottom. Then he shook his head. “We don’t, but only because
it’s so difficult for our women to conceive. But for you, Ginny, I will do
whatever you ask.”

She nodded. “I have some in my
bag. I always keep them with me, just in case. For what it’s worth, I regularly
throw them out because they never get used and go out of date.” She gnawed on
her full lower lip for a moment. “I was a mistake. My mother gave me up for
adoption because she was an unwed teenager who got pregnant when she shouldn’t
have. That’s one family tradition I don’t plan to continue.”

“You’re not a mistake, Ginny.
Never a mistake.”
He ran his finger over her dark cheek,
across her damp lips. Then he trailed it along the line of her jaw, down her
throat to a point between her breasts. She had absolutely lovely breasts, small
and perfectly round with dark, dark nipples. He ran his thumb over the left one
and watched it tighten into a taut little point. When Ginny moaned, he repeated
the same touch on her right side. “Were you to conceive, my beautiful Ginny, I
would cherish our child, but now, with demonkind threatening our worlds, is not
the time to take such risks with innocent life. When the time is right, and if
the gods are willing, I hope you will someday consider taking a chance with
me.”

She nodded. Then she clambered
off of him and reached for her bag, dug out a small packet, and clutched it in
her hands. Wearing nothing but her sagging sleep pants hanging loosely around
her hips, she glanced over her shoulder and smiled. The long line of her spine
called to him.
The soft curve of her bottom.
The sleek muscles from shoulder to fingertips.

He wanted to touch her, to
taste every part of her, and he knew he was fast losing his control. He tried
to remember the last woman he’d been with, but it had been too long ago, and
obviously not at all memorable. “Come here, Ginny.” He held out his hand and she
took it, but for all her brashness and blatant self-confidence, she was once
again shy and hesitant. He tugged.

She stepped to the side of the
bed. Alton slipped his fingers beneath the waistband of her cotton pants and
cocked an eyebrow. She huffed out a breath. Then she shimmied out of the pants
and stood there gloriously naked, yet still much too unsure of herself. Alton
threw the covers back and sat up. He turned and sat on the edge of the bed and
tugged Ginny close until she stood between his legs, caught in his embrace.
Standing while he sat, she was exactly his height. Their lips came together so
naturally there was nothing to do but kiss her.

She parted her lips beneath
the gentle prodding of his tongue. He ran his fingertips along her spine and traced
the perfect curve of her bottom, pulling her closer until he held her—between
his thighs, in his arms, with his mouth.
Connected, yet not.
Not nearly close enough.

He still wore his knit boxer
shorts, but Ginny suddenly ended the kiss and hooked her fingers in his
waistband. “I don’t think I should be the only one naked, do you?” Laughing,
obviously a bit more confident now, she tugged and he lifted his butt so she
could slide his shorts over his hips, over his painfully swollen erection, and
down over his long legs. She knelt to tug them over his feet and stayed there,
kneeling in front of him with her tiger’s eyes twinkling as she studied the
length and breadth of his cock.

Her steady perusal was more
erotic than fingers stroking or tongues licking. Arousal spiraled through him
like a living creature taking over his senses. When Ginny reached out and
stroked her fingers along his full length, Alton groaned and his hips jerked.
His sac tightened close against his body and he felt another hot rush of blood
to his groin.

She flashed him a big smile as
she slowly circled his broad glans with the tip of one finger. Slowly, she
stroked down his full length. Her gentle touch left fire in its wake. When she
wrapped her fingers as far around him as she could and began the upward journey
once again, he caught her wrist in his hand. “Do that again and this entire
evening could end quite soon.”

She laughed, leaned close, and
kissed the very tip. As her lips connected with his damp flesh, a shock raced
from his penis to his balls and back again like a circuit connecting.

“Ginny.” He barely croaked out
her name.
So much for smooth.
“Enough. Please.” He was
not going to beg. Didn’t want to, but…

She held the packet between
her thumb and forefinger. “Should I help you put this on?”

He nodded. Breathing heavily
he leaned back, supporting himself with his hands. At this point, it was the
best he could do. Ginny tore the packet open with her teeth and brought out a
flimsy disk made of some kind of plastic. He’d heard of these but still wasn’t
quite certain what she intended to do with it.

She placed it on the head of
his penis and slowly rolled the covering over his full length, smoothing it
over his sensitive skin until it covered him in a clear sheath.

So this was the protection
he’d heard humans used. He groaned as she stroked it. Merely putting it on was
arousing.

Anything that Ginny Jones did
to him was arousing. He’d been fighting his growing desire for her since the
first night he’d seen her, caught behind that Dumpster with the demon trying to
get to her. Fighting the feelings, yet never once imagining they’d ever
actually make love.

“Come up here, Ginny.” His
voice sounded unnaturally hoarse as he grabbed her fingers and tugged her
close. She crawled up on the bed as he spun around and tangled his legs with
hers. He didn’t know where to touch first, what to kiss next. She was dark
perfection, all warm and willing
woman
. She was in his
bed, in his arms, and the night stretched out ahead.

Ginny felt as if she moved in
slow motion even as her heart pounded so hard and fast she was afraid it would
beat right out of her chest. She’d tried opening her thoughts to Alton’s, but
his mind was a dark jumble of need and desire, almost frightening in its
intensity.

She couldn’t believe they were
doing this—that she was naked with a man she hardly knew, a veritable giant of
a man who could physically overpower her if he wanted, yet she wasn’t afraid of
him.
Never of him.
Alton was every wonderful thing
she’d ever dreamed of in a man. She hardly knew him, yet she felt closer to
him, more familiar with him than she had with any man she’d ever known.

Like she’d
known so many.
She’d had sex exactly twice in her life, and both times
it had been a disaster. Both men had led her to believe they cared for her, but
they’d cared only for themselves. She’d learned her lesson. She liked men just
fine. She had lots of guys for friends, but not as lovers.
Never
as lovers.

Until now.
She should be terrified. She wasn’t. Not with Alton looking at her as if she
were
some sort of goddess. Not with his gentle touch, his
wonderful kisses, his sweet and loving smile. He was so big, though.
So tall and broad with wide shoulders and long arms and perfectly
formed legs.

He was big everywhere. She bit
back a giggle. Thank goodness the condom stretched as well as it did. Then he
ran his fingers over her thigh and cupped her bottom, and she quit worrying
about his size or his muscles or the fact they were going to make love right
now, right here, tonight.

He leaned over her and trailed
kisses from her knee to the crease between her thigh and groin. He teased her
with his tongue before moving higher and taking first one nipple and then the
other between his lips. Her muscles quivered and jumped beneath his gentle
touch, and her body trembled.

While his mouth was making her
crazy, his fingers were walking a trail along her inner thigh to the moist
center between her legs, slipping between her softly swollen folds and dipping
inside. She shivered as much with anticipation as nerves when he touched her so
intimately. Neither of her lovers had explored her body.

Neither one had touched her
heart.

She arched against him and
whimpered as two fingers brushed her inner walls and curled against her tightly
clenching muscles. The rough pad of his thumb found her clit and her hips
bucked as wave after wave of sensation rolled over her.

She clenched the crisp sheets
with both hands, and her heels pressed down on the mattress. The trembling spread
until her knees and thighs shivered and her body quivered on the very edge of
orgasm.

Alton suckled her breast and
his fingers slowly thrust in and out, taking her close but not close enough,
taking her high but not over the top. She heard a noise, the sound of
whimpering, and realized she was making those soft, silly little cries. When he
slipped his fingers free of her, she cried out and arched her back, reaching
for him.

Alton settled himself between
her thighs and pressed the broad head of his penis against the mouth of her
vagina. Slowly, so very slowly, he pushed forward, withdrew,
then
slipped forward again just a little bit more. Filling her, stretching her so
much her inner walls burned, taking her someplace new, some dimension so
intense, so unbelievably sensual she felt the tears rolling from her eyes,
trickling into her hair.

When he filled her completely,
he paused and gave her a moment to adjust to his size. The burn eased until she
was filled with a delicious sense of fullness. Her muscles quivered and rippled
around him. He traced through her tears with his fingertip. “Ginny? Are you
okay? I’m sorry, sweetheart. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He sighed and his
breath shuddered out of his lungs. “We’ll stop. Right now, we’ll end this.”

“Don’t you
dare.
”
She grabbed the thick fall of his hair. Wrapped her fingers in the strands and
practically growled.
“Now, Alton.
Fuck me now.”

“Praise the gods,” he
whispered. And then he began to move.

She’d never experienced
anything even remotely like this. He was big and strong and powerful and long.
There was so much of him. Big hands, long arms, long hair, broad shoulders, and
those wonderful hair-roughened legs rubbing against hers as he thrust hard and
fast and so deep. So very deep, touching the mouth of her womb on every forward
press of his hips, sliding in and out with so much strength, so much gentle,
loving strength.

Ginny raised her hips to meet
him. She grasped his shoulders and thrilled with the ripple of those long, lean
muscles beneath her fingertips. He took her to the edge and held her there,
making love to her as if she were someone fragile and small, then turning loose
and thrusting hard and fast until she gasped with each deep penetration.