Hot Decadent Rising (Breath of Darkness) (35 page)

“I used to think love between a man and
woman wasn’t real.”

“What do you think about it now?” he
asked.

“I don’t think anything. The past is the
past. It was dark and lonely. I never want to go back there. Having your love
makes it too bright to dwell on the past. I truly thought the love we have
didn’t exist. I’m not too proud to admit I was wrong to form such a strong
opinion of something I knew nothing about.”

“You will never face the world alone
again.”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I know. I know the
love we have is real. I will always cherish and respect our bond before
everything else. But I’d rather not talk about it anymore unless…” 

Worried, he frowned. “Unless
what?”       

“We get naked. I really need to feel
your skin against mine right now.”

“That’s a perfectly sensible
stipulation.”

***

She
felt her inner muscle clench hungrily, her nipples hardened and breasts ached
for his attention as his fingers worked to unbutton her shirt. He slowly pulled
the shirt back and over her shoulders and let it drop to their feet. He leaned
forward and his bare muscular chest pressed against her breasts, he claimed her
mouth with his. They kissed eagerly, franticly, as if they’d never kissed
before and feared it would be their last kiss.   

She heard the sound of her heart
beating. No. Not hers. It was his. It was calling her, tempting and beckoning
her to take his blood. To taste it. Savor it. Something was wrong with her.
Everything around her was going in slow motion and began to spin. 
Tangling her fingers in his hair and arching her body to get closer, she
whispered. “Eli.” His name came out in a breathless plea for help. They had to
stop.

“Shh. It’s nothing to fear. It’s the
change in you. You can’t stop it once it has been awakened.”

“No.” He didn’t understand. It wasn’t
matter of being aroused. Something had gone wrong. She was going nuts. She was
too inflamed by whatever volatile force was raging to bust out of her. It
wanted to take him, possess him. All of him. It was all she could do to stop it
from hurting him.

Daring her to retaliate he bit down on
her lower lip just hard enough to make it sting. “It’s you. It won’t hurt me.
It only wants to come out and play. Let yourself lose on me, babe.”

“I can’t.” Struggling to catch her
breath, her voice sounded like a strangled gasp.

She listened to herself panting when he
reached between their bodies. “You will.” His lips, his tongue making love to
hers as his hands cupping, squeezing her breast and way too sensitive nipples
drove her wild with rampant lust. Slowly going down on his knees before her, he
kissed his way from her mouth to her breasts, pausing to tease her nipples with
his tongue, and then he worked his way down to her belly.

With strength she’d never known she
reached down and shoved his shoulders. He actually tumbled backwards. Shocked,
she stared at him. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Getting to his feet, he smiled. “Yes.
You did. But that’s not what you really want to do to me.”

Unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans he
took a step back and then he pulled them down and kicked them out of the way.
He stood before without a stitch of clothing to cover him.

She loved looking at him, savoring the
sight of him naked and aroused. The muscular curves and definitions of his body
illuminated by the soft glow of the candle light caused her body to ache. “I’m
starting to gain an appreciation for candlelight.”

“Are you?” he asked. The sound of his
voice was deep, enticing. His eyes burning with his intense hunger for her.
Only her. “Yes.” Needing to touch him, to explore his body, she closed the
small gap between them. She ran her hands down his chest and belly, and then
slowly made her way to his shoulders by tracing his defined muscles with the
tips of her fingers. A low growl of approval rumbled in his chest, vibrated
over her flesh, further arousing her as she moved her hands even lower for a
scrumptious exploration of every hot, engorged manly inch of his body.

  Cradling her ass, he lifted her.
As she wrapped her legs around his body, he slowly pushed her back up against
the wall. Bracing her with one hand, his other hand massaged her breasts as his
thumbs teased and his fingers squeezed her nipples. Her pulse jumped as she
arched her back to further push her breast into his palm. Her body trembled at
the tumultuous combinations of blissful sensations running through her body.

Her mouth ached. She ran her tongue over
her teeth. Her canines were longer, sharper and more pointed than normal. Like
a…like his. She’d known it had happened, but she’d never really come to terms
with the fact that his blood had truly changed her. In that moment she realized
she could trust him and embrace the change or she could fear and try to
overcome the intense passion and thirst for his blood that it created in her.
Why fear it? The thought of tasting his blood no longer repulsed her in any
way. Fearing it would make them both miserable. Deciding to embrace it, she bit
down on his shoulder.

***

“That’s
it.” Eli threw his head back. His entire body shuddered with joy and pleasure.
He nearly dropped to his knees. No words could ever come close to describing
the exhilaration, the emotions he felt when her teeth pierced his skin and her
lips and tongue began to move against him to take his blood into her body.

He was in heaven, a tantalizing hellish
part of heaven, but it was the most wickedly divine place he’d ever journeyed.
With her legs wrapped around his waist and the heat of her core pressed so open
and invitingly against his belly he ached to lower her and plunge his hard
throbbing cock into her but he feared doing anything to stop her. Closing his
eyes he held himself in check while savoring the sensations and emotions her
willing mouth and tongue working on him stirred in him.

When she lifted her head and looked into
his eyes, she smiled. “That was just a little weird.”

“A wonderful kind of weird, I hope,” he
said as he carried her over to the bed.

“I guess it was.”

She laughed as he tossed her onto the
bed, spread her legs with his and then settled his body between her thighs.
“That doesn’t sound encouraging. And you had better stop laughing.”

“It doesn’t matter if it was good. I
like just realized I really, really like weird. And it’s your fault I’m
laughing. You should’ve seen the look on your face.” She reached around him and
scrapped her nails up his back and to shoulders and then pulled him down and
kissed him.

***

He
dipped his head to kiss her as
she
reached between their bodies and gripped his cock and rubbed the crown over her
slick entrance. It was all the encouragement he needed. She moved her hand and
arched her body upward to meet him as he pushed his throbbing erection through
her hot, tight entrance. Once he was completely inside her, he paused to look
down at her and make sure she was ready for more.  

Their bodies entwined in love’s most
intimate, sensual embrace their movements started out as an unhurried,
controlled tempo, but quickly became more fervent and turbulent. He pounded
into her wildly as she raised her hips to meet each thrust again and again. Her
body was so hot and tight. The friction felt so damn good. He knew he wouldn’t
last much longer. He slowed his pace and focused on kissing her in hopes of
gaining control over his body. It didn’t work. She reached up tangled her
fingers in his hair as she closed her eyes and screamed his name. Her sheath
clamped down on him. So damn tight.

He thrust his cock into her again and
again, harder and harder, faster and faster until he buried himself and allowed
his seed to burst deep inside her body. Burying his face in the crook of her
neck and shoulder, he fought to catch his breath.

“Holy shit, Eli. That was fantastic.”

Laughing he lifted his head to look at
her. “I agree.”

“Let’s do it again.”

Wrapping his arms around her he took her
with him as he rolled over onto his back. “Sure thing. But you get on top this
time. I’m not sure I can move
much.”        

After they’d spent hours making love,
Kara cuddled up to him and fell asleep. Sleep didn’t come so fast for him.
Earlier in the evening when it had become apparent that the storm would likely
knock the power out he’d seen a glimpse of her past. He felt the madness she
experienced when her father locked her in a dark room. The fear and
desperation, coupled with the sensation of spiders crawling over her flesh.

She’d never truly escaped her past. In
some ways she was still that young, helpless little girl locked up in the dark.
From now on, when the past pulled her in, he would go with her and pull her
out. Whatever she needed he would give her.

He’d known her father was a bad man. It
didn’t take a genius to figure that out. The man had put a hit out on her, but
it was hard to believe, as a young girl her father had used darkness and
isolation to punish her.

He knew she didn’t need to talk about
it. She didn’t want his reassurance. She didn’t want or need his sympathy. She
needed a distraction. She needed new memories to associate with the darkness.
She needed a new beginning. And that’s exactly what he planned to give her.

~Twenty
One~

KARA’S
SLEEP WAS interrupted by a feminine presence and voice calling out her name in
her mind.
Mom?

That’s right, baby. It’s me.

No.
Something was wrong. Seriously
wrong. A cold and menacing shadow moved through her mind. It wasn’t her mom’s
presence and voice. It felt intrusive and threatening. It was as if her mom
wasn’t alone. She tried to connect with her mom on a deeper more intimate level
as she had as a child, but she withdrew the instant she encountered something
very dark and dangerous.

Don’t leave me! I need you!

She heard desperation in the voice
claiming to be her mom. She also heard and felt anger. Not a little, but a
great deal of indignation for her.
Who are you?

What do you mean? I’m your mom. Come to
me, Kara. Please. Help me. 

She felt a strange dizzying sensation in
her head and a twisting in her gut. Whoever was pretending to be her mom was
attempting to use compulsion to force her into obedience. The link she’d shared
with her mom, the mom she’d known as a child, wouldn’t cause her to feel
encroached upon.
We will come to you soon.

No.  Come alone. Come now while he
is asleep.

Yeah right. It wasn’t her mom. She
wasn’t going to fall for it, but she also wasn’t going to totally break the
connection just yet. She wanted to figure out who was presenting him or herself
as her mother.
Why?

He will stop you.
The voice, an
inhuman growl, no longer resembled her mom’s voice at all. It was Jeremy, the
vampire who’d tied her and Eli to the tree. Shoving him out of her mind, she
opened her eyes and sat up.

As if her movement had disrupted his
sleep, Eli made a groaning sound as he rolled over from his back onto his
belly. She needed a moment alone to think. To avoid waking him she sat still
and silent for a moment and then she slowly, carefully scooted until her legs
dangled over the edge of the bed.

Standing up, she raised her arms and
stretched her back as she looked around the room for something to wear.
Spotting the shirt Eli had given her to wear she walked across the room to
where it had been tossed onto the floor. She put it on and walked out of the
room. 

She got the shock of her life when she got
to the bottom of the steps and saw men sprawled out everywhere sleeping.
Deciding to go back up to the room she took a step back. The wood creaked
beneath her foot. She saw a blur of motion. A second later every man was on his
feet and every eye was focused on her for what seemed like forever and a day or
two. They were all frowning at her as if she was doing something wrong.

“I was hoping to find and make some
coffee. Do any of you know where the kitchen is?” she asked.

One man stepped forward. “Where’s Eli?”

“Sleeping.” Smiling as if amused the men
all looked around at each other. “What?”

“Nothing. Sorry.” The man who’d stepped
forward motioned for her to follow him. “I’ll take you to the kitchen.” 

“Thanks.” Just before entering the
kitchen she felt the sensation of being followed. Sure enough a group of men
were right on her tail. They were all good looking and taller than the average
man with broad shoulders and chests, and they all had
I’m up to no good
smiles on their faces. She was beginning to dislike them. What the hell was so
amusing?

All of them wanted coffee. She’d made
three pots before she was able to sit down and enjoy a cup. Not that it was
truly enjoyable. None of them bothered to introduce themselves or talk to her
other than to thank her and tell her that she made great coffee. Most just
stared at her while a few of them fried what appeared to be ten pounds of
bacon, three dozen eggs and a mountain of pancakes.