INTO DANGER (Secret Assassins (S.A.S.S.) Book 1) (17 page)

The light caught the red fire in her hair, the luminous blue in her eyes. Her skin gleamed like expensive silk against the dark red sheets and with her dress bunched together from her waist down, folds of blue and green and silvery colors concealing her long limbs, she resembled the very mermaid he’d been calling her.

She looked between his legs and blew him a kiss. The happiest part of his body responded instantly, insistently pounding against the confines of his pants, like an overeager puppy seeing its mistress. She licked her lips, then moved a suggestive finger to touch one of those coral-colored nipples that fascinated him. He unbuttoned in record speed. Then fell on top of the mermaid on the bed. His hips surged forward in automatic anticipation, already wanting to claim his prize. All his. All night.

Her laughter was that of a smug woman who knew how desperate she had kept him. He smothered that laugh with a kiss, pushing his tongue inside her delectable mouth. It was as if he’d traveled a long journey to this moment, tasting and not finding what he was looking for, until now. His hand cupped the rounded swell of her breast and he swallowed her gasp of delight, pushing her deeper into the bed as he explored the silken secrets of her mouth.

Marlena was on fire. His kiss was demanding and cajoling at the same time. There wasn’t any question who was in charge here. His tongue devastated her mouth with a seductive skill that left her clinging helplessly to his shirt. She arched into his hand, trying to get him to put all his weight on her, but he held off as his hand explored lightly.

She ripped his shirt apart. He softened the kiss, nibbled at her lips. She ran restless hands all over his hard chest, moving insistently lower. His hard need burned through the bunched up material around her hips, and she wanted the barrier gone. Muttering against his lips, she tried to remove her dress with her free hand.

“Relax. I’ll do it,” he murmured, still kissing her lips lightly. “My way.”

He kissed her chin and the hollow in her neck. He bit her shoulder and slid lower. She moaned when he gently laved her aching nipple, playing with one breast, then the other, as if he couldn’t decide which one to feast on. Her head went back and forth as she impatiently pulled his hair. It was surprisingly soft.

Steve punished her with a small bite. Under her right breast. And another. He kissed the sensitive flesh of her ribs and held her down as she squirmed. He licked her belly button and went lower where the jeweled brooch glinted in the light like some guardian to the treasure trove.

He slowly sat up so he could unhook the ornament. Anticipation thrummed through him. He wasn’t sure whether he was breathing. His hands were trembling slightly. Absolutely useless if he were to aim right in combat. He paused at the ridiculous thought. Surely he wasn’t nervous. This wasn’t combat. This wasn’t life and death. Yet it felt just as important somehow. He hesitated, trying to grasp some sort of truth.

Her hands covered his, sliding them out of the way. Her hands, elegantly tapered, unhurriedly sought the little button that released the jewelry. It fell away. His whole attention focused on those hands as they parted the dress in a gradual striptease. Soft, silky flesh beckoned. And adorned like an offering, strings of pearls glowed like tiny milky stars nestling in curls that teased him to touch. Slowly, inch by inch, she opened her legs. Another loop of pearls fell between her thighs, as if showing him the way to heaven.

Hooyah! Steve forgot about truths and combat. He leaned forward on his elbows, taken in by the erotic sight of pearls sliding against silky skin blushed with arousal. He caught her scent and growled in satisfaction. This was no combat. He dropped down for a taste, running his tongue along the already glistening wetness where pearls and heated flesh met in the middle. She jerked against his kiss, and he heard her gasp.

“Easy,” he murmured, twining one waterfall strand of pearls around his fingers. She tasted different here. He licked again, probing a little harder this time, nudging her legs apart. The length of pearls moved away, hiding between her feminine folds. Determined, like a knight after treasure, he went after it with his tongue. Not combat. Just the lovely, tasty, wonderful, heavenly spoils of victory.

Marlena clung to the sheets by her side as control slipped inexorably away. His tongue, slow and deliberate, branded her as he painted a landscape of sensual need. His brush-strokes were bold, long sweeps that arched upward until she undulated with anticipation, and his descending detail so languorous and feather-light, she vented sighs of frustration.

She felt his fingers moving over her thighs, under the loops of pearls, massaging the sensitive inner sides. “I like these things,” she heard him whisper. She bucked when his teeth scraped her lightly, sending ripples of tingling electricity orbiting through her.

“Stash...”

“Mmm.” He was busy.

Harder. Please. That was what she meant to say. But only soft moans escaped her lips when he continued to assault her with satisfying quick, upward strokes of his tongue, building her desire to a feverish pitch, which he stoked by slowing ever so tortuously as he brought her back down. She gasped at each lightning stroke up, and moaned at each seemingly endless caress.

“I like them,” he said again. “I can do things with them.” He pulled on the strings of pearls like a master puppeteer, manipulating the beads to slide wetly between his tongue and her budding fiery need.

“Ohhh...” Every logical thought drifted away when his tongue played with the pearls, rolling them against her. He pushed each bead into perfect position, so that every movement of his magical mouth was followed by the runaway chain.

The gems tumbled like a waterfall when his fingers loosened and slid sensuously back up when he pulled, all the time maintaining intimate contact with her straining flesh. Her whole body became a slave to his mastery, twitching helplessly as his tongue played its ruthless game, running skillfully with the pearls, then nudging them delicately where it felt so...good. She moaned again. She realized now he was keeping his promise to her. He was giving her the kiss of a lifetime.0

Still playing with the strands of pearls, he kissed up her body, until he reached her mouth. “Tighter?” he asked, as he reined in the strands. Her body tightened, about to explode. “Or should I let go, like this?” Her body screamed for the release that wouldn’t come.

She couldn’t answer. There was only that sensation of being controlled. Each slide of that necklace only made her hotter. She closed her eyes, giving in to the master puppeteer.

***

S
teve liked it. Power over a strong, spirited woman was intoxicating. Her responsiveness excited him, and he wanted to continue holding her there on the edge. Her strong legs curled around his flanks, flexing insistently as little mewls of pleasure escaped her lips every time he pulled at the necklace. He let out a laugh of satisfaction. Her eyes opened for an instant, and he’d never forget the look in them, a deep blue sexual invitation, a gleam of hidden secrets in a depthless ocean. A hot pulse beat in his loins. The urge to follow her won over.

Leaning forward, he kissed her eyes and her half-opened lips as he positioned over her. Her hand came between their bodies all of a sudden and touched him, and he almost lost it, as she tested his whole length with one long stroke.

“I’m ready, don’t worry,” he told her, half amused and thoroughly aroused.

“Not as ready as I am,” she panted. “See how hot I am for you?”

She showed him, moving her hips. He closed his eyes, savoring the feel of her. Slick hot honey. She shifted, and her parted legs tightened around him, holding him still with her hand.

“Marlena...” he warned, then gulped for air as she gave a knowing squeeze. He felt the beads of pearls brush against his erection, and then her fingers rubbed the gems down the length of his rock-hard arousal. Holy...He looked down through the haze of desire. She’d looped the necklace around him twice, and he found that each time he pulled away, the damn strings were tightening around him, too. Their two bodies were chained together. He looked up into her smug eyes.

“Now you’re ready,” she purred. She tugged at the link between them, letting the nubbly pearls do their job, until he growled. “Come in me.”

“The necklace is going to break,” he warned. “This ride isn’t going to be nice and slow.”

In answer she shifted again, until her core touched him. He jerked forward with a groan, and the chain tightened. “Go ahead,” she invited, lifting her legs higher around his waist. “I’ll just take it out of your paycheck, Stash baby.”

He snarled out some expletive, but his body was already pushing of its own accord. His thought process disappeared as his whole being concentrated on one thing only—possessing a certain mermaid. He forged slowly inside, and the intensity of her welcome checked his breath. The looped chains tightened as he pushed in, effectively collaring him. He pulled out, and the sensation of sliding beads up his entire length had him groaning again.

“Good Lord Almighty,” he muttered as it began tightening again when he withdrew. He could feel the blood thickening down there. He couldn’t possibly get any harder.

“You said you...liked the thing,” Marlena reminded him huskily. Her eyes were closed, her teeth biting her lower lip. She was enjoying it as much as he was. “Hmm, Stash, more.

He was going to give her so much more she couldn’t give any more orders. He didn’t think he could stand any more torture, but his hand went down there to touch her anyway, unerringly seeking her capitulation. She gave a soft shriek and her inner muscles tightened. God. The woman was going to kill him. But he would have her mindless with pleasure, too.

Half blinded by his own throbbing need, he groped for the rest of the pearls that were free and ground them against her own little pleasure pearl, simultaneously plunging in again. Her gasp turned into a half scream. And then he was lost in the sensation of her orgasm as she trembled and jerked under him. Over and around him. Wet. So wet and sexy. Her throaty sighs mingled with his own grunts. At each wave of satisfaction, her aroused body pumped him. And squeezed him. And kept milking him.

He went berserk, taking and pushing, wanting more, needing more of her. She was still coming, and he shuddered as the chain between them rubbed and teased, enhancing each rising sensation like background music. She moaned, and her head shook back and forth, her hands scrunching the bedsheets. She tensed again, arching her back sharply, sending a series of rhythmic desire as she peaked, a hot drenching that consumed his control. He stopped breathing.

“Lena,” Steve choked out, holding her face still for a kiss. “Lena.” And dived into the deep orgasmic ocean after her, succumbing to the most powerful experience he’d ever felt. All he could say was her name. “Lena...” He kept coming, waves upon waves blasting out of him, and he kept on going, unable to stop. The chain tightened and loosened, tightened and loosened. The beads slid endlessly, torturing them both. They were slaves to each other’s possession.

He didn’t know how long he chanted into her willing mouth. “Lena...Lena...Lena...” as she held on to his shoulders, drowning in sensual delight, gasping his name, then losing control again as she went under one more time.

The expensive strands of pearls linking them together never did break.

***

S
he was a dead woman.

Marlena stared up at the apartment’s cathedral ceiling in a daze. Her whole body glowed from the aftermath of their incredible lovemaking. He lay half on top of her, so still she thought maybe he was dead, too.

The slight hum of air-conditioning coming on. The quiet clicking of the clock on the wall. The slowly receding heartbeat in her head...hers? His? She wasn’t sure anymore. She still throbbed with heat, and little ripples of pleasure intermittently shook her body.

That was some serious orgasm.

He moved slightly, lethargically, and she returned her gaze to the body holding her captive. His weight wasn’t uncomfortable at all, and when he shifted to give her some room, she couldn’t bear the loss of his body heat. She closed her eyes. Maybe it was okay to die for this.

“One more time,” he drawled into her ear, one hand sliding up to cup her breast.

She snickered. And they both laughed, their bodies shaking with mirth. They could barely move as it was.

“Did you come?”

“Nope, did you?”

“Barely. I faked most of it.”

“Did you now?” His voice had the lazy tenor of a man who hadn’t faked anything. “Which part? The one where you were telling me I was a god or the part where you had your legs around me so tightly I couldn’t breathe?”

She turned to give him a narrow-eyed stare. “A god? I wasn’t the one worshipping me with his mouth.”

“I was counting pearls.”

“Prove it.”

“Two hundred and forty-six,” he told her without a pause.

Marlena pushed at him, and he went on his back, taking her with him. “A very calculating tongue,” she murmured, taking a good look at the body that had given her too many fantasies lately. She hummed approvingly to herself.

“So I’ve been told.”

Cockier than ever, he challenged her at every turn. She wasn’t used to it, a man who kept her interested this long. She sat up, pushing her hair out of her face. Looking down at him, she realized her raised arms only served to tease him. His gaze was hot again as he regarded her breasts, a small smile touching his lips. She bent forward a little, just to tantalize him some more. She just loved teasing this man.

“You like tormenting me,” Steve said as he reached for her. She smacked his hand away.

“It’s called foreplay, dummy.”

“Another day of your foreplay and I’d be dead.”

She frowned down at him. She didn’t want to be reminded about the subject of death right now. He had been too close to it tonight, and she wasn’t even sure whether the hit had anything to do with her current assignment.

“What’s the matter?” he interrupted, eyes watchful again. “You’ve lost that glow.”