Relentless Flame (Hell to Pay) (23 page)

When he closed the door, she twisted her head around.

“Lock, please.”

“Anything you want.”

When he drew the bolt with a firm twist of his wrist, the feeling of safety relaxed her limbs. She entwined her limbs around him and relished in the warmth of his frame as he carried her to the bedroom, where he stopped and locked that door as well.

Dante kept her in his arms as he stooped and spread out the blankets on the low bed. When he deposited her on the side of the bed, she instantly missed the contact.

Uncertain of what to do next, she took in the grim set of his mouth. After a big breath, he knelt on the floor in front of her, not taking his ice-blue eyes off her face. The intensity of his stare set her heart pounding.

He dipped his head and laced his fingers in hers, drawing her hands to the bottom of his shirt. Curious, interested, and wanting more, she worked her hands under the fabric and pulled it up.

Surprisingly soft skin covered the hard heat of his torso. She paused and reveled in the lines of his bare back and belly. When he groaned, she snatched her hands away until he captured them and brushed his lips over the backs of them.

He grabbed the hem of his shirt. “May I?” His hoarse voice made her nerves tingle.

At her nod, he ripped off his thermal shirt and threw it to the floor.

With a hunger that surprised her, she studied the muscled ridges and planes. As if he sensed her perusal, his muscles twitched. But he didn’t move.

Even when she leaned forward to trail fingers over his bare chest, he held utterly still. The knuckles of his fisted hands whitened when she brushed a finger over his hard, flat nipple. He paused mid-breath. She could get used to watching him respond to her touch.

Fine hair covered his chest, and she wanted to know how her cheek would feel against him. “You’re amazing,” she whispered, as she traced the hard lines of his shoulders.

“I was thinking the same thing about you. May I?”

At her nod, he grasped the hem of her T-shirt and hoodie and slid them up and away. His hands skimmed her ribs and arms in an amazing trail of warmth. She shivered in the cooler air. For a split second, she fought the urge to cover herself, but one look at his darkening eyes bolstered her confidence.

The electricity when he brushed his fingers over her bra sent a delicious quiver straight into her belly and then lower. He licked his lips, unclasped the bra, and peeled it off of her.

“
Kristus
, you’re beautiful.”

When he sucked one tip into his mouth and flicked his tongue over it, she gasped and grabbed his shoulders. His groan echoed her own as he moved to the other breast, driving her to clench the hair at the nape of his neck. Arching toward his mouth, she realized what she wanted.

More.

More of his mouth, his hands, his intensity.

More connection. More Dante.

Wanting his mouth on hers, she caressed his jaw and tilted his strong face up to hers. When she pressed her mouth to his, she no longer hesitated. He responded by kissing her deeply, opening her mouth wide as his tongue probed and tangled with her tongue. So delicious, his scent, his taste, how his hands cupped her breasts and rolled the nipples until she gasped into his mouth.

Half standing now, Dante eased her back onto the bed. Instead of hovering over her, he lay on his side next to her and continued to trace patterns of pleasure over her face and chest. With a shock, she realized that the panting sound came from her, and she rolled toward him, kissing him again.

Popping the button of her jeans, he slid a hand over the soft skin of her lower belly.

“Is this ok?”

She nodded. When she lifted her hips, he smoothed the fabric down her legs and away, leaving her in cotton underwear. As he trailed his hands down her leg, she froze and made a noise of protest when he approached her ankle. The damned panic rose again as she shifted to hide her foot.

“Don’t. Please. No, it’s not—”

“Shh. You’re perfect.”

He murmured reassurances as he trailed kisses down her leg. When he reached the puckered pink line of scar that she hated, the deformed bones that represented everything evil done to her, he paused. As the recipient of that onyx black stare, she couldn’t breathe.

What did he think of her damaged foot? Did it disgust him? Did the acts surrounding the injury repulse him? Oh God, this was a mistake. She shouldn’t be here, doing this, with him.

She tried to crawl backward and pull her offensive leg away from him.

“Stop.” He laid his big hand on her calf.

She froze.

“Do you trust me?” He ground out the words between clenched teeth.

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t run.

“Watch me.” His gentle but firm command calmed her nerves.

No part of his expression suggested displeasure. There was no indication that he was going to reject her. In fact, he looked like a man who wanted to ravish her but was using every ounce of strength to hold back. The hard slash of his mouth curled upward into a rakish grin.

He pressed his mouth to her leg and down onto her ankle along the scar, all the while keeping his eyes locked on to hers. Gently, he lifted her damaged foot, and devoured her with his avid gaze as he kissed all the way around her ankle. He flicked his tongue over the bones that jutted beneath the skin of her foot. Even the numb underside of her foot benefited from the warmth of his mouth.

As he caressed her leg, she finally let her head loll back with a deep sigh. From her ankle to her spine and neck, all of the muscles gradually relaxed. When he worked his way up the opposite leg, she shivered.

He paused on her upper thigh and nipped the sensitive skin, startling her. His chuckle sent ripples of pleasure through her entire body. As he licked her flat belly, she quivered beneath his touch, unable to control the moan of pleasure escaping her mouth.

“You’re beautiful.” He laved her belly button, sending a bolt of desire into her groin. “Soft.” He punctuated his words with a nip or a lick. “Sexy. Perfect.”

He ran a hand low, over the cotton-clad skin, and rubbed. The heat centered near her core spread out to her limbs.

“I want to pleasure you,
ålskling
. Make you crazy.” He hooked a finger beneath her panties. And paused. “
Ålskling
?”

Tension cranked deep in her pelvis as his hand drifted lower. “Yes,” she panted.

He tugged her panties down and away. The cool air over her sensitive skin was replaced by the warmth of his palm. He cupped and stroked her until she couldn’t hold her hips still. Tiny gasps escaped her lips.

Her heart thudded, and not from fear.

He slid a finger over her entrance, then along her folds. The rhythm pushed the delicious tightness in her pelvis higher and higher.

“God, Dante. You’re torturing me.”

When she reached for him, he dodged her arms and continued the relentless movement of his fingers. His jet-black eyes managed to twinkle.

“Good. It’s about time you experience a fraction of the torture you’ve put me through these past few days. I’ve wanted you so badly.”

His words unlocked a piece of her soul that had been buried for years. Her heart wanted to soar out of her chest.

“Please.” She shifted her hips, wanting more of his finger, more of his warmth. She groaned in frustration when he retreated.

“Soon.”

Nudging her legs apart, he glided his fingers along the inner and outer folds, brushing against her entrance. With each upward motion, he briefly circled sensitive flesh, increasing the pressure with each pass until she couldn’t think.

“Dante,” she gasped.

“Yes,
ålskling
?”

“I need ...” She shook her head and reached for him.

“More?”

When he pressed a finger deeper into her opening, the sensation ricocheted pleasure through every pore of her body. He leaned forward and absorbed her gasps with his mouth, but when she dug her nails into his shoulders, his breath became ragged.

“More?” he said next to her ear. His low voice rumbled through her body, setting nerve endings on edge.

As he advanced his finger, her muscles clenched.

“Yes,” she whispered.

He shifted to kneel next to her side, slid an arm under her neck and slanted his mouth over hers. He explored her mouth, filling her. His finger built a slow, relentless rhythm. Bumping her leg with his, he nudged her wider until she lay open to him.

Open. Vulnerable. For an instant every muscle tensed.

In any situation other than this one, she should be terrified.

Should be, but no more. Not with Dante.

He had healed those invisible scars from years ago. Or maybe they’d healed them together.

Didn’t matter.

All that mattered was this moment, in his arms, safe. Cherished.

When she fisted a hand in the hair at the nape of his neck, he pressed his finger into her and palmed her sensitive skin as her hips shook. He continued to devour her mouth with his own until she couldn’t tell where she ended and he began. The tension in her hips mounted until the pleasure exploded in her body and in her mind.

With a hard arch toward him, she came apart in his hand, her inner muscles clenching. He continued the relentless rhythm, drawing out more spasms from her core. A few aftershocks later, she finally lay on the bed. Her limbs refused to move. Her entire body buzzed with happiness. Her defenses now laid to waste, the transfer sensation flowed freely between them, dancing up her limbs in warm connection.

With an expression that managed to combine swagger, sexual hunger, and a boyish grin, Dante withdrew his finger and smoothed his hands over her hips and waist until she shivered again.

He trailed his mouth down the center of her body. Chin, neck, breastbone, navel. He was going to drive her to the brink of insanity.

Time for payback.

When she touched the band of his jeans, the shudder that ripped through him shook the bed.

Good. She had something to contribute as well. Confidence growing, she ran her finger over his lower belly, the intense heat flowing from him into her fingertips.

“Dante. More.”

“Anything you want.” He grinned. “Especially if it’s me.”

He removed his pants, his member standing out, obvious and hard. When he knelt over her, she fought another wave of terror and froze. Damn it.

“Dante, please, I—”

He had stopped moving as well, and the tenderness in the big man’s face almost brought her to tears. Silently, he rolled onto his back and lifted her to kneel above him.

“You’re in charge,” he said.

She hesitated, and then sat down on his groin.

His gut-wrenching groan was followed by a strangled cough. “But with you sitting there, you will kill this undead man if you don’t move that lovely ass away. You have no idea what you do to me.”

“No mercy.” She smiled.

Imitating his actions earlier, she eased forward to nip lightly along his torso. With every lick, she tasted his male essence, smelled the light cologne. His hands clenched her hips every few seconds, but he made no move to do more. His growls shot delicious vibrations through her mouth and pelvis, turning her insides to goo.

When she leaned forward, she brushed against his erection, and both of them groaned.

“You’re driving me out of my mind,
ålskling
,” he ground out beneath a tight jaw.

“I’d like to drive more.”

His black eyes glinted. “You’re in charge. I might go insane, but God help me, you’re in charge.”

She eased away and stroked his hard erection, uncertain in her actions but enjoying the thickness sheathed by silky skin. Stroking down the length and back up to the tip, she looked up sharply at his grunt.

“Okay?”

“Please continue. What you’re doing is—”

His ribbed belly muscles clenched when she ran her finger over a particularly interesting ridge. Sweat trickled down his temple.

Emotions she hadn’t experienced before rolled through her: appreciation for the man on the bed, satisfaction that she could bring him such pleasure. She hadn’t been in control of much of her life for the past four years. Here this giant of a man ceded all control to do what she wanted. Amazing.

She pushed up, balanced on her palms on his chest, and stared at him.

“You’ve got to stop looking at me like that,” he said.

“Like how?”

“Like the best sexy-librarian fantasy I could ever imagine.”

Darting a glance around, self-conscious, she reached for her glasses.

He manacled her wrist in his hand. “Keep them on. A naked beauty in glasses sitting on top of me? Delicious.” He drew her arm to his mouth and pressed a kiss to the inside of her wrist. Shivers shot through to her core, and she shifted her hips, trying to relieve the need for him there.

“Do you want more,
ålskling
?”

“I want to ... but it’ll hurt.” She bowed her head.

He brushed her hair back and framed her face with his hands. “It won’t hurt if you’re making the choice. I promise.”

“Help me,” she whispered.

“With pleasure.”

He sat partway up and guided her hips forward and down onto his erection. She eased down his shaft, gasping as her muscles stretched to accept him. His hard and silky length filled her completely. Pulling her hips up and down, the friction made her want more. Her palms moved quickly on his chest as his breathing rate increased.

“Oh wow.”

“Try sitting up,
ålskling
.” He panted.

In doing so, the movement shifted him even deeper inside, and she bit her lip.“Dante.”

“
Kristus
, you’re perfect.”

She shifted, rubbing against him until he grasped her hips. When he moved one hand to pinch her swollen nub, she couldn’t contain a cry of pleasure. He slid his other hand to her breast and stroked her until she couldn’t think coherently.

Their moans and gasps filled the room as she rocked faster against him. It wasn’t enough. She needed more. She needed him.

“More,” she whispered and gave herself into his hands.

He grasped her hips. When he pressed her onto him, he met her with thrusts of his own, hot, hard strokes consuming her, marking her. She relaxed her hips and gave into the mounting rhythm, grabbing his forearms for support.