Stealing Fire (Bad Boys Of The Underworld Book 5) (16 page)

She laughed against his throat and nipped the sensitive skin. One of his hands traveled up and held her closer. She continued her exploration. It was dark, so she had to feel out the lines and planes of his chest. The collarbones over his large pecs. The sensitive nipples in the light nest of chest hair.

Would it be the same color as his iridescent chestnut-brown hair?
Her hands moved over the ripples of his abs, wishing she could fully see his beauty. She pushed herself up, looking down at him and trying to make out the details. “This doesn’t mean anything. I’m still leaving tomorrow, er, today,” she warned.

“Then why are you doing this? Not that I want you to stop. I just want to know what I could’ve possibly done to become the luckiest man on earth.”

She blushed at his praise. He always found ways to make her feel like the only woman in the world. “Because I want to. And you want to. If we’re never going to see each other again, shouldn’t we at least try it once?”

Lucian shot up, grabbing her face between his palms, and pulled her close for a soul-searing kiss. He wasn’t gentle and he wasn’t soft. He nipped at her lips, and she fisted her hands in his hair. Her hips settled over his erection and she rubbed herself against him. The feel of his length stroking her, even through clothes, caused heat to pool and moisture to collect in preparation for him.

“You can try anything you want with me, baby,” he muttered between kisses. His fingers hooked in the hem of her shirt and he pulled it up. She leaned back and helped him strip it from her.

She leaned in for another kiss, but he stopped her. His hands cupped her breasts, and for a second, he just stared at her as though in awe.
How well could he see in the dark?
She knew it was better than her, but she started to think she was at a heavy disadvantage.

His hands kneaded the globes, more than big enough to fill his hands. His thumbs lightly grazed the nipples, and a shudder wracked her body.

“Please,” she breathed. She wanted to throw him against the ground and rip off his pants. She wanted him inside her, showing her exactly all the things she shouldn’t want but couldn’t stop thinking about.

He leaned forward, catching a rosy peak between his teeth, bringing her just to the edge of pain. One hand fisted in his hair; the other gripped his neck.

She rubbed against him harder and he moved his hands to her waist, showing her exactly how to ride him.

She threw her head back at the overwhelming sensations shooting through her, the dual attack too much to take. Her eyes drifted shut as the world spun around her.

When she opened them again, they were no longer surrounded by rocks and darkness. She was straddling Lucian in the middle of a king-sized bed, bright light shining in the windows of some towering apartment building.

Ella frowned and tried to get a better idea of where she was, but Lucian covered her mouth with his just as he moved his hips in a particularly distracting manner.

She moaned against him as he flipped her on her back, leaning his weight against her core. He bent his head to her. This time, the kiss was slow and sensual—a systematic attack on her senses as his hips continued to move against exactly the right spot.

The kiss deepened, and he pushed his tongue into her mouth. Suddenly it was too much and her lust completely consumed her. She
needed
him. On top of her. Inside her. Kissing her. She needed everything he could give.

She pulled him closer, kissing him with everything she had. One hand struggled to push down her panties and pajamas.

Lucian pulled away, and for a heartbeat, she thought he was going to stop. Instead, he hooked his fingers in the waistband of her pants and panties, pulling them from her legs in one swift motion.

A blush crept up her neck as she lay naked in front of him. Not that she wanted to stop. She might kill him if he stopped touching her.

She held a hand out, beckoning him back to her. His hands moved to the buttons of his pants, making quick work of them. A second later, they joined hers on the floor as his full length was bared.

Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened at the sight.

He must’ve mistaken her reaction as second thoughts. “Are you sure about this?”

Ella laughed at the question. As if she could look at Lucian in all his naked glory and possibly decide she
didn’t
want him.

The man was an Adonis. He was the man who inspired sculptures and paintings and freakin’ pyramids. He was the man who took her and the man who saved her and was letting her go because he wanted her to be safe.

He was hers, at least for right now. She reached out again, this time intertwining her fingers with his as she pulled him back down. His big body covered hers as she widened her legs for him.

He kept his hold on her one hand; the other gently stroked her face as he bent in for a kiss. She closed her eyes and moaned at the sensation. He chose that moment to push into her.

At the invasion, she immediately tensed, wrapping her free arm around his muscular shoulders. He deepened the kiss as he slid all the way home.

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E
lla woke up to an empty bed. She sat up and frowned, looking around the darkened room.
Had she really slept all day?

Well, not all day. Lucian had been insatiable.
Not that she’d been much better...

After they both collapsed, breathless, onto the sheets, he’d given her time to recover, just lying with her and talking. She told him about her life growing up with a mad scientist. Moving around as Dad would pick a new specialty. The strange animals that would run around the various houses, be it mice or bats.

She told him about the romance novels she loved to read. The detailed historicals and the epic fantasies. She told him all the popular movies she hated and all the obscure movies she loved. All the while, he held her. Either stroking the curve of her waist or intertwining his fingers with hers.

He’d told her about the vampires he called friends and the werewolf king who hated him even though the queen considered him a friend. He told her how he first met Cade during the American Revolution and about all the women Cade had seduced over the centuries.

A long silence filled the room after he stopped talking about Cade, the both of them lost in their own memories of him.

Lucian broke the spell when he carried her into the shower, taking the time to soap and lather every inch of her. Hair, neck, breasts, feet: nothing was ignored. When he finally reached the exquisitely sensitive inner lips of her core, she was already unraveling at the seams. Then his mouth and tongue pushed her over the edge. Not even the cold shower tiles could pull her from the climax. Stars burst behind her eyes, and when they finally receded, Lucian was in front of her, hands lifting her hips and putting her into position for him to slide home in one powerful thrust.

They both screamed then. All she could do was hold on tight as he ruthlessly pounded into her. She gently bit his shoulder as her nails dug into his back. Lucian growled at the slight pain and held her even tighter.

He threw his head back and came just as the water started to chill.

Afterwards, they ran back to the warmth provided by the covers, reveling in each other’s body heat and talking about their respective lives.

He made love to her once more. Slowly and gently, laying soft kisses along her breasts and throat as he thrust in and out. The pleasure stretched on so long she didn’t even know whether she could survive it. When Lucian finally let her come, and she had no doubt he was in complete control, it was so intense, she’d fallen into an exhausted sleep immediately after.

And now he was gone.

Ella sat up, holding the sheet in front of her bare breasts, looking around the room for any sign of Lucian.
Was he in his myotis form and hiding?
He should know by now she wouldn’t go running. She wasn’t exactly up for a round of screw the monster, but they could still hang out.

Hang out? Was that what they were doing?
She shook her head at her own silly thoughts.

Ella stood and walked around the contemporary decorated bedroom. Lucian’s apartment was simple and neat: white walls, black rugs, gray comforter, and brown hardwood floors. Not a single feminine touch in sight.

At least she knew he didn’t have a wife stashed away here. Not that it would matter. She was leaving.

They hadn’t mentioned it once. All their conversations had been as though they were a true couple, sharing their pasts and planning to have a future together.

On the chair next to his closet were her neatly folded and recently washed pajamas.
When had he retrieved them?
She knew for a fact her shirt had been abandoned on that cave floor. She must have been really out of it, not that teleporting made a lot of noise. She slipped the T-shirt and loose pants on.

She wandered into the living room just as there was a knock at the door. “Lucian?” She shook her head at the question.
Why would Lucian knock at his own apartment?

She tiptoed over to the door, not wanting to let anyone in the hall hear her, though, knowing the supernatural races like she did now, it was probably impossible to mask her sound.

When she peered into the peephole, her heart summersaulted when she saw who was on the other side of the thick wood. She ripped the door open and jumped into Dad’s arms.

“Ella!” he shouted, hugging her close.

Tears trickled down her cheeks as she smelled the familiar scent of Dad’s cologne and his unshaven, graying beard tickled her cheek. She’d been so worried she’d never experience one of Dad’s bear hugs ever again.

“How did you find me?” she squeaked, barely able to speak with how tightly he was squeezing her.

“We need to leave.” He let her go and pulled her toward the elevator. When the doors closed, he breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her again. “A man came to the house. He dropped off a dog, of all things, and said I could find you here. I thought he was setting me up, but I had to try. He must’ve been an angel.”

Angel?
“Was he tall, handsome, and black?”

Dad frowned. “He was an African-American of above average height.”

She snorted.
Dean
. Dad’s angel was one of the monsters he feared so much. He took her reaction as a sign of disgust. “It’s okay now. We are going home and those beasts will never touch you again.”

The doors opened and Ella walked barefoot onto the bustling streets of New York City. “I can’t go home. They’ll find me.”

Three Years Later

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E
lla ducked down just before the big fist smashed through the air where her head had just been. With her palm flat, she aimed for her attacker’s ribs, grinning at the pained grunt she got in response.

“God, Elly! Are you out for blood or something?”

“Sorry, Charlie.” She stood and caught her breath.

He bent forward, resting his hands on his knees. “You keep up like that and I’m going to have to start taking lessons from you.”

She couldn’t help the self-satisfied grin at his praise. “I’m not quite a Navy SEAL level of kick ass yet.”