Strictly Forbidden (24 page)

The silk of her hair tangled about his fingers
,
and he nudged her lips apart. She capitulated with ease. A little moan slipped from
her throat. Greedily, he gobbled it up and sank fully into the heaven of her mouth.

It was even better than he’d imagined, rich, warm, welcoming. Hell, she was paradise.
He drank, took, gave, reveled in her melting, in the way she met his tongue.

In the next instant, Kira threw her arms around him and pressed her body to his. Gavin
felt lost, sinking, falling into pure sensation so blinding and white
hot he couldn’t think. He’d never felt like this, ever. The instinct she’d awakened
in him earlier now roared with demand:
claim her, touch her, take her.
Gavin didn’t even try to fight the feeling.

The back of the sofa still stood between them, and he wanted it gone—sooner than now.
His lips never leaving Kira’s, Gavin edged off the sofa. She leaned with him, into
the kiss, until he stood by her side. Finally he was against her, pressing the aching
length of his shaft to her belly.

She gasped into his mouth, and he tasted her excitement, her acceptance, as she filtered
her fingers through the too-long hair at his nape.

Gavin lifted his head long enough to take in the swollen width of her red, red lips
and the dazed expression in her eyes. She was so damned beautiful, so incredible to
taste…

“I want you,” he confessed, his voice little more than a tortured whisper. He couldn’t
seem to catch his breath, stop his racing heart. But none of that mattered more than
his towering need to touch her. “So much.”

A soft spot at her neck claimed his attention. He
laid
his mouth there against her velvet skin. She shivered against him, her breathing
rapid and shallow as she eased her head back to allow him more access. He resisted
the urge to devour her.

“You’re certain?” she managed to say.

How could she ask? She, no doubt, felt every inch of his stiff length against her.
She had to know she drove men utterly out of their minds.

“I’ve never been more certain in my life.”

Their eyes met. The glow in her deep blue eyes told him she felt the same.

God, this razor-sharp want was like nothing he’d ever known. It was madness
,
but inescapable. He’d done nothing more than kiss her, yet he was drowning in primal
hunger for Kira.

“And you?” He gripped her arms, willing her to accept him, blood roaring in his veins.

“Yes,” she whispered, low and breathlessly.

Elation surged in him, along with another fierce rush of hunger. With greedy hands,
he pushed aside her wrapper and dragged it down her arms. Kira helped him along, shrugging
out of the garment, seeking his mouth with her own. He needed no more invitation.

Gavin did his best to take her all in at once, fusing his mouth to hers in a melding
kiss that drove him senseless, flexing his hips against hers in supplication, covering
her breasts with urgent palms.

Everything about her provoked him. Her exotic face, her compassion, her keen mind—the
breasts that perfectly filled his hands.

He dragged the pads of his thumb across one turgid tip. Kira cried out, knees buckling
beneath her. Gavin followed her down, kneeling on the floor before her.

Kira kissed him again, her hands fisting in the back of his shirt, pulling the garment
from his trousers. With a snarl, he pulled away and yanked the crisp shirt over his
head, tossing it in a heap. He never took his eyes from her.

Bare from the waist up, Gavin waited impatiently as Kira looked her fill. Tremulously,
she lifted her hands to his chest. The fire inside him became an inferno as she caressed
her way across his skin, exploring in a slow, thorough journey that made him completely
mindless. Her nails scored the flat of his nipples. Pleasure assailed him. He hissed
out a mouthful of air, struggled to find his next breath. Kira merely watched him
with her erotic almond-shaped eyes. Gavin swore in that moment she was a tempting
witch who knew all his darkest desires. Everything he’d ever wanted—ever repressed—screamed
for freedom tonight. For once, he wasn’t resisting.

He shoved aside the ruffle at the front of her nightrail and fumbled with the buttons,
but the tiny things eluded him. He swore savagely and reached for them again. Kira’s
hands were already there, slowly unfastening each of the little pearl beads. She watched
him, a small smile curving her mouth, as if she delighted in making him wait. The
anticipation grew, soaring beyond endurance.

As the last button came undone, he reached for the hem of her nightdress and pulled
it over Kira’s head.

She made a sound, whether one of protest or appreciation, Gavin did not know. At the
moment, he wasn’t sure he cared. The nightrail was gone.

Kira was completely bare.

Gavin bent, took one of her coral-tipped breasts in his mouth, and sucked hard. Exquisite
didn’t begin to describe her flavor, the sensation of touching her in this way. He
groaned and lifted his hand to the other breast, giving it similar attention.

“Gavin,” she cried out. A moan followed. That along with her flushed skin and engorged
breasts told him as thoroughly as words that she, too, was aroused.

He slid the flat of his tongue across the very tip of her nipple. She gasped, her
hands grabbing at his shoulders. He did it again and again, until she writhed and
moaned his name.

Without hesitation, he lowered her to the floor at the edge of his aunt’s prized Aubusson
carpet. Unable to resist, he plundered her sweet mouth again and began exploring all
the other treasures Kira had to offer.

The soft plane of her belly, the round perfection of her hip with its little red mark,
the lean length of her thighs, he delved every smooth olive-toned inch of her. He
liked her skin, gleaming with faint golden color by candlelight. No splotches or veins
or scars marked her, which frequently afflicted her paler counterparts. She epitomized
wonderful, just as she was.

Kira arched into his touch, her soft, wanton mewls encouraging him, even beseeching
for more. And he gave, sliding his fingers into her slick femininity, shielded by
silky dark curls.

Kira gasped and parted her thighs to accommodate him. Her soft folds were swollen,
and Gavin wanted her around him so badly, he trembled with a reckless need to be inside
her.

But more, he wanted to see her come apart for him.

Breathing labored, he thrust a pair of fingers inside her snug channel and began to
rub his thumb across the nub above.

Her damp heat accepted him even as she bucked up against his hand with a long, low
moan.

“I want you to enjoy this.”

Her body tensed
, and
her hips arched. Kira opened her eyes and fixed him with a dazed, yearning stare.
“I do.”

“Then show me.”

A moment of protest flitted across her face, but he stroked it away with his fingers.
Around him, she swelled more. She began to pant. Gavin felt the power of her arousal,
her building surrender
,
and his ability to incite both.

“Gavin?” she cried, voice high and excited.

“Let go, Kira.”

She heaved in another breath as color splashed across her cheeks. The hard pebbles
of her nipples beckoned him.

“But—
”

Gavin took one of the succulent beads in his mouth, sucking, laving. She ceased speaking.

Her body tensed further until her legs trembled, her belly quivered. A fine sheen
of perspiration glistened on her chest. She shut her eyes tight.

“Let go,” he demanded.

And with a long, ardent cry, she did. Gavin felt the spasms shatter her, witnessed
the utter pleasure transform her features. He’d never felt more powerful, a moment
so perfect.

But his need to be closer to her, to touch her every way possible, was greater than
his need to linger and revel in his triumph.

Kira lay sated and provocatively splayed as Gavin struggled with his trousers. They
proved elusive for frustrating moments. Then finally he was free, pushing the garment
and his short drawers down his hips and into a puddle near his feet.

Gavin slid his body atop Kira’s and clasped her thighs with insistent hands, bringing
them about his hips. He felt her heated center beneath him, beckoning.
Now!
Everything
inside him screamed. He heeded the ravenous demand, surging inside her in one driving
thrust.

He quickly made an astonishing discovery: Kira was a virgin.

Or at least she had been.

Beneath him, she cried out in pain and stiffened against his invasion. Buried hilt
deep, he paused, his mind racing.
A virgin?
Unimaginable! But Gavin could not discount the unmistakable evidence of her innocence.

Bloody hell!

Worse, her slick flesh closed around him in a pleasurable grip so intense, he was
blinded. His instinct to push inside her again and again and again crushed his better
sense.

“Gavin?” Her voice revealed pain and fear.

He couldn’t let her go. He would wither and die if he couldn’t keep her here, couldn’t
relish their joining. Summoning patience he was surprised he could find, Gavin captured
her mouth and slowly loved it.

By degrees, Kira
melted
. Her arms ceased pushing at his chest. Her legs relaxed to allow him access to her
very core. Ah, then she kissed him in return
,
and he felt his blood boiling all over again. The press of her engorged breasts burned
into his chest, driving him on.

“It won’t hurt anymore,” he managed to whisper.

With that simple assurance, she wound her arms about him and held him tight, telling
him without words that she trusted him with her body. He refused to disappoint her
or her trust.

Forcing himself to move slowly, Gavin slipped out of Kira’s divine heat, then eased
back inside. Pleasure barraged him, hammering at him in a way he’d never experienced.
He plunged into her again.

The world became a haze of sensation and need. Urgency claimed him and would not let
go.

But Kira was unmoving, and he paused to place his hands beneath her hips and guide
her to rock with him. To his relief, she was a quick study, soon moving beneath him
until they were undulating in a sensual rhythm.

He wrapped the tangled mass of her silken black hair about his hand and took her mouth,
even as he kept possession of her body. And still it wasn’t enough. Somehow, he had
to have more. He had to feel Kira climax around him.

Gavin set about coaxing her pleasure by winding a hand between them and finding the
nub he had recently toyed with. Soon, she responded by arching into his driving thrusts.
Bloody amazing, the manner in which her tight sheath gripped him. Kira cried out,
perspiration now damp on her upper lip, between their bodies as they shared breath
after breath. Her body began to quiver again, even as her breathing grew labored.
He knew her peak was near.

Damnation, his was too, but he remained on the brink, gritting his teeth to stave
off the urge to explode.

“That’s it,” he whispered in her ear, surging inside her again. “That’s perfect.”

This time she did not protest. Instead, she merely came apart in his arms with a sob.

And Gavin felt her, pulsing around him, pulling on his shaft as if demanding he give
all. Pleasure spiraled, growing, growing, until it burst. He cried out, emptying himself
inside her in a blinding, perfect moment.

Gavin lay for a timeless minute, trying to catch his breath. He couldn’t move, so
he left his face buried in the vanilla-scented skin of her neck.

Had he ever felt more satisfied than he did right now? Ever experienced a climax so
strong and perfect? No and no. Yet hadn’t he known from the first moment he set eyes
on Kira that something about her was different?

Perhaps the fact she’d been a bloody virgin. Or that she was still engaged to his
cousin? Reality rushed in, chilling away the languid pleasure that had been winding
through his body.

What the hell had he done?

Gavin winced against the harsh question.

Despite that, he wanted to stay inside her, surrounded by her warmth and the stunning
memories of their coupling, and ponder the answer. Gavin yearned to do just that…until
he heard the click of booted heels in the hall outside the library door.

The shuffle drawing near made Gavin tense. Kira heard the noise as well, for they
both jumped up. He was still fumbling with the buttons of his breeches when he looked
up at Kira to find her fully dressed again and twisting her hair into a haphazard
braid. An odd disappointment shot through him. Though physically sated for the moment,
he somehow felt hungry still.

And sick with the realization that he had erred in a terrible, terrible way.