Authors: Donna Grant
Ivy tried not to look at Christian, but she couldn’t stop herself. He had his head down, as if he could pretend nothing was happening by not looking.
She quietly made her way around Lincoln and Ava and walked out of the house. That morning, she had watched the sun rise above the trees, now she was watching it sink behind them.
Davena had told her the back property was warded, including the boathouse. Ivy stepped off the porch, waiting for a Hell Hound to take her. When nothing happened, she took another couple of steps. Then a couple more.
Finally, she walked to the door of the small structure and opened it. The cages she saw inside drew her up short. Then she realized the guys had to have somewhere to put the monsters.
Ivy spotted the huge sliding metal door and cracked it open a bit. She smiled as she finished pulling it all the way open and took in the water lapping at her feet.
She sat down and leaned against the side of the door, listening to the cicadas fill the night with their music.
A sound drew her attention to the door she’d walked through. She saw a silhouette and recognized Christian.
“Couldn’t take it either, I see,” he said.
She laughed. “That was...awkward.”
“You’re the only one who understands my need to have my own place. I’m surrounded by couples on a daily basis.”
“I find it hard to believe you don’t have someone.”
He made a face as he drew closer. “Not me.”
“Relationships are complicated. I’d rather keep things simple.”
“Exactly.” He leaned against the opposite side of the door.
“I like to answer only to myself.” His grin made her laugh. “You’re looking at me as if you’re not sure whether to believe me or not.”
He shrugged a shoulder. “Normally, women want to talk about how soon they can get married, and how many kids they want while explaining how they’re going to change their men.”
Ivy nodded since she had a couple of friends just like that. “Why do women always want to change their men?”
“Good question. I’d like the answer to that, as well.”
She looked away when she couldn’t handle his intense gaze any longer. He seemed to be able to see right into her mind, and she didn’t want him to know how many times she thought about running her hands over his body or ripping his clothes off.
“No hunting tonight?” she asked into the silence.
The music from the house rose, drifting outside as if those inside had opened windows.
“Not with the Hell Hounds after you. We’re better all together.”
His voice was a seduction all its own. Ivy closed her eyes. Did he know how his voice affected her? Is that why he lowered it, making his words come out as soft as silk?
“Lincoln had the right idea. We need to take our minds off Hell Hounds,” Christian said as he pushed away from the doorway.
Ivy’s eyes snapped open to look at him as he sat near her. His black hair tempted her fingers to touch the strands and see if they were as soft as they looked.
“I used to come out here all the time to get away from the craziness of the house,” Christian said and looked straight ahead. “I’d sit right here and listen to the sounds of the bayou, watch gators and turtles swim past, and try to pretend that my life didn’t involve the supernatural.”
Ivy pulled her gaze from Christian to look at the purple and pink-streaked sky. “It’s beautiful here. A place of solace.”
“It’s that and much more.”
She felt his eyes on her. Unable to stop herself, Ivy turned her head to him. She wanted Christian, and the seductive music wasn’t helping matters at all.
He turned toward her and tugged on a lock of her hair. “Curls. That’s what I called you when I first saw you in the bar.”
She raised a brow. So, he had noticed her. Ivy would’ve had to be blind not to appreciate such a fine specimen herself. She had taken plenty of peeks as he had leaned over to shoot pool.
“Having been sick for so long, I have a habit of not waiting around for things.” She swallowed, hoping she wasn’t about to make a fool of herself. “I’d like to take my mind off the current mess. Interested?”
“As if you have to ask,” he said before his hand slid into her hair and around to the back of her neck as his lips covered hers.
Ivy leaned forward, her hands going to his chest. She slowly moved them up to his shoulders and then around his neck. The kiss was fiery, passionate.
She was up on her knees with him as their bodies came together. His arms wrapped around her tightly, pulling her close, his hands roaming everywhere.
His kisses took her breath away while enflaming her already burning desire. She tugged up his shirt to feel his skin.
The kiss broke long enough for him to rip off his tee. Their gazes met as he cupped her face. She was drowning in his blue eyes, sinking into the passion that enfolded them.
Then they were kissing again. Ivy wasn’t sure when her shirt was removed, and she didn’t care. She was living in the moment. Life was so fragile and could be taken at any moment. She wasn’t going to wait around. She was going to enjoy whatever time she had left.
What better way than in the arms of a man who made her crave his touch?
Christian lowered them until they were lying on the concrete floor. She belatedly realized that she was on his shirt.
He rose over her and leaned back on his haunches. “You have to be the most interesting person I’ve ever met.”
“Then you must not have met very many people,” she said.
He removed her boots and then slowly unbuttoned her jeans. Ivy tugged them over her hips. Then she was in nothing but her bra and panties.
“My turn,” she said as she sat up and reached for the waist of his jeans. She unbuttoned them, opening them wide.
The trail of chest hair narrowed at his belly button and disappeared into his waistband. She ran her hands over his impressive chest and wide shoulders. His skin was warm, his muscles hard beneath her palms.
She had known he would have an amazing body, but she hadn’t been prepared for such sheer gorgeousness. His skin was bronzed from time in the sun, and there were marks from wounds that looked like slashes from talons. There were even some healed bite marks.
“I live a hard life,” he said.
She lifted her gaze to his face as she traced one of his scars. “These show how powerful and resilient you are.”
In answer, he claimed her mouth in a kiss that was both savage and tender.
Their arms went around each other as they gave in to the passion.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Christian burned. With each kiss, he yearned for Ivy even more. Her skin was soft as down, her kisses as intoxicating as the finest bourbon.
He ran his hand down her side, feeling her warmth beneath his palm. She yanked down his jeans, and he quickly stepped out of them. Then he hooked his thumbs in her panties and lowered them.
With a little flick, he tossed the lace away. Her leg lifted to wrap around his hips. Christian groaned and rocked his aching cock against her.
A shiver raced along his skin as her nails lightly scoured down his back. He rolled them until he was on his back and she was straddling him.
She ended the kiss and looked at him. Christian’s breath locked in his lungs as her brown curls framed her face in disarray. Her lips were swollen while her eyes burned with desire.
She was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. Ivy didn’t hide her passion, didn’t shield her sexuality as some women ashamed of their bodies did. No, his Ivy held his gaze as she sat up, her fingers caressing his chest.
Then she reached behind her and unhooked her bra. The garment sagged, and she gave a little shift of her shoulders until the straps fell away. With a flick of her wrist, she tossed the garment aside.
Christian’s mouth went dry as he stared at her breasts. They were full and rose-tipped. He cupped them, feeling their weight.
A smile pulled at his lips when her nipples hardened before his gaze. He lifted his eyes to find Ivy had closed hers, her lips parted and a look of bliss on her face.
Christian lightly tweaked a nipple, causing Ivy to suck in a breath and her nails to dig into his chest. He let his gaze devour her, committing every inch of her to memory.
He sat up and took a turgid peak in his mouth as he braced a hand on her back to hold her. Her breaths became ragged, her hips moving slowly back and forth.
“Christian,” she murmured as her head dropped back.
Moving from one breast to the other, Christian lavished attention on her amazing assets. But he wanted – needed – more.
He needed her. To be inside her, to fill her and have their bodies joined in a dance as old as time.
Christian was surprised when she rose up further on her knees and wrapped her hand around his aching rod. He groaned at the feel of her fingers around him, stroking up and down his length.
The pleasure was intense, deep. Ivy brought a part of him to the surface that he hadn’t even known was inside him. She didn’t let him hold anything back, but forced him to see what was before them – to grasp it with both hands.
Her head lifted and she caught his gaze. It was the most erotic, decadent experience of his life to be looking into her passion-filled hazel eyes as she caressed his cock.
Thoughts deserted him when she brought his rod to her entrance and slowly lowered herself. He held her close, watching the desire fill her face as he stretched her.
Ivy thought she knew passion. She thought she knew what it meant to desire a man.
That was until Christian.
He opened a whole new world to her, one where she wasn’t afraid to be herself, where she didn’t have to hide her wantonness. With Christian, his every look urged her to let it all loose.
In his arms, the world was spinning out of control, but it was glorious. And right. She didn’t search for a way to stop it. Instead, she embraced the feeling – and Christian.
Her body tightened around him deep inside of her. It took a moment to adjust to the fullness, but oh the feeling was wondrous.
Ivy looked down into his bright blue eyes and wished she knew what he was thinking. Then she rocked her hips and it no longer mattered.
Need had been building inside. It had flamed bright with their kisses earlier, but now it engulfed her. Her veins burned with it.
She moved, slowly at first, but with increasing intensity. His large hands held her firmly as their breaths mingled. Sweat beaded on their skin and the world fell away.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tight when he gripped her hips and began to move her up and down his length.
The desire coiled tighter, bringing her closer and closer to the precipice of pleasure.
Christian’s lips were on her neck, kissing and nipping at her flesh. In the next instant, she was on her back as he leaned over her, the muscles in his arms bulging as he held himself up.
She was powerless to look away from him. He held still a moment before slowly pulling out of her then thrusting deep.
Ivy moaned loudly. Her breathing quickened, and she locked her legs around his waist. His hips began to pump as he moved in and out of her, alternating from long, slow thrusts to quick, hard ones.
She was hurtling quickly toward release. He worked her body expertly, leaving her no choice but to give in to all that he demanded of her.
Christian loved the sound of Ivy’s moans and cries of pleasure. They spurred him to push her – them – further, deeper into the desire enveloping them. It alarmed him that he so eagerly sought what he had been actively avoiding.
But how could he shun what Ivy so freely gave?
How could he deny both of them what providence, chance, or destiny had put in their paths?
He felt Ivy’s body begin to tighten. Her nails dug deeply into his arms. He bent and licked a nipple before lightly nipping it.
She jerked, pure ecstasy crossing her face as her body convulsed around him. Christian attempted to hold back his own orgasm, but the feel of her clutching him was too much.
He gritted his teeth until he could stand it no more. With one last thrust, he gave in to his body. The climax was powerful, taking him to a place he had never been before.
The waves of pleasure swamped them again and again, prolonging their orgasms. When Christian could finally lift his head, he looked down to find a smile on Ivy’s face, her eyes closed.
“Let’s stay like this for a little longer,” she said, cracking open one eye.
Christian was in no hurry to shatter what they had found. He pulled out of her and rolled to the side, pulling her against him as the first drops of rain began to land on the roof of the boathouse.
~ ~ ~
Ivy was the first to wake hours later. The rain was still coming down with the clouds hiding the moon and stars. She remained in Christian’s arms for a little longer, enjoying the quiet and tranquility of the moment.