Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) (2 page)

Chapter 1 Stay

New Orleans, present day

The afternoon air sizzled in the New Orleans summer heat. As the rain started, Shelby inhaled the steamy air from the open balcony and stared out, unfocused. The light rain hit the hot pavement on the empty street below while the fan inside the room blew warm air over her naked skin. There was still time to convince Kyle to stay or take her with him. She tied her hair into a loose knot on top of her head, determined not to give up this fight without another attempt at changing his mind.

“I have to admit, I love the view.” His deep voice sounded raspy from sex a
nd sleep. It startled her nevertheless, even though she knew he’d been on the verge of waking when she’d slipped out of bed. Kyle’s voice revealed more than a hint of his upper crust Boston accent. It revealed his arousal. The timber carried across the room sending a trill of excitement through her, along with a spark of heat.

The expression on his face made her heart clench when she took a quick glance over her shoulder. With her arms crossed over
her chest, she turned around to confront him. He lifted his head, glancing in her direction while he sprawled sexually spent in post coital bliss on the trashed bed. His eyes were hooded, barely opened. The expression he wore revealed how much he enjoyed casually studying her.

Her soul ached because the man who’d become as necessary
to her as the air she breathed, was leaving for Guatemala the next morning. When the knot in her throat tightened, she sighed to prevent the distress from turning into a torrent of tears. Squaring her shoulders, she swallowed her sorrow.

“That bed looks like an orgy hit it,” she said. She hoped he didn’t hear the crack in her voice.

“The way my body feels, one did. Several times, if I recall correctly.” Kyle lifted his head again to look around and nodded. “Hmm, it is a mess. You can be wicked bad when you put your mind to it.”

She glanced away and stared back at the view outside, blinking several times before clearing her throat. “Yes, I can.”

“I’m warning you, darling, if you don’t cover up, some early morning passer-by may start throwing beads up at you.”

“Let them,” she said. “I need to accessorize.”

His direct gaze took in all of her and filled her with lust. “No,” he said and paused. His inspection touched every exposed inch of her flesh. “You don’t require any accessories.”

H
is words weren’t what was making her insides ache. The expression on his face told her she was sexy, beautiful, and desirable beyond comprehension.

What was she going to do without him for six months?

Not now. Don’t think about that now and ruin your last day together.
There was still time to change his mind before he left.

When she turned her naked body around to face him, giving him the full frontal view, she ran her hands dow
n her abdomen then back up, then paused briefly at her nipples before she continued up her chest and to the back of her neck. She untied her hair and allowed it to fall about her shoulders.

P
osing with one hand on her hip and one at her throat she thought,
Mmm, let him try to resist this.

He dropped his head back
down on the pillow and groaned.

She reveled in his obvious need. There was no way to ignore his reaction. Not when his eyes widened like they had watching her actions.

His expression turned intense, grew more focused and alert. He narrowed his eyes and his pupils dilated. When he eventually spoke, there was a half grin on his lips, but he was definitely aroused. “On second thought. That getup’s perfect for what I have in mind.”

“Really?” She ran her hand between her thighs, her own body responding in kind. “What did you have in mind?”

His gaze consumed her, heated her like a warm, sweet caress, and sent rising flames straight to her sex.

“Better yet,” he beckoned her with his forefinger, “come back over here. I might need to put a little color back in your cheeks before we get down to serious business.”

The invitation and the feverish glint in his eyes had her wanting him again, needing him desperately.

“Why, sir, how could a respectable southern girl refuse such a promising offer?”

The grin he flashed her, the one like a wolf spotting a rabbit, told her how much he enjoyed her trying to play hard to get and her ridiculous attempt at being coy.

Teasing him, she ran her hands up and down her body and over her breasts, this time, cupping and lifting them for Kyle to admire.

A little sexual tension would deepen the inevitable pleasure. She never could resist him for long. Knowing it drove him wild when she touched herself, her insides melted.

Her gaze travelled the length of his torso and back. Lean, hard muscles covered his chest, and she would have continued perusing his superb assets, but the sheet tented, and the movement pulled the material lower. With his exposed washboard abs divided by the fine line of dark hair leading lower, she focused on the indentation just beside his pelvic bone, and her mouth went dry.

With a quick flick of her tongue over her lower lip, she smiled. God, he tempted her as no other man ever had.

Her channel clenched, anticipating the invasion, the pressure, the fullness of having him inside her. The searing heat exploded within her easily, making her sex damp with need. She exhaled slowly before saying, “Listen, Boston, you’re looking pretty perfect yourself, all disheveled and hard.”

She wanted to seduce him until he couldn’t resist staying, until he put her needs before the rest of the world’s. She cocked a brow in the direction of his groin and moved one hand down her midriff, her abdomen, over her mound, then settled her fingers between her thighs.

The wet fluid seeped between her fingers into her palm. She spread it up and parted her folds so he could see how much she wanted him. She was ready again. Her sex was highly sensitive and swollen, engorged with blood and eager for attention.

When he groaned, she realized she wasn’t the only one who was hot and ready.

There was no doubt in her mind he was aware of the affect he had on her. How she reacted to his desire. How she h
eated when he looked at her that way. How hot and wet he made her with a mere glance.

The man managed to turn the act of lovemaking into an art form.
And yet her need for him gave her pause.

Why was the act of making love with him so intense? Was it because she
had actually begun to love him—unconditionally? Everything about him from his pig-headed stubbornness to his generous, gentle nature.

Yes, but he was going to leave her. He
could
leave her.
The fact that he could leave her made her heart wrench within her chest.

“Ready, again?” She refused to let him see her pain.

“When am I not?” He narrowed his eyes and ran his tongue over his full masculine lips as if anticipating the meal of his life.

Imagining his tongue licking her all over made her insides tense up. She moaned and watched as his cock twitched in response.

“Hmm,” she asked, “does somebody need a little attention?”

“No.” He frowned and moved the sheet aside. The view exposed exactly how needy. He patted the bed. “Somebody needs a lot of attention.”

Her gaze dropped to where his interest was obviously rising. The tempting sight beckoned her body to his. Thinking about having his thick length filling her made her insides melt and her breath hitched in her chest.

She lifted one leg on the chair and gave him an unhindered view of how wet and aroused she was.

“Enough teasing.” Already fully erect, he ran his palm up his length and grumbled. “Get over here, Shelby. Let me show you how much I want you.”

“How could any self-respecting southern
gal resist such an offer from the likes of a handsome, po-lite, New England gentleman?” She exaggerated her southern drawl with the swing of her hips as she walked toward him. “‘Get over here?’ Oh, you sweet talker, you.”

The weight of her breasts, swaying with the motion as she wiggled over to him, turned her on the same way everything else did when she was around him. She prowled around the bed, as if stalking him like a cat in heat.

Slithering up the mattress between his legs, she rubbed her nipples against the rough texture of his hairy thighs and intentionally teased him, licking and nibbling her way up to his groin. “Mmm, and I so wanted to taste you on my lips just one more time—”

“Later, baby. Sounds good, too good.”

She wished she could read his thoughts. Was leaving her as difficult for him as it was for her?

“Right now, I need to be inside you.” He reached out cupping her head in his hands and allowed a low deep groan to work its way up from his throat. “I need to fuck you too much to wait.”

When his cock jerked, as if emphasizing his words, she ran her tongue over her lips slowly just to drive him nuts.

“Have I mentioned how your lovely appendage amuses me when it beckons me with that quick come hither twitch?”

“Appendage?” Kyle narrowed his eyes on her. “I’ll have you know that twitch is a sign of pure desperation.”

“Well, we can’t have that, can we?” She slid her body sideways reaching over him, leaning out over the edge of the bed to the
nightstand. “Let’s see, what have we here for your pleasure this time?”

Their choices of condoms included one meant to drive a man crazy from the inside out. Not that he needed it. He sounded eager enough already. She studied them all, looking for the perfect one to test his darned will power.

“Ah, this looks promising,” she said looking back over her shoulder as she pulled one from the drawer that would at least put a crack in his concrete self-control.

His dark brows furrowed, and his eyes narrowed, totally focused, and sexy as hell. He stretched out and grabbed her around the hips. Pulling her close to him
, he rolled on top of her, working his lips from the sensitive skin by her ear to her jaw, and down her neck. He took his time, but she was ready to take him inside her before he started that slow decent with his tongue down her body. When he reached the spot below her belly button, she inhaled and waited. By the time he separated her thighs, they were trembling.

He nuzzled her
short curls, and then his silky tongue whipped over her engorged nub.

“Kyle!”

He buried his face between her thighs and kissed her intimately, the day old scruff on his chin abrading her sensitive skin in a good way.

“Oh, God,” she gasped. He knew just what she needed and when she needed it.

Slowing her down, he went from driving her wild with his mouth to probing her folds with his fingers. He slipped two fingers inside her sex, parting her opening while applying heavenly pressure to her clit with his thumb. When his fingers entered deeply, crooking a little to the right and found that magic spot, Shelby’s insides flared to life.

“Please, Kyle. Now. I thought you wanted to be inside me,” she begged, needing him to fill her. “You’re driving me crazy.”

“I love driving you crazy.”

The thudding pulse pounded within her, sending blood pooling into the deeper recesses of her body. Thick moisture flooded her
sex and seeped down her thighs, sending liquid heat flowing like molten lava inside her.

“Let’s see if you’re as ready as I am.”

He twisted his fingers around inside her and the cream bubbled from her in response.

“I-I’m ready. Very ready. Uhhh, more than ready.”

“Well, yes, I think you’re close. Wasn’t the anticipation worth this?” He sank three thick fingers deep up inside her while he continued to rub her clit with his thumb.

“More please
, Kyle.” She moaned and arched against his hand. “Oh, God, yes. That feels so good.”

“Does it? Maybe. I don’t think you’re quite ready, yet.” The man was determined to distract her. He pulled out his fingers and licked.

“Dammit, Kyle—”

He bent his head between her thighs, and holding her hips in place, flicked out his tongue. He replaced the pressure from his thumb with his lips and nuzzled his way through her folds.

He latched onto her swollen nub and sucked until she threw her head back and begged. “Oh. Ohhh. More.”

“Mmm, I love Sundays,” Kyle murmured against her skin and then burrowed his tongue into her aching heat. The vibrations from his ragged voice affected her as much as his exploring fingers and lips.

She leaned against his mouth silently begging for more.

The man had all the right moves. In her opinion, if they gave an award out for going down on women, he deserved a blue ribbon. She was slick with her arousal, glowing with lust, and vibrating with need.

He feasted on her juices, licking and sucking greedily. By the time he flipped her to her back, pressed his weight down, and nuzzled her neck, she was limp and more than ready to explode at the next intimate touch. Her next orgasm was already tingling up her spine, only a single touch away.