Into the Flames (Perilous Connections: Book Two) (15 page)

I
jerk in response, and
close my eyes to hide the quick leap of guilt and
I
nod
, unwilling to chance my voice. None of what he’d just said could change a thing for me and for t
he first time since meeting him
I would give anything for
things to have been different.

I shove the thought aside. I’m not hurting him. H
e
wants me and I want him. We are
both using each
other in t
his game.

An ecstatic moan escapes my lips
and cuts short these uncomfortable
thought
s
at the reapplication of his hands.

H
e
is sliding
his finger
s
further down my bottom,
and
they dip between
the triangular juncture of my legs
.

My head falls
back
in mindless anticipation as he runs the pads of his delightfully rough fingers over that most sensitive opening
to
my body
. I begin
to undulate
with
each
brush of his thumb, following the motion like a faithful servant
.
Soft cries of
delight stream from my mouth as
he works
my bo
dy, sending
it
into a frenzy of utmost ecstasy and pain
.  H
e works his fingers
back and forth and
then
slowly into me. I grip his hair, and tug ruthlessly but he doesn’t respond, a
nd a
spate of shivering takes hold of me.

“Are you cold?
” his
words are
dark, beguiling. He is such an abominable prick!

“What do you think,
Sherlock,” I hiss, but a smile manages to sneak
past my lips that
he can
be so nonchalant at a time like this.

Nate’s
silver orbs glint with
rich
satisfaction
and he retu
rns my smile with a broad grin.

I study his face in the moonlight.
“You have beautif
ul eyes.” Immediately I nip my bottom
lip. Whatever
made me say something so sappy?

He laughs softly, his
maleness oozing
like unfiltered honey
from the sound.
Then he winks teasingly
at me, before his
gaze drops to my belly, and then lowers
to the place his fingers are still resting. “You have beautiful
…
everything.”

I gasp and playfully swat his ear
s
.

“Ouch,
” he
yelps but
he
throws his head back and
hoot
s
with laughter
.

“You have no shame,” I say primly
,
my lips tremble
with the effort to ignore his wicked smile.
I
fail and
collapse with
laughter into his arms
. W
e tumble o
nto the sand.

Quick
and agile, Nate
rears back to avo
id falling on me. The sand grinds
into the soft flesh of my bottom but that m
eans nothing as I watch Nate
towering over me,
and my
need comes roaring back. “Nate I can’t wait much longer.”

He mutters something
profane
, then
swoops down and nibbles
at the fullness of my bo
ttom lip with
not nearly
enough force.
I groan in exasperation, thrust myself forcefully into his hard body to show him what I want.

He takes the hint,
parts my lips brutally,
the muscles in my neck strain as I absorb the frant
ic stabbing of his tongue as he answers my need.
I revel in it but seconds later a
cry rents itself from my throat when he moves again and begins placing hot, sm
all kisses all over my body. I
spread myself
eagerly
on the sand for him.

I grip his shirt
as he comes down again. “Take this
off.”

He rears back an
d hauls off his pants and shirt, the
n the
boxers beneath. I gulp when he reaches for me and places the shirt under my body.

I struggle to read his expression in the
darkness, but there is too much there to comprehend. T
he sharp planes of his face are rigid with the effort
to hold back,
but as always
it’s
his eyes which convey what I ca
n understand.

They
gleam from his
face with
a wildness
unlike anything I have ever seen before
. An involuntary moan of anticipation escapes my lips.
Something has open
ed up between us and he’s falling
and I feel myself slipping away as well.
“Nate please
…
”

He
savors my mouth for a few heartbeats then
releases
the
soft flesh. H
e
lo
wers his forehead against
mine,
his br
eath is coming in harsh spurts.

I’
m so
lost, a
nd yet so alive.
I’
m caught in the net that I have laid
and I realize that I want to be right her
e, regardless of what comes after
.

H
e pauses above me.
“You won’t regret this.”

I am beyond coherent thought as the hard weight of his body presses mine back into the flimsy covering of his shirt
. I grip his shoulders for anchor and move my thigh
s apart, wrapping them
high on his waist.

He bends down and
places a hard kiss on my mouth.
“You know just what I like.”

That’s where he’s wrong.
It’s
my body that seems to sense what he demands of it and I am carried along helplessly.

We merge and I tense
as my first bit of resistance is torn down by the rush of need which brings my legs up even higher, just b
eneath his armpits
.

He cries out and begins moving, and I wait, soft cries of pleasure tearing themselves from my lips as he slides unhurriedly into the depths of my body, then retreats, repeating the motion with a torturous
ly
slow rhythm that
is driving
me insane.

Catching on to his pace I pick it up and my hips dance with
his
, perfectly matching
his rhythm
. He lowers his arms at the side of my head and crush
es
me even more firmly to him, my legs lock around his waist and we begin moving faster, harder. Our lips lock in the same ravenous display of our
bodies,
moist and hard at once
as
we fight to get closer to each other, to take more.

I cannot bear
the oncoming pressure. 
T
he torturous buildup of pleasure that is inching ever higher in my body
.
I let loose a cry to gain some
relief.

I hold on
fiercely
to his pounding frame, summoning every bit of energy in my body
as
I give myself up to him, meeting his savage thrust
s
head-on. He rides me as though possessed, bringing my pleasure careening down into my cent
er where it explodes.
I cry out and keep
on crying
as he gains his release heartbeats after me.

We cling to each other, heart
s
pounding, his crushing
weight forgotten in the
absolute perfection of
being one.

“
My, my,
aren’t you performing your wifely duties.” Stacy
says
from somewhere too close.

Nate is off me in one motion, springing to his
feet.
I scramble
up
to my bottom, both hands
immediately going
up
to cover my breasts.

I
can
barely make her out and coupled with that a smell like r
otten eggs that I have not noticed
before is swiftly o
vertaking the clean air that has
surrounded the
stream.

“What the hell are you doing here Stacy?” Nate barks.

She harrumphs but her
gaze is fixed on me sitting naked
on Nate’
s shirt on the sand,
then
she tosses her head and turns her attention
back
to him.
“The volcano is spewing heavy loads of ash
. T
hey want everyone to stay inside
for now
.”

Nate

I crush Daphne to me in a bea
r
hug,
she accepts my strength and
the
growing
ne
ed that I can no longer hide after
the
se
last
two days together. S
he returns my affection
with a quiet intensity.

Long moments later I lean
back and look down into her face. S
he meets my search
ing gaze and I want to tell her.

I love you.

But it’s not
time for those words yet.
There is still so much th
a
t I have to tell her but now I’
m deathly afraid and not only of
Emmanuel.
I can’t lose her but that’s what w
ill happen if I tell her about
how Liam died
and my
true
role in it.

She slowly detangles herself from my arms.
“Finish
lunch
?
” a smile quirks her
delectable
lips as s
he gazes at my
empty
plate
, which t
en
minutes before
h
ad sported two thick sandwiches. Unfortunately t
he last of the bread I had bought days before.

“For now,” I laugh and brush my lips across hers.
I straighten quickly, mindful of Aubrey’s watchful presence in the background.
Like the little protector he is, he
has been following the change in our relationship since we’d returned f
rom the stream
two nights before.

The thin sheet of ash which had managed to brush us as we’d made our way back to the house had turn
ed
into a
veritable shower of the stuff. The porch w
as covered with one foot of the grey, powder
y
substance and yet the volcano has
not given up belching
its noxious contents
.

Thankfully that’s
al
l it’s
doing for now. A new bulletin on the radio had informed us that if it gets any worse we’d be promptly evacuated to the ferry and shipped to the other side of the island.

I
pray that this doesn’t happen. I d
o
n’
t want this time to end.

I watch Daphne disappear into the bedroom that she’d formerly shared with Stacy who had protested vehemently when I took her spot.
Stacy
is sequestered on the couch now,
hunch
ed over a row
of cards,
playing a game of
Solitaire
.
She has avoided me after I told her in no uncertain terms to leave my wife alone.

I clean the plate quickly and follow Daphne into
the bedroom. She is
making our
rumpled
bed. Our eyes meet and
the heat between us causes me to
clear my throat
noisily to remind my insatiable
body that it’
s morning a
nd not the dead of night.