Into the Flames (Perilous Connections: Book Two) (7 page)

She does. “Oh
,
but I think I do. I haven’t been blind these many years.” S
he finally
breaks our visual showdown, dropping
her gaze into her lap. S
he pla
ces a kiss on Aubrey’s forehead. “D
espite what you believe
I
never willingly overlooked you.” She finishes in
such
a tiny whisper that if I had not been so attuned to her
I would have missed it entirely.

My heart thumps with a furious denial and I swing my head away to keep from falling apart on a boat with several dozen people and more
importantly in front of Aubrey. A
nd that’s
when I see them
.

Someone, some woman is sitting right next to
Nate
, as intimate as an adjoining fruit,
their
faces barely inches apart on the crowded bench
. A
nd they are talking!

I gape, blink,
suck
a few quick, difficult breaths into my lungs. My throat feels dry and I swallow but I
dare not turn away because I’m
sure that Elaine must have heard my sharp
intake of breath, and is
now
watching me like a
hungry hawk which
spots
a wounded
mice.

The woman
laughs
,
her long, silky blond hair
rippling along her
exposed shoulder
s
and
down to legs that are barely covered in
a rustic looking short-shorts
which I know
probably cost a fortune at Gap or L
evi’s. N
ot that I’ve
ever
been ab
le to shop at such places
.

Casually the woman reaches forward and taps him playfully on a should
er and I can’t take it anymore.

I launch to my feet, my backpack tumbles to the ground
, drawing
star
es.
I slap
a hand over my mouth, avoid the jumble of inquisitive stares and dash
blindly
towards the bathroom at the back of the ferry.

I tear op
en the door, spraining a finger
nail i
n the process but the pain tumbles like a tiny
drop in the bucket that
has
just upended inside of me.
I glance wildly along the small bathroom which shockingly appears clean and empty, the
rank
odor
of pee and more malodorous offenses absent for the time being.

A small wh
imper, then another forces its
way from between my lips
whic
h are pressed tight in a fruitless attempt to keep quiet. Before I know it
I’
m sliding down
the bathroom
wall
as my knee
s give out. M
y entire body begins to quiver as the sobs
surge forward
, pressing painfully against the throbbing muscles in
my throat.
T
he pain is
rising
from some unknown place
insid
e me and the impact of it mercilessly rattles the bones which are holding
my body
together
and I can’t fight it. I
let it take me.

Nate

Frant
ically
I
yank on the bathroom door expecting it to be locked
but it swings open f
reely. I lock it behind me and
then I see h
er in the glass just inches to my right
.
She is on the ground, h
er
eyes squeezed closed
but
tears
are
streaming down her
heart shaped
face.

I yank her into my arms. Her eyes fly open
, rage pours forth from their depths
and she begins to pummel me. No shock there. I think she likes to beat me.

“Shush, shush,” I say because she is both thumping me and muttering words I cannot understand.

She flings her head back, and her amber
eyes,
G
od help me, the golden color glitters
and
looks
so molten, so iridescent
I feel myself fall
ing. M
y heart takes over and I swoop down reaching
for her soft looking mouth
newly moistened by tears.

She tosses her head wildly
.
“
Don’t put you
r filthy mouth on me,” she screeches
, “you’re an
asshole
and I hate you!”

I gro
an my blood roaring in my veins.
“You told me that already,” I quip, not surprised in the least that my voice is husky and reeking of need. I had her bar
ely five hours before but it has
done nothing for me. It’s as if this is the first time I am touching her and I cannot make myself stop, even in the face of her loathing.

I brush my lower body against hers and she feels it.

She cries out. “D
on’t touch me. You’re … a ….
an
animal.”

I touch my forehead to hers. “Yes
I am,” I confess roughly, “this animal wants you.”

She utters some type of feminine squeal th
at if she had had any inkling of what
it would do
to tha
t most demanding part of my ana
t
o
my
, she would have kept her mouth shut.

I slam my mouth down on hers and I wait for a split second for her to show her refusal by chomping off my lips, when nothing happens, I blink my eyes open and stare in wonder at her.

Her eyes are closed, her fighting little fists are clenched at her side but her body is losing the tens
ion, and the tears have stopped.

A
ll I hear is the thundering of her heart, matching mine.

I forget about fear, forget about the fact that I shouldn’t be doing this to her of all people.

I plow her mouth rave
nously, tasting the soft
, succulent
depths. S
he whimpers and
opens up beneath my onslaught. Her
hand has found its way into my hair and her fingers are making impatient swipes through the
dense
folds.

It
is too much
.
I tempt her with repeated stabbings of my tongue, pillaging
her innocent, hesitant response. T
hen she becomes bolder and opens her mouth wider and I am in there.

Passion, sudden and mysterious sweeps through me.
I have never wanted a woman this much. I am seized w
ith the need to have all of her. T
he kiss becomes deeper and yet that is not enough. My hands race
s
across her body, rolling her ripe breast
s between my thumbs, drawing
hot whimper
s
f
r
o
m her
throat.

I shove my hand up under her t-
shirt,
run my fingers impatiently down the silky smoothness of her girlish tummy, down further
until they hit the small cluster of curls nestled between her slender thighs.

She is moist. I growl savagely, my kiss
becomes brutal. Her hands are throw
n around my neck and I break her hold to
tug her jeans and panties down her thighs and off her legs in
one swoop.
I tear at my own encumbrances and then I have her up, her le
gs wrap tightly around my waist.
I lean back giving myself just enough room and then I slam into her.
Catch her cry in my mouth.

She is so hot, so unbelievably tight, that her curse on me comes true, and I become the animal she’d accused me of being only moments before. I rear back and surge forward, pressing her
up
against t
he wall, giving me maximum leverage
. The pleasure is so much that I
have to tear my mouth away from hers, allowing
a
hoarse cry to escape my throat
at the power of it.

I strive for some control, anything not to ravage her too completely, and I slow my pace fractionally, surging out and back with
a little
less
brutality
.

Our bodies quiver together and I tremble as contr
ol begins to slip from me again.
I force my eyes open and
see
that
her eyes are squeezed tightly closed, and she is biting down on her
plump bottom lip
.

Tenderness opens
inside me.
I reach for control
I
didn’t know I possessed
and my
body
screams at me as I force it to slow
down
,
then
stop. I rest my forehead against her
s
, my breath coming like a racehorse. “Am I being too rough,
do you want me to stop
?
” I rasp, my words barely human
sounding
.

She doesn’t
open her eyes but
she shakes her head rapidly, her legs tighten about my waist, my hands do the same beneath the tight succulence of her buttocks. “Don’t stop.
More … more
.”

I
t’s a cry, a command.

I forget that
mere hours before I had
just
deflowered
her, that
it’s too soon for such rough lov
ing and my hips buck and r
am into hers as I appease the roar that unleashes itself inside me again. My thrusts are frantic, hard and most
of all deep.
I cannot get enough of her. My mouth follows suit and I ra
vish her lips and her tongue
.

Her fingers are tearing through my hair, but I cannot sense, cannot feel anything but her
warmth
,
listen
to her whimpers, her cries of ecstasy
which carries a
trace of pain. I close my eyes and absorb it all, until I feel her arching wildly against me as her orgasm rushes upon her. Her body stiffens in my crushing embrace and then she cries out. I slam my eyes shut allowing her release to call for
th my own, it races upon me
like a ravening beast and I am taken over the cliff to smash to pieces beyond.

Chapter Four

Daphne

I hold onto him because I must.
I feel as if I’ll disintegrate into the tiniest atoms and float away
if I don’t grip the iron hewn muscles in his shoulders
which
are
anchoring my body to this world.
My body hums with a vibration all of its own making and I am helpless to hasten its demise.
So I just stand there and let it have its way inside me.

But I am shattered.
Oh God why
have I done
this a second time
?

Why have
I
let him make love to
me
once more? He has ravished, no,
seduced my body so completely that even as my mind cringes at the e
normity of this most recent mistake,
I
find myself
still leaning into his bulk
, my arms are still clasp
ed tightly around his shoulders and I can feel the thundering of
his heart reverberating in my body.

He is righting my clothing. S
lippin
g my underwear and pants back unto
my leg
s
and the
fool that I am, I shiver.
E
ven bruised and swollen and having experienced the sort of pleasure tha
t I had assumed was only contained in the highly fictionalized pages of
romance books filled with impossibly gorgeous
heroes
.
But still I cannot stop my body from responding to his most mundane touch.