Killing Me Softly (20 page)

They stayed with him for a while longer, but when a nurse came to tell him they’d put a chair he could sleep in beside Melissa’s bed and that he could stay with her tonight as long as he kept quiet, he turned to them all and insisted they go home.

Daemon and Craig were reluctant, but Bev managed to talk them into it. ‘You need to have a good night’s sleep – heaven only knows, Phil won’t get one and he’s going to need his mates to be rested and strong for him over the next few days.’

‘Bev’s right,’ Lexi agreed.

They said their goodbyes to Phil and left, Lexi and Daemon peeling away from Bev and Craig to drive back in Daemon’s car together. Alone.

The air was sharp with the cold and dark of night. Lexi huddled in her coat until the heating began to force the cold away. She stared out at the black sky, the pinpoint of stars scattered across it. So big, so lonely; her heart ached in recognition. For so many years she had felt lost in the vastness. She had disconnected from the world in an attempt to escape from the horrors she could not face. She had learned not to rely too heavily on anyone, to only truly trust herself.

But tonight she’d found herself envying the ease of relationships between Daemon and his band mates. And to be loved the way Phil loved Melissa . . . It had stolen her breath away. Yet there had been so much pain, too. She’d watched Phil, felt his worry for Melissa, his fear, as if it were her own. She’d experienced so much loss in her life, she didn’t know if she could go through that again for anyone else. It was already bad enough to have Cat and Billy, Bev and Karl to worry over losing.

The thought of losing the love of her life was simply too terrifying to contemplate.

At the same time, though, what she’d begun to feel over the last month or so couldn’t be ignored. She didn’t want to ignore it. She glanced sideways at the man sitting next to her in the car. He looked so serious. A frown marred his brow. She wanted to lean over and stroke that frown away. But that sort of thing – wasn’t that what a lover would do?

Could she be his lover?

He certainly wanted her to be. And God only knew, she wanted him, too. She’d known it in her dreams ever since meeting him, but it had taken her conscious mind a lot longer to catch up on the truth.

He made her want things she’d never wanted before. Fear had made her deny him so far – but what was there to be truly afraid of? He couldn’t hurt her unless she let him, and even then she didn’t think he would.

His life was full – of his music, his friends, his da, his fans. So much to keep him occupied and fulfilled; he wouldn’t want anything from her. There would be no chance that his expectations would be anything more than exploring the desire they felt for each other.

Simple lust.

He’d never suggested he felt anything more – and why would he? He had his own baggage and wouldn’t be looking for anything serious. Which meant she could give him her body but not her heart.

It suited her perfectly. He couldn’t stay here – his career was far too important to him and it took him out to live large in the world. And she couldn’t leave. She didn’t want to. She’d built her life and her business here. Cat was here. She had no room for anything else in her life. She didn’t want it.

But she did want him.

Perhaps he was the perfect man to be her first lover.

She glanced at him again, her skin heating as his gaze met hers briefly before turning back to the road. She clenched her fingers in her lap.

Perhaps he was right. She should just let go.

They pulled up in front of the manor.

‘Daemon?’

He turned to look at her. ‘Yes?’

‘I know this is probably the wrong time to say this, with your mind on Melissa and Phil. But . . . I want you.’

Daemon sat there as if speechless.

She held her breath as silence reigned. Then, suddenly, he turned off the ignition, opened his door, got out of the car, walked around and opened her door. Cool, rose-scented air brushed over her as he held out his hands. Dejection flickered to hope in her chest as he held out his hands and smiled.

‘I want you too.’ It was all he said.

It was enough.

Taking his hand she got out of the car and led him into the house and upstairs to her bedroom. When she reached for the light he stayed her hand, walking over to turn on the lamp beside the bed. A warm glow spilled into the room, romantic and gentle, making her feel less nervous. That a twenty-nine-year-old woman should be a nervous virgin was absurd, but she was.

She stood looking at him, her hands playing at the edge of her coat. She swallowed hard. ‘I’ve never —’ she began as he walked toward her, passion heating his eyes.

He reached out and placed a finger on her lips. ‘Shh. I know.’ He took her hands in his, stopping their nervous plucking, and placed them on his chest. She could feel his heart thundering under her palm. Had she caused that?

His hands ran down her arms to her shoulders and he tipped her chin up so that her eyes met his.

She blushed. ‘I don’t know what to do.’

‘It’s a first for me, too.’ She looked at him questioningly. He smiled. ‘The first time where the person I’m with matters this much; it feels new.’ He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers, a soft lingering kiss. ‘And exciting.’

His breath feathered across her face and she breathed in the scent of him. He kissed her again. She opened to him. He took her deeper.

Her arms twined around his shoulders, her body pressed against his, feeling the whole wiry length of him. He was strong and hard, warm and gentle. She fitted against him, thigh against thigh, stomach against stomach, her breasts sitting in the hollow under the muscles on his chest. She could feel his arousal against her stomach. Warmth nestled deep inside her, liquid and pulsing. She gasped in shock at the rush of damp between her legs. She felt excited and languid at the same time. The feeling was strange and bewildering. She wanted to feel more.

Daemon’s arms tightened around her as her tongue met his in long, intimate kisses. Her breath shuddered in and out. She wanted to feel him. Hands sought flesh, pulling at his shirt. She whimpered in protest as he pulled away.

‘Wait, just wait!’ He leaned his forehead against hers for a moment, gulping in deep breaths. ‘I want this to be so good for you.’ His fingers traced a line down her throat and over her collarbone. She shivered. His hands moved, pushing her coat off her shoulders and on to the floor. He bent and kissed the hollow between shoulder and neck, his tongue flicking over her skin.

‘God!’ she gasped, a long ragged sound, head dropping back.

‘You taste so good,’ he murmured as he licked up the side of her neck to her ear, taking the lobe in his mouth and sucking.

She thought she might die. The throb low in her belly tightened as his mouth moved over her chin to her other ear., giving the sensitised lobe equal attention. His hands felt so good on her skin. His knuckles brushed her breasts as he undid the buttons of her shirt. Lights sparked behind her eyes, pulsing in time to the pull of that line of desire that flared to life. He pushed her shirt off her shoulders, fingers grazing along her collarbone and down the bare skin of her arms in a long, slowly, sensuous glide that made that line pull even tighter.

Reaching up between them, she pushed his jacket off his shoulders. Her hands fumbled on the buttons of his shirt and she felt him smile against her skin. The smile made her bold and she pulled at the front of his shirt, the buttons popping off. She pushed it from his shoulders.

‘Alexia!’ he laughed.

‘I want to feel you,’ she said, disappointment clouding her voice as her fingers touched the T-shirt he wore underneath.

‘Here. Let me help.’ He was still smiling as he grabbed at the T-shirt and ripped it right down the centre. She laughed and her fingers twined with his as she pushed the tatters down his arms.

She felt him now, hot skin, hard yet smooth like silk. Dark hairs curled lightly in the centre of his chest and ran in a V, disappearing into his jeans. Her eyes followed the trail. She ran her hand down that trail. He sucked in a breath, his muscles jumping and quivering under her hand.

Finally, she reached her destination, her hand hovering just above the top button of his jeans, just above that bulge she had created. Power and lust pulled at her and she bit her lip with the sweetness of the sensation. Emboldened, her fingers brushed over the bulge. Daemon gasped and surged towards her seeking hand. She looked up at him as she stroked it again.

His eyes glittered.

The bulge felt so hot even through the material of his jeans. And so large. She wanted to feel it. To see it. She reached for the button on his jeans.

He caught her hand and brought it to his lips. ‘Not so fast. You have to catch up first.’

‘I am caught up.’

He smiled and shook his head. ‘Let me show you.’ He bent and kissed her again, this time hotter and wetter and deeper.

She was drowning.

She liked it.

His hands moved over her as if she were precious porcelain and delicate silk. His clever fingers divested her of the rest of her clothing in such a sensual way she didn’t realise she was naked. The glory of her skin sliding against his was too enticing, too right, to bring embarrassment. His mouth was skilful; he could have introduced her to untold pleasures with his lips and tongue alone.

Then he began to use his hands. His hands, lightly callused and slightly rough against the smoothness of her skin, ran over her in wonderful, erotic glides, as if he were playing his favourite tune. He touched every last inch of skin, whispering hot words of want and need until she thought she would scream from the build-up of tension inside.

Finally, he lowered her trembling body onto the bed.

When his weight pressed down on her, she thought she would die from pure pleasure.

Then he took her higher.

Where his clever hands went his expert mouth followed. She cried out as his lips moved down her stomach then back up to her breasts, taking a nipple into his mouth, sucking, circling. He pulled back, blew on it, then covered it with his mouth again.

‘Oh, God!’ She arched off the bed.

Smiling up at her, he whispered as he kissed his way across to her other breast, ‘You can call me that if you like, but I prefer Daemon.’

She laughed.

His mouth closed over her other nipple and she cried out again. She had never imagined there was a line that went straight from her nipples to her groin. A line that carried pleasure so intense it was almost pain, centred in that tight moist place, tensing, ready to explode.

He finished with her breasts, and she thought that might be it – that he would enter her now.

But it seemed Daemon wasn’t close to being done with her.

He licked and kissed his way down her stomach, the muscles quivering under his gentle touch. She rolled her head from side to side, her body bucking as his fingers slipped into her wet folds, stroking, then parting her.

She glanced through partially open eyes to see him staring down at her, panting, eyes glazed over with heat and desire.

‘So beautiful,’ he whispered. He stroked his thumb over her clitoris.

‘Yes! Please!’ she moaned, her voice hoarse with desire. She didn’t know what he was about to do. But she wanted it. When his tongue touched that hot pink nub she came off the bed. Cried out.

He looked up at her with a satisfied smile.

He began to lick her and she screamed as the knot inside her coiled, tightened and then exploded. She shook, unable to control the tidal wave as it poured out of her and into him.

She couldn’t breathe.

Hot licks of pleasure filled every cell, every fibre. Lights shot behind her eyes and for a long luscious moment she could think of nothing except the hot pulsing pleasure Daemon had created.

‘Daemon.’ His name shuddered out of her as she came down, her body still quivering and shaking in the aftermath. She opened eyes heavy with pleasure and looked at the man kissing his way up her body. ‘What did you do to me?’

He grinned. ‘Your body sang for me. Did you like it?’

‘Like is not the word I would use,’ she gasped. ‘It was uhhh . . . ’ She became inarticulate again as Daemon took her nipple in his mouth. The pleasure began to build again.

Was this how sex was for everyone? Surely not! This had to be something special. He was something special. What he was doing to her was more than special.

It was unbelievable.

His mouth moved from her breast and she whimpered with the loss until it claimed her own mouth once again. She loved kissing him, tongues tangling, probing the depths, tracing lips. She felt precious, sexy, desired and loved. She wanted to give some of that back to him; tell him how he made her feel.

She grasped his head as he tried to kiss across her chin. His breath was ragged and there was a look in his eyes that caused her heart to melt. Gently stroking his face with her thumbs, she traced the line of his scar, his brow, his lips and his nose. Every inch of his face was precious to her. She hadn’t even realised how precious until now. Everything about his face was a treasure and at the centre were his sparkling blue eyes. She could become lost in those eyes.

Her mouth worked, but no sound came out. She couldn’t say the words. There was too much inside; a muddle of feelings and sensations she didn’t understand. It frightened her. But she didn’t pull away. She wanted what he was doing to her. Needed it. And she wasn’t about to give it up.

‘What is it?’ Daemon asked her, worry creasing his brow.

She brushed at that crease with her fingers. ‘Nothing.’ She pulled his head down and kissed him with all the passion in her soul, hoping it was enough. Enough for her. Enough for him.

Giving herself up to his kiss, she lost herself, drowning in the most exquisite sensations. ‘I want you, Daemon. I want you inside of me. I want to feel all of you, be one with you.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘Oh yes, I’m sure. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life.’

Together they removed the remainder of his clothes and then she opened to him and he entered her.