Lure of Forever (5 page)

"She was your mother?" The
quiet understanding in his emerald eyes as he asked the question had her almost
burst into tears again, but she swallowed it.

"H…How did you know?" She
hiccupped, and he smiled as both of his hands went into her hair.

"You have her eyes and mouth.
And that picture is painted in such loving detail, that only someone very dear
could have inspired it. You're very talented,
Chere
.
Have you exhibited anywhere?"

"Good
God, no.
This is just something I dabble in."

He cupped her chin in his hand and
she swallowed at the intensity of his gaze. "This is more than dabbling,
Coralie
."

The growled words skimmed across her
conscience, settling in her core, even as her brain protested the use of her
full name.

"Don't call me that. Only Mummy
used to call me
Coralie
."

He swiped the single tear trickling
down her cheek away and
Coralie
held her breath. She
couldn't stop the tremble in her limbs any more than she could stop breathing,
the air thick between them. She licked her lips in an unconscious gesture.
Lucas's eyes settled on that movement. His pupils dilated and she let out a
shuddery breath, waiting for his next move.

****

    
Lucas looked into her
tear-stained eyes and couldn't help himself. The trembling woman in his arms
raised all of his protective instincts. Seeing her lick her lips broke the last
of his control. To hell with it: she was here, and she was willing, and he had
to have her––consequences
be
damned. He moved slowly
to give her plenty of time to pull away. His mouth hovered over hers, their
breaths mingling. She moved to connect their hovering lips and he held himself
perfectly still. Her lips caressed his in the lightest of touches and her
tongue flicked across them. He met her dainty flicks with a bold invasion of
his own and she opened further on the sigh. Her hands fisted in his shirt,
pulling him closer into her and the scent and very essence of
Coralie
exploded on his tongue as he took charge of the
kiss. His cock hardened to the point of pain and he groaned into her mouth.
Their kiss turning ever more passionate, he marched her back against the wall
and, lifting her higher, rubbed his erection against her jeans-covered mound.
Her fingernails dug into his shoulders and she pressed her breasts into his
chest on a moan.

Foutre
,
he'd known she would be responsive, but she didn't know who he truly was. He
had to take it easy, or he would frighten her. He broke the kiss and nuzzled
himself down her neck, nipping her collarbone playfully. He pulled back at her
shuddery exhale, the better to see her.

"Open your eyes and look at me,
Coralie
. I need to know you want this, because I
won't be able to stop if we take this any further."

The heavy lashed eyes fluttered open
on a sigh. His chest felt tight at the trust and arousal he saw in those amber
depths. The knowledge she was responding to him without any coercion on his
part was a heady aphrodisiac. But he didn't want their first time to be a hard
ride against the wall. "Where is your bedroom,
Chere
?"

****

Coralie
was on fire. He'd hardly touched her and yet she was going to combust, the ache
between her thighs too much to bear. Never before had she felt such burning
desire. His growled question in her ear made her moan into his neck. She
couldn't wait the time it took to get upstairs, and she shook her head at him.

"No? Never mind, I'll find
it."

He caught her shriek of surprise in
his mouth when he picked her up and literally ran up the stairs with her.
 
She clung to him, the air whizzing by at
dizzying speed and it seemed they were inside the master bedroom in
seconds.
 
But they couldn't be. Any
rational thought left her completely when he dropped her on the bed and his
hands caressed her breasts through her shirt. He peeled her out of her tee
slowly, murmuring his approval at every bit of exposed skin. The heat in his
gaze stoked the fire in her veins. He kissed every new bit of exposed flesh and
expertly freed her from her bra, his hands massaging each heavy globe in turn.
When he finally bent his head and took one turgid nipple in his mouth, she
arched off the bed with the sheer pleasure coursing through her. Every suck and
sharp nip shot straight to her clit. She writhed under him, desperate for her
release.

His smile turning wicked, he held
her down with one hand, and kissed a hot trail down her quivering tummy.

"Lucas, please, I…"

"
Shh
,
Chere
, we're taking this slow."

Damn the man, she didn't want it
slow. She wanted him balls-deep inside her, riding her hard. She tugged at his
clothes with feverish movements and he laughed against her skin. The vibrations
traveled along her nerve endings and she groaned in relief when Lucas slid the
jeans down her legs, leaving her just in her arousal-soaked thong. He stood
back and a slow blush spread across her skin at his bold appraisal.

"
Tu
es
belle."

Her heart felt lighter at the
approval in his voice and she spread her legs with a whispered, "I need
you."

He growled again, his eyes eating
her alive. His shirt came off in a blur and the rest of his clothes followed.
She swallowed, a fresh wave of moisture between her legs readying her body for
his invasion. Before she could totally take in the sight of a fully aroused
Lucas, he joined her back on the bed. One of his hands settled on her lower
abdomen and he nudged her legs further apart with his hair-roughened skin as he
settled himself between her thighs. His other hand massaged her breasts until
it too travelled down to her hips. He kissed her mound through the thin barrier
of her underwear and his breath on her clitoris sent her arousal sky-high. When
he removed her thong and his fingers slid inside her to massage her intimately,
she screamed his name. Intense pleasure consumed her, her whole being on fire,
sensations spreading from her clit outwards, until all she could do was trap
his head between her legs, her hips rising up shamelessly in rhythm with the
waves of ecstasy spreading through her. Beads of sweat broke out all over her
body and he sucked and nibbled every last shudder from her until she lay
completely spent. Only then did he seek his own release.

He entered her in one slow,
deliberate move until he was seated to the hilt. He withdrew and entered again.
Every slow stroke against her sensitive walls roused nerves she never knew she
had.
 
His harsh breaths in her ear
matched her moans and she dug her heels into his ass and lifted her hips to
give him better access. Together they found a rhythm, slow at first and then
with ever-increasing speed, until she once again tumbled into oblivion, dimly
aware of Lucas's own grunted release into her neck. The sharp pain against her
neck was the last thing
Coralie
remembered before
darkness claimed her.

Chapter
Six

Incessant
buzzing slowly penetrated
Coralie's
consciousness.
She blinked against the bright sunlight streaming into her bedroom and hit the
'off' switch on her alarm a bit too forcefully.
Blasted
thing.
It couldn't be morning already. She had only just fallen
asleep. She untangled her legs out of the sheets and sat up gingerly. She
winced at the unfamiliar soreness between her legs, grateful that the cause of
that sweet burn was not still in bed with her.

Heat rose in her cheeks as
Coralie
recalled the events of last night. So that was what
all the fuss was about, then. No wonder the French called an orgasm
la petit
mort
.
 
She hadn't known it was
possible to pass out from sheer pleasure, like she had the first time. She'd
come to in Lucas's arms. He had washed her down with a wet cloth, paying particular
attention to her neck for some strange reason, eyes filled with something that
had looked a lot like regret.
 
His
whispered French apologies had been delivered in between butterfly kisses along
her neck in that to-die-for voice of his, and her whole being had simply
melted.
Coralie
lost count how many times Lucas had
woken her again, his appetite insatiable. He had played her body like a
well-tuned instrument, bringing her to the heights of pleasure time and time
again, until she had fallen asleep cradled in his arms.

Well, she couldn't stay in bed
forever. She had a job to get to, for starters. And she had to face him
sometime. Surely he was still here?

The house was awfully quiet. There
was no sign of Lucas in the bedroom. His clothes had disappeared and her
earlier relief vanished in a puff of misery.
Typical.
She finally let herself get close to a man, and he took off come morning.

Well, of course he did, stupid. This
was just sex, remember. You wanted to be like Jerry, so suck it up, girl. At least
it was stupendous sex…

She padded to the bathroom gingerly
for her daily ablutions, grimacing at the view of herself in the mirror. There
were huge purple shadows under her eyes, testament to how little last night had
to do with sleep and...What were those marks on her neck? Two tiny pinpricks
marred her skin and a flutter of unease went down her spine, remembering Lucas'
murmured apologies of last night. Surely he hadn't taken that vampire fetish of
his too far?

She shook her head at her fevered
imaginings. She would have noticed if he'd gotten those false teeth of his out,
and besides, he'd been naked as the day he was born, so where could he have
hidden them? She shifted restlessly, remembering how busy his hands had been
roaming all over her body. And she had the fingerprints to prove it. Her body
tingled all over, a delicious ache starting between her legs and her hand
strayed lower, finding her already wet pussy. She moaned when her fingers
parted her own flesh, imagining them to be Lucas. She gripped the basin for
support, spreading her legs wider. The action sent the metal towel stand
clanging to the tiled floor and her eyes flew open at the sound.

Shit, girl, what are you doing?
Her skin flushed as she stared at her reflection in the mirror with huge eyes.
One night of great sex had turned her into a raving nymphomaniac, and one with
an overactive imagination at that. Those marks on her neck were nothing more
than two particularly nasty mosquito bites, that's all. She was forever being
eaten alive, after all. She needed to get a grip and get ready for work.

The hot shower soothed her aching
muscles and, having repaired most of the damage to her eyes with lots of
concealer
and much more make-up than she normally wore, she
stepped into the uniform she wore for her day job and headed downstairs.

The smell of brewing coffee stopped
her halfway down the stairs and she closed her eyes as memories assaulted her.
Mummy had always been up at the crack of dawn, the smell of coffee greeting
Coralie
when she bounded down the stairs one of her most
treasured childhood memories. She'd known that her mum would be sitting at the
breakfast bar, nursing a coffee and planning her day. She used to say it was
the elixir of life and right up till the day she died, the frail and
pain-riddled woman she'd become had insisted on her coffee first thing in the
morning. The smell was soothing to her, even when she couldn't drink the
fragrant brew anymore. And it had to be proper coffee.

"None
of this instant mumbo jumbo in my house.
That's
what's wrong with the world today. Everyone wants everything instantly.
 
Balderdash, that's what it is. You grind
those beans,
Coralie
. Everything precious is worth
waiting for."

Gah
,
she was such a watering pot. Swiping the tears away with an impatient hand, she
shook the memories off and entered the kitchen. Sure enough, coffee brewed in
the coffee machine, a handwritten note propped next to the carafe.

Forgive me,
Chere
.
I had to leave. Promise me you'll stay off the streets, at least until I have
caught the bastard.

The bold strokes had an
old-fashioned feel about them and the reminder of the danger lurking in the
shadows made her shiver. As soon as her shift was finished, she would visit
Jerry and try and make her see sense.

****

"Really, Coral, listen to
yourself
. You've fallen for the oldest trick in the world.
You didn't stumble on the wrong boat, silly. He made that story up to get into
your knickers,
that's
all. And you fell for it, hook,
line and sinker. He must be good, mind."

"It wasn't a line, Jerry. You
weren't
there,
and…"