Surviving Seduction (33 page)

She pul ed him down to kiss him again, and she felt the war raging inside him as he fought to hold stil . His lips the war raging inside him as he fought to hold stil . His lips final y moved against hers, but he kept his aggression in check. For this, her kiss deepened, and his breathing grew dangerously heavy in response.

As their mouths moved tensely against each other, Selena felt her body grow warm. She slid her hands from his shoulders down his taut biceps and past his forearms to squeeze his hands. He waited before squeezing them back careful y, and the intimacy of this moment made her knees weak. That was not convenient, so she broke their kiss and kept her hold on one of his hands.

Selena fixed her eyes to his again and stepped back, pul ing his arm with her. He hesitated, but only for a moment, before she drew him across the room. They stood in front of his chair next to the lamp’s little flame.

She let go of his hand and faced him squarely, nodding at the chair. “Sit down.”

He hesitated again and her determination burgeoned.

“Sit down, Dan,” she insisted.

His eyes flashed and she knew that his need to throw off this restraint and do what he wanted had become desperate.

For a moment, she was sure he would succumb, so she glared back with equal urgency until he begrudgingly and slowly lowered himself into the chair.

His brows furrowed as he looked up at her, but she sat down on his lap and straddled him anyway. Now her head was higher than his, and he was going to have to deal with it.

She placed his hands on her thighs and touched his face, caressing him languidly. Despite the explosive desire that he could barely keep in check, she fearlessly ran her fingers along his strong jaw, then gently up and down behind his ear before trailing them along his neck. His breathing grew fast again as she leaned down and tilted his head aside to fol ow the same path with her lips.

His muscles tightened as she made her way behind his ear, and he squeezed her thighs, going rigid again as he continued to fight his battle.

She drew back to look him in the eye and found that his pupils had dilated further than the dimness alone warranted. Her gaze fel to the perfect masculine beauty of his neck, his chest and his shoulders. She ran her hands along them to her pleasure and leaned in to indulge in his mouth with a luxurious kiss.

He reached up to grasp her shoulders tightly and pushed her away abruptly. “I don’t know why you think I can do this,” he told her through clenched teeth.

“I know you can,” she whispered, rubbing his hands.

“Do you love me?”

The emotion in his eyes wrenched her gut. They slid closed when he answered, “I would die for you, Selena.”

Her passion rose as she worked impatiently to ease his grip and draw his hands down again. She reached up to hold his face, tipped his head back, and pressed her lips to his again, coaxing his teeth to part so she could feel his tongue. She needed him just as much as he needed her, and she wil ed him to feel that through her kiss.

She drank in the clean scent of his breath as its warmth teased her skin, then slid her hands down to the bottom of his shirt, and drew back to lift it. He al owed her to pul it off with obvious difficulty. Her growing urgency seemed only to have made things harder for him. She dropped his shirt and eased him back against his chair, admiring the sight of his sculpted body. It was, as ever, a marvel to behold. Exhilaration rushed through her as she sensed the immeasurable power that she control ed when she control ed him, even if that only meant keeping his aggression at bay. He watched her with frustration.

She smiled back and reached out to touch his lips with her fingertips. She wanted him to act out so she could put him in check again. She wanted him to discover that he did not have to fight his urges alone. She didn’t have long to wait.

Dan’s hand shot up to seize her wrist. They teetered on the edge for a moment, and Selena smacked his arm and wrenched herself free.

When she felt she’d gotten her point across, she resumed her dal iance with his lips. His eyes slid closed, his jaw clenched, and his hands bal ed into fists.

In a gesture of good wil , she reached down to the hand that had grasped her, and pul ed it up to rest against the swel of her breast beneath her shirt.

Dan’s eyes opened and so did his mouth as he struggled for more air, squeezing her insistently at the same time. His hot breath warmed her fingers as she pinched his bottom lip gently. She ran her free hand down to his other, which was stil clenched in a fist, and she rubbed his arm up and down soothingly.

Now that he had her breast, his eagerness wel ed. If he moved, he would do so with aggression. They both knew it. Selena decided that tenderness might help to ease him, so she leaned in close and kissed him softly over and over.

She guided his arms to wrap themselves around her. She knew the gentleness of her touch was taking effect when he tremulously pul ed her in close, but his labored breathing told her they were not out of the woods yet.

She pushed herself away again and his arms tightened around her, but she shot him a threatening look, so he eased his hold with what looked like incredible effort.

She reached down to pul her shirt off over her head, and her naked breasts were level with his mouth. He took in the sight of them and stopped breathing. She knew what he was going to do before he did it.

Dan released a loud groan and leaned forward against her, his arms clamping around her middle like a vice. He tipped her back so she couldn’t hold on to anything but him. She’d been ready, and had just enough time to slam her hand down on the chair’s backrest, clutching it stubbornly. She used al her strength to pul them toward it, just until she could reach it with her other arm. Then she hauled the both of them back against it.

His desperation was now frantic, and his grip was slipping fast. She reached up to grasp his shoulders, holding him in place as she leaned her chest toward his face. He worked his lips against her with a need that she could feel, and Selena’s head rol ed back at the delicious sensation of his mouth and his hunger. Reaching up to caress his neck, she felt his hammering pulse and knew she would have to relieve him soon.

He pul ed her in more tightly against him and shifted his mouth from one breast to another, indulging himself in earnest.

“Stop,” she whispered hoarsely, pul ing back.

Dan grudgingly released his hold to fix her with a furious look. His lips pul ed back to reveal his clenched teeth.

Selena unwrapped herself from his arms and began to stand. “Don’t move,” she whispered.

He sat there and waited, watching her as though she were some cruel enemy sent to torture him.

She stepped back and unbuttoned her jeans, tugging them down and kicking them off, along with her shoes. Soon, she stood before him naked and watched him watching her.

As the seconds ticked by, it became clear that he’d reached the end of his rope. His veins bulged like he’d spent the past hour sprinting, and a thin sheen of sweat covered him.

Stil , Selena took her time returning to him, and did Stil , Selena took her time returning to him, and did not straddle him again right away. Instead, she leaned over him to unbutton the black cargos that he wore. Her hair fel against his face and his chest as she reached into his pants and pul ed the hard length of him free, stroking it with reassurance.

He loosed a guttural moan and grasped the underside of the chair convulsively.

She released him and pried his arms away so she could straddle him comfortably again. His gaze was resolute as she settled in against his hardness. “I have limits, Selena,” he whispered.

She leaned down to kiss him again regardless, and then returned his mouth to her breast. His hands moved to her waist and he tugged her hips down against him. She resisted gently this time only so she could reach down to pul him into position before lifting herself onto his shaft.

She cradled his head against her and began to sink down. He moaned feverishly as she felt his ample girth part her excited flesh. The muscles of his arms seemed to swel as they wrapped around her tightly and he drew her al the way down with pointed deliberation until he fil ed her completely. The sensation was grindingly satisfying, and she could only deal with it by crying out in pleasure.

He couldn’t thrust easily in this position, so he grasped her hips tightly and lifted her up and down. Selena fought to rise and fal at her own pace, reveling in the deep, intimate pleasure of this sexual tug-of-war as instinct triumphed over rationale. Her head swam at the sensation of him fil ing her to the limit inside. Wasn’t it enough for him to penetrate her furthest depths like this? Wasn’t she stil at his mercy?

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and leaned against his powerful body for support as he continued to take his pleasure from her breasts. The heat was overwhelming as she slid herself up and down him while his hands worked to move her faster.

Soon, they were rocking slower than he wanted and quicker than she wanted. They’d found themselves torturously in between as they writhed together and against each other, wanting the same thing. The tenuous balance they’d struck was a maddening tease to both of them. Each time he sped his entry to thrust inside her, she moaned deliriously, resisting just enough for her satisfaction. She could feel her hungry pleasure growing, and he fed it with every deep, invasive push.

She lifted his face in a fit of lust and they kissed each other with equal y surging passion and need. He felt so good inside her, and her pleasure climbed unbearably, and then climbed some more. He clenched her more tightly and she rode him harder. She felt al of his wild frustration unleashed as he ravaged her mouth and stormed her breasts with his lips as his hands skimmed her waist and down over her soft curves. Al the while she matched his insistence as he slid in and out of the tight confines of her impassioned body with a persistence that was making her lose her mind. In her fever of ecstasy, she found him perfect; she wanted to protect him, to break through his wal s, to bare his mind as she bared his body. She wanted to possess him in al his strength and beauty. She wanted to devour him, to feel every part of him, and she did. They moaned against each other’s mouths without restraint as they felt themselves nearing the limits of human endurance.

In the same savage moment, their voices fil ed the cabin and they came more violently with each other than they’d ever come before. There was nothing but him.

When Selena’s senses began to clear, she found that her teeth had clamped down on his shoulder, and Dan’s hand had grasped her hair tightly. They stayed there, tangled in each other as they struggled to catch their breath.

Eventual y her teeth released him and he eased his hold on her hair. She felt a flood of love for him, and sank against his chest in a state of perfect euphoria. He rested his chin lightly on her head and held her silently for a long while, trailing his hand up and down her back. She couldn’t think, and lost al sense of time, finding herself hardly conscious when he put out the lamp and carried her into the bedroom.

Soon they lay beside each other in bed, on top of the covers so they could cool off. Selena should have fal en asleep quickly, but something barely held her on the fringe of awareness. She felt him watching her, and opened her eyes. He lay on his side, his head propped up with an elbow as he studied her in the moonlight.

They held each other’s gaze in the dimness.

“I didn’t,” she answered softly.

“I figured that out,” he murmured, reaching over to touch her face. “Selena?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t ... ever ... run like that again.”

Selena met his eyes and thought about the events that led up to her reckless mistake. She wanted him to understand how difficult it was for her to live in one place, and how intimidated she felt by what he was planning to do.

These were things she’d mentioned before, but as she searched her memories, she realized that Dan was not responsible for their failed communication. She was. The revelation hit her hard.

She compared her words to his and had to make herself acknowledge that, despite how difficult it was to believe, Dan had been more open and forthcoming with her than vice versa. He’d shared his doubts, his struggles, and his ambitions. For this reason, she knew why he was doing everything that he did. Could he say the same of her?

Selena knew there was a lot Dan could know just by looking at her, but there were some things he couldn’t know or ful y understand without her help. She felt a wash of guilt, and wondered why she hadn’t been as clear with him as he had with her. The answer came readily. She felt vulnerable every day of her life, but when Dan was with her, that feeling was wildly amplified. She had already discovered that he made her feel safe from outside dangers, but her intimacy with him was another matter. She hadn’t surrendered to the piercing intensity of his mind and his emotions. He was penetrating and intrusive both by nature and necessity, but even though he never meant to harm her, he triggered her reflexive need to protect herself.

Dan had put his feelings on the line for her, probably out of a preference for al owing himself to be hurt rather than afraid. He deserved the same bravery and more from her. She realized that with every layer of him that she discovered, her respect for him grew. He was waiting for her response, and it was time to start talking.

“It just felt like too much for me,” she whispered earnestly. “I couldn’t see myself fitting in with what you wanted to do, even if you were doing it partly for me.”

She watched him watching her, and swore that she could feel him soaking in not only her words, but her expression, and even the tone of her voice. She refused to guard herself from his scrutiny.

“Remember when I told you I couldn’t be a part of what you were planning, when we first met Josie?” she went on. “I said I could barely live here in the Crater, much less with al those people. But I never told you what I was going through.” She sighed and found it surprisingly difficult to tel him the next part. “I’ve been having these ... I think they are like panic attacks. Or they
are
panic attacks. I just feel trapped. I’m not used to living like this.”