Surviving Seduction (8 page)

As she went about lighting a few of the lanterns, the door sounded. Dan was closing it behind him and setting a large sack on the floor as she turned.

He rested his hands on his hips as his eyes turned to her.

“I didn’t think it was a good idea,” she said quickly.

“Tel me everything.”

Dan listened quietly as Selena recounted the events of the past few days. She left out Jack’s flirting.

“We put it to a vote.”

“What did you vote?”

“Wel ,” Selena hesitated. “I didn’t. I just didn’t know.”

Dan seemed to be digesting her story, but he never took his eyes off her. After a few moments he walked over, pul ed something dark and smal from his pocket and held it out to her. She took it and turned it over in her hands. It was a pair of binoculars.

“Found three pairs. I have one of the bigger ones, but these are just as powerful. Gave Cal the other set.”

“Wow,” Selena breathed, admiring the good condition they were in. They looked complicated, considering their size. She couldn’t wait to try them.

Binoculars were hard to come by and, if you found them, many didn’t last long.

“I brought you something else, too,” he added, striding back to the sack he’d laid on the floor and opening it.

Selena’s eye’s widened as he drew out a bow and a quiver of arrows. She recognized it, only just realizing how much the darkness and distance had obscured its quality when she’d seen it last. She’d mistakenly assumed it was hand-made.

“I can’t believe they left it there,” she whispered as he ambled back to her, looking it over appraisingly.

“It’s yours,” he said, setting the quiver down on a chair and handing her the bow. “You brought him down.”

Selena took it from him with mixed feelings. It was a fine and rare item. If this type of weapon was old fashioned, the materials used to make this one were quite the opposite. It almost looked like a machine. Its former owner was one of their enemies, and she had used her sling in battle to bring him down. He would have certainly kil ed one of her friends if she hadn’t done it, but the act stil weighed heavily on her. To add to that, she’d disobeyed Dan’s orders at the time, bringing her closer to harm’s way to help them. He had been furious.

“Consider it a trophy,” he urged, reading her hesitation.

She was surprised, considering how angry he’d been at the time. Perhaps he was forgiving her, or simply recognizing how wel she had done, despite her recklessness.

She nodded, shaking off any negative feelings that she associated to it. This weapon was a treasure.

“Have you tried it?” she asked, smiling up at him tentatively.

“Oh yeah,” he answered, his eyes lighting up.

She tested the string. It didn’t move.

“Jesus,” she muttered, repeating the effort with al her strength to no avail. “This thing can be adjusted, right?”

He nodded, suppressing a chuckle. “We’l deal with that later.”

She nodded and set it down gingerly.

“And this Jack?” he asked, his piercing eyes studying her soberly again.

She had almost forgotten what they were talking about.

“He’s mischievous, but that’s al I can say.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said, stepping in close and peering down at her intently. “Has he done anything I should be upset about?”

“No,” she told him honestly, her stomach fluttering in response to his scrutiny, his closeness and his concern.

“Has he
said
anything I should be upset about?”

Selena hesitated and knew that this alone would answer Dan’s question. He waited.

“He said … that I was beautiful and it seemed like I didn’t know it,” Selena answered grudgingly. It was a strange thing to repeat. “He wanted to know more about me, but I told him to mind his own business.”

He eyed her seriously for several moments. She couldn’t tel if he was bothered about their decision. He hadn’t revealed his feelings on anything so far. She realized she was wringing her hands and forced herself to stop.

“Wel , we know he’s not stupid,” Dan said. To her surprise, he took her face in his hands.

The sensation of his touch was electrifying, especial y because it was unexpected, and he’d made her wait so long for it. He leaned down and lifted her chin so he could press his mouth to hers.

Selena loosed a breath and grasped his arms to steady herself. It felt so good to touch him, she thought dizzily.

The kiss was not quick. He moved his lips against hers earnestly.

“Wait,” she gasped, pul ing her face away. “You haven’t told me what you think. Did we make a mistake?”

His arms wrapped around her when she tried to step back. He pul ed her against him.

“We can talk about that later,” his low voice assured her as he trailed his lips along her neck.

The questions she’d wanted to ask faded away, along with her need for reason. When he took her hand and led her to his bed, she didn’t resist.

He laid her down with a determined look in his eyes and climbed atop her, then studied her face as though he were rediscovering al its contours. His scrutiny made her nervous, as always, and her heart beat faster as he reached up to run his fingers against her lips. She was surrounded by his body and felt besieged by an overwhelming intensity that she’d almost forgotten as he centered al his focus on her. The abruptness of his seduction heightened her senses, and her lips tingled unbearably as he trailed his fingers over them again and again. When she could take no more, he lowered his face to hers and indulged himself in her lips as though she had always been his.

She remembered something and stiffened, whimpering as she tried to free her mouth. He wasn’t ready for that to happen, and grasped her jaw gently as he worked his tongue between her lips and final y against her own. She sucked in a shuddering breath and felt herself opening to what he wanted to do to her. His deep kisses both soothed her and made her tremble. He took his time tasting and exploring her before he was satisfied enough for a pause.

“What is it?” he murmured, his lips brushing hers as he spoke.

In the deep fog that surrounded her mind, she’d almost forgotten. “It’s not the safest time,” she whispered.

She was careful to plan around her cycles to avoid any surprises, but this was a borderline.

“How ‘not safe’ is it?” he asked as his lips found their way to her neck again, teasing the sensitive skin there.

“It’s not real y clear …” she breathed as the sensations carried her away.

He pul ed a length of cloth from his pocket and drew her arms over her head, slowly wrapping her wrists. “Don’t worry,” he urged, and began tying her wrists to the bars of the headboard.

“What are you doing?” she asked, her heart beating faster stil .

He lowered himself down next to her and took his time running his fingers up and down her body.

“Remember our first night together?” he asked her quietly.

She nodded. The memory was grim. She’d been trying to escape him and attempted to kil him in his sleep.

“Why do you have to remind me?”

He smiled down at her in amusement. “Was it that bad?”

“I almost kil ed you. Of course it was,” she told him, frowning.

His smile grew. “No you didn’t. I knew what you were doing the second you got on your hands and knees and started creeping across that floor.”

Selena’s mouth fel open and he seized the opportunity to kiss her again.

“Why did you let me get so close?” she gasped when she could free her lips.

He shrugged with a mild expression of guilt.

“Dan!” she cried, staring at him in surprise. “I can’t believe you ... I could have ... you are wicked!

He laughed softly. The sound of it was beautiful; especial y because it was the very first time she’d heard it.

This almost made her forget what he said.

“You’re lucky I don’t slap you,” she told him petulantly when the distraction passed.

He nodded at her wrists, looking smug. Her bonds prevented her from doing much of anything.

Dal ying now with the laces of her shirt, his expression grew more serious. “I pinned you, savage thing that you were. I don’t know why that made me want you so much. It was painful. I thought I was losing my mind.”

“You were right,” she told him accusingly.

“Do you remember what happened next?” he asked undaunted, sliding a hand up beneath her shirt.

“You tied my wrists and t—” she sucked in a breath as his hand found her breast, “told me not to fight you anymore.”

He rubbed the soft mound of her flesh with a look of deep concentration on his face. She moaned softly, feeling herself slide back into acquiescence, and he responded by sitting up and tugging her pants off.

Completely bare now from the waist down, Selena Completely bare now from the waist down, Selena felt a little embarrassed. He made it worse by exploring her with his eyes while he drew her legs apart and trailed each of his hands lightly along the inside of her thighs. His touch was so soft she reflexively twitched away. His hands fol owed and he ran them al the way up to her knees and back down again. He did this for a long time.

“I couldn’t do any of the things that I wanted to, then,”

his low voice rumbled. “Now I can.”

Selena struggled with battling sensations of arousal and self-consciousness. His touch was growing firmer, but with agonizing slowness. She moaned in frustration. If he didn’t stop, she thought she might climax before he put his hands where she wanted. She couldn’t help but arch her hips up when his touch was close, and he squeezed the soft flesh of her inner thighs harder.

Just when she thought he would relieve her aching need, his hands grasped her knees. He bent to kiss them and tenderly made his way down.

When his lips trailed halfway down her thighs, Selena froze. The closer he got, the slower he went, but there were no signs that he intended to stop.

This was something she’d never heard of and something he’d never done. He must have felt her hesitation because he wrapped his arms firmly around her legs, holding them in place. With her arms tied above her head, he’d restrained her completely. He’d known how she would react.

Selena’s breath quickened and al her muscles tensed. He chose this moment to look up at her. His gaze was steady and reassuring, but there was also that feeling of inevitability that was plain when he’d decided to do something. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to force herself to relax. She could feel his hot breath now, and the suspense made her body quiver.

Then, al at once, she felt the shocking sensation of his mouth pressing deeply into the softness of her flesh. She gasped and felt a high-pitched cry escape her.

She writhed at the feeling and the intimacy, but he held her legs more firmly in place and continued to touch her with his lips.

Selena’s vision grew cloudy. She could sense nothing but what he was doing and her immobility forced her to deal with it, to accept it. At first what she felt was a soft kiss, but as the long moments wore on, he began to explore and experiment.

She groaned and twisted where she lay, overwhelmed by the sharp sensations he brought on her.

The pleasure was undeniable, but chaotic. She found herself completely overwhelmed and despite her self-consciousness, her arousal was growing. She decided to try to focus on the way it felt and not to be distracted by the way it was being done. This failed when he became bolder with his tongue, and more insistent. Her pleasure fol owed his touch until she felt wild.

Her climax was explosive and she couldn’t help but cry out as he lifted her hips off the bed completely, devouring her relentlessly.

Selena felt a burning and irrational need to kick him while her ecstasy rocked through her, but his grip held true while she shuddered again and again, until her frenzy final y began to ebb.

When the madness had passed, he released her.

Selena stared at the ceiling, breathing heavily, her mind a sea of excited bliss. There was no trace of embarrassment left in her, she realized, glancing at Dan where he knelt at the end of the bed.

The look of need in his eyes was painful. While her breathing had slowed, his did nothing of the sort. He yanked his shirt off and threw it aside, closing his eyes for a few moments. The sight of his breath-taking, muscular frame made her hungry for anything he might do. When he opened his eyes, he didn’t look any better off.

Leaning down slowly, he crawled over and lowered himself careful y over her chest. He ran his hands up and down her waist, stopping occasional y to squeeze what he touched.

This went on for a few minutes. He would feel her and be stil , then repeat the process.

Selena knew that he was fighting a powerful temptation. She kept quiet and waited, curious about what he would do. It was rare for her to see his mind in conflict.

He dropped his head to rest on her middle, but his hand crept slowly under her shirt to find her breast again.

She closed her eyes and drank in the sensation of his powerful touch, and his need. She wanted terribly to relieve him.

Clearly toying with the notion of throwing caution to the wind, he raised his head and tugged the neckline of her shirt aside to expose what he wanted. When he lowered his lips to her breast, a deep groan escaped him and he let his body press against her.

He continued to run his hands al over her skin. It seemed the temptation was winning. She wasn’t far off from succumbing herself.

At some point, he reached down. When he drew his body higher, she felt his hardness press against her. She stiffened as he drew her legs apart.

He was in position now, but he held himself there while his mouth resumed its earlier indulgence.

This went on for a long time before he went stil again. His breathing was deep and his muscles taught.

Eventual y he drew himself closer, but he did it so slowly she didn’t notice until she felt him push tentatively against her opening.

Her arms were stil tied, so al she could do was shrink back.

“Dan,” she warned in a whisper.

“I know,” he grunted quickly. “I know.”