Her hands shook as she put her palms flat on his chest. She could feel his blood surging though his veins. She could feel his every breath, his every heartbeat as though it were her own.
As though they were connected.
As though they were one.
Those thoughts vanished when he lowered his head. His eyes fixed upon her parted lips as the pad of his thumb brushed her cheeks. The artist who painted his portrait should have been commended for capturing the sharp angles of his face to perfection. He was so beautiful, so flawless. He slanted his head sideways. It was then that she noticed a deep, purple scar on his face. Every sculpted angle and plane of his face was burned into her mind forever, yet she’d never seen this mark before. It didn’t exist in the portrait but gave off a hazy, violet glow in her dream. She reached out and traced the pattern of it. Her mouth formed a question.
His brow puckered into a frown as he grabbed her hand and anchored it to her side. The smile faded from his face. “There will be time for questions later. Right now I must taste you and hold you as I have so desperately longed to do.” The depth of urgency and emotion in his voice made her shudder.
Caira knew it was her dream, hers to control, but she could no more control her dream world than she could control the man in it, a man who gazed so deep into her eyes she thought she’d burn from the inside out.
All thoughts were forgotten when his hands stole up her silky night shirt, his rough fingertips heating her body to near boiling. His fingers climbed higher until he skimmed the underside of her breasts. Heat and energy transferred from his fingertips to her puckered nipples. They tightened with arousal while an explosive wave of pressure began building deep inside her. Sexual energy whipped through the air around them.
“I am going to make love to you, Caira.” She trembled as his rich voice rolled over her. “As your true love I can bring your mind and body to a higher level of passion that will leave us both sated and drained.”
She nodded, unable to find her voice. She closed her eyes, wanting nothing more than to listen to the sound of his hypnotic voice. It seeped into her skin, flooding her with desire.
“Are you prepared for me?” His voice was dark, seductive.
“Always.” He swallowed her response as his mouth closed over hers. She moaned and drew his tongue inside to mate with hers. She could feel herself burning up in his strong arms.
Pressure.
So much pressure.
Deep in her body.
Fighting for release before she melted all over him.
His hand slid over her breasts, kneading them, caressing her nipples with deft manipulation. His other hand began a slow descent, over her flat stomach, until he dipped a finger below the band on her pants. She pushed her pelvis against him, wanting to rub her entire body over his. She ripped at his shirt. Buttons popped and fell to the floor. His chest was magnificent. She stroked him, unable to keep her hands from his naked bronzed flesh. With much greed, she shoved at his shirt until it rolled off his shoulders.
“You are so very responsive, Caira.” He brushed his tongue over her bottom lip and drew it into his mouth, tasting her. With seemingly practiced, controlled patience, he worked the buttons on her shirt. He eased it open until the curves of her breasts were exposed.
“Beautiful.”
His words, his voice, and his touch made her insides shudder. Her entire body responded as though this dream was real. As though his hands were actually stroking her flesh with dark urgency, his mouth possessing hers with hunger. God, she never wanted to wake up. Ever. Nothing in real life could ever feel so good.
“Your lips are even softer than I remember.” The low growl of longing was deep in his throat. Barely audible. Had she not been so in tune with his every breath, his every emotion, she would have missed it.
He shifted his position, dipped his head, and drew her breast into his mouth for a taste. His warm, wet tongue glided over her trembling flesh, raising her passion to new heights just like he promised. Her body shook and her heart pounded as his mouth moved over her skin. His touch was erotic, intimate. God, she felt so safe, so cherished in his tender arms. She now knew why no other man appealed to her. She was made for Zarek.
He growled and sucked harder. “Yesssss,” she hissed. Throwing her head back, she drove her fingers through his long hair. “Oh God, that feels incredible.”
“And it tastes incredible, Bella, just as I remembered,” he added, curling his tongue around her engorged nipple.
Bella!
Deep in her arousal-fogged mind she fought to make sense out of it. Why would he call her Bella? Had the old woman’s stories seeped into her subconscious, rattling her more than she realized? Caira knew at that moment, as she floated on some level between sleep and awake, her brain was too foggy to rationalize anything. She pushed it far from her mind.
All thoughts were forgotten as his tongue continued its gentle assault. Biting, nipping, and ravishing her with hunger. Her whole world was pulsing, throbbing. She’d never been so desperate, so needy.
She could feel an orgasm pulling at her as he lapped at her breasts with demanding strokes. He dipped a finger between her moist folds and stroked from front to back, his finger bathing in her syrupy arousal.
“Zarek,” she cried out breathlessly as pleasure forked through her. The room began spinning as a rainbow of colors danced before her eyes.
“You are nice and wet for me.” He swirled his finger through her slick heat. “I must taste your sweet juices, Caira.”
“Please…” she begged, needing him to answer the urgent demands of her body. There was no time for him to taste her. She needed him to bring her over the edge now. Before she burned up inside. “I need to come.” She could hear the impatience, the greed in her voice.
When she reached out and cupped her hand over the bulge in his pants, he groaned and burrowed a finger deep inside her. Her pussy muscles gripped him and held him high in her tight, moist fissure. His tongue climbed up her neck until his lips were a hairbreadth away from her. His long hair tickling her ultrasensitive flesh.
“Ahhh my sweet Caira, you are much closer than I thought. Your body is quivering.”
He pressed a kiss over her mouth and eased another finger inside her while his thumb circled her clitoris. “Let me take the edge off for you, sweetness. Then I’ll make passionate love to you all night long. Let me make up for all the years we missed.”
She could barely make out his words. She could only hear the raw ache of lust in his voice. His need drove her into a heated frenzy. She was desperate, frantic for an orgasm. She pressed her face against his chest. His masculine scent curled around her.
“Are you ready to come for me, Caira?”
“Yes, please…”
She shifted her hips and snaked her arms around his neck when his thumb applied the perfect amount of pressure to her clitoris. At the first sweet touch, her body pulsed and throbbed and responded with a hot flow of release.
He held onto her and absorbed her tremor as she rode out the gripping waves of her orgasm. Minutes later when her breathing finally regulated, she gave a small satisfied purr and loosened her grip around his neck. She touched his cheek and looked deep into his haunted, dark eyes.
Zarek pulled his hands from her damp bottom and drew his glistening fingers to his mouth. He inhaled her feminine scent and suckled his finger with sheer delight.
“Mmmm, you are as sweet as ever. Taste with me, Caira.” He cupped her chin and drew her face to his.
She closed her lips over his mouth as his finger played between their tongues. His cock throbbed against her stomach. She ached to taste his juices, to feel his thickness in her mouth.
It was her dream after all. She could do as she pleased.
His mouth dropped to her neck and did magical things to her nerve endings as her hands slid down his body, touching him, absorbing his heat and energy. She eased away from his kiss, her mouth following the path of her hands until she sank to her knees before him.