His teeth sank delicately into her shoulder, dragging across her damp skin. “No. The condoms are back at the hotel. Want to go ask the McClouds if we can raid their stash?”
“No “ she whispered.
“I didn't think you'd be into that.”
Raine dug her nails into his arm as his teeth and tongue moved their delicate, nibbling caresses to the back of her neck. “It's amazing, without,” he said, in a wondering voice. “I can feel every juicy little detail. I want to explode the second I'm inside you. And I thought I had all this self-control.” His hips pulsed against her bottom and he swelled inside her, sliding in and out. “I could rack you all night long, no problem. I haven't done it without latex since I was fourteen. Congratulations. You've reduced me to a state of adolescent idiocy.”
She clenched herself around him, dazed by the risk they were taking, and all that it implied. “You'll never forgive me for that, will you?”
“Not in this lifetime.”
“Seth, I—”
“Shhh. No more talk.”
The flat, hard tone in his voice silenced her. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and squeezed her eyes shut At least he was touching her with passionate tenderness. His body knew the truth. She felt it in the way his hands caressed her belly, her breasts, the way his fingers fluttered skillfully between her legs while he surged heavily into her from behind in a slow, relentless cadence.
That went on forever, timeless and lazy and delicious, but finally he began to deepen his strokes, his bream sawing harshly into his mouth against her neck. He muttered something incoherent and jerked her up onto her hands and knees.
That was even better; now she could move, arching and straining against him. She cried out with unbearable excitement at his first deep thrust, and he froze into immobility.
“Don't stop.” Her voice shook with breathless urgency.
“I don't want to hurt you,” he said shakily.
“Damn it, Seth. You're not. You won't.”
She incited him with her panting eagerness, and he let go and gave her what she clearly wanted, deep and hard and driving. She braced herself and thrust back to meet him, reaching for her release. And he gave it to her. Pleasure stabbed through her whole body, as sharp as a fiery spear at first, and then spreading out in widening ripples of sweet, glowing heat Every cell in her body trembled like wind-ruffled water. He spurted inside her, filling her again with his scalding heat. They sagged down onto the blanket, still joined.
Raine pressed her face into the blanket to hide tears she knew he would not want to see or hear, shaken and moved. She could get pregnant. And she would be glad if she were, no matter what. Terrified, but glad. She had seen death that night, and life called to life, all the messy, confusing heat of it She would never shrink from it again.
She woke sometime in the night. Her face was sore, her battered feet stung, the wool blankets were scratchy. Seth's heavy arm blocked half of her lung capacity, and his penis, still deep inside her, forcibly reminded her of certain mundane bodily functions.
“Seth. Are you sleeping?” she whispered.
He stirred and kissed her neck with a short grunt of negation. “I'm never sleeping again.”
She twisted around. “I have to go to the bathroom.”
He pulled out of her and threw back the blanket, reaching for his jeans. “Come on. I'll show you.”
She wrapped a blanket around herself and followed him through the dim corridor. He opened a door, yanked a chain to turn on the light and gestured her in, closing the door after her.
The room was so huge the bathroom fixtures looked lost in it. She took care of her business and eyed the ancient, mineral-stained clawfoot tub. It occurred to her how badly she was in need of a wash.
She peeked out the door. “I want a bath “ she told him.
“Go for it.” He headed back toward the bedroom.
She set the water running. The door opened and Seth entered with the electric heater in his arms. He plugged it in and set it on high, crossed his arms and waited. He was so beautiful, in only his jeans. He dazzled her. Even his long brown feet were graceful and beautiful.
“Would you give me a little privacy?” she asked tentatively.
“No.”
He returned her stare, patient and implacable. Water roared into the tub and steam rose up in seductive plumes. Raine gave into the inevitable with a sigh, and let the blanket slide off her shoulders. Seth caught it and hung it on a hook above the heater.
She knotted her hair up onto her head. It needed washing too, but she couldn't face having it wet again. She stepped into the water, wincing as it stung her abused feet. She sank into it, closed her eyes and floated, letting the roar of the faucet fill her ears.
Seth turned the water off when it reached her chin, and she opened her eyes. He sat cross-legged by the tub, gazing at her with unnerving intensity. He took the soap out of the dish and fished out her foot, lathering it. He paid attention to every toe, every bruise and scratch, stroking and petting and massaging her. He lowered the foot into the water, seized the other foot and gave it the same loving treatment. There was no sound in the room but the hollow slosh and drip of water as he caressed her.
Her heart ached with love for him. “I didn't sell you out,” she said quietly. “Someday you'll know I'm telling the truth.”
He lifted her leg out of the water and ran the soap along the length of her calf. “Oh yeah?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said, her voice belligerent. “You're going to feel like a total shit for not trusting me. And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it.”
A smile touched his solemn mouth. “Terrifying prospect”
“We'll see how much you like it when it happens,” she warned. “You already know the truth, if you'd just let yourself believe it.”
He caressed her knee. “Truth is a relative thing,” he commented.
“Oh, stop it,” she snapped. “Now you sound like Victor.”
His soapy fingers tightened and lost their grip. Her leg splashed back down into the tub. He wiped the splashed soapsuds off his face with his arm. “Don't compare me to him. The way things are going, I doubt I'll live long enough to find out.”
She jerked up as if she had been bitten. “Don't say that!”
The water sloshed perilously close to the lip of the tub. He was retreating from her. His remote voice made her think of the dream. Her father on the boat, his eyes sunken and shadowy, drifting farther and farther away. “Please don't say that,” she repeated, fighting tears.
“Try not to sweat it,” he said quietly. “The angel of death in a black ski mask can jump out of the dark anytime. All you can do is look sharp and seize the moment. Like the moment I'm seizing right now.”
He pushed her back down against the curved back of the tub. Raine bit her shaking lip and leaned back, abandoning herself to the love she felt in his big hands. He was right. If this was all there was, then she'd better seize every moment of tenderness she could from him.
She let go and yielded to his tender skill; letting his clever fingers untie every knot, undo her, unravel her. He laved every curve, smoothing her like a potter molding clay. He pulled her up onto her knees so he could wash between her legs, and she held on tight to his muscular shoulders so that she didn't shimmer and melt down into the water. His slick, soapy fingers delved into every crevice and fold, making bold use of his intimate knowledge of her. She braced herself against him, shaking with the intensity of her feelings.
Seth pushed her back down into the water, rinsing the suds away. The water, full of soap, had turned as opaque as milk. He reached between her legs, locking eyes with her, and slid his hand beneath her bottom, pulling her to the surface of the water until he could see the flower of her sex, pink and swollen. He touched her as only he could, a magical sensitivity that always knew exactly when to push, when to retreat, when to insist. He pushed and coaxed and caressed until the power tore through her, unleashed Huge and terrifying and beautiful. A blaze of love and longing that blotted out fear.