His hand lifted away from her skin, came back down in a light pat that made her whimper in frustration.
That wasn’t what she wanted. She needed the intensity that would burn away everything else. The love, the anguish. Al of it. She undulated on his lap, sighing when he slapped her left cheek, then her right. Hard.
Harder.
Desire slammed into her, no slow building tide, but a crashing wave that dragged her under and drowned her. Wetness coated the lips of her pussy, and her inner wal s contracted. Quicker, sharper swats, randomly spread over her ass, her upper thighs. Her flesh swel ed, stung, burned. She cried out when he stopped, moaned when he thrust his hand between her legs. He flicked her clit, and she jolted, let out a broken groan.
Fil ing her sex with three thick fingers, he worked her slowly, but it wasn’t enough. She bowed her back, pushing them both faster.
“None of that, sweetheart,” he scolded. And he took his hand away from her needy pussy and brought it down hard on her ass. The crack of flesh on flesh aroused her. Only with Merek would she want this; only with Merek could she surrender everything.
Each sharp spank reverberated through her entire body, made her sex clench, made her wetter. She was so close. He wasn’t even inside her, and she was going to come for him. When he paused again to tease her clit and fuck her pussy with his fingers, she shattered. Fiery heat and icy tingles sluiced over her flesh as her sex spasmed again and again. He smacked her ass, building her need until she crested once more, bucked helplessly against his hand.
Her heart pounded, made the blood roar in her ears. She turned her head to look up at him and meet his beautiful eyes. His face was tight with lust, red staining his high cheekbones. His chest heaved with each breath as he stared down at her.
“Make love with me, Merek.” A low sob ripped from her when he cupped her aching backside. “Let’s forget everything. Just for the night. Please, Merek. I want you.” A tear slipped free when she heard his defeated groan.
Ignoring the voices in her head that whispered this might, in fact, be her last night with him, she turned herself over to his pleasure. Whatever tomorrow brought, she intended to enjoy these final hours with him.
For the first time in her life, she wished the night would never end.
Forget? Merek wanted to forget everything, just as she’d said. Forget he’d failed to defend himself wel enough and they’d had to drag him to safety. Forget that he’d woken to find they were a stone’s throw away from danger. Forget he couldn’t keep her forever. Forget that she loved him.
He clamped down on that thought so fast, it made his own head spin. No. Not again. Never again. He knew that road only led to a dead end. Her dead end. He couldn’t live with that. Never again. This was temporary. He’d always known that, and her love changed nothing. In fact, it only made it more necessary to walk away from her. Soon. An instinct that wasn’t clairvoyance told him it would al be over soon. How and why and exactly when was beyond his abilities.
More than ever before, he hated his own weakness and how it kept him from protecting her.
He closed his eyes when her fingers brushed his leg, wrenching him back to the present, to the grinding needs of his body. His cock throbbed, so stiff with his lust, he shook. She lay nude, draped across his lap, her pale skin flushed from his spanking, cream slicking her thighs from where she’d come for him.
“Merek,” she whispered, and he broke.
Hauling her upright, he pul ed her astride his thighs. He shoved his hand into her hair, held her stil for his kiss. This time, this once, he had to have al of her, had to give her everything. No holding back, no pretending this dance wouldn’t end. She melted against him, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. He groaned and locked his arms around her, so she was plastered against him. Gods, the feel of her was unbearable it was so perfect.
Her fingers slid under his shirt, pul ing it over his head, and he shuddered, loving her hands on him. Her touch fulfil ed needs he wasn’t even wil ing to admit he had. He just wanted her, wanted more. He slid one hand down to cup the soft, smooth curve of her ass and pul her tighter to him. She moaned and twisted in his arms, rubbing her nipples over his chest, her movement driving him crazy.
He used his grip on the silken strands of her hair to pul her head back so he could bite his way down her slim throat. The taste of her, the feminine smel of her, sank hooks of need inside him. She arched her body into him, her legs wrapping around his hips as she tried to ride his dick through his pants. He forced her back into a deeper bend so he could suck her little nipples into his mouth one at a time. He drew hard on the tight crests, batting them with his tongue, shoving them against the roof of his mouth.
A choked cry spil ed from her throat, and the musky scent of her arousal intensified. Her hands scrabbled for purchase on his back, and he could feel the heat and magic gather inside her. “No spel s, sweetheart.
Not here. Not tonight. No spel s.”
“Merek, I need you.” Her voice was whisper-soft, but he heard it anyway. “No spel s. Just you.”
She didn’t say she loved him again, and he told himself it was for the best, that he didn’t want to hear the words. Even as he recognized the lie, he forced himself to set her away from him, and caught her elbow when she staggered, her eyes glazed and her expression dazed with lust. It made his cock ache to be buried inside her.
“Yes. Now.” He stripped out of his boxers, pants and boots, left them in a tangled heap on the floor. He reached for her, and she met him halfway, pressing herself against his chest and rising on tiptoe to kiss him.
Having her in his embrace made some white-hot emotion expand in his chest until he couldn’t breathe.
He crushed that, wrestling it into the deepest, darkest corner of his soul where he wouldn’t have to acknowledge it. Instead, he focused on the physical, on Chloe, on his woman in his arms. A groan rumbled in his chest. He slid his hands down her back, palmed the hot globes of her ass, and smiled against her mouth when she whimpered and wriggled.
The satin skin of her bel y rubbed over his cock, and he choked. He backed her up until she hit the bed, smoothly rol ing them onto the mattress. She hissed when her buttocks slid against the sheets, and some dark, possessive part of himself liked that she could feel his mark on her, that she’d be wearing it for a while since she wasn’t al owed to use a healing spel on herself. Every time she moved, sat, lay in bed, she’d be reminded of him. Oh, yes. He liked that a lot.
Shifting them onto their sides, he pul ed her close, looped her thigh over his. “Is this al right? Not too painful?”
“Good. Perfect. Yes.” She wound her fingers through his hair, tugging him close for a kiss. Her tongue twined with his, and he cherished the moment with her. A moment that was slipping through his fingers. He couldn’t remember the last time anything had felt so right. Before Chloe . . . years. Maybe never.
He held her tighter, every inch of her welded to his front. Yes. He wanted that. The head of his cock brushed her wet core, and she jolted forward, tilting her hips in offering. He wanted to wait, to draw this time out as long as possible, but he couldn’t. He needed her too much. A quick thrust, and he was hilted inside her, squeezed tight by her heated channel.