Hearts of Stone, page 3
She found real maple syrup and grimaced to herself. It was close enough. She was too hungry to give Nick grief over not keeping his kitchen stocked to human standards when he never used it himself.
“Think you could make enough for two?”
She stifled her gasp, whirling.
Carson Connors stood at the other end of the kitchen. He wore jeans and nothing else, and had clearly come in search of food after stepping out of the shower. His hair and skin were damp, and his shoulders gleamed dimly in the soft overhead light.
“You move silently enough, I’ll give you that,” Tally said, putting the syrup on the counter next to the waffles.
“Bare feet,” he said simply, moving toward her. His eyes looked black in this light. He hadn’t shaved—Nick and Damian did not need to, so there would be no shaving equipment in any of the bathrooms here. She liked the stubble on Carson, though. It made him look human. Different.
She realized she was standing stock still in the middle of the floor as he approached her and made herself move back behind the counter. “There’s only frozen waffles,” she said.
“Don’t care,” he said. “I haven’t eaten in over twenty-four hours.”
“We could order in something. Or do both, if you’re hungry enough.”
He stopped by her shoulder. “I’m hungry enough for all three.”
She could smell him. Hot male. Spicy. Clean. Her breasts swelled beneath the gown, the nipples hardened. Her pussy throbbed. Her mouth grew dry.
There was no need to ask what the third option was. She swiveled her head to look at him. He was watching her steadily, but when her gaze dropped to the base of his throat she saw the pulse there was beating fast and hard. She looked up at his face, into his eyes again, trying to spot what was driving the runaway beat there, but nothing showed.
“You’re playing with me,” she told him. “That’s not a good idea.”
“So Sherwood tried to warn me.” The corner of his mouth lifted and he reached out and pushed at the over wide neck of the gown. It dropped off her shoulder, exposing it, and most of the upper slope of her breast. It also trapped her arm against her side. He stroked her flesh, making her shiver. “I think Sherwood and I have different ideas about what ‘danger’ means.” His fingers were sending delicious fiery threads through her body, straight to her clitoris. Her pussy clenched, squeezing out juices. She was ferociously aware of her nakedness beneath the gown and that Carson merely had to tug on the satin sash and the gown would slither to the floor around her feet.
She bit back a moan. She wanted desperately for him to do just that. She wanted him to take her in the most primitive, crude and roughest way. She ached for it. Her breath quickened.
Carson pulled at the neck of the gown again, bringing it lower, exposing more of her shoulder and her breast. For a moment he stood and simply studied her. His jeans, she realized, were peaked at the front, bulging with his erect cock.
He stepped closer to her, and cupped her face in his hands. “I have wanted to do this since I first saw you.” He touched his lips to hers and her breath rushed out of her. His tongue swept over her lips, gently.
Then he kissed her, and she knew then that she had never been kissed before. Not properly. Not like this. It felt like Carson was pouring himself into the kiss. Hot energy raked through her, made her nerves fizz and her body come alive like a hot coal. As his tongue thrust into her mouth, sweeping deeper and deeper, she clung to him and drew him to her, encouraging him with wordless sounds and murmurs.
She seemed to sink deeper into the kiss the longer it continued, until she was unsure of where she ended and Carson began.
Finally, he broke the kiss, his chest heaving. “No woman has ever kissed me like that,” he said, panting. His eyes were very black.
“I could say the same thing about you, Carson.” Her lips were swollen.
He touched her lips with the tip of his forefinger, and the gesture was endearing. “I need to skip to dessert,” he said, his voice low and rough. “Now.” He picked her up around the waist and she found her legs were automatically curling around his waist, her arms around his neck. “Which way?” he demanded.
She thought of protesting, but it would have been a token one. She wanted him. Why not let herself have him, as Nick suggested? She was safe inside a warded household, Nick was nearby, and her father had trusted this man, too.
Tally pointed. “Hurry,” she added.
He strode from the kitchen and following her murmured instructions, up the stairs to the guest suite, to the big bedroom with the elegant king-sized four poster bed. She suspected it was a replica of a more refined time in Nick’s past, for she always felt like she had stepped back in history when she used the suite. Now she was glad of the big bed and the self-contained rooms.
Carson put her on the bed and strode back to the door and shut it with evident satisfaction. “Now,” he said, his voice a low rumble.
Her pulse jumped.
“Now,” she echoed.
“Except I won’t have you in his robe. Take it off.” He remained at the door, his arms crossed.
She slipped to the end of the bed and stood up. Her heart was racing again as she pulled at the sash and felt it slither undone. That was all it took. The gown was so large on her, the neck slid off her shoulders and puddled about her ankles in a sea of satin and brocade. She remained still, except for the rise and fall of her breasts as her lungs worked quickly and her heart slammed in her chest.
Her nipples were hard, excited peaks.
Carson came toward her, moving slowly like a prowling animal, and she thought she might expire if he did not speed up. Her breath hitched and caught in her throat and he smiled at the sound.
“Ah…you’ve been trained in the art of hunting, but you have a thing or two left to learn in the bedroom, my sweet.” He stepped behind her and pulled her hair back over her shoulder and that was worse, having him behind her. Her heart accelerated. She didn’t know what he might do next when she couldn’t see him.
His hot lips pressed against her shoulder, making her gasp. She began to tremble. “Come around where I can see you,” she complained.
“Oh no, I don’t think so,” he said, with a soft laugh. “Then you might relax. Are you taking birth control pills, Tally?”
“Yes.”
“Then there is no need for…”
She heard the soft sound of a metal zipper being lowered and her heart seemed to stop for a second. He was undoing his jeans. She strained to hear more.
There. The whisper of denim against skin.
She didn’t think her excitement could possibly rise any higher, but just the sounds of him removing his jeans and the knowledge that he was naked now were enough to bring her to the point where she was very nearly hyperventilating. Her pussy was sopping with moisture and pounding with swollen pressure. She so badly wanted him to touch her. Anywhere, but most especially she wanted his cock inside her. And his hands on her clit. And her breasts. And her…oh, anywhere! But hurry!
She wanted to see him now he was naked.
When his hands fitted around her waist she gave a tiny shrieking gasp, one that shuddered because of the in-drawing of her breath. He was still behind her and nothing else but his hands touched her.
“They nearly do touch,” he murmured, with apparent satisfaction.
Tally reached for his hands.
“Don’t,” he said quickly. “Keep still.”
“But I want to.”
“Soon,” he assured her. “It’s my turn to play now.”
She dropped her hands and fisted them. “Hurry,” she said.
“Absolutely not.” His hands slid upwards at a leisurely, dawdling pace, stroking in little, maddening circling, making her flesh ripple and respond, making her shudder and whimper. She knew the destination of his wandering fingertips and the knowledge was a burning brand in her mind. She closed her eyes, waiting out the torture, but that made it worse. She could feel the tips of her breasts thrusting out to receive his touch.
When finally his hands cupped her breasts, she cried out. She couldn’t help it. The welcome sensation was so delightful. He squeezed gently and his fingers caught at the pebbled nipples, tugging at them.
Her knees seemed to weaken and her clit to bloom with each playful tweak and stroke.
“Yes, on your knees, then,” he murmured.
She let herself sink to the soft rug, knowing she would not be able to remain on her feet while these sensations raged through her. She settled on her knees and the dressing gown was pulled out of the way.
“Spread your knees,” he instructed and she could tell from his voice that he was still standing. She shivered and spread her knees as he ordered. Her thighs parted, leaving her exposed and accessible. She knew that was what he had intended and her pussy pulsed in anticipation.
His hands slid over her shoulders and captured her breasts again and she moaned. The exquisite tugging and pinching and chaffing were making her clitoris quiver and beat in a way that told her she would not last much longer. “Carson,” she begged. “Quickly, please.”
“No.” His voice was thick with arousal and firm with authority. This was a man that knew what he was doing. “Shut your eyes, Tally.”
“I’m too close,” she said desperately, trying to make him see. She turned to look at him, but his hand grabbed her head and held it still.
“You don’t trust me yet,” he ground out, his voice right next to her ear. She could hear the deep arousal in it, the dark note. “You don’t know yet how to leave your pleasure in my hands and know that I will work to utterly and completely satiate you.”
Her whole body seemed to ripple at the promise in his voice and words. Then she processed the long term implication behind them and fear touched her. “Carson—“
“Don’t speak for now,” he said, and his tongue thrust into her ear.
The sensation was so erotic, so unexpected, that she moaned. Another shudder running through her. No one had ever done that to her before. She could feel her climax gathering, deep down inside her.
Then he let her go. His hands lifted away from her. His mouth moved away from her ear. His hot breath stopped fanning her ear.
The muscles in her pelvis rippled in response. She tried to turn to see what he was doing and again, his hands steadied her head.
“I see I must teach you to trust me.”
She shivered. There was such wicked intent in his tone. Such promise.
“Keep still. Close your eyes.”
She closed them and her heart jumped as something soft and silky touched her eyelids. She recognized it by its scent. The sash from Nick’s robe. She felt it circle her head. Carson tied it so it sat firmly enough to hide all the light from her gaze, but that was all.
The loss of her vision enhanced her hearing and brought her nerve endings alive in a way that made her skin start to tingle. She turned her head, questing to hear every little sound Carson made.
He made none. She could hear nothing but her own labored breath and the echo of her slamming heart in her temples.
“Carson…” she pleaded.
Hot, moist lips closed around the tip of her left breast and teeth tugged at her nipple.
She cried out, clutching at his head, as a wave of sensation shot through her. She was turning inside out, her belly clamping with pure delight.
Carson pulled away, making her hands drop, empty once more. She whimpered and was appalled at the helpless sound emerging from her own mouth.
“Music to my ears. Do you know how hard that makes me?” Carson murmured, his voice so low she couldn’t pinpoint where it came from.
A brush of something over her hip. It made her jump and her pelvis muscles ripple. His fingers? Then more fingers over her upper breast. Then the back of her waist. Her inner thigh…her shoulder…swiftly the medley of light brushing strokes melded together into a symphony that played over her body from her knees to the top of her head. Nothing was spared and she had no way to tell where the touch would come next. He moved so swiftly and so unpredictably that it felt like many pairs of hands running all over her body. She gave up trying to guess where he would touch her next and simply accepted the sensations and the pleasure they gave her.
She began to vibrate under their stimulus, her breathing a swift pant. Her pussy was so ready to accept him, it pushed out excess fluids that spilled out onto the tops of her inner thighs. Tally heard herself moaning when she was not panting or whimpering.
Carson tugged at her wrist, bringing her forward until she was on her hands and knees. Her trembling worsened. Was he in front or behind her? “Where are you?” she cried.
“Where I can admire you best.” His voice was almost bodiless. “You are most beautiful like this, Tally, when you are writhing and greedy for me. And you are greedy for me, aren’t you?”
“Yes!” she replied, her voice hoarse with need.
“Hmmm…I don’t think you’re quite there, yet.”
“No!” She could have wept. But before she had a chance to react further, a finger probed between her legs. A simple sweep of a fingertip through her moisture-ladened cleft, from her anus to her swollen clit.
She sucked in her breath, her back arching, and her bottom pushing back.
Carson chuckled. “Ah…the promise! Such delicate fruit!” Then, nothing.
“I’m going to kill you,” Tally breathed.
His lips touched hers, snatching her breath away yet again with the unexpectedness of it. “I’m going to give you such pleasure, Natalia, you wouldn’t dream of killing the source of such unique joy.”
“Your arrogance is certainly unique.”
“Not arrogance. Knowledge.” His tongue swept over her mouth and his lips nibbled on them. It was erotic and highly arousing despite the more direct stimulus she had already received.
She sighed and heard his breath catch.
“You’re a drug, Natalia Grey,” he growled. His hand came around the back of her head, and he was kissing her properly, his mouth hard against her lips. There was no finesse to this kiss and she knew that he wasn’t giving pleasure this time. He was taking. Inhaling.
Abruptly, she was released and the same silence descended. No, not the same. She heard his breathing now. Not as hurried as hers but there, nevertheless. She was affecting him, too. Warmth spread through her at the idea that without even touching him she could exert that much power over him.
Then his fingers slid inside her pussy and coherent thought scattered. She breathed out a choked moan as his big fingers invaded her, her muscles automatically clamping down around him. Two of them, sliding up against the walls of her vagina, stretching her, for he was spreading them.
Then a third slid inside her and her hips bucked as the intense erotic sensations burst through her. Little moans erupted from her lips as Carson worked his fingers inside her. There was plenty of lubrication for what he was doing. She was awash in moisture. He slid his big fingers and their rough knuckles in and out, spreading her, teasing her, rubbing against the walls of her pussy. Her body seemed to melt into a quivering mass of nerves and sensations and no thought except for the marvels of pleasure and the need for more.
Distantly, she was aware of his fingers sopping up her juices and spreading them, but she no longer questioned anything he did. She had short-circuited her logical processes and was a purely sensory creature only interested in the erotic, the sensual. When his finger rimmed her anus, she pushed her hips back, encouraging him. The sensation was unique. Unusual. She liked it. He slipped a finger inside her, and she hummed, liking the odd feeling. He probed deeper, slipped another fingertip inside. Slowly, he worked the fingers, stretching her, spreading her natural lubricant, making her moan, making her like it. Making her writhe and pant.
His own breath was heavy and hard now. She could hear it below her own.
The fingers in her pussy were withdrawn and a hot blunt probe pushed up against her folds instead. Carson’s cock. He still had his fingers in her ass and she realized as his other hand gripped her hip that they were going to stay there. She felt a feathering of fear, then he slid the tip of his cock into her.
He was huge, it felt like. She could feel her pussy muscles stretch around him, accepting him, trying to draw him in like a craven wanton. Even her fingers dug into the carpeting. She whimpered. So close. So close.
“Shhhh,” he murmured, but his voice was unsteady.
She was coming unglued. “Fuck me, Carson,” she cried, in a throaty voice that was not her own.
His cock pushed a little deeper, opening her up.
She went mad, wiggling, trying to work him deeper with her own motions, whimpering and moaning. Thought ceased. The orgasm that had been gathering in her depths finally moved, swelled and began to lift, taking over her body and her senses.
She hyperventilated.
But still it wasn’t enough. Not enough. She dug her fingers into the carpet and tossed her head. Sweat gathered on her temples and she cried out her frustration.
His cock slammed into her, buried deep into her depths in one satisfying stroke, filling her as no other man ever had. She stilled for several heart beats, as she savored the sensation. But then Carson’s finger and thumb closed around her swollen and ready clitoris, and stroked it with deadly, knowing expertise, as he pulled his cock almost all the way out of her and rammed it back in with another hard, deep thrust. He mirrored the action with his fingers in her anus.
Tally climaxed almost immediately, with an orgasm more powerful than she had ever experienced in her life. For a moment her hearing ebbed, and even her heartbeat seemed to slow and perhaps even halt as she hung endlessly on the very peak of the climax, her body locked in that perfect moment. Even her breathing ceased.
Then she screamed as the pleasure crashed upon her in wave upon convulsive wave, made deeper, hard and more profound by Carson’s fingers in her ass and his cock in her pussy, and his masterful milking of her clit and expert control of her body. He had done this to her. He had orchestrated this mind-altering, out-of-body experience. He did, indeed, know what he was doing.
