His hands slid up, his thumbs brushing the undersides of her breasts through the silky gown. She sucked in a long, slow gasp of a breath, reveling in the intimate touch, trembling with the need for more.
His finger rose to stroke a sensitive nipple. Fire shot through her, the thin silk doing little to protect her from the heat of his flesh, tearing a moan from her throat. He brushed her nipple again, back and forth with his thumb until her head fell back, her eyes half closed from the pure, intoxicating feel of his touch.
“Zeeland.”
She knew the moment his control snapped. His touch changed from slow to frantic, from gentle to greedy. His palm replaced his thumb on her breast, his fingers kneading with fierce tenderness even as his other hand cupped the back of her head to hold her captive. His mouth descended, taking hers in a feverish kiss.
With a single, well-aimed blow to her senses, the sweep of his tongue inside her mouth wreaked havoc on her intentions to send him away. For too long, she’d dreamed of this. Of being in his arms. Of feeling his passion. Yet the reality was far beyond any dream.
She felt as if she were burning up from the inside, blazing with a need as desperate as it was exhilarating.
“Make love to me, Zee,” she gasped against his mouth.
At first she wasn’t sure he’d heard her, then he pulled back just far enough to see her clearly. His eyes were heavy-lidded and dark with desire, even as they throbbed with tenderness.
“Please, Zee. I’ve waited for this for so long.”
Those heat-filled eyes of his erupted in pure flame, sending her own desire tumbling into the conflagration, filling her with a deep, reckless joy.
His head dipped to her neck, nipping and licking with feverish kisses. “I have to be inside you, Julianne. Now.”
Chapter Seven
“Yes, Zee. Yes.”
Zeeland’s control was gone, shattered as if it had never been. Lust rode his skin, sinking into his pores, wrenching him free of himself, of his humanity. The deep animal nature buried inside him rose and took over as need roared through his body, turning him hard and heavy. His limbs quaked with desperation to be inside her.
Years, he’d waited for this. Years.
Julianne’s surrender sealed both their fates.
He kissed her hard, desperate to be one with her in every way, but kissing her wasn’t enough. Wasn’t nearly enough. Goddess, I have to be inside her. Lifting her into his arms, he deposited her on the bed, then tore off his shirt and unfastened his belt as he joined her there. The wildness raging through him demanded he mount her in the most primal Therian way. Later, he would make love to her, but not now. Not now.
“Julianne…” His breaths were coming hard and fast. “Get on your hands and knees for me, Sunshine. I need to take you in the old way, from behind.”
She met his gaze, a slow feral smile lifting her mouth. “Like the animals we should have been.”
He matched her smile. “Exactly like.” Goddess, he was shaking in his need to be one with her.
Without hesitation, she turned for him, arching her back and pushing her sweet buttocks toward him, giving herself to him, telling him in no uncertain terms of her desire for him.
“Now, Zee. I want you now.”
He yanked her nightgown up over her hips and tore away the silky scrap of panties covering her precious flesh. The sight of her open flower nearly sent him over the edge. His control was shot. As he freed his erection, he bent and nipped the flesh of her hip, eliciting a gasp and a moan of pure feminine desire, then licked the place where he’d marked her.
He grabbed her hips, desperate to plunge into her, but managed to hold back by the barest thread of self-restraint. He had to know she was ready. His finger probed her opening, finding her wet and open, her lips wide with welcome. With a feral growl of satisfaction, he shoved his finger fully inside her.
And ripped through a barrier he’d never expected to find.
Julianne gasped.
Her hymen.
Zeeland froze, shock rolling through him. A virgin.
“No. No!” Julianne wrenched away from him, crawling to the headboard, blood streaking her inner thighs. She whirled to face him. “Go. Get out of here, Zeeland! Go!” Her face had turned white as a sheet. She was quaking.
Zeeland reeled, light-headed from the shock short-circuiting his system. She’d waited for him.
She’d waited for him. And he’d hurt her. Terrified her.
“Juli.” Her name tore up from his heart, slicing his constricted throat into a million pieces. His hands shook from the need to hold her, to comfort her. But it was him she was afraid of. “I didn’t know. I would never hurt you.”
“Go!”
The look in her eyes slew him. A desperation he couldn’t fathom. Horror. Terror.