“Are you letting him go?”
She nodded her head slowly.
“Kiss me.”
She pulled back a little, or tried to. She’d forgotten his hand in her hair. That said how gentle he’d been with her, but now she felt the bite of demand on her scalp. She licked her lips with the tip of her tongue. She wasn’t ready for this. “Aleksei.” She whispered his name, asking for mercy. Willing him to understand.
His hold slid from her hair to wrap around the nape of her neck. “Kessake, you need to trust your lifemate. I want you to kiss me.”
She wrapped her arms tighter around her knees, holding herself together when she was afraid she would come apart.
“Lean into me. Put your hands on my shoulders and kiss me.”
His voice was gentle. Patient. For some reason that turned her heart over and made her want to weep. She never knew what to expect from him and it kept her feeling off balance. She forced her body to uncurl a little, just enough to take her hands from her legs and put them on his broad shoulders. At once heat soaked into her. She hadn’t even known she was cold or shivering. His skin was hot and warmed her entire body just by having her hands on him.
“That is a start, but you forgot the part where you lean into me. I want your breasts pressed against my chest and your mouth on mine.”
Her eyes searched his. She didn’t know what to make of his instructions, but she felt her body react at the suggestion. Her breasts suddenly were tender and sensitive, achy and in need of his touch. A throb began deep in her core. She leaned into him, letting his thick, heavily muscled chest take her weight.
His hand remained at the nape of her neck, while his other arm swept around her back and locked her to him. She had to tilt her head up so she could see his mouth. She could fixate on his mouth, especially because she knew his taste. Knew the way he kissed.
She slid her arms around his neck, pressing even closer, letting him hold her. Comfort her. Care for her. That’s what it felt like. At the same time, she felt a little like his prisoner. Surrounded by him. Taken by him. Branded by him.
Ignoring everything else that came into her mind, she concentrated on his mouth. His lips were full and sensual, his teeth very white and strong. There was nothing at all feminine about him; in fact, he looked fiercely male. She found her heart accelerating. Her stomach somersaulting. Her sex pulsed.
To block out her reaction to him, she moved the scant inches and brushed a kiss over his mouth. Then a second one. Her tongue touched the seam of his mouth and he opened to her. She was shy. She didn’t really know what she was doing, but she had the experience of kissing him and she followed his example. He let her take the initiative for a few mind-stopping seconds. She explored the heat of his mouth, teasing his tongue, tracing his teeth, kissing him because now she had to, not because he demanded it.
Then he took over. Completely. Sweeping her away to another dimension. His kisses did that to her. He drove out every thought. Good or bad. Every other person until there was only Aleksei. Only the man holding her to him. Kissing the breath from her body. Starting fires with just his mouth alone.
Her body moved restlessly against his. His cock was suddenly hard and hot and resting against her thigh. Without thinking, she dropped one hand down to cover him, feeling him jerk beneath her. He felt like velvet over steel. Thick. So thick. So long. How could that fit inside of her? But it did and felt so good.
“Wrap your fist around my cock, Gabrielle.”
He whispered the command against her mouth and then he was kissing her again. Long. Wet. Hard. So delicious. His mouth growing rougher. She couldn’t resist the temptation and she wrapped her fingers around the heavy girth. He pulsed in her palm. So hot. Velvet soft. Iron hard. She didn’t stop herself from exploring. From running her palm up the shaft and sliding up and over the broad crown.
“Yours,” he said softly. “All yours.”
One arm went to her back, the other beneath her knees. “Dawn is creeping upon us. We will go to ground and continue this next rising. And, kessake.” He licked just behind her ear and then bit gently down on the skin between her shoulder and neck, sending a thousand flames dancing over her skin. “You did not think about him once, did you? I told you to trust me. I can help you. When you need help, you ask.”
His eyes stayed on hers and she nodded slowly, her breath still caught in her lungs. He opened the earth, and she closed her eyes. “I’ve never gone to ground unless I was already asleep,” she confided.
“You will lay with me, the ground open until we have to close it, and I will tell you how to do this. I can help you. And always know, you are safe with me. If you can conquer your fear, tell me and I will help you.”