I need him the way he needs me, she thought with a yearning she'd never before experienced. I do. I really do.
With the admission, something cracked and crumbled inside her. The last vestiges of her resistance? Fear? Doubt? Her anger over her abduction, perhaps? They were suddenly gone, replaced by a need to know him, all of him-in that moment he became more important to her than breathing.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, locked her ankles and jerked him on top of her. All of his weight suddenly pinned her, and it was purely blissful. She savored, reveled in the exquisite press of him. Basked in her first true taste of capitulation. No more denying her needs, no more ignoring her secret wants.
"Shaye?" he said, his voice hoarse. He closed his eyes in sweet surrender, his expression entranced, shocked, awed.
"Valerian."
He nipped at her collarbone, licked up and down her neck. His fingers glided under her panties, to the center of her being.
She nearly screamed as she arched her hips to urge him further.
"Most women think this is the most pleasure-receptive place on their bodies." His fingers pinched her drenched core lightly. And with that one touch, she almost reached the gates of paradise. So close to climax...so close...
"They'd be right," she managed on a pant.
"No, they are wrong." He slid a finger through her damp folds and into the very heat of her. "Small," he said, his voice strained. Sweat trickled from his temples. "Tight. Wonderful."
Had she thought she'd neared paradise before? Not even close. Her feminine walls clamped around him, holding him captive. In and out he moved slowly, and it was sheer torture. She gasped, then gasped his name, then gasped a curse.
"Some women think this rhythm is the cause of their desire."
"Are they...wrong, too?" Oh, my wow. She was on fire. Her cells were traveling through her bloodstream at full speed, scorching everything in their path.
"Oh, yes. They are wrong."
He continued sliding those fingers into her, and her stomach coiled, tensed; her leg muscles quivered around him. Orgasm teetered on the sweet brink of arrival.
"Valerian," she beseeched.
"Oh, but I like my name on your lips." His thumb brushed her aching core.
Her head thrashed from side to side. She burned, so hot, nearing explosion. "Show me the most pleasure-receptive place on my body." She had to come. Had to...would die...soon...
"For a kiss," he said, wanting to bargain even now. "I'll give you the world for a single kiss."
"Don't want the world. Want you."
"Shaye. My Shaye."
She meshed her lips into his. The moment his tongue collided with hers, his taste filled her mouth. The exquisite sensations between her legs intensified. She unlocked her ankles, letting her knees fall onto the bed, opening herself for whatever he might do.
Lost in passion like this, she was exactly what she'd feared: a slave to it, desperate for it. But she didn't care. The kiss was hard and hot and only became harder and hotter. Tongues battled, teeth clashed. Valerian's fingers continued to pump her, sinking in and out, as frantic and insatiable as the kiss.
But then, suddenly, he stopped. Stopped the kiss, stopped the motion of his fingers. Her body throbbed, and a sob nearly burst from her lips.
"What are you doing?" she said on a moan. She tangled her hands in his hair and tried to force his mouth back to hers.
Finally she'd allowed herself to enjoy a man, and he stopped?
"Now I will show you where you are most sensitive, where you will verge on climax every time I touch you."
Hmm. Yes. "Hurry."
Sweat continued to trickle from his temples. The lines of tension around his eyes had deepened, bracketing his features. He, too, needed relief, she realized. Did he ache with an almost unquenchable ferocity like she did? Was he desperate, eager? Did he feel like he would blast past the stars if he didn't touch her again?
His lips brushed her softly, once, twice. "Your taste...it's like no one else's, and it's addictive. I think I would die without it."
Darling man.
Touch me. Make love to me. "Valerian, I'm glad you like how I taste, I am, but I shouldn't have to remind you that you've got a point to prove here."
He chuckled. "You're right. I just need to look at you a moment longer and savor the sight of you. Very soon I will strip you completely. I'll slide your pants over your legs and feast between them. Until then, I'll concentrate on-"
As he spoke, the image he painted consumed her mind. There, in her thoughts, he was stripping her. He was lowering his head to lick her on-
"Your ankles," he rasped. "I bring your foot to my mouth and lick-"