He stepped forward and grasped my chin, tilting it up. One breath was all I could take, and then I was plunged into a kiss that smothered me.
Oh Lord, his lips. My body reacted in only one way to that kiss, and it was not the reaction I would have chosen, had I been able to choose. I’d thought that I could pretend to kiss him back, but as he pressed against me I found myself unexpectedly pressing back, needing more from his kiss than I thought I had wanted. The dark room around us receded, and I floated in his strong arms.
Then his hand came down along my side, and my consciousness was jerked back suddenly to the touch of his hand on my bare skin. I jerked back.
“You said a kiss. Only a kiss,” I protested.
He turned to the door, and I thought he would leave, but instead he swung the door shut. We were submerged in darkness, the only light the one thin slit coming from the stairs.
I breathed hard as he stepped forward, his body blocking the light. When his hand reached out to touch my hip, I grabbed it with my one free hand.
“You said—”
His hand took mine and twisted it up over my head suddenly. His body slammed against mine, pinning me to the wall. His cheek was pressed against my temple, his mouth at my ear. I could feel every bit of his strength, and my entire body was immobilized under his.
“Kitten, you never answered my question,” he whispered.
In the dark his lips moved, kissed my temple. His one hand still held me back, and now the other one came running along my bare side, brushing against my shoulder, my arm, my breast. A deep shiver ran through me.
“I’d say you owe me more than a kiss,” he said. He shifted his weight and I felt his leg shove between my thighs, pressing against me down there. I gasped at the shock of pleasure that coursed unexpectedly through me.
He kissed my neck, his teeth grazing my skin only slightly. I twisted under his grasp but every movement from me only made his hold stronger, more permanent. And the motion of my legs only caused him to press harder. When his head bent to lick between my breasts, I strained back on tiptoe.
Another mistake. He took advantage of the position to push up harder, lifting me so that all of my weight was resting on his thigh between my two legs. The sudden pressure made me whimper, my body clutching into itself hard.
“Do you like this, kitten?” he asked. The words whispered in the darkness seemed to surround me.
My feet kicked out but my toes only scraped the floor slightly, and the rocking motion sent my body into a hard shudder. God damn him, the ache of pleasure there!
“Please…” I choked as he eased in slightly, sending another ripple of pleasure through my body. My hips bucked forward instinctively and I struggled to control myself.
His hand caressed my hip. Then his fingers went lower, cupping the curve of my ass underneath my panties. He kneaded my muscles there, and I couldn’t help it.
“Ohhhhhh,” I groaned.
“It sounds like you like this, kitten,” Gav said. “It sounds like you want this. This is the best way, isn’t it? In the darkness. You can pretend I’m anyone at all. Pretend I’m the hero in a romance novel. Pretend I’m the cute guy in your math class—”
“No—” I started to say, but another push from him sent my body into a hard shudder, his hand still kneading the spot where my ass met the back of my thighs. Oh, God, but it felt good! My protest trailed off into another whimper.
“You were so eager for another kiss,” he said. I bit my lip and shook my head, but in the darkness I knew he couldn’t see.
“So eager to give in again,” he said. His fingers slipped farther in and I tensed up, then relaxed as his knuckles dug deep into my muscle there, his fingertips almost touching me where I most wanted it.
“Already so wet. So wanting.”
I moaned as he pushed again, and then his lips found mine and I couldn’t help it, God, I couldn’t help it. I arched against him as he kissed me breathless, rocking, wanting the pressure, needing it—
Then it was gone. He broke the kiss and stepped away so abruptly that I would have fallen to the floor had he not held my up by my arms. My legs wobbled underneath me, my entire body melted with the desire for something that he’d taken away in an instant.
“No—” I croaked.
“No? You want more, kitten?”
A sob choked my throat. It was true, I wanted more. My body would not let me deny the sharp thrills of desire that he drew forward in me. And yet, my mind recoiled from the horror of this man, of everything he was. I shook my head and could not speak.
“I have to go now, little kitten,” he said. His hand caressed my cheek in the darkness and I flinched at his cool touch, the touch of a lover. “I’ll be back soon, and then maybe we can do another trade. Another bottle of water, another kiss. Maybe another question. Would you like that?”