Pursued(115)
“I will. But first…” Feeling for the small fastening at her throat, Elise let the long indigo robe she’d been wearing slip from her shoulders and fall in a puddle around her waist. She’d long since gotten rid of the offensive (to the Ancient Ones, anyway) red underwear and she was bare beneath the light material. She felt a twinge of embarrassment about her nudity as she let the robe drift to the floor, but she couldn’t help herself—the hunger was too strong to deny. She needed Merrick’s touch and only the feel of her bare skin against his would alleviate that need.
Merrick made a soft growl of approval deep in his throat. “Beautiful,” he murmured, drinking her in—her high, firm breasts, small waist, full hips…and most of all, the neatly trimmed thatch of dark curls between her thighs.
“Thank you,” Elise murmured, blushing. “I…uh….”
“I wanna feel you against me.” He motioned for her to come to him. “Don’t make me wait any longer.”
Elise couldn’t wait either. She slid naked under his arm and pressed her cheek to his bare chest with a little sigh of pure happiness. Then she held perfectly still for a long moment, trying to assess what was going on.
To her relief, the door of the vault didn’t so much as rattle. She wasn’t sure if the hunger inside her was so great it was overcoming any bad memories or if she was beginning to move past the fear that had been stirred inside her that night he came to the door of her darkened bedroom. She only knew it felt good—right—to be near him again. To feel the hard, warm wall of his chest against her cheek and breathe in his familiar smoke, fur, and leather musk. It was the scent of safety…the scent of home.
“Gods, baby,” Merrick murmured, stroking her back gently with one large hand. “Feels so damn good to have you in my arms again.”
“I like it too,” Elise admitted shyly. “It…it feels right, somehow.”
“More than right…perfect,” he corrected her. “I love the way you fit against me. It’s like you’re a part of me that’s been missing—a part I’ve been looking for without even knowing it. And now you’re back where you belong.”
Elise couldn’t have put it any better herself. “Yes.” She nodded, her cheek brushing his chest. “Yes, exactly.” She could feel the hunger curling inside her, stretching like a cat being stroked. This skin to skin contact was giving her exactly what she so desperately needed. But it was also changing the hunger, turning it into something else…lust.
She bit her lip and shifted against Merrick uneasily as her nipples suddenly stiffened into tight, achy peaks and her pussy began to feel hot and wet. The feeling of heat and need grew stronger and stronger until she had the sudden urge to tear herself away from Merrick’s side and somehow fix the problem.
She started to move away from the shelter of his muscular arm but Merrick murmured, “Stay.”
“Um, what?” Elise looked up at him uncertainly to see that he was looking down at her, an unreadable look on his face.
“Stay,” he repeated. “It’s all right to feel this way, Elise. It’s all right to need what you need and want what you want. Just stay with me and let it flow. Let yourself feel. Give in to it.”
She bit her bottom lip nervously. “I don’t know if I can.”
“You did once before,” he said softly. “Remember how you let me touch you—how you let me stroke you and pet your soft little pussy? Remember how wet and hot you got for me?”
“I…yes,” Elise admitted breathlessly. “I remember.”
“That’s good, baby,” he rumbled. “Because I wanna do it again…only this time with my tongue.”
Elise shivered at the thought of being so open for him, so helpless and vulnerable. She wanted it, but at the same time, she was frightened. Scared that the act would somehow bring a monster from her past she didn’t even know about roaring out of the vault to devour her.
Merrick seemed to catch her anxiety because he softened the urgency in his voice and stroked her arm again. “Don’t worry, we’re not going to do the same things that freaked you out last time. This time it’s going to be different.”
“Different? How?” Elise asked uncertainly.
“For one thing, I can hardly move right now so you’re going to be completely in control. You’re literally going to be on top.”
“What? But how?” she protested.
“Straddle me and I’ll show you what I mean.”
Elise rose to her knees, feeling self conscious, and did as he said—or tried to, anyway. But his chest was so broad she found she was more sitting on him than straddling him. She started to get up but he shook his head and touched her thighs lightly.