Staking His Claim(11)

He moved to the large bed that dominated the room, and sat down on the side, bringing her between his spread thighs. Her hands fell lightly to his shoulders and she felt his tensile strength under her fingertips.

His palms began a smooth glide up and down her body, going from the outside of her thighs, over her hips, to the indent of her waist and back again. He dragged air deeply into his lungs, breaking the silence of the night.

He made no move to deepen his caresses and she stood in front of him, her body shivering softly as she waited expectantly for his next move.

Her breathing fractured from his nearness as she continued to wait. Helplessly, her body swayed toward his and she put her lips against his ear and softly kissed him. His body tightened against hers. The oxygen stalled in her lungs and she asked, "Why aren't you doing anything?"

His hands gripped her hips more tightly and the air hissed from his lungs. "I'm fighting myself," he answered her with distinct mockery, cold sarcasm directed at himself. "As you so eloquently reminded me, you're a virgin and I'm still too damn old for you." He anchored her to him, his grasp restraining. "I keep telling myself not to start this, not to start something with you that you won't be able to handle." He sucked in a lungful of oxygen. "But it's not working. I'm losing the fight. You're standing sweet and compliant in my bedroom; I don't have the strength to do what I know I damn well should." He pushed her away from his body, but kept his fists manacled around her upper arms. He focused on her eyes watching him in the darkness of the room.

"Why the change of heart?" she asked softly.

"It's not a change of heart. I haven't changed my mind. I'm just trying to give you a fighting chance, baby."

"What's got you so worried? You weren't worried before."

He let out a sound of self-directed criticism. "All I could think about before was that I couldn't have you. Now I can and I'm worried you're gonna hate me afterwards--hold it against me."

For the first time since she had known him, he was showing her a side of himself that wasn't one hundred percent confident. "Why? Why would I hate you?"

"Because I'm not giving you a choice. I'm rushing you into bed--intimidating you to get what I want." He sucked in a breath and his shoulders tightened under her hands. "Tonight I learned you've been through hell and back. And right now I'm finding out that I'm such a fucked-up bastard, that apparently, I don't give a shit."

His hands clenched in a restraining hold that spoke eloquently of his intent to proceed.

A tiny smile played around her mouth. "You're not a fucked-up bastard. I had a choice and I made it. I'm here, aren't I?"

"You keep thinking that, sweetheart. You keep thinking you had a choice." He looked deeply in her eyes, gave her a layered look filled with conflicting emotions. "I don't think you understand how this is gonna play out. There's something about you--something that makes me lose control. I haven't even had you yet, but already I want the next time and the next time and the next time after that. This shit isn't going to just go away--you're addictive, baby."

"But you're saying that you're willing to let me walk away right now? To drive me back to the house?"

His jaw clenched and his lips flattened into a distinct snarl. "If I have to, yeah," the words rumbled from his chest with menacing heat.

She ignored the threatening anger in his voice and focused on the content of his answer as she continued to beat the point home to him. "So you'd let me go if I thought it was the right thing for me?"

"Yeah. I just said that." His words were as much an accusation as an agreement.

"Why?" she questioned softly.

"Why?" His eyebrows pulled down. "Because I want what's best for you," he spit out, giving her a brutal and accusing glare that was in direct opposition of the words he spoke. "I care about you. I want you to be happy."

She nodded her head at his tortured clarification. It was really all she needed to hear. "I'm not going to hold anything against you. I want this, Raul."

His hands moved and splayed over her butt as he hauled her closer. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

He tightened his grip with a steely, almost imperceptible nuance of threat. "Last chance."





CHAPTER NINE


"Pass," she murmured as her lips softly touched his.

Raul felt her soft lips against his and let her magic roll through him. Never in his life had he felt a need this intense. It had been like this for every godforsaken day since he'd met her. It beat deep from his soul and he knew in dark exasperation that it would never go away.

He reached between them and began undoing the buttons that went all the way down her dress. When the slight curves of her soft white breasts were revealed above the lace of her bra, he lowered his head and took her silky skin in his mouth and suckled her there.

She squirmed in his arms and lifted her hands between them, going to work on the buttons of his shirt, excitement boiling up within her. Her movements became frantic.

"Shh. . . slow, sweetheart." He lifted his mouth from her breast and they worked on each other's buttons, the silence of the night broken by the panting breaths they were taking.

They finished releasing the buttons together, and she began pushing his shirt off his shoulders. He complied with her silent request and shrugged his arms from the shirt, dropping it to the floor at her feet.

Her dress hung on either side of her body, the buttons parting it in two, her bra and matching lace panties peeking through.

He sucked in a breath and brushed the dress away from her waist and sank his fingers into her soft skin. "You're not on birth control, are you?"

She stiffened in his arms. "No," she whispered, and he could tell she was shocked by the question.

"I'm clean, baby, I promise. What are the chances you could get pregnant tonight?" His lips fell to her shoulder, his hands gripping her as he waited for her to answer.

"Can't you use something?" she asked.

"I could use something. But I really, truly do not want to take your virginity with a condom between us. I'll do it if I have to. I just don't want to have to."

He lifted his lips from her shoulder as he watched her face scrunch in concentration. She spoke hesitantly, "I think it'll be fine. But what if I'm wrong? What if--"

"I wouldn't let anything bad happen to you. We'd handle it together, okay? Are you close to ovulation or not?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I'm not, but you know what they say, shit happens."

He let out an abbreviated snicker. "Yeah. I'm okay with taking the chance, but only if you are, too."

She bit her lip and ran her tongue over the abraded flesh. Her eyes rested on his, studying him. Her body quivered and she began a subtle move back from him. "I don't know, I--"

He interrupted her before she decided to back out all together. "It's okay. I'll use a condom." One hand left her briefly while he dug around in the top drawer of his bedside table. He pulled out a small plastic square and laid it down within easy reach.

He turned his attention back to her immediately, pulling her into his torso and sinking his fingers into her hair. His mouth found hers and he kissed her deeply, entwining his tongue with hers and letting her sweet scent wash over him. He kissed her repeatedly, over and over and over again. She melted against him, and the sweet feel of her innocence exploded through him, hardening him.

The blood pooled in his groin and he felt himself surge against the zipper of his jeans. He shifted, trying to relieve the ache, as he gripped her tightly to him.

He tried to go slow, tried to make it good for her. As much as he wanted her; he wanted this time to be for her.

He pushed the dress from her shoulders and as it fell to the floor, he lifted his mouth from hers to look down at her body. He couldn't have begun to find the words to describe her ethereal beauty or how much he wanted her, so he didn't attempt to try.

He picked her up by the hips and twirled her until she was flat on her back in the center of his bed, her body wrapped in only two small wisps of lace.

He pushed to his feet and quickly divested himself of his boots, socks, jeans and boxer briefs.

Putting one knee on the bed, he lowered himself beside her, completely naked, and took her in his arms without hesitation.

He ran his hand up her side, starting at her creamy thigh and travelling quickly up her hip, over the indent of her waist and landed on a lace-enclosed breast.

Her soft gasp and quickened breathing made his already rock-hard shaft pulse with need.

He reached over to the lamp on the bedside table and flipped it on. Light glared into the room, making her blink.

She sucked in her breath and let out a small noise of panic.

He tried to soothe her as he reached for her again. "Shh, everything's okay."

"Why'd you turn the light on?" she whispered.

"I couldn't see you," he stated the obvious, his hands reaching for the clasp between her breasts. He pushed the cups away from the small, tempting mounds, his eyes fastened to the bounty he was uncovering.

A sharp sound came from his throat.

Elaina saw him staring at her uncovered chest and red flecks of arousal colored his cheekbones as he lowered his head and covered a nipple with his mouth.

He began sucking like a starving man, his hand going to her other breast, and pleasure, swift and intense, had her hips lifting off the bed and pushing against him.