GOE 08 - Bound By Darkness [calibre 0.9.30]

Ariyal watched the emotions that flitted over Jaelyn’s delicate features. Outrage, wariness, and ... fear?

Her tongue darted out to touch her lower lip, sending a shock wave of need through Ariyal and making him forget her odd reaction.

He had walked away from Jaelyn in the meadow, determined to leave her behind. Didn’t he have enough troubles without adding a beautiful female who made a sport of trampling his manhood?

Now any desire to be alone with his seething anger was seared away by the intoxicating scent of woman and cool, satin skin beneath his searching finger.

“You arrogant ...” She hissed as his fingers found the tip of her breast, tugging the nipple to a hard peak.

“You like that?” He growled deep in his throat as he continued to torment her nipple. He was already fully aroused, his erection pressing painfully against the zip of his jeans. “Tell me, Jaelyn. Tell me what you want.”

Her lips parted as she tilted back her head to meet his hooded gaze.

“Sanity,” she muttered. “Unfortunately it seems in short supply.”

She was right.

There were a thousand perfectly rational reasons why this was all kinds of a bad idea. But as he moved forward, pressing the hard width of his cock to the juncture of her spread legs, he couldn’t think of a damned one.

“Sanity is highly overrated,” he assured her, his head lowering to tongue the tip of her hard nipple. “Shall we drown in madness together, Jaelyn?”

Her lashes drifted downward as she shifted to clutch at his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his hips in silent invitation.

“Ariyal.”

“Tell me.” He blazed a path of kisses over her breast, lingering in the small valley before seeking out the tender bud on the other side. “Say the words.”

She moaned softly. “What words?”

“That you want me.”

“I ...” With an obvious effort she tilted back her head to regard him with a smoldering gaze.

“The truth, poppet,” he commanded softly.

She shivered against his tense muscles, her eyes raw with a stark need that slammed into him with brutal force.

“Yes, dammit,” she growled. “I want you.”

A fierce satisfaction jolted through him at her unwilling confession.

“Thank the gods,” he muttered.

“Not that I’m happy about it,” she continued.

He gave a short, humorless laugh. “Join the club. Do you think I want to be distracted by an arrogant leech? Especially one who happens to be bipolar?”

She frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You swing from hot to cold so fast you give me whiplash,” he rasped. “I have better things to be doing with my time.”

He swallowed a laugh as she narrowed her eyes. She looked offended by the thought that he might not be any more anxious than she was to be tormented by this ruthless craving.

Then, as if unable to resist his deliberate challenge, a small, tantalizing smile curved her lips, her body deliberately arching to press her soft breasts against the hard planes of his chest.

“Bipolar, eh?”

“Yes.”

Her legs tightened around his hips, rubbing against his cock with a promise that nearly sent him to his knees.

“And yet you’re desperate for me.”

He grunted, feeling as if he had just been kicked in the gut.

Yeah. Desperate just about covered it.

He had barely touched her and yet he was ready to explode.

It was downright embarrassing for a man who was known to make sex last hours, if not days.

“Careful, Jaelyn. Don’t start something you’re not prepared to finish,” he warned.

In answer, she reached to tug at the button of his jeans. “You are wearing too many clothes, fairy.”

His heart slammed against his chest as she tugged down the zipper, her fingers circling his straining erection.

A groan was wrenched from his throat at the sheer bliss of her touch.

His gaze skimmed over her pale, beautiful face and down the elegant curve of her neck to the small mounds of her breasts. A part of him admired her sleek lines and well-defined muscles. There was no mistaking the fact that she was honed to be a lethal weapon. But a greater part was busy savoring the perfect ivory skin drenched in the moonlight that was peeking through the kitchen window and the contrast of her rosy nipples.

“Gods, Jaelyn, you’re killing me.”

Without warning she leaned forward, circling his nipple with the tip of her tongue.

“Hmmm, warm skin ...” She nibbled a path to the center of his chest, lightly scraping his skin with the tips of her fangs. “A pounding heart.” She pulled back with a taunting smile. “You still have some life left in you.”

Their gazes locked and held as a tangible, branding awareness scorched the air between them.

Despite their bickering and sniping, there was a potent force binding them together that was bigger than both of them.

Destiny had entwined their fates for its own mysterious reasons.

And he didn’t have the sense to give a damn.

“Let’s find out just how much life,” he muttered, shifting to sweep a soft kiss over her lips, wisely taking the precaution of removing her holstered shotgun and tossing it onto the floor. One less weapon seemed like a good idea if things went to hell. “What do you say, poppet?”