Arianna Rose: The Gates of Hell (Part 5) (28 page)

Wrapping her arms around her waist, Arianna shivered and felt her throat tighten.  The Parkers had been among those who’d lost multiple people in their family who
’d had an important role, both within the family, and in her life as well.  Telling them about Dane had been one of the worst conversations she’d ever had.  Recalling the moment, still so fresh in her mind, Arianna realized that it wasn’t she who was worthy of reverence, but the brave souls whose lives had been cut short. 

The toll of loss resonated through her bones as she stood upright and looked around.  From where she was, she glimpsed the corner of her down comforter.  The comforter, or more specifically, her bed, called to her.  Sleeping for
ten hours sounded like exactly what she needed to recharge not only her exhausted body, but her battered spirit as well. 

Slowly, she crept toward her room.

“Arianna, is that you?” Desmond called from her bedroom.  His rich voice stilled every sound, every movement inside the cabin, save for the wild beat of Arianna’s heart.  And suddenly the ache inside her lessened, the burden she carried lightened. 

“Yeah, it’s me,” she replied and hurried her p
ace until she stood in the doorway. 

Desmond was sitting up.  His brilliant blue eyes were clear and vibrant as they penetrated the low light and the distance between them.  Soft golden curls were mussed sexily and a smile lit his face.

“Hi,” she said breathlessly, startled by how very handsome he was.  She’d seen him so many times before, yet she still managed to be struck by just how glorious he was to behold.  “You’re awake.  I didn’t want to disturb you so I slipped out quietly.  How’re you feeling?” 

“Amazingly, I feel fine” Desmond shrugged and said with
a mix of shock and awe evident in his tone. 

When Arianna had returned after killing Darius she’d been stunned to see that Desmond was awake and alert.  That had been a miraculous improvement from when she’d left.  Before leaving to face Darius, she didn’t know whether he would survive the night.  Now, see
ing him as he was, so healthy looking and full of life, she could weep tears of joy. 

“Really?” she asked excitedly.  “No pain or tenderness?”

“Nothing.” Desmond shook his head from side to side.  “I feel pretty close to my old self.”

“Wow,” was all she could say. 

She didn’t know whether it was divine intervention or whether Desmond had just been lucky, but when she’d sifted back to the castle ruins, she couldn’t believe her eyes.  Desmond had been standing on his own, alert and well.

“I know, I can’t believe it either,” he said.  “How’re you feeling?  You look
tired, and upset.”

Tired and upset barely scratched the surface of what she felt.  “Truthfully, I’m beat.  I spoke with the Parkers a little while ago,” she said and rubbed her temples.

“Ah,” Desmond said, and nothing more needed to be added.  He knew all too well what her seemingly innocuous statement meant.  He didn’t follow up with the perfunctory “Oh, how’d they take the news?” because he knew.  He knew, and not as a result of being a supernatural being, that their lives had been irreversibly changed.  They’d lost another child. 

“Come here,” he said and pulled back the covers beside him.  He patted the bed. 

Not needing a second invite, Arianna pulled both shoes off her feet then slipped out of her pants and into the bed beside Desmond.  He immediately drew her into his arms, hugging her tightly. 

Burying her face in the crook of his neck, she breathed him in, filling her lungs with the rich masculine scent of hi
m she could never get enough of.  He smelled of leather and another spicy note she couldn’t place.  He smelled like home, her home, the home she never wanted to leave.  He wrapped her in his powerful arms and infused her with an indescribable sense of belonging so profoundly entrenched in her core she felt a brief reprieve from all the pain and suffering she’d witnessed.  Desmond was with her, safe and sound.  The brief time she’d been apart from him had seemed like a lifetime.  She wanted nothing more than to just stay, as they were, locked in an embrace. 

Feeling as if her heart swelled to quadruple its normal size, Arianna slid her hands between them and gripped both sides
of his face.  She planted kisses over his eyes, at the tip of his nose, both cheeks, his temples, chin, and finally, his lips.

“What was that for?” he asked in a voice
low and whiskey smooth.

“I just love you so much,” she blurted and repeated the pattern of kisses a second time.

“I love you too,” he said with a chuckle.  Then he added, “Wow, I should get stabbed more often.”

But as soon as the words left his mouth and he saw her happy, playful feature
s collapse, his laughter died.

Arianna promptly let go o
f his face and slapped his arm.  “Bite your tongue, Desmond!” she scolded.  “How could you say that?” she continued and felt a hot rush of tears spring from her eyes unexpectedly.  Embarrassed, she turned, twisting her upper body and head away from him.

“Hey, hey, what’
s the matter?” he said and hooked his index finger under her chin, turning her face toward his.  “Arianna, no, please don’t be upset with me.”

Though she refused to look hi
m in the eye, choosing instead to stare at the comforter, she could hear the remorse and concern in his voice and guessed his features matched his voice. 

“Come on
.  Please don’t be upset.  I was just kidding around.  Was it too soon?”

“Too soon?  Too soon!” she
lifted her gaze and drilled him with it then said, “In a hundred years it’ll still be too soon!” She’d raised her voice and was nearly shouting. 

He
placed his hands on her shoulders then lowered them so that he gripped her upper arms lightly, turning her body toward him.  “I’m sorry.  It was a stupid thing to joke about.”

“Yeah, and so was the
too soon
remark,” she huffed and folded her arms across her chest.

“I’m sorry,” he said with genuine regret.

“Don’t you get it, Desmond?  I love you, and more than once I thought I lost you.  But this time I saw you.  I saw the blood and saw Briathos doing his thing over you, and I thought you were, that you were,” she choked on the word “dead.” 

Desmond’s features softened further.  “I did too,” he said and finished her sentence wordlessly. 
“But for some reason I’m still here, and I’m grateful.  I’m grateful to have a chance to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Arianna held his earnest gaze for several moments. 

“One minute, I think I’m going to die and never see this face again,” he said and cupped her cheek in one hand, lightly stroking her cheekbone with his thumb.  “Then I had this, I don’t know, this strange sensation wash over me.” Desmond stared off at a distant point as he recalled his experience.  “It was like I was feeling poison being sucked out of my body, all the pain from the wound, the weakness, all of it left me.  And I knew Darius was dead.  I knew you’d defeated him.”  He shuttered as if he had a chill before his focus returned to Arianna.  “My condition improved immediately.  Even Briathos was shocked.  I actually stood up on my own.”  He smiled broadly, his eyes shining with wonder.

“It was a miracle,” Arianna said as she blinked back tears. 

“I’m not sure what it was, but you won’t catch me disagreeing with your miracle theory, that’s for sure.”

“So you don’t have any pain whatsoever at the site of the wound?”

Desmond grabbed a handful of his cotton T-shirt and lifted it, revealing a considerable scar of puckered flesh, burned and melted into place by Briathos in order to stop bleeding that would have killed him for sure. 

Arianna drew in a breath sharply and took her lower lip between her teeth.  “Oh my gosh,” she gasped, pained to see what Desmond had endured. 

“It’s awful, I know,” he said and looked embarrassed by it. 

Arianna traced her finger along the damaged skin. 

“You probably won’t want me now that I have this—” he started, but she silenced him by pressing her lips to his, kissing him several times.

But light pecks quickly deepened. 
With her mouth on his, she moved her hands from his scar and held the sides of his face, parting his lips as she swept her tongue along their seam.  Their kiss intensified, and the liquid heat of passion burned through her veins.  Her heartbeat turned frantic, knocking against her ribcage.

“Arianna,” Desmond whispered her name, his voice a growl that made her skin tingle.
 

Her hands left his face and raced up into his hair where her fingers tangled in the short curls at his nape.  He gripped her waist and scooped her up, sliding her over onto his lap, his firmness pressing erotically at her center.  A soft sigh escaped her lips as she ground herself against his excitement,
and a low rumble of delight echoed in reciprocation from deep in his throat.  The sound roused every part of her body, him pumping his tongue inside of her mouth, teasing her in time with his stiff manhood.  Her nipples hardened as they brushed against the lace of her bra, which suddenly felt too confining.  She moaned when his hand grazed the side of her breast as his hands moved to cup her cheeks.

Lust-filled adrenaline hummed through her, her mind willing his hands to touch every part of her as the need for skin-to-skin contact burgeoned.

Lowering her hands from his hair, she gripped the hem of his shirt and began pulling it up.  Reluctantly, they parted long enough for her to yank his T-shirt over his head.  She threw it, hearing it land softly somewhere in the room.  She gazed at his pale skin, at the swollen peaks of his pectoral muscles that tapered to a tight waist where a scar replaced six perfectly sculpted rectangles.  Leaning back and wiggling her backside, a move that elicited a rumble of desire, she trailed a finger down his chest, past his bellybutton and over his abdominal muscles to the waistband of his shorts.  His skin was hot to the touch.  She wanted to feel his hot skin close to her, around her, on her, inside of her. 

N
eed twisted feverishly within her and, as if sensing her intense desire, Desmond ran his hands up the back of her shirt, leaving a fiery path of sensitive skin blazing.  Fingertips gently danced up to her shoulder blades then down her spine, stopping long enough to unclasp her bra. 

Her breasts
grew heavy, aching for his touch.  She arched her back and rubbed herself harder against his excitement.  Desmond’s gaze was glazed with hunger and longing, and locked on her.  He slid his hands to her waist and pushed the edge of her shirt up over her head, slowly, seductively.  The satin straps of her bra fell from her shoulders to her elbows, exposing her bare breasts.  His gaze moved from her face to her chest, making her draw a quivering breath.  Then with deliberateness that nearly buckled her knees, he traced his fingertips from her collarbone down her side, lingering at the curve of her breast.  She groaned and gripped his wrists placing both hands over her eager mounds.  Desmond leaned forward, lowering his head and kneading one breast while his tongue flicked at the nipple of the other.

“Oh Desmond,” she moaned.

He gently squeezed a stiff peak between his index and middle fingers as he rubbed, and the feverish, twisting need coiled so tightly, she thought she would shatter into a million euphoric pieces.  She moaned and rubbed herself over his hardness. 

His tongue circled her nipple and goose bumps raced over her flesh.  Sharp bursts of warm pleasure
pulsated throughout her core, heaviness settling between her thighs. 

“I want you,” she said lustfully.

And with her words, he cupped her bottom and flipped her over onto her back.  Her heart skipped a beat. 

“I love you.  Forever and ever,” he said, his hot breath fanning her face. 

His words were a promise, a vow. 

Slowly, he covered her mouth with his and lapped at her lips sensuously. 

The sensation was exhilarating, the taste of him delicious.  The rush of what was happening was an inebriating thrill that stripped her of her cares temporarily.  Her life had narrowed to just the two them and the moment they were in. 

She wrapped her legs around his calves and held tightly.  They were safe and together and that was all that mattered.  No more running.  No more hiding.  A future awaited them.

Strong hands gripped the silky fabric of her panties and slid them over her hips and off her body.  A muscled thigh nestled between her legs, making the ache low within her belly twist almost painfully.  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she stared into his brilliant blue eyes and marveled and the love she felt for him. 

“I love you,” she said. 

He gave a gentle kiss to her lips then kissed her jaw and neck, lingering on the sensitive spot near her ear, nibbling and nipping his way lower. 

A shiver, hot and cold simultaneously, spread throughout her insides as he reached the valley between her breasts.  Caressing and fondling both, he kissed every part of them, progressing slowly until he reached her nipple.  He took one between his lips and suckled, and Arianna drew in her breath sharply, every inch of her
bombarded by tiny shards of mind-numbing sexual desire.