Awakening (The Magic of the Black Forest Book 2) (19 page)

Giggling, “You’re a grizzly, Coll. I’m a witch. It’s not cheating.” Her facial expression had me laughing so hard my tears of sorrow turned to happy ones. When Cheryl heard what I did, she also started to laugh. All three of us were still cracking up when the guys arrived.

“What’s so funny?” Jesse asked.

So of course Colleen told the story with great exaggeration. Jesse and Dave thought it was funny and agreed that I didn’t cheat.

Bradley just stood at the top of the steps looking at me. When he didn’t come over to me I got up and went to him.

“Is everything okay Bradley?” The change had affected his looks; he’s dazzlingly beautiful, sexier. My memory didn’t do him justice. I stopped right in front of him, inhaling deeply, trying to catch my breath.

Cautiously, worried that if I moved to quickly he’d back away, I reached out my hand and cupped the side of his handsome face. It felt magical. Taking another step closer, I inhaled deeply again, and ran my fingers through his hair while his eyes rolled upwards before closing. Standing on my tippy toes, I leaned up and kissed him, wrapping my other hand around the back of his neck, I pressed my body tightly against his. Although he kissed me back, he didn’t embrace me. This made me stop, drop, and take a step back to look him in the eye.

The gold stars around his pupils were red. I took another step backwards and slowly turned away from him. I’ve seen that look once before. That was the one time I saw how cold and uncaring he could be when he gave in and lost control. Not wanting Bradley to know the feelings I had stirring inside, I turned my attention to Seager.

“Hey, Seager, how are you boy?” I hobbled down the steps and hugged him. “Boy, I missed you. Are you hungry? Come on, I’ll get you something to eat.”

“
I missed you too, Nat,
” he managed in between licks to my face.

I ignored everybody staring at me, including Bradley, and walked into the house. After filling Seager’s bowl and placing it on the floor, I sat at the kitchen table while he ate, remembering the last time I saw Bradley’s eyes like that. I shook the thought from my head and got up to go back outside. When I turned, I saw Bradley standing in the doorway. Confused by his unfamiliar expression, I avoided his eyes, looking down at his hands. They were balled up tightly into fists. Not wanting to upset him more, I walked around him and into the living room.

“Natalia…” Wrapping his fingers around my arm, he prevented me from leaving. Standing in front of me, he placed his finger under my chin and lifted my face. Forcing my eyes to meet his, he stared intensely into them. His reaction and behavior, unlike I’d ever seen before, confused me even more.

“Why are you confused?” It had been as if he plucked it right from my mind.

“Because you’re not responding to me as you normally would do. It’s as though you don’t want… No… Is it that you don’t love me anymore?” That’s when I lost it. The past week finally caught up with me. “Look, Bradley, I know you’ve changed and I realize that you may not want to be with me any longer, I understand. Whatever. You’re free to go without feeling like you have to stay because of Andrew. I don’t want to live here without you anyway. I’ll move somewhere else.”

I fought the tears. His finger remained under my chin during my little rant. I inhaled deeply to catch my breath. I knew what I had just said and I meant it, but if he agreed, I would never recover from the heartbreak. He held my chin there for the longest time while I looked everywhere but into his eyes.

“Please look at me, Natalia.”

I shook my head no. I didn’t want to cry and I knew I would if I looked at him.

“Please… Natalia?” His chilled breath blew across my face, smelling enticingly delicious, warm and alluring.

To stop myself from kissing him, I looked into his eyes. Avoiding the red star, I noticed they were a pale blue, no green, today. Easily dazzled, I was lost in the depth of their beauty.

He ran his thumb along my bottom lip, making my heart rate increase. As if he heard it picking up pace, he smiled my favorite wicked crooked smile, which made me smile. Next, he slowly leaned in and kissed me softly before backing away.

My heart felt like it was going to pound right out of my chest. When I opened my eyes again he stood there smiling down at me. I inhaled deeply, once again trying to catch my breath. Confused, he frowned. His brows lifted and scrunched together, concerned.

“Why do you keep inhaling deeply like that? Are you okay?”

Only one word was suitable, “Breathless.” I thought he had dazzled me in the past but I’d been wrong. I’d never felt like this before. It would all but kill me if I had to be without him.

“I don’t understand what you mean.” He skimmed his fingers along the side of my cheek down to my chin and traced my lips again. The touch, light as a feather, had me aching deep inside.  Inhaling deeply again, trying to catch my breath, my body trembled and the puzzled look reappeared on his face.

“You’re breathless. Everything about you takes my breath away.” My body shook with need, longing to stand closer to him, for our bodies to touch.

“Oh, I see.” Skeptical, his eyes narrowed. “And why are you trembling? Am I too cold for you?” Worry flashed in his eyes before returning to confusion.

“Your touch makes my skin burn and my body trembles because it’s too far away from yours.” Briefly, he glanced down at the small space between us. “Well, too close not to be touching yours.” My words made no sense. He made it hard for me to concentrate.

“Do you still want and love me?” I studied his eyes, his expression and was shocked to see that he had been serious. It finally came to me, what Colleen tried to tell me, he was worried I wouldn’t feel the same way about him. 

A smile spread wide across my face as I whispered shyly, “More than ever and with all my heart.” The embarrassing flames engulfed my cheeks.

He pulled me into him, pressed our bodies together and the trembling ceased, I was finally home. My arms at my side with my chin still in his hand, I happily lost myself in his eyes. Everything I’d ever wanted stood before me; my Knight in Shining Armor, the love of my life. He had rescued me from the clutches of his sadistic, demented father, sacrificing his life, our life, his very being to do so.

Closing his eyes, he released me. Before I could react, before I could voice my objection, his lips were on mine. The kiss sent electricity surging through me again. For fear of provoking him, I fought against the instinct to move, to wrap my arms around his neck, and to run my fingers through his hair. But his kiss made me weak and blurred my all senses. I couldn’t resist.

Throwing caution to the wind, I reached up and wrapped my arms around his neck; my body leaned into his, yearning for him. I pressed and ground my hips against him. I’d never wanted, no needed him more. Jumping up, I wrapped my legs around his hips and tried to lock them behind his back, but the cast prevented me from doing so. Frustrated, I started to let my feet drop back down to the floor when he wrapped his hands securely under my butt and held me up. He moved his lips to my neck and I gasped for air.

“Bradley,” I cried. “I missed you.” I kissed him, pouring all my love into it. He moaned and my body reacted with arousal. “Please take me to our room.” I knew he wouldn’t do anything with our friends sitting on the porch, but I needed him. “I need to be with you Bradley,
please.
”

In the blink of an eye we were in our bedroom. Without breaking our kiss, he set my feet on the floor. At this point I thought he was going to stop but instead he started to undress me. Excited, I pulled my lips from his, moved them to his neck while my hands were drifting down to his waist, lifting his shirt up his torso and over his head. He had me undressed before I even got it off completely. He lifted me up onto the bed and laid his partially clothed body between my legs. I sighed and he stopped kissing my neck to look at me. I refused to look at him. After staring at me for a few seconds he got up. I closed my legs and threw the covers over myself. I was staring at the ceiling when he returned.

“Natalia, if you’re afraid, I understand. I promise you I’m in control.”

Frustrated, I rolled over to face him. My mind went blank as my eyes explored his gorgeous naked body. I removed the covers and threw myself onto him. “I’m not afraid of you, Bradley. I thought you didn’t want to. I thought you were going to try and just take care of me, like before we were married.”

“Oh, I see. I promise you, Natalia, I plan on fulfilling both our needs tonight. Multiple times, if you’ll let me.” He palmed the nape of my neck. “I love you, Natalia.”

Before I could tell him how much I loved him, he kissed me. His tongue gently massaged mine while one of his hands gripped my hip, and the fingers of the other slowly traced the length of my spine. Deepening our kiss, he rolled us around on the bed until he lay atop my body with hips between my thighs.

In an agonizingly slow pace, Bradley left a trail of soft hot kisses along my chin, down the left side of my neck and chest, pausing on my left breast. Breathing heavily, my chest heaved up and down, anticipating his next move. Bradley flicked my peaked, hardened nipple, once, twice before engulfing it in his mouth, suckling. The chill of his lips sent goose bumps racing over my skin and my audible appreciative gasp filled the air. Switching left to right, he nibbled, nipped and tugged at my sensitive nipples. The salacious sensations had me moaning with ardor and wanting more.

With the tips of my fingers caressing his back, I felt for the first time the smoothness of his skin. Along with the temperature and texture of his flesh, his muscular structure changed as well. My man felt brawny, lean and powerful. I wondered to myself what, if anything else, had changed.

Hungering for the taste his delicious, scrumptious flavor again, my fingers intertwined in his hair, pulling his mouth to mine. Our lips a mere inch apart, flaunting a flirty smile that promised to fulfill his every desire, my tongue slowly traced his bottom lip before diving into his mouth to swirl and dance with his tongue.

My hands roamed, caressing his arms, shoulders and the length of his back, his muscles flexing and hardening under my touch. Cupping his firm, perfectly curved ass with my hands, I squeezed before digging my fingers into his granite flesh, pulling him towards me while lifting my hips upward, grinding against his hardness. Sexually, I’d never been this open with him before and was finding it difficult to keep my hands from exploring every inch of his sexy body.

Leaning on his elbows, Bradley held up his weight, creating a gap between our bodies. To feel his body pressing against mine, skin to skin, I tried closing that gap by wrapping my arms securely around his back and pulling his body to mine.

With his lips pressed against my ears, “My sweet, beautiful Natalia,” he breathed out, “I don’t want to crush you.”

When Bradley whispered in my ear with the low seductive raspy voice, all rational thoughts disappeared, my heart raced and the only thing I wanted to feel him thrusting his shaft deep inside me.

Wanting to feel his shaft in the palm of my hand, I slid my hand down between our bodies. The back of my right hand skimming his sculpted torso, I felt his body tremble from my touch. Softly, I ran the tip of my index finger up and down the length of his rigid cock. Wrapping my fingers around his engorged, pulsating shaft, I stroked up and down from the head to balls, squeezing tightly.

His hips rocked forward, then back, moving in sync with my strokes. Groaning loudly in my ear, his breathing exhilarated, arousing me even more.  

Eager to feel his shaft buried deep inside my core, moisture seeped from my walls, dripping from my center.

Growling softly in my ear, “If you keep doing that, I’ll be done before you’ve even started.”

Feeling naughty, I giggled, refusing to stop. “Oh, I’ve started already,” I teased, trying to sound confident.

Shifting and moving his body down mine, he slid his shaft out of my hands and from my reach. Whimpering, I tried desperately to get a hold of him again, wanting to finish what I started.

Chuckling, he slowly traveled down my stomach, leaving a trail of soft wet kisses along the way. Circling my navel many times with his smooth, cold tongue drove me wild, and engulfed the center of my torso in flames. The fire spread, warmed me all over as his tongue and lips moved lower to my thighs.

Separating my pussy lips wide open with his fingers, he slowly licked the length in between. Swirling his tongue around my clit, he slid one finger, then two, into my slick center and groaned, “You feel so good, Natalia.”

My hips were rocking to the rhythm of his curled fingers that were moving in and out, stroking and caressing all the right sensitive spots. The incredibly delighted sensation of his sucking on my clit between his lips, flicking his tongue repeatedly with his tongue, pushed me closer and closer to the edge, making me lose all control. Crying out loud, I pleaded for more, and begged him not to stop.

A low raspy growl caused a vibration that only fueled the flames. “So delicious,” he swooned.

My fists clung to the bed sheet; the back of my head pressed against the pillow, my breathing grew heavier, my cries louder, filling the room.

Each of his hands clutched the back of my knees, pushing my legs up and spreading them wider. Sliding his cold, solid, stone-like tongue inside my body had me responding unlike ever before. The ice-cold hardness had me bucking my hips. Releasing the sheet, with both hands I grabbed a fistful of hair at the back of his head and held it there, enjoying the pleasures of his spearing tongue -- pushing in, pulling out -- and the tip stroking my sensitive spot.