Claiming His Fire (16 page)

Goddamn, my girl could kiss.

I pressed my hips into hers, needing more, wanting to give her everything, to make her scream. To make her mine. She wrapped her legs around me tighter, her heels on my ass, clinging to me through every stroke of my tongue against hers. But when she started to move, writhing against me, burning me up as she practically danced against my cock, I knew we had to stop. Fuck, I wanted her body, but I wanted
her
more, her heart and soul, her everything. I needed to make her open up to me. I needed to know she’d stay for more than just a few hours.

I pulled back from the kiss with two small nibbles to that plump lower lip. “You can’t keep running away from us.”

She swallowed hard, her eyes all lust-blown and wide. “I…I know.”

“Is this it?” I kissed her again, unable to stop myself, craving one more taste. “Are you accepting us as a possibility?”

Her chest flushed, the red climbing, capturing my eyes. “I don’t… I can’t keep hurting you. But I’m scared. ”

I pulled back, cocking my head. “Of what?”

“Of giving myself to you, and—” she closed her eyes, hiding once more “—and you throwing me away.”

I rubbed my nose on hers, waiting for her to open those jade eyes again before sucking her bottom lip between my teeth with a growl. She groaned, her hips jerking against where I was so hard for her.

“You’re my mate,” I said once I’d released her lip. “The only one I get. My wolf wants you. My tiger is ready to claim you as his own, too. The bastard is obsessed with making you his.”

“And what about you?”

“What about me?” I asked, grinding into her.

“Shit.” She gasped and gripped my arms tighter. “What does the man want?”

I smirked and lifted her, lining up her sweet pussy with my aching cock. “What do you think? Do you think I only want this? That I just want to get inside you?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“Yes, you do.” I leaned closer, kissing her deep and hard before pulling back and placing my forehead against hers. “Scarlett, if that was all I wanted, I would have tried last night. You’re more than a one-night kind of girl to me. I want lots of nights with you…years of nights. I want forever.”

Her lips turned up—just the corners—in a sexy half smile. “Forever’s a long time.”

“It is, which is why we’ll take it one night at a time.” I leaned in, giving her a small kiss, barely a brush of my tongue on hers. “One hour. One minute. However slow we need to go. Until I get you to realize I’m not going anywhere.”

“Shadow—”

“You’re it for me, Sparky. Not because of fate or some kind of magic tying us together. Because I choose you…because I want you. You’re mine and I’m yours, if you want me.”

She kept her eyes on mine as I gave her a second to think. Not kissing, not moving, not pressing. Just she and I staring each other down. Waiting each other out. Opening myself to her in the most honest way I knew how.

And then she set me on fire with a whispered, “Yes.”

“Yeah?” My cheeks burned as my smile grew.

“Yeah, of course I want you.” She pulled me closer, shifted her hips to rub herself along my hard length, made me sigh and growl as she teased my cock through our clothes. “I need you, Shadow. All of you.”

“So have me.” I attacked her mouth and thrust against her, making her gasp as my hardness pressed into just the right spot. She liked that, so I did it again. And again. I kept doing it, kissing her hard, rubbing on her, squeezing her ass with both hands.

On a particularly rough thrust, one that made her head fall back and a nasty curse fall from her lips, she grabbed my bare shoulder. I hissed as the heat of her palm seared my skin.

Scarlett jerked back, seeming to recede into herself. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I shook my head, holding her eyes as I brought her hand back to my shoulder. Sighing through the burn of her skin on mine. “Set the whole place on fire, just touch me.”

She resisted, curling her fingers against my skin and looking at me with what had to be regret. “But I could hurt you, or cause—”

“Don’t care,” I interrupted, pressing myself against her swollen pussy again just to see the flash of heat burn through her eyes. “Burn me, bite me, claw me…just let me make you feel good.”

“Jesus.” She writhed against me, her eyes nearly rolling back as she bit her lip. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t.” I spun us around, carrying her, heading for the bedroom as she clung to me. “But even if you did, it wouldn’t matter. I want to feel all of you against me. Right now.”

“I don’t know…” She shook her head and tried to look down, but I growled sharply. Her head popped back up and her eyes met mine.

“Scarlett, when was the last time you were able to get lost during sex?” I laid her down on my bed, crawling on top of her, not letting her go. “How long has it been since you could really let go and just come without worrying about fire or flames or burns?”

She stared, wide-eyed, cheeks dark. “I…don’t remember.”

“Oh, baby.” I pulled her closer, gentling my kiss, sucking that bottom lip into my mouth as my hands massaged her ass. “Let me make you feel good. Give up on that holding yourself back thing and just let me take care of you.”

“I want you to,” she said as she tilted her head back. I latched on to her neck, sucking and biting my way from the top to the curve of her shoulder. Fuck, I was so hard, so desperate for her. Desperate for more sensation. The pre-come causing wet spots on the inside of my sweats, the heat of Scarlett’s pussy through the worn fabric, the way her body curved into mine. I wanted her. Wanted to make her shiver and scream and gasp with my fingers or mouth. And, oh God, someday soon I wanted to bury myself inside her. Wanted to own that pussy and show her how much pleasure I could give her if she’d just let go. If she’d just give me a chance.

And then she did.

“Shadow, please.”

Oh hell, I was in a very naughty version of Heaven. The way this man manipulated my body and made me want to crawl all over him with his words was irresistible. And his strength. He’d walked with purpose while holding me, carrying me through his apartment as if I weighed nothing. I’d never been manhandled by a guy before, but I liked it.

“Shadow,” I whispered as he pressed me into the mattress. He growled a response, his mouth too busy treating my neck to some serious attention to form words. Attention that made me shake and squirm and want to feel that tongue elsewhere. “Please.”

“Scarlett.”

I shivered, the rumble in his voice making me gasp. Making me wet. Making me need.

“Yes.” I arched into him, not sure what I was begging for, but wanting more. More touch, more sensation. My body burned from the inside out, pulsing with want, setting off fireworks inside of me. The only thing keeping me from bursting into flames was the man on top of me, licking my throat, biting me. Oh the Goddess, the biting.

Shadow groaned and shifted lower, keeping his mouth on my skin as he passed my collarbone. “My beasts can smell you, can tell how aroused you are. It’s so delicious.”

His hands found my breasts, making me writhe and moan as he massaged and kneaded the heavy flesh, as he teased my nipples.

“Shadow,” I groaned, lost in sensation, unsure whether to beg him to stop or to keep going. To work harder. To make me scream.

He licked a path up my neck and pressed his lips against mine for a soft kiss. “Do you want me to stop?”

“No, but—”

He kissed me again, swallowing my words before pulling back and leaning his forehead against mine. “I want you naked in my bed, Scarlett. I want to taste you and tease you and make you come. Your smell is driving me crazy. Let me press my face against that sweet pussy and eat you up. I want to taste you so bad right now. That’s
all
I want.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Well, to be honest, I’d really like to fuck you six ways from Sunday, but I know it’s too soon for that.”

I grinned, biting my lip and shaking my head.

He sighed and kissed me again, gentler this time, softer. “If you don’t want me to do anything, I won’t. We can kiss and cuddle and fall asleep together again. I’ll be a perfect gentleman. But if you want me the way I want you, then let me take off your clothes. Because putting my mouth on you is all I can think about.”

I groaned. “Jesus, Shadow. You barely talk to me for days, show up in those fucking sweat pants, and then you lay all this dirtiness on me.”

He shrugged, giving me a charming, boyish grin. “What can I say? I like to let people know what I want.” He rolled to the side, placing his hand on my stomach. “And I want you.” He slid his fingers under the waistband of my jeans, teasing my stomach, making me want to crawl right out of my own skin. “Naked.” Lower, to the edge of my panties, sliding back and forth across my overheated skin. “In my bed.”

He stared—his hand in my pants and his body pressed along the side of mine—while I worried. What if I hurt him? What if the fire within burned him? In the past, I’d never been able to tell someone about what could happen or why, which had made me hold back. A lot. The secret of our coven had always trumped their safety. But I wouldn’t have to hide with Shadow. He knew my secret, and he hadn’t run away in fear. He knew and wanted to touch me anyway… And damn was that attractive.

Throwing caution to the wind and hoping he knew when to back off if things got hot, I smiled and lifted my hips. “So what’s stopping you?”

He smirked and slid his hand all the way into my pants. “Not a fucking thing.”

His lips met mine once more, and his fingers began a slow, torturous massage over my panties. Pressing against my clit, sliding along each side of me. Teasing me brutally. I tried to lift my legs, to spread them, but my pants were too tight and his thick arm in the waistband wasn’t helping.

“Stop,” I said, pulling away from him as my frustration mounted.

He jumped back, eyes wide. “What’s wrong?”

“You said you wanted me naked.” I flicked my hand, indicating the clothing I still wore. “This is definitely not naked.”

He grinned and shook his head. “No, that’s definitely not naked.”

I unsnapped my jeans and pulled the zipper down, keeping my eyes on his. Once loose, I lifted my legs straight up in the air and pulled the waistband over my hips.

“Want to give me a hand?”

He swallowed, his eyes tracking from my hips to my ankles. “Yes.”

Hands soft, he placed my ankles on his shoulder and slid his hands to my hips. He tugged my jeans off slowly, reverently, running a hand over every inch of skin he bared. My panties came next. I shivered at the gentle way his fingers dragged the black lace down my legs, at the look of concentration on his face as his eyes followed their path. Black on tan, lace against muscle, sexy against strong. And then bare. He smiled and leaned in to kiss my knee as he tossed my clothes to the floor.

“Come here,” he whispered, holding out a hand. I took it without hesitation, no longer fearing anything when it came to this man. I put my trust in him to take care of me, to treat me right, to be the person I knew him to be. To be mine.

He pulled me to a sitting position with my legs spread on either side of his. Watching me, staring at where I was swollen and wet for him. I leaned back, bracing my weight on one hand and letting the other trail along my inner thigh. Letting my fingers tease between my lips. Sliding two just inside.

Shadow licked his lips and moaned, a frenzied look in his eyes. “So fucking pretty.”

He grabbed the bottom hem of my T-shirt, never looking away, sure and solid and totally in the moment. I lifted my arms, and he pushed my shirt up and over my head, leaving me in only a black lace bra. Before he could try, I reached behind me and unhooked the back, pulling the straps down and tossing it with the rest of my things, leaving me naked in Shadow’s bed. Completely vulnerable and exposed. Legs spread, arms back, nothing left to the imagination. With him staring at me like I was the best thing he’d ever seen.

“Your turn,” I whispered.

Shadow slid his hands up from my hips, running softly over my waist and ribcage, cupping my breasts and flicking his thumbs against my nipples. I let my head fall back, pushing into his hands, so turned on I could hardly breathe.

His eyes dark and a low growl vibrating through the room, he leaned forward to place a kiss to the swell of each breast before running his lips up my sternum, licking across my collarbone, and finally biting, kissing, and sucking on my neck. Good graces, the man had a neck fetish, and I loved it.

“You’re ridiculously beautiful,” he whispered into my skin, making me grin.

“And you’re still wearing clothes. I don’t really want to be naked all alone.”

Shadow didn’t hesitate. He stood and dropped his sweat pants—the only clothes he wore, apparently—standing naked before me in under a second. Naked and hard. So damn hard. And patterned.

“Stripes,” I whispered, bringing my fingers to the striations across his groin. Light, barely visible, they captured my attention. The slight texture of them made me run my fingers over them again and again, the placement keeping my attention on his thighs, his hips, his cock.

He shivered and made a mewing sound as I teased the lines once more. “Birthmark.”

I leaned forward, kissing the darkest stripe, the one that wrapped right over his thick cock and across his hipbone at an angle. “They’re beautiful.”

“You’re beautiful.”

While I eyed all he had to offer, he crawled over top of me, pushing me back and demanding my gaze. He let his whole body touch mine, joining us from chest to feet, even wrapping his arms under my shoulders to hold me to him. My soul settled as his body engulfed mine. It made me feel small and cared for, cherished even, a totally new sensation for me.

With a small smile, he leaned down, touching his lips to mine once more. Desperation growing, I slid my tongue into his mouth and curled my fingers in his hair. Directing him. Leading the kiss. He groaned and sucked on my bottom lip for a moment before he pulled back, moving down my body. Taking his own path.