Dark Hunger (7 page)

I am watching you. Can't you feel my eyes on you? You are so beautiful. Touch yourself for me.

There was seduction in his voice. A purring command, a promise of exactly what she needed. Sex—hot, elemental. A fierce lover who would slake her burning need. Juliette turned her head so that her silken hair flew around her like a cape, settling over her shoulders and body, sliding over her sensitive skin. She felt his heated gaze burning over her and she smiled.

I'm so much hotter than you can imagine. I'm slick and wet, dripping for you.
She licked her fingers, a slow deliberate curl of her tongue before sucking her own tangy juice from her fingers.
I'm burning up. Are you going to just watch me all night or are you going to do something about it?
Juliette had never been so bold in her life, but then she'd never felt such intense pressure. She was angry with him for making her so out of control, and if she was out of control, she was determined he would feel the same. And she wanted him right there, right now, and didn't care that he knew it.

Riordan didn't wait for a second invitation. He floated across the sky toward the pool, settling to earth behind her. She had a beautiful back and a perfect, rounded bottom. His hands slid over the curve of her hips, starkly possessive, and he dragged her roughly against him, wanting her to feel the thick, hard length of his erection pressed tightly against her bottom.

The breath slammed out of her lungs and hot fluid rushed to pool between her legs. His teeth skimmed the nape of her neck, her shoulder, and his hands slid up to cup her aching breasts. The soft weight filled his palms, his thumbs slid over her taut nipples, stroking caresses.

"I never thought I would find you. I spent centuries without hope, and you came to me in my darkest hour." His lips drifted up her neck to her ear, whispering the words while his hips pushed into her, rubbed to try, unsuccessfully, to ease some of the pressure.

His touch set every nerve ending screaming for relief. "I found you." Juliette didn't recognize her own voice. She shook with hunger. His body was everything to her, his mind thrust deep inside of hers, heightening her pleasure at his touch, sharing her passion, the intensity of her desire until she couldn't tell where hers began or where his left off. "I can't wait anymore. I want you inside of me."

His hand slid between her legs, felt her wet welcome. She nearly sobbed with pleasure, pushing against his hand. Her arm went back, circled his neck, dragged his head around so she could find his mouth, drown in his kisses, devour him, her teeth nibbling at his lips, her tongue dueling and dancing wildly with his. "I
need
you inside of me, Riordan. I'm going to burn up if you don't hurry."

He bit wildly at her mouth, her neck, bent her back so he could get to her breasts. He'd been fantasizing about her breasts for so long he couldn't stand not tasting them, drawing her into his mouth, suckling strongly, while his hips frantically surged against her enticing buttocks.

She screamed at the pull of his mouth, her hand tunneling in his hair, clutching his head to her while he devoured her breast. Every pull of his mouth sent wet heat pulsating through her body and trickling down her leg. Her cries nearly sent him over the edge. He bent her body forward, planting her hands on the boulders while he thrust his fingers deep into her to test her readiness. She pushed back into his hand, riding, bucking, sobbing for him enter her.

He caught her hips and held her, looking down at her beautiful body. His lifemate. Sultry, sexy—everything he could ever want. Crying out for him. Pleading for him to take her, to unite them.
Demanding
he take her. He was so hard he thought he might shatter. He surged into her thick wetness, one long stroke that felt as if it blew the top of his head off. Fire raced up his penis, spread through his body, a volcanic eruption that reached all the way to his toes.

Juliette's body was tight and hot and gripping his as he withdrew so that he shuddered with pleasure. She sobbed again, pushing eagerly back onto him as he thrust forward. He was large and thick, and driving through the soft folds was sweet torture. "Are you all right?" He was so large and she felt so small. He pressed her forward, adjusting their positions so she could take more of him. "I want all of me inside of you."

"I want every last bit of you in me too," Juliette answered. "Can't you feel what I'm feeling? Harder. Faster. I need you to be crazy, because I feel crazy." And she did. She felt wild and heated and sensual and she wanted him out of control and driving into her with everything he was. Pouring his heart and soul and his very essence into her. "More, I want more."

Juliette gave herself up to the wild pounding. Every hard stroke sent vibrations of sheer pleasure rushing through her body. Every cell, every nerve ending, every tiny part of her burned and blazed. Her breasts ached and swung with every thrust, her hair brushed the ground and silky strands fell in her face. Her body was hot and sweaty and exploding in ecstasy. She took him with her over the edge, her muscles clamping around his thick erection and dragging every last drop of his seed out of him.

For Juliette it didn't end, her body rippling with aftershocks, colors bursting behind her eyes and fireworks going off in her mind. She didn't want him to move, wanted to savor their joined bodies. He was magnificent, long and thick and more than she could possibly have imagined.

Riordan slid out of her body reluctantly. When she made a soft sound of protest he drew her back into his arms. "We have time. All the time in the world, and I want to touch you. I love kissing you." His hands skimmed her breasts, moved up to frame her face. "And I hunger for the taste of you. I want to bring you more fully into my world."

She turned her face up to nuzzle his throat. "Do you know what I am?" She kissed the hollow of his throat, her hands sliding possessively over his body. Stroking his flat stomach and kissing her way along his chest. Her hands caressed his penis, shaping and teasing and memorizing the long line of him. "I'm jaguar. A shape-shifter. Are you certain I am what you want?"

Riordan answered her in the only way he could. His body was sensitized and reacting with more demands. His incisors lengthened as his penis did. He bent his head and buried his teeth in the pulse beating so strongly in her neck.

She cried out, threw her head back and circled his neck with her arms, pressing her body closer to his. He had not used his tongue to prepare her for the shock of the connection, but Juliette felt it only as white-hot heat coursing through her bloodstream, as whips of lightning lashed every nerve ending into a sexual frenzy.

He held her possessively, his hands tender, but commanding, shifting her so that the tips of her breasts rubbed against his chest and her hair was out of the way. So that his straining groin pressed against her soft belly.
You taste like an exotic fruit, tangy and spicy and hot. I wonder what you'll taste like when I crawl between your legs and drink my fill there.

Her entire body clenched. She closed her eyes and pressed closer to him. She wanted everything from him, with him. She wanted it all.

His tongue swept across the pinpricks on her neck. His hand circled her throat, his thumb tipping up her face so that she was compelled to look into his eyes.
See what I taste like.
He commanded it in a purring, velvet voice, so mesmerizing she half fell into a dream. Riordan opened a line with a sharp fingernail, caught the back of her head in his palm and pressed her face forward until her mouth was pressed to the heavy muscles of his chest, just above his heart. She could feel it beating, accelerating as her lips moved over his skin, as she drew his dark gift into her body.

He brought her out of her enthrallment when she had taken enough for their second exchange, his mouth ravishing hers. He could kiss her forever, over and over and never get enough. Their mouths clung, tongues tangling wildly. Abruptly he pulled away, scowling at her. There was an ominous danger to his smoldering gaze.

"What?"

"Do not
what
me. You were thinking of another man."

Juliette ran her tongue over her bottom lip. "I was not thinking of another man. I merely thought I'd never been with a man as sexy as you. There's a difference."

His hand circled her bare arm, brought her close to him. "You have been with another man."

"Jaguars are sexual creatures, Riordan. We need sex at times." She leaned forward and lapped at his chest, right above his heart. "Why should that bother you?"

"Juliette, we are bound together. I would know if you had sex with another man. You could not hide it from me."

"I wouldn't try to hide it from you." She pushed at the wall of his chest but he was a rock, and even with her unusual strength, she couldn't move him.

"I would kill him."

"Why would you kill him? He isn't the one bound to you."

"Exactly." Riordan turned away from her, a black anger he didn't understand enveloping him. To cool off, he waded into the pool and looked back at her. She stood there with the moonlight spilling over her luscious body, her expression a mixture of amusement and exasperation. She was so beautiful he hurt just looking at her. "I am not human, Juliette and you can never think for one moment that I am. I am a predator and I will protect what is mine."

"Did I say I wanted another man? No! I was thinking no one else could compare with you. I was
not
thinking I wanted someone else. How could I, after what we just shared? Are you going to be an idiot and act jealous all the time? That would make me crazy."

He ducked under the water to rinse the heat from his skin. He stood up, the water lapping at his hips. "Come here."

"You didn't answer me."

He sighed. "Yes, I am going to be an idiot and act jealous all the time. The idea of another man touching you, making love to you, makes me want to tear out his heart."

"Well." Juliette smiled and waded out to him. "I'd want to tear out the heart of any woman that tried to seduce you." She reached him, tipping up her face for his searing kiss. "We'll both have to work not to be jealous idiots. I can't see myself wanting anyone else when I have you."

"I will not mind if you wish to seduce me." He kissed her again, long, addictive kisses that had a bite to them.

"How lucky for me." She bent down and hit the water with her hand, sending up a spray that doused him thoroughly. Laughing, she dove away from him, swimming beneath the water to the center of the pond.

Chapter 6

Riordan watched her swim, her pale body slipping sensuously through the water. The clear liquid shimmered over her feminine form, enhancing every curve and secret hollow. Catching the glimpse of another man in her mind had been a shock, and he wasn't certain why it would be. She was a very sexual woman. She was bold and knew what she wanted. He wanted that kind of woman, as sexual as he knew himself to be, yet the thought of another man leaning down to suckle her breast or plunge deep into her body made the beast in him rise. It was dark and ugly and utterly dangerous.

Juliette would attract the attention of men with her shapely body. She was the epitome of a sexual creature. Riordan dove under water and began to swim laps, back and forth, driving himself to keep his fury at bay. If she ever wanted another man…

I thought lifemates wanted only each other.
There was curiosity in her voice.

You are the only lifemate I have ever had. I am new at this.

He sounded so disgruntled she laughed and swam to the other side of the pool. There was a smooth shelf formed from boulders beneath the surface near the edge of the water. Juliette sat on it and watched him swim back and forth like a shark.
Does it really bother you so much?

Riordan heard the soft tremor in her voice.
Of course it bothers me. I am a possessive man. But it matters little, Juliette. We are lifemates. We are bound from this time forward and there will be no other.

Is that a decree?
She didn't know why she was suddenly close to tears. She wasn't ashamed of her past. She didn't want any other men now, but she couldn't help that she had been born into a species that made it nearly impossible not to have sex at certain times. She wasn't about to apologize for who she was.

Riordan caught the echo of her thoughts, the painful tightness in her chest, and knew he hurt her. Had that been his intention? He hoped not. He would despise himself if his newly acquired emotions were so out of control that he could punish his lifemate for something she did before he met her.

He swam slowly across the pool until he was directly in front of her. "I do believe I am the idiot you called me. I apologize for my jealous streak. I also find I have a rotten temper which I shall do my best to control." He grinned at her, a sudden melting smile that brought life to his dark eyes. "It is the passion in me. My blood runs hot and I am caught. Fortunately…" He moved closer to her, his hands circling her ankles. "I can make up for my shortcomings in other ways."

"Don't you dare." She could see the mischief on his face.