Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1) (20 page)

Even as she thought it, she tried to reject it. Love took years to culminate. It took two people taking the time to learn one another and be able to see past all their quirks. Falling for someone in less than a week while struggling so fiercely with them the whole time, just didn’t happen.

Lust. That was all it was, all she was willing to cop to, because the alternative was just too dangerous to risk.

Her dreams come true. Would he be just as loyal? Treasure his woman; lay his life down to save hers? Lord help her, but she wanted to find out.

Staring up at him, h
er chest felt tight with anxiety at the possibility of being rejected. Her stomach was a sea of
butterflies, and
her mouth was watering profusely, as if it couldn’t wait for a taste of
him. 
 

Erias’s heart stilled as her nimble fingers crawled up his chest. When they touched his
skin,
every part of his body was electrified. And now, with her fingers woven
into
his hair and that innocent look in her soulful brown eyes, he
felt…unsure.

There had only been once in his entire existence when he had ever been as terrified as he was when he thought she was going to die. After she had blacked out a moment of pure terror had overcome him and, in a moment of desperation, he had ripped the ropes from her wrists like they were made of paper.

She was dead weight in his arms as he moved to lay her out across the bed. And as he gouged his fists under her ribcage to dislodge the food obstructing her airways, all he could think was
please
not
her.

The color was coming back into her cheeks now, her skin a vibrant shade of peach and rose. Her eyes held
his,
and he could swear they mirrored what he felt in his
own. 
 

And thanks to her
near-death experience,
he knew where he stood now. He wanted this woman more than he wanted his next breath. And thinking of Alastair’s visit, he would never let any harm come to her. Not by his hand or anyone
else’s.

Pulling him closer to her, there was one question at the forefront of his mind. Was he good enough?

For
centuries,
he had made a career out of killing. He moved like a shadow, never staying too long in one place. And behind him he left a trail of empty beer bottles and used up women. He was empty. Soulless. What did he have to give a woman like her?

Nevertheless,
for all the uncertainty, Erias couldn’t find the strength to deny himself one guilty
pleasure: the
kiss of the beautiful woman in front of
him.

Cupping her head in his hand, he leaned in the rest of the way
, slanting his mouth over hers,
and pressed their lips together
setting
off a burst of fireworks behind his lids. Never had he felt anything more powerful. It was as if she were a conduit for Zeus’s lightning bolt.

Cheyenne melted when his mouth finally closed over hers. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought kissing this man would have been so…magical.

And it made her wonder, was Sebastian on to som
e
thing
when he went off on that whole f
airies jag at brea
k
fast that morning? None of it made
sense, but
as Erias deepened their kiss, it didn’t really matter what the man was. All that mattered was that the empty place inside of her finally felt full. Like this was the puzzle piece she had been looking for in order to be
complete.

Like
he
was what she needed to be complete.

Throwing herself into the kiss, Cheyenne played tag with his tongue
,
reveling in the feel of his hands as they found the sensitive skin of her stomach.

Feeling half out of his mind from the need to touch more of her, Erias moved her to lie on the pillow and eased his own self down beside her.

The vision of her—
her dark hair splayed out on the crisp white linen, the dim lamp light casting a soft golden hue over her flawlessly pale skin and
rose-colored 
lips; the way her t-shirt hitched up just enough to show a hint of a silver belly button ring– was
spectacular.

He smiled at the way she sucked in her full bottom lip when he ran his finger across
it,
then bent down to taste the sweet softness of it with his own
mouth.

Cheyenne couldn’t seem to stop herself from ru
n
ning her hand up and down the thick, corded muscle of his
arms. They were so strong and
the sheer size of him as he moved himself over her made her feel small and dainty. She loved the lean lines of his waist, the round, firm mu
s
cles of his chest, and the deep groove down his muscular back. Thank heavens he had taken his shirt off earlier b
e
cause she would hate to be separated from his body by even the smallest scrap of fabric.

He was the perfect male
specimen,
and she wanted to study every inch of him under a microscope just to make sure he was
real.

Running kisses down her throat
,
Erias made quick work of unbuttoning her top and was rewarded by her low, throaty moan. For once he was happy that he was a master at this game. There was nothing that he wanted more than to love this woman properly.

Looking down at herself, Cheyenne was a bit su
r
prised to find that she was completely bare from the waist up. Her bra was thrown to the floor before she even knew he had it undone and was lying next to her discarded shirt. And if she didn’t stop him soon, her pants would soon join them.

Even so, she couldn’t seem to make the words come out when he popped the snap on her jeans and slid his hand beneath the material.

Licking his way back up her
body,
he laved her breasts before finding her mouth again. When his tongue dipped into her
mouth,
his fingers mimicked the movement
below.

Cheyenne was in heaven. The most incredible se
n
sations assaulted her. As he continued to touch
her,
she wondered, was this what it was like to have sex? And if it was, how had she managed to deny its guilty pleasures for so long? How had she managed to share a bed with Kris, a gorgeous guy with a killer smile and a huge sex drive to go along with his inflated ego, and never once explore this path?

And the more she thought about
it; Kris
and Erias were eerily similar. Not just in personality either. Just about everything about them was the same. The height, the build, the eyes. She couldn’t get past those eyes. Vibrant blue. So clear and radiant they were almost painful to look at but so stunning you could
n’t
bring yourself to look
away.

Berating herself for thinking of Kris at a time like this instead of enjoying the pleasure Erias was bringing on her; Cheyenne kissed him with a fervor that would make even Cathy blush.

Tangling her fingers in his long dark hair and hoo
k
ing her legs around his, she pushed against him, forcing him onto his back
,
and followed until she
could 
look down on
him.

His lids were heavy with desire as he looked up at her. He ran his hands across every inch of exposed flesh
,
causing a shiver to run down her spine and
goose bumps
to erupt all over her. And the weirdest thing, she wasn’t even cold. It actually felt good. Laying her hands on his chest, she trailed her fingers over his pecks and over the ridges of his stomach
,
enjoying how his react
ion
mirrored her
own.

Her body ached for
him,
but she wasn’t about to let herself go there. She hardly knew the man. And from what she did know, he wasn’t someone she should be getting i
n
volved with.

He was rough around the edges. He was angry and sarcastic and so hard to handle. He had thrown her across rooms, electrocuted her, and almost made her choke to death.

In
the end,
though,
he had saved her life and there was something inside of her that craved more. Something that told her that this is where she should be. It was a fee
l
ing so strong it was impossible to ignore.

He had always thought he preferred the frail, easily dominated females. The kind he dwarfed and out
powered, but
when she had flipped him over
,
it made him crazy. He loved that she had taken charge like she had.

Looking up at her, letting his eyes rove over her n
a
ked body, he wanted more than anything to make the
rest of her clothes
disappear, but
that would probably put a dam
p
er on their good
time,
and
he wasn’t one to fool with a good thing. He had the distinct impression that she was the kind of woman
who,
if pushed too fast, would freeze you out like a snow storm in
Alaska.

Rocking against the hardest part of him, Er
ias strained against his
jeans. Little E was begging for
release,
and he wasn’t too far from begging for it
himself, but
he had to have some control. No woman liked a
five-minute
man.

Easing her on to her back again, Erias took the o
p
portunity to remove the rest of her
clothes, but
as he peeled his own off, he didn’t miss the apprehension riding high on her delicate
features.

Instead of climbing on top of her, he slipped under the blankets with her and pulled her into
his side. He stroked her collar
bone, hoping that taking his time would ease her mind. He wasn’t sure why she seemed scared, but he was going to find out.

“You look like a frightened kitten,” he said
,
meeting her wide eyes
,
which she quickly turned away. “Did I do something wrong?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not you,” she said in a small voice. “I’ve just never…you know, been with a man before. This is my first time. I’m a virgin.”

Oh.
Well,
if that wasn’t pressure. “You mean they still make those?”

Glowering up at him, Cheyenne crossed her arms over her chest. “Yeah, they still make those.”

“I didn’t mean anything by it
,
sweetheart.
” He chuckled. “
It’s just hard to imagine someone your ag
e…”
Seeing the firelight dancing in her
eyes; he
wisely stopped talking before he caught one of her right hooks. Why were women so touchy about their age? “I mean, I haven’t met many virgins in a long….long time.”

“I was taught that it was special and shouldn’t be given away lightly.”

“Then you were taught well.” Armed with knowledge, Erias didn’t exactly feel right about taking something from her that she had coveted for so long. It was obviously very special to
her,
and he didn’t want her to r
e
gret him taking that in a night of misguided emotions brought on by an
accident.

Rolling onto his back, he put some distance b
e
tween them and turned out the light.

“What are you doing?” Cheyenne asked, hating the almost panicked sound in her voice. “I thought you wanted to…”

“I’ve changed my mind,” he grunted out
,
knowing full well he probably sounded like a total
asshole, but
he was the one dealing with a raging hard-on that refused to go
away.

Silence fell over the room for several long minutes. Cheyenne wasn’t sure what to make of the abrupt change in him.
First,
he couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of her. And now, he didn’t seem to want anything to do with her at
all.

“Did I do something wrong?”

He heard the note of insecurity in her voice as it quavered. “No, you did nothing wrong at all.”
Just don’t start crying.
He hated criers. He never knew what to do. What to say.  He had never been good with emotions when he was
mortal,
and he wasn’t any better now. As if he had time to practice between identity changes and demon
sla
y
ings?