Darkness Seduced (Primal Heat Trilogy #2) (Order of the Blade) (12 page)

Lily smiled, a smug little grin that reached inside him and plucked at something soft. Something warm. Something that made him want to smile back. He liked that arrogant look on her face, the one that showed the courageous woman inside that battered body.

Of course, that didn’t change the fact that he’d been completely derailed by what had just happened. He’d had every intention of making love to her, and instead, he’d jumped off the ship early. Early! What the hell? Where was the rigid control he’d owned for the last five hundred years?

Lily trailed her fingers through his hair, and then she lightly kissed his temple, a tender, affectionate gesture that rocked him as much as the orgasm had. No one was tender with him. It wasn’t a part of his life, and he didn’t need it.

But with his skin still tingling from her kiss, he wanted her to do it again. And again.

“Did this happen to you a lot when you were fifteen?” Lily sounded amused, and a little proud of herself.

“Yeah, it did, actually,” he admitted, unable to keep anything from her. “It completely humiliated me every damn time.” It had happened every time he’d gotten it on with a girl, triggered by the intensity of the emotions and lust racing between them. It had continued until he’d figured out how to shut down his emotions and separate himself from what was happening around him. Once he’d learned that, sex had become a tool to sate his Calydon instincts, something he could engage in with the impartiality of an outside observer.

Since then, sex had never been something he couldn’t control, but that one kiss with Lily had triggered an intense reaction that he’d been completely unprepared for. Even all that shit he dealt with when he was fifteen was nothing compared to what he’d just felt. This hadn’t just been sex. It hadn’t just been his empathic abilities taking over. This had been something else entirely. “I lost it from kissing your stomach. I can’t believe it.”

Lily laughed softly and patted his cheek. “Don’t look so upset. I’ve been told I have a very sexy stomach.”

Yeah, well, that bit of news sure helped his mood. “Who’s been checking out your belly?” he growled.

Her eyebrows went up. “You’re jealous?”

“Hell, yeah. I wanted to impress you with my great sexual prowess and I went off early.” Gideon groaned and dropped his head to her neck again and inhaled. “You smell so damned good, I’m getting hard again already.”

What in hell’s name was going on? He had no defenses against her scent, against the way her body felt against him. He had no resistance to the way those green eyes glittered with so much emotion. “I’m not like this,” he muttered. “I don’t react this way to women. Ever. I can’t stop myself when I’m with you.”

Lily didn’t move for a second, then her muscles tensed up. She shoved at his shoulders. “Get up.”

He wrapped his arms around her. “No way. I need another chance to prove myself.”

“No, you don’t.” She shoved harder, and he could feel the palpitations of her heart. Nervous. Worried. Panicked.

Shit. He didn’t want her afraid of him. He immediately loosened his grip, allowing her to scramble free. The moment he lost contact with her, a cold feeling of loss settled over him. Being separated from her felt wrong. His instincts shouted for him to reclaim her, to bring her back beneath him, to finish what he’d started.

But he made no move to go after her. She’d spent too long being trapped, and no way would he make her revisit that hell, no matter how badly he wanted to vault up and go after her. “You don’t need to fear me,” he said, unable to keep the heat out of his voice as he watched her stand up. Her body was lithe and athletic, those long legs stretching as she rose to her feet. Even in those baggy sweats and that huge sweatshirt, she was sexy as hell.

“No?” Lily hugged herself. “I’m fully aware of your virility, and I feel like I just dodged a bullet. You just admitted that you have no control with me. That’s not good!”

He rolled onto his back, trying to get his muscles functioning again, but they were still spent from that short interlude. Hell. Was he getting that old? “Most women would take that as a compliment that you were the only female in five hundred years to break my control.” He kept his voice even and low, trying to figure out what it was he’d said that had spooked her.

“I would have had sex with you just then, Gideon.”

Something carnal and male pulsed through him, and he sat up. “I’m guessing that’s a problem?” His voice was dangerously low, throbbing with the desire thickening inside him.

Lily’s eyes widened, and her cheeks flushed. Then she raised her chin and set her hands on her hips. “Yes, it’s a problem. You’re a
Calydon
.”

“So?” He couldn’t take his eyes off the curve of her mouth. He knew what she tasted like: sin, temptation, and all the colors of the damn rainbow. Not that he’d ever tasted a rainbow, but he
knew
that it would taste like her.

Lily threw up her arms in frustration. “So, you’re dangerous! I mean, I knew I responded to any Calydon, but that...that was so far over the top I can’t even deal with it.” She grabbed the sleeping bag and threw it over his hips, covering his erection that was already primed for her. “And stop tempting me by lying there naked. Damn all of you Calydons and your sexuality.” She stalked a short distance away and sat down on a boulder.

He scowled, something dark and not so playful rumbling through him at her comment. “You respond to any Calydon? What does that mean?” She was his. He knew it in every cell of his body. There would be no other Calydons for her. Ever. “You respond only to me.”

He wasn’t saying it as a threat or a warning. He was saying it as the truth. Just as she was the single force that had penetrated his walls, he knew it was the same for her.

This was a first for both of them, and any further thought of other warriors needed to be off the table. Now.

“Well, yes, that’s my point. You’re different.” Her cheeks were still flushed, and he could smell her arousal, felt it pulsing through her, still seeking fulfillment. He knew, with absolute certainty, that it would take only one kiss and she’d be his again. And this time, he’d make sure he lasted long enough to take her.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Lily’s eyes widened and she pointed her finger at him as she scooted to a boulder a little further away. “I’m not getting caught up in some crazy sex thing with you. Stay right there and tell me why you came to get me. Even if Ana sent you, I know the Order has more important things to do than rescue random women. You have a reason. I want to know what it is.” Her words were heavy with desire, but he sensed her determination with her questions.

She wasn’t simply avoiding talking about sex. Gideon could tell she actually needed answers, as if information would give her strength.

And shit, she was right about what they needed to focus on. He groaned and rubbed his hand over his eyes. How the hell had he forgotten about that? He didn’t have time for a sex marathon with anyone, even Lily. Because that’s what it would be. Once he got another taste of her, he knew he wouldn’t stop until they were both too tired to move.

“Gideon?”

“Yeah.” He tossed the blanket aside and stood up, ignoring his erection as he walked over to the clothes he’d tossed over a branch last night. Still wet, but he didn’t care. He needed to pull his head back together and get focused. He ditched the idea of wet boxers bunching under his jeans and grabbed his pants instead. “What do you know about the stone?”

“The one in the handle of Nate’s knife?” Lily eyed his chest as he pulled his jeans up over his hips. The yearning on her face was evident, and Gideon had to steel himself to keep from marching over to her and finishing what he’d tried to start.

“Yeah,” he said. “What’s so important about the knife?”

Lily frowned. “I don’t know anything about it. All I know is that both Nate and Frank wanted it, so I figured it was important. Is that how Ana got free? Did she get it?”

Gideon cursed and ignored her question. “Seriously? You know
nothing
?”

She stiffened at the frustration in his voice. “That’s why you came to get me? So I could give you answers about the stone?”

He met her gaze. “I came to get you because you needed help.” It was the truth, and he knew it. Yeah, he’d been sent there on Order business once the team had realized Lily might be able to help them. But that wasn’t
why
he was there. He was there because the night they’d rescued Ana, when she’d told him about Lily and begged him so desperately to retrieve her, Gideon had been consumed by a fierce, burning need to find Lily and save her. No woman could suffer what Ana had suffered, and he’d known instantly that he was the one who had to retrieve this woman that Ana had entrusted to his safekeeping.

He’d come for Lily, pure and simple.

“Yes.” Lily watched carefully, wondering how much Gideon knew. How much had the Order paid attention to her? How much did they know about what she’d spent her life doing?

Lily knew the moment Gideon realized
exactly
who she was. His face darkened and a scowl creased his features as everything clicked into place in his mind. “You’re the crazy professor who’s been vilifying Calydons for twenty years,” he growled as he yanked his shirt over his head. “The one who screwed up some of our missions by telling secrets we didn’t want told.” Realization flickered in his eyes, and his voice softened. “The one who disappeared two years ago. Shit, Lily. We had no idea what happened to you.”

She was surprised by his ability to offer honest sympathy. Lily hadn’t expected him to be the kind of person who could communicate such a heartfelt apology simply with the tone of his voice. He was sorry for not realizing she’d needed help, when she’d never even met him? This was the man she’d spent her life accusing of being so cold, so merciless, so heartless?

Standing here with Gideon, with her skin still tingling from his kisses, suddenly all Lily’s convictions about the Calydon lack of humanity seemed so unfounded. He wasn’t the remote, faceless monster she’d spent her life cultivating. He was real, he was living, and he was the most passionate person she’d ever experienced. “Did I really screw up some of your missions?”

“Yeah.” His expression was deadpan. “We have a dartboard with your face on it, and if we weren’t bound by our oath to protect innocents, you’d be dead. Until you disappeared, we were all hoping you’d wind up being an Order
sheva
so we could kill you.”

She blinked. “Are you joking?”

Gideon walked over to her, his bulk intimidating and daunting. “You’ve been stalking me for years.” His eyes were relentless and hard, exactly how she’d imagined he would be. This was the Gideon she’d expected, not the passionate lover who could evoke so much desire in her. “Why?”

A sudden sense of dread welled within her as she sat up more stiffly on the rock, realizing what he’d just asked. “You knew I was focused on you, specifically?”

“Of course I knew. You weren’t just seeking information about the Order or Calydons in general.” His gaze narrowed. “You wanted
me.
” He crouched down so he was level with her, his quad muscles flexing like rods of steel beneath the wet denim. “That’s why you freaked in the car when you realized who I was. Because you’re Lily Davenport, famous researcher with an agenda when it comes to Gideon Roarke.” He caught his fingers under her chin, his touch light, his blue eyes intense. “Tell me, Dr. Davenport, why do I matter so much to you?”