Defeat the Darkness (Hearts of Darkness) (3 page)

He spread her thighs wide with his knees, lifted her legs over his shoulders, and positioned himself at her apex. With one quick powerful thrust, he slipped his long, hard length inside her. His steady pace pushed her toward soft pleasurable bliss before toppling her over the sharp edge of orgasm.

The spasms rocked her, while heated chills rippled over every inch of her skin.

All she could
do was hold on for the “do over” he’d promised as he thrust repeatedly into her.

“Fuck. That’s it, baby. Come for me, again. Let those juices sluice up my cock.” His open eyes focused on hers as he pulled half way out and plunged inside her again. “Let’s see if I can coax another orgasm out of you before I erupt.”

His normal, proper speech disappeared during sex, along with all remnants of his social upbringing, especially when he lost control. Street language was always a sign she’d undone him, and it made her smile to hear that sexy language on his lips—enunciated to perfection with a hint of his old Boston accent.

He lifted her hips and moved inside her, twisting, touching spots she didn’t know existed, and drawing reactions from her body she didn’t know she was capable of feeling.

Testing her responses, he asked, “Does that feel good, or does this?” He hit her g-spot.

She screamed, “Yes!”

“Mmm, how about this?” He lightly pinched her clit as he drove in deep.

“God, yes, both.”

“Fuck, you’re so hot. So perfect.” He paused to groan. “You’re so fucking tight, babe.”

“Fuck me senseless!” Her last orgasm was still rippling through her.

“Say the word and I’ll hold out until my balls explode. You ready to scream for mercy? It’s what you want this time, isn’t it?”

“Oh, you know it, darlin’.”

“Tell me what you feel.”

“Full of you. I love how you feel inside me, how you fill me up and stretch me to my limits.”

The casual New Orleans lifestyle had loosened Kyle up in so many ways. As far as she was concerned, it was all for the best.

“How do you want me to fill you? Slow and gentle or hard and rough?”

She wrapped her legs around his neck to angle higher, and decided to tempt him, push him further. “Harder. Rougher. Ooh, that’s right, so big, so thick, and so f-fucking hard.”

“‘F-fucking hard.’ I love when you cuss. When the southern miss comes undone. Talk dirty to me.” He laughed and gripped her hips, then slapped her ass.

“Oww! Mmm. You do? Then, fuck me hard with your big thick cock,” she said, feeling remarkably free. She lifted up, a silent invitation for him to take more, and he accepted, plunging into her as deep as he could go. Balls pressed to her ass, his cock bumped her womb, making her gasp. Her internal muscle walls contracted, clamping down around him.

“Hell, Shelby. Do that again and this will be all over.”

Holding him in her slick wet heat, she flexed again releasing another exhilarating climax. This time she shattered as never before—stars, fireworks, lightning, glass breaking, wood splintering, and explosions assaulted her senses.

He started his desperate ride inside her, pistoning into her. Sweat slicked skin slapped against sweat-slicked skin. Then he ejaculated, coming with such force she felt his spasms wrack him, shooting jets of semen into the condom.

“Whoa, Shelby, I’m still coming. Your orgasm is still milking me.”

What more would it take to convince him to stay, to keep him from leaving her tomorrow? She held him close and whispered against his lips. “I want to keep you inside me, clenching you until your orgasm explodes, again and again.”

“Shelby, you know I want that, too.” He kissed her and sucked her lower lip between his lips. “I love you, sweetness.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” He dropped his head to her breast and suckled. He circled her nipple with his tongue and dropped tender kisses across her belly. “I want to fill you with my seed and plant babies inside you.”

Flowers and roses? Romance and love? Where had the sex talk gone? This was more of what she wanted with every part of her being. Shelby held her breath, unbelieving he would say these things and
yet could still leave her.

“Have you been reading historical romance novels I don’t know about?”

“I’m serious, Shelby.” His fingers touched her sensitive entrance. “I want to see you blossom with my children inside you, here, and then I want to watch them nurse at your breast, here.” He kissed her nipple and briefly suckled again.

His declaration touched her in ways his body never had. The images he drew with his words made the back of her throat constrict. Shelby sighed—wanting to believe him—wanting to see his eyes.

“God, I hope you aren’t teasing me.”

“Look at me.” He lifted his face to meet hers, touched her breast gently, and kissed her. “I love you, Shelby. No one else, ever, just you. I want to marry you when I get back. Then we can be together and work together next year for the agency. Do everything we’ve planned.”

She swallowed hard and blinked several times. “Why not now?”

“You know why.”

That stubborn streak of his hadn’t budged. Sunday, their one day off together, usually included quiet sex and domestic mornings, unbridled sex and afternoon delights, wild sex and nightclub dancing. Today his sexual stamina had astounded her. Usually, Kyle was nothing if not cooperative when it came to satisfying her in all ways. However, he was holding back the one thing she really wanted this time—himself.

“Cancel your trip to Guatemala. If you go, things will change. I have a bad feeling about this. We’ll never get this time back.”

He held her as the sobs wracked her. “Shh, shh, babe, nothing can change how I feel about you. Nothing can keep us apart.”

“Marathon sex won’t make up for the time we’ll be apart.” After hours of mind-blowing sex, she’d hoped that would have been enough to convince him to stay even if their love wasn’t. “You say you love me, want to marry me, and yet you’re still leaving tomorrow?”

“I have to go. The people need me.” He patiently caressed her while she ranted.

“Something’s wrong. You know I hate when I get these feelings.”

“Too many Voodoo queens out last night.” Kyle gently pushed her hair away from her face, wiped her tears, and cupped her chin in his hand. Looking deep into her eyes he said, “I love you more than life. You know why I’m doing this, why I have to go.”

“Yes, to exorcise your demons. To earn your hero badge. To make up for all the selfish wealth your parents have.”

She turned her face aside, hating how she sounded like a self-centered child. Even so, she couldn’t stop herself. She was desperate not to lose him. “Why can’t you wait until next year to save the world? When my residency is over I’ll go with you, and we can pay back society for our privileged lives. We can do it together. Physicians International will still need help next year.”

“Don’t make this harder than it is.” He turned her back to face him. “The agency needs everyone now to help after the mudslides from the earthquake.”

She didn’t care if she sounded pathetic begging. “I’ll come with you—”

“No, I won’t let you interrupt your residency.”

“Let?” She jerked away and tried to stand, almost flipping herself off the bed. His hand latched onto her, preventing her from toppling as she turned away.

“You know what I mean. When have I ever tried to control you? Never. But I’m going to take control now.”

The expression on his face looked dangerous. Every muscle in his body tensed. He pulled her to him, pressed her back into the mattress, and covered her mouth with his, preventing any further argument. He held her head in place, cupping her nape as his mouth claimed hers, hot and demanding. She tasted and smelled herself on his tongue as he probed the deep recesses of her mouth.

The dominant kiss set off a blaze inside her like someone had struck a match to jet fuel. Even if she’d wanted to, she couldn’t
prevent from responding. She kissed him back—mouth-to-mouth, tongue-to-tongue, breast-to-chest—gripping his hair in her hands, wrapping her legs around him, and scoring his back with her nails. The desperation she’d held back for so long, thinking of being apart from him, reared to the surface, and Shelby seized the physical attachment for the moment.

When he lifted his
face from hers and tore away, fear spread through her as their gazes met. Without shared words, his concern was her concern—he knew—this separation would change everything between them.

The same anxious foreboding shrouded his expression as the dread she’d buried deep within her soul surfaced, and yet the emotions were unfounded, unreasonable.

Just feelings.

~~~~

She released a resigned grunt. “Don’t you dare forget to come back to me, Kyle.”

He nuzzled her breast and sighed. “You think I could ever forget you? There is no life, no happiness for me without you.” He kissed her forehead tenderly. “I can prove it.”

Shelby clasped his face in her palms and stared into his eyes. “Go ahead and try.”

Kyle
pulled away, reaching into the drawer in the nightstand, and handed her a white velvet box, yellowed with age. The cut rose design looked faded, but there was no mistaking what it was.

A ring box.

“I will marry you when I get back.”

“Boston, you Yankees have a strange way of sweet talkin’ a girl.”

“Go ahead. Open it.”

When she did, he took the ring from where it glittered inside the box and placed the antique ring on her finger. “Keep this, always.”

“It’s beautiful. A family heirloom?”

He smiled as he watched her fingers trace over the fine metal design. “Yes.”

“Wow, the filigree is so beautifully detailed.”

“Don’t you have anything to say about the diamond? I did have that upgraded.”

“Where are my sunglasses? It’s blinding me.” She giggled as she threw her arms around Kyle’s neck and kissed him.

“Shelby Mackenzie, will you marry me?”

“Yes, Kyle Lachlan. Since you’re asking so nicely. I will marry you, but we should probably do this again with clothes on, so we can describe the moment to our friends and relatives.”

“Yeah, but later,” he said when she arched her body against his. “This feels too good.”

“Someday our children may ask us to describe the moment their father asked their mother to marry him. Then what will we tell them?”

“I’m going to tell them you stripped me naked, handcuffed me, and kept me in bed for two solid days until I agreed to marry you.”

Kyle tickled Shelby until she couldn’t breathe. As she stopped laughing, she caught her breath and threatened him. “You would not dare disgrace the mother of your children!”

“Nah, b
ut the truth is more fun.” He grinned like a fool. “What do you think? Isn’t the ring a perfect accessory for the outfit?”

She gave him a dark look then placed her hand with the ring on her breast and posed touching her nipple. “Looks good here.”

Kyle grinned.

The hand dropped between her parted thighs and stopped. “What about here?”

Kyle sucked in air when she slipped her fingers inside her folds and said, “Hmm, I think you may be right. It is the perfect accessory.”

He practically growled. “God, I love you. If we didn’t have dinner reservations, I’d keep you in bed.”

Her stomach rumbled on cue. “Later. I’m going to hold you to that.

~~~~

The restaurant was one of their regular local favorites. The food was cheap but excellent and the atmosphere was…well it was all voodoo magic. The hostess seated them in a quiet corner away from the piano and the drums.

Kyle
tipped her and asked, “Will you send Max back when he gets here, Zorina?”

“
Sho nuff, darlin’,” she said, pocketing the cash. “Hear you’re off to save lives in a jungle.”

“I leave tomorrow.”

“You stay safe, ya’hear?”

“Will do.”

“Do not be so flip.” Shelby gripped Kyle by his shirt. “Promise you’ll stay safe.”

“I will, if you will.” Kyle kissed the tip of her nose.

She finally released a relaxed laughed. “I’m not the one heading into an earthquake burdened country. Besides, Max will look after me if anything comes up here.”

“Good.
When you finish your residency you can both join me, if you can drag Max away from his lab.”

“Don’t hold your breath waiting for Max. He won’t come. He’s not the sort to traipse through a jungle.”

“I think you underestimate him,” Kyle defended his friend.

“Do I? You don’t know him the way I do. You’ve only known him through med school. I’ve known him since we were in diapers. And I can tell you, he’s not the type to sweat.”

“He works out. Played football. I’ve seen him sweat.”

“Not without an ulterior motive. Why are you sticking up for your competition? He’s the one my mother, die-hard southerner that she is, still hopes I’ll marry.” Shelby laid on the southern accent.