Destined (Vampire Awakenings) (16 page)

   She relished in the feel of his body against hers, so strong and different. He was hard, where she was soft, broad where she was small. The rough bristles along his jaw rubbed against her skin, and beneath her hand she could feel the crisp hairs of his chest, the powerful muscles that flexed and bunched as he held her within his steel embrace. Leisurely, the hand in the small of her back slid over her hip bones, along her stomach, leaving a burning trail across her skin as he stroked and caressed her.

   Tremors shook her, her heart hammered in her chest as he clasped her breast through the thin material of her nightgown. Isabelle gasped in surprise as pleasure, and desire, tore through her. Instinctively she
arched
against him;
her hands released
his shirt to wrap tightly around his neck. She clung to him as liquid heat spread through her. He rubbed and kneaded her, teasing her hardened nipple with his thumb as she pressed tighter into the exquisite heat of his palm.

   He released her mouth to travel down her neck, leaving a trail of burning heat as he nibbled and licked lightly at her skin. Gasping with pleasure, her knees gave out as she was swamped with a passion so fierce that she could hardly breathe through it. His hard thigh served to keep her upright as her entire world became filled with the wonderful touch, and feel of him.

   The feel of his thigh between her legs brought something new and unexpected forth. She rubbed herself experimentally against him, as her body seemed to instinctively seek the motion. A soft gasp escaped from her as a new bolt of pleasure caused her legs to tremble, and her entire body to go weak. He groaned, his hands tightening on her as she rocked against him again, sliding her aching loins against the hard muscle of his thigh.

   “Isabelle,” he grated hoarsely in her ear.

   He seized hold of her waist, his mouth fiercely reclaiming hers with a wild frenzy that startled her. Then, the fear vanished as she found herself consumed by his obvious need. Lifting her easily off of him, he settled her onto the counter. He grasped hold of her calves, his hands burning into her skin as he wrapped her legs around his waist.

   Isabelle stiffened for a moment as fear raced through her. Everything was going too fast, the world was spinning as she turned into a quivering mass of nerve endings that tingled everywhere. She knew that she should stop him, stop all of this. This was the last thing that she had wanted, the one thing that she had been denying, but it felt so right, and so unbelievably good. He seized hold of the collar of her nightgown, pulling it roughly down to free her breast. His hard hand instantly seiz
ed
upon it.

   Any protest she might have made died instantly as she withered beneath his searing touch. The feel of his rough, callused palm on her breast was the most exquisite thing she had ever experienced, and there was no way that she
c
o
u
ld stop him. His arm wrapped around her waist, dragging her across the counter top, and pressing her tightly against his pelvis. A cry of surprise escaped her as she felt the hard proof of his fierce arousal, pressing through his jeans, rubbing deliciously against the sensitive area between her quivering thighs.

   Stefan couldn’t seem to get enough, he felt as if he was drowning in the sweet taste of her, in the intense way that she reacted to him. Her skin was as soft and smooth as silk as he ran his hands lightly along her quivering thighs. She smelled of fresh air, soap, and apples, but beneath it all he could smell her delicious, natural womanly scent
that pulsed through her blood and body
. A scent that enveloped him and burned into him, a scent he knew that he would never forget.

   She was so wild, so free and uninhibited
.
S
he responded to everything he did with small gasps of surprise, and beautiful whimpers that made him even harder, and more frantic to have her. It took all the control he had not to rip the nightgown off of her and take her upon the counter. If it wasn’t for the fact that he believed her to be a virgin, he would have done so already, but he didn’t want to hurt her anymore than he
w
ould when he did enter her.

   He needed to slow things down, to get her downstairs, but the feel of her, the taste of her was driving him beyond all reasonable thought of control, and sanity. He wanted her with an urgency he had never experienced before, with a longing that was coming close to making him snap. Beneath his palm, her hardened
nipple
burned into his skin as he rubbed and kneaded her with a growing sense of urgency. He lifted his mouth to drop soft kisses along her sensitive ear and neck, traveling down her breast plate, before seizing upon her nipple.

   She moaned; her body bucked
wildly against his as her fingers wrapped tightly into his hair. He licked and nipped, savoring her as he drew her hardened nipple into his mouth. He suckled upon it until she was withering with passion, and grinding herself against him with a wild abandon that made him nearly breathless.

   “Stefan!” she gasped, unable to stand the tight anticipation building inside of her. She didn’t know what was happening to her, but she knew that he could ease her torment, and she desperately wanted him too. Unable to help herself, she opened her eyes and looked down at him. Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of his dark head bent over her breast, her nipple drawn into his mouth as his tongue teasingly circled it. It was the most erotic thing she had ever seen. Unable to bear the tightening in her body, the passion that enveloped her, she dropped her head to his shoulder.

   That was when she smelled it.

   She stiffened instantly;
her legs f
e
ll
away from him. All of her pleasure vanished immediately as anger and disgust threatened to choke her. They instantly replaced all of the pleasure that she had been experiencing. “Stop! Get off!” she cried, shoving angrily at his chest and shoulders as she squirmed to break free of his iron grasp.

   For a moment, he didn’t move. She shoved angrily at him again, but it was like shoving at a brick wall, he didn’t even budge. Tears of frustration and anger welled up in her as she fought back rolling waves of nausea. Finally, he lifted his head from her breast to gaze down at her. She stopped shoving at him to quickly pull her
nightgown back into place;
embarrassment r
ose
up to mix with the fierce tangle of her emotions.

   Clinging to the neckline of her nightgown, she forced herself to lift her chin and stare defiantly up at him. She moved to get off the counter, but he planted his hands on either side of her, his arms shaking slightly as his dark, smoldering eyes met hers. There was a mixture of anger and regret in his gaze as he kept her from escaping.

   “Isabelle...”

   “No! Get away from me!” Releasing her nightgown, she went to shove at his chest
again
but then thought better of it. She didn’t want to touch him again, didn’t want to feel the heat of his body again. She was afraid she would lose her will if she did. “You just left her bed and now... now...” She broke off, unable to speak through the anger and humiliation. She was appalled at herself, infuriated with him, and all she wanted to do was run to her room, bury herself under her blankets, and forget that this awful experience had ever happened.

   His eyes narrowed as they gleamed dangerously in the dark. Isabelle inhaled sharply as his gaze traveled slowly over her. “You didn’t mind a minute ago,” he replied sneeringly.

   The breath rushed out of as all of her composure snapped and rage sprang forth. Without thinking, she swung her hand up with every intention of hitting him. He caught it easily, holding it tightly within his large, powerful hand. For a moment, she was truly frightened as his face became as hard as granite, and his eyes became cold chips of brutal black ice. He looked unbelievably deadly, and she knew that no matter how strong she was, he could snap her in half if he chose too.

   “Don’t,” he growled
in warning
.

   Her eyes blazed with fury,
the fear left her gaze, and she glared hatefully at him. Stefan stood for a moment longer, shaking with anger, and unfulfilled lust as he met her furious stare. Then, he dropped her arm and stepped away from her before he found himself unable to let her go. She stared at him for a moment longer
;
her eyes flicker
ed
uncertainly over his face before she slid wearily off the counter. He made no move toward her as she tilted her chin, cast him a scathing look, and stormed away.

   Sighing angrily, Stefan leaned against the counter, admiring the sway of her hips as she hurried away. He closed his eyes against the fierce pressure in his throbbing groin, and the overwhelming disappointment that seized him. Damn, he thought silently. He hadn’t meant to say what he had to her, hadn’t meant to be so cruel. It was himself that he was mad at, not her. But he had been so aroused, and so irritated when she had told him to stop, that he hadn’t been able to stop himself from getting nasty with her.

 
And the kick in the ass of it all was that it was
his
damn fault. He knew that she had been willing, that he could have had her before she even knew what was happening, but he had completely forgotten about Jess. Of course she would smell Jess on him, in him. She was one of his kind after all.

   “Shit,” he muttered, slamming his hand on the counter in frustration.

   Shoving himself away from it, he stormed over to the door and flung it open, desperate to escape from the suddenly stifling confines of the house. A nice dip in the lake was just w
hat
he needed to douse his arousal so he could attempt to sort out the mess that he had gotten himself into.

CHAPTER 8

   Isabelle was in the worst mood of her life when she woke the next day. Not only had she gotten almost no sleep, but that miserable jerk had ruined what little sleep she did get by invading her dreams. Dreams that had left her tingling, and aching, and longing for something that she didn’t understand. Dreams that started where last night had ended. Dreams that she
did
n
’
t
want to
recall
, but couldn
’
t forget
.

   She dressed quickly in a pair of cut off shorts, and a lose tank top before pulling her hair into a ponytail. Glancing at the basement window she was surprised to note that the sun was just starting to rise. She scowled angrily, she was never up this early, and that was his damn fault too. So was the fact that she was extremely hungry. So hungry that her body was burning
with
it.

   Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the fire racing through her veins. She tried to recall the last time she had fed, but she couldn’t remember. It had been before Stefan came, four, no five days ago. Hunger suddenly raged through her, hot and burning with its intensity. She had never let herself go this long before, but she had been so obsessed with him, and trying to stay away from him, that she had completely forgotten about it. Her body was now painfully reminding her.

   Hurrying out of the basement, she practically ran up the stairs in her eagerness to ease the pain in her body. She froze in the doorway of the living room when Jess came out of the downstairs bathroom
,
head
ing
for the kitchen. She looked exceptionally pretty with her light blond hair flowing down her shoulders and back
.
She was
dressed in a pair of
formfitting
jeans, and a tight tank top that emphasized her full chest, and curvy figure.

   Isabelle was suddenly rocked by a fierce bolt of jealousy that shook her to the core and left her breathless. Determined to smother the emotion, she grit her teeth fiercely against it and took a deep breath. She didn’t give a damn what the arrogant ass did, or who he did it with. After last night, she knew that she had been
right;
she had not stumbled across her soul mate, but just the first man that she had ever been attracted too. The man was too infuriating, too arrogant, and way too cruel to ever be someone that she was meant to spend the rest of her life with.

   The attraction she had felt for him was officially over, she would not allow herself to be charmed by him ever again. No matter how he made her feel, no matter how much she wanted to respond to him. A fierce flush started to creep up her cheeks as she recalled exactly how wantonly she had responded to him last night. She had never thought, never imagined, that she could be so easily swept away by passion. So easily lose such complete control of herself. She wanted to blame that on him too, but it was the one thing that she was willing to take part of the blame for. She had reveled in his kisses, in his caresses, and if she hadn’t smelled Jess...