Fighting the Inevitable (5 page)

“
I would
never hurt you,” he said softly, moving his hands under her back to
raise her up. He sat back on his knees again, pulling her astride
him, their bodies touching but still not yet joined. Her wet heat
caressed him and he groaned softly.

“
What if I
disappoint you, Caleb?” she whispered, burying her head in the side
of his neck, her breath caressing his skin and making him
shudder.

His arms held her
tightly, raising her body until she was aligned with his. “You
could never disappoint me.” The words came out with little thought
to what he was saying. He was pulling her onto him as he pressed up
to begin his journey into her body.

Caleb found he had no
control over his reactions to her. What should have been a night of
satisfaction of his two basic urges was turning into something he
didn’t understand, and didn’t want to understand. All he knew was
he wanted to pleasure the beautiful redhead in his arms as much as
he wanted to take pleasure from her.

He pressed deeply,
pulling her onto him until they were fully joined. The heat that
exploded through him took his breath away. She was perfection, made
for him. Holding her tightly, he stroked into her body, her sweet
cries filling the air along with her intoxicating scent.

He moved with long, deep
strokes, taking her gently until he was sure her doubts were
completely gone, that she was lost in the heady bliss of their
bodies riding together. Then he bore her back to the rug,
increasing the pace of his movements, his lips feverish against the
side of her neck as his bloodlust rose swiftly.

He needed to feed. The
deep rich scent of her blood was pulsing through him, making his
gums ache with the need for his fangs to be buried in her sweat
slickened skin. His tongue rasped over her body, sliding down to
her breast to lick and nibble at the hard tip.

Rhianna was mindless with
pleasure, her body humming as Caleb did such wicked things with his
hands and mouth and the hard, thick masculine heart of him. She
moved with him, clutching onto his shoulders as he suckled at her
breast and moved harder and faster within her. She couldn’t
breathe, tension surrounding her, coiling deep inside her as she
felt herself climbing steadily higher towards a fall which she knew
would be exquisite and yet terrifying as well. Caleb had the power
to give so much pleasure that everything would pale into
insignificance afterwards. She knew she would never be the same
again after this one night with him.

His bloodlust hit
critical point. Caleb’s fangs elongated as he felt Rhianna reach
the peak of her pleasure. She shattered with a lusty scream and in
that moment, he pierced the fragile skin of her breast. His
soothing toxin immediately took away the brief sting of pain and
heightened the intensity of her climax. Her rich, warm blood filled
his eager mouth, and he suckled hard, his head spinning from the
combination of her body gripping his so painfully tightly, and the
intoxicating flavour of her life essence trickling down his
throat.

Caleb ground into her
hard and pulsed deeply, ecstasy rippling through his body as he
bathed her with his seed, enhancing her own pleasure with his. He
pulled against her breast once more and then carefully extracted
his fangs, instantly healing the small wounds with his tongue as he
shuddered once more and surged deep within her.

His heart thundered hard
in his chest as he rested against her body for a moment before he
withdrew slowly and lay beside her on his back. He couldn’t
remember the last time he’d taken such pleasure from a woman. It
had definitely been a long time, of that he was sure.

He lay there with his
eyes closed, savouring the pleasure he’d received and the feel of
her hot blood coursing through his veins. His reaction to Rhianna
had been out of the norm, and he knew he would need to address
that, but for the moment he was too sated to care. She had been
totally amazing, so utterly fascinating, engaging him on a level he
hadn’t expected. His big body still hummed with the sweet bliss she
had given him and a slow, satisfied smile curved his sensual
lips.

He finally turned his
head to the side and saw Rhianna had fallen asleep beside him. It
was to be expected after the way he had ridden her body and
pleasured her. In addition, he had exhausted her even further by
feeding from her.

He slowly ran a hand down
her side and over her hip but she didn’t stir. His fingers tangled
in the silky softness of her luxurious hair, and he trailed it
slowly threw his fingers. It was like a living flame in the glow of
the firelight, rich and deep, and so soft he found it hard to let
go.

Smiling contently, Caleb
rose from the rug. He didn’t bother dressing again. He was only
going to bed, so it was pointless doing so. He grabbed a thick
woollen throw from over the sofa and placed it almost reverently
over the sleeping woman. She would be comfortable enough on the
rug, it was thick and the heat of the dying fire, plus the throw,
would keep her warm enough until morning. Grabbing his clothes, he
headed upstairs to his private rooms, feeling more satisfied than
he had in a long time.

~~~~~

Rhianna woke when the
first rays of sunlight filtered into the room through the large
French doors. For a moment she lay there, completely disorientated,
wondering where she was. Then her memory returned and she gasped
and blushed, sitting up straight and groaning softly at the slight
discomfort between her thighs.

She looked around the
room seeing no sign of Caleb. Her face burned hotter as she thought
of what they’d done the night before, of what she’d done. She had
actually gone home with a complete stranger and had sex with
him.

She couldn’t believe she
had behaved so wantonly, so out of character for her. It didn’t
help that she’d enjoyed it so much either, that she’d actually
participated so eagerly in her own ravishment at the hands of the
stunningly beautiful man.

The pleasure Caleb had
all but ripped from her body had been the most mind-blowing
experience of her life. Her one time with her ex-boyfriend had been
painful, made her feel dirty, and used, but she didn’t feel that
with Caleb. He had pushed her to orgasm after orgasm, before he’d
taken his own pleasure from her. It had been hot and wild and so
incredibly erotic.

Groaning again, she
jumped up from the rug looking for her clothes. She found them
where Caleb had left them the night before, folded neatly on the
sofa. She dressed hastily feeling less exposed once she had done
so. What was she supposed to do now? What did women do in these
circumstances? Should she wait for Caleb to wake up or should she
just leave? She didn’t even know if she wanted to see Caleb
again.

She muttered a curse
under her breath and looked for her purse. It was on the sofa too,
so she quickly grabbed it and dug out her cell phone. It was just
after six am and she knew Millie would kill her, but she phoned her
friend anyway.

“
What!”
Millie yelled down the phone, her voice thick with sleep and
irritation.

“
Millie, it’s
me,” Rhianna whispered. “I need you to come get me.”

“
Annie?” her
friend said incredulously. “Honey, what’s wrong? Where are you? Has
something happened to you?” Her tone was immediately
concerned.

“
I’m fine,
Mills,” Rhianna said reassuringly. “I just need a lift home. I kind
of went out last night to a club and did something a bit stupid.
I’m now at some guy’s house and I need to get home now.” Total
silence greeted her and for a moment she thought her friend had
gone back to sleep.

“
Have you
lost your fucking mind?” Millie gasped in shock, now sounding fully
awake and also very angry. “You said you’d taken a sleeping pill.
You lied to me! How did you know this guy wasn’t some kind of
raving lunatic?”

Rhianna sighed. “Can we
dissect my behaviour later, Mills?” she asked patiently. She knew
her friend was right and that her anger was justified. She had done
an incredibly stupid thing, so out of character for her. Moreover,
she had never once lied to Millie. She knew that would hurt her
friend deeply because they were all each other had now.

“
I’m at the
big white mansion on Forrester Road. Will you please come and get
me?”

“
I’ll be
there in twenty,” her friend answered, and the phone
disconnected.

Grabbing her jacket,
which she found on the hall table, Rhianna slipped quietly out of
the house and headed down the long driveway to await her
friend.

CHAPTER three

“
Just exactly
what did you think you were doing?” Millicent Cooper demanded as
Rhianna pulled open the passenger door of her run down Ford Fiesta
and climbed in.

She sighed loudly as she
turned to look at her irate friend. Millie’s black curls were in
wild disarray around her head and it was obvious she had only run
her fingers through them rather than brushed her hair. Her cobalt
blue eyes were sparkling with anger and disbelief at Rhianna’s
reckless behaviour.

Even rumpled and still
wearing her pyjamas, Millie looked stunning. She had a classical
beauty that invariably drove men wild and generated lots of date
offers, which she normally refused. She was much taller than
Rhianna, standing at five feet seven inches with a generously
curved body, which suited her height perfectly. She wasn’t heavy in
any fashion, just curvy in all the right places.

“
Can we just
go, Mills?” Rhianna said quietly, glancing nervously at the white
mansion, half-expecting to see Caleb appear in the
doorway.

“
Fine,” her
friend grumbled, “but don’t think for one minute this conversation
is over. I can’t believe you lied to me last night. If you wanted
to go out then you should have told me. You know I would have gone
with you.”

She paused for breath and
then started again. “Annie, I know things are tough for you right
now,” her voice faltered, and she swallowed to contain her
emotions. “But you’re not behaving naturally. This…this…Christ, I’m
picking you up from a total stranger’s bed!”

“
Rug,”
Rhianna corrected her, staring out the side window as they drove
down the forest road.

“
What?”
Millie asked perplexed, her rant cut off by her friend’s
interjection.

“
We didn’t
use a bed; we fucked on a rug before an open fire.”

Millie sucked in a deep
breath, worry shivering through her at the lifeless note in
Rhianna’s voice and the coarse way she spoke about herself. Annie
didn’t talk like that; she very seldom cursed and it was usually
the milder imprecations she used when she did.

“
Annie, talk
to me. Please. I’m worried about you. I don’t mean to yell but I
can’t think of any other way to get through to you right
now.”

“
Maybe I
don’t want you to.” The flat answer that came back broke Millie’s
heart and she wished for the thousandth time she could think of a
way to reach her friend.

Her failure made her
angry again, and her voice was sharp when she next spoke. “I don’t
ever want to hear you talk about yourself like that again, Annie,”
she said through clenched teeth. “You’re not some promiscuous slut
who has sex at the drop of a hat. Don’t denigrate yourself that
way. You’re obviously not acting as you normally would at the
moment.”

Rhianna let her friend’s
angry words wash over her as she leaned back against the car seat
and closed her eyes. She knew everything her friend was saying was
true. She had done a very foolish thing going home with Caleb last
night but that didn’t mean she’d lost her moral compass.
Thankfully, he hadn’t turned out to be a weird axe murderer but the
possibility had been there.

Taking risks wasn’t her
speciality. Millie was the one who was more outgoing, more
adventurous, and more spontaneous. She knew her friend’s anger was
based out of concern for her, so she didn’t take it personally. All
she wanted to do was go home and have a nice long shower before she
had to start dealing with reality again.

Millie had stopped
ranting by the time they got home and was giving her the silent
treatment as they walked upstairs to their apartment. Her shoulders
were rigid with disapproval as she marched up the stairs in front
of her and Rhianna couldn’t help but smile slightly. She could
almost see the steam coming out of Millie’s ears she was so
mad.

She waited for her friend
to unlock the apartment door and then brushed swiftly passed her,
heading into her room and locking the door behind her before Millie
had enough time to register her intent. She heard her friend
banging loudly on the door as she headed into her en-suite bathroom
and started the shower.

“
Open this
door,” Millie yelled. “Don’t think you can hide in there from me,
girl! You and I have a conversation to finish and I’m not going
away until we do!”

“
I’m having a
shower,” Rhianna yelled back. “I’ll be out in a bit!” She closed
the bathroom door and stripped quickly, stepping under the hot
spray so she couldn’t hear Millie any more. She stayed in the
shower for a long time, gently soaping her aching body.