Kiss of Temptation: The Kavanaugh Foundation, Book 3 (4 page)

He cast a sideways glance at her. She twirled a lock of hair around her finger and stared past him. He would have given anything to know what was going through her mind at this moment. Despite all his years of life, women still puzzled him, and this one confused him more than any other woman he’d ever met. Perhaps that’s why he’d chosen to pursue this private hell—to solve the riddle of Daniela before he gave in to his madness.

When they reached the Stazione Termini, another scent made the hairs on his arms stand on end. Blood and death. The other vampires had to be nearby. He locked his fingers around her pack and guided her to a corner away from traffic, praying they hadn’t been spotted yet.

As he lowered his head to whisper his instructions in her ear, an overprotective urge almost as powerful as his desire rocked his core. He needed to draw a steadying breath before he could speak. “If we get separated, you need to go to platform five, car seven, berth nine. Can you remember that?”

“Five, seven, nine,” she repeated in a shaky voice. She licked her lips, and he fought back a groan. At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands—or his fangs—off her before they reached Paris. “Do you suspect trouble?”

“I’d say there are about half a dozen vampires crawling around here.”

She placed one hand on her hip and cocked a brow. “And this is supposed to be safer than the airport?”

“Of course. There were over a dozen there.” He tugged on her pack and pulled her after him. She was their prey. The sooner he concealed her on the train, the better. If they could escape Rome without Colette following them, it would be a miracle.

Miracles were rare these days.

The second they reached the main atrium, he spotted them. Or, to be more precise, they spotted Daniela. A knot lodged in his throat as two vampires began to converge on them at inhuman speeds. “Run,” he managed to utter before shoving her toward the train.

“What the—” The words died in Daniela’s mouth when she saw Luc ram into another man like a rugby player on meth. The man jumped to his feet with the ease of an acrobat and zeroed in on her. The strange glow in his eyes appeared all too familiar. Apparently, Luc was right about the vampires patrolling the train station.

“Didn’t you hear me?” Luc shouted at her while he wrestled with another vampire. “Run.”

She hesitated, wondering if she should risk using her magic in public to help Luc. After all, he was the one who knew where the staff was. She should be protecting him, not the other way around. But the second’s hesitation gave her enemy the opportunity he needed.

The room spun in circles as he rammed into her and knocked the air from her lungs. He wrapped her hair around his hand and yanked. Pain flared along her scalp, bringing tears to her eyes. The scent of decaying meat rose from his hot breath. “Colette’s been looking for you.”

Fear combined with humiliation, and magic churned inside her like a tornado. “You’ll have to give her my regrets.”

She unleashed a spell at him. Flames licked at her field of vision, and a scream echoed off the walls of the terminal, stopping all the bystanders in their tracks. The vampire jumped off her and frantically tried to stamp out the mini-fires engulfing his clothing.

“Stop showing off.” Luc pulled her to her feet and dragged her behind him as he raced for platform five. “Our train is getting ready to pull out.”

Daniela now knew how a kite felt on a blustery day. No matter how fast she moved her feet, she couldn’t keep up with him. At one point, she swore both feet had come off the ground. The world blurred around her and her stomach heaved.

“Ready?”

It sounded more like a grunt than a question, and the next thing she knew, she was airborne. She landed inside the train and crashed into a pile of luggage like a bowling ball. The piercing beeps of an alarm sounded on either side of her. The doors started sliding shut. She jutted her hand out to try to catch them.

Luc dived for the doors and managed to slip in a split second before they sealed closed. When the train jerked forward, she released the breath she’d been holding. They made it.

“Are you hurt?” The concern on his face rattled her more than the mad dash through the train station.

“I’ll survive.” His frown deepened, so she waved him off. “It’s just a few bruises.”

That answer seemed to satisfy him. He stood and helped her to her feet. His eyes raked over every inch of her, and a flush spread from her cheeks to her pelvis. Damn, even disheveled, he looked irresistible. She reached up and brushed a lock of hair from his eyes.

He sucked in a deep breath and caught her hand as she pulled it back. The intensity of his stare spoke of one emotion—hunger. Her mouth began to water. He wanted her as much as she wanted him. Her heart skipped a few beats. He was dangerous, mysterious and frustrating, but she wanted to fuck him right there in the doorway of a train car. Thankfully, he looked like he’d be more than willing to accommodate her.

She leaned into him and waited with her lips millimeters from his. His heart beat so hard, she could feel it through his chest. His eyelids lowered and he closed the space between them. But unlike last time, this kiss was hesitant, light, fearful. He was holding back on her.

Daniela wrapped her arm around his neck and deepened the kiss. When his mouth parted, she slipped her tongue in to explore every corner of it. A moan rose from his throat and he released her hand as he surrendered to her and began kissing her in return. A bolt of electricity zapped through her body, stronger than any magic she’d drawn upon. At the moment, she didn’t care who or what Luc was. All she needed was to continue kissing him.

“Excuse me,” a woman said as she shoved past them.

Luc broke away with his lips still parted. His chest rose and fell at the same frantic pace as hers. “Daniela, perhaps we should find our berth.”

Yes, find our berth, get naked and finish this.
She followed him down the narrow aisle. Her body both tingled and ached for him. She’d never been this excited about the prospect of sex. Maybe her inner bad girl felt a little thrill knowing he used to be a priest and she was slowly corrupting him.

By the time they reached the berth, she realized he’d already been corrupted. The ease with which he tossed her bag to the corner and simultaneously began unbuttoning her blouse while his lips sought hers spoke of years of practice. She followed suit, removing his shirt by the time he managed to bare her shoulders. They broke their kiss long enough to let the articles of clothing fall to the floor. The loss of contact gave her a split second to catch her breath.
Mio Dio
, she wanted him.

He stared at her, his eyes focusing on her breasts. When they snapped up to her face, a flicker of doubt clouded his expression. “Perhaps we should take things slowly.”

Daniela took a step back. “Why? Scared?”

When he didn’t answer, she shrugged her shirt back on and began buttoning it. If he wasn’t going to put out, then the peep show ended here. She shoved past him and reached for the door.

Luc grabbed her before she could open it and pressed her back against his chest. His breath bathed her ear in lust-driven steam. “Are you mocking me?”

“Well, if the shoe fits…” She licked her lips and wiggled her ass against the increasing bulge in his pants. How much longer could the material restrain it?

“I don’t think you can handle me.” He leaned closer and pressed his lips against her neck. His hands reached under her blouse and cupped her breasts.

The sheer lace of her bra only added to the exquisite roughness of his fingers as they played with her taut nipples. She bit back a moan and dug her nails into his thighs.
Just keep him aroused
, her body urged.
He’ll cave and you’ll both find the satisfaction you seek.
“Wanna bet?”

The clang of the plastic buttons hitting the walls of the berth gave her his answer. Her blouse fell to the floor in a puddle, followed by her pants. Then he whirled her around and assaulted her mouth with his. Yet despite his rough handling, he was still showing restraint in the careful nibbling of her lips, the gentle kneading of flesh, the grinding of his pelvis against hers. If he wanted to hurt her, he could, but the fact he didn’t intensified the warm ache deep in the pit of her stomach. She eased into his embrace, feeding off his aggression the way a fire fed off fresh kindling.

She gasped for air like a swimmer before diving into the depths of his kiss again. The spicy scent of his skin aroused almost as much as the taste of fine wine that lingered on his tongue. What had he been drinking before he met her? The combination of earth and jammy fruits accented by a hint of pepper that flavored the recess of his mouth nearly made her drunk, but she still craved more.

She wrapped one of her legs around his, letting his hands support her ass and pull her as close as they could get with their clothes still on. If he didn’t get naked soon, she’d have to cast a spell to incinerate his clothes. The few burns would be worth it if she could just get him inside her.

“Daniela, are you certain?”

The raw edge in his voice nearly made her cry out in frustration. He wanted her as much as she wanted him, and he was trying to talk her out of it? “No, I’m just dry humping you for shits and giggles. Now get your pants off and stop teasing me.”

Both of his inky brows rose in surprise before his mouth curled into a grin. “Fine. There will be no teasing, no foreplay. Just me inside you.”

“Yes, Luc, that’s what I want. You inside me, making me come.”

He opened the bed and laid her on it. Only a thin rim of blue remained in his eyes. What was visible glowed with a lust that sent a shiver down her spine. He wasn’t joking about the lack of foreplay, but it didn’t matter. She was so wet, she didn’t need anything else to warm her up. She just needed release.

Luc hooked his finger under her bra and tore it from her chest as if it were made of tissue paper. Her panties quickly followed in the same fashion.

She bolted up from the bed. “Hey, those were designer underwear.”

“Perhaps you should have kept that in mind when you challenged me.” He unbuttoned his pants and kicked them to the corner.

Daniela froze as she admired him in all his naked glory. Michelangelo couldn’t have sculpted a finer specimen of man. Thank God Luc left the priesthood. Talk about hiding a light under a bushel. It would be a sin to keep a cock like that locked away behind a vow of celibacy.

But as he crawled onto the bed, her appreciation quickly changed into fear. It had been so long since she’d had sex, she didn’t think she could accommodate a normal man, much less someone as well-endowed as Luc.

His knees parted her legs and his fingers traced the opening of her damp sex. “Eager?”

A shudder ripped through her when he grazed her clit. Eager didn’t begin to describe what she was feeling.

“Do you like that?” He continued to stroke the sensitive nub, applying more and more pressure until she almost snapped from the tension building inside her.

She bit her bottom lip and nodded. In a few more strokes, she’d probably be bucking like an unbroken horse while she came.

Luc pulled his hand back and shifted his weight until the head of his cock teased the opening of her cunt. “Too bad you didn’t want foreplay.”

The words hadn’t died on his lips before he entered her. Daniela drew a breath in through clenched teeth as he eased into her inch by agonizing inch. A satisfying burn filled her sex from the stretching of the walls.
Mio Dio
, he was huge, but she welcomed the sensation of him filling her. The pain would pass in seconds. The satisfaction would remain.

He paused and winced. “You feel so wonderfully tight.”

A shaky laugh broke free from her throat. “Then why do you look like you’re in pain?”

“Because I’m trying so hard not to come right now.” He opened his eyes and watched her. “Are you ready for more?”

“Holding out on me?”

He thrust the rest of his length into her with a grunt. The breath left her lungs and she dug her fingers into his shoulders. The heat of sex spread through her body like a wildfire. He gave new meaning to the word “fulfillment”. Her inner walls were already clenching around him, urging him to start moving and take her closer to the edge.

And yet he remained still inside her, peppering her mouth with kisses instead of making the bed rock.

The frustration became unbearable within a few seconds. She started thrashing her hips underneath him, trying to angle her pelvis so his head rubbed against the one spot that would give her the release she sought. Why was he holding back on her?

Luc stilled her by pressing his full weight on top of her. “Patience, Daniela. I don’t want to—” His words ended in a hiss as she squeezed his cock with her inner muscles. His features twisted into a scowl. “Fine. You want it rough?” He withdrew a few inches and rammed into her again.

The friction caused her to gasp. She raised her legs and hooked them around his waist, wanting to accept as much of him as she could. Despite his threat, there was nothing rough in his actions. Each powerful stroke sent ripples of pleasure straight to her womb. His hungry kisses made her crave more of him. The frenzied tempo of their lovemaking matched the wild beating of her heart.

For a few minutes, the only sounds in the berth were the slapping of skin and her moans. As wonderful as it felt to have him inside her, slowly building her up to her climax, there was something strangely familiar about all this. The smell of his desire, the taste of his skin, the intensity of his gaze as he watched her reactions.
This is ridiculous. I just met him yesterday.
But her body seemed to know him better than her mind, angling her hips to allow him deeper penetration and matching the rhythm of his thrusts. It was as if they were designed to bring each other pleasure.

The tension from deep in her gut began to build like the first rumblings of an awakening volcano. A grin appeared on Luc’s face as if he knew he’d taken her to the brink, and he increased his pace. Every thrust intensified the internal tremors until they exploded on the surface with violent shudders. Rivers of bliss flowed from her sex to every inch of body. Her breath caught and she clung to him to keep from getting swept away by the intensity of her orgasm.