Lilac Temptress (11 page)

Sierra averted her eyes, shying away,
but Drake caressed her chin, lifting it gently to face
him.

“
I don’t know what you
want.” Sierra quivered and closed her eyes momentarily.

Drake softened his voice. “You know
what I want, and I think you know that it is what you want as
well.” He brought his head close and brushed his cheek against
hers. “I detect from time to time that you’re frightened of me,” he
whispered in her ear.

“
I am not. Truly I’m not.”
Sierra’s short, quick breathing betrayed the truth of her
words.

“
Then keep your eyes on
me,” Drake demanded, with such heaviness that Sierra thought she
might swoon at the richness of his voice.

She could think of nothing to say. In
a state of panic, she stared blankly at him at a loss for
words.

Drake gently stroked her smooth face,
his thumb outlining her jaw. He liked the awestruck way that she
watched him. He liked that he was able to elicit such a
response.

Sierra sat
frozen.
His touch felt too stimulating. She
needed to escape him before she let her own immodest thoughts take
over her mind. “I want to go for a swim before we leave,” she said,
a spur of the moment decision. She scooted back without hesitation
and jumped off the rock fully clothed, into the water.

Drake’s jaw dropped as he grasped her
intent to put distance between them—even if it meant fleeing into
the frigid water. What he didn’t understand was why. There was an
undeniable chemistry between them, stronger than he had ever
recalled sharing with another woman and yet she was forestalling
the inevitable. He wanted her, and he was determined to make her
see that she wanted him just as badly. Why else would she have
brought him there?

Sierra saw the stunned expression on
Drake’s face and realized that perhaps she had been a little too
dramatic with her getaway, which made her feel slightly awkward, so
she wade closer to rid herself of the feeling. “Why don’t you come
in? It’s very shallow and you can stand,” Sierra invited him. She
used her foot to push off her boulder, splashing Drake one time
before slipping completely out of his reach.

“
Ah, so you want to some
have fun?” Drake brushed water out of his eyes, deciding right then
that even if he didn’t understand her odd behavior he wouldn’t pass
up her invitation.

Before Sierra could answer Drake
jumped into the water, ignoring its iciness and lunged toward her,
only to meet an onslaught of water that she swept at him again.
Drake splashed her back in huge waves, challenging her to a water
fight to the bitter end.

“
You know your behavior
does not impress me!” Sierra called out playfully, water almost
blinding her.

“
I reckon I’m not the first
to try.” Drake stopped sending water at her and watched her for a
moment. He became calm as his body acclimated to the water’s
temperature. She was only a few feet away—and even though she had
fled from him minutes earlier, she must have wanted him there with
her, otherwise she would not have invited him in, he
thought.

He swallowed the distance between
them. This time she didn’t dart away, which immensely pleased
him.

Impulsively, Sierra stroked his wet
hair back from his angular cheeks and forehead. Touching him
pleased her, and though she briefly thought that she shouldn’t be
giving in to her urge, she couldn’t bring herself to drop her
hand.

She gasped when Drake abruptly pulled
her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. She wanted
nothing, save for him to hold her forever.

“
I won’t let you escape me
as easily this time,” Drake’s voiced sharply.

Sierra breathed rapidly against his
chest. Her wet blouse outlined and enhanced more of her breasts
than she wanted and suddenly she became aware that Drake had taken
notice as well. “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea. I should
have never brought you here,” she whispered nervously.

“
Are you having regrets so
soon?” Drake teased as he held her tightly. His body throbbed
against hers and their faces were so close that he could almost
taste her sweet breath.

“
I’m sorry I just—” Sierra
searched his fervent face. “I’ve never known anyone like
you.”

“
Like me?” Drake’s puzzled
eyes danced on her.

“
You are entirely different
from the men that I know.” Sierra gazed past his shoulder trying
not to focus on his strong, smooth jawbone. She could not give into
her body because it betrayed her with a fierce pulsing sensation
that she was hoping Drake didn’t notice.

“
Is this why you’re trying
to create distance between us? Are you afraid of me because of whom
you think I might be?” he asked softly.

Sierra kept her eyes averted, trying
to conceal her nervousness.

“
Answer me this. Who am I
to make you feel so uncomfortable?” Drake asked, pleased that her
body started relaxing against his, signaling that she may soon
surrender herself completely to him.

“
You and I are vastly
different. We come from different worlds.” Sierra met his
oceanic-blue eyes, which held tremendous depth, setting him apart
from an ordinary man, she thought.

“
But we are here together
now. And nothing could be more real than this. Perhaps, our meeting
is fated.” Drake slid his hand upwards along her spine and massaged
the back of her head through her tangled wet hair. Sierra slackened
even more in his arms and his heart pounded in his chest with
excited rhythms matching hers.

“
Drake, please
don’t...”

“
I can’t help myself. You
tempt me so.” He licked her perfectly formed lips to taste them;
her body suddenly stiffened in his arms. “Let me fix this,” he
voiced softly before moving into something deeper and more
invading. He drew the remaining reluctance out of her with his
demanding kiss.

He was excited and at the
same time confused by how desperately drawn he was to her. Craving
a woman so badly was a foreign feeling for him. Her mouth was all
too generous and his senses deceived him. It seemed that her body
was pulling him in. In that moment, he only knew the taste of her,
the warmth of her, the scent of her.
What
is happening to me?

Disarmed completely, this was nothing
like Sierra had ever known. Electric currents pulsed through her
body and she experienced a delicious headiness while Drake’s tongue
slid expertly across hers. Impulsively, her hands inched down his
waist to his buttocks and cuffed him against her mid-drift as she
might have done in her fantasies. His hard length between his
thighs, pressed against her and she shuddered at that thought of
what he could do to her with it.

“
Do you want this?” Drake
kissed her more intensely. Her suggestive touching kindled his
passion as he moved his mouth with kisses down her neck; the heated
softness of her skin maddened him. “Tell me if you want
this.”

“
Yes...” she admitted,
hearing herself speak in a passion-induced daze. Her common sense
forsook her, leaving her unable to protest what she was permitting.
“Oh, yes.”

Drake cupped her breast, gently
squeezing with his hand. With his other hand he lifted her skirts,
finding his way between her legs, and slipped his finger into her
pliable center—the tightness giving way and loosening.

Sierra salaciously cried out, startled
by the sensual bliss he gave her below. Never having been touched
by a man in that way before, he did it so much better than she in
her own attempts at self-pleasure. She seized his hand with all her
strength to halt him. “No, I cannot! We cannot!” She tried to
regain her senses, but her body was overwhelmed with lust and her
limbs were weak, requiring his support.

Drake wrapped both his hands around
her waist as she attempted to push herself out of his arms, but his
masculine power ruined her efforts. He couldn’t understand this
woman at all, and her reaction to him continued to be positively
bizarre. If he didn’t know any better he might allow himself to
think that he was dealing with an untouched woman.

“
Why do you turn me away? I
can feel your body responding, and I promise to satisfy you like no
other man has,” Drake assured in a husky voice—hard-pressed to his
very limits. “What you’ve set in motion cannot be
undone.”

Sierra told herself not to give into
the temptation and mustered up all her courage to speak again more
forcefully. “I demand you release me!”

He loosened his grip, stared at her,
and reluctantly withdrew. “As you wish,” he grunted in frustration.
He watched her scurry away, quickly scrambling up the rocks as if
she were in danger of brute violation.

Drake wanted to shout when he saw her
grab her shoes and put them on her feet, but he had no choice other
than to compose himself and do the same. If he didn’t move as
quickly as she did, she might leave him in the swamp to make his
way back alone. And before he knew it, he had followed her into
town barely speaking a word the entire way.

“
We should talk about what
happened back there,” Drake said.

“
I have nothing to
say.”

“
Forgive me. I wish only to
be a gentleman, but you’re so god damned pretty!”

Sierra turned on her heel to face him.
“You are hardly a gentleman. You deliberately made me desire you.”
The pitch of her voice rose to match her conviction.

Drake roared with laughter.
His eyes twinkled while he watched Sierra cross her arms and stomp
her foot in anger. “Is this your way of finally confessing that
you
do
indeed want
me?” There was satisfaction in his voice. “I was beginning to think
that I had lost my touch with women,” he teased.

Sierra gave him a sharp look. “You
provoked me. You manipulated me with your—unscrupulous charm and
made me want you,” she spat accusingly.

“
Sierra, I did no such
thing and I believe that you know this deep down. Though, you are
not wrong to be attracted to me,” Drake said, oozing narcissism.
“Let us go to your bedroom without delay and finish what we’ve
started.” He lifted her hands into his, bringing them to his
desirous lips and kissed the backs of them gently.

“
We cannot!” She jerked her
hands away. “You can’t just come into town like a sudden storm and
expect me to surrender to you! What you’re asking of me isn’t
proper! We’ve just met!”

“
Does making love require
that we know each other for ages?” Drake refuted.

“
Does one night spent
together merit our... our coupling?” Sierra retorted.

Drake stared at her quizzically,
narrowing his eyes. Something didn’t quite add up, and he couldn’t
mask his irritation.

Sierra irrefutably grasped his
agitation and confusion. “My apologies if I misled you into
thinking there would be something more between us. I have to go
now. I am performing tonight,” she spoke candidly.

Drake, silent with his thoughts—trying
to figure out Sierra’s misleading behavior, followed her the rest
of the way.

They soon approached the brothel and
Sierra suddenly became self-conscious that she lived there. Never
in her life had she felt so ashamed of who she was. What was it
about Drake that brought out these feelings in her? He made her
feel more like a woman, yearning for a man’s touch. Why was he so
damned perfect? Why did she feel that if she stood next to him a
moment longer, she might lose her wits and give him exactly what
he’d been after?

“
Why won’t you let me have
you?” Drake blurted out indignantly. “I paid a hefty price for you
last night and you refused me. What is it? Is my money not good
enough for you? Do you pick and choose your lovers? Should I
sweeten your price?”

“
I will not further be
molested by you, don’t you understand?” Sierra tried to convince
him.

“
Molested!
I thought your kind never said no to a man’s
purse. But I can’t bribe you, and I sure as hell can’t get it for
free! Tell me, what do you think your worth is in gold?” Drake
demanded.

Sierra hauled her hand across Drake’s
face, slapping him so hard that his head shifted sideways and his
cheek reddened on contact. “You have the look of a fine gentleman,
all nifty in your expensively tailored suit. How could you forget
your manners, and ask such a thing of a lady?”

Drake grimaced. “Are you indeed a
lady?” His mocking voice exposed his bitterness. It had been a long
time since he had provoked a woman into slapping him and he had
never known a woman to have so much venom for him as
Sierra.

Furiously, she backed into the brothel
doors, watching Drake with scowling eyes as she
disappeared.

“
Sierra, wait!” Drake
called after her, unwilling to give up the chase. “I swear I didn’t
aim to upset you!” he called out as he pushed past the swinging
doors, but he knew he meant every word of what he had said. Drake
scanned the room for Sierra—the place was busy with men and their
women. He spotted Adrienne, who was having some kind of meeting
with a few of the girls.