Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 (23 page)

Something soft and shaky slipped from her lips, like a
fairy’s laugh, the light sound filling him with an almost visceral
satisfaction. “Oh, God. Honestly, Aiden. I’d have to be out of my mind not to
want you. You know that’s not it.”

He cupped her jaw with his right hand, pressing his
thumb into her lower lip. “Good.”

“But that doesn’t mean that I can be reckless and just
do whatever I want.”

“Wrong, Liv,” he argued, swiping his thumb along the
inside edge of her lip, feeling the damp heat of her mouth. “You’re a grown
woman. You can do whatever you want.”

“But it’s a mistake.”

He snorted, shaking his head. “Welcome to the club,
honey. People make mistakes every day of their lives. Might as well be one that
we can enjoy.”

She stared so deeply into his eyes that he fought not
to squirm. “Is it really that simple to you? Don’t you ever worry about getting
hurt?”

“I told you before, I won’t hurt you.”

“Aiden,” she said unsteadily, her mouth trembling,
“you’ll do it without even trying.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw, no doubt betraying how
wound up he was inside. “You’re just going to have to take that risk.”

“Risks aren’t smart.” A soft, breathless whisper that
made him want to roar with frustration.

“Screw smart. Go with instinct for once in your life,
Liv. Be selfish and look at it as using me for pleasure, just like I told you
to do this morning. You can settle for your boring little slice of normal later
on. But right now you should—”

“Aiden,” she murmured, cutting him off as she pressed
her hands to the burning heat of his chest, “I—”

He didn’t wait to hear what she had to say, too afraid
it was going to be another rejection. Instead, he grabbed her cool, slender
hand…and flattened it against his cock. “Damn it, Liv. I need to get you under
me.” He ground out the words, his breath hissing through his teeth as her
fingers curled around him in a tight, greedy hold. “And it needs to happen now.”

THE WORDS WEREN’T SHOUTED, but Olivia could feel
Aiden’s control slipping. See the raw desire shaking him apart inside. She
didn’t understand why he wanted her physically, considering he could have any
woman he chose. It didn’t make any logical sense for him to want her, the
sexually inept kindergarten teacher who had never really been wanted by anyone.
At least not like this, as if she were actually something worth wanting. But
she could feel his need pulsing against her hand, hard and hot and urgent. See
it glowing in his eyes, the smoldering amber reminding her of how he’d looked
that morning, when he’d had his fingers buried inside her body, urging her to
come for him.

She was acutely aware of the fact that this was the
moment she would normally have shied away from such mouthwatering temptation
and shut herself down, falling back on old habits that were hard to give up.
But she turned away from them, slamming a metaphorical door in their startled
faces. And with that uncharacteristic act of defiance came a sharp,
electrifying surge of anticipation. One that grew, swelling, until it was
something she could feel pulsing inside her, like a living thing.

Now, for the first time in what felt like forever, she
chose to give free rein to her emotions and simply enjoy the moment. Enjoy
everything she could from the complicated Watchman, for as long as it lasted.
She could shut down again later, when it was time to slink away and lick her
wounds. But for now she wanted to feel the fire. The heat and the burn and the
blistering passion. She wanted to feel Aiden. All of him. Everything.

Which was kind of convenient, seeing as how her hand
was fisted around his vein-ridden cock, the suede-soft skin a sensual contrast
to the raw, primal power pulsing beneath its surface. She tightened her grip,
squeezing as much of him as she could, though her fingers didn’t even fit all
the way around. He grunted, thrusting against her in a hard, reflexive move,
pushing the broad shaft through her fingers. His tall frame shuddered, every
stark, powerful muscle rigid beneath the tight stretch of his dark, silk-textured
skin.

Loving the wild,
I’m-going-to-do-things-to-you-that-you-can’t-even-imagine look in his eyes,
Olivia squeezed him again, this time in a long, slow pull that ripped some kind
of thick animal sound up from his chest.

And she liked that sound so much that she did it
again.

Then she watched breathlessly as a feral glow flashed
in his gaze, almost as if something else was staring back at her. Something
predatory and savage and dangerous. Something that was Aiden…but different.
Other.

One second he was shuddering against her, and in the
next his lips pulled back over his teeth…and he ripped her hand away. “No
more,” he growled between deep, ragged pulls of air. Taking hold of her hands,
he lifted them both above her head and pressed them against the wall, trapping
them there. “I’m too on edge. You’re about to make me come.”

Olivia wet her lips, her breath quickening as
need-drenched desire spilled through her system in a warm, succulent wave. It
sent her head spinning, her body all but melting against him, readying itself
for whatever he wanted to do to her. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Not yet.” Each word was formed with hard, guttural
precision. “Not until I’ve made you come first.” He got close, right in her
face, his breath warm and sweet and tempting. “You’re small, Liv. And I’m built
like a bloody horse. The more times I can get you off, the easier it’s gonna be
for you to take me.”

“That’s hardly fair, Aiden. I want to be able to touch
you—”

“You will,” he broke in, cutting her off. “But right
now I just need you to trust me on this, okay? That’s all I’m asking.”

She shivered as his thumbs found the damp hollows of
her palms, stroking the sensitive skin. Chills raced after prickles of heat,
her own hunger twisting inside her like a sinuous animal thing that was starved
for pleasure. “One of the first things you said to me last night,” she
whispered, “was that you didn’t care if I trusted you.”

“Yeah, well.” A crooked, boyish smile flirted at the
corner of his mouth, his eyes still flickering with that sharp, feral glow.
“I’ve been known to lie a time or two.”

Her own smile was wry. “Make a mental note, Aiden. You
should never admit to being a liar when asking for a woman’s trust. Kinda
defeats the purpose.”

His chest vibrated with a deep, sexy bark of laughter,
and he grasped her waist, lifting her effortlessly off the floor. He pinned her
against the wall, his heavy-lidded stare never leaving her face as he guided
her legs around his hips, his cock lodged heavily against the sensitive core of
her body. “Seriously, Liv. You can trust me.” A low, solemn tone, like a vow.
“And I swear nothing’s gonna happen here that you don’t want to happen.”

“That could, um, actually be a problem,” she groaned,
dropping her head back against the wall.

Catching the teasing note in her voice, he arched one
golden, arrogant brow. “Why’s it a problem?”

“Because you make me feel greedy,” she whispered. “I
have a feeling I’m going to want it all.”

His grin was downright wicked, wreaking all kinds of
havoc inside her body. Heat. Nerves. Rushing pulse and churning, almost painful
anticipation. “Saying things like that is gonna get you into trouble, Liv.”

“Not to point out the obvious,” she murmured, unable
to stop the needy roll of her hips that pressed her tighter against his
erection, his low growl and the tightening grasp of his hands telling her how
much he liked it. “But I have a feeling I’m already in trouble.”

With another sexy rumble of laughter, Aiden lowered
his head. The thick silk of his hair fell forward, brushing against her face as
he ran the damp heat of his mouth along the edge of her jaw. “You might be
right, honey.”

“I know I’m right.” A soft, breathless rush of words,
while her hands stayed busy exploring the hard, mouthwatering muscles in his
shoulders and arms, his skin hot and slick to the touch, as if he were burning
with fever. “And seeing as how I’m not very good at this, maybe you should tell
me what’s going to happen first. You know…so I can be p-prepared.”

She could hear the smile in his voice as he kissed his
way down the side of her throat. “You know in that book of yours where the duke
ties the chick up to the bed and licks her from head to toe?”

Olivia nearly choked on a shy, shocked burst of
giggles. “We d-don’t have time for that. Jamie might need me.” Not to mention
the fact that she’d die of embarrassment if Aiden tried to do something like
that to her less-than-perfect body. In her mind, she was thinking more of sliding
beneath the covers, under a comforting shadow of darkness, so that the
differences between them wouldn’t be quite so obvious.

“If you won’t let me tie you up,” he rasped within the
sensitive hollow of her ear, handling her weight with ridiculous ease as he
held her against him, carrying her toward the bed, “then I guess I’ll just have
to improvise and hold you down instead.”

The next thing Olivia knew, he was tossing her onto
the soft, Aiden-scented sheets. He stood there for a moment, just staring down
at her, the most provocative look she’d ever seen on any man’s face carved into
the rugged lines of his expression, the sexy creases beside his eyes only
adding to his devastating good looks. Then he crawled over her, his parted lips
hovering just above hers as he slid one hand between her legs. He palmed her
sex through her jeans, holding it as if he owned it, or wanted to, and her
heart flipped over in her chest, reminding her that she was playing a dangerous
game, fooling around with a man who wanted her only for sex.

A man she’d only known for little more than a day,
though it felt as if she’d been wanting him, craving him forever. For a
lifetime.

“Touching you this morning was incredible, but I
need…I need this in my mouth, Liv.” He rubbed the heel of his palm against the
top of her cleft, making her tremble. “Need to feel you against my tongue.”

She covered her hot face with her hands as he suddenly
stood up again and practically ripped off her jeans. His hands were hot against
her knees as he pushed them apart, the tiny pair of white cotton panties that
she’d put on that morning the only thing shielding that most private part of
her from his gaze. Desire pulsed its way through her body, potent and sharp—but
there was fear there, as well. Fear that she wouldn’t please him. Fear that
she’d lock up, close down and end up lying there like a dead fish, boring the
hell out of him. She couldn’t help the burning twinges of self-consciousness
and doubt, when he was standing there looking like a freaking god, his body
nothing short of luscious perfection, with muscles poured over muscles, and a
face that any man would die to possess. “Aiden. I, um, I know I said I wanted
it all. But I…I don’t know if I can do this. I mean, maybe we should skip
the…um, oral part, and just get to the other stuff.”

“Stop worrying, Liv. All you have to do is lie there
and come.” Aiden worked to keep his voice soothing, which wasn’t easy,
considering all he wanted to do was growl and snarl and roar like a bloody
madman, his beast so worked up it was a miracle he was managing to speak at
all.

Just calm down, damn it. Or you’re going to scare her
off. And there’ll be no one to blame but yourself.

The tiger chuffed with frustration, tossing its head,
then went back to prowling the confines of his body, lurking just beneath the
surface of his skin, seething with hunger.

Taking a deep breath, Aiden slid his hands up her
legs, gripped her thighs and pinned them against the mattress. He crawled back
onto the bed and leaned forward, his mouth watering as he pressed his nose
against the damp panel of her panties. She groaned, sounding embarrassed and
aroused all at once, and he had to fight the primal urge to rip the cotton away
with his teeth, so that he could get to the sweetness that lay shielded
beneath. Her thighs strained against his hold as she reflexively tried to pull
them closed, the arch in her back the most sensual thing he’d ever seen, her nipples
hard and thick beneath the soft cotton of her sweater. He wanted to remove
every stitch of her clothing, but didn’t trust himself. Knew the sight of her
flushed, feminine little body would push him over the edge, shattering his
control.

And God only knew he would need every ounce of control
that he had if he was going to keep it together long enough to make this work.
It was the given truth that oral sex had never been his thing, after his years
at Mueller’s, but he had no doubt that he was going to enjoy going down on Liv.

Probably even love it, he thought, rubbing his tongue
against the roof of his mouth. Become addicted to it, if she tasted even half
as good as she smelled. His instincts were purring for this. For her.

And Aiden had always been a man who trusted his
instincts.

Touching his open mouth to the pale, tender skin of
her hip, he rubbed his fingers against the drenched cotton. “I’m going to put
my tongue right here,” he told her, slipping his finger beneath the elastic leg
band and stroking the small, tender opening. “Push it inside you. Lick you
until you come in my mouth, all hot and slick and sweet.”