So Tempting (14 page)

He finished buttoning and paused, his eyes searching hers. "We are not done, Justine." He stood, and she desperately wanted to call him back to her. "But rest now, and I will keep you safe."

Oddly, like the child she could barely remember being, she felt unafraid for the first time in forever. Protected.

And she slept.

* * *

When she awoke sometime later, he was sitting across from her in a massive overstuffed chair, a silent presence as regal and unapproachable as if he occupied a throne.

"You're still here," she said.

A slight nod. "How do you feel?"

She considered. "Better. How long have I slept?"

"Two hours."

"You sat here the whole time?"

He shrugged. "You are pleasant to watch."

"You always watch me. I don't know what to do with you."

"What would you like to do?"

"Besides figure you out?"

"I am not complicated."

A laugh burst from her. She had no words to express how complicated he was.

"You didn't answer. What would you wish to do with me?" His eyes were molten steel on hers.

She glanced away.

"You are tempted, are you not? Would it help to know that I am as well?"

"Why?"

"You are not an uncomplicated creature yourself, Justine. There is more between us than you understand, but you must be willing to let go in a way you never have before. I will not force you. The choice is yours."

The voice whispered from behind her in the darkness of The Club.
Make your choice. Walk away and I will never touch you again.

She wanted to know what it was like, his possession. To find out if he was that man, the same one who'd dominated her every thought for days. Jace yearned to give in...to take that leap.

But what happened when they touched was overwhelming, and she had the sense that he would demand everything of her. Leave her nowhere to hide.

Did she dare?

Hell, yes, she realized. She never backed down from a challenge.

Rising from the sofa, she watched his eyes go molten, his fingers clamped on the arms of the chair as he waited for her decision. She stood before him, the silk of his shirt rubbing her bare breasts, feeling a surge of power, not weakness.

How much she wanted this was insane. For one night only, to let go. To fly free. She would handle him, handle this, she thought. Nothing had ever been able to destroy her.

She unfastened her jeans and let them drop, stepping out when they pooled at her feet. She unbuttoned his shirt but left it on. Taking a pace toward him, she watched his eyes spark, his jaw go rigid.

"I want more than your body, Justine."

Jace hooked her thumbs into her panties, her eyes never leaving his face. "That's all you're going to get."

He didn't speak, but a muscle flexed in his jaw, the fire in his eyes banked, the coals still hot with need.

For an instant she wavered. He exposed too much in her—what if she was wrong that she could handle him? Her gaze darted toward the door. A shudder ran through her. She forced her breathing to slow.

Dante waited, his gaze palpable. This wasn't like playing games with Gabriel. With Gabriel, she controlled the boundaries.

With this man, she never would.

You'll always wonder if you don't see.

She was playing dice with destruction, yet it drew her like a magnet. She'd never met a man like him.

And he was different than before...open to her right now to a degree she couldn't resist. Jace took another step in his direction and saw the approval, the knowledge of what it had cost her in the nod he gave her, the hand he held out. When she placed her hand in his, he drew her onto his lap, spread her from one cushioned arm to the other.

Her mostly naked.

Him fully clothed.

Fighting a last-ditch urge to hunch over, to protect, Jace forced herself to remain outstretched, her legs draped to his right, his left arm around her back.

He made one long, stunning sweep from throat to ankles. "Watch as your body comes alive under my hands." He proceeded to do just that, to stir life hot and sweet in her belly, to draw forth such need that she threw back her head and gave him free rein.

Joy...greed...hunger tore at her, sizzled down her spine, clawed into her mind. A strange melody trilled as she watched him play with her, his darker hands startling against her pale skin, his knowledge of her body shocking. Delicious. The edge of a stunning freedom beckoned, as frightening as it was exhilarating.

His middle finger slid within her, hooked beneath her pubic bone while his thumb rubbed in circles against the exquisitely-sensitive bud.

She came apart violently, bucking against him and whimpering low in her throat as tremors rocked and her mind went white. Her thighs locked around his hand, her body pulsed around his finger, the eddies of bliss spreading through her like waves crashing the shore.

Then she fell back, boneless.

His unblinking stare was a laser, searing away every last place she might hide.

Too exposed, her dignity in shreds, she tensed.

His hand held her fast. "No—do not. You honor me to let me be so intimate. A woman is never more beautiful than when she is transported by hunger...when she loses herself in desire." His hand still claimed her. Her inner muscles tightened, little shocks echoing the rapture. "This, Justine, is the beginning of surrender. Revel in it. Feel the power you wield."

Too blissed out to fight the pleasure anymore, Jace lay back in his arms, legs splayed, his finger buried deep inside, his thumb pressed against her.

Replete, she smiled.

Then found the energy and mischief to rock once more against his hand.

Dante's eyes all but burned her up.

Lassitude faded fast. Hunger crashed over her in gale-force waves. Jace rose swiftly over him and parted her thighs to straddle his lap. Diving fingers into his long dark mane, Jace leaped from conquest to aggressor in the space of a breath.

She traced the length of him, smiling as he pulsed against her hand. "Now," she purred, "You surrender to me."

The moment she laid her mouth on his, the world detonated. Light flared phosphorescent, sparks shot from her body to his. Ribbons of violent color spilled into the night. Jace slanted her head to deepen the kiss, rose to her knees and forced his head back against the chair.

Pungent and heady, arousal exploded in the air about them. Dante crushed her against his chest. Jace fought to control the tempo, but the predator had awakened, and nothing would stop him now.

Like two savage gods, they mated, the only barrier between them their battle for control. This sense of total possession was beyond anything Jace had ever experienced, this awareness that she could not hold him at bay, could not surrender merely her body and keep the rest of her intact.

Yet a look at Dante's eyes told her he was not immune to her, either. An unexpected vulnerability peered out, fed her craving. She tugged at his clothing, wanting to feel him skin to skin, abandoning buttons to jerk his shirt over his head, struggling with the fastenings on his jeans.

Dante released the kiss and swore impatiently, rose from the chair to carry her to what she hoped was a bed. Jace locked her legs around his waist, his every step rubbing her mound against the hard ridge of flesh. As he strode, she sought out his mouth, sweeping inside to taste the wildness of him on her tongue.

But soon she realized they were traveling through a tunnel, then climbing a set of stairs.

The room she found herself in was...amazing. Round walls, a thick, beautiful rug on the floor, a massive bed beneath a clear skylight shimmering icy-blue with moonlight that surrounded her, poured over her skin.

Falling back on the bed, she watched him strip with haste.

Finally—at last, oh God, at last—he covered her, skin to heated skin.

Midnight, deep in the forest. A predator stalking her, demanding everything. Silver eyes searched her own as if there was something he must tell her.

Her fingers tightened on his shoulders. "What is it?"

Shadows passed over the silver. "Nothing."

"But—"

He pressed the merest inch into her.

Jace sucked in air. Moaned.

Dante's strong arms held him above her, still as a statue. "I cannot afford to want you so."

Jace searched his gaze. "Why?"

A fine mist of sweat broke out on his forehead. "Too much is at stake. I should make you stay far away, but I cannot."

She thrust her hips, aching to draw him inside. Her eyes closed at the exquisite feel of him. "You want me open to you, that's what you said."

"I need more. I must have your trust. Your true surrender."

"Why?"

Slowly, he expanded her, the sensation of fullness driving her fingernails into his sides. Inhaling sharply, she tried again. "Why, Dante?"

Another agonizing, slow slide, yet still he said nothing.

She closed her eyes, forced herself not to beg, though her body was screaming for relief.

"Justine." His voice pulsed with an urgency she hadn't heard before. "You will see things...hear things that confuse you, arouse your suspicions. You must not yield to them." The note of absolute truth in his voice opened her eyes. "You feel what I feel. Open to me. Let us soar together. Give me more than your body. I need your help, indeed your very soul."

When she wouldn't answer, he withdrew, and Jace felt a loss so deep, she wanted to weep.

Though his body strained with the effort of holding back and his face was carved in lines of need, she had no doubt that he would walk away if she continued to withhold herself from him.

"You ask too much," she whispered, arching against him.

"No more than you yearn to give."

Her walls were crumbling, the last of the barriers she'd thought would protect her. From the very first, he'd had a hold on her like nothing she'd ever felt. Deep within, a voice cried out:
Be done with the games.

Give or don't give, Jace. The time is now.

Fingernails lightly grazing his chest, she stroked up his neck, the pads of her fingers exploring his lips as if they were a Braille guide to the rest of her life.

If she yielded, she might be forever changed. She stared into bottomless depths going dark with his unspoken longing, the same yearning that had been locked away within her so long. "Dante, I—" Fear stabbed deep. He
could
change her. Destroy her. Then who would she be?

He merely watched...and waited.

She'd tried not to ever need anyone, not since her father. "I want to trust you, but I don't know you. How can I?"

"There is no middle ground. We are linked, you and I, in ways beyond your understanding."

If she gambled and lost...

"What of
your
soul, Dante?"

He stilled, and his eyes blazed with regret. "That was lost long ago."

The voice within her clamored louder, insistent.
Do it. Or you'll always wonder.

Praying she'd survive this, she took the leap. "All right, damn you. Yes."

His eyes blazed with welcome, with relief and hunger...with sorrow. Before she could puzzle over the last, he gripped her wrists. "You are mine, Justine. You belonged to me from the moment we met. Never forget that."

One stunning thrust joined them.

The vortex sucked her in, and she tensed—

Until she realized he was inside it with her. The carpet of stars spilled out before them like a trail, and she was no longer afraid. He was beside her, and the beauty of it was both terrible and achingly sweet. Ribbons of color burst from within her, rolling out into the darkness. A song swirled in the air around them.

"Oh, God," she gasped. "Dante—" The power of their joining shuddered through her as if she'd touched pure lightning. She dug nails into his back. Gasped as he withdrew. Pressed upward as if she could climb inside his skin. "Dante, where...where are we?"         

"Stay with me, stay with me," he chanted, then a melody spilled from his lips in a language she didn't know.

And the melding began. A shining edge of fire linked them, surrounded them, suffused them. Drew them on through inky sky bursting with stars, wrapped in the haunting, tender melody that soothed even as it called.

Daylight and reality would come, and with them, a reckoning.

But in the stolen, sweet hours of darkness, two lonely hearts, for a time...beat as one.

* * *

As her body cooled, Dante loosened his grip on her, turned on his side and studied her.

"Justine," he said carefully. "Please. Tell me what you see when we touch."

Unease seized her, and she fell back on reactions she understood. "I see a man who certainly knows his way around a woman's body," she purred, trailing one finger down his chest.

He captured it. "Do not play your games. This is more important than you can imagine."

"I'm not playing." But she was, and both of them knew it. 

He simply arched one eyebrow. For a moment they were locked in silent combat. The discussion was one she still wasn't ready for. It all sounded so crazy. "I don't..." She shook her head and winced against the ache in her head she'd forgotten in the moments of bliss.

Disappointment shadowed those beautiful eyes, and he rose from the bed, removing his warmth. "I'll get you something for that headache."

Jace grabbed for his hand. "Don't go." She drew away before they touched, shaken. She didn't cling. Ever. "Never mind."

"There is much you do not understand." He hesitated, his glance a brief flare of anguish. "And you must. Please stop fighting me on this."

"Do you want me to tell you that you shake me up? Fine—you make my head spin. You make me see stars and colors—any other clichés you'd like to hear about? Does knowing that I completely lose control and it terrifies me, does that make you feel better?" She stood and donned his shirt, trying to remember where her clothes had gone.

"No," he said quietly. "It does not. Do you hear the music, as well?"

"Stop pushing me!" she snapped. But she did, of course, a melody unlike anything she'd ever heard before, so compelling she'd wanted to give chase. To weep at its beauty. "What would it matter if I did?" she asked sullenly.