Hostage to Love (Entangled Suspense) (15 page)

“Nick,” she tried to moan around the tongue circling her own.

“Are you burning yet, Aphrodite?” he asked, his teeth grazing her lower lip.

“No,” she denied, her own tongue darting out to sample the sensual softness of his upper lip.

He groaned. “I must work harder, then.” His hand left her breast and started with sure intent down her stomach, pausing to knead her flesh until she writhed in protest. He swallowed her gasps but continued his unerring journey downwards. When his fingers grazed her mons, he stopped. Slowly, he teased the wet curls apart, then dipped into her warmth.

One expert finger slid into her folds, and she cried out, twisting in sweet agony at his touch. He caressed her clit, finding the throbbing center of her with unmistakable precision and bringing millions of nerve-endings to pulsing life. He teased; he plucked; he set out on a sizzling journey at a punishing pace.

Her cries grew hoarser and louder as she was pushed closer and closer to the edge. A second finger joined the intimate play and, sliding past the first, pressed just inside her.

“Oh, God, yes,” she groaned.

He paused.

“Are you burning yet?” he asked again as his finger passed, just once, over her need.

“Yes, yes, I’m on fire. Dammit, don’t stop, Nick. Please don’t stop,” she sobbed.

His thigh nudging her legs apart to give him better access, she whimpered as his finger plunged in and out of her, her eager flesh enclosing him, sucking him in. One digit became two again, and her whimpers became cries. With merciless skill he pushed, racing her toward oblivion.

His other hand left her hair and cupped her breast in a blatantly possessive hold, tormenting her nipple. With precise mastery, he increased the pressure, plunging faster into her as his tongue flicked against her ear. With almost cruel promise, he nudged his erection against her ass, letting her feel his power for a moment before moving away. She felt the strength leave her legs as sensation built inside her. Arrows of ecstasy shot through her and she bucked against his hand.

“Oh, God, Nick,” she cried, her head rolling helplessly against his shoulder as wave after wave of pleasure rolled over her.

“Yes,
glikia mou.
I can feel your fire. Let it wash over me, consume me,” he rasped in her ear.

“Yes, just like that.” She cried out one last time and jerked as convulsions seized her. The strength of it lifted her onto her toes. His mouth recaptured hers; his fingers continued to pump in and out of her as rapture flooded her. She flew through the heavens, touched the stars and bathed in their brilliance.

Soft shudders and throaty whispers eased her back down. Still basking in her euphoric nirvana, she didn’t realize what he was doing until he removed his hand from her breast and firmly pushed her against the wall. At the touch of the cool tiles against her aching nipples, his strong body against her back and the force of the water pounding over them, fresh convulsions ripped through her. She soared again, spasms seizing her as raw delirium reclaimed her.

“You have no idea how fucking fantastic it is to watch you come, baby,” he rasped in her ear, continuing to touch her. “I could spend days just watching you fall apart for me.”

He held her close as she caught fire and blazed through another orgasm. He nibbled her lips with soft kisses and murmured soothing words to her until her muffled cries turned to gentle moans. Then he took the weight of her body against his and pulled his fingers from her, cupping her mound possessively for a moment before letting go. He brushed a soft kiss on her cheek before he turned off the shower and eased back from her.

“You can take your hands down now,” he murmured softly.

Surprised to see they’d remained in place in spite of the strength of her orgasms, she let them fall from the stone, spent, to her side.

“Now turn round and show me what my heart desires,” he instructed thickly. The arousal in his voice threatened what little strength she’d regained, but helpless to deny him, she turned, a banked fire still heating the blood surging through her.

If ever a look in a man’s eyes could turn a woman to a senseless puddle, it was the look in his eyes. It ate her alive even as his erection leapt with eager anticipation toward her. A tremor passed through him as his gaze zeroed in on the juncture of her thighs. With daring invitation, she tilted her hips forward, offered herself to him. He swallowed, his jaw working as he tore his eyes from the blonde curls to graze over her stomach to her breasts. Her nipples stood to renewed attention, desperate for his touch.

When he lifted his hands, she moaned, anticipation of his total possession rushing through her.

But he kept her waiting, withholding himself just a little bit longer. Instead, his hands raked into his hair, slicking it back from his face in one slow slide. His chest rose, and his nostrils flared as he took a deep breath. Just as slowly he lowered his arms, his eyes never leaving her face.

She smiled—a wanton, feminine smile. Two could play this game. If he wanted to make her wait, she’d make him burn.

He took another breath, sharper than before. “Come here,” he commanded. She moved, her feet propelling her forward until she stood a hair’s breadth from him. Heat emanated from him and her blood surged. He inhaled again; this time it was a shaky sound that told her he wasn’t as in control as he wanted to be. She waited, forcing him to verbalize his need, just as she’d screamed hers moments ago.

“What do you want, Nick?” she enquired throatily.

He closed his eyes for a moment, the hands twitching at his sides speaking volumes. When he opened his eyes again she gasped at the hunger in their depths.

“
You
. Take me in your arms and kiss me.” The words were so hoarse and thick, had she not been as close as she was to him, she wouldn’t have understood them.

She lifted her hands, slid them up his strong arms and over his shoulders, and locked them behind his neck. She brought her body into full contact with his, her breasts pressing into his heaving chest. Rising on tiptoe, she pressed her open lips against his.

With a shuddering moan, he crushed her to him, the power of his kiss sending her head reeling backward. Her answering moan only spurred him on, his mouth devouring hers before setting a trailing path down her throat. He paused at her ear, nibbling hungrily on her lobe. “Touch me, my Aphrodite,” he rasped. “Make me burn for you.”

She didn’t need a second bidding. Her eager hands explored his hard body, egged on by his throaty encouragement. When her fingers grazed over his nipples, he shuddered again, his less than gentle nip on the soft flesh of her shoulder a sign his control was slipping. Her hands drifted down, explored the sculpted contours of his stomach before moving around to knead his firm buttocks.

His hips jerked, pushing his engorged penis urgently into her stomach. She drifted her hands back again over packed muscle, down to his front, teased them through his rough male hair before she took him firmly in both hands. She gloried in the weight and girth of him, running her hands back and forth over his velvet hardness. He grunted harshly, his head rearing back on a sharp inhale. With half-closed eyes, he lanced her with a look so potent she gasped. She understood what he wanted, but she made him say it.

“Tell me what you want, Nick.”

“I want you to open your body to me,
matia mou
. I want to come home.”

His words made her tremble. She held him a moment longer, reveling in the power she knew was only fleeting. He shuddered once more, his jaw clenched in his effort to stay in control. But her needs were equally urgent, the need to feel his powerful cock inside her supreme. With one final stroke, she released him. Her chest tightened when he left her to grab a condom from his trousers, but the momentary tinge of sadness was brushed aside by clamoring desire for him. The second he was within touching distance, she locked her arms around his neck, levered herself up, and wound her legs around his hips.

Nick’s arm came around her waist to clamp her to him. He took a step forward and with his other hand braced himself on the wall. But he didn’t enter her. He remained still, his eyes intent on hers, waiting for permission. She brought her mouth to his, stopping a whisper away until their heated breaths mingled. Unable to bear it any longer, she whispered the words they both wanted to hear.

“Yes, Nick.”

…

With a hoarse growl ripped from deep inside him, Nick plunged into Belle, burying himself in her welcoming warmth. They both shook with the force of his possession. Buried deep inside her, he stilled, fighting for control as her tight muscles enclosed him, wrapping around him like a silken prison he never wanted to escape from.

She flexed her hips, and he bit back another groan as pure sensation coursed through him. Shit, he was already close, so close he feared not giving her satisfaction again before reaching fulfillment himself. Clinging with gut-wrenching tenacity to his control, he pulled back, his legs almost giving way when her insides clung to him with ardent devotion.

Closing his eyes, he thrust again, his effort rewarded when she trembled, a deep moan vibrating through her. Hanging on to his fast-slipping control for a few moments longer, he pleasured her—pleasured them both—with slow, long thrusts.

But soon it was unsustainable. Tension gripped the back of his legs, and he knew he was at the point of no return. When it climbed up his back to grip his neck, he increased his pace, knowing oblivion was a few short heartbeats away.

Before he was ready, sensation climbed into his brain and through his entire body and exploded in a shower of light. He groaned in rapture even as he continued pumping, desperate to wring every last ounce of ecstasy from this moment. When Belle cried out, he pumped faster, his lips fusing eagerly with hers as she started to convulse once again in his arms. The tugging sensation of her orgasm made his breath catch as his pleasure was prolonged. At the sound of her broken sobs, his heart tripped, and he felt a sense of homecoming so strong, he swallowed hard. He broke their kiss and laid his forehead against hers, reveled in her full breasts heaving against his chest as she panted her pleasure.

Afterwards he held her, murmured grateful, soothing words in his father tongue as their bodies quieted.

When her breathing returned to normal, he leaned down and kissed her cheeks, then the corner of her mouth.

“
Efkharisto
, Tinkerbelle
mou
. You’ve made your husband a very happy man.” He heard the huskiness of his words and prayed she’d believe their sincerity this time.

Her eyes lit up, but a split second later, dark clouds invaded their green depths. Reading the reason behind the pain in her expression, he stifled a curse and struggled to keep his voice even.

“Let us make a promise to one another, Tinkerbelle. Tonight is not for thinking about the past, or the future—no arguments, no mention of truces. Tonight, let’s just live and share paradise. Tomorrow will come soon enough, and we can make it whatever we want it to be. Okay?”

He held his breath and waited for her answer. After what seemed like an eternity, she nodded, her clouded eyes clearing a little even though she smiled.

Rising on tiptoe, she brushed her mouth with his. “To living and sharing in paradise. For tonight.”

His heart tripped, then accelerated, his lungs expanding with relief as he took in much needed breath. He crushed her to him, and when her arms tightened around his neck in response, he made a second, silent promise to himself.

He might only have one night to make it happen, but come morning, she would abandon all plans of leaving him. He would use every single second to prove his devotion to her.

Starting now.

“I’m going to turn on the shower again for a quick wash before we go upstairs, okay?” he asked as he pulled out of her and lowered her down gently.

His breath caught when she dimpled a smile at him.

“And do I get to wash you this time?”

“‘Baby, you can do whatever you want to me. I’m putty in your hands.”

Her tinkling laugh sent sensation scuttling through his body.

“Right. Then I command you to put your hands on the wall and don’t move them until I say so.”

“Or what?” he teased. He flicked on the shower behind her, luxuriating in her husky cry when the fingers of his other hand played over the nipples displayed rubescent in the moonlight.

“Or you’ll be tortured in ways you’ve never even dreamed of,” came her bold, husky promise. The blood thickened in his veins.

“Well, in that case, I absolutely refuse to do your bidding.”

Her mock gasp of outrage was the last coherent thing he heard for a long time.

Chapter Eight

The first thing Belle saw when she opened her eyes the next morning was her wedding ring. On its own, it would’ve been easy to miss, but with the sharp rays of the morning sun striking the pear-shaped diamond in her engagement ring, the presence of the platinum band lying next to it announced itself with blinding clarity. She shut her eyes, her heart hammering.

Tomorrow had come. And she had to face the consequences of last night.

The last time she’d seen her rings had been six months ago, when she’d taken them off and left them on another bedside table.

Her body’s radar told her she was alone in bed, but she still turned her head to investigate, and with a mixture of relief and disappointment saw only the imprint of Nick’s head on his pillow. Drawn almost hypnotically to the rings on her bedside table, she glanced at them. And saw a note beneath them. Shakily, she withdrew it.

It was simple and succinct.

This is what I want
.

She crushed the note against her breast, her heart thumping harder.

“You’re awake.”

She looked up as Nick walked in, bristling with vitality and wearing an air of sated male. And no wonder—his demands on her through the night had been relentless. But he’d given in equal measure, and starved of his touch, she’d rejoiced in every single moment in his arms.