Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 (22 page)

“Yeah?” There was something beautifully animalistic
about the way he slowly rolled to his back and pushed his way up the bed, until
his upper body was braced against the mountain of pillows, his right leg bent a
little at the knee. The towel gaped, revealing a dark, provocative shadow of
pubic hair and his heavy testicles, as well as the impossibly broad base of his
cock.

Olivia’s mouth went dry, and although she knew damn
well that she should look away…she couldn’t. And the arrogant bastard knew it,
his voice a low, seductive rumble as he bent his right leg a little higher.
“You should probably come closer if you’re going to do a thorough job,” he
drawled in a low, wicked slide of words. He bent his left knee a little, then
let his leg fall open, dropping to the bed, the entire length of his dark,
massive erection suddenly on bold display. “You know, of making sure I’m all right
and everything.”

She would have rolled her eyes if she could have
looked away from the decadent sight, her mind boggling at the idea of taking
something that size inside her body. It was both exciting…and more than a
little worrying. “Obviously you’re f-fine,” she stammered, hating that her
nerves betrayed her so easily.

His eyelids lowered to half-mast. “Have I told you yet
how hot it makes me when you stutter?” He lowered his hand, and she nearly
drooled as she watched him lightly touch his fingertips to the dark,
vein-ridden flesh.

A soft, nervous rush of laughter fell from her lips.
She wondered if his expression was teasing, but couldn’t seem to steal a glance
at his face to see.

“Really, it’s sexy as hell,” he murmured, still
talking about her stammer. “Because whenever I hear it, I know it means you’re
getting all wound up inside.”

Her shyness urged her to look away, but she refused,
watching as he curled his big hand around the wide root nestled in that dense
patch of caramel hair. The shaft was as thick as her wrist, and she couldn’t
stop the erotic images from playing across her mind. Breathtaking fantasies of
what it would be like if it were her hands touching him…stroking him.

“You wanna know why I was hoping you’d come in here?”
he asked, rolling up into a sitting position as he swung his legs over the side
of the bed.

She nodded, unable to get any words out. The moment
felt so fragile, so intense. Thick. Viscous. It was almost difficult to breathe
through the excitement, the air steamy against her skin, her face flushed with
heat. Her mouth trembled, fingers fluttering with little twitches that she
couldn’t control. She felt like a neon sign blasting out her helpless longing
for something she knew she could never have. That could never truly be hers.

“I was hoping you’d come to take me up on my offer,”
he drawled, his slow, sin-tipped smile doubling her heart rate as he stood and
took a step toward her.

“You m-mean for an affair?” she asked, dazed by the
sight of his stomach, the muscles cut in a way no human male could ever hope to
achieve, no matter how many grueling hours he spent in the gym. And the way he
moved. It was beautiful. He didn’t walk, he stalked…prowled, those ripped
muscles moving with a raw, animalistic grace that completely betrayed the fact
that he was something so much more than human.

Oh yeah, she could so easily see him as the dangerous
predator. As something that would stalk the shadowed jungle, taking down its
prey with a deadly set of jaws.

“Why do we have to call it anything, Liv?” He cocked
his head a little to the side, hazel gaze bleeding to warm, rich amber. “Why
not just enjoy it?”

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then slowly
opened them again. “B-because I’m afraid to.”

Wanting nothing more than to kiss the frown from her
lips, Aiden took another step toward her, and the knot on his towel finally
gave way. As the damp cotton fell to the floor, he didn’t try to catch it. He
figured he could have played the gentleman and covered up, but what the hell.
He’d already spread his legs on the bed and flashed her his monster-sized
hard-on. She made him feel like a freaking caveman, so why shouldn’t he go
ahead and act the part?

And though he knew no one would ever have believed it,
he wasn’t in the habit of showing off his body in front of his lovers. He’d
gone through enough of that during his years at Mueller’s, and had never really
gotten into the whole admiration for his “size” when he’d become a man.

But…it was different with Liv. It jarred him just how
different she made him feel, though he knew he shouldn’t be surprised. She made
everything seem new to him, so why should sex be any different? He might be as
jaded and as used as they came, but Liv made him feel…fresh, in some
whacked-out, weird kind of way. He wanted to show himself to her in an earthy,
animalistic act of seduction. Watch her pale skin go warm as he flaunted his
iron-hard cock before her, giving her proof of just how badly he wanted to be
inside her.

And maybe, just maybe, it would ease the ache. Make
sense of some of the madness that had been tearing him up inside since he’d met
her. That had only grown worse with each second that he spent with her.

And maybe it will just make it worse, jackass.

That was certainly a possibility. And yet, did he
really care?

You had better care. Because if you don’t,
everything’s gonna blow up right in your face.

No, he could control it. If it meant being able to
touch her, he would find some way to master the beast and beat the bloody thing
into submission.

Wanna bet?

Damn. He was looping so many lines of bullshit, he
didn’t know what he was doing anymore—didn’t know which voices to listen to. To
believe. All he knew was that he couldn’t be close to her and not touch her.
Not when he was enjoying being around her as much as he was, something that
never happened to him with women. Not to mention human ones.

And then there was the head-spinning attraction. The
I’ve-got-to-have-you-or-I’m-going-to-die burn of hunger. Her scent was like
something that he could taste in his throat, through his skin. It was
thick…warm. Delicious. His chest expanded as he pulled it into his lungs,
savoring it, his awareness of her spreading out like a net. He wanted to throw
it out and snare her in its grip. Wanted to take her into his arms and drag her
away to his cave and…keep her, to hell with the consequences. To hell with “the
Eve effect” and her hope for a normal life. To hell with his past and his fears
and the fact she was human. To hell with all of it.

At least for as long as it would take him to get what
he needed.

Aiden half expected her to shriek as he prowled toward
her, but she surprised him, going perfectly still instead, her smoky gaze
locked in tight on his cock again. She cleared her throat, her voice shaking
with nerves. “You, uh, really shouldn’t d-do that.”

A quick arch of his brows. “Do what?”

“Walk around…like that.”

Aiden stopped just a few feet in front of her, careful
to keep his body positioned so that he wouldn’t be seen through the open door,
and braced his feet. Hooking his thumb around the base of his cock, he pushed
the shaft away from his body, imagining what it would be like if she sank to
her knees, her parted lips begging for him to come closer. The swollen head was
already slick, practically drooling with eagerness. “Tempted?” he rasped,
gripping himself in a tight fist, the thick knotwork of veins going dark as he
squeezed.

“Yes,” she whispered, flicking her tongue against her
upper lip in a quick, shy swipe, as if she was already licking the head of his
cock, taking the salty bead there at the tip into her mouth.

Her honesty caught him off guard, but only for a
moment. “Ah, that’s good to hear, Liv. I was beginning to think I’d lost my
touch.”

She swept her gaze up to his lopsided grin, her brows
drawn together in a V. Uncertainty flickered in her gaze. As well as caution.
“Seriously, Aiden. Is this all some kind of game to you?”

He’d started to take another step toward her, but
stopped, the raw vulnerability of her expression hitting him low in his
stomach. He hated that she could disarm him so easily. Make him feel things he
didn’t want to feel, as if his emotions were suddenly hers to manipulate at
will.

“No. No game.” He ran his tongue over his teeth. “I
want you, Liv. More than I should,” he added, fully aware that he was repeating
words he’d said to her before. He shook his head, his hands aching as he fisted
them at his sides, struggling to hold himself back from her. “But no matter
what happens between us—” the gravelly words scraped against his throat “—I’m
staying. Sex isn’t a condition of your and Jamie’s protection. I just want to
make sure that’s clear.”

She blinked up at him. Took a shaky breath. “You’re
going to drive me out of my mind,” she said in a soft voice, “but you’re a good
man, Aiden.”

He snorted. “I thought you said I was a tomcat.”

“You’d never be a good husband or boyfriend,” she
offered with a wry laugh, “but I have a feeling you would make a great friend.”

Something pulled tight in his chest, but he didn’t
argue. “Then I’ll be your friend, Liv.” Until you’re ready to ask me to be
more.

Whoa. Taking a mental step back, he wondered where
those strange words had come from. Damn it, he didn’t want her to ask for more,
and even if he did, there wasn’t a chance that she would ever do it.

Forcing himself back on track, he said, “I’ll be your
friend, and if you’d give me the chance, I could be a hell of a lover.”

She shook her head, pressing herself tighter against
the wall. “God, Aiden. Do you enjoy torturing me? Tempting me to m-make an
idiot of myself?”

“You forget that you’re the one who came in here to
me, Liv?” A sliver of his desperation suddenly bled through in his tone, his
voice going gritty and hard. “And it wouldn’t be torture if you’d stop fighting
the inevitable and just give in.”

“Why? Why do you want this to happen? And for once
just tell me the truth!”

His gaze slid to the side, and he caught a flash of
his reflection in the mirror above the dresser. Immediately he looked away, not
recognizing the man who’d briefly stared back at him. There’d been too much
intensity in his golden eyes. Too much need etched into the hard angles of his
face. He felt too raw, too exposed, as if he’d been stripped down and
everything laid out for the world to see.

Which was pretty funny, really. Considering he was
standing there in front of her bare-assed naked.

Rolling his shoulder, Aiden locked his gaze on the
white nothingness of the wall behind her head. “You want the truth, Liv? Well,
here it is.” The words were low, guttural, all but ripping their way out of
him. “The truth is that I should stay away from you, but I can’t.” He lifted
his right hand, worrying three fingers against the edge of his jaw. “You make
me smile. Make me laugh. Every time you walk into a room, my cock goes hard and
my heart starts pounding like it wants to bust its way through my chest. My
ears roar and my mouth waters.” Taking a deep breath, he lowered his gaze,
locking onto the violet smoke of her eyes. “You want the truth? The truth is
that I hate the way you keep pulling away from me. And the truth is that I
don’t like being this out of control, but I can’t stop it.”

“Then leave.” She broke eye contact with him as she
sidled to the side, as if she was planning on slinking out the door and running
away. “Let Kellan and Noah take over and just go.”

Aiden reached out, smacking his right hand against the
door. It slammed shut, the sharp sound making her jump. He moved closer,
crowding her against the wall, caging her in. “Is that what you want? You want
me gone?”

She kept her eyes on his throat. Pulled her lower lip
through her teeth. “We’re talking about you, not me.”

“Don’t play games with me,” he growled, forcing the
words through his clenched teeth as he smacked the flat of his palm against the
door. “I’m not in the mood.”

She trembled, closing her eyes, and Aiden forced
another deep breath into his lungs, mentally shaking his head at himself.
Christ, so much for keeping it light and easy.

Smooth, asshole.

The color in her face was burning brighter as she
dared a quick look up at his face. “I tried to explain it to you before,” she
whispered. “I don’t know the first thing about having casual sex, and I’ve
never had a one-night stand in my life.”

With one hand braced against the door, the other
against the wall, Aiden lowered his head and buried his nose in the tender
curve of her throat, torturing himself with her scent. “Who said anything about
one night?” he muttered. “It’s going to take a hell of a lot longer than that
for me to get my fill of you. And I can guarantee there won’t be anything
casual about it.”

Lifting his head, he trapped her with the burning
intensity of his stare. “And if you keep telling me that you can’t,” he
grunted, driven by the powerful urge to see her smiling up at him again, “it’s
gonna give me a complex. I’m liable to start thinking that you just don’t want
me. It’ll be pathetic, Liv, and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.”