Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 (24 page)

Bracing himself on his left arm, Aiden thrust two
thick fingers up inside her, and watched as her hands fell away from her face,
to her sides, clutching handfuls of the sheets as if she needed to anchor
herself. Thick, savage satisfaction spilled through his veins at the dazed look
of lust darkening her violet eyes as she stared back at him, her lips parted
for the shallow, jagged rhythm of her breathing. She was thinking about it,
imagining what he’d described, and he could scent the rise of her need, that
provocative perfume seeping into him, making him drunk with craving.

“This is, um, a little embarrassing,” she whispered,
flicking her tongue against her lower lip. Damp ringlets curled at her temples,
one fiery strand draped across her warm cheek. “I mean, I’m not really
comfortable doing this kind of thing with the l-lights on.”

Choking back a low growl, Aiden nuzzled the hem of her
sweater above her navel, then buried his face against the gentle swell of her
belly. No way was he going to let her hide from him. “You don’t have anything
to be embarrassed about, Liv.” He pulled his fingers back, then shoved them
deep again, nearly dying as her lush sheath clasped him in a tight, greedy
hold. “You’re perfect. We’re talking the blow my mind, make me dizzy kind of
perfect.”

He licked the soft patch of skin just beneath her
navel, slowly working his way toward the edge of her panties. He could feel how
shy she was, but it didn’t turn him off. If anything, Liv’s shyness just turned
him on. A lot. Hell, he even got off on the way she breathed. The way she
blinked. She could probably recite the bloody alphabet and make him hard as
nails. The woman was just too tempting to resist.

“Can’t wait any longer,” he growled, pulling his
fingers from the soft, liquid clutch of her body. She gave a shocked cry as he
fisted his hand in the front of her panties, ripping the cotton with ridiculous
ease, then tossed them over the side of the bed. Leaning forward, he wedged his
shoulders between her legs, forcing them to part a little wider for him. He
wanted to tell her how beautiful she was, but the words were all jammed up in
his throat, his head thick with hunger and craving as he rubbed his thumbs
along the silken inner surface of her thighs. His gaze locked with a visceral
force of need on the exquisite flesh nestled there between her legs, his eyes
burning as he stared at that tender, private part of her.

Private.

Until that moment, Aiden had never really thought
there was anything particularly private about a woman’s sex. The females he
normally took to bed weren’t innocent or shy. They tended to strip easily, lie
back, spread their legs and show him what they knew he was after. He didn’t
think badly of them for it. In fact, he’d always appreciated the fact that they
understood what he wanted from them, as callous as that sounded, and didn’t
waste his time making him work for it.

But there was something wonderfully intimate about
coaxing Olivia to spread her legs wider for him, so that he could open her up
like a gift, revealing all the pink, slippery details. He exerted gentle
pressure with his hands as he pressed his nose against the silky, strawberry curls
that lay in a soft patch against the top of her mound.

“The light,” she gasped, shivering beneath his mouth.

“I’m not turning it out,” he muttered, the guttural
edge of the animal’s voice bleeding through the human words. Unable to wait any
longer, Aiden used his strength to position her legs the way he wanted them,
pushing them out high and wide. “I want it bright. Need to be able to see every
part of you.”

She stiffened, reaching down to cover herself, but he
stopped her with a single word. “Don’t,” he growled, making her jump. “Sorry,
just…don’t cover yourself, Liv. Don’t move.” He took a deep breath, forced out
a gritty, desperate “Please.” Then nearly cried with relief when she shifted
her hands to his hair, soothing him with tender strokes of her fingers, as if
she were gentling some wild, out-of-control creature. It made him feel raw.
Exposed. Though he’d have cut his own tongue out before telling her to stop,
the touch of her hands against his hair too blissful and sweet.

Using his thumbs, Aiden spread her open until he could
see all the slick, tender bits that lay inside. He was mesmerized, dazed by the
sheer perfection of her. Smooth, pale thighs, and then that blushing,
candy-pink center, all vivid and wet and pretty. It was like opening the lid of
a treasure chest to find the jewels hidden inside. Like discovering an exotic
hothouse flower, its succulent scent like no other in the world.

That was how it felt with her. He might have had more
than any man’s fair share of women, but staring down at Olivia with rapt
fascination, he knew he’d never seen anything like her. Nothing this perfect.
This sweet. This…private. In that moment, Aiden finally understood the deeper
meaning of that word. One that burned in his chest, hot and vital and violently
strong. Yes, that was how he felt. This was private. Something that no one
should ever have the right to see but him. That no one else should ever be
allowed to touch. Or taste.

Dangerous thoughts. But impossible ones to ignore. Not
that he knew what to do about them.

“You’re staring at me,” she whispered, her breath
hitching as she lifted herself on her elbows, staring at him over the trembling
line of her body. “And you have the strangest look on your face.”

“Not strange,” he rasped, the corner of his mouth
twisting with a tight, wry smile. “Believe it or not, honey, that’s just my
happy look. Feel kinda like I’ve died and gone to heaven.”

She fell back against the bed again as she gave a soft
laugh, her hands clutching back onto handfuls of the sheet. “You’re a madman,
Aiden.”

Yeah. Probably. God only knew that he must look like
one. Sweat covered his face, his chest, the craving twisting him up inside,
scraping and raw, no doubt etched into his expression. He wanted to mark her,
branding her body in ways that would let every other male out there know they
had no claim on her.

That she was his and no one else’s.

For the moment, sneered an all-too-human voice in his
head. Only for the moment.

He snarled the bastard back into hiding, unwilling to
listen to his bullshit. Not now. Not when he really was about to experience the
closest thing to heaven he knew he’d ever get.

“You’re so beautiful,” he groaned, lowering his face,
unable to fight the urgent need to get his mouth on her. He’d feared that panic
might take hold of him when he got to this point, but he shouldn’t have
worried. There was no reminder from his past. No unwanted memories or emotions.
There was just Liv, the intoxicating feel and taste of her exploding through
his body, drenching his senses in pleasure.

“So good,” he growled, licking her, his tongue in
ecstasy as it lapped at her glistening flesh, then thrust inside the tiny
opening, going deep. She didn’t taste as good as she smelled. She tasted
better. Like strawberries and sugar and heaven. Yum.

She writhed beneath him as he whispered hoarse, broken
phrases, telling her how gorgeous she was, how incredible she tasted, using
carnal words that had her pale skin burning with heat, her entire body covered
in a dark, brilliant blush. Aiden couldn’t get enough of the taste of her skin,
her flavor, nearly dying when her back arched, a throaty cry spilling from her
lips as she crashed over the edge, pulsing against his mouth in a sweet,
melting rush of pleasure.

“That was…I didn’t know how it would…that I could
actually…” She struggled to get the husky words out between her panting
breaths, her voice blissed-out and dreamy.

Aiden licked his lips, starving for her. “Yeah, it
was. I want more.”

“No, wait. I want to be able to touch you, too.”

His beast roared at the idea, and Aiden knew he was
pushing it. He’d known that going down on her would whip the animal into a
frenzy, but he hadn’t been able to deny himself a taste of her. And now that
he’d had one, he needed another.

“You can touch me after,” he groaned, flicking his
tongue against the swollen knot of her clit. “Right now I just need to keep
doing this.”

And boy did he do it well. Taking a deep breath,
Olivia lifted her head, needing to see it. Aiden. Between her legs. His pink
tongue lapping at her, licking her. Those hard, beautiful features pulled into
an expression of pure, breathtaking lust. Need. Hunger.

She moved her gaze down his body, his weight balanced
on his left arm and his knees, and almost came again when she saw him stroking
his cock in a hard, brutal-looking grip with his right hand. She blinked,
wetting her lips, thinking it was incredibly erotic, not to mention sexy as
hell, that going down on her made him want to touch himself.

He flicked his golden eyes up to her face and found
her staring at him. “The beast,” he growled, his mouth slick with her juices.
“If I don’t take care of this, I’m going to…” His voice broke, his eyes
flashing…the sharp points of his teeth edging beneath the sensual curve of his
upper lip, and she realized his fangs were descending. That he was…changing, at
least partly. The hard, hungry look on his face as he started to crawl his way
over her—his body moving like a sleek, powerful predator—should have scared the
hell out of her, but it didn’t. It just made her hotter, needier…everything
inside her screaming to get as much of this man as she could.

You’re losing your mind, woman. We’re talking grade A
certifiable.

Maybe. But in that moment she honestly didn’t give a
damn.

“Aiden.” She cleared her throat, trying to talk past
the twisted knot of lust and emotion that was choking her. “Come closer.”

When his face was just above hers, he stopped, his
sweet breath warm against her mouth as he stared down into her eyes with a
dark, hypnotic look that made her burn with heat. He lifted his right hand,
laying it against the curve of her cheek, his thumb stroking the corner of her
mouth. His gaze fell, following the lazy movement of his thumb as he swept it
across her lower lip, his breathing loud against the heavy silence of the room.
Flicking her tongue out, Olivia licked the tip of his thumb, and his gaze flew
up, locking with her own.

A rough, guttural sound vibrated in his throat. And
then he was kissing her. Or rather, consuming her. His tongue swept past her
lips, claiming…seducing, with bone-melting, heart-pounding skill.

“Touch me, damn it.” The low growl blasted against her
mouth, and then he was kissing her again, harder, wetter, his head angling to
the side for a deeper connection as she reached between them, wrapping her
fingers around his heavy cock. She squeezed, milking him, and he broke the
kiss, chanting a breathless, sexy string of swearwords against her cheek, her
temple, his lips moving against her skin in a soft, sensual brush.

Knowing she’d go crazy if she didn’t get him inside
her, Olivia arched her hips. She was angling his cock toward that part of her
that so desperately needed to be filled, Aiden’s right hand roughly shoving up
her sweater, when the first knock sounded against the bedroom door. They both
froze, her eyes wide, his narrowed with fury.

“What?” he snarled, dropping to his side as a second
knock came, this one louder than the first.

“Sorry to, uh, interrupt,” Kellan called through the
door, “but Jamie nodded off during the movie and we think she must have had a
bad dream. She woke up asking for Liv, and she’s starting to get a little
anxious.”

Olivia scrambled to her feet, quickly pulling her
jeans back on, while Aiden remained on the bed, one arm thrown over his eyes,
his cock rising high against his ridged stomach, so hard it looked painful. His
chest rose and fell as he took a series of slow, deep breaths. “Sorry,” she
whispered, biting the corner of her lip. She hated that she had to leave him
like that, knowing damn well he didn’t deserve it after everything he’d done to
her. For her. “I…you know I have to go.”

“You don’t need to apologize,” he rasped, still
covering his eyes. “She needs you, and it’s not like a hard-on is gonna kill
me.” Another deep breath lifted his chest, the light glinting against the tip
of a fang just beneath his upper lip. “It’s probably better this way. I seem to
be a little low on control tonight.”

“Is control so important?”

A gritty, bitter laugh. “Honey, you have no idea.”

Wondering what he was hiding, she turned away, her
heart still beating like a trapped bird within her chest. Somehow she managed
to make her way toward the door, even though her legs felt like overcooked
linguini.

“Liv.”

With one hand on the door, she looked at him over her
shoulder.

He’d lifted his head, his gaze shadowed by the thick,
golden fringe of his lashes. “Just so you know, that’s how it’ll be between us
every time. You won’t ever have to fake it or pretend something you don’t
feel.”

She gave him a tremulous smile, painfully aware that
she was feeling so much more than she should. Certain, now, that there was
nothing she could do to stop it.

You’re gonna be sorry. And then you’re gonna feel like
a fool.

“Try to get some rest,” she told him, turning a deaf
ear to the words being whispered through her mind. Then she hurried through the
door, leaving the ultimate temptation behind her.