Rhyannon Byrd - Primal Instinct 04 (35 page)

Lifting her higher, Aiden nuzzled his mouth against
the inner curve of one soft, heavy breast, while staring up at her flushed
face. The dark, crimson silk of her hair fell forward in wild curls as she
gazed down at him, her lush, kiss-swollen lips parted for those gasping
breaths. Aiden held her gaze as he opened his mouth over one thick, delicious,
candy-pink nipple, trapping the tender bud against the roof of his mouth,
rubbing it with his tongue. She cried out, trembling in his arms, her delicate
hands clenched against his shoulders.

“I didn’t pay nearly enough attention to these
yesterday,” he groaned, moving his eager mouth to the other breast. He swirled
a slow, hungry lick around the puffy nipple, loving the way she squirmed in his
arms. “They deserve hours of attention, Liv. Days. Months. Years. I’ve never
seen anything so beautiful.”

Her chest shook with a breathless flutter of laughter,
her tender mouth curling in a shy, dazzling smile. “You’re crazy.”

“I mean it. That’s not a line. You take my breath
away,” he panted. “Blow my mind.”

Tears still glistened in her eyes as she leaned down
and kissed him, holding his face in her trembling hands. With his head
spinning, Aiden tightened his grip on her ass, holding her against him as he
turned and quickly carried her to the closest bed. He laid her down, ripping
off the rest of her clothes, then his own, and was beyond thankful that he’d
put a condom in his back pocket so that he didn’t have to go searching for one.

Racked with a violent, visceral need, he fumbled with
the rubber like a green-eared virgin, nearly roaring with relief when he
finally got the thing on. Then he crawled over her naked body, his muscles
shaking so hard his damn teeth were chattering. “I need to fuck you,” he
somehow managed to scrape out.

“Then what are you waiting for?” Sweet, husky words
that made him shake even harder as she ran her soft palms down the bunched
muscles in his back.

Cursing a breathless stream of raw, erotic phrases
under his breath, Aiden shoved her thighs wide and nudged himself against her
opening, the slick, moist heat of her making him see red. With his muscles
coiled hard and tight, he shoved deep, pulling a hoarse, shocked cry from her
chest as he gave her every brutal, demanding inch…and began stirring the liquid
depths of her body. He couldn’t look away from her eyes, lost in the deep,
smoky pools of violet, every intimate pulse of pleasure that thrummed through
her body shining right there for him to see, so beautiful and sweet and bright.

Some kind of dark, primitive sound tore from his throat,
and he heard himself saying, “Every time I get inside you, it just feels
better. Like being caught in the middle of a hurricane, and everything’s
thrashing around me, while I’m snugged up tight in paradise, going out of my
mind. It doesn’t make any sense. I should be getting tired of you by now, and
instead I just want you more. It’s like you’ve put some kind of spell on me.”

Her mouth curled with a slow, womanly smile, her eyes
heavy lidded and dark as she ran her hands over the corded muscles in his arms,
across his shoulders, fluttering them up the strained tendons in his throat. He
rode her hard and roughly, caging her beneath his body as he thrust in deep,
penetrating lunges that drove their sex-slick bodies across the bed. When she
closed her eyes, he twisted his fingers in the thick hair at the back of her
head, tilting her face up to his as he said, “Look at me, Liv. I need you to
look at me.”

Her lashes fluttered open, and his breath caught at
the glittering sparks of emotion burning in their luminous depths. He refused
to let her hide, demanding she give him everything he wanted. He sucked on her
breasts as if they belonged to him. Drove himself into her as if his life
depended on it. And when she came, Aiden could have sworn her wild, sobbing
burst of pleasure surged right into him, like some kind of crazy, breathtaking
feedback loop.

She was liquid and soft and deliciously warm, hugging
the thick, granite-hard length of his cock as if she wanted to keep him inside
her forever. She stretched beneath him like a sated, well-fed cat and purred,
“I thought things like that only happened in books.”

“You like it?” he asked, riding her through the orgasm
with slow, heavy thrusts, while she pulsed and throbbed around him. A stupid
question to ask, but he couldn’t stop himself.

She lifted her hand, stroking the tip of one finger
across the slash of his brows, then along the hard edge of his jaw before
sweeping it across his bottom lip. “Let’s just say that I’m finding it hard to
remember why I ever thought sex was overrated,” she whispered, following the
movement of her finger with her eyes as she traced the shape of his upper lip,
a rush of shivering pleasure left in the wake of her touch. “I guess…I guess
it’s easy to understand why you’ve had so many lovers. Women probably follow
you around, just throwing themselves at your feet, begging you to take them to
bed.”

Aiden frowned, suddenly feeling a little sick inside
at the idea of Liv comparing what was happening between them to the sex he’d
indulged in before meeting her. He wanted to explain the difference to her, but
didn’t know how. How could he make her understand that this heart-pounding,
throw the world off its axis thing that they had eclipsed every moment of
pleasure he’d ever felt in another woman’s arms? God, it was like comparing
water to the finest, rarest scotch whiskey.

Not knowing what to say, he let his body communicate
for him. He tried to keep it slow, at first just rubbing against the damp,
moist cushion of her sex, teasing her…loving the way she writhed and arched
against him. But he could hold back for only so long before his hunger got the
better of him, and the next thing he knew, he was riding her harder…deeper,
increasing his rhythm until he was slamming his hips against hers, the slick,
exquisite friction driving him out of his mind. As he lowered his head,
pressing his open mouth to the fragile column of her throat, tasting the salty
heat of her blush, he started to wonder if this blissful sense of perfection
was what had the Buchanans so lit up, their normally rugged expressions always
lovesick and sappy when their women were near. Was this what he’d been missing
out on? This strange, mind-blowing connection that made him feel as if he’d
finally, for the first time in his life, actually gotten something right?

And how in God’s name was he going to live without it,
now that he’d found it?

Not liking that particular question, his beast let out
a bloodthirsty roar that echoed through his skull, punching against his insides
as it tried to escape, more than ready to take matters into its own hands. It
snarled with primal ferocity, demanding that he bite her. Sink his teeth into
her. Mark her and claim her, while he still had the chance. Before it was too
late and they’d lost her.

It took everything that Aiden had to fight it back,
stopping the release of his claws and fangs—and although he managed, his control
was weakening. Knowing each second he stayed inside her was madness, he shoved
himself into the orgasm, and it was like throwing himself into the burning
center of the sun. Like being tossed into a wild, storm-racked ocean, the waves
crashing over his head, shoving him under again…and again…and again. His mind
whited-out, as the teeth-grinding sensations went on and on, lasting longer
than anything he’d ever experienced.

He had his weight balanced on his shaking arms, his
head hanging forward, chest rising and falling in a hard rhythm as he fought
for breath. She’d come with him, the narrow, cushiony walls of her sex still
pulsing around him, a soft, shivery sigh of pleasure falling from her lips as
she lifted her hands, running her fingers through the long, tangled mane of his
sweat-damp hair. “You’re shaking,” she whispered, snagging his gaze as he
opened his eyes, holding him with the sheer power of her will. “You’re still
fighting something, Aiden. I wish I knew what it was.”

“It’s nothing,” he murmured, lowering his lips to
hers, just needing to lose himself in the perfect taste of her mouth. Despite
all that had happened, he still couldn’t bring himself to make that next
confession, admitting that everything about her made him want to sink his fangs
into her, marking her body as something that was his. Or the fact that if he
bit her, after falling in love with her, that mark would be permanent. Binding.
Never to be undone.

Not yet, damn it, he thought, ravaging the tender
depths of her mouth, so warm and moist and delicious. He wasn’t ready to lose
her. She’d been so sweet and accepting, but he knew better than to push his
luck. It was hell fighting back the primal, predatory demands of the beast, but
he’d keep doing it if it meant he could have her again. Just a few more times
before he was forced to put an end to it.

Closing his eyes, he shoved away the stark vision of
his future that lingered at the edge of his consciousness, taunting him with
how things would be once he lost her, and did everything he could to cling to
the moment. But the annoying voice in the back of his mind wouldn’t shut up.
Wouldn’t leave him alone.

You’re just living on borrowed time here. Eking it
out. When you know, in the end, you’re still gonna crash and burn.

Panic settled in, destroying the hot, molten glow of
bliss still filling his belly. The sweat on his skin cooled as he pulled his
mouth from hers, the feeling in his gut twisting into a hard, tight burn as he
stared down into her questioning eyes. God, he really hated that voice. But it
was right. He’d never be able to put his trust in her. Not in the way she
deserved. He was too wary and bitter. And no matter what she was feeling at the
moment, he couldn’t count on it to last. Not forever. Sooner or later she’d
come to her senses. Realize her mistake. And by then, it would be too late.

MESMERIZED AND still a little light-headed from two
bone-melting orgasms, Olivia watched the breathtaking play of muscle beneath
Aiden’s golden skin as he quietly pulled away from her and moved across the
room, heading toward the bathroom. The low glow of light from the desk lamp
illuminated the strong, rugged lines of muscle and bone and sinew, his body
like a primal, enticing work of art. It dazzled her. Blinded her with its
rough, masculine beauty.

But what truly captivated her was the wary,
emotionally scarred man who lurked beneath that tough, beautiful surface. That
was who had stolen her heart. Who she wanted to shower with tenderness. The man
she’d fallen utterly and completely in love with. The feeling was so tender and
fragile, like something soft and green just peeking up through the moist earth,
seeking the warmth of the sun. She had to be so careful…so cautious, if it was
going to have a chance to blossom and thrive.

“Are you going to run away again?” she asked, her
stomach knotting as he came out of the bathroom and started to pull on the
low-slung jeans he’d been wearing before.

“I’m not running, Liv.” He reached for his thick
watch, hooking it around his left wrist. “But it’s going to be time for the
guys to head back in soon, and they’re going to need to get some sleep. I’d
keep you in here with me all night if I could, but I don’t want to put you in
an uncomfortable situation.”

She didn’t argue, though she wanted to, for the simple
reason that she wanted to stay with him. Be close to him. Instead, she moved to
her feet, giving him her back as she collected her scattered pieces of clothing
and began slipping them back on. When she went to pull on her jeans she had to
steady herself against the wall, her body still shivering with lingering pulses
of pleasure, like sensual aftershocks, the memory of what it felt like to have
him buried inside her permanently imprinted on her brain. Between her trembling
thighs she was swollen and sore, but ridiculously eager to have him again.
She’d never known orgasms could be like that. So powerful and wild. A complete
loss of self, without panic or fear, because she’d trusted Aiden to be waiting
there for her on the other side of the dark, devastating pleasure.

She watched him from the corner of her eye as he
pulled on a black sweatshirt and raked his fingers back through the damp
strands of his hair, wondering if he’d felt the same. If the experience had
been anywhere near as mind-blowing for him as it had been for her.

Wondering, with an odd little pain in her chest, just
what it was he was still hiding from her.

When they were both dressed, he walked with her to the
door of the bedroom she was sharing with Morgan and Jamie. She started to tell
him to be careful while he was out on patrol, but his big, calloused palms were
suddenly clamped against the sides of her head, holding her in place as he put
his mouth against hers, kissing her with a dark, savage aggression, as if he
was starved for the taste of her mouth. When he finally let her breathe again,
he pressed his forehead against hers, his thumbs brushing against her sensitive
skin with soft, tender strokes as he said, “I don’t have any regrets about what
happened between us. I just…I wanted you to know that.”

Then he gave her another hard, deep, bone-melting
kiss, and before she could even take in enough air to speak, he’d turned away
from her. As she watched him walk across the room, open the door and disappear
into the dark, frigid night, Olivia reminded herself that only fools and
dreamers wished for happily-ever-afters.