Creole Fires (18 page)

Cheeks bright with color, she turned toward the fireplace, but she didn’t miss Alex’s soft chuckle of amusement. She could hear the sound of his tall black boots hitting the floor, then the rustle of fabric. It occurred to her that, as arrogant as he was, he might just be immodest enough to remove
all
of his clothing.

“Take off the rest,” he commanded, and she knew without doubt that was exactly what he had done.

“Not on your life.”

“Need I remind you I’m more than twice your size?” he said from behind her.

“No. And I haven’t forgotten what an overbearing tyrant you can be, either.”

When Alex chuckled again, Nicki whirled to face him. “You’re enjoying this!”

He stood just inches away, the blanket wrapped casually around his waist, his muscular arms folded across his wide chest. Deep grooves lined each side of his mouth.

“Exactly.”

In her wildest dreams she couldn’t have imagined the way Alexandre du Villier would look standing half-naked in the firelight. His hair looked more golden than brown, his eyes almost tawny. The hair on his chest curled seductively, and his skin was so smooth and tanned she ached to touch it.

“Well?” he pressed, interrupting her thoughts, for which she was grateful. “I’m waiting.”

Nicki made a frustrated sound in her throat. She would lose this argument and she knew it. The thought of him removing her clothes by force flooded her with embarrassment—and something warm and liquid that seeped through her veins. “Turn around.”

“What if I promise to close my eyes?”

“Damn you, this isn’t funny. Now turn around.” Alex made a grand show of turning his back to her, the blanket, worn arrogantly low, clinging to his long, powerful legs.

Hurriedly, Nicole stripped off the last of her soggy garments, tossing them with a plop over one of his wide, bare shoulders.

He didn’t even flinch. “That’s better,” he said.

Striding toward the fire, he pulled two wooden ladder-backed chairs to one side, constructed a makeshift clothesline using the handle of a broom, and
draped their wet clothes over it. Then he joined her on the leather sofa, where she sat with her knees drawn up beneath the folds of the blanket.

With more practice than she cared to acknowledge, Alex pulled the last of the pins from her hair, letting the heavy mass tumble down her back in a riot of damp copper curls. He separated the silky strands with his fingers.

“I’ve dreamed of doing this.” With a look of appreciation, he twirled a single soft curl around his hand, bunching the muscles in his arms with the movement.

Nicki slid away from him, moving as far toward the end of the sofa as she could get. “I think it would be wiser if you sat on the opposite end.”

He smiled. “Not on your life.” Easing himself along the sofa until he reached the place beside her, he slid an arm around her waist and pulled her close. His mouth over hers silenced her protest.

Nicki pressed her palms against his chest, trying to dissuade him, but the feel of his skin, the curly brown chest hair teasing her fingers, made her clutch at him instead. When Alex coaxed her lips apart and slid his tongue inside, Nicki whimpered softly. Alex’s hold tightened, and he deepened the kiss. His breath felt warm and tasted masculine, stirring the heat that swirled in her stomach until it spread through her limbs.

Alex used his mouth and hands to relax her. He knew the exact moment when Nicki’s guard came down, knew the very instant she began to surrender. Still, he didn’t press her. He didn’t want her compliance—something she had given unwillingly to the men who went before. Alex wanted her response. He
wanted her clinging to him in passion, calling his name and begging him for more.

He moved his palms across the blanket at her back, wound his hand into her damp copper hair, and cradled the nape of her neck. His other hand eased upward from her waist. He could feel the rapid flutter of her heartbeat, hear her shallow intake of breath. Easing the blanket apart, he slid his hand inside to cup her breast.

Nicki pulled away. “Alex?” she whispered, uncertain.

“It’s all right,
chérie.”

His fingers skimmed across her flesh, and Nicki felt goose bumps race down her spine. His hand caressed her breast, cupping it, lifting the heavy weight, then teasing her nipple until it hardened, no longer from the cold but from his touch. She moaned softly. Nothing she’d experienced had felt like this. Nothing she had imagined.

Alex’s mouth moved from her lips to her cheek, tugged on the lobe of her ear, then his tongue traced a fiery path inside the rim. She couldn’t think straight—and didn’t want to. With a will of their own, her hands began to knead the muscles of his chest and shoulders.

Alex pulled her down on the sofa and parted the front of her blanket. His face looked dark and hungry. “Alex?” she said again, knowing she should stop him, but no longer willing to.

“I promise I won’t hurt you.”

Alex would never hurt her. Had never hurt her, though he had every legal right, and she’d sometimes given him cause. No matter what happened, she was safe with Alex. The knowledge drained the last of her
control. When his lips moved along her shoulders, over her breast to fasten on her nipple, Nicki whispered his name in a way she hadn’t before. “Please …” she added softly, not certain exactly why.

It seemed the word he’d been seeking. She felt his hand move lower, to part her legs and stroke the inside of her thighs. She tensed for a moment, but the feeling was so incredible, so heady and mysterious, she began to relax and let him have his way.

“That’s better,
ma chère.
Just let me take care of everything.” His finger skimmed through the tight copper curls that sheltered her sex, then slid inside. Ripples of sensation washed over her. Instinctively, she arched against his palm. Why was she so wet? she wondered fleetingly, then lost the thought to the excitement coursing through her. His finger moved easily in and out, setting up a rhythm that made her writhe and moan. Something was swirling inside her. Something hot and pulsing and elusive.

“Please, Alex,” she pleaded.

Alex loomed above her, positioning himself between her thighs. “Trust me.”

And she did.

When she felt his stiff member pressing against her, demanding entrance to her body, she thought of Lorna and the guards for only an instant. Then it was Alex. The man she trusted above all others. The man she had come to love.

It seemed an odd time to discover the truth—and then again it didn’t. For a woman, this was the ultimate gift. She would give it to no other.

Alex eased himself inside until he could go no farther.
A little confused, he slid out and then in again. Still he found the passage blocked.

“It’s all right, Alex,” Nicki told him. “I’m not afraid.”

It dawned on him like the bolt of lightning that flashed outside. The breath he’d been holding rushed from his lungs. “
Mon Dieu
, you’re a virgin.”

She looked confused. “Did you think I was not?”

“But the beatings you took? The guards at the prison—”

Alex seemed so upset, Nicki decided to resolve the matter herself. Tightening her hold on his shoulders, she pressed her body against him, forcing him farther inside. Flesh ground against flesh and Nicki bit her lip to keep from crying out.

“Damn.” Though the heat of her narrow passage engulfed him, Alex stilled his movements and held himself back. “The worst is past,” he soothed, pushing his guilt away with his words and hoping her pain had begun to ease. “It only hurts the first time.”

Nicki smiled bravely and nodded her understanding. Even that gentle movement ate at his control. He had wanted to please her, wanted to give her pleasure like nothing she’d dreamed. Now he wasn’t sure he could wait that long. Kissing her until she relaxed, he began to move inside her.

At first Nicki tensed with Alex’s efforts, but with each passing moment the pain receded a little more. Alex’s tongue teased her mouth while his hands caressed her breasts, making her forget the pain. Unconsciously, she lifted her hips against each slow penetration, and Alex groaned. He began to move faster, deeper, filling her in a strange, compelling way. He was driving harder now, his body pounding
against hers until she felt something elusive begin to build.

Though she didn’t know what it was, she dug her fingers into his shoulders and arched her hips, praying he would give it to her. Instead his body began to shudder, his muscles tensed, and he called out her name.

Eventually he grew still. His breathing returned to normal, but he didn’t move away. Propped on his elbows, he drew a heavy breath and slid down her body to look into her face.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I thought you knew.”

He wouldn’t have taken her if he’d known.
Or would he?
He’d been with dozens of women, in countries all over the world. But he’d never wanted a woman the way he did this one. There was something about her—he had sensed it from the start. He’d have taken her sooner or later—he had to.

Besides, he rationalized, she belonged to him. He had paid good money for her—and she had desired him. In the long run, it would make things easier for both of them.

“You’re not displeased?” she asked.

Hardly.
In fact, now that he thought about it, there was something endearing about the way she had given herself to him. Most of the women he’d known had slept with him to satisfy their own needs, done it for money, or for something else he could give them. With Nicki, it seemed almost a gift.

“I couldn’t be happier,” he said, and she smiled. A
soft, tentative smile that touched him in places he thought himself immune.

“I was certain I wouldn’t like it.”

Alex smiled. “But you did.”

“It was wonderful—all but the part that hurt.”

“That part is over.” He noticed one of her small hands toying with the folds of the blanket on the floor. She was squeezing it absently. The other hand drew quick little circles on his shoulder.

“Nervous?”

“Not exactly. Just a little edgy. Like I’ve an itch I can’t quite scratch.”

Alex chuckled, a soft, deep rumble in his chest. “I think I know what will help.” Cupping her chin with his hand, he dipped his head and kissed her. She felt his growing passion, hard and throbbing, before she realized his intentions. Then he was sliding inside her, burying himself to the fullest, and sending a ripple of pleasure down her spine. Alex seemed bigger than ever, hot and hard and wonderful. She clutched his neck and kissed him back, using her tongue just as he had, letting her hands roam over his body.

For the first time she let herself explore him, running her fingers along each new sinew and plane. She touched one flat copper nipple, circled it with her finger, and Alex groaned.

“Keep that up,” he whispered, “and I won’t be able to relieve your itch.”

Nicki wasn’t certain what he meant, but as he began to move, more slowly this time and with more determination, an ache began to build between her legs. Alex cupped a breast and sucked it into his mouth, his tongue working the hard bud until she tingled all over. The ache grew more intense.

Alex’s hips moved in and out in a sensuous rhythm she found herself matching, stroke for stroke. He was moving faster now, each of his thrusts so deep and hard she began to feel them not as separate movements but as a series of stabbing, white-hot waves that rolled over her until she seemed to drown in them.

She laced her fingers in his hair, arched her back, and moaned. Alex silenced her with a kiss, his tongue thrusting deep into her mouth with the same hot rhythm as his body.

The tight coil of heat throbbing in her loins seemed as if it might consume her. Her body stiffened, arched, then her passions hurled over the edge. She thought she cried out Alex’s name, but the mindless swirls of pleasure, white-hot and bright behind her eyes, were so intense she couldn’t be sure. She gave herself up to them, reveled in their sweetness, and felt Alex shudder and stiffen in response.

Eventually, he rolled to his side, carrying her with him, and the last of the tension in her body drained away. For the first time, she realized her cheeks were wet with tears.

Alex tilted her chin with his fingers. “I didn’t hurt you?

Nicki smiled up at him. “No. It was the most beautiful thing that’s ever happened to me. It was as if a part of you reached inside and touched my soul.”

Strangely enough, Alex knew exactly what she meant. He had never experienced a feeling so powerful. It was beyond his sexual experience. Beyond anything he had felt with anyone else. It disturbed him that she could reach parts of him that no one had, make him feel things he didn’t want to feel.

“It isn’t always that way,” he said, wanting her to know what had happened between them was special, but not quite certain why it should be so important. “I mean, with someone else, it might have been different.”

“I wouldn’t have done it with anyone else.”

Why did those words mean so much to him? He glanced toward the fire. The blaze had simmered to coals. Outside, the wind still blew and lightning flashed, but the roll of thunder had moved some distance away. “We can make a pallet here on the floor or go upstairs. Unfortunately, the beds up there aren’t much wider than the sofa.”

“Let’s stay here by the fire.” She wanted to see him. To lie next to him and watch him sleep.

“All right.” He settled her on the sofa with a kiss, pulled the blanket over her, and went back upstairs.

In minutes, he returned with an old blue quilt and several more blankets. After making a place for them on the floor, he scooped her into his arms and carried her onto the pallet. She went with him willingly. It seemed those few minutes without him had been far too long.

“Don’t move,” Alex instructed, inching away from where she sat cross-legged on the blankets. “I want to look at you.”

Her nipples grew hard at his words. She drew herself up proudly, letting him assess her, wondering at her lack of embarrassment.

“If I’d had to wait three years,” he said, “you would have been worth it.” His voice sounded low and seductive. Even in the glow of the fire, his eyes were dark.