Stygian's Honor (11 page)

“Wicked.” Liza breathed out in anticipation.

“Dangerous,” Claire warned, despite her awe at Chelsea’s daring.

But they were in agreement.

For the moment, it was wait and see.

And definitely, keep each other in the loop. What one learned, they had to tell the other two.

It would be the only way to be certain.

Stepping beneath the water, she closed her eyes and, just as during that meeting with Jonas Wyatt, she was assaulted with the images from the pictures the director had shown her.

She saw their eyes, felt their pain, their fear. It would be hard not to. Those photos had been graphic in their detailed imagery of the children’s suffering.

Stepping back from the spray, she opened her eyes quickly, unwilling to see more.

Her parents had always told her she felt things too deeply, that she let things bother her too much. That vulnerability had caused her to get hurt more than once.

She’d never fallen in love though.

She was a virgin, and she had no idea what it felt like to
want a man so totally and so completely that she was willing to give up her independence as well as her sense of self for him.

She wasn’t certain she could do it either. She’d spent far too many years holding herself aloof. She wasn’t certain if she could let go now and give herself to any man. And unfortunately, she wasn’t certain if she could give him her body without giving him her heart.

Even for a Breed who stared at her with black-blue eyes and an expression that assured her he held all the secrets of pleasure, and he was more than willing to share.

He was more than willing to show her all the sensual, dominant secrets she dreamed of, and all the fiery pleasure she ached for.

For a price.

Always for a price.

Nothing came for free, her mother had warned her.

There was always a price.

A price for laughing, for loving.

A price for living.

Now she wondered, exactly what was Stygian Black’s price?

CHAPTER 5

Liza hadn’t imagined the situation with Stygian could worsen. Surely she would have had a few days to settle her nerves.

Instead, the next morning he was on her doorstep, dressed in snug jeans and a dark T-shirt, that wicked black Harley parked in her driveway.

She guessed he hadn’t been lying the night before about having one. Not that she had really believed he was.

“Why are you here?” Gripping the door with desperate fingers, she stared back at him with a frown.

A grin curved his lips. “I hoped I could convince you to come out with me this morning.” He glanced at the white shorts that barely covered her thighs before his gaze drifted to the light peach cotton camisole top she wore. “Come on, Liza. Slide some jeans on and live dangerously for a few minutes. You know you want to.”

Oh, she wanted to, more than he could know.

“Not today.” Shaking her head, she backed up and prepared to close the door.

The slight smile on his lips shot a surge of sensation straight to her womb. It clenched with a heavy punch of need and sent that weakening spill of moisture between her thighs once again.

“I’m not dealing with you this morning.”

Releasing the door, she stalked back into the kitchen, searching desperately for a way to fight her reaction to him.

Turning to face him as she reached the sink, Liza’s lips parted breathlessly to find him so close her nose was nearly buried in the cotton of his shirt.

Lifting her eyes, she watched as his arms extended around her, his hands bracing on the cabinet behind her as he blocked her in.

Yeah, there was that dominance that both turned her on and warned her she was walking into the path of more danger than she could have ever imagined.

Her eyes jerked upward, becoming locked with his as his arms remained braced at each side of her, his gaze intent as he watched her closely.

“The scent of your arousal is about to get us both in a hell of a lot of trouble.”

Her eyes widened, because he was close enough that she could feel his erection pressing against her stomach. As her gaze dropped, she watched the blood pound in the vein at the side of his neck as a trickle of perspiration eased along the strong column.

She had to lick her lips.

God, she wanted to taste him.

She wanted to bite his neck. Just sink her teeth into that tough hide and hold on tight as he rode her—

A shudder tore up her spine as aching need surged through her core. Her juices spilled, coating the suddenly sensitive folds and heating her clit further.

“Do you know what I can smell, Liza?” The sound of his voice was definitely a growl.

She shook her head slowly.

His head lowered until his lips were caressing her ear. “If the scent of summer heat was addictive, I’d be worshipping at your pussy for life.”

She jerked away from him, breaking from his hold with an ease that assured her he had simply let her go.

Staring up at him, Liza told herself she was certainly
insulted at the crude language, though she couldn’t make such an asinine statement pass her lips.

“I refuse to become a summer fuck for you,” she informed him, wondering exactly how much trouble that particular falsehood would get her into if she ever had to face her sins. “So you may as well leave now and stop harassing me. I assure you, I’m not enjoying it.”

He chuckled at the so-obvious lie. And she knew he could sense it as easily as he could sense the building arousal coursing through her body.

“You’re as beautiful lying as you are telling the truth,” he told her, amused. “But, in this case, I could definitely satisfy the truth if you were of a mind to face it.”

Liza tugged at the hem of her blouse before crossing her arms beneath her breasts and attempting to glare at him.

“This is not a complication that I need in my life,” she finally told him as she tried to inject some semblance of determination into her tone. “
You
are not a complication I need in my life.”

“Thankfully, life enjoys throwing us a few curveballs then,” he stated, a hint of laughter urging her to meet his gaze once again. “Because I think I’m definitely enjoying the complication I know you’re going to be. Come on, Liza, give me a try. You might enjoy me. It’s just a ride on the back of my motorcycle. Nothing more.”

At least he hadn’t come right out and asked her to ride
him
.

She didn’t dare allow herself to consider that. She was too weak in the face of his flirting, in the certainty that he would rock her little world.

There was nothing more certain to undermine her determination than allowing herself to admit any weakness at all to him. He was a Breed, and she was certain all that Breed-driven testosterone and dominance would be sure to test her will.

From what she’d seen between her friend Isabelle and her new lover, Malachi, Breeds enjoyed nothing better than pushing the women they called their “mates” into fits of anger or arousal.

As though it were some prerogative they had invented themselves.

“I don’t need this particular curveball either,” she assured him as she moved to leave the kitchen.

Instead, she found her arm gripped by his big hand as she was swung around and once again pressed against the cabinet.

Held there, captured between his hard body and the wood cabinet behind her, there was really no true escape.

No escape from him, or from the arousal burning through her vagina and clenching her womb.

“This curveball is going to be unavoidable,” he assured her as she stared up at him, feeling the blood rushing to her nipples, her clitoris, and then surging in excitement back to her overworked heart.

“Few things are unavoidable, Stygian,” she assured him, thought it was all she could do to keep her tone even and confident.

The even part, she was a little weak on. Come to think of it, she might have been a little lax in the confidence department as well. She was getting really good at the resigned part, though.

Resigned to the fact that the need was growing.

Resigned to the fact that there was no avoiding it.

Hell, resigned to the fact that soon, very soon, she would be begging him to fuck her.

Watching, her heart racing, her breathing uneven, Liza parted her lips as his head lowered, his lips almost touching hers, so close she swore she could feel the warmth of them caressing her softer curves.

“I don’t want your kiss until I’m certain the sheer anticipation of it will make me crazy.”

“Breeds are already crazy,” she promised him, her voice weak enough now that she was mentally cursing herself for it. “So don’t try to blame that one on me. And you can just keep anticipating, because I’m rather inclined to keep my kisses to myself.”

Yet she was tilting her head to the side to give him greater access to the lobe of her ear as she felt his lips brush against it.

“You don’t know what you’re tempting.” The rough, primal sound of his voice had her heart skipping a beat before racing double time.

“Let me go and it won’t be a problem,” she promised him, even though she knew from the bottom of her soul that the last thing she wanted was for him to release her.

The last thing she should do was remain there in his arms—not when she wanted his touch like she had wanted nothing in her life.

And that thought, so shocking, so terrifying, had her forcing her hands to push at him rather than simply absorbing the heat through his shirt, into her flesh.

“Letting you go isn’t so easy, Liza.” His lips moved lower, brushing against her neck, intensifying that arc of sizzling sensation from her neck straight to her nipples, then to her clit.

Liza forced herself to drag in a deep breath, only to find her senses infused with the scent of midnight and forests. And there wasn’t a single damned forest anywhere close. Which meant it was the scent of the Breed holding her that was tempting her with the lush, sensual scent.

“Make it easy.” Forcing the words to her lips was harder than she had ever imagined it would be. “Let me go, Stygian, because this isn’t what I want.”

He stiffened against her.

Oh God, if he didn’t listen to her soon, she was going to be begging him to kiss her, to touch her, to fuck her right there against the kitchen cabinet where her friends could walk in at any moment.

“Liza, there’s a strange cycle in the driveway. Do you think it’s—Oh—” Chelsea’s voice dwindled to nothing as Liza jumped in guilt and tried, once again unsuccessfully, to push Stygian’s broad form away from her.

Her head turned, catching her friend’s shocked expression as she stood frozen in the patio doorway. It was as though she was unable to tear her gaze from the sight of Liza held so close to Stygian’s much larger body.

“Close your mouth, Chelsea,” Liza ordered irritably as she pushed at Stygian again. “He’ll let me go or I’m going to
see how much damage I can do when I start driving my knee into certain parts of his body.” She shot him a decidedly threatening look with a tight smile as she tensed her knee in preparation.

His lashes lowered again, that wicked “fuck you” look spearing straight to her core and clenching her womb in an exquisite need that nearly stole her breath.