She stared back at him as she drew her lower lip between her teeth and gazed at him with that sweet, burning hunger. Then she did something he fully didn't expect. With incredible grace, her fingers loosened the belt to her robe as she shrugged, the silken violet material sliding over her shoulders, her arms, to pool on the floor at her feet. Creamy pink-tipped breasts rose and feel quickly, the hardened nipples tempting his tongue as his fingers curled with the need to touch her.
He felt like an animal ready to pounce, the hunger raging through him with a desperation he wouldn't have believed possible. She was his. The innocence glittering in her eyes, the gentle warmth, the need, it was his. He was her first lover. He was her only lover. The need to mark her as his forever raged through with a force nearly impossible to control. To mark her body, her heart, her soul. To ensure she was always his. He moved without thought. Thought was a thing of the past. Striding across the floor, Nik lifted his woman in his arms and strode down the hall to the bedroom and the bed where he had first claimed her. The bed where he had found the greatest pleasure imaginable.
His lips stole hers in a kiss that fired his blood the second he picked her up. As she twined her arms around his neck, a low, delicate moan sent his senses crashing into 157
pure need.
Lust, he forcibly reminded himself. It was lust. It wasn't need. But it was need. A need that defied description. The hunger that tore through him made no sense, yet it felt as natural as breathing. It felt as needed as the air around him. She was a flame burning in his arms, and he was helpless to do anything but burn with her.
Shouldering her door open, Nik carried her through it before kicking it closed behind them. He laid her on the bed, their lips parting as Nik fought to draw in enough air to sustain him. Enough to, he hoped, dilute the surging arousal. Nothing could dilute what he was feeling now. There was no force of earth or of nature that could possibly turn down the fire raging through him.
Stretching above her, Nik held his weight on his knees and elbows as he stretched her arms above her head and held them in place. The feel of her silken hands touching him frayed his control. At the moment, he needed his control. His lips wandered down her neck, nipped and caressed with his lips as she arched beneath him with a decidedly feminine moan. Hard-tipped breasts brushed his chest, searing his flesh and making his mouth water with the need to taste, to stroke. Moving lower, he licked over the rounded tops, ignored her strident little demands for more, and simply relished the taste and feel of her.
"Nik, you're killing me with the teasing," she whispered, her voice thick with arousal. "Please."
"Please what?" He could barely breathe. The hunger raging through him tightened his chest and sent a fiery ache of longing surging through his senses.
"So pretty," he crooned, holding her wrists in one hand as he plumped a breast. His thumb raked over the hardened little tip; he felt her flinch from the pleasure and had to grit his teeth to keep from fucking her now.
"You feel so good," she whispered as her head ground against the pillow. "You make me lose my mind with the pleasure, Nik."
She was killing him. God, he needed to gag her if he was going to hold on to his control, because her innocent murmurs had his balls drawn tight, his cock throbbing with imminent release.
Brushing his lips over her nipple, Nik parted them to pull the succulent berry into his mouth and release the soft taste of female flesh. His female's flesh. A shudder raced through her, vibrated against him, and had sweat popping out on his brow as her fingers bit into the wrist holding hers.
"Oh, yes," she moaned. "Oh, Nik." Her thighs tightened on his, her hips lifting to rub the mound of her pussy against his upper leg. "That's so good. Your mouth is so hot." Damn her. How the hell was he supposed to keep his fucking wits with her pleasure-taking voice?
Raking his tongue over the nipple, he sucked at it ravenously, feeling her pleasure as she trembled and shuddered in his arms. Adrenaline was pumping through the veins, the proof of his effect on her tightening his muscles, thickening his dick, until he felt wracked by the hunger surging through his system.
His tongue lashed at the tender tip, drawing a cry from her lips as she arched tighter against him. Never had a woman given him her response so easily, so unconditionally.
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"I want to touch you, too, Nik," she cried out as she tugged against his hold on her wrists. "I want to feel you. I want to taste you." Her thigh pressed against his cock. "Oh, God. Like you let me before. I want you in my mouth, too." Fuck. Fuck.
He was going to come against her leg if she kept this shit up. The memory of his cock in her mouth destroyed him. Releasing her breast, he jerked to his knees, pulled her up, and with one hand at the back of her head, the other gripping his dick, he pressed the flared crest against her cherry, kiss-reddened lips. His neck arched back until he wondered if it would snap. Ecstasy tore through his veins as she sucked the throbbing head inside the liquid heat of her mouth. Her tongue lashed at it, as his had at her nipples. A second later, she rolled her tongue over it with lazy pleasure, the glitter of amethyst eyes peeking beneath her lashes as she rubbed against the underside of the crown.
Ah, hell. She was killing him.
She sucked him to the back of her mouth, licked and tasted him until he swore he was going to lose his mind to the pleasure. He couldn't believe the temptress who held him in her grip now.
Reaching down, he palmed a full, rounded breast in one hand as he held the back of her head with the other. His cock thrust in and out of her mouth, fucking her in slow, agonizing movements as he felt the come boiling in his balls. Mikayla was shaking with the pleasure and the need rushing through her. She had never imagined she could be so brave, that she could take how he had touched her and turn it around to use it on him. To see that she was bringing him pleasure as he did to her. She was on the verge of climax. She could feel her juices dampening her thighs, her clit throbbing in need. She wanted him as she had never wanted anything in her life. Sucking the head of his cock as deep as possible, she shuddered again as he pulled back, leaving only the thick, heavy crest just inside her lips. She licked it, laved it, feeling his hand lower to his balls as his fingers tightened around them to hold back his release. A release she wanted.
Using the tip of her tongue, she outlined the heavy width with her tongue as her nails raked along his inner thighs and she felt his body jerk a second before a heavy moan rumbled in his chest.
"Damn you," he growled. "Your mouth is so fucking hot, Mikayla. Sweet baby. Suck it harder, sweetheart."
She sucked deeper, harder, feeling the head of his cock throb as she tasted the essence of his release against her tongue. It was just a taste, so much less than what she needed.
As she licked, laved, and sucked at the hard flesh, Mikayla felt the calloused caress of his palm as it moved down her back, then over the rounded curve of her rear. Sensuality washed through her once again, clenching her womb as she felt his fingers move into the narrow crease of her rear.
Those diabolical fingers pressed and played around the forbidden entrance there before dipping lower, sinking into the thick layer of juices that soaked her pussy before traveling back.
Mikayla felt as though she were burning alive. Feeling as though flames were licking at her flesh as he lubricated her rear entrance with the slick juices easing from her 159
vagina.
"So sweet and tight," he growled as she fought to breathe through the caress. "I'll have you here one day, Mikayla. Right here." His finger sank slowly inside. "Until you're screaming from the pleasure, and begging for more."
Her nails bit into his thighs as she fought to hold on, to keep her balance. She wanted to steal his control, to steal that incredible restraint he used against her, but he was stealing hers instead.
Not that she had many defenses against his touch, but this one, this touch, destroyed her. It was forbidden, wickedly arousing, and completely dominant. First one finger, then a second stretc
hed her, burned her with a bite of pleasure/pain as a trembling moan slipped past her lips.
With each movement of her mouth on his cock, his fingers moved inside her ass, penetrating deep, scissoring and stretching her flesh as she felt the biting sensations racing to her clit.
"Mikayla, darling, playing like this is going to get you in trouble," he growled as her tongue rolled against the sensitive spot just beneath the head. In retaliation Nik's fingers sank inside her again, thrust slow and easy, in careful rhythm with the cock thrusting beneath her lips.
She was dying. She was going to come and he wasn't touching her clit or her pussy. She was going to explode into fragments and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
"Damn it, Mikayla, I'm going to come," he snarled above her as his hand sank in her hair, his fingers gripping the strands as he began to thrust his cock in and out of her mouth with tighter, sharper strokes.
His cock seemed to harden between her lips, to thicken. His fingers were moving inside her, stroking nerve endings that still weren't accustomed to his touch. Shaking, Mikayla could feel the need for release clamoring through her body even as she felt Nik stiffening. His thighs hardened, his cock throbbed, thickened, as he tried to pull her head back.
She wanted the taste of him. He wasn't stealing this from her, not now. Moaning in denial as she sucked deeper, harder, he rewarded her with a tortured groan and the hard, heated jets of his release spilling to her mouth.
The taste of him infused her senses, fired her needs, and flared through her body with sharp, electrified sensations of agonizing hunger.
She had never wanted, never needed, like she did now. The raging hunger tearing through her was nearly more than she could bear, definitely more than she could fight.
"Damn you, Mikayla." His voice was tortured as he pulled from her, his fingers slipping from her rear. "What the hell do you do to me?" She had no idea what she did to him, but as he moved she knew he would destroy her.
"Stay there," he commanded, his voice harsh as he moved behind her, his lips pressing to her shoulder as he pressed her palms to the bed. "Right here, baby. Let me show you how I play."
How he played? She had no idea if she could survive it.
"You have the softest skin." His lips brushed down her spine. "So soft, and so sweet." He licked at the flesh just above one side of her rounded buttocks as she shivered 160
in pleasure.
"And so wet." His fingers eased between her thighs. "I can't wait to taste you again, Mikayla. I could live on the sweetness of your pussy." She shuddered. She was going to come just from listening to him talk to her. His lips roamed over the rounded curves of her rear as she fought to find the strength to hold herself up as he kissed and caressed from her rear to her thighs. His tongue licked at the excess dampness that had spread to her thighs, a rumbling groan vibrating against her skin as she trembled at each lick.
"Sweet as fucking sugar," he murmured as she felt him move, turning. A second later he was on his back, his head beneath her, his tongue swiping through the violently sensitive slit of her pussy.
Mikayla jerked, flinched, a cry tearing from her throat as his tongue surged inside her as it reached the sensitive entrance and licked at the snug, tender intimate tissue. His fingers clenched at her hips, holding her in place as he fucked inside her with his tongue, laved around her clit, then returned to sink inside her once again. She could never anticipate where each lick would go, which of her senses he would attempt to destroy with each caress. Fingers of thrilling, adrenaline-laced sensation began to race over her flesh. Perspiration gathered on her skin, rolled down her sides as his tongue forged through the intimate folds, fucked inside the clenching depths of her pussy, then moved to suck at the swollen bud of her clit as the strength drained slowly from her arms.
Tension mounted inside her, tightened her muscles, locked them in place. As his tongue pushed inside her again, licked, and stroked, the world began to explode around her in a series of vibrant, mind-destroying bursts that dragged strangled screams from her throat.
Gasping through each explosion, Mikayla needed just a second to catch her breath, to drag her senses from the ether, when she felt the hard, heavy, stretching thrust that began to stretch and burn the tender muscles of her pussy. Back arching, her arms shaking as she fought to hold herself in place, Mikayla could only close her eyes and give herself to Nik.
His hands gripped her hips as the second fierce thrust buried him to the hilt, the head of his cock pressing deep and high inside her.
Delicate muscles still shuddered from her orgasm, caressing and milking the thick flesh as Mikayla felt uncontrollable tremors as they began to race through her. Each breath became a struggle as whimpering cries began to tear from her. Nik gave her no time to accustom herself to the thick, hard flesh penetrating and possessing her.
Each deep, hard thrust tore a cry from her lips as she struggled to breathe. Her body sensitized. Her arms collapsed, spilling her upper body to the mattress as Nik came over her, his hips pumping against her, his lips falling to her.
"Sweet Mikayla," he growled as his teeth raked her neck and his hips slammed his cock inside her.
His fingers laced with hers as a scream tore from her throat.
"Lift your ass for me, baby," he groaned as her hips fell to the bed, her knees sliding from beneath her as her strength gave out. "Come on, Mikayla; it will be so much better."
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Struggling, Mikayla lifted her hips, felt his teeth nip at her neck, his cock pressing in, filling her, throbbing inside her.
Once he was buried, the thrusts became strokes, a deep, internal caress that pressed and probed and raked against nerve endings so sensitive Mikayla began to gasp for her breath and shake in reaction as she felt her orgasm building.
"I love fucking you," he groaned as his hips shifted and another strike of sensation raced to her clit. "The way your pussy milks my cock, flutters so sweetly against it, and then clenches like a little fist around it." His hips ground, rotated, and the world exploded.
Mikayla screamed as the orgasm tore through her, raced over her body, burned across her nerve endings, and sent fire raging through her clit, straight to her womb. Behind her, Nik's teeth clenched at her shoulder as she felt his release begin spurting inside her, sending flares of minor quakes racing through her. It was exquisite, soul destroying, and, Mikayla knew, ruining her for any man who could ever come after him.
Pleasure such as this could only come to a woman once in a lifetime. A combination of heart, body, and soul mingling in an ecstasy that sealed her heart forever. As each tremor began to ease and a flush of sated contentment washed over Mikayla, an edge of shadowed future pain twisted deep inside her. She had warned herself not to love him. She had promised herself she wouldn't love him.
But Mikayla knew, she loved him.
Heart, body, and soul. Star-crossed and without a future.
She was in love with Nik Steele.
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Chapter 17
The night before faded to the next morning as they dressed and headed out. Nik's tone was crisp, clear, as he outlined the day, beginning with Jarvis Dalton. The lover of the night before was nowhere in sight.
He was determined to keep that distance between them, and Mikayla wasn't going to fight it. She wouldn't go to him again; she wouldn't ask him back to her bed. She wouldn't refuse him if he came to her.
A woman had to have some pride, Mikayla told herself as they pulled into the parking spot in front of the apartment Jarvis Dalton shared with his sister.
"Stay behind me," Nik warned Mikayla as they exited the vehicle. "If you see a weapon, get your ass as close to the ground as possible while running to the truck. When you're safely inside, call nine-one-one."
She nodded. He'd given her the same directions that morning, as though she hadn't learned anything from him the day before.
Moving behind him to the front door, she stayed carefully back while he knocked. Jarv
is, the poor guy, opened the door as though there were no risk to Nik's return. Mikayla had to bite her lip on a surprised cry as Nik's hand immediately wrapped around the other man's throat and quickly pushed him back into the apartment. A strangled cry fell from Jarvis's lips as his eyes bulged, his body thrashing helplessly as Nik pinned him high enough against the wall that he struggled to keep his toes on the ground.
Mikayla closed the door quietly, her gaze moving around the room as she searched for weapons or any surprises that could be coming from any of the other rooms.
"Jarvis, Jarvis, Jarvis," Nik sighed. "Did I mention when I was here last that I hate liars? That I hate them so much that I just want to put a bullet through their brains?" A terrified squeak left Jarvis's lips as he stared back at Nik in abject fear. Mikayla almost felt sorry for Jarvis.
"Why did you lie to me, Jarvis? You weren't at the bar you said you were at. Tell me how you made yourself look like Maddix when you killed Eddie." Nik didn't truly believe Jarvis had killed Maddix, Mikayla knew. He simply wanted answers. He wanted to find the trail that led from Jarvis to Maddix. Rabid fear leached into Jarvis's gaze. "Oh, God, man, no. You don't understand," he wheezed.
"I sure don't," Nik agreed. "So why not make me understand why you killed Eddie?"
"Fuck no, you don't understand. I didn't kill nobody."
"So make me understand," Nik suggested once more, his tone patient, deadly. Jarvis shook almost violently. "Man, I was at a bar. I swear I was. I was at Deer Park. I just want no one to know."
Silence reigned as Nik glanced back at Mikayla, obviously unaware of the bar. She didn't doubt he hadn't checked out that particular location. 163
"It's a gay bar," she informed him with a quirk of a smile. Surprise narrowed Nik's gaze as Jarvis tried to smile nervously back at her. "I've seen you there sometimes." Nik's gaze swung back to her, that narrowed gaze slicing into hers.
"It's a nice bar." She shrugged. "They have good music and the guys there like to dance rather than anything further. At least with me." She arched her brows in amusement.