And he was, after all, naked.
She so wanted to explore that. She wanted to be naked, too.
Clearly she was starting to feel better. A lot better. So much better that the shock of awareness slid through her senses, overpowering everything but the man behind her. She shivered, goose bumps prickling her flesh, which had nothing to do with the soap and everything to do with his hands on her. He smoothed his hands over her hips, digging his fingers in and stalling.
“Turn around so you can rinse your back under the water.”
His voice had changed, dropped an octave and had an added edge to it. She took it easy as she turned, then tilted her head back and opened her eyes.
His eyes looked like a coming storm, dark and intense. He reached for her shoulders and helped her take a step back under the water as she rinsed.
Then she made a fatal error. She looked down, casually glancing over his body.
Unaffected? She thought him uninterested? Um, no. He was most definitely interested. Her gaze snapped up to his face. His lips curled in the most devastating smile a man could give a woman.
“Sorry. I can’t help it,” he said, as if he had to apologize for being hard, for being so utterly masculine he took her breath away?
For the first time in her life, Mandy realized that she was, in fact, a woman. Before, when she’d been with the guys, they were … family, or fellow hunters. There had never been a man/woman thing between her and any of the guys. Hell, she’d been one of the guys.
But she stood almost naked in the shower with Michael, and for the very first time she felt like a woman. Dizzy and nauseous with whatever this thing was that gripped her from the inside out, but even that couldn’t stop the rush of her sexual awakening. Despite how she felt, she wanted to explore. She was twenty-three years old, sick, disgusted, and she might never get another chance.
She placed her hands on Michael’s shoulders.
He lifted his hands, rubbed the soap, and gently washed her face. “You still had a few spots of blood there.”
He seemed to have trouble speaking, like his voice was hoarse. She tilted her head back and rinsed her face, then shook the water droplets off and opened her eyes to look at him again. “Thanks.”
“How do you feel?”
Hot, shivery, turned on, weak. She felt so many things at once she couldn’t begin to describe them all, not when most of it made no sense to her. “I’m okay.”
“You ready to get out of here?”
“No.” Not yet, not while she still had a chance … “This hot water feels really good, Michael. I’m still a little shook up. Please stay in here with me.”
The way he looked at her—she wished she could ask him what he was thinking.
“Okay.”
She smoothed her hands over his shoulders, then down his arms. Soft skin over such incredible strength. His muscles flexed under her questing hands.
“What are you doing, Mandy?”
She didn’t—couldn’t—look at his eyes. “I’m touching you.”
“Why?”
“Because I’ve never done this before.”
She felt that tension increase.
“What?”
She swept her gaze up to his face, figuring she owed him the truth. “I’ve never had an opportunity to touch a man before, Michael. Please don’t stop me.”
Michael held his breath, a thousand thoughts running through his head, most of them screaming at him to get out of the shower, now.
He’d done this to help Mandy, to clean her up, to try to get her warm. Her skin had been icy cold despite the sweltering heat outside. She’d been pale, obviously in shock, and God only knows what else had been going on in her head. Covered in blood, she’d sauntered in spouting off and so sure of herself, but the haunted look in her eyes told him she’d been teetering near the edge—and about to drop.
He’d been right.
But now? High color fused her cheeks a dark pink. Her hair streamed like raven rain down her back and over her shoulders, barely covering her full, upturned breasts. Her bra, soaked through, revealed everything, as did the tiny panties resting on her his. Dark brown nipples peaked and hardened against his chest.
His cock stood rigid betwen them, throbbing with a mind of its own. It was telling him to take her, to lift her leg over his hip, push her against the tile wall and slide inside her. She’d be hot, gripping, pulsing. She could ease both their aches.
He had no right thinking that.
And now, if what she was telling him was true …
“Mandy are you a virgin?”
She lifted her fingers to his lips, stroked his bottom lip in awe. “So soft. How can a man’s mouth be so soft?”
She looked at him with such wonder and curiosity, tearing his resolve into ragged pieces. He’d never had a woman look at him like that.
“Answer me, Mandy. Are you a virgin?”
She lifted her gaze to his. “I’ve lived with the Realm since I was a kid, since Lou rescued me. I’ve been sheltered by demon hunters. I never had a normal life. I never dated. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I’ve never even been kissed, Michael. I missed everything. I’m twenty-three years old and I’ve missed everything.”
Christ. So tough on the outside, such a warrior, and yet such unbelievable innocence. How had this happened? Mandy was on equal footing with the mightiest of the demon hunters. He hadn’t expected this. He wasn’t prepared for this, not this incredibly beautiful, vulnerable woman standing naked in his arms.
“I want a kiss, Michael.” Tears filled her eyes. “Would you at least kiss me?”
The mutinous, buck-the-rules Mandy the one he fought with daily—he could handle her. This one? Soft, vulnerable, desirable—he had no idea what to do with her.
He was a Keeper, her Keeper. Her superior. He had no business touching her, being with her like this. This was a line he shouldn’t cross.
He’d already crossed it in spades.
And he wanted more.
He cupped the back of her neck and drew her mouth to his, pressed his lips against hers in a kiss so featherlight it made him ache inside.
She let out a little sigh against his mouth, then leaned forward, her breasts pillowed against his chest. Oh, man, he liked the way she felt against him. He deepened the kiss, sliding his lips along the seam of hers. Her bottom lip trembled. He was going to have to take this slow. She was weak, sick, and he felt like an asshole for doing this when she was in this condition, but God, how could she have never been kissed? That wasn’t right.
And you’re making excuses for doing something you shouldn’t be doing
Yeah, he was. He didn’t care. Mandy whimpered against his mouth and his balls tightened in response. He let his hands roam along her back, traveled down to the dip where her lower back ended and her phenomenally great ass began. He cupped the globes, drawing her forward against his cock, rubbing her slick heat against the rock-hard part of him that ached to show her what it could be like between a man and a woman.
He separated her lips with his tongue and she parted for him, letting him slide inside to taste her. Hot, soft, he wrapped his tongue around hers, showed her what it was like to play, to lick, to enjoy the touch and taste of another.
She inhaled deeply, her fingers digging into his arms. He knew this was sensory overload for someone so inexperienced, was awed that he could give this to her, and knew he should slow things down. She might not be a young teenager in the throes of her first journey into passion, but Mandy was still new at all of this. And she had other things going on in her head, things she was no doubt trying to push away. What a great way to forget.
Sex was always a great way to forget. He knew that better than anyone.
Was he helping her by doing this, or hurting her?
As her Keeper, he should force her to face reality. As a man, he couldn’t care less what her motivations were. He wanted to make love to her.
Talk about conflicted.
He
pulled his mouth away from hers, leaned around her, and turned the shower off.
“Water’s getting cool,” he said.
“But—”
“Wait,” he said. He pulled open the door and stepped out, leading Mandy. He grabbed the big towel and threw it around her so she wouldn’t get chilled.
“I’m not cold.”
He dried her body, her hair, then took another towel to dry himself.
“Michael.”
He cupped his palms around her face. Damn she was beautiful. Innocent and sultry, provocative and naïve.
He wanted her. The hell with protocol and doing what was right. He was going to have her. But not in the shower.
“Michael, please.”
“Shut up, Mandy.” He scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom, deposited her next to the bed, holding tight to the towel around her. “How do you feel?”
“I feel fine.”
“Good.” He let her towel drop, then swept her damp hair away from her neck so he could press his lips there. Her pulse beat fast, her skin was hot, but she was standing on her own now, so at least he didn’t have to worry about her collapsing on him.
He threaded his arms around her, needing to touch her. Her wet bra pressed against his chest and he lifted to look at her. “Let’s take this off.”
She nodded, no hesitation on her face. He released the clasp and pulled the straps down her arms, then drew the bra away from her breasts, revealing dark nipples that puckered to hard peaks under his gaze. His cock lurched to attention, and Mandy looked down, then back at him, offering up a tremulous smile.
She was always so hyperconfident in everything she did. Except this. Now she looked unsure of herself. He kind of figured her bravado was an act she put on, and seeing her now proved that. Underneath her swagger was a woman very unsure of herself. For that he was going to take his time and make this special for her.
He crouched down and reached for her panties, slid them over her hips and down her legs. She stepped out of them and he grasped her ankles, then smoothed his hands over her calves, the backs of her knees, her thighs. She truly was a beautifully made woman. Not thin, but well muscled. He loved that she had flesh on her body, something to touch and grab on to.
And her scent—fresh from her shower, and yet the musky scent of arousal drew him to her. He pressed a kiss to her inner thigh, then lifted her leg and positioned it over his shoulder. Her legs trembled and he looked up at her.
“You okay?”
She nodded, bit down on her lower lip, watching him.
He pressed his nose against her sweet flesh, inhaled her scent, then swept his tongue along her sex, feeling her body quiver in response. He reached up and she took his hand, grasped it tight as he latched on to the tight bud there and sucked. He heard her gasp, felt her response, which fueled his eagerness to please her. She tasted like warm honey and he captured it with his tongue, slid inside her to taste more of her, then tucked a finger inside her tight folds, feeling her clench around him in response.
He heard her, every sound she made, from whimpers to moans to the steady increasing of each breath. Only this time it wasn’t shock that drove her breaths, it was pleasure. He took her there with every lick, every swirl of his tongue around her clit, every thrust of his finger inside her, until he felt her convulse around him, her leg squeezing against his shoulder.
“Michael.” She moaned his name in a low throaty whisper as she came, thrusting her sex against him as an offering that he took gladly, lapping up her gift with a hunger that drove his own desire to a wild fever.
When she settled, he stood, reaching behind her to cup the globes of her ass and bring her against him, shuddering at the contact of their bodies. He wanted this as much as she did. He’d tried to hide behind his job, but from the moment he’d met her he’d felt the sparks between them, had known there was … something. But he’d denied it, deprived himself of this expression of passion that he needed as much as she did.
And now he was torn between wanting to take his time, take hours, to explore this with her, and needing to make her his right now, as fast as he could. Because he didn’t want to wait to be inside her. But everything—all of this—was new to her. And he had to take it slow.
He swept his hands over her buttocks, the small of her back, and upward, just feeling the softness of her skin. She leaned into him, following his movements, caressing him the way he had done to her. She laid her hands on his shoulders, then swept down his arms, slid her arms around his waist to palm his back. Every move she made was tentative, watching for his reaction.
“Touch me,” he said. “I like it.”
She pushed back, looked at him, and oh, man, did her bold appraisal of his body turn him on. It made patience that much harder. Among other things.
When her gaze swept over his shaft, then up at him, he nodded. She circled him with a light grasp.
“Harder.”
She did, her grip strong. He sucked in a breath of pure pleasure. “Oh, yeah. That’s good. Now move your hand.”
She did, stroking him light and easy at first, then with a firm grasp and steadier movements. He clenched his jaw and held on, letting her explore, learn the feel of him, but God help him it was hard to hold back when all he wanted to do was let go.
Finally, he grasped her wrist. “I don’t want to finish before we start.”
She lifted her gaze to him and quirked a smile. And still, the look on her face was so innocent, it tore him to pieces. He took her mouth, drinking in the taste of her because it had been so damn long since he’d been anywhere near anything so pure.
He held her tight, crushed against him, afraid he was hurting her. But the feelings inside him were so intense he felt like he was losing control. And it was important that he be in control. He pulled away, took a step back.
“What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. “Just need to take a breath. Being with you … I kind of lost it there.”
She moved back in. “Quit worrying about whether or not I’ll break, Michael. I’m strong. And I need this. Just love me.”
He nodded, jerked her against him and fell onto his back on the bed, pulling her with him. Not wanting to scare her, he rolled to the side so she faced him, but she surprised him by pulling him on top of her.
“I want to feel your weight on me when you’re inside me.”
Mandy always surprised him. Maybe that’s what attracted him to her. He’d never met a woman like her before.
She braced her hands on his chest, and widened her legs so he could settle between them.
“Now, Michael. I’m tired of waiting. I’ve already waited a lifetime.”
Yeah, she had. And what he was about to do would irrevocably change their relationship.
But right now he couldn’t muster up a single objection to why he shouldn’t, even though there were hundreds. Not when this lush, beautiful woman lay underneath him, lifting her hips in silent invitation.
He positioned himself at her entrance, and thrust. Mandy tilted her head back and gasped, and he stilled, feeling the heat and wetness of her surrounding him, the sensations of her body convulsing around him. He cupped her cheek.
“Mandy. Look at me.”
She opened her eyes, and he closed the gap between them, kissing her deeply sliding his tongue between her parted lips, forcing her attention on their mouths, his tongue. Soon, her tension melted away and he began to move against her, slow and easy until he felt her responding.
He’d never felt anything so perfect, from the way their bodies fit together to the way it felt to be inside her. And Mandy lifted her hips, asking for more, giving him what he needed—more than he ever expected.
Because the look in her eyes was magical, luring him in much more than physically. She drew him closer, with her midnight hair and lush body, and he rocked against her, never wanting this to end. He wanted to stay like this—inside her—a part of her forever. Where there were no demons and
no war, only pleasure and kissing and sharing this incredible experience with a woman he felt closer to after such a short period of time than anyone he’d ever known.
Was that even possible?
It had to be, because he felt it, their fingers entwined, their bodies joined, moving in unison as they climbed together. He waited, grinding against her, taking her there again, and when she fell, this time crying out and trembling against him, he went with her, and the orgasm was so powerful the intensity of it shocked him, pouring out of him from every nerve ending, leaving him spent. He collapsed on top of her, breathing so heavily it left him light-headed.
Soaked with sweat, their bodies still tightly strung together, Michael didn’t want to move. Especially since Mandy stroked his hair, one leg slung over his back.
“It would be okay if we ran off together and pretended the rest of the world didn’t exist, right?”
She’d read his mind. “Oh, sure.”
Her laugh rumbled against his chest. “I knew you’d see it my way.”
He finally managed to lift his head. Her lips were too much for him to resist, so he kissed her again, what he thought would be a short peck turning into something deeper, something that made his blood run hot and made him grow hard again.
“We both need another shower,” he said.
Mandy arched a brow. “Time for lesson number two.”
He grinned and got up, pulling her into the bathroom with him, then turned on the shower.
Then his phone went off. He pulled away, staring down at the pile of clothes they’d left on the bathroom floor.
She grasped his wrists. “Don’t.”
The shock of his phone ringing was like a slap of reality. “I have to.” He bent down, fished the phone out of his pocket, frowned at the number. He stood and flipped the phone open.
“Yeah.”
He listened, mentally cursing as Derek filled him on what he’d found.
“We’ll be on the road in an hour. We’ll meet you there tomorrow.” He closed the phone, turned to Mandy
“We’ve got to go,” she said.
With a sigh, he touched his forehead to hers. “Derek’s found Dalton. He’s in Louisiana.”