In his arms, next to his enormous strength, her little body felt fragile and feminine. Slight. Delicate like a fairy from another realm, and yet she had a core of steel, was a warrior every bit as strong and enduring as he was. He lifted his head and kissed his way down her chin, that stubborn little chin he’d come to love.
Outside the rain came down in a soft melody, the drops falling into the river and up onto the bank, hitting the trees and the roof of the house. Each note was different depending on where the droplets fell, orchestrating a song for them. He reached down and caught at the hem of her T-shirt and tugged. She lifted her arms without any hesitancy, and his breath caught as he pulled the top free. He’d seen her body before that first night in the cabin, but this time she was giving herself to him and it felt very different.
“You’re so beautiful, Jonquille.” He kissed his way from her chin to her throat—from her throat to the swell of her breasts.
She reached behind her to unhook her bra, giving him access to the soft weight, tumbling into his waiting hands. His heart accelerated. She was just giving herself to him, the way she did with her kisses. All in. No hesitation. He inhaled the scent of her skin. That fragrance of coral honeysuckle and daffodils.
Shockingly, need was clawing at him, a monster raging at his belly and groin, something that had never happened to him. He’d never considered that it could happen. Love for her kept his touch gentle and him ignoring his own needs. He kissed his way over and around her breasts, avoiding her nipples. He ran his exploring tongue along her ribs and then nibbled his way back up to the undersides of her breasts.
Her legs moved restlessly as he pinned her hips under his. Just having her there on his bed was a miracle, the raining drumming on the roof, matching the pounding of the blood rushing hotly through his veins. His body had never been so thick or so full. He took the time to strip his clothes away, the feel of the fabric against his skin too heavy of an encumbrance. He tugged her jeans from her hips as well, drawing them down and tossing them to the floor so there was nothing left between them.
Skin to skin. He had wanted her like this. All that soft skin. He nuzzled her left nipple, heard her gasp and then drew that stiff little peak into the hot cavern of his mouth and suckled strongly. She let out a soft little cry and arched into him. He tugged gently and rolled her right nipple while her hips jerked and her entire body shuddered under his as his tongue teased her. He used his every expertise to bring her the greatest pleasure, his tongue a rasp of velvet, lapping, teasing, and then suddenly a little rougher and more demanding before switching to her other breast to ensure the same treatment.
Nipping gently with his teeth as he pulled back, eyes on hers, he watched desire flare hot and bright through her with satisfaction. He couldn’t help the way he ran his hand possessively from her throat to the tiny silvery curls covering her mound. Her legs shifted restlessly under him again.
“In my wildest dreams, Lightning Bug, I never thought I’d feel this way about a woman. I can’t even put into words how I feel about you.”
The scent of her was driving him insane. The way every inch of her was soft beyond measure. Pleasure coursed through his body, as hot as the lightning strikes that seemed to flash bright white and scorching through his bloodstream straight to his cock. His mouth was back at her breasts, while his hand slid along her inner thigh, urging her legs apart for him.
Very gently he bit down on her nipple while he stroked caresses along her thigh upward, toward all the smoldering heat, until he brushed at her silvery curls with his knuckles. She gasped. The silver circling the blue of her eyes thickened even more and her breath caught in her throat. Rubin. Even telepathically, her voice was breathless.
Watching her reaction, feeling and seeing her heightened desire, just fueled the fire building in him. His heart beat wildly in reaction as his palm inevitably covered the moist heat between her legs. Her body flushed, the color creeping up her belly, breasts, into her neck and face until she was a beautiful rose color. Her breath caught on a moan, a soft sound that made his cock jerk with his own desperate need.
I don’t think I can breathe.
He found himself smiling as he kissed his way along her rib cage, exploring her soft skin. Lower still. She had a darling little belly button. He took his time there, while he settled his wide shoulders between her thighs, spreading her legs wide for him.
You can breathe, Lightning Bug. Her hands were in his hair. Fingers twisting in his scalp. He liked that. He slipped his finger into her slick heat and her lashes fluttered. Lips parted in a startled soft cry and her hips bucked.
Jonquille stared up at Rubin’s face, the lines carved deep with a harsh sensuality. His eyes were dark and hooded, his desire stark, raw and intense. He dipped his head and lapped at her belly button, fingers tugging at her right nipple. One finger slid into her sex, making her gasp. Lightning was fierce, white hot and jagged, sizzling through her bloodstream, striking at her core. Thunder crashed and roared in her ears while the tension coiled tighter and tighter in her body with an unrelenting, merciless pressure.
Rubin stroked his tongue down her belly in a series of caresses that took her breath and had her squirming, her breath coming in hot, ragged pants. “Honestly, Lightning Bug, I’ve wondered if the flavor of you would match the scent of your skin and the taste of your kisses.”
His voice, always unfailingly low and soft, was rougher, rumbling over her body like a roll of thunder. Dark hunger was etched deep into the lines of his face, was there in the raw desire so intense in his hooded eyes. She could barely breathe with wanting him. With the anticipation of his every touch. Of every stroke of his tongue. He looked, not for the first time, like a hungry predator, about to devour her. A little thrill of nerves shot down her spine, but she was desperate for him to continue.
As always, Rubin took his time, kissing his way around her belly button to her mound and the tiny silvery curls there. Her hips jerked as he very slowly and deliberately spread her thighs apart, opening her to him.
“So beautiful, Lightning,” he whispered.
The rain intensified, falling harder, hitting the leaves of the trees, the roof, and the river, producing various sounds to go with her soft moans as he shifted his body, his wide shoulders between her thighs. She could see his face, those planes and angles she’d fallen so in love with. She knew them by memory. She’d drawn them. She had them in her mind. Mapped them with the pads of her fingers. Outside, the wind had picked up and blew through the trees, making them sway, casting shadows throughout the room through the wide windows. Casting shadows over Rubin.
Her breath caught in her lungs as she watched the way his eyes went from dark brown, almost black, to those of an animal on the hunt at night. He had the frightening yellow glow of the wolf staring at her hungrily. He seemed to almost disappear for a moment in those shifting shadows, but his grip on her legs didn’t waver. She blinked, her heart pounding, and once more his features were fully there again, a harsh mask of pure sensuality. Those wolf’s eyes were focused utterly and completely on her, so intense it was shocking.
He dipped his head slowly, that wealth of dark hair spilling around his forehead. It should have made him look feminine, just like his long lashes, but there was nothing feminine about him. He had too strong of a jaw, too intensely masculine.
Rubin’s tongue did a slow foray up the inside of her right thigh, stopping just beside her pulsing clit. She wasn’t certain she was going to survive. She wouldn’t have been able to stay still if he weren’t holding her legs. The anticipation was shocking. He did the same on the left side. Her entire body jerked. She felt his warm breath. Every nerve ending in her body was acutely aware of him, sizzled with fire, with electrical currents, running from her deepest core to her breasts, to her brain. Throughout her bloodstream. She’d never been so aware of herself as female and so aware of a man as utterly male.