Hunter's Season (Elder Races #4.7)(30)

She said in a low voice, “I just find it hard to believe that you might—you might want me.”

He turned her around and stared into her eyes. “Xanthe, you are the most beautiful surprise in my life. I hardly noticed you at first. You carry the quiet of a river with a still surface that runs very deep. I found that the more I looked at you, the more I saw—and now the more I see of you, the more beautiful you become and the more I want you.” He paused then said deeply, “I’ve never wanted anyone the way I have grown to want you.”

Her trembling deepened as she listened to him. Overcome, she laid her hand against his lean cheek. “Me neither.”

He smiled at her, slow and intimate, as his hands drifted gently, gently to the front of her shirt. He gave her plenty of time to say something, to object or pull away, as he teased open the top button, then a second one. Her breathing quickened as she watched his long, clever fingers work the material open. When she glanced up at him, she saw that his breathing had quickened also.

Her shirt came unfastened and he pulled the edges open, gazing down at her br**sts. She was slim everywhere, muscles sleek and strong under pale, smooth skin. Her br**sts were high and slight, the pale pink ni**les pebbling in the open air.

He touched the swelling, velvet soft skin of her breast with shaking, gentle hands, and brushed the extremely sensitive jut of one nipple with the back of his fingers. Sensation and emotion coursed through her, the small pleasure brought to an extreme by the awareness that he was the one who touched her with such care.

She looked up at his dear face, both noble and kind, and surprised an expression of vulnerability. He said, very low, “I have not been with anyone since my wife died. I felt dead inside for so long.”

Compassion wrenched her. She circled his wrists loosely with her hands. “We don’t have to do this, Aubrey, if you’re not ready.”

“Yes, we do.” His eyes blazed. “She took so much from me. I will not lose any more of my life to her. For a long time, I didn’t see how I could learn to trust someone again. Until you.”

Tears burned at the back of her eyes. “I would never hurt you. Never. I’ll kill anyone who tries.”

His clenched expression softened into a tender smile. He cupped her face and whispered, “I believe you.”

She pulled his hair loose from the tie that held it back, and the long raven strands fell about his lean face as he bent his head to kiss her. Starting out light and tender, the caress rapidly escalated until he gripped the back of her head and dug, groaning, into her open, inviting mouth.

Need for him throbbed low in her body. She pulled at his shirt until the buttons scattered across the floor then ran her hands hungrily across his hard, lean chest. He snaked an arm around her and yanked her against him, until they were hip to hip. As she felt the full length of his erection against her pelvis, she made an animal noise and rubbed against him.

Still kissing her, he pushed her, back and back, and she obeyed blindly until she came up against the table. He nudged her to sit and he tore off the rest of her clothes while she yanked his trousers open and reached greedily for his penis. It was hard, thick and beautifully made, silken skin stretched over stiffened flesh. Staring at his face, she fingered the length of his c**k and stroked him, while he closed his eyes and swallowed hard. He pushed at her hands with his hips, and she pumped him slowly, losing herself in the moment of giving him pleasure.

His voice turned guttural, he said, “Stop.”

She muttered a protest as he pulled out of her grip, and she reached for him again, but he brushed her seeking hands out of the way and pushed her back onto the table. Once she understood what he wanted, she lay back, her spine arched and torso stretched out on display for him as her legs spilled over the edge.

He froze, one hand planted on the table beside her waist, breathing hard as he stared down at her. Some strong emotion played over his face. Worried, she reached up to touch his lips. “What is it?”

He whispered from the back of his throat, “It just happened again. You’re even lovelier than ever.”

She could tell there was no barrier in him anywhere. He looked at her, totally bared and open, and she knew what he meant, for he had never looked so beautiful to her. She murmured, “Come inside.”

He shook his head. “Not yet. Soon.”

He came down over her, resting his weight on his elbows as he traced the line of her collarbone with his tongue. His heartbeat thudded hard and fast against her breast. She hooked her heels on the on the edge of the table, cradling him between her legs and murmuring incoherently as she stroked his hair. It was impossible to love him more than she did, impossible. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and soaked into her hair as he worked his way down to her br**sts. Eyes closed, he suckled first at one nipple then the other, teasing her sensitive flesh lightly and then drawing hard, so that her clitoris throbbed in agonizing response and she cried out, clawing at his shoulders in urgent, wordless demand.

Still suckling, he worked one hand between their bodies and fingered the soft petals of her sex, drawing out moisture and rubbing his c**k against her. She was so slick with arousal, she felt the wetness coating him.

He pushed steady and gentle until the thick, broad head of his penis slipped in, and he stopped just long enough that she pulled at his hair and sobbed out, “Don’t tease me right now.”

At that he threw back his head. His face was twisted; he looked transformed, outside of himself. A growl wrenched out of him, and in one convulsive move he sheathed himself inside of her.