Burning Ember (47 page)

Good Lord . . . my Luce is handsome.
He has a face and a body no woman in her right mind could resist. Yet he’s so much more than that.

I never had a chance, did I?

No.

From the moment I saw him, he’s captivated me. Shoved his way into my heart.

When I reach his lips and brush the pads of my fingers over them, Mav’s mouth parts. I fell in love with these lips that first day. Though they were wrapped around a cigarette, they were still the sexiest lips I’ve ever seen. Lush and made for kissing.

Finally, his eyes blink open, and as they focus on my face, they burn with a heat that nearly singes the air between us.

He’s looking at me as if I’m his next meal, and he’s been stranded for so long without food.

We stare at one another and I wonder why he’s waiting. Why he’s not kissing me? Stroking me? Having sex with me? What happened to his declaration to fuck me?

“Mav?”

He gives me a lazy smile, “Yeah, baby?”

I palm his cheek and study his face. “What are you waiting for?”

He turns his head and places a kiss on my palm. When his eyes meet mine again he says, “You. I told you. You control this. I don’t want to push you more than you’re willin’ to give.”

But I want more. I want what you promised me.

The words hover on the end of my tongue.

Tentatively, I move toward him. I wrap my hand around his nape. Drawing closer, I keep my eyes locked with his. He doesn’t move an inch. He waits for me to come to him, for me to press my lips to his. He opens and my tongue slips inside and laves at his in languid strokes. He grips my neck and matches my movements, my intensity, and my momentum. But he’s holding himself back. A tide of hunger lies dormant under his skin. Beneath the soft kisses there’s a ferocity waiting to be unleashed.

I crave it and the biker who takes exactly what he wants.

I kiss him deeper, more aggressively. My hands roam and I touch him without censor. I suck his lip into my mouth and scrap my teeth across it before letting it go. My hand ventures down his stomach and covers his erection over his briefs.

Mav hisses, “Fuck!” and bucks against my hand. Then he stills my hand with his, and says, “You don’t have to.”

This time, I shush him. Using my mouth, I stop him from talking and kiss him without restraint. We’re all lips, tongues, and hands. We’re frenzied and so hot that the air between us is sweltering.

Breaking the kiss, I rasp, “I want the rest of what you promised me.”

He’s up on his elbow a second later and gripping my neck tightly. “Doll.” His thumb strokes my jaw. “I swear to God, babe, I need to be inside you more than I need to breathe. Actually, I’m losin’ my mind over here. But are you sure? I’ll be patient if that’s what you need me to be.”

“No, show me how good it can be with you.”

He rolls over on top of me and frames my face. “Dammit, baby. I want to be what you need, but my control is fuckin’ slippin’. I’m way past being able to be gentle.”

“No more holding back.”

“Jesus, I don’t think you know what you’re askin’ for.”

I bite his lip, nearly drawing blood. “But I do.”

“Fuck.”

Our mouths collide. And from the second our lips connect it’s raw and hard and bordering on violent. His hands grab my hips and our lower bodies move together. The dip and swirl of his hips quickly starts to make me greedy for more. Grinding himself into me, Mav growls low, the sound echoing out of his chest. Lifting up, his head dips to my breast. He licks my nipple and rolls it, before he bites it lightly.

I gasp and throw my head back. “God, that feels so good. Everything you do feels good.”

He leaves me for a minute, but only to remove his boxers. Then he’s parting my legs and kneeling between them. “So fuckin’ wet for me, Doll. And every single drop of this is mine.” He palms my sex and then using my own juices, he strokes his shaft. With his other hand, he thumbs my clit and he smiles when I squirm under his ministrations.

After propping himself up on one arm, he pulls my leg over his hip. Before I can take a steady breath, he guides his long and thick cock to my entrance.

“Tell me, Ember. Is this what you want?”

“Yes.”

“And you don’t want nice and soft and sweet? You want me to fuck you like we both need me to?”

“Yes!”

I want this. I want him more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I need him. I need him to relieve the pressure inside me, all the way inside me.

The tip of his cock pushes at my entrance. He’s big and at first, my body resists the intrusion. There’s a slight pinch of pain as I stretch to accommodate his size.

We both seem to be holding our breaths. Pulling back, he thrusts using more of his strength and
oh, my God, it feels so damn good.

He hisses, “Fuck!” as he gradually works himself deeper. “Let yourself relax, baby, and let me feel you let go.” I try, but it’s only when he plays with my clit and distracts me, that my tension dissipates.

On his next drive forward, he sinks to the hilt and his head falls forward. He releases a guttural groan, whispers, “Christ,” and closes his eyes.

He’s filling me up, completely, and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt.

“God, Ember. This is almost too fuckin’ much,” he says between ragged breaths. Then he cups my face. “You okay?”

“Yes.” I nod.

“You okay if I start movin’ now?”

I nod again.

“Say it, Doll.”

“Yes.”

His jaw flexes and his eyes turn molten like they do. He backs off a little and plunges forward. Going deeper still. I make an unintelligible sound and my back arches. He curses again and cups my breast. Our bodies collide and he pushes himself again until he’s seated all the way inside me, and his body becomes flush with my own.

Bending down, he trails his lips over my neck. Bites my ear. “The sounds you make, baby, are enough to make me come. But this. This is too much. How you feel. You grip me like we were made to be like this. Nothin’ . . . nothin’ ever gonna come close,” he says breathlessly.

Then he takes my mouth, passionately and aggressively.

I cling to him like a life preserver. He’s hitting a spot that has pleasure rocketing through me with each stroke. And it’s building as he draws back and slams back inside me. Our bodies work in tandem. He swirls his cock inside me in such a way that I’m gasping for breath and pleading for more.

But then he stills.

“Please . . . don’t stop,” I whisper as I dig my nails into his back. “It feels so good.”

“That’s it. Hold on to me, baby.”

It’s meant to be a warning. I realize that a couple of seconds later as his cock goes all the way to my womb and rapidly withdraws, only to drive into me again. He slams into me in rapid succession, and his biceps bulge with the force he uses to bring my world falling down all around me.

“Holy sh . . . I’m going to . . .”

“Let me see it, Doll,” he speaks huskily against my lips. “Show me. Show me what it looks like when you let go. Come for me.” Then he’s kissing me expertly and fucking me into the mattress hard enough to move us up with each powerful thrust and I’m wrapped completely around him.

It only takes four, four more mind-shattering strokes for my body to succumb. I’m propelled into another orgasm. Every limb stiffens. The intensity practically paralyzes me.

He growls low and thrusts deep. “Fuck, Ember. I feel you. You grip me so goddamn good, baby.” Still, he manipulates my body causing the pulses to stretch on and on forever.

He reaches up and grabs the headboard with both hands. His voice changes and his face hardens with concentration. “Christ, I’m ready to come in this sweet pussy. But not until you come around me like that one more time.”

Using his grip on the wood behind me, he drives up into me with such force that I swear I see stars each time he bottoms out. “Again. You’re gonna come again.”

Holy mother of God.

After only a few seconds of this new assault, I become someone I never knew I could be. And say things like, “Yes, please. Oh, my God! There, yes.” And I’m sure when this is over I’ll be embarrassed as hell, but right now I can only feel and be and open myself up to this new wild burning ache he’s started inside me.

When I’m not gasping for breath, I’m crying out his name more times than I can count. Leaning up, I lick the sweat from Mav’s chest and circle my tongue around his nipples. My claws rake down his back as he spears himself inside me.

Something cracks behind me and I almost giggle because . . .
shit
. . . I think we just broke his new bed.

He slams into me faster and grunts with the effort. His mouth comes to my ear. “Let me see it.” He bites my earlobe and mixes all the pleasure he’s giving me with a spike of pain. Every part of my body locks up, my head kicks back, and I scream. I detonate, and my orgasm sends tremors through every part of me.

Mav growls and his head bows forward. “Yes, Doll! I feel you.” He thrusts all the way in, and a shudder runs through his whole body. Together we break apart. Him right along with me this time. Warmth hits my womb as Mav’s body strings tight.

Moments later, as his muscles begin to relax, his arms give out, and he collapses over me, resting his forehead on my shoulder. And our heavy breaths are the only sound to be heard.

I have no idea how long it takes for us both to recover, but it’s a while. Mav’s the first to move. He kisses my shoulder. “Never felt anything like you locked around me before. And the way you look when you come. Most beautiful fuckin’ thing I’ve ever seen.”

He palms my face with both of his hands on my cheeks. “Promise me you’re gonna be here when I wake up, because I already know it’s gonna wreck me not to have more of this. More of you.”

“I’m here, Mav. I wasn’t planning on going anywhere.”

His kiss this time is utterly soft and gentle. Tender. And with it, he steals another piece of me. Another piece of my heart. I don’t think falling for him was ever a choice. More like an inevitability.

We all wear a shell that portrays the image we want others to see. But what matters is what’s underneath.

EMBER

Mav enters what looks to be a bathroom, flips on the light, and an instant later water’s running. He comes back with a wet towel. “We made a mess, but there is nothin’ like feelin’ you skin to skin.” He tentatively cleans between my legs. “How long will the birth control the doc gave you last?”

What?

His eyes sweep up to mine as his words work their way through me.

Oh, my God, we didn’t use protection.

I’ve been so wrapped up in him and the sensual feel of everything he’s done to me, I didn’t even think about it.

I stare at him stunned, speechless, and count the weeks since my last birth control shot. Warner had put me on the shot “just in case I changed my mind about waiting,” but surely, that’s worn off by now.

It’s been. . . .

Three and a half months.

“I never saw the doctor before today,” I say in a somewhat shaky voice. Lily just told Dozer I had, because she wanted to buy me some time before . . .”

His hand stops. Confusion has his brows knitting together. “But I thought . . .” He closes his eyes. In a hoarse voice lined with pain, he asks, “You’re not on anything?” As his eyes open, I give a slight shake of my head, and fight the nerves beginning to rise under my skin.

Will he be upset with me or Lily, or both? Does he think I’d try to trap him? I know some girls do that, but that’s not what this was. I just . . . the last thing I was thinking about when he was a second away from entering me was protection.

His gaze leaves mine and goes down to my stomach. It stays there for almost a full minute. Mav doesn’t say anything when he pulls out of his trance. He simply cups my face and kisses me deeply. It feels like he’s saying goodbye. And if I’m being honest, it scares the shit out of me.

He lies down on the bed and pulls me to lie on his chest.

“I’ll talk to doc tomorrow about gettin’ you the mornin’ after pill, okay?”

I nod. “Mav, I didn’t plan this. I wouldn’t . . .”

“Shhh . . .” He rubs my back. “I know.”

He’s silent for a long time though. Then finally he says, “Doll . . . later . . . if you decide this is not where you want to be, and you’re carrying my child inside you when you do, you need to know I’m only gonna let you go so far.”

“Mav—”

“Any child of mine is gonna have me in their life. There is nothin’ you could do that would hurt me more than takin’ my own child away from me. That means even if you’re not ready to be a mom, you need to at least carry it to term so I can take care of him or her.”

The feeling behind his words causes my heart to ache and tears to burn in my throat. I know what it’s like to have a child taken away from you. And I would never . . . never do that to him.

I’m sure that having grown up without a real dad in his life, he’s doesn’t want his son or daughter to do the same. I respect him for that. The fact that he’s doesn’t merely want to be responsible, but be a big part of his child’s life makes my heart swell.

“I could never do that to you or my child. But I don’t think we should gamble like that again. This is so new.”