Echoes in Stone (19 page)

She hadn’t thought her nipples could draw tighter, but this new texture thrilled her.

Dash returned to suckling her breasts, running his hands over her shoulders, then down her sides, pushing her skirt further down her hips.

She sifted her fingers through the silky ink of his hair, spreading it out across his back, then stroked the marble-smooth skin there, marveling at the way the muscles shifted and moved under her hands. She stroked his back, coaxing a stretch and a sigh from him, then drew her hands down his arms, stopping when she came to the puckered scar of the burn. The scar that would match her own. The one he’d sustained rescuing her from Lily’s mad doppelganger. She tensed.

“No, Jessa. Don’t think about it. Not now.” He drew her breast into his mouth once more, swirling his tongue around the erect little nipple.

Dash, his body half covering hers, demanded her attention. Commanded her body. He left no room for room for memories, or fear, or embarrassment. “Jessa. Mine. Heaven. You taste like heaven. Your nipples—Talk to me, Jessa. Tell me you feel this, too.” He blew on the wet peaks, sending more sensation coursing through Jessa’s veins.

He made her feel free. Wild. There was nothing she couldn’t do, so long as it was with Dash. It was as if his tongue were lightning, sparking a conflagration within her. “Drat it, Dash! I don’t know! I can’t explain it.” She gripped his shoulders, twisting beneath him, seeking relief from the relentless throbbing between her legs.

Dash lay across her, rubbing his swollen cock at the juncture of her thighs.

Jessa’s legs fell to either side of him, welcoming the pressure there, returning it, even through the layers of their clothing.

He kissed her, his hands gripping her shoulders. “Please, Jessa, I want you to touch me. I want to give you relief, too. I know what you’re feeling. I know how to ease the ache. Right there, between those lovely legs.”

The baritone of his whispered words against her ear set off further vibrations under her skin. When she shook her head, he caught her face between his hands, peering into her eyes.

“Jessa, don’t deny us this. I promise, it will be more wonderful than anything you’ve ever experienced. Don’t tell me you don’t want this as much as I do. Look at the way your tight nipples brush against my chest. Your skin. Rosy. Flushed.” Dash bent his head, sweeping her away in another kiss.

She’d drown in his kiss. Nothing existed in her world but Dash.

“Please, Jessa, let me help you.”

She nodded. He rose, unbuttoned his trousers, and slid the remainder of his clothing to the floor in a single motion. His cock sprang free. He stood motionless, allowing Jessa to study him.

Dash stood like a Greek bronze, firelight glimmering on his skin. He glistened with sweat that ran along his chest to his flat, ridged abdomen. He flexed his hands. Corded sinews rippled in his forearms. The long, hard muscles of his thighs were echoed in his carved calves. Strength. Will.
Passion
.

His cock stood thick, erect, the tip brushing the indentation in his belly. Dash brushed his palm along the top of it, then adjusted the sac that hung heavy between his legs. Jessa, mesmerized by the sight, couldn’t look away.

“Now you, Jessa. Let me look at you.” Dash held out his hand, drawing her up to stand in the firelight with him.

She didn’t protest, but put her hands on his shoulders, while he finished unfastening her skirt and petticoat.

He pushed them down to pool around her feet. He rested his hands on her waist, gazing down the length of her. “The rest, Jessa? Your lacy drawers? Will you let me remove those as well?”

Jessa raised her eyes to him, hesitant. God, what was she doing? What was he doing to her? Shivers racked her, but they had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.

She nodded.

Dash untied her drawers, then skimmed his hands along her waist, hips, thighs as he pushed them down her legs. He followed the same path, until he knelt in the puddle of green velvet at her feet. He stroked the backs of her thighs, forcing her into a wider stance, then drew her forward. He blew on the nest of curls at the juncture of her legs, but made no further move to touch her. He caressed that private place with his eyes only.

She shifted, uncomfortable before him. Vulnerable. Exposed. But Dash’s intent stare sent a thrill through her nonetheless.

His hands kneaded the globes of her buttocks while he contemplated her. When he licked his lips, she flinched, but he held her still, not allowing her to move away from his scrutiny of her nether lips.

When he spoke, she startled again, so caught up was she in the erotic tension of watching him. “Put your hands on my shoulders, sweet Jessa mine.” One at a time, he lifted her feet, removing her low-heeled black shoes, stroking a finger along each instep as he did.

She started, giggling.

He chuckled, then ran his hands up the back of her legs again. “I believe we’ll leave the stockings as they are. I rather like those pretty green garters. I adore the feel of silk-clad legs wrapped around my waist.” He looked up at her, grinning. His hair half fell across his face, hiding the scar.

Jessa, made bold, pushed the hair back, laying her palm against the jagged mark.

A shiver rippled through him, but didn’t stop her. He only stared at her, watching her face as her fingertips explored.

“Dash, you won’t allow me to hide any part from you. I won’t allow you to hide from me either.” She traced the path of the scar, from eyebrow to the corner of his mouth. She continued on her course, running her finger over his lips. “This is a part of you. It makes you no less remarkable in my eyes. Please, Dash. No more hiding.”

Dash responded with his mouth. Before she had time to think, or protest, he drew her to him, nuzzling the warmth between her legs. One hand continued to knead her buttocks, pressing her against his face. With his other hand, he combed the damp curls, then separated the lips to expose the nub hidden there. His tongue flicked it—once—twice—before he pressed her hard, drawing the pearl into his mouth to suck.

She jolted. Lightning. Pure, blinding, white lightning. She struggled, moaned, but he wouldn’t let her escape as he continued the torment with his tongue. She clutched his shoulders. Her nails dug little crescent marks into the skin, but he didn’t relent. Then he slid a finger into her. She cried out and would have collapsed had he not been holding her.

“My God, Jessa, you are so tight. Dear God, the taste of you—” Dash continued to suck her, stroking her with first one, then two fingers. My God, what was he doing to her?

His fingers stretched her, causing a vague discomfort. Something for which she had no name spiraled through her from the place he touched. He surged up the length of her, drawing her into his arms, his kiss fierce.

A tremor shook her when he rubbed his cock against her quivering abdomen, groaning in her ear. “Touch me, Jessa. Dear God, I need your hands on me. Now.” He pulled her hand down, wrapping her fingers around his member.

Hard
.
Hot
. The unexpected smoothness surprised her. A drop of viscous fluid leaked from the tip. Tentative, she traced the vein pulsing under her fingers. Dash drew a sharp breath. Had she hurt him? She loosened her grasp, but Dash wouldn’t let her pull away. She shook her head, puzzled. If anything, her awkward touch had made him harder. Thicker.

“Stroke me, Jessa. Like this.” He guided her hand along his quivering length, teaching her how to caress the satiny skin covering his granite hard cock.

He removed his hand, placing both on Jessa’s shoulders while he stared down between them, seemingly mesmerized by the sight of her hand wrapped around him. The sweat on his chest grew heavier, sliding into the coarse black nest from which his cock jutted.

Jessa breathed in his scent. The sharp tang of lime from his favorite shaving lotion, released by the heat of his body, mingled with a scent that was uniquely Dash. Leather. Whiskey.

I know this scent. That first night. When he terrified me so
.

Tonight, her own feelings terrified her. A voice in the corner of her mind whispered.
Stop
.
Now
.
Before it is too late
.
Before passion destroys—

Dash’s breaths grew deeper, heavier, each one expanding his broad chest as Jessa stroked him.

Jessa ignored the voice in her head, lost in the beauty of watching his body, of watching her own hands give him pleasure. This was why women become enthralled by men. This power. This man—strong, fearsome, proud—had given himself over to her. She protested when he guided her back on the sofa, his body following hers down upon it, to stretch the length of her. She wanted to go on watching him.

“Open your legs for me, Jessa. Wrap them around my waist. No more waiting. I have to have you. Now.”

Jessa did as he requested. The heavy weight of him settled between her thighs. Her thoughts fragmented.
Frightening
.
Exhilarating
. She rubbed herself against his cock. The throbbing increased. He drew back, the tip of his cock probing her entrance.

With a single hard thrust, he plunged into her.

She screamed.

Dash stopped, drawing back to stare at her.

White lightning had ripped through her again. This time, it hurt. “Stop!” The sound of the sob in her voice infuriated her. Tears sprang to her eyes. She bucked against him, pushing on his shoulders. “You hurt me! Why?”

He’d betrayed her. Made her weak. He’d lulled her with his kisses, then he’d hurt her. She pounded on his hard, unyielding shoulder.

“Get off me this instant! Dammit, Dash, you’re tearing me apart!” She fought to escape the pain he caused between her legs, but he wouldn’t let her go.

“Stop Jessa! Stop struggling right now!” Dash panted, his breath drawn in sharp rasps. He wrapped his arms tighter around her. “Lay still, or I won’t be able to help you.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks, her breathing shallow. Her thrashing only made the pain worse. She stilled beneath his immovable weight.

Dash raised a hand to push back his hair, wiping the sweat dripping from his brow.

“We’ll talk later about why you never mentioned you were a virgin. There’s no help for it now. If you’d told me, I could have made this easier. It wouldn’t have stopped me, but I could have made sure you were better prepared. For now, you just need to relax.” Dash blew out a breath, shifted.

Jessa cried out in protest.

“Hush, Jessa. Let me help.” He smoothed her sweat-drenched hair off her forehead, planting a tender kiss on the exposed skin. “I’m not going to stop.”

“It hurts, dammit. Stop this now, Dash!”

He soothed his hand over her face, brushing her damp cheeks. She drew a shuddering breath, stilling beneath him.

“It’s too late,” he said. His breath came in harsh gasps. “I’ll stop if you truly mean it, but you’ll never know—never learn— It isn’t like this. Not always. I want you too much. You want me too, Jessa. I feel it. I promise, I can make this good for you. If you’ll let me.”

Jessa’s peered into his face through tear filled eyes.

Silver eyes gazed back at her. Not cold. Not frightening. Concerned. He was concerned for her. For her well-being. The firelight caught something else in his eyes. Gentleness. Compassion. Most enticing, desire. She drew a deep breath, feeling the stirring between her legs, the restlessness for something— A war raged inside her, the battle swift and sharp. She might be damned for all eternity, but passion won out.

She nodded.

Dash moved his hand between their joined bodies, once more stoking the sensitive nub.

Jessa tensed.

“Hush. Breathe. Stop thinking. Trust me.”

Trust
? That voice niggled at the back of her mind again, but was drowned out by the reality of Dash. His weight pressing on her. Hard muscles shifting under slick skin. His scent, enveloping her. He surrounded her—swamped her senses. Her world narrowed, focused only on the man who imprisoned her in his arms.

That feeling. It started where he rubbed between her legs, then spread out, rippling through her. He increased the pressure. Gentle circling strokes.

Her inner muscles eased. Relaxed. Dash moved then, gentle strokes, not pulling his cock from her body, but not thrusting either. As she relaxed, she found he was right. It didn’t hurt as much. Whatever he was doing with his fingers set up those harmonics in her blood again. That tight, spiraling feeling returned. She was mortified to feel the gush of moisture between her thighs. Her cheeks flamed.

Dash smiled at her. “Yes, Jessa. Yes. So wet. So responsive. Jessa.” He breathed a deep, satisfied sigh.

His movements were stronger. Thrusting harder. Pulling out further.

She understood now the reason for her body’s embarrassing response. It smoothed the way for him.

He drove deeper into her molten core.

Astonishing
. When she’d held the length of him her hand, wrapped her fingers around his girth, she could never have imagined how it would feel to have that part of his body buried so deep inside her own. She panted. Her entrance was still tender, but her body’s dew eased the pain.

Dash drove into her. Harder. Faster.

Everything in her coiled, grew tighter, tauter.
God! What’s happening
? She wanted to reach for something but had no idea what. “Dash! Help me. I don’t know what to do.” She tossed her head, her eyes closed as she sought release from the building pressure. “I’m going to explode!”

“Look at me, Jessa. Look at me. Now.” Dash gripped her face, forcing her to look into his silver eyes. “Just let go, Jessa mine. I’ll be there to catch you. I promise. Just let go.”

Dash thrust hard against her one more time. The world shattered into a million shards around her. Every one of those shards was the same silver color as the eyes staring into hers. She screamed, high, sharp, unable to stop herself.

Dash swallowed her cry with his kiss, before his own shout of release tore through him. He held himself rigid, buried in her body for long moments, then collapsed on top of her. He tucked her head into the hollow of his neck, gently caressing her hair.