Edge of Moonlight (6 page)

As if he sensed her distress, John tilted his head back to look at her. His gaze held a question but she had no desire to talk. She only wanted to touch him, kiss him. She wanted him inside her body, making her forget everything but physical ecstasy.

Pressing her mouth against his, she kissed him hard, let their lips meld together and her tongue slip against his as he responded to her kiss.

His hands, already spread across her back, flexed and kneaded then started to slide down until he cupped her ass in his hands. His body radiated heat and strength. Her hands smoothed from his shoulders down to his bulging biceps.

She reveled in the feel of his skin against hers and her hips rolled as he twitched inside her.

He drew back with a groan and she would have followed him if he hadn’t cupped her face in his hands to halt her progress.

“Hang on.”

She had a moment to realize what he intended before he slid forward on the couch, wrapped his arms around her and stood, the strong muscles of his legs bunching beneath her thighs before he lifted her higher on his body.

As he stood, his cock slid from her and she swallowed at the sensation against her most sensitive skin.

With her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist, he carried her like she weighed nothing. The apartment wasn’t huge and it took less than a minute for him to reach his bedroom.

Even though it was dark, she could see the Spartan nature of the room.

A chest against the wall, another next to the bed that was smaller than her own at home.

He pulled the comforter down and set her on the cool sheets before leaning down to kiss her hard and fast. “You need to use the bathroom?” She shook her head, restraining herself from grabbing onto those strong arms and pulling him back to her.

“Then I’ll be right back,” he said.

Nodding, she let her fingers curl into the sheets. “Hurry.” He sucked in a sharp breath, as if she’d stroked him. His jaw set and he nodded just once before striding through a door on the opposite side of the bed.

She watched him walk away, watched the muscles of his thighs and ass bunch and move under his skin.

Blessed Goddess, the man was a work of art.

She was still staring at the door when it reopened and he stepped out again. He’d gotten rid of the condom and his cock had already hardened enough to stand away from his body.

She couldn’t help her smile. He wanted her, maybe as much as she wanted him.

Turning toward him, she watched him stop several feet away from the bed and let his gaze travel her entire body. He started at the top of her head, held her gaze for only seconds before moving onto her lips. Her mouth parted under his stare as if he’d pressed his lips against hers and she had to work to draw in air to her starved lungs.

That drew his eyes down to her breasts.

Kaine had never had any reason to care what anyone else thought of her body. She didn’t have an ounce of fat on her and she wasn’t overly muscled. But she definitely didn’t have a chest that drew men’s attention. At least not other men’s attention. John seemed to like what he saw, if the faster pace of his breathing and the hardening of his erection was anything to go by.

She wanted to lay back on the bed and stretch, preen for him. She’d never considered doing that for anyone else.

When his gaze dropped again, and settled on the dark curls between her thighs, she felt moisture well in her pussy.

If he were
lucani
, he’d be able to smell how aroused she was. Hell, maybe he could anyway.

His expression hardened with lust, the hands at his sides tightening into fists before he forced them to relax as he took the few steps back to the bed.

When he finally stood beside the bed, she thought he’d join her. Instead, he stopped with his knees almost against the side of the mattress, close enough to touch, and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

“I know this is going to sound really stupid after what we just did but…are you sure we haven’t met before?”

It took all her acting ability to let her mouth curve in a slight smile. “I’m pretty sure I would’ve remembered you, John.”

He nodded, releasing an amused breath. “Yeah. I feel the same. But damn it, I swear I’ve been dreaming about you.”

Her heart nearly jumped into her throat. Goddess, what she wouldn’t give to have him truly remember her. And accept her for what she was.

But that would never happen. This night was the only time they’d have. And she wasn’t about to kill the mood by dissolving into a puddle of tears now.

Maneuvering her body until she lay on her back, she curled one arm over her head and let the other drape over her stomach. She wanted him to join her, not break her heart with his talk of dreams. “Well, you’re not dreaming now.” Flattening her hand on her stomach, she let her fingers just brush against the curls on her mound. His eyes narrowed as he followed her movement, his cock pulling high and tight against his stomach.

Letting her hand drift lower, she used her middle finger to tease her clit, spreading her legs so John could watch.

She forced herself to keep her own eyes open. When she’d gotten herself off in the past couple of months, she’d always had her eyes closed, thinking of him. Now he stood here next to her and she wanted to make sure she saw him watch her. At least until she couldn’t take it anymore and made him cover her with his body and fuck her into oblivion.

Her body trembled with lust, her lungs straining for air as she stroked her clit.

Pleasure tingled in her pussy and deeper, clenching spasms made her sheath burn to be filled.

By him. Only by him.

She was on the brink, just from the touch of her own finger and his proximity, his gaze on her. She wanted to come, needed to—

Her eyes closed and in the next second, John pushed his legs between hers, spreading her wide as he grabbed her hand and held it up and away from her.

She released a frustrated cry that was cut short when he put his mouth over her lower lips and set about making her come with practiced skill and determination.

The hand he wasn’t holding away reached for his head, brushing against the short strands, trying to get a grip. She needed to hold onto something or she was afraid she’d fly apart.

Lacing his fingers with hers, he anchored her as his tongue licked through her lips, flicked her clit then plunged into her, fucking her, making her cry out his name.

She was panting by the time she finally splintered. Her body snapped against him as she came, her release flowing into John’s mouth as he continued to tongue her.

She hadn’t stopped shuddering when he lifted his head and started kissing his way up her body. His tongue flicked into her bellybutton before making a path to her breasts. Small and extremely sensitive, her nipples peaked and hardened when he sucked one and then the other between his lips. Her back arched off the bed when he bit her.

“John.”

He strung a line of kisses between her nipples then sank his teeth into the underside of her breast, almost but not quite hard enough to leave a mark.

“Shh, sweetheart. I know.”

His hand released hers as she felt him reach across the bed as his mouth settled over hers.

He kissed her with enough heat to fry all her circuits and she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders to hold on.

“No, reach up, Kaine. Hold onto the headboard.”

She obeyed immediately, so completely unlike her but then she’d never felt like this about anyone, had never wanted to give up that much control to anyone. Only to him.

Wrapping her fingers around the curved spindles, she watched as he sat back on his heels and tore open the condom with his teeth.

She almost told him not to bother. She knew he didn’t have any diseases and neither did she. And if she got pregnant—which was highly unlikely given that he was
eteri
and she
lucani
—it wouldn’t matter one rat’s ass to her. If she couldn’t have him, at least she’d have his child.

But she knew he would have questions if she told him to forget it.

So she watched as he rolled it in place, shaking with desire, nearly crying with it.

Finally, he kneed her legs apart even farther, spreading her open as he lowered himself over her.

He put his elbows on either side of her head, his body covering hers completely as the head of his shaft nudged at her entrance. His eyes locked with hers, he began to push into her, so slowly she thought she’d have to scream at him to go faster. His glacial pace made her feel stretched to the point of pain, invaded.

Completely conquered.

She couldn’t get enough. She wanted to melt into his skin, fuse together with him so they were one.

And then they were. He was buried deep and didn’t seem in too much of a hurry to move again.

“Damn, you’re tight.” He’d lowered his head so he could whisper in her ear, the stubble on his cheek rasping against hers. “I can feel your muscles still pulsing around me.”

“I want you to move, John.”

“Say my name again.”

“John. Please.”

He groaned, his heated breath bathing the side of her neck as he slowly flexed his hips and retreated until his cock nearly slipped free.

“John.”

He plunged forward, hard this time. “Keep saying my name and I’ll give you anything you want.”

“John.”

She chanted his name as he filled her over and over, his hips snapping forward as her ankles locked at the small of his back to hold on. The bed rocked with his thrusts, but she barely moved because he had her trapped beneath him.

Time became inconsequential.

His mouth dipped to cover hers and his kiss was long and languid, firing the heat in her blood. When he finally broke away to suck in a deep breath, his pace picked up.

His hips churned faster, and she felt another orgasm cresting, burning her.

When she came, her hips lifted into his, trying to get him as deep as she could until she felt him groan, his cock pulsing inside her, his mouth sealing hers again.

How the hell was she ever going to leave him?

Kaine murmured the spell that would keep John asleep while she slipped out of his bed and out the door.

The clock on the bedside table said 2:08 a.m. and she had to leave. Right now. If she stayed another minute, watching him sleep, she was afraid she’d never have the strength to go.

Her stomach clenched into a tight ball and her heart beat like a trapped bird. Her tongue tripped over the simple spell and she forced herself to take a deep breath and begin again.

If he woke while she was sneaking out…he’d have questions. Maybe he’d ask to see her again and she’d have to lie and say okay and give him a false cell number.

And if he didn’t… If he patted her on the ass, said “Hey, it was great, see ya around” and sent her on her way…

That might just kill her.

No, this was for the best.

When she felt the spell take hold, felt the slight disturbance in the energy around him, she slid out of bed and forced herself to get the hell out of his bedroom. Her clothing lay scattered across the living area, a visual reminder of the intensity with which he’d wanted her. Hell, he’d practically devoured her.

John had made her feel desired. As if he couldn’t breathe without touching her just one more time.

She’d felt loved.

Shaking her head at the complete and utter bullshit running through it, she dressed as quickly as she could. She was pulling on her boots when she realized someone had just opened the front door.

With a gasp, she stood to see a woman standing in the doorway, staring at her with wide eyes as her mouth hung open.

Kaine registered the other woman’s fear first and foremost before she realized that this was John’s sister, Evie. She’d changed her hair color and had it cut since the last time Kaine had seen her. The changes made her look… Well, normal was the only thing Kaine could come up with.

Before, John’s younger sister had looked a little wild. A little out of control, on the edge.

Now, she just looked normal.

And scared.

Kaine forced a sheepish smile and raised her hand in greeting. “Hi.” Evie didn’t move. She stayed in the doorway as if ready to run at any second.

So Kaine kept moving, slowly so as not to scare her any more than she already was.

She picked up her hoodie and pulled it over her head. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. I was just on my way out. You’re Evie, right? John told me you and he lived together.”

“And you are?”

Kaine didn’t blame Evie for the suspicion in her tone. The woman had been kidnapped and subjected to testing for something she would never understand. While the
streghe
had taken all of John’s and Evie’s memories of the Etruscans, they had left the siblings with everything else that had happened to them.

Of course the woman would be frightened to find someone she didn’t know in their apartment.

“I’m Kaine. Your brother and I, ah, met at the bar down the street tonight. We came back here for, ah, drinks.”

Yeah, right. Why the hell didn’t you just say you came back here to bang his brains out?

Evie’s eyebrows lifted as the realization of what Kaine wasn’t saying filled her expression. “And where’s John?”

Kaine felt an actual blush paint her cheeks, though not from embarrassment.

Images from their time together ran through her head. “He’s in bed. Asleep. I need to get up for…work tomorrow so I need to go. Now. Yeah, I can’t stay.” Blessed Uni, could this get any worse? She needed to leave. Right now, before she said something incredibly stupid.

“Uh huh,” Evie said as she finally moved into the room, though she stayed near the door she hadn’t closed. “So you’re leaving?”

“Yes.” Kaine nodded, trying to contain the gamut of emotions threatening to swamp her as she pulled her hoodie over her head. “I’m going right now. Hey, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“Do I know you?” Evie asked. “Have we met?”

Kaine tried not to let the shock of Evie’s questions show on her face even as adrenaline raced through her system at the scent of magic coming from the other woman.