Licked by the Flame (19 page)

The room itself appeared to have been carved, or rather molded, by fire. The walls were smoothly glazed, and whatever furnishings that might be needed had been hewn out of the rock. A slab was left jutting out from one wall and appeared to be a functional table. A squared-off rock next to it made an adequate chair.

Lining the wall opposite that, shelves had been carved. A few items of clothing were folded there, as well as a healthy assortment of books that that seemed especially out of place here. Who would go to all the trouble of hauling this many books up here?

“I like to read,” he noted, unapologetically.

“Is this your place?” she asked.

“It is. The main chambers are fine when I’m in my natural form, but I found that I needed…well, my duties have kept me so very often presenting myself as human that I chose to create a space where I could be comfortable in this form as well.”

“I don’t believe it,” she said, shaking her head. “You like being a human!”

“I don’t.”

“Yes, you do. Look, you’ve even got a fancy tapestry decorating the place. Hell, what is that, Nic, your sense of humor? Is that Saint George battling the dragon?”

“The actual historical event went somewhat differently than the legend.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet. Seriously, I’m seeing a whole new side of you. I mean, even more than the whole new side of you I just saw a little while ago.”

“All right, all right. Now sit down so I can tend to your leg.”

The man had crafted a bed. It would have been impossible to wrangle a mattress up here, of course, but the pallet he’d made for himself with blankets and a big, soft comforter didn’t look entirely uncomfortable. She sat down on it and found it more than a little inviting.

He filled the space with a possessive air, not the least bit self-conscious as she gawked shamelessly at his naked torso. Bookshelves and rock chairs were not the only interesting items in the room. The man himself was a work of art.

“I might have some gauze or something in the other room,” he said, disappearing around a corner.

“What’s in there?” she asked.

“I tapped into the heated groundwater and found a way to run some up here,” he replied.

“You’ve got a bathroom with hot running water?” she questioned. “Inside a volcano?”

He came back around the corner, carrying a damp cloth and a roll of white gauze. “If a man’s got to look like a human, a man’s got to live like a human. That glow coming in through that gap in the wall there? That is my window.”

She twisted to see what he referred to. It was like a window, but it did not open to the outside world. The view he had from here would have been infinitely more important to him than an Icelandic landscape.

“You can watch over the clutch from up here, can’t you?” she asked. “That gap looks down into the main chamber.”

“Yes. Welcome to my home, Ms. McGowan. I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know you’re the very first guest I’ve ever had.”

“I don’t doubt that. I don’t suppose you have a beer in the fridge, or…ouch!”

She had tried to scoot to a more comfortable position and managed to bang her leg against the rock that served as the man’s box spring.

“You should hold still so I can take a look at your leg,” he advised.

Obviously he was right. She propped her leg up so he could see it as he came to sit beside her.

“Let’s get you out of these boots so I can take a look,” he said and gently ran his hand over her leg.

His touch was incredibly tender, but she still winced as he pulled the boot off. That spot on her leg was pretty damn tender, too.

“Now take your pants off,” he said.

She raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?”

“Unless you’d rather I rip them halfway up your leg.”

“No, I’ll take them off.”

Now he raised his dark eyes to meet hers. She’d seen only concern in them until now, when a fire kindled behind his expression and he gave her a sly, half-quirking grin.

“And it’s about time.”

N
ic was pleased that she let him tend to her injury. Not that he’d given her any choice. The woman was too damned independent for her own good. He’d tried to manipulate and control her for his own purposes, yet her will had proven too strong for him. He owed her his life because of it, too. Indeed, she was so much more than he had expected her to be.

How had he not seen right from the start that she was so very special? Even now, after all that he’d put her through, she met his eyes steadily and did not turn away from him. She trusted him to dab at her wound, a jagged cut that bled profusely but—thankfully—hadn’t gone deep enough to cause immediate concern. When he was content that no bones were broken and that he’d cleaned the area adequately, he laid his hand over the wound and caught her gaze again.

“This might hurt a bit, but it will stop the bleeding.”

She wrinkled her brow in confusion, but that was quickly replaced by a wince of sharp pain. Searing heat coursed through him, and he let a localized wave pass to her body. The wound was instantly cauterized. He pulled his hand away quickly, hoping to spare her from any more pain than was necessary.

“Crap, that hurt!” she exclaimed.

“It should protect you from infection,” he explained, immediately wrapping it in clean gauze.

No matter what happened from here, this wound would not pose any further threat to her well-being. He wished he could say the same about himself. Being alone with her here, momentarily safe from the dangers they’d faced and feeling strong once again, that familiar craving was boiling up inside him.

His energy had been replenished when the stored magic was released from that console. He knew he was fully strong enough to defend this mountain and the precious clutch in it. He didn’t need passion or heat. He didn’t need to seduce Lianne for any purpose. He wanted her, though. He wanted steamy, hot sex right here and right now, with her.

Even more than that, though, he wanted to take care of Lianne. Sex was probably the last thing she wanted right now, especially now that she knew the truth about who he was. For her sake, he’d put his own desires aside.

Her long legs were naked before him, her pants crumpled on the floor where she’d left them as he tended her injury. His hands ached to touch her, so he let his fingers barely trail over her skin. So soft, so tender…so human.

“Are you sure no one else has arrived here?” she asked, tension still keeping her body tight, nervous.

“I will know when we are not alone.”

He hoped it was true. With his safeguards dismantled and Darkness working against them, he could not quite be certain of anything. Well, anything aside from the fact that his body hummed with desire for Lianne. That was the one thing he knew absolutely. Not that he understood it, however. Desire was a tool he’d often made use of; it had never been connected to the sort of emotions he was feeling for Lianne just now. He wanted to protect her, pleasure her, and reach into her mind merely to know more of her. There was no purpose to these feelings, yet he felt as if he needed them to live.

“Why are you looking at me that way?” she asked after a few moments of silence.

He realized he must be making her nervous, so he took his hand off her leg and looked away. To his surprise, she reached for him and turned his face back toward hers. By the Fires, her eyes were so bright, so full of life and fervor and energy. There was no fear at all as she smiled at him.

“I’m not afraid of you, by the way,” she said softly.

He hadn’t been inside her mind. So much had happened to her in such a short time. He’d purposely been giving her space, allowing her time to come to grips with it all. There was no need to read her thoughts, though, to know she was telling the truth.

“I do not want you to fear me,” he said. They were petty words to convey the vast depth of emotion he had for her right now.

“But you do want me, don’t you?” she asked, offering him another one of her irresistible smiles.

“So very much, Lianne.”

“Good.”

She brought his face close to hers and gave his lips a light, feathery brush with her own. Energy and flame danced inside him at her touch. He wrapped her in his arms and their kiss grew in intensity. She responded eagerly, fueling his desire. He laid her back into the soft bedding as an encouraging murmur of enjoyment escaped her.

The air in this chamber was comfortable and warm, heated by the fires from the nearby incubating pit. The very walls around them radiated heat. He slid the fabric of her blouse aside to let his hands contact her skin, glide over her delectable body.

“I’m not distracting you from more important things right now, am I?” she asked, but shifted her body just slightly to let him have better access to the tiny buttons on her blouse.

He pressed his lips to her neck, just below her ear. “There is nothing in the world more important to me than you right now, Lianne.”

“Oooh, good answer, but…Oh, wow. Your hands are like fire.”

He’d gotten inside her blouse and moved her bra out of the way. Perhaps he’d been moving too quickly for her. He pulled back just a bit.

“Am I too hot for you?”

She smiled. “You’re hotter than hell, all right. But I can take it.”

An invitation
. By the Flame, her words loosed his passion and he felt need taking control of him. She was hot and ready for him, and he would have her here for no other reason than that he wanted her. He’d make certain she wouldn’t regret it, though. Tonight he would not take from her, only give. Because she deserved no less from him.

In the very back of his mind, the distant voice of reason reminded him that there was no wisdom in this. What was the point in passion without need? He did not
need
her; his strength was restored. He should not toy with her this way.

She was all human and he was all dragon. Now that he no longer needed her, he owed her nothing more than to keep her safe and return her to her life. His sole concern should be tending to the clutch, not dabbling in passion.

This yearning he felt for Lianne was not natural. Dragons
made
love, but they did
not
love. Humans were treated fairly, but even during such intimacy, dragons never crossed that line into caring. This was pure heat and unbridled passion, that was all. Why was he imagining so much more?

“What is it, Nic?” she asked, pulling him away from his thoughts. “Something
is
distracting you.”

He was not reading her mind, yet she seemed to read his perfectly. How could she know him when he’d given her only lies and deceit? He brushed a wave of auburn hair back from her forehead and kissed her there.

“Nothing but you,” he assured her. “Tell me what you need from me.”

“I don’t need anything from you. You fixed my leg, Nic. So I’m fine. But…I like what you’re doing right now.”

He ran his fingers through her long hair, brushing her earlobe and her neck and feeling desire sizzle off her skin.

“You like this?”

“I do.”

“Good. Then I’ll do more of it.”

“And maybe we could…Oh, that’s really nice, too.”

He trailed kisses from her face down her neck and to the soft valley between her breasts. She moaned with pleasure when he took one puckered nipple between his lips—so sweet. She was still tense, tied up inside with knots, but he could undo them. He’d get her to let go so her passion could run free and they would both soak in release.

His body tingled with anticipation of the surge he’d receive when a full, searing climax raged over her. His soul hummed to know that for the first time their joining would be unhampered by lies and agendas and the fear of being found out. They could both give themselves fully.

That’s what he needed. Perhaps this wasn’t unnatural, after all. She was a fiery woman and he was a dragon. Their completion would be unfettered and hot beyond measure. All the pent-up emotion he felt inside her—a wild torrent of fury, courage, delight, and pure lust—would finally be free. He simply had to get past the careful walls she had built. Once inside that bastion, he’d unlock the doors and throw them open. Release would surge through them. Her passion and power would become his, magnified a hundredfold by his own.

If he was going to be called on to do battle to defend the clutch, he needed all the strength he could get. Joining with Lianne now was not about what he
wanted
, but what he
needed
. It was not feeling or emotion that made him ache to see her writhe with pleasure beneath him, it was pure need. There was nothing unnatural about that.

Her body was so taut, her quiet moans so tantalizing and erotic. He just had to keep focus—it would be easy to get lost in the sensations. He wouldn’t, though. No matter how powerful their connection was growing, this was still just a means to an end. He could not lose sight of that, no matter what.

“You make me want to forget everything…all the crazy things going on around us…” She sighed against his skin.

He caressed her with his fingers, his tongue, his voice, and his mind, using every part of himself to give her pleasure. “Give in, Lianne. Forget all the horrible things you’ve seen and concentrate on what you’re feeling right now.”

She was melting under his attentions. He could feel those walls crumbling, the viselike grip over her senses weakening. His own carefully constructed battlements were fading, too. His body was becoming hers, and hers was becoming his. Passion engulfed them and they were free to do whatever they liked.

And he liked.

She loved what he was doing to her. It was insane, to give in to this right now, but it felt so damn good she ignored the little voice of reason niggling in the back of her mind. She was tired and aching and terrified. What Nic was doing to her now—stripping off her clothing and running his hands over the most sensitive parts of her—was exactly what she needed.

He said he would take care of her and for some reason she chose to believe him. She’d been with her share of assholes, and they’d never made her feel like this. Whatever his reasons for doing this now, she was happy to let him take control over her body.

“You are beautiful, Lianne,” he said as he continued to trail kisses over her skin, lingering in just the right spots.

“And you’re like some damned Russian sculpture,” she said, sliding her hands over his arms and his shoulders, loving the feel of him. And those sizzling tattoos. “These letters look like they mean something. Is it Cyrillic?”

“Er, it’s a very ancient form, much older than any Cyrillic script known today.”

She traced over the outline of the word seared into his shoulder like a brand. It was tantalizing and she could almost imagine that her fingers tingled as they touched it. “I see. Are you into ancient languages or something?”

“Right now I’m into you,” he said smoothly, taking her hand in his and bringing her fingers up to his lips.

Okay, so his body art was off-limits. Of course that really only made her more curious about them, but if he didn’t want to go there she wouldn’t push. Clearly they both had secrets they weren’t ready to share. She would give up on figuring things out and just enjoy what he could do to her. There would be time for conversation later.

She hoped.

“Lie down for me, Lianne,” he instructed. “I want to look at you.”

Since she loved the way his dark eyes raked over her with greed and desire shining like hot embers in them, she happily complied. Her blouse and her bra were long gone. The man seemed to have superhuman abilities in the field of undressing women.

If she thought about it too much she might be a little bit jealous by all that implied. Instead, she simply relaxed and enjoyed the wonderful sensation of being in the hands of a master. His hands, in fact, slid over the length of her legs, teasing her when they lingered in places that made her tingle and squirm. She watched him intently, drinking in his bronzed skin and the hint of a pleased smile at his lips.

“If you’re peeling me like a grape to just stare at me, the least you can do is return the favor,” she said.

He shot her a burning look and the hint of smile broadened just a bit. That jumpsuit hung low at his hips, but still it covered too much. He rectified this, standing so she had an excellent view and slipping the suit off completely. He tossed the jumpsuit across the room, then stood there, presenting himself before her with invitation written all over his face. The warm fiery glow from the outside chamber fell like a halo over his skin. She reached to barely touch the sculpted form of his thigh with her fingertips.

He moved back onto the bed, rising up like a giant over her, and she felt dizzy with excitement. She could hardly contain the anticipation, as a matter of fact. Her body was trembling with it now. The man wasn’t even touching her and she was nearly orgasmic just looking at him.

She couldn’t have ripped her gaze away if she’d wanted to. He was beyond imagination. Huge, yes, but perfect in symmetry and tone. The ripped abs she’d admired above the waist certainly didn’t stop there. Every muscle was clearly defined, rippling before her and just bursting with virility. His thighs were like granite, and when she craned her neck she could see around to his delectable backside.

It was a crime against humanity that he was forced to spend so much time wearing clothes. No one should have an ass that perfect. Even the artfully dispersed dark hairs that wisped over his body were absolute perfection.

She reached out and took his glorious cock in her hands.

“Don’t you want to take this more slowly?” he asked.

She answered him honestly. “Oh, hell no. I want you now, Nic. I’ve wanted you since I saw you in the boardroom looking all dangerous and smug, and we’ve been interrupted too much already. I don’t want to waste time playing around.”

“Very well, then. I aim to please, and if serious action is what you want, then I will not disappoint.”

“That is exactly the right answer,” she said.

The man’s cock still continued its triumphant rise. She was a little bit annoyed when he obstructed her view, leaning forward to kiss her on the lips. She forgave him, though, as electricity flowed between them and his mouth took charge of hers.