Lover Enraptured: Thieves of Aurion, Book 2 (10 page)

Sonofafairy. Her devilish little grin was gonna be the death of him. Hell, everything about her was an annihilating force to his equilibrium. Devastating as she’d been all those years ago as the innocent virgin who’d lured him with impossible temptation, it was nothing compared to the wicked seductress she’d become. He lifted his hand, but before he could reach his intended destination, she smacked him away from her panties.

“No touching, remember?”

“You’re being a goddamned cocktease.” And he fucking loved it. If that didn’t confirm what a twisted mess he was, nothing would. If he possessed a lick of sense, he’d scoop her out of his lap and hustle his ass from her apartment, pronto. He damn well knew where this was headed. The warning sirens were blasting relentlessly in his brain. But his fierce desire for her outshouted all else.

One look at the sparkle in her eyes verified she was plenty aware that she had him by the short hairs. “Mmm. So hypothetically speaking…say I
did
let your fingers do the walking, where would you want them? Here?” She caressed herself through the lace. “Or maybe here?” Her fingers slipped down the front of her panties.

He unglued his tongue from the roof of his mouth. “Yeah, definitely there.”

“Would you just keep them here, not doing anything?”

“No, move them around like you were—
Fuck yes
, exactly like that.” His cock thickened a good inch or two behind his fly while her fingers got busy beneath the tantalizing concealment of the lace. Her soft moan kicked up his internal thermostat by several thousand degrees.

Eyes drifting shut, she snared her bottom lip between her teeth and undulated in tempo with her slow stroking. When she arched her back, pressing into her own questing fingers, the micro-fine filament of his restraint snapped. Gripping her by the wrist, he tugged her hand from between her legs and sucked her fingers into his mouth with a ragged groan. Her musky essence melted on his tongue like the sweetest honey.

A shaky breath lodged in her throat. “
Jer
.”

The sound of his name on her lips was the final devastating blow to his control. Releasing her wrist, he tangled his fingers in her hair and hauled her in for a hungry, consuming kiss.

Chapter Nine

Head spinning, Avily clutched Jerrick tight, the ferocity of his kisses dissolving her into a boneless puddle of goo in his lap. She’d waited a lifetime to experience this level of abandon with him. In the back of her mind, she’d prayed that bold bit of naughtiness would crack his defenses, but
this
? It was more than she’d dared dream.

Hooking her legs around his waist, he pushed up from the couch and carried her to the bedroom. Lowering her onto the quilt, he stretched over her, his mouth hot and insatiable upon hers. He dipped lower, his lips nuzzling her neck while his gliding caresses along her upper thighs contributed to the constant shivers of pleasure purling through her. She’d primed herself beyond the point of no return with her little stroke session in the living room. His slightest touch threatened to topple her over the edge.

“Do you have any idea how insane you drove me out there?” His warm breath peppered her skin, a precursor to the erotic rasp of his beard scruff over the hills of her breasts. He kissed his way to the deep V of her cleavage, and she twined her fingers in his hair.

“Hmm, maybe
I’m
the one who deserves the spanking then.”

“Something tells me you’d enjoy it too much.” His smoky chuckle an additional torment to her quivering nerve endings, Jerrick slipped his hands underneath her and deftly loosened the dress’s upper ties before rucking the top down. He stared at her breasts for a long moment, the heat in his eyes blistering in its intensity. “I was right. Your nipples
are
the same gorgeous blush as your cheeks.” His groan leaking free, he brushed his lips over the puckered peak before sucking it into the luscious heat of his mouth.

She shivered and moaned, the feel of his tongue working her an indescribable ecstasy. “You’ve wondered about the color of my nipples?”

“Amongst other parts of you.”

Well damn. If she’d known that, she would have set about appeasing his curiosity ages ago.

Each wet whorl of his tongue set off a chain reaction in her body. The sensation tingled through her nipples, zipped through her belly and spread liquid fire down to her core. Her clit ached and throbbed, desperate for friction.

As if he’d read her body like a manual, Jerrick aligned his hips with hers and rocked against her hot, needy center. Every rasp, drag and grind of his hardness into her softer flesh sprang a gasp from her, but her wanton noises only seemed to spur him on, triggering a wild, ravenous side of him that thrilled her.

Here was the Jerrick who invaded her dark and decadent nighttime fantasies. The primal lover capable of conquering her body with the simplest touch.

He reclaimed her mouth, his teeth scraping over her bottom lip. “Avi, gods, what you do to me.” He tunneled his fingers through her hair and sucked on her tongue, his devouring kisses pushing her to the edge of reason. She dangled on the precipice, no safety net in sight.

But did she want to be saved from this encompassing pleasure?

No freakin’ way.

Clamping her hands on that firm, gorgeous ass of his, she squeezed and tugged him closer. Rolling her hips, she met him stroke for stroke and reveled in the husky groan that vibrated through his chest. He pinned her beneath his weight and trailed hot kisses along the slope of her neck. Coasting lower, he pushed the dress’s bust completely free of her breasts and worshipped her nipples again, his tongue an unrelenting supplier of toe-curling ecstasy.

She squirmed and panted, earning his devilish grin.

“Sensitive indeed. Shall we explore those other erogenous zones now?”

If he didn’t, she’d damn well clobber him upside the head. She told him as much, and he graced her with another of those low, smoky chuckles that drove her crazy before sliding down her body, taking her dress with him. He tossed the garment aside, his playful nip to her abdomen a sinful prelude to his tongue rimming her bellybutton.

She wiggled, frantic murmurs fighting their way past her lips. “Jer,
please
.”

His gaze burned with an inner fire. “You beg so prettily. I could grow addicted to it.”

“Could you grow addicted to it
after
you put your mouth on me?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “But I’ve had my mouth all over you.”

“It hasn’t been
every
where.”

His eyes sparkled. “Did you have a particular destination in mind?”

“You damn well know I do, you son of a bitch.”

“I do adore your flowery endearments for me.”

“Then you should hear the doozies I’m currently assembling.”

His finger flirted with the lace edging on her panties. “Where do you want my mouth next, Avi? Your wish is my command. You only have to give voice to it.”

“B-between my legs.”

“You can do better than that.”

Her chest hitched with an uneven breath. “Good girls don’t resort to coarse terms.”

“But is it coarse? I happen to think it’s a perfectly delightful word for such a beautiful part of your body.”

“Pussy is
not
a delightful word, Jer!”

The subtle shaking of his shoulders was her first clue to his nefarious deed. She’d played right into his hands, the rotten rat bastard.

“See, was that so terrible?”

“Not nearly as much as you are.” She attempted to knee him in the side of his head, but he grabbed her thigh and held her down. When she tried the maneuver with her other knee, he imprisoned that leg too and nuzzled her lace-covered mound, the unabashed pleasure on his face contributing to her lightheadedness. The sensation intensified a thousandfold when he pulled aside the crotch of her panties and slowly licked her from the base of her slit all the way to the top. Before she could recover from that mind-blowing action, he coaxed the protective hood of her clit back with his thumb and caressed the bundle of nerves with the tip of his tongue. Lap. Swirl. Suck. He kept his gaze pinned to hers the entire time his mouth had its wicked way with her, the smokiness in his irises punching straight through her equilibrium.

A breathless moan snared in her throat, and she strained against his unyielding hold. “
Jer.
”

“I want you to scream my name when you come this first time.”

“And the second time?” she couldn’t resist egging.

“You bloody well won’t have any oxygen left for that round.”

Undoubtedly right, the braggart. He reinforced his deserved arrogance by latching firmly on to her clit and tormenting it with a series of lazy, sucking pulses that made her hips jerk. His tongue was soft, wet, and oh-so-unbelievably fantastic, she almost couldn’t stand it. Her muscles pulled tight, her limbs trembling. Being completely at his mercy, helpless to move under his strong grip, only added a sinful thrill to everything. Then there was the sight of his head bobbing between her legs, his whiskered jaw tickling the insides of her thighs…

It was all too much.

The orgasm ripped into her, frying through her nerves. She gripped his broad, muscled shoulders, her back bowing off the bed, his name a keening wail as her body shook uncontrollably and her eyes rolled back in her head. He continued lapping at her, his diligent, demanding tongue intensifying everything. Colors and radiant sparkles shimmered in her vision. Not fae sex magic, but the byproduct of his glorious devotion to her pleasure and the love set to burst from her heart.

It was intense. Scary and exhilarating. She never wanted it to end, even while she feared there’d be no pieces of herself left to put back together once it was over.

Jerrick continued to stroke her through the warm glow of aftershocks, and she murmured in contented bliss, her pulse slowly leveling to normal. The pad of his finger ghosted from her clit, trailed along the wetness of her labia before breaching her slick entrance. She instinctively winced at the invasion.

A low hiss escaped Jerrick. “So bloody tight.” He thrust deeper—as far as her hymen would let him—and he froze, every muscle in his body tensing. With excruciating slowness, he lifted his gaze to hers. “For the love of gods, please tell me you’re not still a virgin.”

She looked into his agonized eyes and knew without a shadow of a doubt that history was about to repeat itself. And once again, her damn virginity was to blame.

“When the hell were you planning to tell me?
After
I divested you of it?” A jackhammer sledging away at his temples, Jerrick jerked to a sitting position and ran a shaky hand down his face. Avi’s intoxicating essence clung to his skin and flavored his tongue, a wicked opponent to his frayed restraint.

Dear gods. He’d come dangerously close to sinking himself inside her. If it’d been his cock instead of his finger, they’d be bound to each other right now. What a fucking nightmare that would have been. Particularly for her.

“It wasn’t like I was deliberately keeping it from you. It just never came up.”

“You had at least a dozen opportunities in the last twenty minutes alone, Avi.”

“Oh yeah. Because screaming
I’m a virgin
at the top of my lungs while coming my brains out would be such a natural thing to do.”

“Damn it. Don’t make light of this. Do you have any idea the trouble this nearly caused?”

Apparently that was precisely the wrong thing to say.

She scrambled backward, her expression incendiary while she struggled into her dress. “I advise not saying another word to me. Not unless you’re looking forward to my foot up your ass.”

He wasn’t. Still, he couldn’t let her go off halfcocked and angry without explaining himself. “If I’d taken your virginity—”

“We’d be stuck with each other for life. Blah blah blah. Yes, I already know the spiel. Save your damn breath.”

“I’m doing you a favor, Avi. Why can’t that get through your stubborn skull? This isn’t a rejection of you.”

“Really? Because that’s
exactly
what it feels like from where I’m sitting.” Her eyes filled, the tenacious tears clinging to her lashes. “Did it occur to you that I love you despite all the baggage you bring along with you? All I’ve ever wanted is you. And you continuously break my heart.”

An unforgiving vise cinched his chest. She’d never come out and used the word love with him, but deep inside, he’d suspected what she felt went beyond a childhood crush. He ached to give her what she longed for, but his conscience refused to cave to the desire in his heart.

Love was an emotion that inevitably faded. Her life, all of the things she’d struggled to overcome and the new existence she’d ultimately built for herself, those were everlasting. He’d sooner die than see her lose any of it. And if she were with him, he’d only drag her back into the dark, seedy mire of a thief’s world. He had to protect her from that. From
him
.

He slumped on the edge of the bed, the weight of his actions a crushing force. He’d been the biggest fool to think this would work. There was no way in hell he could pull off this charade
and
keep his hands off her in the process. “I should never have involved you in any of this.” He dragged a hand through his hair, weary regret an anchor in his chest. “I’ll find another way to get inside the club.” Without Avi’s assistance, it would be damn difficult, but he couldn’t risk blowing this job by bringing her into something that was clearly out of her element.