Set the Dark on Fire (13 page)

Qué horror!
Why had she said that? “You don’t want to hear—”

“I do,” he said, wrapping his hand around the neck of her guitar. “Please.”

Reluctant to deny him, after he’d just shared that painful memory of his mother, she reached into her desk drawer and found a crumpled piece of notebook paper. She knew the words by heart, but it comforted her to have something to look at besides Dylan’s too interested, too earnest face.

Although she found Spanish easier to work with, and much more pleasing to the ear, “Deserted” was in English. The words just came to her that way, raw and edgy and unromantic. The harsher sound fit the dark subject matter, but her raspy voice softened it, made something layered and lovely out of the twisted, often ugly emotions inside her.

After the song ended, she flattened her palm over the strings of her guitar, silencing it, and glanced sideways at him, awaiting his reaction.

“You wrote that?” he asked, sounding impressed. “You should record it. Send it in to a radio station or something.”

She laughed, shaking her head.

“I mean it,” he insisted, grabbing the paper from the desk. “That part about the desert sky at night was awesome—”

Panicking, Angel tried to take the lyrics back, but he moved them out of her reach. “Don’t read that,” she warned, shoving her guitar back in the case hurriedly so she could attack him with both hands.

Thinking it was a game, and obviously enjoying the wrestling match, he stood and held the paper over his head. When he got a glimpse of the words on the page, he started laughing. “Do you write in code? This is indecipherable.”

Shaken and humiliated, she let her hands fall away. It was too late.

Unlike her, Dylan was no dummy. The smile slipped off his face. “Oh,” he said. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

“It’s okay, Dylan. I know I’m stupid.”

“You are
not
stupid,” he said, his brows slashing downward. “These lyrics are brilliant. You just need a little help with … spelling.”

She tore the paper from his hands and shoved it in the desk drawer. What an awful joke she was. A songwriter who could barely write. Trying to prevent him from seeing the tears that were building in her eyes, threatening to spill down her face, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked down at the ground, blinking rapidly.

“You’re not stupid,” he repeated. “I go to high school, so I know stupid. You’re twice as articulate as the kids there.”

Sniffling, she swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“It means that you express yourself well,” he said, reaching out to put his hand on her upper arm. Her skin prickled with sensation, and when she looked up at him in confusion, his gaze cruised over her face like a caress. “It’s a talent I can appreciate, because sometimes my tongue is as clumsy as my feet. Especially around you.”

She stared back at him, moistening her lips. “Not always,” she whispered.

Although she meant those words in a nonsexual way, his eyes darkened, and she knew the direction his mind went. And when he stepped forward, she knew the direction his mouth was going. Her palms flattened against his chest to ward him off, but when he touched his lips to hers, she stopped thinking about what she
should
do and starting doing what she wanted to do.

He didn’t ease into the kiss slowly, like she’d taught him. Instead, he jumped straight into a full-on, open-mouthed, tongue-stroking kiss.

It was kind of scary how good it was, considering his lack of experience.

She stood on her tiptoes and threaded her hands through his hair, plastering her body to his and kissing him back with matching enthusiasm. Her breasts crushed against his chest and he made this sound, low in his throat, like a wounded animal. Before she knew it, her back was against the wall and his hands were on her butt, lifting her to him.

Uh-oh. This was happening way too fast. This wasn’t supposed to be happening at all. “Wait,” she gasped, tearing her mouth from his. “Stop.”

“Sorry,” he said, breathing heavily. “I’ll go slower.”

She knew he would promise anything to keep her in this position. Or to get her into an even more compromising one. “No,” she said firmly, pushing at his chest. “I can’t.”

He let her down with a strangled groan.

“I can’t see you anymore.”

He gaped at her incredulously. She stared back at him in silence, her heart pounding, every muscle in her body taut with tension. When he saw that she was serious, his jaw hardened and the hot look in his eyes cooled. “Don’t act like you didn’t want me to kiss you,” he said. “I’m not Travis. Or Chad.”

His insinuation that she was a tease stung, but it strengthened her resolve. “I want a lot of things. That doesn’t mean I should let you do me against the wall.”

“I wasn’t going to do you!” he sputtered. “You can tell me to stop anytime.”

She regarded him with skepticism. “You want sex.”

“So? I didn’t think I was going to get it.”

He was probably telling the truth, but it didn’t matter. “I’m sorry,” she said, opening her bedroom door and letting in the cool night air. A coyote howled in the near-distance, its plaintive cry sending a shiver down her spine. “Good-bye.”

After he left, she wanted to lie down on her bed and indulge in a good, long cry. Instead, she took the bus schedules out of her desk drawer and studied them, wishing the idea of leaving didn’t tear her apart inside.

12

In the dark, she was running. Behind her, she could hear labored breathing. Heavy footfalls and the rustle of tall grass
.

The hanging tree loomed before her, dark branches against moonlit sky. She knew she was running toward it. But what was chasing her? A lion wouldn’t have made a sound
.

Fire exploded before her eyes like a cloudburst, illuminating the scene. On the ground in front of her, Hamlet crouched, mouth wet with blood
.

She stopped and blinked and he was gone
.

Everything was gone
.

She stood alone in the quiet dark at the Graveyard, hands clenched at her sides, searching for her pursuer. She looked behind her warily. There was no one there
.

A strange sound, one that was oddly familiar, whispered from above. The creak of wood. Swaying weight on a taut length of rope
.

Fear crept up her spine, making the little hairs on the nape of her neck stand on end. Slowly, very slowly, she turned around
.

Mama was there. Swinging. Her chin was down, tucked into her chest, a fall of wavy hair hiding her face
.

Shay cried out, clapping her hand over her mouth
.

Mama’s head snapped up. Her eyes were wide open, dark as wine. “Don’t look back,” she said, lifting one slender white arm to point
.

Of course, she looked. And saw only the glint of metal as she was struck
.

She woke up, gasping for air, clutching the blanket to her throat. The ground was hard and her surroundings strange. The dark shape of a man wavered into focus. Instinctively, she covered her head and screamed.

“What is it?” Luke asked, taking her hands away from her face.

Shay stared up at him in blurry-eyed confusion. The fire had burned down low, but she could see him, all hard lines and sharp angles. She could feel him, rock solid and just as cold. “I had a nightmare,” she said, moistening her lips.

“What about?”

“I don’t remember.”

He released her hands but didn’t move away.

“You’re freezing,” she murmured, touching his shoulders. They were as if sculpted from ice. “Why didn’t you get under the blanket with me?”

Every part of his body tensed further, including his mouth. He said nothing.

Shay pushed off the blanket and came to her feet, shivering as she added the last logs and the remaining palm fronds to the fire. It sparked up, blazing bright for a few moments then settling into a slow burn.

Luke watched her, motionless.

Already chilled, she returned to her place on the blanket. Not asking or inviting, she just pulled him close and covered both of them, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face to his chest, trying to generate body heat.

“My knee,” she whispered after a moment. “It would feel better if I, um, elevated it.”

Without a word, he insinuated his leg between hers, lifting her knee over his hip and fitting into the notch of her thighs as naturally as any man had ever fit against a woman.

Shay shivered again, but not from the cold.

As the time passed, it became obvious that neither of them was suffering from the effects of the cold any longer. With the fire at his back, and her at his front, Luke warmed up nicely. His skin felt like heated marble beneath her palms. The night wind rustled through the palm trees and the burning logs crackled, and, under the blanket, things got downright toasty.

She was as close to him as a lover, and her body knew it. With her leg resting on his hip, her breasts touching his chest, and her arms around his neck, it was an explicit embrace. His hard thigh was snuggled right up to her crotch. Her lips were just inches from the pulse point in his throat. Through half-lidded eyes, she watched it throb.

He smelled smoky and musky and hot. Her mouth watered to taste him.

The remnants of her nightmare faded away, unable to compete with the sensory overload she was experiencing here and now. Her body swelled with longing and her skin tingled for his touch. On some level, she knew he wanted nothing to do with her emotionally. He didn’t even want to desire her physically. He seemed to think she was beneath him.

In that moment, it was exactly where she wanted to be.

Trembling, she leaned forward and placed her open mouth on his neck, touching her tongue to that pulsing vein, tasting the evidence of his desire. He drew in a sharp breath and tightened his hand around her upper arm, pushing her back.

At first she thought he was going to get up and leave her. She didn’t have to look down to know he was aroused; she could feel the heat of him, see the proof in his glittering eyes and taut face. But unlike other men of her acquaintance, he didn’t let his body govern his actions, and he’d walked away from her sporting an erection before.

She wasn’t sure why he stayed, but when he threw back the blanket and feasted his eyes on her near-naked form, she knew he wasn’t going to walk away. With the absence of his warmth and the rush of cool night air, she was aware of every inch of her skin, every part of her body. Her bra and underwear weren’t quite dry, and neither were his wool-blend pants. She could feel the damp heat against her inner thigh.

His gaze raked over her like a caress.

She was conscious of his eyes on her mouth and her barely covered breasts, the slight curve of her tummy and not-so-slight curve of her hips. As always, her stiff nipples were tenting the thin cotton of her bra, begging for his touch. It was kind of embarrassing how prominent they were, considering the size of her breasts.

“Do your nipples ever relax?” he rasped, staring at them.

She moistened her lips, tasting the salt of his skin there. “Um … yes.”

“When?”

“I’ll let you know.”

He smoothed his palm over the dip of her waist, and her entire body flexed. She clenched her hands into fists, fighting the urge to tilt her hips forward and ride his thigh. Avoiding her straining nipples, he traced the upper edge of her bra with his fingertip and paused at the tiny clasp between her breasts. Instead of releasing it, he moved on, dragging his thumb down her middle, burning a hot trail all the way to the front of her panties. When he reached the apex of her thighs, his eyes met hers, and her tummy jumped.

He may not have recognized a yoni when he saw one, but he knew his way around the real thing well enough. His fingertips grazed the plump lips of her sex and slid along the crease. She was so swollen and sensitive, if he used any more pressure, she would come.

And he hadn’t even kissed her.

Shay realized she was lying there, acquiescent, letting him call the shots. She was enjoying what he was doing, of course, but she’d never been shy about being an active participant in sex. Stranger still, she didn’t want foreplay She wanted his tongue in her mouth and his body over hers. She wanted his penetration, his climax, his control.

With trembling hands, she reached up and undid the front clasp of her bra, exposing her breasts. His eyes darkened in the flickering light, but she wasn’t done. Hooking her thumbs in the waistband of her panties, she pushed them down her hips and off her legs, moving carefully over her bandaged knee.

He swallowed convulsively, drinking in the sight of her naked body and appearing far from unaffected by the view. When she propped her knee back up on his hip, his eyes widened and his nostrils flared. He wrapped his hands around her waist and dipped his head to sample the wares, but she flattened her palms against his chest, denying him.

He frowned, disliking the shift in power.

Using a light touch, she raked her nails down his belly. His stomach muscles tightened and his jaw clenched. With one hand, she went to work on his belt buckle, anticipating his reaction.

Sure enough, he clamped his fingers around her wrist. “Not yet.”

Ignoring his protest, she slid her other hand along the length of his arousal. His eyes lost focus and his grip went slack. Smiling at the predictable male weakness, she unzipped his fly and reached inside, finding only him.

Luke Meza was going commando? Sometime during the night, he must have laid his shorts out to dry.

He hissed out a breath as she wrapped her fingers around the heat of his erection, and she was unable to stifle her own tiny gasp. He felt … very impressive.

He looked down at himself in her hand, and she looked, too, experiencing a hot thrill at the thought of him inside her. His body was so beautiful, so rock hard and marble smooth, she wanted to lick every inch of him. In lieu of that, she wet the pad of her thumb and brushed it over the tip of his penis, making his body jerk, shocking him with her audacity.

She shocked herself, too. Active participant or not, it had never occurred to her to do anything like that before.

Groaning, he pulled her hands away from his groin and pushed them over her head, trapping her wrists as he lowered his mouth to hers. This kiss was nothing like the whisper-soft caress they’d shared before. It was a total possession.

He didn’t linger on the seam of her lips, or take it slow and easy, or maintain a polite distance. He thrust his tongue inside her mouth and pinned her underneath him, rocking his hips against hers. Sparks of pleasure shot through her. She kissed him back with equal fervor, making urgent sounds in the back of her throat and curling her tongue around his.

His mouth was hot and his sex was hard and she was wet. The ridge of his erection slid up and down along her slippery cleft, creating a delicious friction. It was so good she almost couldn’t stand it. At the same time, she wanted more. She wanted everything. She squirmed, trying to free her hands from his hold so she could take what she needed.

He lifted his head and stared down at her, breathing hard. “I don’t have a condom.”

Those words should have brought the progress to a grinding halt. In some corner of her mind, she knew this was madness. And yet, if he didn’t come into her now, she would die. “I don’t care,” she heard herself say.

It was all the encouragement he needed. He shifted, releasing her wrists and positioning the blunt head of his erection at her body’s opening. Panting, she splayed her hands over his shoulders and spread her legs wide, urging him on.

He pushed forward, using none of the delicacy he’d employed during their first kiss. Even so, the quick flash of pain startled her, because she was more than ready.

He stopped, feeling her tense. “Is it your knee?”

Knee? What knee? She bit down on her lower lip and shook her head.

Frowning, he moved his right hand down to her injured knee, lifting it higher. She felt him slide into her deeper and moaned. The muscles in his back bunched beneath her palms. He stroked his way back up her thigh, making her body twitch with pleasure, and settled his mouth on her left breast. He flicked his tongue over one aching nipple, then the other, leaving them both rosy and wet.

Shay gasped at the contrast between his hot mouth and the cool air, feeling as though she might fly apart. Moisture pooled between her legs, easing his way. With a low growl, he lifted his head and pushed forward again, filling her completely.

From there on out, separating one exquisite sensation from another became an impossible task. Every thrust made her moan, every drag made her shudder. Coherent thought was beyond her, but she did realize it had never been like this for her before. She’d always preferred kissing and touching to actual intercourse. What Luke was doing to her blew every other encounter she’d had out of the water.

Another wave of pleasure crashed over her, promising the ultimate rapture. She clung to his shoulders, scarcely able to believe how good it felt.

His body froze and he pulled back, trying to move away from her.

Sobbing a protest, she tightened her legs around him and sank her fingernails into his back, straining for completion. He couldn’t leave her now, she was so close, and it had never happened this way for her before …

She cried out, falling over the edge. Her legs quivered and her back arched and her inner muscles squeezed him hard. He buried his face in her neck and groaned, his entire body quaking with the power of his own release.

Her very first thought, after the sensual fog lifted, was …

Oops
.

Luke’s initial reaction wasn’t panic, but smug male satisfaction; his first instinct, not to flee, but to sleep.

He’d committed the stupidest, most irresponsible act of his life, and he wanted nothing more than to fall upon her and snore. If she hadn’t tapped on his shoulder and told him to get off her, he would have done just that.

More clearheaded than he was, she left the cave to relieve herself. Like a horny, lunkheaded fool, he watched her go, admiring her shapely bottom as she disappeared into the moonlight and experiencing a second, equally idiotic reaction: renewed arousal. With his pants pushed down his thighs, he was aware of the night air on his rapidly cooling, still-damp body. His cock sprang up hard, ready to get warm again.

Then he heard her splashing water in the dark, washing away his semen, and reality came crashing down around him.