And that was why she’d been bad.
Well, there had been other reasons, she reassured herself. While she couldn’t say logical thinking had returned to her last night, awareness had definitely increased at a far more rapid rate than she’d let on to her rescuers. No joke intended, of course. It had all been oblivion until she’d become aware that she was being stripped butt-naked by Hunter. Well, almost butt-naked. He had chickened out somewhere around the bra and panties, much to her never-ending gratitude. Disappointment. Whatever.
She’d been mortified as she’d waited for him to finish, paralyzed with indecision. When she realized he expected her to be brain-fried, she had taken it happily as the perfect out. She’d pretend to be oblivious, and he’d be too much a gentleman to ever bring it up. It would all end swimmingly.
A good plan. Saved face all around. Everyone was happy.
Until he’d held her close and slid that shirt on. Then she’d gotten a lungful of earthy male warmth so delicious she could taste it. She’d been unable to resist a nuzzle, feigning innocence and taking blatant advantage. It had snowballed from there. In a blink she was all over him, barely able to resist the urge to lick him to death. He’d felt so good, so strong; his warm skin so smooth over fabulous muscular contours.
He’d saved her life. Somehow, that was the ultimate turn-on. She’d been crazy with the urge to bury herself in his vitality and heat. She’d also felt his attempts to repress his own reactions toward her. It made her insides do little happy dances to the tune of feminine superiority. She felt twinges of guilt, of course. However, she also reminded herself that he was getting off on a supposedly senseless girl, so she shouldn’t feel all that bad.
Tatyana also had to claim a measure of honest insanity. She’d done some outrageous things in her lifetime, not the least of which had been in the past twelve hours, but where Hunter Finn was concerned she’d apparently lost all impulse control. Dragging him into bed with her? Suffocating him with a full-on body hug hadn’t even been a coherent plan in her head. One minute she was getting the shocking thrill of a lifetime when she’d caught him stripping to full masculine glory, and boy did she mean full, and then before she knew what was happening she was wrapped completely around him and falling into a contented sleep.
My, oh my, but he was magnificent when naked, she recalled with a sly smile curling her lips at one corner. She’d gotten plenty of visual cues through his clothes as to his physical fitness, not to mention feeling it up close during the night’s ordeal, but she’d had no idea a man could look finer without his designer clothing than he did with it. He was awesomely healthy, his muscles sculpted and lean without being obnoxious. The sinewy lines of his body flowed so perfectly. From broad shoulders to a sturdy spine, to a trim waist and hips and a muscular backside with a perfect flow into his rock-steady thighs. A flat belly with washboard definition, and the ultimate prize below it. She shivered happily with the memory. Mainly because, in spite of the freezing wet of his recently shed clothing, he’d been partially aroused. That had tickled her female ego silly. Not to mention some frank appreciation for the gifts bestowed on Hunter by his maker.
Who says craftsmanship is a lost art?
Too bad she hadn’t had the guts to out-and-out kiss him.
Oh, she was probably suffering from post-traumatic something-or-other just because she was thinking such an insane thing, but she’d really wanted to know what his mouth felt like. Frankly, it was her opinion that he would suck in the kissing department. He had to. The law of averages demanded it. So far he scored off the charts on looks, charm, personality, natural tenderness, intelligence and ... and special interests.
Tatyana went dreamy all over as she remembered once again the size of his ‘special interests.’ No one could have all of that going for him and be a great kisser besides. If he was a great kisser, then that could only mean he sucked at one other thing ... and after seeing him naked and only partly aroused, Tatyana thought he’d have to work really, really hard in order to suck at sex. Not everything about Hunter Finn could be ...
Magic.
Abruptly, she tried the word out in her mind, wincing slightly.
She couldn’t have been dreaming. Flying. Fireballs. Lightning. The Big Bad Wolf. Or whatever that guy Braen was. She shuddered at the memory of his malevolence and how palpable it had been. Worse, she remembered what it felt like. Putting aside the sheer pain of when she had been struck by that black lightning, she’d also felt a revolting contamination. It had felt physically filthier than when she’d been encompassed in mud and under fireball siege. Spiritually, it had been much worse. Most of the feeling had been purged by Annali’s brews, but part of it still remained. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make her shiver violently.
And with that, brilliant cobalt eyes flicked open and looked into hers.
Tatyana’s breath jammed up in her throat as she stared at Hunter. What was it about those riveting eyes that tossed her off balance? It was like being buffeted by a staggering storm, its highly charged ionic atmosphere piercing her from all sides.
Apparently her impulse control was still a little iffy, because she couldn’t resist reaching out to touch his face. She drew unsteady fingers over the dark arch of an eyebrow, sliding down to his temple and continuing on until she was traveling over his roughly shadowed jaw. He had such a remarkable face, such truly handsome features; they held her in thrall and disallowed the release of her captivated fingertips.
She felt his hand come up to close around her wrist, holding her snug in his palm for a long series of heartbeats. Then, in an elegant fashion, he turned her wrist up to the brush of his lips, pressing a lingering kiss to the inside pulse. It made her exhale with a wild reaction of pleasure, heat sparkling up her arm in small sunbursts of energy that skipped from nerve to nerve.
He turned his hand in such a way that she observed the angry slashes across the inside of his palm where he’d forced the bite of the dual-edged blade. A wave of sympathy compelled her to shift the position of their fingers, her hand now cradling his and drawing it up to her lips. Gently, with the weight of his fingers curling against her cheek, she touched her lips to the wound in the seat of his hand. She felt a fizzy sensation against her mouth when she contacted his skin, as though she had sipped extra bubbly champagne. She smiled, enjoying the pleasant, titillating sensation. She looked at him through her heavy lashes.
“I think this is the part when one of us says ‘We need to talk.’ Only, I’m not sure which of us should do it,” she remarked.
Hunter sat up suddenly, the expression of surprise on his face priceless. His hands came out of opposing directions and sank into her hair on either side of her head, holding her in a steady grip as he narrowed the distance between their faces to a six-inch space.
“That was one hell of a coherent sentence,” he noted frankly.
“Thank you,” she said with a bemused laugh, “I’m feeling extremely coherent.” Although, having Hunter in her personal space like this was playing havoc with her senses. She could smell that earthy warm scent of him again. His hands were hot in her hair, against her ears and cheeks.
“I’m so very glad to hear that,” he said huskily, his voice notching downward another octave. “That means you can understand me.”
“Well, yes—”
And just like that, a very fine pair of male lips swept down onto her own.
Tatyana could have made an effort at shocked sensibilities, but that would have been a huge hypocrisy considering she’d just been longing to kiss him. His mouth fell tenderly against hers, and Hunter spent several seconds adjusting her to the fit of his lips, taking that crucial step that made all the difference in the world between mere competency and superior finesse when it came to a kiss.
His lips were so warm and she felt as if she were melting against them. She sighed softly into his mouth with irrepressible satisfaction. She felt a smile against her lips, heard a low chuckle in his throat. Both quickly faded a
nd were replaced by an exponentially increasing zeal that took her breath away as he worked hungrily against her. Hunter’s bold mouth was everything amazing and sensual she’d hoped it would be. Intrepid and confident, his kiss was as adventurous as he was. Thrills of delight skittered up her cheeks, shivering into her mind and making sure all of her senses were paying full attention. Hunter’s fingers tightened in her hair, his hands rubbing through the silky strands with possessive captivation. Then, once he was certain he had her full interest, he swept his tongue past her parted lips.
The man tasted like clean rain and a delicious masculinity that made Tatyana voracious. Hunter fulfilled his every promise, his kiss quickening through her with a whiplash of igniting need. She couldn’t breathe as heat inundated her senses. Her hands had somehow found a home in his hair and she was blindly holding him to the kiss just as much as he was holding her.
Hunter had known it would be this fabulous to kiss her.
He was tromping all over his own good sense by doing this. On some level, he actually knew that. But this was a craving that had been clutching at him almost nonstop since she’d first wrapped herself around him in the conservatory last night. Now that she was coherent again, he had no shield of honor left to ward off the impulse. She was aware and willing and, blessed Lady, so enthusiastic.
Tatyana’s lips were so sweet and succulent, and she had a wicked sense of sensuality in her way of moving them. Her instinctively reaching and shifting body made both his mind and his body ache. His entire existence was strung taut with the fantasies a mouth like hers inspired. Hunter wanted the very essence of her flavor flowing over his tongue. Yes, he thought with an inner groan as Tatyana made an eager, appreciative sound that vibrated into his mouth, encouraging him deeper. It was as though she could read his mind, her sense of his intentions was so keen. An amazing turn-on; it sent desire ebbing and flowing through his spinning wits and pulsing blood, making his body respond with a singing arousal.
Tatyana felt him swiftly hauling her against himself, rolling her beneath the solid length of his body as his intensified kiss pressed her head down into the pillow. Dynamite explosions went off all over her body where her softness was suddenly melded to the astounding rock hardness of magnificent muscle. Her head spun as internal heat assaulted her from dozens of places at once, all of it reaching out eagerly to mingle with the extraordinary fire that was Hunter’s body heat. She swept her tongue against his, tangling with him until she heard him groan from the intensity of her need and curiosity. He tasted so good it was definitely going to be addicting. Dangerously addicting.
There was no doubt about it; Hunter Finn was a very hazardous man. Even if she hadn’t been witness to the events of the night before, she would have known it from his kiss. Hunter played for keeps, aggressive and blatant, letting it be known that he was not into games, not to be gainsaid, and definitely not wasting energy worrying about repercussions. The message was clear when she felt him move against her, shifting against her thighs and letting her feel how incredibly hard she had made him. This, he was saying, is how much I want you. This is all that matters between us right now.
“Mother Goddess,” he groaned as he slid deeper and deeper into her mouth, “how you kiss!”
There was something about her, but he couldn’t think to describe it while she was filling his senses like this. He could feel every curve of her body and each shift she made to settle them closer together. Hunter knew he was taking no prisoners, thinking of no limitations whatsoever when he probably should be, but he didn’t give a damn. And clearly, neither did she. Her hands were running down his back, their touch like a message from heaven as they slid over his shoulders and around his ribs with thorough curiosity. Her clinging fingers dipped into his sensitive sides, fingertips teasing his hip bones at their crests. His blood boiled in response, rushing loudly in his ears and weighting him with an erection that was excruciating as it throbbed against her. He felt dizzy, like everything was so magnified that his senses were on overload. Tatyana was just as affected, her wriggling body misted with perspiration and clinging harder and harder for contact.
“Touch me,” she begged, her voice a wild, panting string of words. “Hunter, please, please ...”
The chemistry between them was unbelievable. From the very beginning she had beckoned to him; aroused him even from a distance. Having Tatyana under him changed the entire landscape of their attraction. Everything that had been merely speculation the night before now appeared in the realm of the achievable.
“Tatyana ...” he rasped against her ear as his mouth found the pulse beneath it. “This is crazy,” he warned her raggedly, even as his hand slipped from her hair and swiftly roamed down the side of her throat. He felt the flannel collar of the shirt she wore and touched superheated skin when he hit the gaping neckline settled crookedly over the swell of her breast. It only took a quick turn of his wrist before his hand was cupping skin as smooth as cream, and a nipple was between his fingers. “Like this, Tatyana?” he demanded roughly as his fingers pinched and rolled the sensitive tip of her breast. She bucked, cried out. His mouth was back on hers; sucking her lips at the same time he was toying with her hardening nipple. “Tell me, angel.”
“Yes ... and more ...” she moaned, moving so restlessly against him that he threw back his head and let a coarse sound of need claw its way out from deep in his soul. The sound sang to her, so beautiful it was like a spell all on its own. Yes, that was it. He was magic. “God, Hunter,” she gasped, “put your mouth on me.”
They both reacted and reached to strip away the restriction of her shirt and bra until her generous breasts spilled free of satin and flannel. Hunter felt hunger for the taste of her spurring him hard. He didn’t even bother to introduce himself with any gentility. The possession of his mouth was rough and aggressive. He caught up one dusky nipple with his teeth, and then he sucked her deep. She threw back her head, arched up wildly, and cried out. The force of the movement of her body was erotic, shifting him even though he was much heavier than she was. Tatyana was settling down and drawing up her knees on either side of his hips, her thighs now bracketing him in a very tender trap.
Hunter went mad for all of ten seconds. It was the only way he could describe the blinding insanity of feeling that seared through him as his cock cuddled up nice and tight to her extremely hot core. His mind de-evolved a million years and became a screaming impulse factory. If he listened to it, he was going to be very, very deep inside this woman in a few heartbeats. Hadn’t this started out with just the intention of a kiss? Weren’t there extenuating issues that made this unwise? Hunter could hardly remember or even care. Tatyana was wrapping her legs around him invitingly, shifting her hips as she ran seeking hands over his buttocks. Drawing him closer. Rubbing their pelvises enticingly together.
“I’ve never felt anything like this before,” she uttered against his ear, her voice rough and sexy with arousal. “You feel glorious, Hunter...” Tatyana moaned as he shifted his hips in a deep stroke against her, rubbing her right through damp satin to stimulate her wildly. Her world was whirling as he repeated the movement, knowing exactly how to apply the right pressure over the right place. “Hunter!”
“Angel,” he gritted out between tight teeth. “I can’t ... this is ...” He couldn’t get the words out, not when she lay like a four-star banquet beneath him. He looked down into sultry, wicked eyes that made his head spin. Her hands were all over his body. “You’re ... we’re under an influence,” he told her hoarsely as her eager hands slid beneath the waistband of his sweatpants and sought the feel of his hard shaft. “Tatyana ...” he groaned as her fingers encircled him eagerly.
Before he knew it she had rolled him off of her body and was swinging herself over him, mounting him like an expert equestrienne, her hand stroking his length and closing around his impressive thickness.
“My, my, my,” she murmured as she gazed at him with appetite in her eyes, her tongue touching her upper lip in a
blatantly sexy contemplation that tore him apart. “You’re so big,” she marveled, “and so gorgeous.”
She followed up the compliment with a tribute of hands and fingers that made his hips buck up off the bed as he groaned with mindless pleasure. His entire being throbbed for release and she was dragging him closer and closer with every artful stroke. She had a skillful, exquisite touch that was so perfect in pressure and friction. Too perfect. Far too perfect.
“Tatyana! You have to stop!” he commanded her, reaching to grasp her industrious hands. Hunter was gasping for every breath, but she was pouting at him for spoiling her fun and he swore she had no idea as to the agony this was causing him. Hunter dragged her up his length by her captured wrists, wincing with every contact she made against his hypersensitive body. “Listen to me,” he rasped, trying to stay focused on why something that felt so good and so right was actually, somehow, a problem that needed to be sorted out. “We’re under an influence you don’t understand,” he explained hoarsely. “Please, believe me. I didn’t mean for this to happen...”
Tatyana looked down at him with openly curious eyes of the finest jade. She cocked her head to the side, licking her lush lips slowly as she contemplated him as she might contemplate a very rich dessert.
“Influence?” she asked, making him grateful that she was actually hearing him on some level.
“Last night, when we traded blood. I meant to explain. But you were ill and I fell asleep. Then this morning ... you looked so damned beautiful...” He trailed off, knowing in his soul it was a poor excuse. “I wanted to kiss you. I didn’t mean to take it so far.”