“Do you have any idea how good you feel in my arms?” he asked her as he strode quickly up the stairs into the suite he claimed as his own.
He kicked the door closed behind him, but didn’t make it to the bedroom. He collapsed on the couch, his arms still firm and hard around her as he lowered his head, his lips covering hers demandingly.
Roni wasn’t willing to just be a participant this time. She had faced death earlier. Had faced the knowledge that at any moment, she or Taber could cease to exist. She wasn’t willing to fight the needs clamoring in her body any longer. Or those in her heart.
She rose in his arms, ignoring his little growl of warning until she was straddling him, staring into his surprised gaze.
“Mine!” Her whisper, despite its softness, resonated with the sense of possessiveness and power filling her now.
His eyes flared. The jade-green color darkening, the pupils expanding as her fingers went to the buttons of his bloodstained shirt. The cotton, though she was sure it was soft enough, rasped her palms as she smoothed it across his shoulders then down to the first button. It slipped free easily.
“Roni.” He swallowed tightly, emotion echoing thick and intense through his hoarse voice.
“You marked me,” she told him softly, determined. “But you didn’t mark me the day you placed your mouth on my neck, Taber. You marked me when I was eleven years old and you carried me to safety.
When I was sixteen and you arranged my first birthday party. When you placed that little, all too innocent kiss against my lips. You marked me a little more every time I saw you, every time you touched me.
Now, I’m going to mark you.”
She smoothed his shirt back from his chest, over his broad shoulders, and laid her mouth at the point where his shoulder and neck met. There, in the thick, pulsing muscle, she bit him. Not enough to draw blood, just enough that his body tightened, his hips arching and grinding his cock into the cradle of her thighs as his hands gripped her hips with bruising strength.
She bit down, laved the area she held in her grip with her tongue, suckled it deeply, repeated the erotic, sexually charged caress he had given her so many months ago. The effect on him was no different than it had been for her, it seemed.
He tore the shirt from her back as her attention stayed on the tight flesh she caressed with a force that would vary between pain and pleasure. He shredded the cloth then pulled it from her body before his fingers moved to her snug jeans.
“Take them off.” His voice was feral, rumbling, as he pushed the material over her hips, midway over the curve of her buttocks.
Roni murmured a soft sound of pleasure as his hands pushed beneath the jeans, cupping her rounded flesh, his fingers flexing against the firm muscle as he moved her roughly against his jeans-covered cock.
She wasn’t in a hurry, and she had no intention of allowing him to rush her. She needed to touch him, to taste him, to know he was safe and in her arms and that this wasn’t just another desperate dream.
“You’re killing me.” He was panting for breath now, his head tilted to the side, giving her complete access to the strong line of his throat.
Roni realized she had never felt as confident or strong, sexually, as she did at that moment. He was helpless beneath her touch. Rough groans vibrated from his throat, every muscle tense, his erection grinding desperately against the cloth that shielded her hot, damp pussy.
Her nails raked over his chest, the corded planes of his abdomen, then back to his tight, hard male nipples. When she was satisfied she had left at least a small mark on his tough skin, she released the flesh she held, then ran her tongue slowly along his neck. She nipped him lightly under the hard line of his jaw, then licked her way down his throat, feeling the flexing of his skin as he swallowed tightly.
“I love your taste.” She moved back from the erotic, mind-destroying movements of his cock pressing into her sex. “So wild and untamed. Can I tame you, Taber?” A short, sharp laugh, devoid of humor, was an exclamation of primal lust as he fought to answer her.
“You already have. Years ago.”
“Mmm. My own wildcat. Can I stroke you? Or will you devour me before I can show you all the ways I’ve dreamed of pleasing you?”
His eyes were heavy-lidded, glowing with such a staggering heat it warmed every corner of her soul. For now, this small place in time, nothing or no one existed in Taber’s world but her. She nearly climaxed from the heady knowledge that she held such power over him.
“Show me,” he whispered, though his voice was as tormented as any man’s could be.
She gave him a slow, deliberately provocative smile as she gazed at him from beneath lowered lids.
Watching him carefully, challengingly, she rose slowly from his lap, ignoring the bestial sound of protest he made.
“Stay there,” she told him softly as he moved to stand as well.
Taber leaned back against the couch as she instructed, but she could see his muscles flexing, everything inside him demanding that he take her now.
“Oh, so controlled,” she murmured, pleased. “I wonder how long you can hold onto all that power.”
“Not long.” His fists were clenched at his sides as his gaze followed her hands.