“You want action?” His eyebrow shot up, his face darkly sensual.
Maia arched up to press her aching breasts against his chest, to rub the tips of her nipples across his skin while her teeth nipped at his chin. “I’m on fire here.”
He felt it then, a wild rush of excitement coursing hotly through his body. She tightened every muscle, brought every nerve ending alive. He wanted to pound into her, drive so deep she could never get him out. Brand her. At once he stiffened. Pulled away from her, sitting up on the bed and wiping his face.
Maia sat up, her arms sliding around his waist. “What is it?”
He shook his head. “You shouldn’t be here with me. The things I think about are wrong. There’s too much violence in me. I don’t want you to get hurt, Maia, not you.”
“Do I look fragile to you? I want you just the way you are, Cole. I know what you are and who you are. You just have to figure out I’m quite capable of handling anything you can throw my way. You think you’re rough with me, but you’re not. You’re strong, and the way your body is so frantic for mine only makes me want you more.”
“Do you think I don’t see the bruises on your skin from my gripping you too tight? Dammit, Maia, I thought I could find some way to be normal with you.”
She laughed. “That’s just silly. I have bruises every day from the work I do. I’d rather you put them there when you’re giving me so much pleasure you’re driving me out of my mind.”
He should have known she would laugh. He turned his head and met her eyes. Desire, hot and intense and filled with some emotion he shied away from trying to identify. He couldn’t stop himself from having her, not when she was so hungry for him. Cole spread her across the bed, coming down on top of her, his hands sliding over silken skin as his mouth settled over hers.
Her thighs tightened and she shifted her hips, aligning her body more perfectly to rub against him in temptation, a siren’s call. His palm stroked over her breast, captured it to roll her nipple between his thumb and finger. Her breath caught in her throat, and she arched back, open to him, wanting him. His mouth left hers at the invitation, and he kissed his way over the creamy mound to settle there, fingers stroking and massaging while she cried out, unable to prevent the sound of pleasure from escaping.
“I need you, Maia,” he whispered softly.
Maia trembled, shuddering with arousal, lifting herself almost desperately into his mouth. “I need you too.” Her hands skimmed over his back, caught at his hips to guide him into her.
His knee nudged her thighs wider apart so that he could easily settle there, pushing into her slowly, penetrating with a deep, long stroke that pushed through velvet-soft petals, forcing her tight muscles to open for him. Immediately he was bathed in tight, hot-silken heat. The breath left his body in a rush, and fire streaked from his toes to the top of his head. She did that. Maia. She did things with her body he still couldn’t comprehend.
His hands pinned her hips, holding her firmly, giving him the ability to set the pace and control the ride. He needed that, needed to allow his own driving violence to well up slowly, to mingle with the passion and emotion he felt for her. He began to move harder, deeper, until he was plunging into her over and over as her breathless cries urged him on. Her fingers biting into his buttocks nearly drove him wild. He held on to his sanity as long as he could, pushing her higher and higher, holding off her release until she was writhing beneath him, every bit as desperate as he felt.
When it came, their release was shattering, her body gripping his so tight he thought he’d explode as they came together. They stared into one another’s eyes for a long time, then he was kissing her over and over, greedy for the taste of her, needing her sweetness, afraid of saying or not saying the right words to her.
He held her to him, his hand stroking through her hair, aching to say something, anything to make her feel what he was feeling. “Maia?” His heart pounded in a kind of terror. His mouth went dry.
She turned her head and smiled at him. “I’m here.”
Her smile always affected him. He dreamt of her smile now. Just as he dreamt of her body open and soft for him, a haven, a refuge he never wanted to give up.