Taken by Darkness

Holding her gaze, he slid slowly downward. The rub of his skin against hers made her breath catch painfully in her throat.

His lips touched her collarbone, tracing the delicate line with the tip of his tongue before slowly traveling down the curve of her breast. Juliet shifted restlessly beneath the teasing mouth. Good lord, nothing had ever felt so wondrous.

“You are so warm,” he whispered against her skin, turning his head just enough to capture the tip of her nipple between his lips.

“Blessed mother.”

She arched off the bed and her hands slid to frame his face in silent encouragement. Whatever she had thought she knew of passion had never included the tender caresses that were sending a storm of sensations lashing through her body.

With obvious expertise he used his tongue and even his teeth to torment her nipple to a hard peak. Her eyes squeezed shut as she groaned low in her throat. He turned his attention to her other breast, his hands sliding down the curve of her waist.

Juliet was lost in the tide of building sensations when his arms encircled her and without warning he had rolled onto his back. In one powerful motion she discovered herself perched on top of his hard frame. Her eyes widened as she regarded the fiercely handsome countenance.

“Victor?”

“Do not fear,” he murmured as his hands smoothed down the curve of her back.

“What are you doing?”

His lips twitched in soft amusement. “If you have not noticed, I am a rather large vampire, while you, my beloved, are delectably tiny.”

She smiled wryly. “Even if I had not noticed our size differences, your habit of calling me ‘little one’ would have given me a hint.”

His expression settled in oddly somber lines even as his hands continued to send shocks of pleasure through her body.

“I have never made a secret of how desperately I want you, Juliet,” he said, his voice husky with need. “But what happens, or does not happen, in this bed will be decided by you.”

An unexpected thrill of power raced through her as she gazed down at the compelling man beneath her. She better than anyone understood the effort it took Victor to relinquish control. He was an ancient demon who had gained his position by brutal force.

Such a gesture revealed not only that he truly understood her freshly discovered need to take command of her life, but also a trust that was nothing less than astonishing.

Quite willing to prove her gratitude, Juliet leaned downward, outlining his sensuous lips with the tip of her tongue.

“Does this please you?” She nibbled a path down his clenched jaw and then the strong column of his neck, savoring his intoxicating taste.

He growled, his mouth parting to reveal his fully extended fangs, and a cool surge of power washed over her.

“You please me.”

She slowly retraced her path, a heat pooling in the pit of her stomach.

“Are you certain?” she husked. “I fear I am not overly experienced in such matters.”

“Allow me to show you.”

Grasping her face in his hands, he lifted himself upward, capturing her mouth in a kiss of stark hunger. Juliet shivered with pleasure, her mouth parting to allow his tongue to tangle with hers.

Sinking into the bliss of his devouring kiss, she stroked restless hands over the satin smoothness of his chest. A delicious excitement swirled through her body as she felt the hard thrust of his arousal pressing against her lower stomach.

As if sensing the growing urgency of her desire, Victor pulled back, his beauty mesmerizing in the soft glow of the fire.

“Juliet, I need you,” he said. “I need to be inside you.”

His voice flowed over her skin like honey, flooding her body with liquid heat and making her fingers dig into the hard muscles of his chest with a flare of aching desire.

“Yes,” she breathed, shuddering as his hands drifted over the curve of her hips.

With infinite care he explored the length of her thighs and then, with a small tug, he parted her legs until they fell on either side of his body. Juliet muttered her approval against his lips, but even prepared she gave a strangled cry when his clever fingers stroked through her damp heat.

“Sssh,” he soothed softly. “Soon we shall be one. One soul. One flesh.”

His low words seemed to echo deep inside her, but she ignored the dangerous warmth that settled in the center of her heart. Instead she concentrated on his finger that teased the tiny pulse of her pleasure.

“Not soon…now,” she muttered.

His low growl filled the air, his erection pressing eagerly against her damp heat.

“You are certain?”

Certain? Her nails dug into his chest until she drew blood. She had never been more certain of anything in her entire life.

“Please, Victor.”

“Yes.”

Victor’s hands were pressing at her lower back as his hips lifted and he was entering her in one sure stroke.

Her breath caught, but not from pain.

Searing pleasure rushed through her and she pressed her face onto his chest. She could feel him stroke into her before pulling out and returning with a slow, relentless pressure.