“You know the torture is as exquisite for me as it is for you, Elena.” Cool air swirled around her legs as he pushed the covers higher. “I want to touch you and run my hands all over you. I want to shove myself inside you and completely fill you up until you scream my name like you did when you came for me before.”
Had she done that? Really? She’d been a little distracted, like she was right now. He pulled her pajama pants down to her ankles. She started to pull a foot free, but he stopped her. “A little restraint is good sometimes.”
The goose bumps prickling along her thighs could not possibly be from the cold air in the cabin. She felt so hot she was sure she’d burst into flames like flash paper any second.
His knees thumped on the floor. “Relax, Elena. Open for me.”
She took a deep breath and exhaled, letting her legs fall apart.
“Yes. Perfect.”
He kissed the inside of one thigh and then the other, and she whimpered, not even caring that she sounded so desperate. She was.
His breath was warm on her skin as he spoke. “I predict that when I am healed and I truly take you, you will come before I am even fully inside.”
No doubt. But right then, what she needed was… Yeah. That.
She almost screamed as he ran his hot tongue from the bottom of her all the way to the top, and then paused and circled in just the right spot to make her scream for real. She needed this. Before he’d even touched her, she was so aroused she thought she might explode. Now, she knew she would. He repeated this over and over: bottom to top and circle until she was writhing and pulling against the cord at her wrists, and then he placed his whole mouth over her.
Nothing had ever felt this good. She was sure of it. And for an indeterminate amount of time, it was as if the world outside—the dangers, the freaky creatures that wanted them dead, even the things about themselves that made this impossible—became insignificant. All that mattered was the way his mouth moved against her. She arched her back and moaned as her body heated and buzzed with mounting pleasure.
God, the things he could do with that tongue—things that caused stars behind her eyelids and spasms that shook like an earthquake rattling her bones apart. Things that took her to the top of the cliff and let her soar. And all the while, she screamed his name.
Chapter Thirteen
Elena leaned against the headboard, tucked her knees up, and chowed on a third protein bar as Nikolai told her another tale from his childhood. They’d talked and laughed for hours in the dark until the sun penetrated the cocoon of snow over the cabin, and dim light glowed through the two tiny windows.
Nikolai’s every word entranced her. He was fascinating and intelligent and had been just about everywhere on the planet. She’d never even left her home state before. The two of them were so different, yet, she felt an intense connection to him, as if they’d always known each other.
“Well, Darvaak proved useful after all,” he said. “I do have more clothes than the ones I burned.”
She took another bite and watched him lift a pair of jeans from the suitcase and pull them on. His movements were less stiff, and most of his wounds had closed completely. Soon. He’d said, as soon as he healed… Thrill shot through her, and she scooted up higher in the bed, hugging her knees to her chest.
He looked over his shoulder at her and smiled. “Again?”
“I’m fine. I’m just thirsty.” And horny as hell after watching his reverse strip show, but she needed to get some control.
His grin revealed that he knew she was lying. “After you’ve slept, I’m going to take care of every need you have.”
She scanned him from head to toe in the dim light piercing the snow, from the top of his head to his bare feet and every hard, muscled part of him in between, and her mouth watered. “And you’ll let me touch you?”
“I’ll let you do anything your imagination can conjure.”
Amen.
“First, I’ll take care of your thirst.” He grabbed one of the metal tankards from the shelf near the stove and slid the window open. He scooped some of the snow that buried the house into the mug, then closed the window. “Even though I put the fire out, the stove should still be hot enough to melt it.” He placed the tankard on top of the stove.
The markings on his body were mesmerizing. Her own didn’t itch at all anymore. It must’ve only been an effect of them rising to the surface. “What is the prophecy you and Stefan talked about?”
He pulled a gray T-shirt from the suitcase and unbuttoned the shoulder. “It’s just an insignificant legend. Nothing more.” He stepped into the shirt and pulled it up.
“You’re lying to me again.”
Both pain and anger flared momentarily in his golden eyes as he buttoned the shirt over his shoulder, and then he picked up the tankard and swirled it. “Almost melted.” He set it back down. “Where the hell is Aleksi?”