Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)

He’d already forgotten what he had said before.

“I want to fuck you into tomorrow,” he said between his teeth. Probing carefully between her legs, he fingered the soft, delectable folds of flesh that grew slick with the evidence of her desire. “I want to fuck you so hard you can’t walk until next week.”

“Promises,” she gasped on an unsteady laugh.

As he explored her, she opened her legs and her expression twisted in a combination of pleasure and distress, and her breathing came harder and more raggedly. She pushed up with her hips, rubbing herself against his hand, while she raised her head and they both looked down at their bodies.

Their legs lay entwined. His were heavier, corded with muscle and sprinkled with dark hair, while her more delicate bone structure made her legs looked lighter and leaner. His thick, hard erection lay against her hip, the broad mushroom head exposed.

“Mmm,” she said in throaty welcome as she reached for it with both hands. When she touched him, the bolt of pleasure was so sharp he nearly spurted into her palm. She stroked her thumb along the small, sensitive slit at the tip, and in response a drop of moisture appeared. She rubbed it into his skin.

Then in his own exploration of her most sensitive flesh, he found the stiff, delicate little pearl hidden in her private folds, and as he rubbed it, she nearly came off the bed with a strangled scream.

Oh, he loved that. He loved her reaction. Fiercely clamping down on his self-control, he flicked and massaged her clitoris in teasing circles until she gripped his wrist and ripples of reaction shook visibly through her body.

Unable to hold back his own hunger, he bent to fill his mouth again with one of her luscious nipples, and he suckled at her while he flicked at her clit, and the tension in her body grew and grew until a fine sweat broke over her silken skin and she vibrated like the taut string on an archer’s bow.

Give it to me, he said in her head. Come for me.

I-I can’t. She gasped for air and shook harder. I love this, I love how it feels, but I can’t climax like this. Not during our first time together.

What was this? He lifted his head to frown down at her. “What do you mean, you cannot climax like this?”

Lifting one shoulder, she gave him a lopsided smile. “It takes me a while to grow to trust my partner enough to let go. It’s just a thing; it’s not a big deal. It’s just who I am.”

“Well, I do not accept that reasoning,” he growled. “You trust me. You would not be here with me now, unclothed in your bed, if you did not.”

“Well…” Her voice trailed away as she frowned.

She had nothing to say, he knew, because he was right. Stroking his hand down the shapely, slender length of her thigh, he told her, “Relax, my Sophie. Breathe deep. Enjoy yourself, and know that you are safe.”

Safe. Why had he felt the need to say those specific reassuring words to her, when he, of all people, knew just how unsafe they really were? Why was that the only answer to the vulnerability he saw in her eyes?

She resurrected something inside him, the kind of man he used to be, protective of and attentive to those he cared for. He wanted to shelter her, not because she asked for it or because she even needed it, but because he needed to be the one to give it to her.

There was something dangerous in that path of reasoning, some line in himself he had been determined not to cross, but he forgot what it was when she responded, relaxing visibly as he stroked her body in long, soothing sweeps with one hand. He slid down the length of her body, urged her to part her legs again, and when she did so, he settled between them and stroked the tender folds of her skin with a thumb.

Then he split the folds apart to reveal that little, delicate nubbin. She was beautiful there, as she was beautiful everywhere, the fluted folds of her flesh rich with color and her scent, warmth, and wetness. At the sight, he made a quiet sound of pleasure and put his mouth over her clitoris, tasting her private flesh for the first time.

Her thighs shook, and she made a thin, uncertain sound. Shh, he whispered in her head. Relax. Enjoy. You are the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. You’re beautiful. I want to plant myself in you, right here. Fill you up. Fuck you, make love to you, give you pleasure, make you scream.

As he talked to her, he suckled and flicked at her with his tongue, working her with a rhythm, while he slipped a single finger into her tight, wet sheath. She was so warm, so wet, so ready.

Lifting from his task, he told her, “When I was in town, I bought condoms.”

Her eyebrows rose. “You were already planning this?”

There was something complex in her expression, but he did not think it was distaste or dislike. Rather, she seemed to be pleased.

“I wasn’t planning on anything, but I had thoughts,” he said. “And I do not believe in being careless. I may be part Wyr, but I am not Wyr enough to have their ability to prevent pregnancy.”

“Nik, thank you for thinking so responsibly, but I’m part Djinn,” she whispered. “I don’t know how my ancestor managed to participate in a viable pregnancy, but however they did it, I don’t have that ability. I’ve seen more than one doctor to be sure, and they were conclusive. I can’t get pregnant.”

“Sophie,” he murmured. Placing a hand over her flat stomach, he paused to search her face for any sign of pain or sadness.

There was none. Her expression was clear, calm, and open. She smiled at him. “You don’t need to look at me that way,” she told him. “I love children, but I’ve known from an early age, I’m not cut out for motherhood. I’m not even good dog-owner material. Since the Elder Races don’t catch or transmit human diseases, we don’t need to use condoms.”

He smiled. “Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. I’m not finished down here.”

Her breath caught as he turned his attention back to pleasuring her. Nestling his lips against the most sensitive part of her body, he soon found his rhythm again, flicking, nibbling and sucking until soon her hips bucked in response.

“That’s—that’s wonderful, but that’s enough,” she gasped. “It’s too sharp, too intense—”

Is that what happened to you, my Sophie? he purred in her head. Did your other lovers give up on you too soon? Were they greedy boys, focused only on themselves and their own needs without paying any attention to you and yours?

Yes. No. I don’t know! she gasped, her head turning restlessly on the pillow while her body shivered underneath his relentless attentions.