Gena Showalter - Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

I nodded, unable to speak past the sudden lump in my throat. He really did want to see me again. Tendrils of happiness slithered through me, making me grin like a loon.

Expression fierce, he tangled his hands into my hair. “You fascinate me, but I’ve told you that, right? I’ve wanted you since the first moment I laid eyes on you, and the want has only grown.”

My jaw fell open in wonder.

He took that as an invitation.

His lips swooped to mine. His tongue immediately thrust inside, and that addicting flavor of feral man consumed me. He released my hair, cupped my chin and tilted my head, angling me for deeper contact. I moaned in ecstasy. My hands rained down his roped chest, wishing like hell the shirt would suddenly disappear. I wanted skin on skin. Man on woman.

I wanted the animal in him unleashed.

But damn it all to hell, I was already heating again, and the consequences could be deadly. I jerked my lips away, panting, “We shouldn’t. I could cause a fire.”

“Give your emotions to me.” Dark arousal pulled his features taut. His voice was a honeyed purr. “Give your passion and fire to me.”

My teeth sank into my bottom lip. “What if you’re hurt? Tanner’s not here to tell me when it’s too much.”

“Give me.”

Rome crushed his mouth to mine. I was helpless to resist. As I licked him, sucked him, bit him, he hauled me against him, lifting me high, and I wrapped my legs around his waist. The hard length of his erection pressed against me, somehow bigger, somehow hotter. Pleasure speared me right where I needed it most. I trembled; I burned. I tried to hold the fire inside me. My blood boiled; my skin pricked with red-hot heat.

If I wasn’t careful, the raging inferno inside me would burst free, consuming the forest. Consuming Rome. I didn’t want to hurt Rome. I didn’t want to scare him away, make him determined never to kiss or touch me again.

“I’ve never been so desperate for a woman in my life. Give me your fire, Belle. I’ll control it.”

“How can you be sure?”

Through our clothing, he rubbed his penis against my clitoris. Friction. Desire. Absolute pleasure. I gasped at the heady sensations. He sucked my tongue, hard. “Give it to me.”

“No.” I couldn’t stop moving. I arched against him, the action utterly necessary for my peace of mind, but dangerous. So dangerous. The fire inside me speared all the hotter, threatening to devour. I grasped at it, trying, trying, trying so hard to hold it inside me.

“Give.” Bite.

“No.” Nibble. “What if you’re wrong? What if you can’t control it?”

“Let me try. Give it to me, and I’ll make you come,” he promised. He carried me until the cool bark of a tree pressed against my back. His erection slid up and down, the fabric of my jeans adding to the delicious friction.

“ Rome… ” His name was ripped from my throat, hoarse and needy. A plea.

“I was watching you earlier, when you made it rain, and you looked so sad my chest actually clenched. I wanted so desperately to take your sadness away, and suddenly I was. Trust me on this. Let me try.” He shoved against me, hitting directly, and I was lost. “I think I can do it again.”

It had worked once, and he was right: it could work again. Gradually, I allowed myself to relax my guard. The heat and flames I’d tried so diligently to control rushed from me as if floodgates had been opened. They swept over Rome, who groaned. Instead of burning him, however, the flames were absorbed into him.

Had I not been so distracted by his seduction, I would have jerked in shock. As it was, I could only tighten my hold on him. His tongue moved against mine more frantically. His hips arched more deliberately. My head fell back. I simply didn’t have the strength to hold it up. He bit at my neck, nipping the flesh, then licking the sting.

“See?” he said, his voice as hoarse as mine had been. Tension bracketed his eyes, but it was aroused tension. Aroused pleasure-pain. “We did it. I’d hoped I could filter the flames, take the most violent of the heat, and it worked.”

“I don’t understand how you’re able to do that,” I managed to moan as I squeezed and kneaded his back. Time slipped out of reality. Here, now, I had Rome and I had pleasure and I hadn’t started a fire. Nothing else mattered.

“If I hadn’t learned to cage the animal inside me, it would have overtaken me. I would be only animal. I thought, hoped, I could cage your fire, and so I have. One day you’ll do it on your own, but until then… ”

I kissed him again. Our teeth scraped together as our bodies strained and arched. He palmed my breast, pinched the nipple.

“Speaking of one day, we’re going to do this naked,” he breathed.

“Yes.”

“In a bed.”

“Yes.”

“One day you’ll be mine.”

His hand dived inside my pants, past-nope, no panties, because this naughty, pleasure-giving thief had hidden them-and into the wet heart of me. Instant contact, exactly where I needed him most. His fingers buried deep, pounding, pounding. “Yes.”

I jumped over the sweet edge and screamed. Stars winked behind my eyes. My whole body tensed, relaxed, tensed, spasming as intense pleasure rocked me.

I held on to Rome, afraid to let go lest I fly away to the heavens. Images raced through my mind. Images of Rome naked and inside me, his cock replacing his fingers as he claimed me from behind, then took me from every position possible. Images of-

“Viper?” a familiar voice called. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Hold on a minute, I’m on my way out. You better not have hurt her, Rome, or there will be serious hell to pay.”

WHILE I BATTLED A plethora of desires (namely, to kill Tanner, strip Rome, scream, cry, beg for more of his loving) Rome pulled his fingers from me, then moved away from me entirely. His expression was taut-no longer in a good way-and pained as he readjusted his pants.

Trembling, I righted my clothing, unable to draw in a steady breath. “I finished, but what about you?” I whispered. My gaze flicked to his swollen fly. “You’re-”

“Fine. I’m fine. Nothing we can’t take care of later.” But his gaze lingered on my hardened nipples, dipped to the apex of my thighs, caressing. A hot, wistful gleam appeared in his eyes. Then he did something unexpected and wholly erotic. He licked his fingers-the fingers that had been buried inside of me.

His eyelids closed in surrender. I almost came again, the action was so arousing. Almost wicked. Definitely naughty.

Tanner raced around a tree and spotted us. “Belle?”

“I’m good,” I said, my cheeks reddening. “Nothing’s wrong.”

He ground to a halt and studied me, studied Rome ’s back. “Oh. Oh. You guys were having sex. Gross. Just gross. Cat sex. I’m going back inside. Try to keep your mind on the objective, you two. Jeez, am I the only one here with a work ethic?” He turned on his heel and marched back to the cabin.

Rome looked at me, and we both burst into laughter. “That kid,” he said.

“I know.”

“Now that I know what you taste like, we can get back to work.” He spun away from me, his shoulders stiff. It was only then, with distance between us, that I realized the extent of what had just happened. I studied him, searching for signs of damage. There were no red marks, no blisters. It had worked. Ohmygod, it had really worked! Rome had actually taken my fire into himself and completely tamed it. He’d kept it from raging, kept it from hurting anything-or anyone.

We could be together.

We could make slow, languid love. We could enjoy hard, fast, raunchy sex. All without the fear of consequences. Just the thought was enough to reawaken my desire. Soon I’d have him inside me. Completely.