Elisabeth Naughton - Enraptured

“I’m waiting,” he said.

Good gods, what was wrong with her? He was manhandling her and she was getting turned on? This so wasn’t the way she worked.

As she fought the strange reaction, she looked up into glowing green eyes. Eyes that slowly faded to gray as they stared down at her. Eyes not of a daemon, but of a man. Eyes that hypnotized her on a level she’d not experienced in over two thousand years.

She knew right then that no matter what he said or how he used his size or daemon to try to intimidate her, he wouldn’t hurt her. If he’d wanted to, he’d have done it back in the woods. He wouldn’t have saved her.

“Female, it’s time you tell me—”

“Skyla.”

“What?”

Her gaze slid to his mouth—a mouth she was suddenly tempted to taste. “My name is Skyla.”

“Your name isn’t what I want right now.”

Heat thrummed in her veins. She stared at his lips. Firm and masculine. Licked her own. Kissing implied intimacy, and intimacy was something she’d learned long ago to avoid. But the need to touch him, to taste him, was right there, pulsing along her nerve endings, teasing her control. She followed the strong curve of his chin, and finally the delectable jawline. “What do you want, daemon?”

“Answers. Where did you come from? And how did you know the female I was follow—”

She rose on her toes, pressed her mouth to his jaw until the musky scent of him filled her senses and the salty taste of his skin exploded in her mouth. Then stilled because that was an action she hadn’t planned and now wasn’t sure how to finish.

He pulled away. Stared hard into her eyes. And in the silence that followed, she rationalized this was what she was supposed to do: seduce, gain his trust, use him to find what Zeus so desperately wanted. But suddenly this wasn’t just about her job. That ache intensified until satiating it, with him, was all she could focus on.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“The same thing you want me to do.”

“I never said I wanted you to—”

She closed the gap he’d created before she could stop herself, pressed her body along his and her lips to the soft skin of his throat.

“ Skata , female. I’m starting to think you’re the one who has brain damage.”

“Possibly. Is that a problem for you?” She kissed the pulse of his throat, found another, more delectable spot to taste and sample. Waited for him to drag her closer. Waited for a hint of that heat she’d seen earlier in his eyes.

When he didn’t, she decided to pull out all the stops. “What’s wrong, daemon? Am I too much for you to handle? Maybe the creature you were chasing is more to your taste? I bet you prefer your women docile, don’t you?”

For a split second she thought he was going to pull away, but then a growl echoed low in his throat. His hands slid through her hair. He tipped her head to kiss her. But there were just enough synapses firing in her brain to remind her kissing was a no-go, and she jerked her head to the side, offering her neck instead.

He hesitated the briefest of seconds, as if caught off guard. “I like my women to scream.” Then he pressed his body into hers along the wall. “Is this was you want, Skyla? Me to make you scream?”

Before she could answer, he nipped into her neck, sucked the skin, and worked his leg between both of hers until she felt the length of his erection pressing against her hip. And the way he said her name…

Yes. Gods, yes.

She moaned at the feel of him, at his lips on her throat sending shock waves of pleasure straight to her core. Her fingers tightened in the fabric of his shirt. She lifted her leg around his hip, ground herself against him. Pulled him even closer.

Danger excited her. Why else would she be reacting this way? Though the markings of the Eternal Guardians covered his arms, logic told her this daemon was no hero. He was prey. Someone cursed by the gods for reasons she didn’t understand and wasn’t supposed to know. And yet here she was. Rubbing against him in this crappy apartment hallway like a sex-crazed nymph. Desperate for more. Aching for something only he could give her.

On some level she knew she should stop…but that level was disappearing in the background, moving right out of her grasp. And as long as she didn’t get emotionally involved, why couldn’t she do this? She could complete her mission and enjoy it at the same time. And gods, it had been so long since she’d enjoyed anything. She deserved a few moments of release.

“More.” She moved against him, dragged his head to the other side of her throat. Her hands slid down his muscular chest to grasp the hem of his shirt and pull it over his head. He broke contact long enough for her to toss the shirt to the floor. Across his face, the same need she felt reflected back at her.

His broad chest, covered with a sprinkling of dark hair, rose and fell with his labored breaths. He shoved his hands up under her shirt until it landed against the floor next to his, and his warm, strong fingers brushed her nipples. “What is this?”

“Breasts.” She leaned closer, found his earlobe again. Gods, he tasted so damn good. Smelled even better. And that rod of steel rubbing between her legs was nice, but not nearly close enough. She wanted it closer. Wanted him deep.

“I know what these are,” he mumbled, palming her breasts as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, levered herself higher to rub against him right where she wanted him most. “I meant this . What’s happening here? What the hell is it?”

“Let’s not overanalyze.” She just wanted to feel. To give herself over to the sensations rocking her world right out from under her. She’d worry about her mission later. “Take off my bra already.”

The clasp popped with a snap, and the lace slid down her arms. She wriggled out of it and reached for him again. Pleasure arced through her pelvis as he hooked her leg over his hip once more and ran his fingers across her panties.

“Damn it.” His mouth nipped at her chin, trailed hot, succulent kisses toward her ear that enraptured every part of her being. He couldn’t seem to get enough of her either. She gasped in surprise when he undid the zipper on her boot, tugged it off, and threw it down the hall, then stripped her pants down her legs, underwear and all.

He hooked her bare leg over his hip again. Her pants looped around the boot still on her other foot. But when his fingers found her wetness, she barely cared.

Yes, yes, yes . This was what she wanted. The only thing she wanted. Why had she waited so long?

He stroked her, slid two fingers deep inside. A tremor ran through her body as his thumb brushed her clit. “What kind of enchantment are you casting, female?”

He seemed as bewildered as she at the instant attraction. This was more than a quick fuck and both of them knew it—even if they’d never in a million years admit it.

“No enchantment,” she managed. “Need more.”

A low rumble echoed through the hall, one she wasn’t sure had come from him alone. She didn’t have long to ponder because his mouth was back at her ear again, his tongue doing wicked things to her lobe. His touch consumed her, drew the air from her lungs, promised her something she couldn’t see but needed. A zipper rasped. His fingers slipped free of her. She groaned at the emptiness but shuddered when he slid both hands under her ass and lifted. She wrapped her legs around his waist. Then nearly came out of her skin when the tip of his cock brushed her folds and he pressed her into the wall, filling her in one sharp thrust.

Pleasure rippled through every cell in her body, as if this was what she’d been seeking all her life. She tightened around him, cried out in protest when he drew away, then moaned all over again as he plunged deep. Those fireworks picked up in intensity until pinpricks of heat were all she felt. “Oh…”