Pleasure - Jacquelyn Frank Shadowdwellers

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was why he lifted her off her feet and let her body slide down the length of his in a delightful torture of friction. By the time her toes touched the floor, he found himself with his arms around her plush little body and her hands toying with the ends of his wet hair.

      Hot. Oh God, this man is hot, Val thought with an internal groan of delight as he held her suspended completely in his hold except for the dust mote’s width between her toes and the wood flooring. And hot was purely being applied to the resonating power of his virile and all-too-sexy body. All of that strong muscle packed onto his bones so densely and yet so sleekly; he had to work out constantly to stay so fit. For her, stuck inside almost all winter long, a workout consisted of holding a book for hours, and she knew it showed in largely padded areas. The thought made her blush and she went stiff in his hold, self-consciousness getting the best of her. That opened the door to remembering other things.

      Like the fact that he would just as soon kill her as kiss her.

      Valera wriggled in his tight embrace, signaling her desire to be let go. Sagan got the message like a kick, her resistance sparking his conscience into remembering that he wasn’t going to be attracted to her anymore. He quickly, although carefully, let her free, watching as she stepped away. The entire contact had lasted under ninety seconds, but it had felt like an eternity condensed all together. Sagan was no stranger to his sexuality, coming from a culture that prided itself on its openness and tradition of complex sexual education for all the students of school age. He even taught some of those classes, although his arena tended to be battle and self-defense classes. But in spite of his well-practiced familiarity with all things concerning sex, he was at an astounded loss to explain the remarkable effect she had on him.

      How could a human girl provide even remotely the chemistry needed to stimulate him, never mind stimulating him to this off-the-charts degree? They were as different in compatibility as apes and kangaroos. Granted, they were both upright bipedal species with all the same interactive parts, and yes, they were of the opposite sexes and…gods help him, she was more than minimally his type as far as shapeliness and beauty were concerned and…

      Drenna, those damn eyes of hers! Staring up at him in brilliant blue and green vulnerability, drawing his attention to her flushed cheeks and then to her well-shaped mouth as her lips parted to let her quick breaths pass.

      Valera jumped in her own skin when his hand suddenly speared forward to snag her around the side of her neck, his thumb firm on the bottom of her jaw as he tilted her head back for his quick approach. Val gasped when she saw the furiously motivated intent in his redwood eyes and she jerked in resistance…but only as far as his secure grip would let her.

      “You don’t like me!” she blurted out, the words all she could piece together from everything she had realized.

      That only made him smile as he bent his head close to hers, the soft tilt of his lips amused and even a little arrogant.

      “I think I shall have to test that theory,” he mused softly as his breath skated across her mouth.

      Then Valera realized that this tall, gorgeous, and nearly naked male was about to kiss her, and the idea that there might be something to worry about simply flew out the window. Her heart began to race like it had been entered in the Daytona 500. Her hands quickly jumped on the bandwagon of throwing caution to the wind, and she slid them over some of that heated naked skin until she had skimmed his ribs and back on her way up to his shoulders. She felt the roadwork of muscles flexing in response to her passing in little stimulated jumps.

      Sagan heard a chorus in the back of his brain warning him of doom and gloom like something out of a Greek play, but there was a much stronger voice drowning it out, demanding he taste his pretty little forbidden fruit.

      Just one small taste.

      The priest rubbed his mouth over hers, taking a moment just to feel her soft, warm lips and the increasing excitement in her breaths. The faster she drew for air, the more it aroused him. Because he knew what it meant. He knew it was a harbinger to what would come to all his other waiting senses. First it was taste. The gentle intrusion of her flavor as he kissed her in small, brief meshes of their mouths; the promise of something sweeter and so succulent he couldn’t take any more time to wait. He sought her tongue quickly, insisting on the deepest intimacy so he could know all of her on his palate. She made a little humming sound in her throat, the vibration and meaning of it seeking out his spine in a hot instant. Her fingers flexed into his skin, and her body melted back into his with a willing curve. He settled his hand into the small bow of her back immediately, allowing himself to be so close to all that sweetly rounded flesh she harbored.

      Sagan’s heart seized as she warmed quickly to him, shyness dissipating and eagerness to explore overtaking her. She became instantly more aggressive, one of her hands spearing into his hair to hold the back of his head. She was preventing him from leaving before she was ready to let him go, and that excited him beyond reason. He was going raptly numb with the shock of sensation that exploded over his entire face as their mouths toyed together again and again. It spread outward and down his whole body until the numbness disappeared and fire arose in its wake, sizzling all the nerves under his skin. It was as if he were swallowing sweetly toxic and forbidden light. Not any light, but pure sunlight. The strongest and deadliest beauty known to his kind.

      His Greek chorus drowned a tragic death and went silent. Wrong? What could be wrong about anything that felt so gloriously good? The tragedy would be to stop…or not to push his advantage further. Taking the advice to heart, Sagan slid his hand down over the swell of her bottom and took a serious hold, using the grip to jolt her entire body tighter against his. It drew her pelvis into direct contact with his and announced to her just how she affected his body as the bath towel around his hips did nothing to disguise his hard arousal.

      Valera released an adorable little squeak of surprise at the rough jogging of her body, and followed it with a gasp and a sharp break from his mouth when she became aware of his body and its loudly announced state of interest. But despite the shock of her actions, she rose up on her toes to follow his urging as he rubbed her tightly against him.

      “And this just from a kiss,” he ground out against her stunned lips. “How is it you have done this to a man who prides himself on his control and discipline? Explain it to me.”

      Valera couldn’t explain anything because he engulfed her in another string of burning-hot and increasingly erotic kisses. Sagan’s kiss was like engaging in raw sin, only without the shame or guilt or any of the rest of it. He sipped and sucked at her mouth, then was devouring her with such a keen hunger that her breasts went heavy and taut where they were crushed against his bare chest. She could feel the heat of his naked skin through her sweater, her blouse, and her bra as if she were as naked as he was. His hand on her ass was decadently close to such private places, and it awoke every last one of those places to feel him there.

      “Tell me again I don’t like you,” he groaned as he rubbed himself against her restlessly.

      “You don’t know me!” she gasped, her hands gripping him all the harder.

      “That doesn’t appear to matter,” he breathed heavily. “To either of us.” He smiled against her mouth then, drawing away slightly and stopping his urgent crush against her body, though they remained locked close from the hips down. He slid his hand down from her neck, flattening his palm against her chest as he went. “But if it will make you feel better, Valera, I will tell you that I know a lot about you.”

      Val didn’t know how to take that, other than with surprise. She still didn’t know exactly what he was. He could have any number of supernatural abilities. He could be a telepath who could read her mind. Then he would find out…

      “No!”

      She yanked free of him hard and fast, taking him completely off guard. Cold hit her body hard, like a cry of anguish as she left his heat. She had to protect herself, she thought wildly. She had to keep distant and…and…and cool. Efficient and friendly. Feed him, get him well, and get him out! And she had to do it without giving herself away. The closer he got, the more he probed her personality or her thoughts or even her body, the higher the risk he would learn the

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