UP IN FLAMES

She was bare between the thighs, with the exception of a neatly trim thatch of dark curls.

His once dry mouth watered. He wanted-no, needed-to touch her, to taste her. Every glorious inch of her. He needed to be on her, inside her. Especially between her thighs. He wanted to dive in with his tongue and then his cock.

Surprisingly, there was a small tattoo beside her hip to the right of her navel. It was a red rose, slight bent at the top. Three petals lay at the base of the green stem. He dragged his eyes up, and there was no mistaking the lust in her gaze. The flush racing across her cheeks and down her throat told him that she saw his hunger. Her nipples tightened even more, and he groaned.

“You’re the most fucking magnificent thing I’ve ever seen,” he ground out.

Then those wonderful seconds came to an end. She reached over, snatched up a towel, and hastily wrapped it around her body. Her mouth opened and he knew she was about to give him an ass-chewing for the ages, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. Not yet.

Alaric was on her before she took her next breath.

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Anger and embarrassment had flooded Vanessa’s system, but so had something a hell of a lot more intense. Rife, intoxicating lust seized her-the same wild, out-of-control feelings that had taken her over in the den… The one that made her literally beg him to fuck her, and he’d turned her down. Knowing how quickly she’d lost herself in a simple kiss had dumped her in a bad mood, and his rejection only made it worse. There was no reason for her to have such a strong reaction to a damn kiss and she shouldn’t be that attracted to him.

But she was.

Now those feelings were back, stronger than before. Her breasts ached, her legs felt like jelly, and she was incredibly damp between her legs.

Vanessa knew she should have been pissed at Alaric and she was, but the hunger she felt inside her had been reflected in his brilliant dark gaze. And that yearning was more powerful than anything else she was experiencing.

Her fingers had tightened around the hasty knot she’d made in the towel above her breasts. She couldn’t breathe. He’d been staring at her like she was the only woman in the world and he’d shuddered.

When he’d moved toward her, fast and graceful as any predator stalking its prey, there was no place for her to go. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to run. No man had ever looked at her like he had. It made her feel brazen and wanton and she liked it.

There was a brief moment when she’d wondered if this was how her mom had felt, if this was the first symptom to the slippery slope that was obsession. Then Alaric’s large hands landed on her bare, damp shoulders at the same moment his lips met hers.

The kiss wasn’t about a slow seduction or exploration. His mouth fused to hers and when she drew in a breath, he delved in. She felt his body tremble against her and she was amazed that he was the one who was shaking with need-need for her. That awed her, and as a hand swept to the back of her neck, she was carried away in the exquisite sensations he was opening in her.

Vanessa needed to tell him to stop. He had been right to stop earlier. This wasn’t appropriate. A relationship of any sort between them would never work. She placed her hands on his chest, but instead of pushing him away, she gripped the soft material, holding him to her.

She kissed him back, just as fiercely and with the same need that he claimed her mouth with. Her breasts tightened and swelled, aching with the want of his touch.

He groaned against her lips, causing a chill to skate over her flushed skin. “You have no idea what you do to me.”

She had a feeling she could say the same about him, but then he kissed her again, and she wasn’t thinking anymore. All she was focused on were the sensations he was dragging out in her, and there was something beautifully freeing in that. She fell headfirst into it, praying that when he was done with her, she would be able to resurface.

His hand slid down her bare arm and then dropped to her cloth-covered hip. He guided her head back and his lips left hers. A disappointed whimper escaped her lips, and Alaric chuckled deeply.

“I’m not done with you. Nowhere near it,” he said, nipping at her chin. “I’ve only just gotten started.”

Her stomach fluttered like a thousand butterflies had taken flight. “Really?”

“Oh yeah.” He grinned and tilted her head to the side. He nibbled a path along her jaw to her ear, catching the lobe between his teeth. She gasped. “You like that, don’t you?”

She couldn’t answer. Her senses were spinning. Alaric chuckled again as he dipped his head lower, blazing a line of hot, wet kisses down her neck. When he reached her pulse, his tongue flicked over her skin. She shifted restlessly, wanting more, knowing there was more.

His lips moved along the edge of the towel as his one hand moved up, resting at her rib cage, so close to her breasts. He didn’t touch her there. No, he teased her with the lines of kisses, with the way his thumb moved in a circle over the towel, coming close to the swell but never quite touching her.

“Tell me you want this,” he all but growled. Lifting her head, he kissed the corner of her parted lips. “Tell me you need this as badly as I do and you will not regret a second of this.”

But wouldn’t she? When it was all over and the heat of lust faded, how would she feel? There was already a part of her that was drawn to him, beyond the physical attraction. Would things be like they were before? Could she separate an act of lust from meaning anything else? Her mother had never been able to do that, so how could she be any different?