14 #4
The only response possible to Amber was an upwelling of heat, a bud of passion swelling until it burst. Liquid fire washed over him, telling him silently of her welcome.
Duncan let out a breath that was also a groan and eased into her a bit more.
Amber’s breath tore. The feel of her own body stretching to accept his presence was exquisitely exciting. The feel of Duncan’s harshly leashed passion was a sweet torment. He was taking her so slowly, as though to assure her and himself that there would be no pain in this joining.
“Am I hurting you?” Duncan asked as he pressed just a bit more deeply into Amber.
“Nay,” she said raggedly. “You are killing me so sweetly.”
“What?”
“Dear God,” she whispered.
Duncan felt the sensuous shivering deep within Amber, knew the hot rain of her passion licking over him, and fought not to lose control. Sweat gleamed from his forehead to his heels, yet he did not speed his slow claiming of her body by one whit.
Another delicate shudder took Amber, giving her to the dark warrior who was seducing her into a passion she hadn’t believed possible.
Yet even that wasn’t enough. She needed Duncan. All of him. And she needed him right now.
Heedlessly her nails dug into his hips, demanding a deeper joining.
“Do you want more of me?” he asked.
“Yes,” she said, “yes and yes and yes. Duncan, please.”
He smiled darkly and pressed deeper.
Slowly.
A low moan was torn from Amber’s throat. Her hips moved in a seeking as old as Eve. The scent and silky fire of her passion caressed Duncan. He could not contain a single, burning pulse of response. She was so hot around him, so welcoming, so tight.
And he had not yet finished his claiming.
“Are you certain I’m not hurting you?” Duncan asked hoarsely.
A broken sound of pleasure was the only response Amber could make.
“Look at me,” he said.
Amber’s eyes opened slowly. They were golden, smoldering, almost wild. The sight of them drew another hot pulse from Duncan. She felt it as clearly as he did.
“Can you take more of me without pain?” Duncan asked.
“There is no pain when you lie within me, only pleasure.”
The husky whisper of Amber’s voice was as sweet to Duncan as the secret movements of her body and the heady scent of her passion, more exotic than sandalwood and myrrh.
“Lift your legs and wrap them about me,” he said in a low voice.
When Amber did, the pleasure heightened.
“Hold on to me,” Duncan said. “Hold tightly and hard.”
Amber started to ask why, but the feel of him slowly, completely, filling her body took away words, took away thought, took away everything but piercing ecstasy. With a shivering, broken cry, she gave herself to the pleasure of being fully joined with her dark warrior.
“Can you feel how much I want you now?” Duncan asked through clenched teeth.
“I can feel you within me. All of you.”
“Is there pain?”
“Nay. ’Tis a pleasure so intense it’s frightening. Your desire and mine together.”
Smiling rather fiercely, Duncan slowly began to withdraw from the silken depths he had taken with such excruciating care.
“Nay,” Amber said almost frantically. “I need you!”
“No more than I need you.”
Her breath broke as Duncan returned, sliding deeply into her, filling her once more. He repeated the movement with a restrained power that was all the more exciting because Amber so clearly knew the wildness of his desire.
A strange, fey shimmering spread out from their joined bodies. Amber’s eyes widened as she felt herself being consumed by a fire both tender and fierce. She began trembling helplessly.
“Duncan, I am coming undone. I cannot—”
Amber’s voice splintered. Her body convulsed delicately, repeatedly, and each motion served only to draw him more tightly to her, increasing the ravishing fire.
Duncan drank the rippling cry from Amber’s lips as her release washed over him, caressing him with each deep, hidden pulse of ecstasy. Every breath he took was infused with her passion.
For sweet, agonizing moments, Duncan held himself motionless above Amber as he savored the certainty of the pleasure he had given to her.
When he could bear no more, he began to move with increasing power. Every motion he made within her brought forth more silky pulses. Her face was taut, drawn with effort as she flew higher and higher, spurred by the potency of his body driving into her.
Suddenly Amber arched and shivered, transfixed by wild ecstasy. The rippling cry she gave was Duncan’s name. She clung to him with all her strength, for he was both the storm and the shelter surrounding her.
The sleek, primal heat of Amber tugged at Duncan, caressing him, promising him a pleasure greater than he had ever known. He felt control slipping away and fought against it, for he wanted to hang suspended forever between the certainty of her ecstasy and the anticipation of his own.
“You are perfect,” Duncan said hoarsely. “God help me, I want you more than I want anything, even my own memory.”
Then he could endure no more. With a groan of surrender, he let go his savage restraint and poured himself into the amber witch whose passionate depths matched his so completely.