Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Tauren’s kiss wasn’t like anything I’d ever experienced before.
There was nothing gentle about his touch. No uncertainty, no hesitation. Just his arms around my body, his hands gripping the nape of my neck and the small of my back, and the unrelenting pressure of his mouth against mine.
There wasn’t time to gasp, or breathe, or even think as he gave me exactly what I’d asked for, devouring my mouth with an almost animal-like ferocity.
The intensity of his touch was almost too much, and I found myself clinging to him even tighter, for fear of completely losing my grasp on what was real.
But the closer I pressed my body against his, the more it responded to the flood of sensations.
I found myself kissing him back…or at least trying to.
Tauren was a force of nature—stronger than howling winds and more relentless than pounding ocean waves. There was no way I could match his passion or intensity. My gasping attempts to match the hunger of his touch must have felt pale and weak, especially to someone so powerful.
But apparently, it was enough.
His low, rumbling growl filled the air as I grazed my teeth over the swell of his lower lip, and with each swipe of my tongue against his, the sound grew louder and louder.
By the time I arched my back, crushing my breasts against his chest, his seductive roar was more intense than the crashing water behind us.
The scruff of his beard grazed against my cheek as I lowered my mouth to his neck and started trailing nips and kisses along the thick column.
“Hannah.”
Electric tingles ran up my spine, spreading out through every nerve in my body, sparking tiny, tenacious fires inside me. And with every touch, every stroke of his bare skin against mine, the flames grew higher and stronger. Not even being submerged in cold water could put them out. Nothing could.
I’d never felt anything like this before.
I’d never needed to be touched. Never needed to feel the embrace of a body so much bigger, so much stronger than mine.
But as frighteningly powerful as these sensations were, they still weren’t enough. I wanted more than a kiss. I wanted all of him.
The longer our kiss went on, the higher the flames inside me grew, until they had consumed the last of my restraint, reducing my self-control to ashes. My touch became more urgent. The stroke of my palm against his skin more demanding.
Suddenly, it wasn’t enough to feel just some of his body.
I wanted all of him—every last inch of him.
Acting on their own, my hips moved in a slow circle, grinding my most sensitive parts against his groin.
A shocked gasp flew from my lips the moment I rubbed the massive bulge there.
Realizing there was only the thin fabric of my panties between us, I froze.
My eyes went wide as Tauren’s growl grew even louder.
Only then did I fully understand just how out of my depth I actually was.
His cock felt huge—thick and long and harder than steel. Maybe my fears of being split clean in half hadn’t been that silly after all. Taking anything more than a couple inches of that beast would be physically impossible.
But even as the thought whipped through my head, a strange warmth pooled deep in my lower belly.
Soft, wet heat radiated out from between my legs, mixing with the water and making it so the tiniest movement caused me to slip and slide over his erect cock.
My body, already primed for pleasure, began to tremble as sensations intensified.
“Tauren.”
My fingers curled even tighter around the curve of his shoulders as I flexed my hips again, grinding a little harder.
Then a little harder.
Soon, I was panting, holding onto him for dear life as pure desire built up inside me. It was so intense, so all-consuming, that I didn’t even notice Tauren was carrying me out of the water until we were back on the rocky shore.
“What’s happening?” I asked, still wrapped around him as he bent down to sweep his discarded shirt off the ground.
“I’m taking you home,” he said, pulling the oversized, simple tunic over my head. In an instant, the dry material soaked up the cold water clinging to my skin and hair, causing the shirt to cling to my body.
“No. Let’s stay.” The water might be freezing and the ground rocky, but the longing inside me had built to a dangerous level. I didn’t just want Tauren anymore. I needed him.
And I was terrified that somewhere in the long walk back to his cabin I would come back to my kirre senses, and realize the terrible mistake I was making.
But if we stayed, if we hid our naked bodies under the dark surface of the water, then I could keep on pretending that I didn’t know what I was doing.
That this was just one big mad and magical moment that I’d been swept up in.
It wouldn’t be real. It wouldn’t count. But most importantly, I wouldn’t be responsible for any of the consequences that came after.
“We can’t,” he said. “This is pack land. I can’t risk anyone coming by and seeing us. Not yet.”
Unhooking my legs from his waist, he draped my knees over one arm, while supporting my shoulders with another.
“I can walk,” I tried to tell him, but he shook his head.
“Too slow,” he said. “I want you home—now.”
His voice crackled with urgency, the same sense of need that had been burning in my blood for a while now.
“My camera,” I called out when he started to move toward the trees.
He grimaced in frustration but stopped to scoop it up.
For a second, I considered asking him about our clothes, but quickly realized I didn’t care. Screw ‘em. That damned T-shirt especially. The thing could blow all the way into the ocean and be swept away by the waves for all I cared.
“We can come back for our clothes later,” I said.
That was all the persuading Tauren needed.
With me in his arms and my camera strap dangling from his wrist, he strode straight into the densest part of the forest, barreling down the hill.
I clung on as tight as I could, closing my eyes and burying my face against his chest when the slope became frighteningly steep.
As soon as we were back on level ground, I made the mistake of lifting my head and looking Tauren in the eye. His gaze was even darker now, even deeper than before. His face hard with hunger, his body rigid with desire…for me.
The realization pushed out all remaining fear. The pure thrill of knowing that somehow I was the cause of his passion burned away any lingering shreds of fear and doubt from my mind.
Suddenly, my need for him grew—so fast and so hard that it physically hurt.
“Tauren, stop. Please. Kiss me again.”
Was that me begging? No, it couldn’t be. I didn’t beg. I never begged.
The muscles lining Tauren’s jaw tightened and twitched, but he kept right on walking.
“Tauren, please.” I raked one hand up into his wet hair, trying to pull myself closer to his lips. But before I could reach them, he turned his face away, focusing his eyes solely on the path ahead.
“We’re almost home, Hannah.”
“Fuck almost!” Okay…so maybe sometimes I begged. “I don’t care if you kiss me or do me right here on the ground, but I need to feel you again. Please, Tauren.”
Deep furrows of determination dug into his brow. Pure resolve feathered out in the lines around his eyes. I could feel his muscles flexing and bunching. It was clear he wanted the same thing.
A few seconds later, we crashed through his cabin door, and all that coiled restraint burst free.
He released my legs, instantly pulling them back into position around his waist. One palm found the back of my neck, crushing my mouth against his even as the other hand cupped the curve of my ass.
I sucked in a sharp breath as my back crashed against the wall next to the bed. The water from the soaked shirt dripped onto the floor until Tauren gripped it by the neck and wrenched it off my body.
His dark eyes narrowed as they swept the length of me, his lips curling back to show the white flash of teeth.
“What are these underclothes?” he demanded, clearly annoyed by their presence.
That made two of us.
“All kirre women wear them,” I said.
“Not here,” Tauren lowered his head and bit down on the front band of my bra. With a feral snarl, he whipped his head back, tearing the material and freeing my breasts. His whole body tightened at the sight. “Better.”
His growl of appreciation stoked the fires inside me.
The thin lace and satin of my underwear didn’t put up much of a fight either as he curled his fingers around the waistband and tore them in half.
“Much better.”
He locked eyes with me one more time before sliding his hand between my legs. The growl that rolled in his chest when his fingers slipped over my opening was the most primal…most possessive…most seductive sound I’d ever heard.
His fingers felt so massive against my clit. The pads of his fingertips moved in slow circles, the pressure barely increasing with every rotation.
I writhed beneath him as an electric kind of pleasure built up inside me. My legs began to tremble. My hands started to shake. Little moans escaped from my throat, each one a wordless plea for more.
And Tauren didn’t hold back.
Shifting position, he moved his hand down farther, his thumb taking over on my clit. Using two fingers, he teased at my opening.
Desperate for the feel of him inside me, I arched my back, grinding against his hand. Even biting into my lower lip couldn’t stop the cry that escaped as his fingers slipped inside.
“You’re so wet, Hannah,” he purred. “Your whole body is weeping for me. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been waiting for this?”
I did.
Of course, I did.
Seven years—the same amount of time that I’d spent dying in my dreams. Writhing in agony. Screaming in terror.
But there wasn’t any pain today. Just burning desire and the promise of pleasure beyond anything I’d ever imagined.