"Let me." Raphael placed his hands on her shoulders. "Your wings are dragging on the floor."
"I'm tired," she admitted, allowing him to peel off her sleeves, undo the straps of her top, and pull it from her body. "I'm used to being stronger than the people around me.
Here, I'm pathetically weak."
A kiss on the bare skin of her shoulder, warm hands on her stomach. "Strength comes in many forms, hunter. Yours is deeper than you know."
Leaning back into him, she let her body relax, trusting him to keep her upright. "This is nice. Having someone to hold me when I'm tired." It was an intimacy, a gift she'd never expected.
A long pause. Another kiss on her shoulder, those hands quietly possessive. "Yes."
It had been a leap in the dark to admit that much, that she was coming to rely on him -
she, a woman who hadn't relied on a man since the day her father threw her out on the street - but she'd never expected that he'd honor her trust with his own. Closing her hands over his, she dropped her head to one side, exposing her neck.
He took the hint, kissing a line up the curve of it. "Shower?"
"Bath." She didn't think she could stand unaided.
"You'll fall asleep." His lips pressed to the quickening beat of her pulse, the possessive strength of his body reaching through her exhaustion to awaken the most primal of needs.But I'll hold you up.
It was another kiss, that offer. "Promise?"
"Promise."
Upper body naked, she stayed in place as he remained behind her.
"So many bruises." His hands were gentle over them, his voice holding a thrum of anger.
"Get used to it," she said with a laugh. "I seem to have a knack for getting myself in trouble."
A slow smile against her cheek, his hands on the button of her pants. "As you did the first time we met."
When she was bared to the very skin, her pants kicked away, she reached back to wrap her arms around his neck, arching her body in a sinuous stretch.
"Elena." A husky warning even as his hands stroked up her rib cage to close over her br**sts.
Breath shaky with want, she pushed into him, her ni**les aching for a rougher touch.
"More." A brazen demand.
"As you command, hunter."
Her thoughts splintered as he pinched her ni**les, sending a sudden, sharp ache straight through to the heat between her thighs. She moved, restless, wanting something only he could give her. "Raphael." His lips met hers as she angled her head to reach him, his hands soothing the ache he'd aroused with slow, easy movements. He was intensity contained, passion leashed. Breaking the kiss, she met the blazing cobalt of his eyes. "I think I've got my second wind."
The slightest of smiles, one hand leaving her breast to slide down her body and over the sensitive plane of her stomach to circle her belly button. She wiggled. "Tickles." Her bottom rubbed over the jutting hardness of his arousal, turning the heat between her legs liquid.
When he moved his hand farther down, she didn't resist, letting him part her with stark intimacy. He toyed with her, flicking his thumb over the ultrasensitive bundle of nerve endings at the top, but not giving her the hard pressure that she needed. Shuddering, she moved her body against him, tempting, arousing . . . teasing.
He grazed his teeth along her neck. "Doing that will get you punished."
"Oooh, I'm scared."
He pinched her clit. Pleasure short-circuited her system, her body tightening into a bow, ready, so ready . . . but the pressure eased a moment too soon. "Raphael." A sensual complaint, her skin shimmering with a fine layer of sweat.
"I warned you." It was an intimate reminder as he thrust two fingers inside her, pumping hard and deep. She rode him, rode those wicked fingers, her breath coming in harsh little pants, her body moving with a will of its own. On her breast, his other hand was a possessive brand, molding and shaping. His mouth touched her neck, her shoulder, his lips marking her without hesitation, without any attempt to hide that that was exactly what he was doing.
So tight and slick and mine.
Blatantly possessive, hotly male.
Her bottom rubbed against him with every undulation of her body, driving her to a fever pitch. "I need more."
You can't have my cock, Elena.
She trembled, tried to find her mind. "Why not? I'm rather fond of it."
That got her another teasing brush across her clit. Sparks flared behind her eyelids, and she barely heard him through the buzz in her head.
You're not strong enough to take what I want to do to you.
Half insane with need, she rode him harder, faster. "Give me more."
Are you sure?An explicit sexual question.
"Yes."
She cried out as he spread his fingers inside her, making room for a third. The extreme fullness threw her to the edge. Then he pressed down on her cl*t with his thumb and she fell. The orgasm rocked through her, a hard, almost violent release that left her limp in his arms.
Raphael drew in the scent of Elena's satisfaction, holding back the dark passion within him by the narrowest of margins, passion that wrenched at the restraints, hungering to take her with a fury he wasn't certain she'd survive even at full strength.
A year he'd waited for her. A year he'd heard only silence when he spoke to her. He didn't have much patience left in him. "Soon," he murmured, speaking to the voracious need within him.
When he began to withdraw his fingers from the tight slickness of her body, that need kicked him hard, making his c**k throb. He wanted to throw her onto the bed, splay her legs wide, and thrust.I'll bite your br**sts , he told her, taking his time removing his fingers, enjoying the way she clenched on him as he spoke.But mostly, I plan to f**k you until you can't walk.
Her body spasmed, and he realized his hunter was ready once more. Taking advantage, he slid a single finger back into her body, the second no longer able to inch in now that she was so lushly swollen with pleasure.After I sate myself, I'll spread your legs, make you hold them open for me.
A slow, lingering thrust.
"Raphael."Her voice was husky.
Then I'll take my time tasting the sweet, plump flesh between your thighs.
Another thrust, another stab of pleasure-pain as her bu**ocks rubbed over his cock.
Mine, Elena, you are mine.
Moving up a hand, he pulled her back with his fingers on her jaw and took her mouth as he gave her a final, exquisitely intimate caress that pushed her over into orgasm once more. Her sexuality was earthy, wild, honest. It sang a siren song to him that hazed his brain, threatened to make him lose all control.