Scorched

Chapter Twenty-Six

Shane knew he shouldn’t do this, knew she was feeling vulnerable and might regret her decision later, but he wanted her so badly. He wanted it all, but he’d take what he could get.

He also knew she cared about him. Yes, they’d both messed up, but he had come to claim her again, and he wasn’t leaving without doing just that. The only problem was that he wanted all of her — forever.

And he was going to make that happen.

First, though, they had to appease this hunger. Neither of them could think straight otherwise. He would show her, in the one way he was sure of, how much he loved and desired her.

They didn’t have any trouble in the bedroom and that was a step in the right direction.

Walking from the club, he moved swiftly down the street. His hotel was only two blocks away, and he was damn glad he hadn’t taken Adriane’s offer to stay in the palace.

Shane liked his own space, his privacy. Sure, the palace was luxurious, but this hotel was damn nice, too, and it was a hell of a lot closer right now than the palace was.

As his body throbbed, he adjusted his stride. It would be a miracle if the two of them made it back to his room in one piece.

It had just been too long since he’d sunk inside her body. He hoped and prayed she didn’t change her mind, that the cool night air didn’t somehow wake her up and let her think she was making a mistake.

When the two of them came together, it was never a mistake.

He reached the hotel, her hand gripped tightly in his, and he didn’t pause as he swept through the front doors and headed straight to the bank of elevators.

Lia’s step never faltered beside his.

When the elevator doors opened in invitation, they allowed the car to swallow them up and he delighted when the doors closed with just the two of them inside. Privacy was now theirs and Shane couldn’t wait any longer.

Pushing her up against the wall, he bent down, his mouth devouring hers, wordlessly pouring out his intentions. Lia clutched his shoulder; she moaned even as she was thrusting her tongue inside his mouth.

His knees nearly shaking from pure need, he slid his hands to her backside, holding her tightly in his palms and squeezing her rounded flesh. She responded by pressing up more tightly against him, encouraging him to continue his conquest.

Shane swept his hands down her thighs, and was exceedingly grateful for the high hem on her shorts. With the barest of efforts he lifted her, pulling her legs around his waist as he pushed his solid erection against her. Too many bloody clothes in the way.

“I want you so damn bad,” he groaned, lifting his head so he could trail his mouth down her throat.

“Mmm, you make me crazy with just your touch,” she admitted as she ground her hips against the ever impressive bulge in his pants.

The elevator chimed, and the doors swept open. No one was in the hallway, thank heavens. Particularly since Shane didn’t want to set Lia down.

“Hold on,” he told her as he strode down the hall with her clinging to him.

Pulling the key card from his back pocket, he unlocked his door, pushing it open before sliding inside the room and slamming the door shut with his foot. He pressed her back against the still-rattling door.

“Please, Shane,” she cried as her hips pressed into his. “Take me.”

“I plan to,” he replied, then captured her mouth again with his.

Lia cried out as his hands ran up her sides, then grasped her breasts and squeezed. Her breathing was rapid, her lips urgent, but soft. Her hands tangled in his hair, gripping him tightly, guiding him where she wanted him.

This was perfect — it was right — it was everything and more.

Shane was losing control too quickly. He had to rein it in. They hadn’t been together in a long time, and he wanted this night to be something she wouldn’t soon forget. He had to make her see that they were much better together than they were apart.

With a herculean effort, Shane ended the kiss, then pulled away from the door and moved over to his bed, where he gently set her down.

Lia reached for him, whimpering when he didn’t immediately fall on top of her. But he was resolute. Even if he died pleasing her, expired from holding his own fulfillment back, she would remember this night because he was going to make her ecstasy stretch out endlessly.

Kneeling at the foot of the bed, he pulled off her shoes, then kissed the soles of her feet, rubbing his tongue along the arch of her foot. She stopped struggling and moaned at his soft caress.

His hands rose slowly up her calves, massaging the firm muscles in her legs and making his tongue follow the path he was laying with his fingers. She quivered as his fingers moved higher, stroking the sensitive skin of her thighs while his tongue swirled around the underside of her knees.

Twisting beneath him, she wanted more.

His fingers slipped beneath the hem of her shorts, rising, slipping inside her tiny panties and plunging into her wet core.

“Shane!” she screamed.

He stroked her a few times, then pulled out. She began to protest, but she felt his hands at the clasp of her shorts, releasing the fabric, slipping inside the waistband and pulling them down.

Shane couldn’t get enough of Lia’s flesh. His mouth trailed kisses back down her thighs, and he tasted her sweet skin.

She writhed beneath him, calling his name and begging him for more — more of what, she didn’t even know, but the pleasurable sensation he awoke within her was turning her inside out.

Tossing her shorts aside, he began kissing her ankles, laving her heated flesh with his tongue, moving upward slowly, then sliding across her thighs until he reached the source of her heat. His tongue ran along the edges of her panties, her taste coming through the fabric and making him gasp in passion.

“You are perfect, Lia, absolutely perfect,” he moaned, overcome.

“Shane, please,” she cried, her voice urgent with need.

“I’ll please you, Lia. I’ll please you until the sun is rising in the sky, and then we will sleep in each other’s arms. When you wake, it will be to feel of my body surging inside of yours again. We won’t leave this bed for days, weeks, months. All I want to do is please you,” he said, and was surprised by how much he meant it.

She groaned as she reached for him. He obeyed her silent commands, sliding up her body, taking the hem of her shirt and lifting it, exposing her lacy bra to his view. Having discarded the shirt, he unhooked the clasp on the front of her bra, with a sharp inhale at the sight of her beautiful breasts. It had been so long.

Caressing her curves, he used his hands and mouth to prolong her pleasure, making her cry out, over and over again until she was shaking, and a single tear slid down her cheek.

“Please, I need to feel you inside me.” As she begged, she tried to look into his very soul.

“Yes, right now,” he agreed.

Shane tore off his clothes, wanting nothing more than to ravish her and end the ache that was now a constant in his body.

But instead, he lay on top of her, reveling in the feel of the thick head of his erection rubbing along her slick folds, until finally he pushed forward, and slowly, inch by beautiful inch, he sank inside her heat.

Lia gripped his flexed behind, wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, then rocked her hips against him. “Fast, Shane. I’m so close,” she begged.

His heart nearly stopped at the urgency in her voice, at the raw need pouring from her. He’d brought her to this point — he’d made her beg.

His heart thundered in his chest as he began thrusting fiercely, quickly driving in and out of her lush body. Yes, they both needed this release, they both needed to fall over the edge into paradise, and then…then, he’d start all over again.

He would love her so much, so long, so hard, she wouldn’t have the energy to fight him ever again. She wouldn’t even have the energy to move from beneath him.

With compulsion and need propelling him on, Shane drove inside her, his pleasure building, her screams of desire pushing him over.

Whimpering, moaning, crying out in an intense sequence, Lia dug her fingernails into his flesh as her body tightened around him. Shane was a goner. He let go, spilling inside her, his body pulsing with the force of his release.

It was several minutes before either of them could move.

Finally, Shane shifted, turning to his side, and then he quickly pulled her on top of him. No escape.

She didn’t fight him, and soon he found himself relaxing, caressing her back with a languid hand, loving the feel of her head against his chest.

“Shane?” Her voice was quiet, almost timid.

Worry filled him. This wasn’t how Lia spoke.

“What is it, babe?” he asked, praying she didn’t ask to leave. He didn’t think he could let her go — not now.

“Is it time for round two?” she asked, a quiet laugh escaping against his chest.

His heart filled with joy.

He really did love this woman.

“Let’s go take a shower. Then we can get started with rounds two, three and four,” he said before softly biting her shoulder.

Lia giggled as he sat up, pulling her with him.

He kept his promise.

Neither of them got any sleep that night.