Free Tormented by Darkness by Claire Ashgrove

painful. Like she pulled something he wasn’t entirely convinced he wanted to give from the depths of his being…and yet…he couldn’t stop the magnetic way his body responded. He wanted her in ways he’d never wanted anyone, and he was absolutely certain if Rhiannon knew just what he craved, she’d run out the door.
    All of her was a hell of a lot to ask. Accepting all of him, even more.
    To silence the words that crept up his throat, he tangled one hand in her thick hair and tugged her mouth to his. The hungry nip of her teeth connected all the bursts of painful pleasure into one engulfing stream of sensation that turned him inside out. He couldn’t touch her in enough places at once, couldn’t find his way through the barrier of her short dress. Frustrated with the utter lack of contact, he gathered her skirt in his hands and bunched the material up, pulling it to her waist. When the hem collected in his fingers, refusing to break the mesmerizing heat of her kiss, he grabbed her by the waist and lifted her onto his body. Her knees slid around his waist. As she lowered herself to sit, the damp material of her panties met his skin, and the pressure of her buttocks just above the tip of his erection arced another burst of desire through his body. So close. So damnably far away.
    Good grief, what was the matter with him? It wasn’t as if he’d never had sex with a woman. But he’d swear on his soul, something inside him was fragmenting into bits. He needed release before she broke something he couldn’t piece back together.
    But Rhiannon was determined to make him wait, to draw out his blissful torture until he shredded into pieces. She rocked backward, stroking his throbbing shaft as her hands skated down his body and popped open the button at his waist. Yet she made no attempt to move and help him out of the tight restriction of his pants. Confined to the whims of her will, Mick gave into a groan and contented himself with exploring her just as fully. He reached behind her back to lower her zipper. When her dress tumbled loose, he tugged the short sleeves down her arms and slid his hands around her ribs, to the fullness of her breasts.
    As his fingers closed around the soft flesh there, her mouth left his. She straightened, and Mick opened his eyes. His gaze fell on a vision of beauty. Head tipped to the side, her long, glorious red hair tumbled over ivory skin. The firelight danced on those thick tendrils, picking up natural highlights and making them shine like divinity kissed her. Her eyes were closed, her expression soft with an emotion he couldn’t define. The way she responded to him, as if she treasured the way he brushed his thumbs over her hardened nipples, as if the kneading of his fingers was something to cherish, humbled him.
    Everything that was cracking inside him suddenly locked back together, and the frenzied rush of desire gave way to an even greater need to savor every last minute she gave him. He gently lifted his hips into her body and held them there, tempering the pulsing of his cock. Her lashes lifted, blue eyes locked with his, and Mick tumbled so far into Rhiannon he feared he would never surface.
    “Rhiannon,” he whispered, at a loss, overcome with an urge to say…something.
    “Make love to me, Mick.” Her unsteady voice rasped pleasantly.
    He held her unblinking gaze as he collected her crumpled dress and eased it over her head, tossing it aside. Alternating his weight between his elbows, he allowed her to help him out of his shirt, and it too joined her dress. She lifted to her knees. His hands encountered hers at the zipper to his pants. Their gazes fused. Mick’s heart kicked into his ribs.
    Then his world ground to a stop as he realized every bit of protection he possessed was at his house across town. “Shit,” he muttered. “Rhiannon, I don’t have anything with me.”
    She shook her head, her hair tickling across his skin. “It’s okay. I’m protected.” Bending