Free Shades of Midnight by Linda Winstead Jones Page B

touched Lucien intimately, found him hard, stroked his length. It was Viola doing the touching, Eve reminded herself, but still... she liked it. She liked the power of making this man want her; she liked knowing that even if he didn't love her, even if she would never come first in his life, he did desire her.
    "Forgive me," he whispered.
    Eve brushed her lips against Lucien's chest, tasting him. Inhaling him. And for a moment he held her there, close and tight.
    And then he leaned her over backward, across his lap, so that she was exposed before him, half dressed and rumpled and wanting. For a moment he stared at her, at her face and her exposed breasts, and then he lowered his head to take one nipple between his lips. He cradled her in his arms while he touched her in a way she had never expected, drawing her deep into his mouth. Sparks shot through her body, tugging at her spirit, her desire, the center of her being.
    "I didn't forget you," he whispered as his mouth barely lifted from her breast. A tongue flicked there. "I could never forget you."
    Her fingers stroked his erection, dragging along the length, wondering how it was possible that...
    Forget her? "Lucien?"
    He murmured something she could not understand, his mouth busy as it worked its way up to her throat once again.
    "Where's Alistair?"
    Lucien lifted his head and shifted his dazed eyes to the other side of the room. "Over there, with Viola." He put his mouth on her throat again, and his fingers continued to tease her bare breasts.
    Eve's caressing fingers rose up slowly. She placed her hand against Lucien's chest and pushed, just a little. "Lucien," she murmured. He did not respond at all. "Lucien!" she said, a bit louder.
    He lifted his head and smiled at her, wicked and gentle at the same time.
    "How long has Alistair been gone?"
    "A few minutes," he said.
    "And you continued to... to..."
    He laid a finger over her lips. "Don't blame me. Viola left first."
    "Oh." Eve felt slightly deflated. "How long was she with me?"
    "No more than a minute or two. She left as soon as she told Alistair that she thought he loved her."
    Disgusted with herself and with Lucien, Eve stood, trembling legs and weak knees fighting her all the way.
    "Don't feel bad. You haven't had much practice channeling. A minute or two is a fine start. Viola must trust you to come to you so easily." Lucien grabbed her wrist and pulled her back onto his lap. She fell there, realizing as she landed with a bump that her breasts were still uncovered. She very quickly began to remedy that situation.
    "You took advantage of me," she said softly.
    "I did not," he argued. "If I had been intent on taking advantage of you, we would be in that bed right now, and we would not be talking."
    "I had no idea you were so... so unbearably crude," she accused.
    Lucien grinned. "And I had no idea you were so passionate."
    Eve left his lap with an indignant huff, and stalked from the room without a shred of her dignity intact.
    She didn't dare ask Lucien who'd been in control when he'd said I love you.
    * * *
    A man could not possibly survive a constant state of arousal. It was unnatural. Painful. Distracting. Lucien cursed as he sat on the parlor floor and tinkered with the specter-o-meter. Anything to take his mind off Eve. Stubborn woman.
    He smiled as he adjusted the spring mechanism. Stubborn, yes, but also very passionate. And she tasted like honey. Warm, sweet honey. No, she tasted better than honey.
    She hadn't spoken to him since they'd channeled Viola and Alistair. The encounter hadn't gone exactly as planned, but he wouldn't call it a waste of time. Aside from the more obvious benefits which had led to his current state, he knew Alistair, now. He was more certain than ever that the man had not killed his wife.
    The sofa scooted, the chair leg scraping across the wooden floor. The needle on his specter-o-meter jiggled just slightly. Lucien lifted his head, wondering if Eve had come silently into the room